Classic Lasagna

I LOVE lasagna! It took me 5 years to find the perfect recipe... and this is it. Can't beat a classic!

1 package no-boil lasagna noodle sheets

1 lb ground beef (or sausage, or a mix of the two)

2 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese

1 jar marinara sauce + 1/4 cup water

2 tsp italian seasoning

2 TBS parmesan cheese

3 cups mozzarella cheese

Cook ground beef until no longer pink. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, egg, ground beef, italian seasoning, parmesan cheese and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Stir well to combine.

Spoon a small amount of marinara onto the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish. Layer noodles, then cheese  & beef mixture, and then top with a little more marinara. Repeat until your dish is full, or your out of noodles. End with marinara on the very top of the last noodle layer, and top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake according to your pasta directions. 

Creamy Mushroom Pork Stroganoff

I love finding ways to use leftovers! I have to admit, I am the worst about wasting food. I love to cook, so most of the time, I just stick the leftovers in the fridge, with every intention of eating them, only to toss them a week later. This was a fantastic way to use the leftove pork chops from sunday! And it only took like 10 minutes to make!

2 leftover pork chops (or you could use shredded pork)

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tsp worsteshire sauce

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 tsp coarse black pepper (1/4 tsp if you are using fine pepper)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

In a skillet, brown mushrooms in a bit of oil. Remove mushrooms and set aside. Combine cream of mushroom soup and sour cream and bring to a simmer. Add spices and pork. Heat through and add mushrooms. Serve ofer egg noodles.



Steak and Asparagus Rotini

I am always looking for new ways to cook steak at our house. Every year my dear husband kills an elk (or 2) and a deer (or 2), so some years, that leaves us with HUNDREDS of pounds of meat! There are a lot of Steak and Potato dinners going on at our house. This was a great DIFFERENT way to use elk at our house! But you could certainly use beef!

Steak and Asparagus Rotini

1 lb. steak pounded to 1/2 inch thick

1 lb. rotini pasta

1 lb. asparagus

2 TBS butter

1 tsp  Lemon pepper

1/4 cup olive oil

2 TBS Parmesan cheese

garlic powder, salt and pepper

In a large skillet, melt butter. Season both sides of the steak with salt, pepper and garlic powder and place in the skillet (on high) with the butter. Sear both sides of the steak and then turn to med-low and cover. Continue cooking for about 10 min, or until steak is done to your liking. While the steak is cooking, cook your rotini. As your pasta cooks, trim the tough ends off of the asparagus, cut them unto 1 inch pieces, and put them into a colander. At the end of your pasta cooking time, carefully dip the colander into the boiling water until the asparagus is covered. Hold for about a minute so the asparagus gets par-cooked, then remove. place the colander in the sink and pour the hot pasta over the asparagus to drain. Toss together. Slice the steak into strips and toss with the pasta. Add olive oil, lemon pepper, some S&P and parmesan cheese. Toss well, and serve.

EASY Creamy Pesto

For our first dinner date, my future hubby took me to the Pasta Factory. I remember exactly what I got.

Bowtie Pasta with Creamy Pesto.

Since then, I've always had a soft spot for Creamy Pesto!

Now I'm sure that the Pasta Factory puts a little more time into their pesto, but this is a quick 5 minute version!

 For about 2 people you need:

1/4 cup prepared Pesto sauce (I use the Knorr package)

1 cup Alfredo Sauce (I used Ragu Alfredo)

1/2 box cooked pasta (I used Linguine)

After preparing your pesto, or warming it if it's premade, add your alfredo and heat through. Serve over cooked pasta.

Spaghetti Bread

Does any one else's husband make a sandwich out of their spaghetti and garlic bread EVERY time you have a pasta dinner!? Mine does! So when I saw this recipe, I knew it was right up his alley! 

I had this on the menu for the week and immediately had a few people emailing me wondering about it! I first found it on pinterest, and had been really excited to try it! It was a hit! We all (including my 1 year old) loved it! 

Bread Dough (I used this recipe and just used 1/2 the dough and froze the rest, and it still made a ton!) 

1/2 box of thin spaghetti

1/2 jar of Spaghetti Sauce (plus more for dipping)

1-2 cups crumbled italian sausage-cooked (optional)

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 egg

Parmesan cheese

garlic bread seasoning

Ok, so this is more of a dinner idea than an actual recipe, because you can use whatever bread recipe you want, and however much spaghetti you need. But this is how I did it....

Prepare your bread dough in your breadmaker (or by hand). Once your Dough is done, separate into halves and freeze one half (or make bread) Boil your spaghetti noodles according to package directions and drain. Mix your spaghetti noodles, sauce and sausage together.

 Roll out your dough into a large rectangle. Place your spaghetti mixture in a strip down the middle of the dough, leaving room at the ends and top with the cheese. With a knife, cut the sides of the dough into 1 inch strips, starting at the sides of the spaghetti and working out. Then proceed to braid the dough up over the spaghetti, tucking the ends under the braid.

Brush the dough with the egg, and sprinkle with the garlic seasoning and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the top is browned. Personally I would of baked mine a little longer, but my husband was in charge of taking it out while I ran to the store for lettuce, and he likes things a little less done! :)

Allow to cool for a few minutes and slice into portions. Serve with warmed pizza sauce for dipping.

We will definitely be having this again, many times in the future! It looks SO pretty and it tastes even better!

Spaghetti and Chili

I had always just assumed that everyone's family ate this dinner! It was one of my very favorites growing up, and it still is now! But when I started dating my husband, he wasn't familiar with it! I was shocked! We have it for dinner quite often, since it's so quick and I ALWAYS have the ingredients!

1/2 box spaghetti noodles

1 can Nalley canned Chili (it's the only kind I buy, I'm a canned chili snob)

shredded cheese

Kind of self explanitory, isn't it!? You just cook your spaghetti, heat the chili, spoon the chili on the noodles and top with cheese! SOO good!

Baked Sausage and Tortellini

If you notice the last Menu Monday, you might see that this dish was not on the agenda! But after discovering that my 25lb bag of flour was on the top shelf of the laundry room, resulting in a choice of dumping the whole thing on my head, or finding something else for dinner, our BBQ Beef Pizza turned into a mad dash to find another alternative!

And I have to admit that I didn't miss the pizza at all! This dish really took like 10 minutes to throw together (granted, I had sausage that was cooked and crumbled already in the freezer) and my hubby LOVED it! Both of us did! This will definitely be a new addition to our menu list!

You only need 4 things...

1 bag Tortellini pasta (cheese filled)

1 jar Ragu pasta sauce (strained*)

1 cup sausage, cooked and crumbled

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

Cook your pasta according to the package directions. Once the pasta is cooked, add the sauce (read the note), and the sausage. pour into a baking dish, cover with cheese and bake at 400 for about 10-15 min, or until cheese is bubbly and melted. Serve with green salad and garlic bread.

* Do you ever notice how when you make baked pasta, sometimes it tuns out watery? All I do to fix that is pour the entire jar of sauce into a fine strainer and let it sit for about a minute. Most of the juice will drain out, and you will be left with a thick sauce. I know, it's technically wasting about 1/2 the jar, but it really made the dish so much better!

Lemon Chicken and Broccoli Bowl

This is really one of my favorite meals! It is so quick and simple and easy, but yummy and FILLING! And it uses leftovers! SCORE! I love leftover recipes!

Lemon Chicken and Broccoli Bowl

(Serves 2)

1 leftover grilled chicken breast

1/2 lb penne pasta (cooked)

1 cup frozen broccoli (thawed and cooked)

2-3 TBS olive oil

1/2 tsp lemon seasoning

1/8 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese

slice your chicken breast into bite sized pieces, cook your pasta and heat your broccoli. Toss everything in a bowl and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.This is a really good summer meal because it's not heavy, but it fills you up!

Chicken and Artichoke Alfredo

This recipe was SUPER easy! It took like 15 minutes to throw together (granted I had the chicken precooked in the freezer)

Chicken and Artichoke Alfredo

1/2 lb penne pasta

1 cup shredded chicken

1/4 cup chopped marinated artichokes

1 jar Alfredo Sauce

Cook pasta, and drain. In a sauce pan, combine alfredo sauce, chicken and artichokes, heat through and pour over pasta. Serve with garlic bread.



Summer Squash Pasta

We have an abundance of squash right now, which we are loving, however there are only so many ways to cook it. This recipe is one of our FAVORITES! I've seriously made this at least once a week all summer!!
It's not heavy, its light and yummy and not over filling! PERFECT summer dinner!

Summer Squash Pasta
1/2 box thin spaghetti, cooked
1/2 cup chicken cooked and cubed (optional)
2 medium squash
3 TBS Extra Virgin olive oil
1 tsp garlic bread seasoning (mixture of garlic powder, parsley, etc. just use what ya' got!)
1/2 tsp siracha chili sauce
1 TBS lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

In a pan, saute squash in the olive oil and garlic seasoning until the squash is soft. Add the cooked spaghetti and all the other ingredients. Combine well and serve!
You could also leave out the chicken and make this a vegetarian meal!

Summer Garden Pasta Salad

This was one of the recipies I shared on Mandy's Recipe Box last week!

Summer Garden Pasta Salad

(feeds 3-4 people)

1/2 box (1/2lb) Rotini Pasta, cooked and cooled

1-2 small zucchini, chopped

2 small carrots, chopped

1 cup purple cabbage, sliced

1/2 of a green bell pepper diced

1/4 cup green onion

1/2 cup olives, sliced

Dressing:

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 TBS Sriracha Chili sauce

1 tsp Soy sauce

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

2 TBS Parmesan Cheese

Toss the Pasta and all of the veggies in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix all of the dressing ingredients. This is the point that you can taste the dressing, and add more seasonings to taste. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and mix well. Serve cold or at room temp.

You can really go garden crazy with this salad! Add and kind of veggies you want! Tomatoes, jalapenos, cucumber etc. And for the meat eater (my hubby), feel free to add diced chicken, cooked ham, or even sliced steak! The possibilities are endless!

Cheesy Fried Ravioli

These were SO yummy! Not SO healthy, but ya gotta live a little sometimes, right?
You need...
appx. 8-10 cheese ravioli per person for a meal cooked according to package directions and set aside to dry.
2 eggs
1 TBS water
2 cups bread crumbs, seasoned or not
1 tsp. garlic powder plus 1/2 tsp. (separated)
1 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 TBS Parmesan cheese
oil for frying

In a  shallow bowl, combine eggs, water and 1/2 tsp garlic powder and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine bread crumbs, the remaining garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and parmesan cheese.
In a large frying pan, heat enough oil to come up the pan about a 1/2 inch. To test if the oil is hot enough, stick a wooden spoon into the oil, if bubbles form, its ready. one at a time, dip the ravioli into the egg mixture and then into the breadcrumb mixture. Place CAREFULLY into the oil and allow to fry until golden brown before turning over. Allow to drain and cool a bit on paper towels.
Dip in warmed marinara sauce.

We had these plain for dinner, but I think they would be REALLY good in a salad, or as an appetizer!