Baked Macaroni & Cheese with Tomato

Jared and I were looking for a new macaroni and cheese recipe for this week, which we could prepare Sunday night before our crazy week. We found the recipe on www.allrecipes.com.
We changed it a bit since we did not have tomato soup in the house.

Ingredients:
1 pound macaroni
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup (we used 1 can of diced tomatoes)
1 1/4 cups milk
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Pour in pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2) In large bowl, combine macaroni, soup, milk, cheese and 6 tablespoons butter. Pour into 9x13 baking dish. Top with bread crumbs and dot with remaining butter. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Husband Rating: A
Jared thought it was perfect with the diced tomatoes. He thinks a bit of sliced jalapeños would be a great addition too.

Wife Rating: A
I enjoyed the change of consistency with the diced tomatoes and the bread crumbs. The recipe makes a lot of food (more than enough for 2...and then some)!

Spaghetti Pie

The Spaghetti Pie recipe was given to me by one of my neighbors during my bridal shower. I misplaced my recipe cards from June 07-January 08....and it was wonderful to find them! My teaching schedule and work scheduled does not allow for much cooking time, but I can manage to cook on Thursday in between teaching and my night class. The spaghetti pie turned out awesome!

Ingredients:
6-8 ounces of spaghetti (cooked and drained - we used Barilla Whole Grain)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Ricotta cheese
1 cup spaghetti sauce (we made our own sauce)
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1) Grease pie plate. Toss spaghetti with olive oil.
2) Combine eggs and Parmesan cheese and add to spaghetti.
3) Put into the pie plate and form a crust-type look. Spread Ricotta cheese in the center of the "well."
4) Cover with sauce all over the top. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
5) Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake for 5 minutes more.
6) Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Let sit 5-10 minutes before cutting.

TIP: This is great reheated for leftovers (which I have already tried)!

Husband Rating: A
"Perfect. It reminded me of my mom's recipe that I ate when I was younger." Enough said!

Wife Rating: A
I love a different pasta recipe and this hit the spot. I was pretty happy with how it turned out for my first time!

Alfredo Bake

Before I talk about tonight's dinner, I must say that I finally figured out how to take a decent picture of our dinner. :) All this time, I have been taking the picture with the flash ON, while tonight I decided to try it with the flash OFF. Well, as you can see above...the correct way is with the flash off.... :) Alfredo Bake is a dish I borrowed from another blogger/JKnottie/JFacie.
http://wineloverscookingdiary.blogspot.com/ I am so glad that we tried this meal. We made a slight modification...

Ingredients:
8 oz. pasta, cooked and drained (we used an entire box)
2 cups broccoli florets
1 cup mushrooms
1 1/2 cups chicken, cooked, shredded or diced (we omitted the chicken to have a meatless dish)
1 jar Alfredo sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Coat the bottom of a 13x9 pan or a medium size baking dish with a thin layer of Alfredo sauce. In a medium bowl, mix the pasta, broccoli, mushrooms, chicken, garlic, and Alfredo sauce until combined.
3) Place mixture in baking dish and top with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Cut the butter into small pieces and scatter on top of cheese.
4) Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Recipe from http://wineloverscookingdiary.blogspot.com/
Picture from my kitchen

Husband Rating: A
Despite having a headache and not feeling so well, Jared really enjoyed the Alfredo Bake. He liked it so much that his exact words were, "I really like this sauce...how did you make it?" And my reply was, "It was from a jar..." ;) I couldn't help but smile...

Wife Rating: A
Pasta and cheese -- I'm sold. I am not usually a fan of Alfredo sauce, but we made extra pasta than the recipe calls for, so it was not completely overwhelmed with sauce.

We found another keeper....next time I will add the chicken.

Shrimp Scampi (Tuesday's Dinner)

Jared came home with shrimp a few weeks ago, so we froze it for a special time, and yesterday seemed like a perfect day. We decided to make one of our favorite (old time) recipes, one that we made quite often years ago. However, this time we followed a recipe from www.allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:
2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, minced (added more)
1/4 cup dry white wine (omitted)
3 green onions, chopped
Angel Hair pasta

Directions:
1) Preheat broiler to 500 degrees (260 degrees C).
2) Stir shrimp together with butter, garlic and wine. Place on a baking sheet and broil for 10 minutes. Sprinkle on scallions and broil for another 2 to 3 minutes, until shrimp are firm. Serve hot.


Husband Rating: A
Jared loved the shrimp broiled instead of sauteing in a frying pan.

Wife Rating: A
I loved the garlic with the pasta!

We'll definitely make this again!

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Jared and I have made baked macaroni and cheese before, but without a recipe and with little effort. Believe it or not, I was looking forward to following a recipe that required a bit of "work" and different ingredients.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
8 ounces macaroni
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. Place the bread crumbs into a small bowl and mix well with the melted butter; set aside.
2) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain, then place into prepared casserole dish.
3) While the pasta is cooking, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the minced onion and cook until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes.
4) Stir in the flour, pepper, salt, and dry mustard until incorporated, then pour in the milk and bring to a simmer. Simmer, stirring constantly until the milk has thickened, about 10 minutes. Take the milk off of the heat and stir in the Cheddar cheese until melted. Pour cheese sauce over the macaroni, then sprinkle evenly with buttered bread crumbs.
5) Bake until the top is golden and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Recipe from www.allrecipes.com


Husband Rating:
Finding a meal that Jared does not like is hard to find, so it was obvious that Jared enjoyed the macaroni and cheese.

Wife Rating:
Anything with cheese is a winner in my book! The bread crumbs were a nice touch and the onion was subtle, yet added good flavor.

We'll make this again!

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Last night's pasta dinner was a meal we cooked for friends. We could not have picked a better dish to share with them. They raved about the dish and the freshness. We did not get to take a picture, so the picture above is from www.allrecipes.com.

We made dinner at their house, and they supplied the wine and fire!

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package dry penne pasta (we used wheat spaghetti)
8 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place the penne pasta in the pot, cook 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
2) In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the tomatoes, Italian dressing, basil, red onion, and Parmesan cheese.

Recipe from www.allrecipes.com

Husband Rating: A+
Jared really enjoyed the pasta, fresh tomatoes and onion.

Wife Rating: A+
This dish was so easy to make and was delicious! The salad and red wine, compliments of our friends, were perfect.

Friends' Rating: A+
They were both very happy with the meal that we picked for last night.

We'll definitely be making it again in the future!

Broccoli Lasagna (Sunday's dinner)

Last night's dinner was Broccoli Lasagna (the 1st picture was actually taken this morning, the second picture is from www.allrecipes.com). After coming home from Philly, we had plans to visit some friends and have dinner at their place. We decided that we would make Broccoli Lasagna, since it was on our menu for the week. Of course, using low fat cheese and skim milk, I think our recipe turned out slightly different from the original recipe. Nonetheless, it was still pretty good.

Ingredients:
9 lasagna noodles
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 (10 ounce) package chopped frozen broccoli, thawed and drained
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided


Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3) In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion and garlic in butter until tender. Stir in flour, pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt and nutmeg. Stirring continuously, pour in milk, a little at a time, allowing mixture to thicken. Bring to a boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in parsley. Set aside.
4) In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, broccoli, Parmesan, 1 cup of mozzarella and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Stir until well blended.
5) In a 7x11 inch baking dish layer: 1/4 cup white sauce; 3 noodles; one-third of remaining white sauce; half the broccoli mixture; 3 more noodles; half remaining white sauce; remaining broccoli mixture; 3 noodles; remaining white sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil coated with cooking spray. (We used an 8x13 dish -- we do not have a 7x11 dish).
6) Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Husband Rating: A
Jared was excited to try a different type of lasagna. I have never made a white sauce lasagna before!

Wife Rating: A-
Considering the fact that I felt a bit off...not sure if I am fighting a 24-hour bug, I managed to eat a little bit. I did like it, but I am not sure about the nutmeg.

Friends Rating:
They seemed to like the lasagna. I did receive a compliment on last night's dinner on my IM this morning!

I'll try this again in the future...but the not too soon future.

Angel Hair Pasta with Pesto Sauce

A quick dinner if you're lucky like I was to have the Pesto Sauce already made for you (by someone else). Jared's mom made the sauce for us, and his brother and sister when we went to visit this past weekend. I decided to cook the sauce with Angel Hair pasta. We did not have enough sauce for the amount of pasta that we cooked -- we did not eye-ball it too well. However, it still had great flavor. We decided to throw together a tomato, cucumber, and onion salad with the pasta as well.

Ingredients/Directions:
I did not think this information was necessary considering the steps included boiling water, adding pasta, draining the water, and mixing the pasta with the sauce.

Husband Rating: A-
Jared enjoyed the pasta with pesto sauce, but felt that we needed more pesto.

Wife Rating: A-
I agree with the husband.

The dish was my quick and easy dinner for the week. We will definitely make the dinner again in the future, but the next time we will make our own pesto sauce.