Homemade Manicotti

We have homemade manicotti each year at Christmas & I wanted to attempt to make it myself on New Year's Eve. It was a success! I also made Grandma's homemade gravy & meatballs, all was delicious.

Manicotti
2 cups flour
2 cups milk
6 eggs

This makes about 30-40 patties so I cut this in half.





Source: Grandma

Spaghetti with Sauteed Chicken and Grape Tomatoes

Spaghetti with Sauteed Chicken and Grape Tomatoes



Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups • Calories: 302 Points: 5.5 pts

-2 skinless chicken breast halves, diced in 1 inch cubes
-cooking spray
-1/2 tsp each of dried oregano and dries basil
-kosher salt and fresh pepper
-8 oz spaghetti

-2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
-6 cloves garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
-4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
-4 tbsp chopped fresh basil
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

Season chicken generously with salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Heat a large skillet on high heat. When hot, spray with oil and add chicken. Cook about 3-4 minutes, until no longer pink. Remove chicken and set aside.

Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water before draining.

While pasta cooks, add olive oil to skillet on high heat. Add garlic and sauté until golden brown (do not burn). Add tomatoes, salt and pepper and reduce heat to medium-low. Sauté about 4-5 minutes. When pasta is drained, add pasta to tomatoes and toss well. If pasta seems too dry, add some of the reserved pasta water. Add fresh basil and chicken and toss well. Serve and top with good grated cheese.

Source: Gina's Weight Watchers Blog

Chicken Stuffed Shells

Chicken Stuffed Shells

-15 uncooked jumbo pasta shells
-2 teaspoons oil
-2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
-8 ounces cooked chicken
-1(15 ounce) container fat free ricotta cheese
-1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
-1 (28 ounce) can low fat marinara sauce
-Salt and pepper to taste
-1 tsp parsley
-Parmesan cheese for topping

1)Heat oven to 400 degrees
2)Spray large baking dish with nonstick cooking spray
3)Cook pasta shells according to directions and drain
4)Boil chicken and shred
5)Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat
6)Combine chicken and garlic, cook for 3-5 minutes
7)Remove from heat and stir in ricotta, breadcrumbs, parsley and salt and pepper to taste
8)Spread 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom of the baking dish
9)Fill cooked shells with chicken mixture and place filled sides up in baking dish
10)Pour remaining sauce over shells

Bake covered with foil for 15-20 minutes, remove foil and continue baking until filling is lightly browned

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Source: This blog.

Chicken Piccata Toss

Dan & I love chicken piccata, and this recipe was even better! It was easy besides cutting the chicken, we will definitely be making this again!

Chicken Piccata Toss
Source: Rachel Ray



Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/3 pounds chicken breast tenders, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup chicken broth or stock
3 tablespoons capers, drained
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 pound penne rigate pasta, cooked to al dente
Chopped or snipped chives, for garnish

Directions
-Heat a deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and the chicken to the pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Brown chicken until lightly golden all over, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and return the skillet to the heat.

-Reduce heat to medium. Add another tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter, the garlic and shallots to the skillet. Saute garlic and shallots 3 minutes. Add flour and cook 2 minutes. Whisk in wine and reduce liquid 1 minute. Whisk lemon juice and broth into sauce. Stir in capers and parsley. When the liquid comes to a bubble, add remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter to the sauce to give it a little shine.

-Add chicken back to the pan and heat through, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss hot pasta with chicken and sauce and serve. Adjust salt and pepper, to your taste.

Modifications: For 2 people, we used 1/2 pound of chicken & about 2 cups of pasta. This way there was enough sauce & no leftovers! If you do this, you will want to use less capers, also :)

Source: Rachel Ray.

Lemon Pasta Bake

This recipe was a great summer pasta recipe! It was really light and tasted even better as leftovers. We got the recipe off the Pioneer Woman's website...I would definitely make this again. It was super easy too!



Baked Lemon Pasta
-1 pound thin spaghetti (I used fusilli)
-1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-Juice of 1 lemon
-Zest of 1 lemon
-2 cups sour cream (I used low fat)
-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired
-Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese
-Flat leaf parsley, chopped
-Extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.
In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT.
When butter is melted, add minced garlic.
Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.
Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.
Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.
Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)
When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top.
Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley.
Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end

Source: Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Cheesy Chicken Skillet

This recipe was surprisingly good & super easy! We made the entire thing in about 25 minutes!



Cheesy Chicken Skillet
Ingredients

-2 cups of pasta
-3/4 lbs chicken, cut into pieces
-1 can Healthy Request cream of chicken soup
-1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes with Italian seasoning
-1 cup of skim milk
-1 tsp black pepper
-1/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Cook the pasta as directed. Heat oil in 10 inch skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken & cook thoroughly. Reduce heat to medium; stir in soup, tomatoes, milk and seasonings. Stir in cooked pasta. Cook about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until bubbly & heated through. Sprinkle with cheese. Reduce heat, cover & let stand about 5 minutes.

**Modified to use less milk, & Italian style tomatoes instead of adding seasoning separately

Source: Lauren's Kitchen Blog

Homemade gnocchi

This is a recipe I tried a while back & it was HARD to make. But I wanted to give it a shot. They totally fell apart, but I'd like to try them again sometime.





I have no idea what recipe I used, but I didn't have a ricer and I used a cheese grater instead. I definitely need to attempt this one more time!

Recipes to try in 2009

Here are some recipes I'd really like to try in 2009:

Chicken Parm Meatball Subs

Parmesan Orzo

Chicken Stuffed Shells

This will be good for Superbowl!
Buffalo Chicken Dip

Thai Style Chicken Fried Rice

Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato Cream Sauce

Weight Watchers Penne Vodka

I hope I have a chance to try them all! So many cooking blogs out there & so many fun recipes :)

Cooking with Mom - Part 3; Grandma's Meatballs & Gravy

Today is the day!! We decided to attempt Grandma's famous meatballs & gravy once again. And as always, it was amazing. No, its not EXACTLY Grandma's, but I think we do a pretty good job!!

All the ingredients:



Cooking the gravy



Making the meatballs



Gravy & meatballs, yum!



Here is Grandma's recipe:

Italian Gravy

2-3 or more canned tomatoes (We use 4, 2 crushed & 2 whole peeled tomatoes)

Drippings from fried meatballs

Open one of the tomato cans & pour into blender combined with 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp. dry sweet basil, one small onion, and 2 bay leaves. Blend well.

Pour all cans of tomatoes, plus blended tomatoes, into sufficiently large pot, add meat drippings (and meat), also about 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp. black pepper.

Cook over low flame, uncovered, about an hour, longer if you want meatballs to really absorb gravy. Stir frequently.

Grandma's Meatballs

2 pounds ground beef
Grated Romano cheese, 2x around or more
2-3 slices white bread, wet & shredded
2 eggs
1 medium onion, grated
Salt, 2x around
Pepper, 1x around
Basil, 2x around

Combine all ingredients together. Roll into balls, then roll in 4C seasoned bread crumbs.

Fry in oil until browned on all sides. Remove & drain on plate lined with paper towels.