Pasta Salad

This is an easy summer pasta salad.  Everywhere I take it, I always get rave revues.  It is just simple and tasty.  It does taste better when you make it the night before.  Hope you enjoy!

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:  1 box of Bow Tie Pasta, cooked and drained

1 bunch Broccoli, cut into bite size pieces

1 bag of cubed Cheddar Cheese, cut into smaller pieces

2 Tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1 large bottle Italian Dressing

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl and refrigerate overnight.  I always save a little of the dressing to put on the pasta salad right before serving.  Can't get any easier, right?

Simple Pizza

This is a quick and easy idea for a meal.  All you do is take a tortilla or flat bread, crisp it up in the oven, put on your favorite pizza toppings, allow cheese to melt in the oven, and viola!  Pizza!  My kids love this, and I tend to eat this a lot on the weekends for lunch. Hope you enjoy!

Another Baked Spaghetti

Ok, so I do realize that I cook a lot of iltalian type dishes.  I guess cause it is one of my favs and they are usually fairly simple to make.  This is a yummy baked spaghetti.  It has a cream cheese and sour cream layer that makes it good and creamy, if you mix it all together.  The family loved it.  Hope you enjoy!

Another Baked Spaghetti

Ingredients:  1 lb Spaghetti Noodles, cooked and drained

1 lb Ground Beef or Turkey, cooked and drained

1 jar Spaghetti Sauce

8oz Cream Cheese, room temp

16oz Sour Cream

1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350.  Cook ground beef and drain off grease.  Add in spaghetti sauce and allow to cook for about 10 min.  Place cooked spaghetti noodles in a greased 13x9 dish.  Mix together the cream cheese and sour cream until well incorporated.  Spread this mixture on top of the noodles.  Pour the sauce and meat on top of the cream cheese mixture.  Bake for 25 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

A Tip

First of all, I want to apologize for not posting in so long.  Things have been hectic around here and I haven't tried any new recipes in a long time.  I promise to get back to it soon.  In the meantime, here is a quick tip.  My grandmother gave me a lot of onions, more than we would go through in a week, so I froze some.  First I diced them (an onion at a time)  then spread them out on a cookie sheet and stuck them in the freezer for a few hours until they were frozen.  I then put the frozen onions into a zip lock bag and stuck them back into the freezer.  Now, if I need diced onion, all I have to do is pull out a bag from the freezer.  I put one onion worth in each bag so that I also know how much is in each bag.  Hope this tip is helpful for you!

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

First, I apologize for the picture.  I had to hurry and snap a pic before they were all gone.  These were super easy and super good.  My kids loved them, so that has to say something.  This is a great alternative for lasagna made with meat sauce.  Hope you enjoy!

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients:  9 Lasagna Noodles, cooked & dried

10oz Frozen Chopped Spinach, drained

15oz Ricotta

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

1 Egg, beaten

Spaghetti Sauce

1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine spinach, ricotta, parmesan, and egg in a large bowl.  Lay out lasagna noodles and spread a thin layer of cheese & spinach mixture (about 1/3 cup) on each noodle.  Roll up the noodles.  Pour about 1 cup of sauce into the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish.  Place the lasagna rolls on top of the sauce, seam side down.  Pour sauce over the top of the rolls.  Top with mozzarella.  Cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Okay, I know what you are thinking.  Brussel Sprouts ?!?!?!  This is the only way my family eats brussel sprouts, and they are so yummy.  The caramelization gives the brussel sprouts a good nutty flavor.  This can't be any easier to make either.  So, please give it a try and let me know what you thought.  Hope you enjoy!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:  Fresh Brussel Sprouts

Olive Oil

Salt

Preheat oven to 375.  Rinse and clean the brussel sprouts.  Remove the outer leaves and trim the ends.  If they are large brussel sprouts, cut them into halves.  Place on sheet pan and sprinkle with olive oil and salt (I personally like a lot of salt on them), then toss.  Make sure they are spread out in an even layer, then toss them in the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden and crunchy on the outside.

Baked Spaghetti

This is an easy weeknight dinner to throw together.  A somewhat different twist on the regular spaghetti night with the same ingredients and a few extra.  I really liked this as did the whole family.  Hope you enjoy!

Baked Spaghetti

Ingredients:  1lb Ground Chuck or Turkey

1 jar Spaghetti Sauce

1lb Thin Spaghetti

1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1 Egg, beaten

8oz pkg grated Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  Bring water to boil and cook spaghetti.  While spaghetti is cooking, brown ground beef or turkey and add in spaghetti sauce.  Drain spaghetti and combine with beaten egg and Parmesan cheese, mix well.  Layer half of spaghetti noodles, half of sauce then half of cheese.  Repeat the layers and top with Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes, until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.