• 13Oct

    My kids love mac and cheese, either from the box, a freezer bag or made from scratch. I found this recipe at the Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine website. (On the extremely wild outside chance the editors of the magazine find out about this post, if I don’t hide the magazine until I’ve had a chance to read it, my nine year old daughter will walk off with it and I won’t see it for months.) In an effort to cut down on the grocery bill, and to use up stuff in my freezers, I used what I had to create this variation of the recipe. The kids liked it a lot, and when I asked if I should leave the potatoes out next time, I was told it made a really nice texture combination. That surprised me, but hey, if they like it, I’ll keep ‘em in.

    For those who are looking to compare my version with the original, here are the differences: I used a red skinned yellow fleshed potato, about 6 oz. of whole wheat penne, and Bone Dust seasoning instead of Old Bay (I’m not going to spend $9 on a large container if I’m not sure I’ll ever use it again). I’ve got the cookbook Hot, Sticky and on Fire book by Ted Reader, where the Bone Dust recipe comes from. Unfortunately, it’s only available in Canada or through Amazon.ca. I got my copy as a gift several years ago, and we love many of the recipes in it.

    Anyway, my version of the recipe can be found after the jump.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • 06Jan

    Wintertime means soup and lots of nice hot baked meals in our house. I try not to do the same things over and over again, which is why I subscribe to so many recipe mailing lists. Lasagna stoup is a Rachel Ray recipe, and it’s been added to our list of to be made again meals. It took a little over half an hour to make, which is a bonus.

    The original recipe called for broken up lasagna noodles, but we found we didn’t like it with the big pieces. We substitute in extra-wide egg noodles instead, and omit the ricotta – we don’t think it misses it at all.

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • 08Feb

    Just because I work from home doesn’t mean I want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Being a diabetic makes it more of a challenge, but I think I’ve found a tasty, diabetic friendly dish for the whole family with this one. Ground turkey (or really lean ground beef), leftover whole wheat pasta and veggies make a great meal, one that the kids have asked the recipe to be put in their cookbooks!

    Read the rest of this entry »

  • 18Nov

    The kids love sloppy joes and baked pasta. One of the meals they like is Sloppy Joe Manicotti, but I didn’t want to go through the effort of stuffing the manicotti shells for supper. To make this dish, I combined their favorite sloppy joes with pasta, threw on a handful of cheese and baked it in the oven until the cheese was melted. They gobbled it up.

    Read the rest of this entry »

    Permalink Filed under: Main Dish Tags: , No Comments
  • 11Sep

    Last night was one of those nights where I didn’t really want to use the recipe I’d picked out when making up the menu, and decided to fly by the seat of my pants. It was a haphazard process, where I flung together what I had in the cupboard. As often happens, to my surprise, it was a great hit. I have been asked to make it again, so I thought I’d better write it down.

    Mexican Chicken Pasta Bake

     
    Serves 6

    3 cups rotini twists (Mueller), uncooked
    2 cups cooked chicken — shredded
    14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes with green chiles
    1 1/2 cups salsa (I used Garden Fresh Wild Mild)
    6 ounces tomato paste
    1 teaspoon garlic powder
    1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
    2 cups water
    2 cups shredded brick cheese

    Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

    Cook the pasta as directed, until al dente.

    Combine pasta, chicken, tomatoes and salsa in a large bowl.

    In another bowl, combine tomato paste and water, whisking until thoroughly mixed.

    Add tomato paste mixture to the pasta mixture and stir well.

    Pour mixture into baking pan, then sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

    – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –

    Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 278 Calories; 14g Fat (31.7% calories from fat); 26g Protein; 41g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 75mg Cholesterol; 761mg Sodium.