Jalapeño Popper Mac and Cheese

Whenever I used to make macaroni and cheese, the boys in my family would cover it with hot sauce. Once sriracha came into our lives, it became the new mac and cheese topping. It sort of bugged me until I accepted that they just loved spicy food.

So I am sure you can imagine how excited I was to try this recipe when I stumbled upon it. Thank you to Budget Bytes for this lovely recipe to which my family is now addicted!





Ingredients

• 1 lb cut pasta (spirals and penne are both good here)
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup milk
• 4 oz cream cheese (1/2 brick)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 4 oz can sliced jalapenos
• 4 oz can diced green chiles
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Once pasta is added to boiling water, begin cheese sauce. Heat medium-sized stockpot over medium heat. Add milk, cream cheese, and Parmesan. Whisk until cream cheese has softened and mixture has combined.
3. Turn heat to low. Add sour cream, jalapenos, and chiles, continuing to whisk until combined. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
4. Once everything is done cooking, turn heat off. Drain pasta. Return to its own pot. Pour cheese sauce over top of pasta. Stir well. Add shredded pepper jack cheese and stir well until pepper jack has melted. Serve immediately.

Baked Spaghetti

Why not?

My husband really enjoys baked pasta dishes. Recently he made the comment that, if it can be done with every other type of pasta, why not spaghetti? I couldn't argue.

As of late I have really enjoyed flexible recipes. Some of you may have noticed how less specific my recipes have gotten. It reflects a couple things. One is that my style of cooking is pretty flexible. I rarely do things the same way each time. The other thing it reflects is my hope that you will not be deterred from trying a recipe just because you are missing one ingredient. Likewise, if you'd rather avoid vegetables for some reason, just leave them out. The point: don't let barriers stop you from making good food for yourself and your family! I really hope you try this recipe out, and that you enjoy it.

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried long pasta (spaghetti, fettuccine, or linguine are all good choices)
• olive oil
• your choice of vegetables, chopped into bite size pieces (I recommend onion, bell pepper, and mushroom)
• 1 regular size jar of pasta sauce
• 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• pinch of dried oregano

Directions

1. Drizzle a little olive oil into a 13x9 baking dish and spread around to coat. Set aside.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions.
3. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. 
4. Add your vegetables and saute until they have softened.
5. Add jar of pasta sauce and turn heat down to low.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Once pasta is cooked, drain and return to pot.
8. Stir in vegetable-sauce mixture to pasta.
9. Pour pasta into oiled baking dish. Cover with shredded mozzarella. Sprinkle the dried oregano over top.
10. Bake pasta at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
11. After the 20 minutes has passed, turn your oven up to Broil. Broil for 2-3 minutes, watching carefully, until cheese has browned. Remove immediately.
12. Let cool for up to five minutes before serving.

Pasta with Lemon, Artichokes, and Spinach

Pasta with tomato sauce is one of my longtime go-to's for an easy dinner. But sometimes it's fun to mix it up! This is a simple vegetarian pasta dish with a LOT of flavor. I used the marinade packed with the artichokes to flavor the dish, and topped it with Parmesan cheese as a finish. The result: a delicious dish that's pretty healthy. If you're a fan of feta cheese, you may want to try replacing the Parm with feta for a stronger cheese flavor.


Ingredients
**(for a gluten-free meal, be sure to use gluten-free pasta, such as rice pasta)

• 1 lb long pasta (I used thin spaghetti)
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 small onion, chopped
• one 15 oz jar artichokes, with marinade / juices reserved
• 1 lb baby spinach leaves
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 4 oz Parmesan cheese (half a container)

Directions

1. Boil water in large stockpot. Steam spinach above the boiling water OR steam spinach in the microwave.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse well.
3. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
4. Cook onion and garlic until onion is translucent.
5. Add artichokes and their marinade. Cook until artichokes are heated throughout.
6. Turn off heat and add spinach to artichoke mixture.
7. Return pasta to stockpot and pour juice from artichoke / onions over pasta. Stir well.
8. Add rest of artichoke / onion / spinach mixture to pasta. Stir well.
9. Add grated zest and juice of lemon to pasta. Stir well.
10. Finally, add Parmesan cheese to pasta and stir to coat. Serve immediately.

Roasted Vegetable Minestrone

For weeks, I had been drooling over this soup recipe from What Megan's Making, one of my favorite food blogs. I loved the idea of roasting vegetables to bring out their flavor in an unexpected place like soup, and couldn't wait to give this a try as the weather has cooled off here. 

To switch up the original recipe, I changed which vegetables to roast, catered the seasoning to my liking, and altered the amounts for a smaller crowd. This recipe will make enough for 3-4 people as a main dish.

Ingredients for roasting vegetables

• 1 bunch small carrots, sliced in rounds
• 1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 yellow (summer) squash, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1/2 red onion, halved and sliced thinly
• generous drizzle of olive oil
• salt + pepper

Ingredients for rest of soup

• more olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• pinch of dried thyme leaves
• 14.5 oz can cannellini beans, drained
• 6 cups vegetable broth (more if you want it brothier)
• 2 cups pasta shells, uncooked
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
• salt + pepper
• fresh parsley or Parmesan or mozzarella cheese (garnish, optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. Combine ingredients for roasting vegetables in large baking dish and cover. Bake at 500 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside, still covered, until soup is complete (Step 8).
3. While vegetables are roasting, heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-low heat. 
4. Add garlic, celery, and thyme. Cook for about 5 minutes.
5. Add cannelini beans and vegetable broth. Increase heat to medium-high until broth boils, then reduce to low. 
6. Add pasta shells and cook until they are al dente (about 10 minutes).
7. Add tomatoes and cook until heated throughout. 
8. Pour roasted vegetables into soup and stir to incorporate.
9. Season with salt and pepper, and top with desired garnish.

Pesto Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic

What do you do with a bunch of big, beautiful tomatoes that are given to you, before they take over your kitchen?

This is the first of two recipes working to solve that "problem". I roasted chunks of tomatoes and minced garlic right in my cast iron frying pan, allowing the whole mixture and pan to heat up as the oven did. Everything timed out perfectly so the tomatoes were done roasting at the exact moment when they were needed for the pasta. It's an easy recipe that has a lot of flavor, since roasting vegetables is the best way to bring out their best qualities.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 2 large tomatoes, cut into chunks
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb cut pasta (such as penne or ziti)
• 3-4 spoonfuls basil pesto, or more to taste (I like Classico's pesto)

Directions

1. Turn on oven to 425 degrees.
2. Drizzle olive oil in an oven-safe dish or pan. Add chopped tomatoes and garlic, stir quickly to coat, then place in oven while oven is still preheating.
3. While tomatoes are roasting, boil water and prepare pasta according to package directions.
4. Drain and rinse pasta; return to pan.
5. Add pesto to your desired taste.
6. Remove tomatoes from oven. Add to pasta and serve immediately alongside a chunk of crusty bread.

Pepperoni Pasta

Pepperoni pasta is a great way to put a twist on the traditional pasta and marinara sauce type dinner. As for cut pasta, rigatoni is what I used this time but penne, ziti, and farfalle all make good replacements in this meal.

Dan the Man''s tip for whole pepperoni - if the stick comes in its own casing, this thick wax coating is to protect the meat inside and must be peeled off before cooking. If the pepperoni comes in a plastic wrap of some sort, then the casing on the stick itself is normally a natural casing and does not need to be peeled.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. cut pasta
  
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 onion, diced
  
• big pinch of basil
• big pinch of parsley
• small pinch of oregano
  
• 1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped (I used homemade roasted peppers)
• 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
  
• 1 stick pepperoni, cut into half-moon slices
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (optional) **
  

**For a dairy-free diet, omit this ingredient.

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
   
2. Rinse and leave pasta in colander.
3. Return stockpot to stove top and wipe clean of water.
4. Heat olive oil over medium-low heat.
5. Add garlic, onion, basil, parsley, and oregano. Cook until onion softens.
6. If using raw peppers, add them now and cook until softened.
7. Add tomatoes. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
8. Add pepperoni. If using roasted peppers, add them now too. Cook until the mixture is heated through. You will hear the liquid begin to bubble. Turn off heat.
   
9. Add pasta back into stockpot. Stir well.
10. If using Parmesan cheese, add and stir. Enjoy!

Comments
This recipe makes enough for 4-5 servings. It's one of our favorites for leftovers since it keeps so well overnight. By using the spices and onion to flavor the oil, you eliminate the need for a fancy sauce; the diced tomatoes work perfectly.

Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

I am not going to lie any longer. I am addicted to soup. Every year as winter sets in, I get out the stockpot and begin the Soupstravaganza for the season. Or something like that. But seriously, there is nothing like a giant pot of soup on the stove and rolls warming in the oven. We had a friend over for dinner and this recipe served the three of us very hearty portions, with another left for my lunch tomorrow.

I used full fat sausage and didn't mind the fat in it; however, you can use a leaner sausage if you prefer - just add a little olive oil while browning the sausage so it doesn't stick to the pot.

This recipe was adapted from the one found here.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed (I used hot sausage)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups beef stock
• 2 carrots, thinly chopped
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 pinch dried basil (about 1/2 tsp)
  
• salt and pepper
• 3 cups water
  
• 10-12 oz. bag of dried tortellini (I used 12 oz. Barilla spinach and cheese tortellini)
• parmesan cheese (optional)
  

Directions

1. In a large stockpot, cook the sausage for about 5 minutes over medium heat, mashing it up with a spatula into small pieces.
2. Add the garlic and onion and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
3. Add the beef stock, carrots, zucchini, basil, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
4. Add the tortellini and water and cook until tortellini is cooked but not overdone.
5. Remove from heat, ladle into individual bowls and top with parmesan cheese, if desired.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

When I was young, my mother used to save the bread heels from each loaf. After collecting a bagful, we would go feed the ducks at one of the local ponds. This recipe, adapted from Mark Bittman's in How to Cook Everything, is another use for all those heels of bread, especially since I don't live near a duck pond anymore.


Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 lb small macaroni (I used elbow)
• 4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) butter (1 Tbsp for greasing, 3 Tbsp for the roux)
  
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2-3 heels of bread, ripped up into small pieces
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Use about 1 Tbsp butter to grease a 13x9 pan. Set aside.
   
3. Bring large pot of water to a boil. As water boils, salt well and add pasta. When pasta needs one or two more minutes until it's complete, drain, rinse in cold water to stop cooking, and return to pot.
   
4. While pasta is cooking, cook the milk with the bay leaves in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. When small bubbles appear around the sides, about 8-10 minutes later, turn off heat and pour into separate (glass or ceramic) bowl to let stand.
5. Return the empty saucepan to the stovetop over medium-low heat. Melt 3 Tbsp butter and when it is foamy, add the flour and cook, stirring with a whisk or fork until the mixture browns, about 5 minutes.
6. Remove the bay leaves from the milk and pour a large splash (about 1/4 cup) into the flour mixture, stirring with the whisk until the milk is incorporated. As soon as the mixture is smooth, add a little more milk and whisk, continuing this until milk is used up.
7. Add the cheddar and stir.
8. Pour the sauce over the noodles. Sprinkle the parmesan over top and stir. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Turn the noodles into the 13x9 pan and top with bread crumbs.
10. Bake until the bread crumbs turn brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Comments
This was really good, although I could have salted and peppered it more. I think it could have worked as a creamy dish (stopping after Step 8) if you wanted a homemade version of a boxed macaroni and cheese. I wonder what this would taste like with a leafy green baked into it.



What are some of your favorite alterations to macaroni and cheese?