what's for dinner tonight: penne con la ricotta

Pasta is always such a wonderful meal for friends. I had a couple friends over for a Friday night potluck. We had a wonderful and warm meal with wine and bean dip! This meal was modified from a Pinterest pin I saw a little while back. The recipe itself was incredibly easy to make, it was yummy, and it pleased those who ate it. I made about 10 servings with this, cut the recipe in half for a small family dinner.

Ingredients:

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 lbs. of penne

2 cans of diced tomatoes

20 oz. of Ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups of basil, chopped

4 tbsp. of lime juice

6 tbsp. of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Shredded Parmesan 

Roughly chop the basil.

In a large sauce pan, heat up the olive oil on medium-high heat. Once the oil is warmed, saute the garlic for less than a minute, or until the garlic starts to brown.

Add in the basil. Most recipes do not call for the basil until the sauce itself is almost done cooking, but I like to add the basil at the very beginning mostly because the basil aromas are much heavier in the sauce this way.

Add the diced tomatoes after the basil leaves begin to wilt.

Wait until the sauce starts to simmer before turning the heat to medium-low. Cover the lid and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the penne until al dente. Season the noodles with salt and add some olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking.

After 20-30 minutes, season the sauce with salt and pepper, and add in the Ricotta cheese.

Mix well.

Drain the noodles, then add them into the sauce, mix well.

Garnish with some additional basil leaves and shredded Parmesan.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: mango tofu

I recently went to Encore on Mass St. in Lawrence and ordered their mango tofu-- fell in love. It was absolutely delicious, so I thought I'd try out my own recipe, to try to re-create it. I came pretty close!

Ingredients: 

1/4 cup of white vinegar

1/4 cup of ketchup

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 tbsp. of soy sauce

1 tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce

1 can of pineapple juice, from a 15 oz can of pineapple chunks

1 1/2 tbsp. of potato starch 

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 inches of ginger, minced

2 tbsp. of chili flakes

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced

1 mango, slightly ripened

1 container of firm tofu, sliced

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Take your tofu out of the container and pat dry with paper towel. Slice up your tofu into long, 3 inch pieces.

In a skillet, heat up a few tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat and pan fry the tofu until they are golden on all sides.

Line a plate with a paper towel, and let it soak up any additional oil.

Mince both the garlic and ginger. Thank goodness for my mini food processor!! Such a time saver.

Slice up the red and green bell peppers.

Skin off the first two layers of the mango, using a vegetable peeler. When you pick out your mango, you want to make sure it's ripe, but that it's still relatively hard. Using a very ripe mango will end up a mushy mess after it's been cooked.

For those who have little to no experience with mangos, the pit is directly in the center, so be careful when slicing the mango. Slice it in thirds and throw the pit away. I was able to get a little bit of mango meat from the sides, since the pit is an oval shape. 

Slice up the rest of the mango into long strips.

In a skillet, on medium-high heat, saute the garlic, ginger and chili flakes in a few tablespoons of olive oil.

Combine the vinegar, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar and soy sauce.

Put the liquid into the skillet.

Add the pineapple juice.

And lastly the potato starch. I made the mistake of forgetting to mix the starch with some room temperature fluid, which ended up clumping together in the sauce. It took a while for that to separate, so I'd recommend mixing it into the pineapple juice before putting it into the skillet.

Mix well, and let the sauce simmer, it will begin to thicken.

Once the sauce begins to thicken (about 2-3 minutes), add the red and green bell pepper and mango. Toss well, and let this cook for about 5-8 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add in the tofu (we add the tofu last, or the skin of the tofu will begin to soften from the sauce and cooking).

Serve on some rice!

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom..

what's for dinner tonight: spinach lasagna roll-ups

I love all things with spinach. I made spinach burgers from a few months back, I put it in my pasta the other night, I even add spinach to my smoothies for an extra boost of green! I was so excited to make this recipe.

Ingredients:

20 oz. of pasta sauce, I used my penne a la Maggie sauce

10 lasagna noodles

15 oz of cottage cheese, I substitute cottage for ricotta, it's a healthier version

1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan 

1/2 cup of shredded Mozzarella

1 egg

10 oz of spinach, thawed and drained

Salt and pepper

Make the penne a la Maggie sauce, or just use canned pasta sauce! Preheat the oven to 350.

Make the lasagna noodles, according to the package. Make sure you season the water and add some olive oil to prevent the noodles from sticking to one another.

Meanwhile, combine the egg, spinach, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Mix together.

When the noodles have finished cooking, drain the noodles and rinse with cold water. Set it into a bowl of cold water to stop the noodles from cooking any more. Once the noodles have cooled, drain again and pat then dry individually with paper towel. 

Ladle about 2 cups of sauce onto the bottom of a casserole dish.

Take one lasagna noodle on a flat surface, and spoon about 3 tablespoons of the filling onto the noodle.

Using your fingers, roll up the lasagna.

Arrange the rolls into the casserole dish.

Ladle a few more cups onto the tops of each roll, and add the shredded Mozzarella on top. Lay aluminum foil on top of the dish and bake for 20 minutes, then take the foil off and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: shrimp and spinach pasta with pimento peppers and feta

Ingredients:

Shrimp (I only used about 1 cup)

1 lbs of linguine pasta

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

1 can of artichoke hearts

1 4 oz. container of pimentos 

2 tbsp. of chili flakes

1 tbsp. of basil

4 tbsp. of olive oil

2 tbsp. of lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

In a big pot of boiling water, cook your noodles until al dente. Make sure to add olive oil and salt to prevent the noodles from sticking, and also to season the pasta.

In a large skillet, heat your olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the garlic, chili flakes, and basil. The chili flakes will release their heat, and the basil will release their aromas.

Add the shrimp once the garlic begins to brown.

After sauteing for a couple of minutes, add the pimentos and artichoke hearts. The pimentos added some sweetness to the dish, which really complimented the chili flakes. Saute for a few minutes.

Then add your spinach. No worries, the leaves will begin to sweat and will decrease in size dramatically. 

Season the veggies with some salt and pepper and add your lime juice.

Drain the pasta and add to the pan. Toss, toss, toss!

Add some feta cheese on top and you are set!

Nom, nom, nom...