Smoked Mozzerella and Penne Spinach Salad

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend!  We had such a wonderful few days.  On Saturday we went to a family party of a BBQ and flying kites with the cousins.  It was so much fun.  I brought this incredible salad to share that I found on this site.   It was scrumptious and I am trying to find another excuse to make it, I have been dreaming about it ever since. 


INGREDIENTS:
Parmesan Dressing:
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup white whine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Salad:
12 ounces penne pasta
3 cups packed baby spinach
12 ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and diced
4-6 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese, diced
DIRECTIONS:
For the dressing, combine the Parmesan cheese, parsley, mayo, vinegar, garlic, cayenne and salt and pepper in a blender and process until the dressing is smooth. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. The dressing can be made up to two days ahead of time.
To prepare the salad, cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water until just tender, al dente. Drain the pasta into a colander and run cold water over it and drain well. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked pasta, spinach, roasted red peppers and smoked mozzarella. At this point, the salad and dressing can be refrigerated for a couple of hours separately before serving.
Toss the salad with the dressing right before serving.

Tomato- Basil Chicken

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1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 can of tomato soup
1/2 cup of sour cream (0r milk)
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed dried basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 cups of pasta (of your choice)

1. In a skillet on medium- high heat, heat oil. Add chicken and cook 10 minutes (or until brown). Set chicken aside.

2. Add soup, sour cream, cheese, basil and garlic powder. Heat to a boil. Put chicken back into pan. Put heat on low and cook 5 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.

3. serve with pasta... so yummy.

Lion House Chicken Parmesean

Sorry it has been such a long time since I have posted. My family and I moved a couple of weeks ago, and with the holiday, things have been a little wild.

I am a huge fan of Chicken Parmesan. The first time I remember eating it was when I was I was on one of the worst dates of my life. It is a good thing that the Chicken Parmesan was good so the night wasn't a total waste :) My mom later gave me the recipe that she uses for it and it is so good. Her recipe is from here.

1/2 c. cornflake crumbs
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 oz dry ranch dressing mix (1 envelope)
6 boneless chicken breasts
3/4 c shredded Parmesan cheese
26 oz spaghetti sauce
cooked pasta

In a shallow bowl, combine cornflake crumbs, 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, and ranch mix. Coat both sides of chicken with mix. Place in 9X13 inch pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Spray tops of chicken with the spray to keep it moist. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Just prior to serving sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Heat spaghetti sauce and serve over pasta and chicken.

Beef Stroganoff

I had never even tasted Stroganoff before I got married. Thanks to my favorite cookbook however, I found a recipe for it that I have used pretty much my entire married life. I really love it and I have had quite a few people ask for my recipe. Well you luckies get it today.


1 1-2 pounds beef tenderloin or boneless top loin steak (I use petite sirloin steak)
2 TBS butter or stick margarine
1 1-2 cups beef broth
2 TBS ketchup
1 teaspoon salt
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
3 cups sliced mushrooms (8 oz)
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 TBS all-purpose flour
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I only use 1/2-3/4 of a cup)
Hot cooked noodles or rice (I use egg noodles)

1. Cut beef across grain into about strips (beef is easier to cut partially frozen)

2. Melt butter in 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat. cook beef in butter, stirring occasionally, until brown.

3. Reserve 1/3 cup of the broth. Stir remaining broth, the ketchup, salt and garlic into skillet. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until beef is tender.

4. Stir mushrooms and onion. cover and simmer about 5 minutes, or until onion is tender.

5. Shake reserved broth and the flour in tightly covered container; gradually stir into beef mixture. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. boil and stir 1 minute; reduce heat to low.

6. Stir in sour cream; heat until hot. Serve over noodles.

Bow Tie Lasagna

This is one of our families favorite meals. It is a great fast and easy version of lasagna. I got it from my great go-to ward cookbook.

8 oz. bow tie pasta
1 TBS vegetable oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 (12 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
1 c. cottage cheese
1 large egg
2 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
4 oz grated Mozzarella cheese
8 oz. ground beef (or ground turkey)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease an 8 inch square baking dish. Cook pasta according to package directions for half the amount of time given.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over moderate heat. Add onion and saute for 1 minute. Stir in ground beef and cook until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add spaghetti sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; partially cover the skillet and simmer the sauce for 5 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg, and Parmesan. Drain pasta. Layer half the pasta in baking dish. Spoon the cottage cheese mixture over the pasta. Spoon half of the meat sauce over the cheese mixture and sprinkle with half the Mozzarella. Layer the remaining pasta sauce and Mozzarella. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through and serve.

My Mom's Macaroni and Cheese

My kids LOVE macaroni and cheese, especially the Kraft kind. There is something about the flourencent orange color that makes me definitely want to limit how much we eat it (they now have whole grain kind, which I am thrilled about). My mom made homemade macaroni and cheese while I was growing up and I LOVED it!

My mom is one of those cooks that doesn't use a recipe very much. She throws in a dash of this and a pinch of that. I however, need a recipe for most things so I have asked her to write down her secrets over the years. This one is so good!

1 1/2 cups of macaroni (I use all sorts of pasta for this)
2 TBS butter
1 1/2 TBS flour
4 shakes onion salt
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped ham if desired

Bring 5 cups of salted water to a boil. Add about 1 1/2 cups of macaroni . Boil until tender.

In another saucepan melt 2 TBS of butter. Take 1 1/2 TBS of flour and stir with 4 shakes of onion salt (that is as exact as we can get, but four shakes should do it :) Whisk in 1 1/2 cups of half and half. Turn down the heat and stir with whisk while the mixture thickens. Add grated cheddar cheese. Take the pan off the heat and let the cheese melt while you stir it in. Tast to correct the onion salt :)

Add drained macaroni and stir all together. If it is too thick for you, add more milk.

I also put about 1 cup of chopped ham into this if we make it for dinner and the kids love it!

Meatballs and Marinara Sauce

I had never eaten a meatball until I got married. I LOVE meatballs and used to buy the big bags of them at Costco. I now make my own because they really aren't that hard! I found this great recipe in "The Essential Mormon Cookbook" along with a recipe to dress up your jar of marinara sauce. So good!

Meatballs

1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 lb. lean ground beef (you can also use ground turkey)
1 egg
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, pressed (optional)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
1 recipe Pasta sauce (see below)
1 lb dried spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

In a large bowl combine bread crumbs, ground beef, egg, the 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, garlic, onion, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Divide mixture into 12 equal portions and form meatballs. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until no longer pink inside.
Place Pasta sauce and meatballs in a medium saucepan and simmer 10 minutes. Serve over spaghetti. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese and Mozzarella cheese on individual servings. Makes 6 servings.

Pasta Sauce
2 tbs olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup fresh or canned mushrooms (optional)
1 (28 oz) jar pasta sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 roma tomato, finely chopped
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme

In a medium saucepan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until tender. Add mushrooms, if desired, and heat about 2 minutes. Add garlic and saute for about 1 minute. Do not overcook, as garlic will become bitter. Add jar of pasta sauce, sugar tomato, oregano, and thyme. Cook over medium low heat for about 15 minutes to blend flavors.

Fabulous Lasagna

My husband's favorite food is lasagna. Needless to say that is a dish that I try to make well since it is his favorite and I don't want him wishing he was at Olive Garden if I am going to go to the trouble to make it. I don't have a picture for this one since I just made it, realized I needed it on my blog, and didn't take one...oh well you have all seen lasagna before right? Well, picture that and you are golden.

The funny thing about this recipe is it is the one from the back of the American Beauty Lasagna noodles box. Yep it is the best one that I have ever found. I have tried them all. The only thing we do different is I use cottage cheese instead of Ricotta (we aren't big ricotta fans...it's a texture thing). It is pretty easy though a little time consuming, but so yummy! Each time I bring this somewhere I am asked for the recipe. So you can either go and look at the back of your lasagna noodles box, or keep reading.

1 lb ground beef (I use ground turkey, just as good)
2 cups of spaghetti sauce (your own or from a jar)
1 package (I use 9 pieces) lasagna noodles, prepared according to the package directions
4 cups cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley (dried is fine too but use less)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet brown meat; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce, simmer for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir together cottage cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. Spread about 1/3 cup meat sauce on bottom (I don't think I even do that much, just enough to make it not stick-I'd rather use the meat higher up :) of 13x9x2 baking dish. Arrange 4 pasta pieces lengthwise over sauce (I use my 9th noodle to break in half in case my noodles aren't long enough for my dish...which for some reason they never are!) overlapping edges. Spread on-third cheese mixture over pasta; spread with about 3/4 cup meat sauce. Repeat twice beginning and ending with pasta. Top with remaining meat sauce; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Cover with foil. Bake 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove foil; bake about 10 additional minutes, or until lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting (never happens here).

Chicken Alfredo

This is one of my favorite meals!

6 oz bow tie pasta
2 TBS. butter
1/2 lb chicken cut into strips
2 green onions
1 TBS butter
3/4 c. mushrooms
2 TBS fresh or 1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tbs garlic powder
2 c. heavy cream
3/4 grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 pepper

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside. In a large skillet heat butter over medium heat. Add chicken and stir-fry about 5 minutes or until cooked through. In a separate pan saute green onions in 1 tbs butter until tender. Add mushrooms, thyme and sauteed onions to chicken. Add garlic powder, cream, cheese, salt and pepper. Simmer about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked and tender. Serve over pasta.