Disaster Strikes! - Homemade Manicotti

Happy Memorial Day! What a beautiful day it has been, despite the fact it started at 5:45 am :) It was well worth it! The Banks family participated for the 2nd year in the Bolder Boulder, the 2nd largest 10k race in the country, with 55,000 runners/walkers. At 27 weeks pregnant, my momma and I clocked in at just under 2 hours ... we did good, especially considering that daggon hill at the end! 

A workout like that requires a superstar dinner, especially because "lunch" came from the goodie bags we earned, consisting of 2 bags of Boulder potato chips, a bag of fruit snacks and a fruit bar. I KINDA snuck in some McDonald's fries and a sweet tea on the way home (and enjoyed every single fry). So ... after playtime with D, and nap time for me ... it was onward and forward to the TRUE challenge of the day... homemade manicotti (including noodles). 

I was a little concerned about how all this would turn out, but the "noodles" actually weren't TOO terrible to make, and actually quite a bit quicker than boiling a huge pot of water and cooking boxed noodles. The noodles were actually a crepe mix, to be filled with a ricotta mixture and baked with sauce. I was cooking my last few noodles, and as they were frying I started to make the filling ... only to find my container of ricotta cheese was covered in "fur", a whole 2 weeks before the expiration date! I was devastated. It WAS going to be SO good! 

However. The upside. I got to eat the last of the leftovers of the Creamy Summer Chicken Pasta! Teeeheehee. 

The recipe below is one that I used for the noodles and would have used for the filling, with the addition of some garlic, roasted red pepper, basil and oregano for some more flavor. I can't say how it would have turned out, but because I am simply amazing!, I can guess it would have been delicious. Enjoy! 

Noodles: 

1.5 C all purpose flour

1 C milk

1/2 t salt

3 eggs

Filling: 

1.5 lbs ricotta cheese

1 C shredded cheese of choice (romano?)

1 egg

herbs as desired

1 jar pasta sauce

Directions: Whisk together all noodle ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a lightly oiled pan, drop 2 T of batter into the pan to create a 5" circle and fry until set ... do not flip. Seperate finished noodles by sheets of wax paper so as not to make them stick. 

Preheat oven to 350. Mix together filling ingredients. Spread half a jar of your favorite pasta sauce in the bottom of your pan. Drop 2-3 t of filling into the center of each noodle and wrap. Place crease side into the pasta sauce. Use remaining sauce to cover the noodles, and if desired top with more cheese! Cover and bake for 20 minutes, uncover and bake for a remaining 20 minutes ... sprinkle with even more cheese and enjoy! 

A Busy Week!

The next week ahead is going to be pretty hectic! I will be cleaning our home in preparation for a yard sale (my way of collecting funds for a daddy's day present)! The week starts off with a Memorial Day 10K ... being pregnant will make it quite interesting! I have my daycare kiddos with me on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday ... whew! Thursday is filled with my 28 week appointment and putting together Danika's new toddler bed! WOOHOO! So ... meals this week are pretty simple and filled with basics for my own sanity. They include (so watch out for!) ...

Monday - homemade manicotti (noodles included!) *

Tuesday - Fajitas

Wednesday - Red Curry Noodles with Tofu *

Thursday - Vegetarian taco salad *

Friday - French Bread Pizza with pineapple and roasted red pepper

Saturday - Baked ziti *

Sunday - Black bean burgers with tahini sauce * 

* recipe will be posted at some point! 

A Delightful Dessert!

As it seems I am making about 2-3 new recipes each week, and in general I try to be relatively healthy or modify recipes to be lower fat/cholesterol, I figure I can try my hand at this baking thing occasionally. It seems about once a week I try a new recipe that leads to my mouth watering and many sneak bites along the way. 

This week? Cherry Cobbler! I'm not so much a fan of the canned cherry pie filling as the syrup is just too "high fructose corn syrup" tasting. After eating so healthy for so long, it's easy to pick out the crap. So, I found a recipe using fresh cherries and simple steps :) 

I bought my cherries and realized I had no cherry pitter! ARGH! It took me a good 1/2 hour to halve and pit 2 C of cherries, but it brought back memories of picking cherries with my gramma willie in the beautiful Colorado summer. Apple, strawberry and cherry picking are some of the few and special memories I have with her. She always made the best pies! 

This was a delicious "cobbler" that was a perfect compliment to a thunderstormy evening snuggled up with the husband watching "The Blind Side". 

Serves 12 

Crust:

1/2 C Butter

! C flour

1 C sugar

1 t baking powder

1 C milk

2 t nutmeg

2 t cinnamon

2 T brown sugar

Filling

2 C pitted cherries

1 T flour

3/4 C sugar

1 T brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a 9x13 pan. While butter is melting, in a small bowl mix remaining crust ingredients together. Pour over melted butter.  Mix cherries and remaining filling ingredients together, evenly coating the cherries. Pour into the crust and butter mixture, do not stir. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Crust should be golden brown. 

Critique :

Him: AMAZING! No complaints here! 

Her: Absolutely delicious! The original recipe did not call for cinnamon, nutmeg or brown sugar at all - that was my contribution, so add as much as little as you enjoy, or leave out all together. There was WAY too much butter ... yes, I LOVE butter, but it was settling on top of the cobbler and kinda ruined it for me. I will halve the butter next time. I halved this entire recipe and made it in an 8x8 pan, so I wouldn't eat as much :) I'm glad I added in brown sugar, as it seemed to crystallize the crust and was outstanding! 

Creamy Summer Chicken Pasta

I am just so excited that summer has arrived! Some of my very favorite things about this season include ... 

ICE CREAM! Blueberry pies. Peaches. Nectarines. Strawberry Shortcakes. Dog parks. ICE CREAM. In fact, I think I'll go have an ice cream sandwich now! Margaritas (virgin this year .... ). looking forward to Danika running through the sprinklers. American flags waving in the wind. Thunderstorms. Iced sweet, refresshing tea. Lemonade. Ice cream. :) Just a few! Always more ... 

One of my favorite things is the availability of inexpensive, but healthy and fresh fruits and veggies. When I was pregnant with Danika through the summer, I ate 5-6 peaches DAILY! Delicious! Here is a recipe that I made 2 days ago and will make many times more ...

Creamy Summer Chicken Pasta

2 C Heavy Whipping Cream (you know when THAT is the first ingredient, it will be good!)

1 T Butter

2 C Shredded Cheese

2 Zucchini, peeled and sliced

2 Squash, peeled and sliced

1 C grape tomatoes, halved

3 T olive oil

2 T Garlic

1 T Rosemary

8 oz spiral pasta

chicken (I used 1/2 bag Quorn chicken tender substitute)

Cook spiral pasta according to directions on label. While the pasta is cooking, warm heavy whipping cream and butter until butter melts. Add cheese and stir until melted ... take off heat but keep warm. 

In the meantime, heat oil and 1 T garlic ... sautee squash and zucchini until tender. 

Heat 1 T oil and 1 T garlic ... cook chicken as normal (Not sure what that means!) ... sprinkle rosemary over chicken as it cooks. 

Once pasta has been drained, add cheese sauce, vegetables, tomatoes, and chicken to the pasta, stir well. Allow to cook and sauce to thicken, about 10 minutes. Enjoy! 

Critique: 

Him: I wish I had real chicken! It was a delicious meal, but as I am not a fan of zucchini (or veggetables in general) I would have prefered them to be left out. 

Her: OMG! Most favorite meal I've had in a long time! It was absolutely delightful, and a little bit sinful knowing how much fat there was in this :) I think next time I might substitute fat free evaporated milk for a lower fat meal. The combination of squash and zucchini added a nice flavor and the tomatoes added an occasional surprise bite! Danika loved the noodles (noodoos) and even didn't seem to mind the veggies! This is definitely a keeper!

Falafel PItas

SO ... a couple years ago I was in a pretty serious relationship ... that is, we were pretty serious about food! This gentleman was a wonderful person, just clearly not for me. I learned a LOT from him, as he is a cancer survivor, originally diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma. Chances were slim that he would survive, and after many traditional chemo treatments failed, he turned to a very rigorous diet and exercise program, including a nearly 100% organic and raw diet. Upon achieving remission, he continued to carry those lifestyle habits with him. 

After several months of dating, we found ourselves cooking dinner together almost every night. Let me tell you ... by honoring his comittment to an organic and ridiculously healthy diet, my grocery bill skyrocketed ... a big change from easy mac bowls and soy dogs! It was well worth it, though ... I discovered my love for running and eating a healthy and well balanced vegetarian diet, which I carried with me for much longer than I carried our relationship. 

One of the "discoveries" I uncovered is how much disgusting and unpronouncable CRAP is in a lot of boxed food items, though there are some not as bad things out there. One of my favorite "boxed" food items is falafel ... yep! Just add water and DEEP FRY! Healthy, right? Hmm. 

So, the last few months I've been testing out a few different homemade falafel recipes ... and this time even baked them for a healthier alternative! Here is the recipe I followed ...

1 15 oz can garbanzo beans

1 onion

1 egg

2 cloves chopped garlic

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

pinch cayenne

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp lemon juice

1 C dry bread crumbs

pinch salt/pepper

Using a fork (apparently a food processor will not create the right texture), mash up garbanzo beans until kinda creamy ... I found it helped to microwave the beans for 30-45 seconds to soften them before mashing. In a food processor, blend garlic and onion until smooth. Add into garbanzo mush, mixing in the egg and all spices, lemon juice and baking soda. Gradually add in dry bread crumbs until desired texture is attained. 

Roll into 2 inch balls and flatten into patties. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes on the first side, flip patties and bake for 10 minutes on alternate side. Let cool. 

Yogurt Dill Sauce 

1 6 oz container plain yogurt

1/2 cucumber, seeded, peeled and finely chopped

1 T dill

The original recipe also called for 1 T mayonnaise, but it was great without it. Mix all ingredients together ... I HATE chopping, so I dumped all ingredients into my food processor along with a clove of chopped garlic ... and WALLAH! Delish! 

Pile on falafel patties (1 used 3-4), yogurt dill sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, sliced cucumbers onto a whole wheat flatbread and chow down! 

Delicious side dish : Tabouleh with grape tomato and avacado :) 

Critique: 

Him: It had a good flavor, but I'd rather have it fried

Her: Delicious! It was much tastier knowing it wasn't ladden with oil, but it lacks in protein so it didn't satisfy for very long. But then again I'm pregnant and need to eat hourly anyway...

Goat Cheese Pasta with Chicken and Tomatoes

Disclaimer : At any given time, when I refer to chicken, it is usually meant to refer to Quorn Chicken Substitute. 

Ingredients: 

Chicken, as much as you want, cubed

2 oz goat cheese

8 oz mezze penne pasta

3/4 C Olive Oil

1 C grape tomatoes, halved

2 T chopped garlic

1 T Thyme

1. Boil enough water to cook pasta ... follow general pasta cooking directions or read the box :)

2. While pasta is in the process of cooking, oil, add in garlic, thyme and tomatoes. Simmer until tomatoes are tender and oil is aromatic and flavorful!

3. Cook chicken according to general chicken cooking directions. 

4. Once pasta has been drained, stir in 2oz of crumbled goat cheese and stir until thoroughly melted and coating the pasta. Add in chicken and herb/tomato infused oil and mix thoroughly. 

5. EnjoY! 

Wifey's Critique: Definitely needs more cheese, but it was simply delicious :) The grape tomatoes were delicious with the goat cheese, but I have to make a substitution next time. QUorn makes a "chicken" breast that has goat cheese and cranberries in the middle which is just to die for. I wonder how it would taste to add in dried cranberries in place of the tomatoes (not cooked, of course, just added in the end)... mmmmmm 

A Few of My Favorite Things

I decided to start blogging about my cooking adventures, simply because I've gotten such joy out of them. I never, ever imagined I'd be a wife that makes a delicious dinner each night ... grilled cheese and tomato soup, french bread pizza, and pasta with salad used to be my gourmets! Somewhere in this pregnancy I started to get an inkling for more flavorful dishes and thus began my adventures in cooking. I started menu planning, which actually reduced my grocery bill dramatically. I had a challenge ahead of me, as my husband LOVES meat, and I refuse to cook it in fear of food poisoning him or Danika. So ... began the journey of finding dishes everyone in my family would love that would satisfy this little baby growing in my belly. 

A few of my favorite things I've discovered over the last few months ...

* Quorn hydrolyzed vegetable protein meat substitutes (particularly chicken)

* a wide range of sizes in cooking pots, pans and baking dishes ... 

* silicone baking pans in a variety of sizes

* ricotta cheese. feta cheese. goat cheese. CHEESE. 

* Herbs

* storage containers for leftovers :)