Baked Ziti

Garlic. Tomato Sauce. Pasta. Crusty bread. Italian food rocks! Its probably my favorite type of food, which in a way kind of stinks since Jeremy doesn't care for tomatoes or tomato sauce (but he loves ketchup..go figure!). He will amuse me every once in awhile though and eat spaghetti or lasagna. When I asked him if he thought he would like this baked ziti from Cook like a Champion and he said, "Sure, go ahead and make it!" I was thrilled! I think the only reason why is because its full of cheese too, which he loves. Anyway, this ziti is awesome! Its so super simple, but full of flavor. We served it with garlic Texas toast for a very filling meal!



Original Source: Everyday Food

Ingredients
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 ounces ziti rigate (ridged) or other short pasta
1 cup part-skim ricotta
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 jar (24 to 26 ounces) best-quality tomato sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)

*note: I also add about 1-2 tsp of dried parsley to the cheese/egg mixture*

Preheat oven to 450°.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions; drain and reserve. In a small bowl, combine ricotta, egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and half the mozzarella; season with salt and pepper. In the bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole dish, spread half the tomato sauce. Top with ziti, then ricotta mixture and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and remaining mozzarella. Place casserole on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until top is browned and sauce is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

It's beginning to feel a lot like fall!

Last weekend was pretty chilly here and it got me into a fall mood. I love the fall, it most definitely my favorite season. Not only is the air cooler and crisp, but fall brings football (woohoo!!), bonfires, the smell of burning leaves, the smells of apple pie, and pumpkin! I had seen a recipe back at the beginning of summer on Cook like a Champion for a pumpkin bread and now I really wanted to try it! I was kind of curious about the use of pumpkin and chocolate together. I had never had that combination before. It works wonderfully together! This bread is so incredibly moist and not too bad for you either, since it's orginally from Cooking Light. It's a win, win!

**NOTE**I made this bread again, but I didn't have chocolate chips or pure canned pumpkin. I used Libby's pumpkin pie mix in place of the pure pumpkin and left out the chocolate...it was awesome as well!!



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla pudding (or fat-free vanilla yogurt)
4 large egg whites (or 2 eggs)
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (you could also use walnuts or pecans)
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Crispy Baked Chicken Strips and Mac & Cheese

Let me first start off by saying that I love the Food Network! One of my favorite shows is called Good Eats. Alton Brown is the host of the show and a genius if you ask me! His shows are full of great recipes, but he also tells you the science behind why you do things a certain way to make your recipe work.



Yes, I guess you could say that I'm a food geek! Anyway, back to my post. I found this recipe by Alton Brown for homemade mac & cheese awhile back. Ive made it many, many times and never been disappointed. I do, however, make some changes. I will post his original recipe, but put my changes in parentheses ().

Source:Food Network

Ingredients

1/2 pound of elbow macaroni
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp powdered mustard
3 cups of milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced (I leave this out, since Jeremy doesnt like onions)
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, grated (I use a bit less than 1/2 pound of velveeta in the actual dish, I like the way it melts better. I use shredded cheddar on the top instead of the bread crumbs)
1 tsp kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

topping
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup of panko break crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes to make the sauce thicker and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.



To go along with this fabulous mac & cheese, I need an equally fabulous main dish. I searched through some food blogs and found this recipe by Bridget from The Way the Cookie Crumbles. Who doesnt love chicken strips, especially with mac & cheese? I loved the way that these are baked, not friend, but they still have that crunch to them when you bite in! The brine really does give a lot of flavor to the actual chicken.

1/4 cup table salt
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips (I used chicken breast tenderloins)
1/4 cup flour
6 Tbsp (1/2 stick butter), melted
2 cups finely crushed corn flakes cereal

Dissolve the salt in 1 quart cold water. Add the chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove the cutlets from the brine and pat dry.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 400F. Place an oven-safe baking rack in a baking sheet.

Place the flour and butter in separate small bowls. Add the crushed cereal to a medium-sized bowl. Dip the chicken pieces in the flour, then the butter, then the cereal. Place the coated chicken strips on the baking rack in the baking sheet.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink. Serve.