Sunday Dinner

Aloooooha!

We finally got ourselves moved into our new condo! We literally weren't sure where we were moving to until the day of the move, because there was some confusion with the rental agent. It was a slightly stressful experience, but I am so happy we are settled and that everything worked itself out. The kitchen makes me so happy everytime I walk into it. I figured there was no better way to christen the kitchen than to have my family over for Sunday dinner. I thought it'd be a good idea to share our "menu" for the evening with you guys. You'll notice it is all Italian food. We are not a drop Italian, but we sure love to eat their food like we are! I'm thinking about starting a monthly Sunday dinner with a different style cuisine each time. My next one will be Portuguese since that's what I am. If anyone has some great Portuguese recipes to share, please email them along at cookingwithcait@gmail.com.



Mama brought a delicious tossed salad (I'll have to grab the recipe from her for you kids)
Parmesan Garlic Bread & Balls
Manicotti (I will come back on and share this bad larry soon I promise)
Sausage & Mushroom Stuffed Shells
Tiramisu



Sausage & Mushroom Stuffed Shells

One of my favorite combinations is sausage and mushrooms. I love sausage stuffed mushrooms, sausage and mushroom pizza, and now, sausage and mushroom stuffed shells. I love stuffed shells in general. They are a lot of work, but you can make a bunch ahead of time and then freeze them for a quick meal later. I used my homemade marinara sauce with them. If you haven't tried my recipe for homemade marinara, please do immediately. Once you start making your own sauce, you'll never go back to jarred sauce. I usually quadruple the recipe and jar it with quart sized mason jars.

1 box jumbo shells
2 cups marinara sauce

1.235 lb package of Italian sausage, casing removed

1 15 oz ricotta cheese
1 8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup romano cheese, grated
1 cup mozzarella cheese, plus more to sprinkle on top
1 egg, beaten
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tsp fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 cups chopped mushrooms

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook shells as directed on package. Cook Italian sausage in skillet until brown and crumbly. In a mixer, beat cream cheese until soft. Add in ricotta, parmesan, romano, mozzarella, beaten egg, garlic, basil, parsley, salt and pepper until well combined. Mix in sausage and mushrooms. Fill each shell with mixture. Coat the bottom of a baking dish with enough marinara to cover the bottom. Lay shells on top of marinara. Cover shells with more marinara and sprinkle more mozzarella cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Shrimp Carbonara

I have always wanted to successfully pull off a carbonara dish. I was in the grocery store the other day and was completely uninspired to pick out ingredients that would actually come together to make anything decent. I picked pork, bacon, marscarpone cheese, shrimp, and milk hoping that one of these ingredients would be useful by the time I got to my stove. It ended up that the bacon, marscarpone and shrimp inspired me to make a Shrimp Carbonara. It came out so creamy and delicious and was relatively easy to make. I know the picture isn't the greatest, but I couldn't wait any longer to dive right in. The smell of bacon and garlic coming from my stove were killing me. I hope you all like it too!

1 lb pasta
2 tbsp butter
6 slices bacon
1/4 tsp oregano
5 cloves garlic
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup marscarpone cheese
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup romano cheese, grated
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 lb shrimp, fully cooked and diced

Cook pasta as directed on box.

In a medium saucepan, cook bacon in butter until crispy. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic. Cook garlic for 2-3 minutes. Whisk in heavy cream and marscarpone cheese. In a small mixing bowl, combine yolks, parmesan and romano. Add a spoonful of cream sauce to egg mixture to warm the eggs. Stir egg mixture into rest of cream mixture until well combined. Add in shrimp and allow to heat through for 2-3 minutes. Toss with pasta and serve with additional grated parmesan if desired.

Chicken Cutlets with Pasta in Garlic Butter

I don't usually like to toot my horn but I'm about to toot away. This recipe was delicious! I have to say my favorite part of having this blog is that it forces me to try different flavor combinations. I've watched Rachael Ray for years and I've seen her quite a few times cook with anchovies. I was always a bit curious about trying it in a recipe. I was at my favorite store, Executive Chef, and I saw anchovy paste and I bought it without knowing what I'd use it for. Don't tell Jon, but I put it in the sauce. If you think you wouldn't like it, please try it anyways. It gave it a salty flavor just like Rachael said it would. That lady knows what she's talking about.

I also made some sacrifices so I could make the garlic butter sauce and not feel totally guilty. I used a whole wheat pasta and oven baked the chicken rather than fry it. It still came out amazing. I'd say the stick of butter had something to do with it!

1 lb chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 lb pasta, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water

1 stick butter
4-5 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp anchovy paste
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat baking sheet or pan with olive oil.



Like my mismatched plates?



<3 gunk on my hands!

Set up three plates. First with flour, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Second with eggs. Third with panko and parmesan. Toss each chicken breast in flour, then eggs, back to flour, again in eggs, and then lastly in breadcrumb mixture. Repeat with both chicken breasts. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and cooked throughout.

Melt butter in frying pan, add garlic and whisk in anchovy paste, oregano, flour and lemon juice. Allow sauce to simmer on low heat for 20-25 minutes.

Toss pasta with reserved pasta water and garlic butter sauce. Add extra parmesan cheese if desired. Serve with chicken on top and enjoy!



Alfredo Sauce

One of my favorite meals in the entire world is pasta with alfredo sauce. It is so delicious. I usually go lazy and do canned alfredo sauce. However, I had a bunch of parmesan cheese left over from the pizza night so I decided I would encourage Jon to follow my recipe and whip up a quick, easy and delicious alfredo sauce for our pasta. He did so well, it was so yummy!

1 stick butter

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

2 teaspoons granulated garlic

1 cup milk

2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter on stovetop. Add in cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Add garlic, milk, parmesan, nutmeg and salt and pepper. Serve over cooked pasta and enjoy!

Three Cheese Chicken Pasta

So last night I didn't feel like doing back flips to get dinner on the table. As I've mentioned, I'm in retail so this month is incredibly tiring for me. I found a recipe on the inside of a cream cheese package for spaghetti mixed with cream cheese. I made a few changes and whipped it together real quick.

I was so excited at how delicious it was. I really think its a new household favorite now. Hope you guys like it too!

Three Cheese Chicken Pasta

2 lbs pasta
1/2 stick butter
1 8 oz. container cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups pasta sauce
2 cups shredded chicken
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated romano cheese

Cook pasta as directed on package. Drain pasta and set to side. In pasta pot, melt 1/2 stick butter on medium heat. Add cream cheese and pasta sauce to pot and stir to combine. Add in chicken, parmesan and romano. Pour pasta back into pot and toss with sauce.

Homemade Raviolis

Hey Kids!

I can't even begin to express my love for raviolis. They are so amazing. I used to just buy the frozen stuff you buy in the grocery store. Now, my Kitchen Aid mixer has made these so easy to make from scratch. If you don't have a mixer, you can just cut the raviolis with a pizza cutter and shape the edges with a fork. This ravioli filling ends up making extra, which I'm going to use in my next recipe for stromboli.

6 Sheets of Homemade Pasta

Ravioli Filling:
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 clove garlic, grated or finely minced
1 tbsp parsely, chopped
1 egg

Start boiling water on stovetop for ravioli using large pasta pot. Combine together all ravioli filling ingredients in large mixing bowl. Use Kitchen Aid mixer to form raviolis. Season water and drop in raviolis. Allow to cook for about 4-5 minutes, until raviolis are floating at top. Serve with marinara or alfredo sauce and Buon Appetito!

Almost Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Marinara

Hey Everyone!

So this year for my birthday my parents surprised me with a beautiful Kitchenaid mixer. I know most "normal" 24 year old girls would have just wanted a Coach purse or a gift certificate to get a massage or something. I guess I'm not normal. For the past couple years, at the top of my "wish list" was the Kitchenaid mixer. It's just such a beautiful machine. A couple years ago Jon finally got me a hand mixer for my birthday. Up until then, I had been doing everything by hand, from beating egg whites to making mashed potatoes. Obnoxious!

I decided since I was so excited about this machine, I would borrow my parent's pasta attachments and make some fresh pasta from scratch. The nicest part of the mixer is you can buy additional attachments. They have meat grinder, pasta maker, ice cream maker... My parents had bought all the attachments for theirs and never used them. They said the pasta didn't come out like it should and the instructions weren't helpful. I included here a YouTube video of a guy who works for Kitchenaid showing how to roll out the pasta and then turn it into ravioli. I made spaghetti for this recipe, but once you get how to form the dough and roll out the pasta sheets, making the spaghetti is simple.

The thing I truly love about making your own pasta is you control the ingredients! If you want organic pasta, you can make it! If you want whole wheat, you can make it! You can throw some spinach in there and then cover it with my marinara sauce and your kids might not even know its good for them.

The first time I made this pasta last week I made it with all purpose flour through the whole recipe. Today's recipe is for an almost whole wheat spaghetti. Jon wouldn't let me do ALL whole wheat flour and he was watching me like a hawk in the kitchen last night. So, I semi-listened to him. He said to do half and half but I did 3/4 wheat and 1/4 all purpose flour. The results were really good and he said next time I can kick it up to all whole wheat. I've actually come to prefer the taste of whole wheat pasta because it has a nutty flavor to it. It stands up to most sauces. I think with regular pasta you really lose the flavor because the sauce becomes the star. Whole wheat is more like a co-star with the marinara. :)

Anyways, enough about my love for whole wheat pasta. On to the recipe...

Almost Whole Wheat Spaghetti

3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

4 eggs + 1 egg white

3 tablespoons water

In bowl of mixer, sift together flours and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together the olive oil, eggs and water. Form a well in the flour mixture and pour half of the egg mixture into it. Beat on low with dough hook until texture appears like one of a pie crust. Incorporate in last batch of egg mixture until dough forms. At this time, I refridgerate the dough for 1 hour wrapped in plastic wrap to make it easier to work with. In the video, he uses the dough immediately.

Follow this video to roll out pasta sheets. Once all pasta is rolled into 5-6 sheets, cut sheets in half if they are too long. **At this time, start boiling your water** Place spaghetti attachment on mixer and cut into long spaghetti. *Tip: keep a bowl under the attachment so they can just drop into the bowl for you.* 

Once water is boiled, season with salt. *I also season with some chicken bouillon for extra flavor, you could also cook in chicken stock.* Drop spaghetti in boiled water and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes to desired tenderness. (Yeah, thats right ONLY 4-5 minutes! Isn't fresh pasta a beautiful thing??)

This recipe makes about 8 servings of pasta. You can reserve some to dry or freeze or just cook all of it. Every serving has 264 calories.

This picture is of my first batch of spaghetti, the standard white pasta. I was too excited to eat the whole wheat that I didn't get a picture, haha.



Next up on the lineup is my Marinara sauce. Now, you're gonna notice I threw a bunch of veggies in there. The beauty of this sauce is you can totally get away with throwing whatever veggies you want in it. After the sauce is cooled a little off the stove, you blend it up to make it a smooth consistency. That means noone will ever know they're getting a really healthy sauce, they just think its delicious. ::evil laugh::

I added some zucchini in this one, but if you don't have zucchini, don't make an extra trip to the store. I just love zucchini and always have it in the house. Another way to get away with adding veggies that noone knows about is to use a hand grater to get them into fine pieces. Thats what I did with the garlic, carrots and zucchini. Its so quick and actually a ton of fun!

The other awesome part of making your own Marinara is that you control the sugar. Adding the carrots bring a natural sweetness to the sauce. So, start with 2 tbsps of sugar and add up to 1/4 cup to taste.

Marinara Sauce

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced

1/2 onion

1 green pepper, finely diced

1 carrot, grated

2 tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1/4 cup Romano cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup granulated sugar *start with 2 tbsps, and go up depending on taste*

2 tsp oregano

In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Sautee garlic, onion, green pepper, zucchini and carrot. After 2-3 minutes, add in diced tomatoes and parsley. Next, add in crushed tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato paste, bay leaves, Parmesan, Romano, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, sugar and oregano. Bring to low boil and then reduce heat and let simmer for about 1 hour. Using blender, puree to smooth consistency.

Recipe yields about 6 cups. Each 1/2 cup serving is 95 calories!

At this time, you can add in some browned beef, meatballs or shredded chicken if you'd like. If you want to keep it simple, you can just serve the spaghetti and marinara and you're only at 359 calories per serving. Not to mention, you have tons of fiber from the whole wheat and lots of nutrients from all the veggies in the sauce.

I hope you guys enjoy the pasta as much as we did. As usual, send me those pictures, comments or questions to cookingwithcait@gmail.com

Love you all!