Cheesy Burrata Pasta Bake

If you have followed me for a while, you know that I'm a huge fan of Burrata cheese.  Don't know what that is?  You can read my post, "Burrata: 101 - What Is This Cheese All About?" here.  I was SUPER excited to find some at my local Safeway earlier this week - I made this Cheesy Burrata Pasta Bake that night for dinner!

What's even better is that I had this jar of Home Grown Garden Tomatoes Puréed with Garlic and Herbs from Leisure Cooking as a base for my sauce. I then puréed the contents of a 28 oz. can of San Marzano Tomatoes, added the base, and then cooked down a bit prior to using it as my sauce. It was delicious. What's extra cool about this? My brother Scott, of Leisure Cooking, grew the tomatoes for the base in his garden that he maintains in memory of our dad.

  If you are your local Safeway, look in the specialty cheese bin for the Burrata - it will look like this:

Once this dish was ready, I paired it with some sautéed squash and an arugula salad topped with shaved Parmesan and Extra Virgin Olive Oil and White Balsamic Vinegar from the Queen Creek Olive Mill - added a little salt and pepper, perfecto!

Cheesy Burrata Pasta Bake
Serves 4

2 links sweet Italian turkey sausage
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups of dry shell pasta
4 oz. Burrata cheese, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon butter
1 - 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, remove sausage from casings and cook in a sauté pan over medium heat, crumbling as you go, until browned. Drain on a paper towel.

Add the bell peppers, garlic, and salt/pepper (to taste) to the sauté pan (add extra-virgin olive oil if pan is dry).  Sauté for 5-7 minutes.

Once the pasta is done, drain and rinse with cold water.  In a large bowl, combine the sausage, bell pepper mixture, pasta, sauce, and cheese - mix gently.  I used less sauce because my boys aren't fans of too much sauce - add more if you'd like!  Grease the bottom and sides of a baking dish with butter and add the pasta mixture.  Top with bread crumbs.

Bake 10-15 minutes until heated all of the way through and the cheese has melted.  Serve with Parmesan to top.

Note:  You can prepare this ahead of time, but either put in oven while it pre-heats or allow for longer time in the oven.

Stacked Enchiladas - A Favorite For My Dad

Today my dad would have turned 72 years old.  Unfortunately, as many of you know, he lost his {almost year long} battle to esophageal cancer earlier this year.  He was a fighter though. In the past 8 years he went up against prostate cancer, melanoma, and did his best to beat this one - but couldn't win the battle.  He and I were very similar.  And as much as we butted heads, he is still one of my number one inspirations.

This was one of his all time favorite dishes that my mom would make for him.  These Stacked Enchiladas would be perfect for my dad if they were made with blue corn tortillas - but I couldn't {readily} find any locally.  I decided to purchase mini corn tortillas from Alejandro's Tortilla & Bakery out of Tucson, AZ that I found at my local Safeway.   They worked perfectly.  My dad was a sliced-avocado-kind-of-guy as a garnish on his Stacked Enchilada - I added more to mine, and made a couple of other suggestions in the recipe. He would have also enjoyed a margarita with his dinner over my choice of Corona Light.

I wish you a very Happy Birthday, Dad - I know you would have enjoyed these with me, but I'm also certain that you would have made a comment that the blue corn tortillas would have been better!  ;)

Stacked Enchiladas
Serves 4

12 blue corn tortillas (yellow or white corn work too!)
Small jar or can of green enchilada sauce or green chile sauce.  My mom uses 505 Green Chile Sauce
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (or shredded).  I had some Pollo Asado from Sprouts that we grilled and diced small
10 green onions, sliced thin (white and green parts)
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (get the block and shred it - so much better than the bag!)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Shredded lettuce, diced/sliced avocados, thinly sliced radishes - for garnish (diced tomatoes, sliced  jalapeños would be good too)

In the end, you will have 3 tortillas, 2 layers of chicken, green onions, and slivered almonds, and 3 layers of cheese for each stack.  As you are building them, parse out the ingredients accordingly. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small saucepan, heat the green chile (or enchilada) sauce.  Working one at a time, dip each corn tortilla into the warmed sauce and flip, covering the tortilla.  Carefully transfer it to a serving platter. Do this four times so that you can create the four stacks consecutively.

Onto each of the first tortillas, add some of the diced/shredded chicken, green onions, slivered almonds, and shredded cheese.  Repeat this layer one more time with another tortilla, chicken, green onions, slivered almonds, and shredded cheese.  Add the final tortilla and top with cheese.  Spoon some of the remaining sauce over the top.

Place serving platter into the oven for 5-7 minutes until cheese has melted.  Using a spatula, transfer each stack to individual plates and garnish with lettuce, avocados, and radishes on the top of the stack.  Serve immediately.

Note: For more heat, feel free to add some of your favorite hot sauce to the enchilada sauce!

Lamb Chops with Herb Butter

Not too long ago I posted a recipe for Herb Butter that came straight out of the cookbook, True Grits from The Junior League of Atlanta. This herb butter can be used in may ways - but True Grits shared a recipe for Lamb Chops with Herb Butter.  The herb butter melted nicely on the lamb chops - they were delicious and this dish gave us a nice change of pace for a weeknight meal!

Lamb Chops with Herb Butter
Serves 4
Recipe from True Grits from The Junior League of Atlanta

For the herb butter:
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
1 shallot, minced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup water
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

For the lamb chops:
4 lamb chops
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
lemon pepper to taste

To prepare herb butter:
Combine the rosemary, shallot, and garlic with the water in a small saucepan.  Boil for 1 minute, strain, and cool.  You may discard the water.

Combine the strained rosemary, shallot, and garlic with the butter, parsley, salt, and white pepper, in a food processor, process until smooth.  This can also be combined by hand.

Shape into a roll on waxed paper, wrap, and chill until firm.

To prepare the lamb chops:

Rub the lamb chops with the olive oil and crushed garlic; sprinkle with lemon pepper.  Let stand in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Grill the lamb chops for 5-7 minutes on each side or until done to taste.  Serve topped with a slice of the herb butter.

Linguini with Shrimp and Lemon Oil - Inspiration from Giada De Laurentiis

I was inspired to make this dish not too long ago while watching Giada De Laurentiis’ show on Cooking Channel, “Everyday Italian”.  As always, she made it look super easy to prepare (which it was) and it looked delicious – so I “pinned” the recipe to make sure I tried it.

When I initially did the grocery shopping, I purchased arugula to use in the dish but then it ended up being almost a week before I actually made it.  At that point, I had already used the arugula in a salad before it spoiled.  It was OK without it – but next time I will definitely make sure I have some.  I made a couple of other modifications here and there based upon what I already had in my kitchen and my version of the recipe is below.  If you'd like to check out the original recipe, you can follow this link.

My entire family loved this!  I hope you will prepare for yours as well!

Linguini with Shrimp and Lemon Oil
Serves 4-6
Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

For the Lemon Oil:
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zested

For the Pasta:
1 pound linguini pasta (I use whole wheat)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup diced onion
16 ounces frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined
¼ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1 lemon, zested
½ cup champagne
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried parsley

For the lemon oil, combine the olive oil and the lemon zest in a small bowl and reserve.

For the pasta, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.  Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8-10 minutes.  Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, in a large, heavy skillet warm the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the shrimp and cook until pink, about 5 minutes.  Add the cooked linguini, lemon juice, lemon zest, champagne {carefully!} salt, and pepper.  Toss to combine. 

Using a mesh sieve, strain the lemon zest out of the reserved lemon oil and add the oil to the pasta.  The zest can be discarded.  Add some of the cooking water to desired consistency.  Add the dried parsley to the pasta and toss to combine.  Serve immediately.

Chicken, White Fiber Mini Shells, and Vegetable Soup

I planned to make Chicken Noodle Soup the other night and realized I didn't exactly have all of the "normal" ingredients, so found what I had, and came up with this. 

With the soup, I used a few slices of leftover baguette that I had and made them into little garlic parmesan toasts.  These were both tasty alongside the soup as well as torn up into pieces and IN the soup!  My boys also asked for some saltine crackers - who can resist giving small children crumbly, messy crackers for them to break into their soup?  Not me!

It's fun to find food in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer to add to the dish you are creating!  Have you done that lately?  What creative meals have you prepared?

Chicken, White Fiber Mini Shell, and Vegetable Soup
Serves 4

2 chicken breasts, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
1 cup sliced carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup corn (I used frozen)
48 oz. reduced sodium chicken broth (plus more may be needed)
Bay leaf
1 tablespoon chopped dried onion
1 teaspoon lemon juice
6 oz. Barilla White Fiber Mini Shells
Leaves from 1-2 stems of kale, torn and stems removed
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

In a large skillet over medium high heat, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to swirl around the pan.  Once hot, add diced chicken, season with salt & pepper,  and cook until done. 

In a large stock pot, add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to swirl around the pan.  Add celery, carrots, garlic, and corn.  Season with salt & pepper.  Cook until heated through. 

Add 48 oz. of chicken broth, bay leaf, dried onion, and lemon juice.  Bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add Barilla White Fiber Mini Shells and boil for 5-6 minutes.  Season with salt & pepper.  Add torn pieces of kale.  Once the pasta soaks up a bunch of the broth, you made need to add a little bit more.  Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Give it a taste - adjust seasonings as necessary.  Remove bay leaf before serving. 

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

This is one of my family's favorite meals!  Taco night is requested almost weekly!  When I made it this week, I only used 2 chicken breasts - but I would normally use 4-5 so that I can freeze the extras for chicken enchiladas or chicken quesadillas.  I actually only had 2 chicken breasts in my freezer - so that made my decision for me!

We generally serve tacos with Uncle Ben's Ready Whole Grain Medley Brown & Wild Rice along with corn.

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2-3 frozen chicken breasts (add more if you want leftovers)
1 packet taco seasoning mix
Juice of a lime
Bottle of beer (I typically use some sort of beer from south of the border)

To serve:
Hard and soft taco shells (warmed)
Shredded cheese
Shredded lettuce
Sliced olives
Taco sauce
Plus any other taco toppings you enjoy!

Throw everything into a crock pot!  You can start this in the morning (9:00 a.m. or so) and let it cook on low all day.  If you start it later (11:00 a.m. or later) - I would suggest starting on high and turning down to low after a few hours.  We eat dinner at 6:00 p.m. every night - so my start time is based on that! 

Turn chicken breasts a couple of times throughout the day, try to not lift the crock pot lid too many times - you'll let the heat escape!

An hour or so before serving, take two forks and shred the chicken - this will happen very easily!

Serve with warmed soft and hard taco shells, shredded lettuce, sliced olives, shredded cheese, and taco sauce!  Plus whatever else you might like on your tacos!  Guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo, diced onion, diced avocado.................

BBQ Pork Sliders

These are always a huge hit and super easy!  Best of all - they make your home smell wonderful!

BBQ Pork Sliders
Serves 8-10

4 pounds pork tenderloin
Two 28 oz BBQ sauce - I use Jack Daniels Original, but you can use whatever, or make your own!
1 dozen slider rolls
coleslaw

Pour some of the BBQ sauce into the bottom of a crock pot.  Add the pork and pour the rest of the first bottle of BBQ sauce over the top.  Add more if the pork isn't quite covered.  This will cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6.  When I use the crock pot, I always start everything on high in the morning, then turn it down to low by lunch. 

Continue to turn the pork throughout the day.  Later in the day, the pork will begin to fall apart, at that point, take two forks and shred it. 

Serve on the slider rolls with the coleslaw and extra sauce. 
Pin It