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!

Aged Balsamic Brown Butter Spaghetti with Chicken, Spinach, and Bell Pepper

 I am a huge fan of brown butter.  Huge.  Oh, and balsamic vinegar.  So, why not combine them in a pasta dish?  Perfectly delicious!  You’ll want to give this one a try!  I hope you’ll stop by my blog to let me know if you liked it!

Aged Balsamic Brown Butter Spaghetti with Chicken, Spinach, and Bell Pepper

Serves 4
1/2 pound dry whole wheat spaghetti
2 chicken breasts, chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
4 cups fresh spinach
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 stick unsalted butter
4 tablespoons Aged Balsamic Vinegar
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions.  

Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add 1-2 tablespoons olive oil (enough to coat the pan). Add chicken and stir occasionally. As the chicken is cooking, add salt and pepper to taste, 1-2 cloves minced garlic, and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Continue to cook until chicken has browned. Once browned, add 1/2 cup white wine to the pan to deglaze. Once the liquid has evaporated, remove chicken to a separate bowl. 

To the same pan, add more olive oil to coat. Add bell pepper and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add fresh spinach and 1-2 cloves minced garlic. Continue stirring until spinach cooks down. Add spinach and bell pepper to the bowl with the chicken.

In a small sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the stick of butter and allow to melt. Watch the butter closely as you want it to turn a nice caramel color and not burn.  

While your butter is melting, add the spinach, bell pepper, and chicken back to the large sauté pan over low heat. Add your cooked pasta over using a pasta strainer to get some of the pasta water in your pan as well. Add sliced toasted almonds to pan.  

Once your butter has browned and has a nutty aroma, pour over the spaghetti mixture. Add 2 tablespoons of aged balsamic vinegar to the pasta. Season with salt and pepper and top with grated Parmesan. Stir to combine and serve. 


Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions. 

Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage & Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers

I saw Guy Fieri make a dish similar to this on his show Guy's Big Bite and it looked delicious.  This week, I decided to take a peek in my kitchen to see what I had so that I could make something similar. 

I thought my boys would have no issue with this since they eat all of the ingredients that were in the stuffed pepper, but because it was served in a halved bell pepper, it completely threw them for a loop.  So, after dumping the mixture out of the bell pepper onto their plates, it somehow tasted much better to them. 

You can switch out the sausage for whatever type you like.  I have been using bulk sweet Italian chicken sausage from Sprouts lately.  Since I usually crumble it anyway, might as well start with it not in the form of links!

This was fairly quick to pull together and The Hubby and I thought it was delicious!

Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage & Quinoa Stuffed Bell Peppers
Serves 4
Recipe adapted from Guy Fieri

1 pound bulk sweet Italian chicken sausage
4 red bell peppers, halved and seeds removed
Quinoa - I used Nature's Earthly Choice Easy Quinoa that was roasted garlic and olive oil flavor.  I would guess it made about 2 cups once cooked
1 cup kale leaves, chopped into small pieces (no stems)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

In a large skillet, cook the sausage until brown and crumbled.  In the meantime, cook the quinoa.  Once the sausage is browned, remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Do not clean the pan in which the sausage was cooked.  Add kale, garlic, and onion and a little bit of olive oil if the pan seems dry.  Season with salt & pepper.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until onions are soft and kale is bright green and slightly wilted. 

In a large bowl add the cooked sausage, cooked quinoa, kale mixture, and Mozzarella cheese.  Mix well.  In s small bowl combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. 

Fill each bell pepper halves with the sausage and kale mixture and place in a large baking dish. 

Top with the bread crumb and Parmesan mixture and drizzle each with a little bit of olive oil.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and then turn up the oven to broil and cook until the breadcrumb and Parmesan mixture browns. 

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.