Tomato-Tortellini Soup

One week until we turn the clocks forward. Two weeks until Spring officially arrives. And here I am hanging on to the last moments of winter, stubbornly in denial that very soon it’ll be time to pack away the extra blankets and turn off the heat. No more fireplace. No more steamy chai tea before bedtime. Instead, it’ll be all heat and humidity and a/c. And I’ll be sad.

So, while I have the opportunity, I’m all about wintery food. Case in point, this warm, easy soup. Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or for when you need comfort food fast. And it’s hearty, so it stands quite nicely on it’s own or paired with a light salad. Make it before the weather gets too warm… in the meantime, I’m gonna go make myself a cup of chai!

Tomato-Tortellini Soup
(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)
28 ounces reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 9-ounce package refrigerated herb chicken tortellini (Buitoni)
4 ounces neufchâtel cheese or cream cheese
1 10.75- or 11-ounce can condensed tomato or tomato bisque soup
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 teaspoons finely-shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (optional)

In a medium saucepan, bring broth to boiling. Add tortellini, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk 1/3 cup of the hot broth into the cream cheese until smooth. Return all to saucepan along with tomato soup and stir in seasonings. In a small bowl, whisk water and cornstarch into a slurry. Stir into soup and bring to a low boil, cooking until slightly thickened. Divide into bowls and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese before serving. Makes 4 servings.

Orzo Spinach Salad

I had a great cold pasta salad at a girls night not too long ago… full of spinach, pine nuts, greek olives and feta cheese. This was seriously one of those pasta salads where you find yourself wondering just how gluttonous it would look if you went back for a third helping.

I came home that night with a new mission in life: to find a recipe similar to the one I’d enjoyed earlier in the evening. So, the next weekend, I set out to search the interwebs for something that seemed right. There are A LOT of pasta salad recipes on the internet, people. A LOT. But, I persevered and eventually stumbled upon something that looked pretty close. This is a really easy recipe, with just one tedious element… the chopping of the spinach (you’ve gotta chop it really finely). But trust me, it’s totally worth the effort. It’s great after a couple of hours in the fridge, but it’s fabulous if you have time to let it sit overnight. Perfect for all of those summer barbecues that you’ll soon be headed to!

Orzo Spinach Salad
(adapted from Simply Recipes)
16 ounces orzo pasta
3/4 cup pine nuts
6 ounces feta cheese, roughly crumbled
4 ounces Kalamata Greek olives pitted, roughly chopped (about 40 olives)
8 ounces baby spinach
1 cup chopped red onion
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablepoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta to al dente per the package directions. Drain. Rinse with cold water to cool quickly.

Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts by heating a small skillet over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and stir occasionally until the pine nuts are lightly browned.

Finely chop the spinach and basil and mix into the orzo. Gently mix in the red onion, feta cheese, pine nuts, and the olives.

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar and mustard. Pour over orzo spinach mixture and gently mix in until well incorporated.

Chill for at least an hour before serving.

the ultimate fall food… pumpkin pasta

Pumpkin is one of my favorite things ever. Put it into a pie, a bread, a cookie… a latte… you name it and I’ll love it. It’s why I love the arrival of fall (well… that and the departure of the heat and humidity of summer).

The one thing I’ve always been hesitant to try at home has been pumpkin pasta sauce. Sure, I’ve had pumpkin ravioli while out at restaurants… but I’ve always shied away from pumpkin pasta sauce at home.

With this dish, another fear has been broken. This pumpkin penne is so simple, yet so very flavorful — we’ll no doubt be whipping it up again and again this fall. I used chicken sausage because it’s what I had on hand at the moment, but a sweet/mild Italian sausage would taste great, too… as would the addition of sage. Time the sauce so it’s ready at the same time as your pasta and you’ve got a quick meal in minutes! Happy Fall, Y’all!

Pumpkin Penne Pasta
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus some for sprinkling
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 pound penne pasta, freshly cooked to al dente
2-3 links chicken sausage, heated and sliced

In a medium pot, combine cream, pumpkin puree and Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and then reduce heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Add the cream sauce to the cooked pasta and sliced sausages and stir gently. Plate and sprinkle with additional cheese if desired.

almost home

Well… I made it to the other side! In fact, it’s been two weeks since I made the somewhat painful (just me and two pets… fun!) – but uneventful – drive from North Carolina to Missouri, where I’m staying temporarily with my parents until my hubby joins me (t-minus  six days and counting!) and we find a place to live in Arkansas. Although things are still a bit strained as we wait for life to return to some semblance of normalcy, they are good nonetheless. I’m definitely patting myself on the back for at least thinking ahead enough to pre-plan a couple of posts to get me through the hairiest parts of the transition. I don’t know how inspiring fast food from a sack is.

Anyway…

Tomorrow will be the first opportunity to spend Father’s Day with my dad that I’ve had in five years. And… he has to work. Figures. So, undeterred, we celebrated tonight instead. Any reason to cook a great meal, right?

This is a great dish that comes off as being much more fussy than it actually is. Paired with some crusty bread, a salad, and a glass (or three) of wine, and I can see where the original name might have come from.

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there! Enjoy!

Penne a la Vodka with Shrimp
(adapted from Rachael Ray’s You Won’t Be Single for Long Vodka Cream Pasta)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vodka
1 cup chicken stock
1 32 ounce can diced tomatoes (crushed works great, too)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Coarse salt and pepper
16 ounces penne rigate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails off
20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Add oil, butter, and garlic. Gently saute garlic for 3 to 5 minutes. Add vodka to the pan, and simmer to reduce vodka by about half – 2 or 3 minutes. Add chicken stock and tomatoes. Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to simmer. Season with red pepper flakes and salt and pepper.

While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to al dente (with a bite to it).

Stir cream into sauce. Add shrimp. When sauce returns to a bubble, cook until shrimp are just done and remove from heat. Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with sauce, basil, and cheese.

easy peasy 30 minute meals…

The world may hate her, but I’m a Rachael Ray fan. Say what you will about her, but she really has come up with some pretty tasty quick-fix dinners. Do I ever complete the recipe in under thirty minutes? Rarely… at least until I’ve made it a few times through. But, no matter. They’re still quick, tasty, flexible, and easy. Life is hectic right now, and anything that makes weeknight life in the kitchen easier is a-okay in my book.

Case in point. I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a while now… trying to remember to buy some frozen spinach. When I finally did, I immediately put it on the menu plan for the week, because I’d been so anxious to give it a try. As luck would have it, the night we were to have this for dinner, I was running late from work. Since the hubby was home already, he offered to get started on dinner prep so that I wouldn’t have to do it all when I got home. So, we struck a deal. He’d make the meatballs, I’d make the pasta. We did… and dinner was still on the table in under forty-five minutes. Even with me running late and the two of us fighting over kitchen space.

Is it gourmet? No. But it’s a fun, easy meal that makes good use of lean meat and leafy greens. Had we had a whole-grain pasta in a fun shape to incorporate, it would have been all the better. But, I wanted a fun shape, and the whole-grain selection in my area is still a little lacking in that category. And the meatballs? Awesome. And enormous. So fun!

Either way… file this one under “easy.” You won’t regret it. And, come on, who doesn’t love monster meatballs?

Florentine Mac and Cheese with Chicken Meatballs
(adapted from Rachael Ray)
Salt
1 pound cavatappi or other corkscrew shaped hallow pasta
1 pound ground chicken breast
Black pepper
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano, divided
1 egg 3/4 cup bread crumbs, plus more, if needed
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 10 oz. boxes chopped frozen spinach
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup skim milk
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta. When it comes to a boil, salt it and add the pasta to cook to al dente. Strain pasta reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.

While the water is coming to a boil, in a large mixing bowl combine the chicken, salt and pepper, rosemary, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano, egg and bread crumbs. (If the mixture seems too wet, mix in another handful of breadcrumbs.) Form 8 large round balls, about 3 to 4-inches in diameter. Coat balls in a couple of tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and lightly grease a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Arrange balls on the baking sheet and roast 17 to 18 minutes until juices run clear.

Meanwhile, defrost spinach in microwave 8 to 10 minutes on “defrost” setting. Place the boxes in a shallow dish to catch any run off.

In a medium sauce pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Whisk in flour and cook 1 minute, then whisk in stock and milk. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook over medium-low heat 5-6 minutes until thick. Stir in the remaining cup of grated cheese and reduce heat to lowest setting.

Wring spinach completely dry in clean kitchen towel. Separate it with your fingers and add it to the sauce. Stir in the reserved cup of pasta cooking liquid if sauce is too thick. Toss pasta with the spinach-white sauce and adjust seasonings. (Serves four.)

comfort food

We live 1100 miles from my parents. It’s been almost five years since I could just hop into the car and drive up to their house… to the house on the little farm that I grew up on. Now, I’m an only child with a wonderful relationship with my parents and, before moving to North Carolina, the furthest I’d lived from home was about 100 miles. It was hard to leave the area I’d called home for most of my life and, as you can imagine, moving so far away was quite the adjustment. Though I love and treasure the relationships that I’ve built here, I still get a little homesick every now and then.

When I’m feeling homesick or just generally out of sorts, I usually start thinking about the foods that I grew up with. The best things in our house were usually ones that came from my Mom’s upbringing. German food will always be near and dear to my heart, and I enjoy now being able to cook it myself and to share it with the people that I care about. And… it’s seriously yummy!

I knew when I saw that Eve over at The Garden of Eating was hosting The 2008 Comfort Food Cook-Off that I had just the thing to share… Jaegerschnitzel served with Spaetzle (a seasoned pork cutlet that’s breaded and fried into crispy happiness, served with a basic no muss, no fuss dumpling and topped with a brown mushroom gravy). It’s the perfect comfort food when you’re looking for a warm, hearty meal and it always makes me think of home.

I decided I wanted to do this one as a pictorial, so if you’re interested in the step-by-step and the recipe, just follow along behind the jump.

Baked Penne, any way you want it

Life’s been hectic lately. We’ve been running here and there, trying to get some loose ends tied up so that we can start off the new year on the right foot. We got home last night and I realized that, in trying to get everything else done, I’d forgotten to plan something for dinner. It was time to get creative and go back to one of those tried and true recipes that’s flexible enough that you almost always have what you need to make it.

Baked penne is one of those recipes that bends itself to whatever you have on hand. It’s easy, yet a crowd pleaser every time. You can make it ahead. You can put it in the freezer. You can make one big meal or a bunch of little meals. And… it’s pasta and cheese, making it one of those all around perfect meals.

I like to use whole wheat pasta… makes me feel better about what I’m eating. But, like I said, you can use pretty much anything you’ve got on hand. Same goes for the meat – our preference is mild Italian turkey sausage, but you can use any heat level, you can use regular or turkey sausage, you can use ground beef or ground turkey breast, or you can go vegetarian and load it up with veggies. That’s the beauty of this one. It all works.

Baked Penne
1 pound whole wheat penne
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound ground sausage (italian, mild, hot – it all works)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup onion, minced
1-2 teaspoons dried italian seasoning (depending on what sausage you’re using)
1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on your desired level of kick)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
3 teaspoons half and half or heavy cream
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzerella or italian cheese blend

Put a large pot of water on to boil and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

When water boils, add pasta and cook 10-12 minutes or until al dente. Meanwhile, add olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. When skillet is hot, add sausage and break up with a spatula or spoon. Add garlic, onion, and seasonings and cook until meat is no longer pink. Drain if necessary and then add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Simmer for ten to fifteen minutes, then add half and half and salt and pepper if necessary. Toss with cooked, drained pasta.

You can spoon ALL of the pasta goodness into a 9×13 baking dish, OR you can spoon SOME of the pasta goodness into an appropriately sized baking dish and put the remainder into a container to put either into the fridge or – better yet – to tuck into the freezer and save it for an easy, warm dinner at a later date. (Did I mention this dish freezes beautifully? Heck, make a double batch and throw half in the freezer.)

Assuming that you’re making the whole batch, sprinkle 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese over the pasta, then sprinkle 1 cup of shredded mozzerella or italian cheese blend on top of that. If you’re doing less than that, adjust your cheese accordingly.

Pop your dish of penne into the oven and let it cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly – there’s nothing to heat through since everything’s warm when it goes into the oven. Should take about twenty minutes.

Serve hot with a salad and warm, crusty bread, and a nice glass of wine.

cooking for one… part deux

There are Christmas goodies everywhere I turn these days… all over my regular haunts on the web, in my inbox, my magazines and, of course, tucked away in every available nook and cranny of my kitchen (which we began correcting yesterday as we started delivering batches of holiday goodies to our family and friends). I know I should stop, but I’m tempted at every turn to make “just one more thing.”

I’ve already talked about a couple of great cookies – and I have another one or two to share before the holiday season slips away -but for tonight I thought we’d break away from the sweets and talk a little more about cooking for one.

As I mentioned before, my husband travels quite a lot and I find it difficult to really get excited about cooking just for myself. But a girl cannot (or… should not) get by on cereal for dinner ALL the time and I’m trying to make a more concerted effort to work in some easy and balanced meals on my nights as a bachelorette.

I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that it’s another one of those nights. And, after sampling too many sweet treats over the past few days (quality control is important, right?), I knew that I needed to work in a healthy meal tonight. So, what to fix that won’t fill the fridge with leftovers that I’ll find myself eating for a week?

Skillet Chicken with Orzo and Peas comes together easily and only requires dirtying up one pan. It’s perfect for a light dinner for two… or dinner for one with leftovers for lunch the next day. And, of course, it can be easily multiplied to serve how ever many you need to feed. This one’s just as wonderful with a glass of wine at the dinner table as it is with a coke on the couch… enjoy it either way!

Skillet Chicken with Orzo and Peas
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
2 teaspoons Montreal chicken seasoning
1/3 cup orzo
1 1/3 cup low sodium chicken stock, divided
1 cup frozen peas
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon grated parmesan
salt, pepper and fresh basil to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until just beginning to smoke. Add chicken and Montreal seasoning, sauteeing until  just cooked. Add 1 cup of chicken stock and deglaze pan. Add orzo and bring to a slow boil. Cover and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, adding remaining 1/3 cup of stock as needed until pasta is al dente and sauce is creamy. Stir in peas, cream and parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow peas to warm through. Sprinkle with basil. Serve hot.

cooking for one

I have a confession to make…

I really don’t like cooking for just myself.

There. I said it.

This can be a bit of a problem when you’re married to someone whose job requires that they travel quite a bit (and I am).  I eat cereal for dinner more often than any self-respecting foodie should. Don’t judge me – at least they don’t know me by name at the nearest fast food restaurant.

Anyway. The first step is admitting that you have a problem, right? Good. Now, let’s move on. I’ve been trying to focus more on balanced meals when I’m home by myself. Last night, as I was staring into the fridge and ignoring the last bit of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, I spotted a forgotten bag of baby spinach and remembered this easy (and flexible) go-to meal. Actually, it’s more of a method than a recipe… but it gets the job done and can be scaled easily depending on how many people you have around your dinner table. And… wait for it… it’s pretty healthy.

Essentially, it’s pasta with sauteed garlic, spinach, and tomatoes. Where you take it from there is up to you. Last night, I added red pepper flakes and crumbled feta. You can also use parmesan or romano in place of the feta and add in some toasted pine nuts. Really… whatever you have on hand. This is a great recipe to play around with and a surefire way to make sure you get a decent dinner… even if you are eating alone.

Recipe after the jump…