Pasta with Canellini Beans

2 cans canellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 8oz cans tomato sauce
2 tbsp wozzy sauce
3/4 red bell pepper chopped
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
3-4 tbsp olive oil
2-3 stalks celery with leaves, super thinly sliced
1 lb ditalini pasta
3/4 c red cooking wine
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Parmesan Cheese

Heat oil over med/high heat. Add sliced garlic and saute until golden (lightly golden). Add red pepper, saute one minutes, add celery saute 2 minutes more, add oregano and canellini beans, saute 5-7 minutes. Add crushed red peper, tomato sauce, basil, wozzy, and wine. salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, lower heat cover and simmer 30 minutes. While sauce is simmering heat water for pasta in pot. Cook pasta according to pkg directions or 1 min less. add cooked pasta to simmering sauce, stir. Add 1/2 c parm mix and serve immediately, with added parm if you like!

Chicken Alfredo/Tomato Bake

2-3 boneless skinless chick breast sliced into thin strips
1-2 tbps olive oil
1-2 tsp chopped garlic
1 green, red or yellow pepper cut into strips (or a mix of all)
1/4 c. chopped procuito or ham
2 cups large egg noodles (cooked to package directions)
1 jar tomato pasta sauce or equivalent in homemade (about 15 or more ounces)
1 jar Alfredo or homemade Alfredo sauce ( about 15 ounces)
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350. Brown chicken in oil until cooked through. Add garlic and ham/prosciutto. Cook until garlic is tender but not burned and the prosciutto is a little browned. Then add the peppers, cook until tender, but still crisp. Add half the tomato sauce to the pan mixture. grease a 9x13 baking pan and then dump the skillet mixture into it. Top with the remaining tomato sauce. Add the jar of Alfredo sauce, drizzling on the top in lines, it will not cover the top totally. Add the cheese on top. Bake 20-30 minutes or until browned and bubbly. Serve immediately with garlic bread and salad! YUMMY! This is one of our favorite recipes, easy to fix and definitely comfort food. The kids love it. We don't eat it too often, but when we do we rarely have leftovers.

New Recipe: Penne with Ricotta and Bacon

1 pound penne
8 slices bacon (about 1/2 pound)
½ large onion, sliced
15 ounces whole-milk ricotta cheese, at room temperature
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp chopped fresh garic or one garlic clove chopped
sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes

1.In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the penne until al dente. Reserve one ladle of cooking water, then drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. In a medium skillet, fry the bacon until crisp and transfer to a plate, leaving the bacon fat in the skillet. Add the onions to the skillet and cook until golden, about 10 minutes. Stir the onions and ricotta into the pasta along with the reserved pasta cooking water. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it over the pasta, here I would actually add an additional step, I would pour everything except the basil into a baking dish and bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until it is nice and hot. I would even top it with a little parm or mozzarella. After taking it from the oven I would top with the basil then.

I tried this first exactly to the specification on the web page, but after sitting down and it getting cold I was ready to make a few changes. I woud also not mind subbing in dried basil flakes into the ricotta instead of fresh. My kids didn't like the wilted salad in their pasta and picked all of it out, which is not usual for them. This recipe is very filling, we had left overs and everyone was stuffed after one serving, I even ate less than I thought I would, not because it wasn't good. I also WOULD NOT add any extra salt.

Here's the original recipe!

Fall-Back Minestrone Soup

1 can beans drained, rinsed
1 can tomatoes
1 c broken egg noodles
celery chopped
4 c broth chicken or beef
carrots chopped

dump all ingredients in a pot. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until veggies are tender. Serve warm.

Manicotti

1 box jumbo shells (I don't like using the actual manicotti shells as they are seriously hard to stuff and rather large for my little'uns to eat.)
16 oz tub ricotta (I try to use the part skim)
2-4 c shredded mozzarella
1-2 tsp dried basil
Large Jar Pasta Sauce or homemade pasta sauce 4-5 cups worth
Couple handfuls of shredded parmesan cheese

Begin by cooking the shells according to box directions, but make sure to under cook them a little or they will fall apart and not absorb some of the tomato sauce. While pasta is cooking mix in a large bowl the mozz, ricotta and basil. When the shells are done and you have cooled them and dried them on paper towels, spray one or two 13x9 inch baking pans and add about 1/4 cup of sauce to each and spread on the bottom of the pan! Start by filling each shell with 2-3 tbsps of mix, you can shove them as full as you want to or as little as you want. Line them pretty close in the pan. When you have filled them all, pour the remaining sauce over all the shells and then top with shredded parm. Bake for 20-30 minutes in a 350 oven or until the cheese is melted and the sauce hot. Serve with a salad and garlic bread! Yummy!!! I never have complaints when serving this one!

Parmesan Crusted Canned Biscuit Rounds

2/3 c parm cheese
1/2 mayonnaise
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp dried oregano
dash onion powder
1 tube refrigerator canned biscuits

in a bowl mix the first 6 ingredients until making a smooth spread. The on a baking sheet layered with non-stick foil flatten the biscuits until about 4 inches around (about as big as you can get them!). Then spread with the mixture about 1 tbsp on eat biscuit. Make at 400 for 10-13 minutes or until golden! Serve warm!

These are very tasty!

Mushroom Risotto

5 1/2 c chicken broth or stock (if you want use homemade)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion chopped
salt and pepper
1 1/2 c short grain rice
1/2 c red cooking wine
2 tbsp butter
1 pound mushrooms
1 shallot minced (or I have used more red onion and even green onions)
garlic salt to taste
1/2 shredded Parmesan

In med sauce pan bring broth to a simmer, keep warm and simmering during entire process. In large sauce pan or dutch over type soup pot, heat oil. Add onion, season with salt and fresh ground pepper, cook and stir until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook and stir one minute. Add the cooking wine and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Add one c of the simmering broth and cook over medium heat, stir constantly until nearly all liquid is absorbed. Continue adding broth by 1/2 incriments, stir constantly until the liquid is absorbed nearly between each addition. The risotto is done when the rice is aldente and suspended in a thick, creamy sauce, cook time is about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile in a smaller skillet, melt the butter. Add mushrooms, shallot, and galic salt, cook over moderate heat until softened and browned, about 10 minutes. Scrape mushrooms and bits into the pot with the risotto and cheese, stir everything until it is evenly mixed. Serve immediately! This is an easy and filling meal! We LOVE it!