We are going to be tailgating tomorrow for my hubby's favorite time of year....the Monster Jam. I wanted to make a pasta salad that would keep without refrigeration. I started dreaming up different concotions and came up with this. I found a dressing recipe here, but I tweaked it a bit.
Mexican Pasta Salad
1 pound pasta, cooked and cooled
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 bag frozen corn, cooked and cooled
1/2 small red onion diced
2 tomatoes diced
(I was going to use a roasted red pepper, but I didn't get to use it this time)
Dressing
Juice of 2 limes
1 clove of garlic minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp honey
1. In a large bowl, combine pasta, black beans, corn, onion, and tomatoes.
2. In food processor (I used a mini one that came with my stick blender), combine garlic, lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro, and honey. Blend until combined and cilantro is well chopped.
3. Pour dressing over salad and mix well.
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Friday, February 3, 2012
Monday, August 15, 2011
Pork Braciole
This past weekend we decided to take a friend to dinner at one of our favorite local Italian Restaurants, Lonzano's. Every time I go to Lonzano's I try something new. Usually when I find something I like, I stick to it, but they have so many tempting options, I feel the need to experiment...and I have yet to be disappointed. This past weekend, I decided to try the Veal Rollitini. It was veal pounded thin and stuffed with a ham and breadcrumb filling. It is usually served with a sherry wine sauce, but their maranara is so good, I decided to get that instead. YUM! It was so good, I wanted to try to make it at home this week. The dish reminded me of a dish my mom makes called Braciole. It is basically a thin piece of beef which she wraps around a filling of seasoned breadcrumbs and cheese and cooks in the tomato sauce. One of my favorites! I decided this week to try it with pork. The end result was so tasty, but with the cut of pork I brought home (and the way I used it), it wasn't as thin as I like it, but since it was so delicious I will still post the recipe. I would recommend trying a pork cutlet that you can smash very thin.
Pork Braciole
1 pound pork (I used a loin that I cut to flatten and tried to thin, but it wasn't think enough, so I suggest a pork cutlet)
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
2-3 small cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 tsp salt
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1/4 jar (approx 1 cup) Ragu tomato sauce (I used Old World Style)
1. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, cheeses, salt, garlic and mix until well incorporated. Sprinkle mixture over each piece of thin pork. Wrap the pork around the filling and secure (I used toothpicks, but remember how many are in the meat, you could also use cooking twine).
2. Bring pan (use one with sides, because once meat is browned, I put the sauce over to cook through) to heat over medium high heat. Spray with cooking spray and add pork. Brown on all sides. If you have a smaller pan, you may have to work in batches. Do not overcrowd the pan, or the meat will steam and never brown. Once all of the pork has browned, add it all to the pan and cover with tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to rapid simmer and cover. Lower heat to low and allow to cook through (I let mine go for about 45 min to an hour).
I serve mine over pasta and it was SO GOOD! I couldn't stop eating the sauce!
Pork Braciole
1 pound pork (I used a loin that I cut to flatten and tried to thin, but it wasn't think enough, so I suggest a pork cutlet)
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
2-3 small cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 tsp salt
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1/4 jar (approx 1 cup) Ragu tomato sauce (I used Old World Style)
1. In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, cheeses, salt, garlic and mix until well incorporated. Sprinkle mixture over each piece of thin pork. Wrap the pork around the filling and secure (I used toothpicks, but remember how many are in the meat, you could also use cooking twine).
2. Bring pan (use one with sides, because once meat is browned, I put the sauce over to cook through) to heat over medium high heat. Spray with cooking spray and add pork. Brown on all sides. If you have a smaller pan, you may have to work in batches. Do not overcrowd the pan, or the meat will steam and never brown. Once all of the pork has browned, add it all to the pan and cover with tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to rapid simmer and cover. Lower heat to low and allow to cook through (I let mine go for about 45 min to an hour).
I serve mine over pasta and it was SO GOOD! I couldn't stop eating the sauce!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Lighter Mac and Cheese, with buffalo sauce
My hubs loves buffalo chicken. He gets a buffalo chicken sandwich with cheese on it when we go to Beef O'Bradys. When I saw a recipe for buffalo chicken mac and cheese, I knew I had to try it! Of course, I had to make it low carb to meet his needs and lower fat to meet mine. I left the chicken out and had this mac and cheese as a side to a baked chicken breast dinner. You can also leave out the buffalo wing sauce, and this would make a yummy mac and cheese, but you will probably want to add more salt.
Lightened Buffalo Mac and Cheese
(Printable Recipe)
8 oz of elbow noodles (we used low carb)
1/3-1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (I used Franks)
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk (I used skim)
8 oz shredded cheddar (you could get creative and use any cheese you like, I used 2% sharp cheddar)
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare an 8 x 8 casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until just slightly underdone.
3. In a saucepan, melt 1 Tbsp butter. Add flour and cook for 1 minute (do not brown). Add milk and hot sauce (which you could leave out at this point and have a yummy cheese sauce). Stir until thickened (about 2 minutes). Add in cheese and mix until smooth. (I put some cheese to the side to melt on top).
4. Put macaroni into prepared baking dish. Top with cheese sauce and stir to combine. Add reserved cheese (if you decided to do this) to top. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
Lightened Buffalo Mac and Cheese
(Printable Recipe)
8 oz of elbow noodles (we used low carb)
1/3-1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (I used Franks)
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk (I used skim)
8 oz shredded cheddar (you could get creative and use any cheese you like, I used 2% sharp cheddar)
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare an 8 x 8 casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook until just slightly underdone.
3. In a saucepan, melt 1 Tbsp butter. Add flour and cook for 1 minute (do not brown). Add milk and hot sauce (which you could leave out at this point and have a yummy cheese sauce). Stir until thickened (about 2 minutes). Add in cheese and mix until smooth. (I put some cheese to the side to melt on top).
4. Put macaroni into prepared baking dish. Top with cheese sauce and stir to combine. Add reserved cheese (if you decided to do this) to top. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Smoky Mac and Cheese
I had so many tasty recipes over the weekend, so I am going to be posting more than one blog today.
Saturday was my 10 year high school reunion which was held at a park. We were having a bbq and asked to bring a side dish. I mulled over it for a while trying to decide what to make that others wouldn't also be making. I ended up choosing to make a mac and cheese, but wanted it to be different. Instead of using typical cheeses (cheddar, american, etc) I used smoked gouda. It was SO good! The entire tray was eaten. Even my picky eater husband enjoyed it.
Smoky Mac and Cheese
1 lb dry pasta
8-10 oz of smoked gouda cheese shredded
4 oz cheddar shredded
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cornstarch
Bacon cooked and chopped
1. Salt water and bring to a boil and cook pasta according to directions on box (salt is important here because the gouda is not a very salty cheese)
2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cheeses, paprika, salt and pepper. Bring a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly to avoid scalding milk. Continue to heat until all cheese has melted.
3. My cheese sauce was very thin at this point so I made a slurry of cornstarch and the hot cheese sauce. If yours is not thin, you can skip this step. If you add the cornstarch right into the sauce it is very lumpy. Take a small amount (1 Tbsp) of the cheese sauce and put into a small bowl. Add the cornstarch and mix until combined, then add all of the mixture into the pot of the cheese sauce and continue to heat until thickened.
4. Put pasta in serving dish, pour cheese sauce over and sprinkle with chopped bacon to garnish.
Mac and cheese is very versatile and you could make this with pretty much any cheese you would like.
Saturday was my 10 year high school reunion which was held at a park. We were having a bbq and asked to bring a side dish. I mulled over it for a while trying to decide what to make that others wouldn't also be making. I ended up choosing to make a mac and cheese, but wanted it to be different. Instead of using typical cheeses (cheddar, american, etc) I used smoked gouda. It was SO good! The entire tray was eaten. Even my picky eater husband enjoyed it.
Smoky Mac and Cheese
1 lb dry pasta
8-10 oz of smoked gouda cheese shredded
4 oz cheddar shredded
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp paprika
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cornstarch
Bacon cooked and chopped
1. Salt water and bring to a boil and cook pasta according to directions on box (salt is important here because the gouda is not a very salty cheese)
2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, cheeses, paprika, salt and pepper. Bring a boil over medium high heat stirring constantly to avoid scalding milk. Continue to heat until all cheese has melted.
3. My cheese sauce was very thin at this point so I made a slurry of cornstarch and the hot cheese sauce. If yours is not thin, you can skip this step. If you add the cornstarch right into the sauce it is very lumpy. Take a small amount (1 Tbsp) of the cheese sauce and put into a small bowl. Add the cornstarch and mix until combined, then add all of the mixture into the pot of the cheese sauce and continue to heat until thickened.
4. Put pasta in serving dish, pour cheese sauce over and sprinkle with chopped bacon to garnish.
Mac and cheese is very versatile and you could make this with pretty much any cheese you would like.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
More Ricotta
So last night I wanted to try to use up my ricotta....still no success, so check back tomorrow for a new and exciting ricotta recipe.
I was racking my brain of what I could do with that ricotta. My hubby is a picky eater, so it makes it a little harder. I wanted to try to incorporate it into some type of egg dish, but he says he doesn't like eggs. I could only come up with lasagna. Well, by this time it was almost 6 pm and he is on a lower carb diet, so I had to make it healthy and quick. So here goes....
Lower carb quick and dirty "lasagna" (more like a pasta bake)
2-3 oz of Dreamfields low carb pasta per person (so if you have 4 people, make 8-12 oz) cooked according to package directions and drained (I used spaghetti, but any shape would be tasty)
1 pound of ground beef (any ground meat you prefer would work)
3/4 cup of ricotta cheese
1 egg
Dash of oregano
1 can pasta sauce (we use the Hunts that is not seasoned....if you use one that is already seasoned, you don't need the following)
Garlic powder to taste
Salt to taste
1 Cup Mozzerella cheese
Parmesean cheese
You will also need a baking dish (I prefer to use smaller ones to get better portion control, so I used 2 laof pans- 1 per person and we only ate half each)
1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Cook the ground meat until almost completely cooked through. Add in sauce and season to taste (we use the garlic powder and salt)
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, oregano, salt and pepper and garlic powder to taste.
4. Put a small amount of sauce into bottom of baking dish (to prevent sticking)
5. Put the pasta into the baking dish and put cover with a layer of ricotta cheese.
6. Pour meat sauce over ricotta to cover
7. Put mozzerella on top with a sprinkle of ricotta cheese
8. Bake at 400 F until bubbly-about 15 minutes
It was so tasty...I am not a big fan of lasagna because sometimes there is too much cheese, so here you can put as much as you want. Making into 2 pans is nice too because if someone else likes more cheese, you can make one with less and one with more.
Tonight I plan to use the rest of the ricotta. I found a recipe on Foodnetwork.com that looks interesting. Stay tuned!
I was racking my brain of what I could do with that ricotta. My hubby is a picky eater, so it makes it a little harder. I wanted to try to incorporate it into some type of egg dish, but he says he doesn't like eggs. I could only come up with lasagna. Well, by this time it was almost 6 pm and he is on a lower carb diet, so I had to make it healthy and quick. So here goes....
Lower carb quick and dirty "lasagna" (more like a pasta bake)
2-3 oz of Dreamfields low carb pasta per person (so if you have 4 people, make 8-12 oz) cooked according to package directions and drained (I used spaghetti, but any shape would be tasty)
1 pound of ground beef (any ground meat you prefer would work)
3/4 cup of ricotta cheese
1 egg
Dash of oregano
1 can pasta sauce (we use the Hunts that is not seasoned....if you use one that is already seasoned, you don't need the following)
Garlic powder to taste
Salt to taste
1 Cup Mozzerella cheese
Parmesean cheese
You will also need a baking dish (I prefer to use smaller ones to get better portion control, so I used 2 laof pans- 1 per person and we only ate half each)
1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Cook the ground meat until almost completely cooked through. Add in sauce and season to taste (we use the garlic powder and salt)
3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, oregano, salt and pepper and garlic powder to taste.
4. Put a small amount of sauce into bottom of baking dish (to prevent sticking)
5. Put the pasta into the baking dish and put cover with a layer of ricotta cheese.
6. Pour meat sauce over ricotta to cover
7. Put mozzerella on top with a sprinkle of ricotta cheese
8. Bake at 400 F until bubbly-about 15 minutes
It was so tasty...I am not a big fan of lasagna because sometimes there is too much cheese, so here you can put as much as you want. Making into 2 pans is nice too because if someone else likes more cheese, you can make one with less and one with more.
Tonight I plan to use the rest of the ricotta. I found a recipe on Foodnetwork.com that looks interesting. Stay tuned!
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