Dinner for a Friend

Today was the first day of my baby gift to a friend -- one meal a week for four weeks. This is what I fixed for her family (and my family). In addition to these foods I also took some frozen corn from my parent's garden that I did this year. These recipes are all from Taste of Home or Quick Cooking.

Italian Mini Loaves


* 2 to 2-1/4 cups bread flour
* 4-1/2 teaspoons sugar
* 1 package (1/4 ounce) quick-rise yeast
* 1 teaspoon garlic salt
* 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
* 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1/4 cup water
* 2 tablespoons butter, divided
* 1 egg
* 6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided

In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup flour, sugar, yeast, garlic salt, Italian seasoning and parsley. In a saucepan, heat milk, water and 1 tablespoon butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat just until moistened. Add egg; beat until smooth. Stir in 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough; beat until smooth.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into thirds; shape into loaves. Place in three greased 5-3/4-in. x 3-in. x 2-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 25 minutes.
Melt remaining butter; brush over dough. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks. Yield: 3 loaves (4 slices each).

Sausage Pasta Sauce
This one has a little bit of a kick, so it doesn't taste like a regular spaghetti sauce. But it is yummy, and the veggies are all blended up, so you just have the chunks of the sausage in the sauce.


* 2 pounds bulk Italian sausage
* 2 medium onions, chopped
* 2 medium sweet red peppers, chopped
* 2 medium green peppers, chopped
* 6 to 8 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 cans (29 ounces each) tomato sauce
* 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) Italian stewed tomatoes, drained
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 4 teaspoons chili powder
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon dried basil
* 1 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1-1/2 pounds uncooked bow tie pasta
* 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
* Shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain and set aside. In a Dutch oven, saute the onions, peppers and garlic in oil until tender. Stir in the tomato sauce, tomatoes, brown sugar and seasonings.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a blender, process tomato mixture in batches until smooth. Return to the pan. Add sausage; heat through. Gradually stir in cream. Cook and stir over low heat for 5 minutes. Drain pasta; top with sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Yield: 12 servings.



Chocolate Chip Cookie Tart
I used my sister's chocolate chip cookie recipe today and just measured out 18 ounces to put in the pan. I'm thinking this could also be made in a pie pan for those people who don't have a springform pan.

* 1 tube (18 ounces) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
* 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
* 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
* 1 tablespoon butter, softened
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips, melted and cooled

Press cookie dough onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan. Bake at 350° for 20-24 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and butter until smooth. Beat in confectioners' sugar. Place crust on a serving plate. Spread cream cheese mixture over crust to within 1/2 in. of edge. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Crockpot Lasagna

My sister posted this on our family's recipe blog. It tried it tonight and it was way yummy. I did use cottage cheese instead of ricotta.

Sauce: (you could make your own favorite sauce; just make sure it's about 65 oz. of liquid before adding the meat)
1 lb. ground sausage or beef (I used Reduced-Fat Jimmy Dean Sausage)
2 1/2 cans (a total of 65 oz.) spaghetti sauce
2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
Ricotta:
1 lb. ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 T. parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Cheese:
1 lb. Mozzarella cheese
Noodles:
9 lasagna noodles, uncooked

For sauce, brown ground beef or sausage in large fry pan. Add remaining sauce ingredients and heat until just bubbling. Remove from heat.
For ricotta, mix the ricotta ingredients in a mixing bowl.
To assemble lasagna, spray 6-quart crock pot with baking spray (such as Pam). Pour 1/4 of sauce in bottom of crock pot. Layer 3 noodles (may have to break them to get them to fit). Layer 1/3 of ricotta mixture, and sprinkle 1/3 of mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers, ending with sauce. Cover crock pot and cook on LOW for 4 hours. Turn crock pot to KEEP WARM until ready to eat. Approximately 5 minutes before eating, you can sprinkle additional cheese on top.

Our St. Patrick's Day Meal

I tried to come up with some green food to go with the green theme for the day. I added food coloring to my sister's cloud nine biscuits to make them green. They looked funny, but tasted good. We had green salad and made green punch by mixing blue and yellow Powerade (which I purchased at Smith's for $.25 each, thanks to another sister's phone call). The rest of the meal was Garlic Chicken Penne and Frosty Pistachio Delight.

Garlic Chicken Penne

8 oz uncooked penne pasta
1 1/2 cups frozen sugar snap peas
1 pkg (1.6 oz) garlic-herb pasta sauce mix (I used "creamy pesto" by Knorr)
1 pkg (6 oz) sliced cooked chicken

In a large saucepan, cook pasta in boiling water for 6 minutes. Add peas; return to boil. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until pasta is tender. Meanwhile, prepare sauce mix according to package directions.

Drain pasta mixture; add chicken. Drizzle with sauce and toss to coat. Yield: 4 servings.

Frosty Pistachio Delight

2 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
2/3 cup butter, melted
1 carton (1.75 qts) vanilla ice cream, softened
2 pkgs (3.4 oz each) instant pistachio pudding mix
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp pistachios, chopped, divided
3 drops green food coloring, optional
1 carton (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 jar (11.75 oz) hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs and butter. Press into a greased 13x9" baking dish. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, combine the ice cream, pudding mixes, 1 cup pistachios and food coloring if desired. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over crust. Cover and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving. Drizzle with fudge topping; sprinkle with remaining pistachios. Yield: 15 servings.

Lower Fat Spaghetti Carbonara

Thanks Debra for the copy advice- It has to be on "Edit Html" for it to work. Weird! Here we go.

I have tried several recipes for Spaghetti Carbonara and have enjoyed all of them. I continually found, however, that they were oily and had a lot of onions. I saw this recipe and decided to try it and it is now my favorite one. Plus, it is lower in calories so why not make it instead! Ben even likes this one and he does not enjoy pasta stuff.

1 egg plus 1 egg white
2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (you can use Parmesan but the cheese flavor is less pronounced. I used the freshly grated Parmesan from Costco and it was very good)
1/4 cup fat-free evaporated milk
2 TBS mayonnaise
2 oz Canadian bacon, chopped
2 slices bacon, chopped
3 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp pepper
1/3 cup white wine (I usually just get the cheap white cooking wine and it still tastes good.)
Salt
1 pound spaghetti (Any long, thin pasta such as linguine or fettuccine will also work)

1. Bring 4 qts water to a boil in large pot. Process egg, egg white, cheese, evaporated milk, and 1 1/2 TBS mayonnaise in food processor, or blender, until smooth; leave mixture in food processor.

2. Cook both bacons in large non-stick skillet over medium heat until fat has rendered and bacon is browned, about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to bowl; set aside.

3. Add garlic and pepper to fat in pan and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat, cover and keep warm.

4. Meanwhile, add 1 TBS salt and pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water, drain pasta, and return to pot. Toss pasta with remaining 1/2 TBS mayonnaise until coated.

5. With motor running, slowly add wine mixture and 1/4 cup hot pasta cooking water to egg mixture and process until smooth and frothy, about 1 minute. Immediately pour egg mixture over hot pasta and toss to combine, adding reserved cooking water as necessary to adjust consistency. Stir in crisp bacon and season with salt. Serve.

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

I got this from the Kraft Foods Magazine. We really enjoyed it. I didn't try it with the spinach, I'll have to next time.

Prep Time: 20 min Total Time: 43 min Makes: 4 servings

What You Need!
1-1/2 cups multigrain penne pasta, uncooked
1 pkg. (9 oz.) fresh spinach leaves
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 jar (14-1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. (1/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
2 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese


HEAT oven to 375ºF. Cook pasta as directed on package, adding spinach to the boiling water for the last 1 min.

COOK and stir chicken and basil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 3 min. Add spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer 3 min. or until chicken is done. Stir in Neufchatel cheese.

DRAIN pasta mixture; return to pan. Stir in chicken mixture and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Spoon into 2-qt. or 8-inch square baking dish.

BAKE 20 min. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake 3 min.


Nutrition Infomation
Calories 460
Total fat 14 g
Sodium 880 mg
Carbohydrate 39 g
Dietary fiber 7 g
Sugars 8 g
Protein 45 g

My Favorite Spaghetti Recipe

Brown 1lb. ground beef and then add:
1 46 oz Campbell's tomato Juice
2 8 oz (or one 16 oz) can tomato sauce
1/4 tsp Lea & Perrin Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 whole onion with skin peeled off

Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover. Let simmer for at least 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally. The nice thing is that it is liquid enough so you do not need to stress over the stirring.

Cook 12 oz (or a little more) spaghetti noodles. Pour sauce over noodles and mix together.

Chicken Breast in Sun-dried Tomato Cream Sauce

This is so much better if you cut the chicken in half to make it really thin and then put it over fettuccine or tortellini when done. It is a wonderful pasta sauce. I don’t even like tomatoes and I love this sauce.

1 Tbsp butter
1 garlic clove, pushed through press
1 Tbsp flour
¾ cup chicken broth, divided
½ cup heavy cream
2 Tbs sun-dried tomato slivers in oil
***2 Tbsp of sun-dried tomato slivers is = 4 sun-dried tomato halves
¼ tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp crushed red- pepper flakes
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
(4-5 oz each, flattened slightly)


In large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook 20 seconds. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Stir in ½ cup broth, cream, tomatoes, thyme, salt and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute. Pour into measuring cup; set aside. Wipe skillet with a paper towel.

Heat sun-dried tomato oil (1 Tbsp) over medium-high heat. Sauté chicken in oil for 8 minutes, turning once, until browned and cooked through. Transfer to a plate.

Add remaining ¼ cup broth to pan and bring to a boil scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon. Mix in cream sauce; add chicken just to heat through.