How do you cook Spaghetti Squash?

This post is for my daughter Lindsey who loves spaghetti but is challenging herself to eat a low carb keto diet.

Spaghetti squash is easy to cook and fun to eat and it really looks like spaghetti. It has a clean neutral flavor and maintains a light crunch when cooked. Which defies it's name - squash, because it's not squashy or squishy at all. The fun part that always blows my mind, is when I scrape up the flesh and it magically becomes noodles (sort of).

So, if you would like something other than zoodles, bake a spaghetti squash. You won't be disappointed.

Basic Butter Sauce

EVERYTHING'S BETTER WITH BUTTER

I was making steamed broccoli and cauliflower as a side dish and would usually just toss it with a couple pats of butter. OK maybe more than that :)

Then I thought... there must be a recipe for a basic butter sauce that wasn't just melted butter with flavorings. And sure enough - there was!  I found this recipe on food.com that was recommended for pasta or veggies.

Shrimp & Dill Pasta Salad

I found this recipe about a year ago on foodiecrush and discovered that I misread the recipe. It called for sweet pickles and I must have had dill pickles on my mind, because that's how I made it and I loved it.  The dill pickles and juice add a nice "humm?" flavor that is surprisingly subtle.

Damn Good Meatballs

These are damn good meatballs!!!

Those are the words that came out of my mouth after biting into these meatballs and that's how they got their name.

In my opinion a meatball should be tender and juicy. They should hold their shape while being delicate at the same time, and of course, be packed with flavor. That's what you can expect with these Damn Good Meatballs.

Easy Italian Tomato Sauce

Whenever I find a can of San Marzano tomatoes in one of my local grocers I get all excited.  Then I look at the price (a whopping $6 a can) and quickly put it back and start hunting for other options.

Italian Sausage Tomato Sauce

Ground beef has been the typical base ingredient when making a meat sauce, but if you change it up and replace the boring beef for Italian sausage, you will be pleasantly surprised as to how much flavor that small change can make.  Beautiful chunky tomato sauce gently flavored with tasty bits of sausage that tangle its way in to the sauce making it easy to stick to the pasta, allowing all the flavors to come together in just one bite.  It only takes a few ingredients to make this tomato sauce and if there are any leftovers, it will freeze well.

How to Cook Pasta in a Frying Pan

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My friend Dave sent me this video that showed me how to cook pasta in a frying pan.  I liked the idea immensely, mostly because I didn't have to wait for the giant pot of water to boil or clean it afterwards.

It looked too good to be true.  How could this possibly work?  Wont the pasta be too starchy or gummy?

Barilla Tortellini Contest

Barilla is giving away a trip to Italy!

The challenge was to create an appetizer, main dish, and dessert centered around Barilla tortellini and tortelloni pasta.

Keeping the theme Italian while attempting to display the versatility of filled pasta was a challenge, but the prize is worth the effort. 

Follow me into my kitchen and through my tour of tortellini and tortelloni…and who knows, I might be blogging from Italy soon!  Wish me luck!

Antipasto Tortellini Salad

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When my oldest daughter was living in Italy, I had the opportunity to take part in some truly magical meals. Sunday afternoons in Italy are often spent lingering around a table with family and friends, devouring course after course of homemade delicacies. Usually, an antipasto marks the beginning of a traditional Italian meal; something salty, sweet, or meaty to stimulate the appetite. After the antipasto comes the first course—my daughter’s favorite course—the pasta. What I discovered during these languorous Sunday meals in Italy, is that by the time the second course arrived (the meat), I was already full, and there were still more courses on the way!

Italian Sausage with Tomato Sauce

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Anytime I add Italian sausage to a dish I know it will be delicious.  The anise, fennel and garlic in the sausage pack a lot of flavor that blends into each dish creating its own season packet inside the sausages.  I use it in bulk for sauces or in stuffing in place of ground beef or pork.  But I also like to use the whole links to serve alongside a nice plate of pasta.

Mac & Cheese

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Macaroni & cheese probably tops the list of American comfort foods, and everyone has their own rendition of this simple dish.  How is it possible that the basic combination of macaroni smothered in a simple white sauce enhanced with cheese can get so much attention?  I guess anything smothered in cheese sauce should get a lot of attention.

I got a hankering for mac & cheese but before I headed to the kitchen I did a little research.  A couple of my fellow food bloggers tossed me some quick tips and tricks.  Tony T suggested using fresh breadcrumbs for my topping that I lightly toasted with some butter which was light, crispy, and delish.

The Gourmand Mom suggested cooling down the macaroni before mixing it into the sauce so the hot macaroni wouldn’t absorb all the sauce which resulted in a saucier mac & cheese.  Thank goodness for fellow food bloggers who are always teaching me new stuff.

I suppose that the original version of mac & cheese was made with American cheese but I suggest that you use a combination of cheeses to wake up the cheesiness.  Sharp or extra sharp cheddar are a must because it screams cheese when added to this dish.  I like to mix the cheddar together with gruyere or swiss to give it a creamier texture as well as a bit of cheesy pull when you scoop it up.

MAC & CHEESE

1          pound              macaroni

2          cups                sharp cheddar cheese, grated

2          cups                gruyere or swiss cheese, grated

½         cup                  butter (1 stick)

½         cup                  flour

4          cups                milk

¼         tsp.                  white pepper

1          tsp.                  kosher salt

TOPPING

2          cups                fresh white bread crumbs (about 5 slices, crust removed)

2          Tbsp.               butter

pinch                           kosher salt

pinch                           black pepper

Place 2 Tbsp. butter in a sauté pan and add the breadcrumbs, pinch of salt and pepper.  Toast until light golden; set aside.  

Boil macaroni according to package instructions; drain and rinse with cold water.

In a sauce pot melt butter over med heat; add flour and mix to blend.  Cook for couple of minutes to remove the raw flour flavor.  Whisk in the milk, salt and pepper and bring to a boil while continuing to stir; let cook until sauce thickens.

Remove sauce from heat and add 4 cups of cheese.  Stir to blend.  Add the cooled macaroni; stir to mix.  Place in a 9 X 13 casserole; top with lightly toasted bread crumbs.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown.

Hawaiian Chinese Spaghetti

My husband named this Hawaiian Chinese Spaghetti because you won't get it anywhere else except from someone who is Chinese who grew up in Hawaii.  At least that’s his thinking.

Ricotta Spinach Pasta

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Sweet and creamy ricotta cheese tossed together with spinach and a hint of nutmeg makes for a fast and easy dish.

I used frozen spinach for this dish and I think it works as well as fresh without all the work.  As a matter of fact I almost always use frozen spinach when cooking.  Its convenient and quite the bargain when you think about how much spinach it takes to make one 10 oz. box.  Just make sure to squeeze out all the water that comes out of the spinach before adding it to the dish.  I happen to have chopped spinach in my freezer but I think that leaf would work well too.

The hot pasta is what does most of the cooking in this dish.  The onion, garlic and spinach get cooked up in a sauté pan but the rest of the ingredients are tossed in a bowl without cooking and the hot pasta is what brings it together.

I chose large tube pasta thinking of manicotti and attempting to create a mock manicotti pasta dish without the meat sauce.

No Boil Lasagna

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I have seen these no boil oven ready lasagna noodles at my grocer for years and have always passed them by thinking that they can’t possibly work.  Today I decided that I will give it a try and make up my own mind on whether they work or not.  I chose the Ronzoni brand because that is what my grocer had.  The box recipe instructed to use 12 pieces of pasta.  I only used 9 because I couldn’t imagine how another layer would fit in the pan.

Fettuccine with Ham and Peas

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Tonight is clean out the fridge night.

Apparently I buy everything in bulk and the things that I need to use up in my fridge before my next grocery haul were 6 large mushrooms, 2 cups of pear tomatoes, ½ a ham steak, a log of fresh mozzarella and a few other items that wouldn’t make the cut for tonight’s dinner.  I wish I had some parmesan cheese…

Spaghetti for Breakfast?

I was watching the Food Network show The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Their subject was breakfast and most of the chef’s chose sweet items. But one of the chef’s chose a dish called Pasta Mama which was spaghetti scrambled with eggs and parmesan cheese. That caught my attention.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

I just attended a Mario Batali cooking demonstration which was very informative about how to THINK about Italian cooking. His methods and techniques that he shared were invaluable. I will definitely think differently when cooking an Italian meal. His words of wisdom were to always use the freshest ingredients you can find (which can be difficult in my small town), be a minimalist and keep it simple, that more is only more not better especially when it comes to the cheese and most importantly, a recipe is simply a guide that is meant to be adjusted to your own personal taste.

Chicken Rigatone

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What to do with the leftover Chicken Cacciatore?
How about, shredding it up and tossing it with rigatoni, fresh mozzarella and basil.

Spaghetti with Italian Sausage, Peppers & Onions

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Spaghetti with Italian Sausage, Grilled Peppers & Onions is a delicious meal that is always a hit in my house. And it’s easy to get wonderful ready -made quality ingredients that make it simple to pull this dinner in Italy theme together.
But it’s one of those easy simple meals that creates such a mess. It’s truly deceiving. So get someone to volunteer to do the dishes before you attempt this meal.