Baked Ziti for a Crowd

This is a delicious recipe merging sweet, savory and a little bit of spice.  I have adapted it from the Church Mouse blog.



Baked Ziti for a Crowd

Ingredients:
2lbs pasta (ziti or rotini)
6 c. Marinara sauce (I used and loved Rao’s)
1 lb ground Italian sausage (add another 1lb if serving a lot)-this made the dish!!
6 c. shredded Mozzarella, divided
2lb ricotta cheese
1TB dried basil
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4c grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*.  Cook time:40 minutes

1.  Cook pasta according to package.  In another pan, brown the sausage.
2. Drain pasta and layer 1/2 of it on a sprayed baking dish.  I used a roasting pan for extra size and it was perfect.
3.  After the meat has browned, add the pasta sauce in the pot to warm up.
4.  Layer over the noodles.
5.  In a bowl, mix the ricotta cheese (2lbs), mozzarella cheese (2 c), basil (1 TB), salt (1tsp), pepper (1/2 tsp) and Parmesan cheese (1/4 c).
6.  Drop by spoonfuls on top of meat and sauce mixture.
7.  Layer remaining pasta on top.  Cover with the remaining cheese.
8.  Put a layer of foil over.
9.  Bake 30 minutes.  Remove foil and bake additional 5-10 minutes.

Easy Peasy Spaghetti Sauce

QUICK & EASY SPAGHETTI SAUCE

Ingredients:

1 small can of tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1 tsp of Olive Oil
2 cups or more of water
1 tsp of onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 tsp of sweetener (I used Truvia)
1 tsp of Oregano

Directions:

Chop your garlic. Heat a pan with 1 tsp of olive oil. Saute the garlic in the oil. Add your tomato paste. Mix in your spices, salt and sweetener. Add water. Turn heat to low and simmer for at least 15 minutes or longer. 

Spaghetti Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box of angel hair noodles (Use Dreamfields if you're a Trim Healthy Mama!)
• 4 eggs, or 1 cup of egg whites
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided- you may use light cheese
• 1 Tbls. onion powder 
• 1 Tbls. garlic powder
• 1 Tbls. Greek or Italian seasoning blend.
• One recipe of your favorite spaghetti sauce to pour over the top.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Boil noodles according to package directions and drain.
3. Whisk eggs, Parmesan, 2 cups of grated Mozzarella cheese, and all spices. together.  Add to noodles
4. Pour into 9x13 casserole pan, and using a fork, press mixture down in the center, leaving a 1" unpressed border to hold the cheese.
5. Spread cheese out over the center of your noodle pie.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and melted, and the noodles are 'set'.
7. Serve with a big side salad, and hot sauce to top your spaghetti pie.

NOTES

You may halve recipe and press into a traditional pie plate for smaller families.
P.S. I've used Dreamfield's Pasta for over a year at least prior to starting Trim Healthy Mama, and we love it. It tastes no different than 'normal' pasta, and doesn't give me that 'carb crash' feeling after eating. It doesn't agree with everyone though. If you can't enjoy Dreamfields, please feel free to sub a spaghetti squash for the noodles in a half recipe.

Alfredo Sauce

*Fattening!  But so good!

1/2 c. butter
1 8oz cream cheese
2 tsp. garlic powder (I used real garlic about 1 tsp)
2 cups milk (I only used 1 1/2 cups)
6 oz parmesan cheese (I only used 4 oz)
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Melt butter in a medium, non-stick saucepan over medium heat.    Add the fresh garlic and cook up for a few minutes.

Add cream cheese, stirring with wire whisk until smooth. Add milk, a little at a time, whisking to smooth out lumps. 

Stir in Parmesan and pepper. 

Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. Sauce will thicken rapidly, thin with milk if cooked too long. Toss with hot pasta to serve.

allrecipes.com but changes were made

Family Favorite Mac & Cheese

Homemade goodness!  This is from Betty Crocker, but I have made some changes to fit our family and taste preference. My changes in RED.

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (7oz) I used 16 oz of penne pasta
1/4 c. butter or margarine
1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. ground mustard (Make sure it is ground mustard!  I used prepared on accident and not enough flavor..but the family still loved it!)
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 c. milk
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 TB Olive Oil
1/4 c. +/- Panko bread crumbs
Garlic Salt
Parmesan Cheese

1. Heat oven to 350*.
2. Cook macaroni as directed on package.
3. While mac is cooking, melt butter in another saucepan over low heat.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper, ground mustard and Worcestershire sauce.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly.  Stir in milk and heat to boil; stir constantly.  Boil 1 minute.  REMOVE from heat and stir in cheese.  Cook, stirring constantly, until cheese is melted.
4.  Drain macaroni.  Gently stir in cheese sauce.  Pour in ungreased 2-quart (9x13) casserole. Add panko mixture to top Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.

This was delish!  We even added a bit of ketchup to spice it up.  I think that if I would have READ the ground mustard vs. prepared the flavor would've been more intense.

Makes 6 serving (3/4c. each)

Cowboy Spaghetti

This was strangely fulfilling and good and fattening!  :)  I omitted some of the meat.

1 pkg. spaghetti noodles
6 slices bacon, chopped
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
s&p, to taste
2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 TB. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 lb deli pastrami, roughly chopped (I omitted)
1/3 c. pepporoni, chopped
2 TB. canned jalepenos, chopped
1/2 c. sliced mushrooms (i omitted)
1 small can diced olives
1/2 c. beef broth (or 1 bouillon cube with 1/2 c. water)
1 (14 oz) can fired roasted diced tomatoes (didn't have, so I used regular diced tomatoes)
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
green onions, chopped

1. Heat a large deep skillet to med-high heat.  Add bacon and fry until crisp.  Remove with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
2.  In the same skillet, add ground beef.  When browned, add onions and garliic.  Season with salt and pepper, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir in bacon, pastrami, pepperoni, jalapeno, mushroom and olives.  Cook.  Stirring occassionally for about 5 minutes.
3.  Add beef broth and cook an additional 5 minutes.  Stir in tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Cover and reduce heat to low.  (At this point you can put all of this into a crockpot andcook on low a few hours.  If it gets too thick, add another can of fire roasted tomatoes and broth.
4.  Prepare noodles.  Drain well and add to meat sauce.
5. Toss well and serve with cheese and green onions on top.

Bowtie and Asparagus Pasta

We loved this!  NOT healthy, but oh so good :)

1 pkg. bow tie pasta
1/2 c. butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1-2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 pint heavy cream
s&p to taste
10-15 spears asparagus, blanched *see note
1/2 c bacon, crumbled
1/2 c. toasted pinenuts (I omitted this)

Parmesan cheese to taste

1.  Boil pasta; al dente. DO NOT OVERCOOK
2.  I n a heavy pot melt butter.  Add garlic and saute a minute or so
3. Add parmesan cheese and bouillon cubes.  When it is completely dissolved, slowly stir in the cream and s&p. 
4.  Add cooked pasta to cream sauce and toss until pasta is well covered.  Add asparagus.
5. Sprinkle with bacon.
6. Serve immediately



*Heat a pot of water to boil.  Break the bottoms off of the asparagus and put in pot.  Cook until the asparagus turns bright green (anywhere from 3-5 minutes)
**We have added chicken to this.

Found:  Favorite family recipes

Alfredo Mostaccioli

1 (16oz) pkg mostaccioli or penne pasta
1 c. heavy cream *(I didn't have, so I substituted*see below)
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 c. chopped fresh parsley (I used:  dried parsley..use MUCH less)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder

1. Cook pasta according to box; al dente
2.  Combine heavy cream and butter in a dutch oven or a large, heavy saucepan over med. heat.  Heat until butter melts, stirring occassionally.  DO NOT BOIL!
3. Stir in parmesan cheese, parsley, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 
4. Toss with cooked pasta and serve immediately.



*Note:  Heavy cream substitute:
-Mix 3/4 c. milk and 1/3 c. of unsalted butter (NOT MARGARINE)
or
-Mix skim milk and some flour or cornstarch.

**For a heartier dinner, add cooked chicken.

Found:  http://allrecipes.com