Easy Recipe: Zucchini Casserole

There are a lot of people out there who turn up their noses at casseroles.  Apparently, they aren't an "in" food anymore.  I hear that they haven't really been in since the 60's.  I think this is a travesty.  I grew up with two different casseroles that I love to come back to for a simple, quick and delicious meal. 

I've decided to share my family's zucchini casserole recipe. It is one of those comfort meals from my childhood. There's nothing high brow about this recipe, but it is a great way to use up all of that extra zucchini you are undoubtedly growing this Summer. 

Zucchini Casserole

1 C shredded carrots
6 C cubed zucchini
1/4 C diced onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 6 oz package stove top dressing mix (pork)
1/2 C margarine or butter
1 C sour cream
1 C cubed fresh or canned turkey or chicken

Method:

Cook onion, carrots and zucchini in a large pan until tender.

Mix sour cream and soup into veggies.

Melt butter and stir into stuffing mix.

Place half stuffing in bottom of buttered casserole dish.

Pour veggies on top. Top with remaining stuffing.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

As simple as that.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

Weeknight Meal: Easy Baked Ziti

One of our favorite weeknight meals is Baked Ziti.  My husband spent two years in Italy. He claims to know Italian food and has given it his stamp of approval. I'll take that.

Baked Ziti is a grand departure from the pasta meals of my childhood.  I recall a few different pasta dishes: Lasagna (good and basic, but no real spice), Spaghetti with a meat sauce (spices from a store bought mix), Mac and Cheese (of course) and my personal favorite "Spiddle Diddles."  One of my older brothers claims that this last dish was invented when my mother was on food stamps. I haven't verified this claim, but it does kind of make sense.  Spiddle Diddles has three ingredients: Tomato juice, cooked elbow macaroni and a little pepper.  D refuses to eat it.  I craved it during at least one of my pregnancies and required it almost every day.  It's a little weird, I guess, but what's wrong with a little simplicity?

Anyway, Baked Ziti is fairly simple, uses good straightforward ingredients and still manages to be leaps and bounds above my childhood fare.

I got this recipe straight from America's Test Kitchen and have altered it only slightly. Definitely enjoy it with a green salad and some good crusty bread.

Skillet Baked Ziti
From America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 ts. red pepper flakes
table salt and ground black pepper
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
12 oz. Ziti (3 3/4 cups, I prefer ziti rigate)
1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
1/4 C minced fresh basil leaves
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 475 degrees.

*Measure water & pasta before you begin cooking. Prep Parmesan & basil while pasta cooks.

1. Simmering the Ziti: Combine oil, garlic, pepper flakes & 1/2 ts. salt in a 12-inch, oven safe skillet. Saute over medium-high heat until fragrant (about 1 minute).  Add crushed tomatoes, water, Ziti & 1/2 ts. salt. Cover and cook, stirring often & adjusting heat as needed to maintain vigorous simmer, until Ziti is almost tender (15 to 18 minutes or to package directions).

2. At this point, transfer pasta to an oven safe casserole dish if you didn't have an oven safe skillet.  Stir in cream, Parmesan & Basil. Season w/salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly. Transfer skillet (or casserole dish) to oven. Bake until cheese has melted & browned (about 10 minutes). 

Enjoy!

On a side note: while I was cooking my Ziti this last week, I started to smell something burning.  I couldn't figure it out until I went to put the pasta in the oven. This is what I discovered:

 

My husband had left one slice of left over pizza in the oven the day before. I guess it was keeping warm in there and when he turned off the oven, he promptly forgot it was there. I managed to turn it to charcoal in my 475 degree oven. I was NOT happy when I discovered this.   Yuck.

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ

Easy Weeknight Pesto and Tomato Pizza

So, last week I blogged about an easy weeknight pasta. This week, I'm blogging about a ridiculously easy weeknight pizza. (hmmm, I guess we like Italian.)

This recipe can be whatever you want it to be. If you like making pizza dough and have a great recipe, you could do that. If you have a great pesto recipe and you prefer to use it, then go for it. This time I opted for store bought crust and pesto. I like to keep it simple and it still tastes surprisingly good.

Okay, so here's the plan:

Assemble your ingredients.

- One "Pre-fabricated" Pizza Crust (I use Boboli. We decided that the original crust was superior to the thin crust.)
- Vegetable Oil Cooking Spray
- Pesto (I use Buitoni, though any pesto will do.)
- One Package Low Moisture Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 2 Roma Tomatoes
- Fresh Basil

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
Place pizza on a cookie sheet and spray it with vegetable oil.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
While pizza is baking, slice your tomatoes and basil.

Remove from oven, smother with about 3 generous Tbs. of Pesto, leaving at least a 1/2" border.

Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese.

Top with your tomatoes.

Bake for an additional 5 minutes, until the cheese is nice and melty.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with basil.

Slice it up, pile it on a plate and enjoy!

15 minutes of work and does my test subject like it?

Yep. :) (I should note that he is almost three and becoming a major food critic.)

Well, there you have it. Ridiculously easy and rather tasty pesto and tomato pizza.

Have a Happy Day!

Easy Weeknight Pasta

I enjoy cooking, but lately I'm finding that I only have about 30 mins to prepare meals in the evening. So I thought I'd document one of our easy weeknight meals. This is fast, easy and can be pulled together from just the pantry if necessary.

Pull out the ingredients:

2 1/2 cups dry pasta (any shape, though we've decided that we love rotini)
One can of diced tomatoes (S&W brand is highly recommended)
Extra virgin olive oil
5 or 6 cloves fresh garlic (freeze dried garlic from Penzey's is also awesome)
A bunch of fresh basil (or dry from the pantry)
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Salt
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

Tonight I didn't have almost any fresh ingredients so I used just what I had in the pantry. I love that I can pull it together with stuff I always have in the cupboard.

Method:

Bring water to a boil, pour in pasta, set timer

Normally, while water is coming to a boil and pasta is starting to cook, you'd go ahead and mince up the garlic and a few basil stems. Today I'm using freeze dried garlic and dry basil, so instead I take the time to contemplate the beautiful calendar that my friend sent me for my birthday...

Now heat up a saute pan to medium heat, pour in two large tablespoons of oil. Once oil is hot, put in garlic, red pepper, basil stems (or a little bit of dry basil) and about a 1/2 tsp of salt. Swirl it around until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, more basil and crank the heat to high. Stir constantly until liquid cooks down a bit.

By now your pasta is probably done. Drain it and add it to your sauce.

Now for the best part. This can be skipped if you don't have it in the fridge, but I like to always have a little in there. Parmesan cheese! Make sure it is actually parmigiano reggiano and not the stuff in the green can. (ick). Pour it in, don't be shy. I put in at least a couple of handfuls. :)

Mix it in and you are done!

Slap it into a bowl (as you can see, this is a week night, I didn't have time to make the bowl pretty) and enjoy!

If you get a smile like this, you'll know you did it right.

Yum!

Have a Happy Day!