Baked Ziti with Spinach

It's January and that means baked pasta dishes!

On a cold winter's night, you need some baked cheesy goodness to warm you from the inside out. And if for some reason you think that cheese and pasta aren't what you might call a "balanced diet," throw some spinach in there and forgive yourself.

Notes: The only downside to this dish is that it's not Q.E.D., but that's pretty much it. The leftovers are amazing. You could also assemble the whole dish and then put it in the fridge until you're ready to bake it. You might even be able to leave it in the fridge overnight.

Ingredients:
1 pound box of ziti
15 oz. of ricotta cheese
1 large or two small fresh mozzarella balls
1 26 oz. jar of your favorite marinara sauce
3-4 garlic cloves
1 bunch of baby spinach leaves
1 small bunch of fresh basil
Dash red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Heat the oven to 375.

Cook the pasta according to the box directions. While the water is boiling, mince your garlic, and chop the basil and spinach. Pull the cheeses out of the fridge while the pasta cooks so that they come to room temperature.

Once the pasta is finished, drain it and add it back to the hot pot. Add in the ricotta, sauce, spinach, basil, garlic, and season the whole thing liberally with salt and pepper. Add the red pepper flakes and stir everything together until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Pour the whole thing into a 9x13 baking dish. Slice or dice your fresh mozzarella and cover the top. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Take the foil off and bake for an extra 7-10 minutes until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Now who wouldn't want to eat that on a chilly winter night? Enjoy!

Q.E.D.: Smoked Sausage and Kale (with Veg. Option)

If you've been following this blog at all, you'll know that I love kale. It's my new favorite green. The more dishes I can make with kale, the better. And if they're fast, even better.

Pictured here with crostini

During the semester, my days can be really long. One those days, you need a fast meal. And if you don't always like to eat your dinner out of paper bag, you need a go-to meal that you don't feel bad about eating. Enter sausage and kale.

The great thing about kielbasa (other than that it's delicious) is that it's already cooked, so it's a fast prep. Plus it provides all the (minimal) fat and flavor you need to saute your kale. It's a one-pot meal that's fast, easy, and delicious.

Notes: If you wanted to make a vegetarian version of this dish, you could use pressed tofu that was seasoned like sausage. You could season it with some cumin, salt, black pepper, and fennel seed and produce a pretty similar flavor. You'd need to make sure that the tofu gets a little crispy in the pan, so you might have to add some olive oil.

You think two ingredients can't make an awesome dish? Just give it a try.

Ingredients:
1 pound of smoked kielbasa
1 bunch of kale, stemmed and cleaned
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Diced the kielbasa (or tofu) and add it to the pan. Saute until the sausage is heated and starts to get brown and crispy on the outside.

While the sausage is heating, thinly slice the kale leaves. Once the sausage starts to brown, add the kale to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Saute until the kale is dark green and tender. Serve and enjoy!

Gingerbread Cookies

So. Things have gotten a bit off schedule.

Life has been a little complicated in the professor's kitchen of late. Sadly, my day job took up a lot of time last term (the injustice of it all!!!!). I can't promise I'll get the blog rolling like it does during the summer, but let's hope 2013 turns out to be better for a lot of reasons.

Right before Christmas, I decided I desperately needed gingerbread cookies. I was hoping to make old fashioned gingerbread, but unfortunately most of recipes I found made somewhere along the lines of 900 pounds of cake. I mean, I like gingerbread and all, but most of it was probably going to go to waste.

I opted for cookies instead. I would have rather had chewy cookies, but these were tasty enough that I didn't mind the crunch. I took my leftovers to work and they were snapped up fast.

Notes: I adapted my recipe from this one over at Smitten Kitchen. It wasn't my intention to roll and cut them, but I ended up doing it anyway because the dough was so cold. I used the only cookie cutter I have, which is an owl. So, Christmas owls? Well, why not.

You can make this dough a day ahead and chill it overnight, which is handy.

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour (plus more for rolling out the cookies)
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses

Directions:

In an electric mixer (or using a whisk and a lot of elbow grease), cream the butter and brown sugar together. Beat in the egg and the molasses. Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and then add them into the mixer in batches of three.

When the dough is finished, lay out two pieces of plastic wrap. Divide the dough in half, putting each half onto a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it up, and chill for two hours.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 350. Take one dough disc out at a time and roll it out on a floured surface until it's 1/4 an inch thick. Cut your shapes and lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Once you're done with one disc, put the baking sheet back in the fridge while you roll out and cut the second disc.

Bake the first sheet for 12-14 minutes until the cookies are crisp, but not darkened. While the first sheet it baking, chill the second sheet.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store them in an airtight container between wax paper. They should last five days to a week. Enjoy!

100th Post: Sweet and Salty Manchego Corn Muffins

Ladies and gentlemen, it's my 100th post!

I started this blog over a year ago as a summer project. It's become a way for me to keep track of all my culinary creations while sharing them with my friends and family. It's really helped me expand my cooking arsenal. I've made lots of things from scratch and tried lots of new ingredients. Thanks for sharing it all with me.

Notes: This recipe is an altered version of Smitten Kitchen's corn muffins. Scott is not crazy about kernels of corn in his muffins so I left those out. I also didn't have any buttermilk, but I did have yogurt. I had some leftover manchego cheese that needed using up, so hey, why not? They turned out great. 

Ingredients:
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 teaspoons raw sugar
1/3 cup shredded manchego cheese
1 cup vanilla yogurt
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Heat your oven to 400. Line your muffin tin with paper cups.

Pour melted butter and olive oil into a large bowl. Beat the eggs slightly and add those in with the yogurt and the cheese. Mix the wet ingredients together.

Add flour, cornmeal, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar into the bowl. Once all the dry ingredients are in the bowl, then mix everything together. Don't worry about getting it perfectly smooth, just combine everything.

Scoop out the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 15-18 minutes until a tester comes out clean and the muffins are very lightly golden brown on top.

Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Do you love yourself? Because if you do, you should do something very nice for yourself. You should make these cinnamon rolls.

I followed Smitten Kitchen's recipe exactly, so I won't retype it here. I put everything together the night before and just baked them up the next morning. They're made from scratch, so it's a bit of work, but the results are so worth it. These would be a great Thanksgiving breakfast or dessert.

Just make them. You won't regret it, I promise.

Slow Cooker Apple Cider BBQ Chicken

This semester has been pretty busy, so I'm experimenting with more slow cooker recipes. We have some long days during the week and it's nice to come home to a meal that's already made. Some of my recipes have turned out well, some not so well. This one is not great for a week night, but it is great for a weekend. It has a short ingredient list and the results are delicious.

Notes: Scott and I prefer dark meat, but if you want white meat, by all means use chicken breasts.

If you don't have fresh apple cider, you could easily substitute apple juice.

Ingredients:
1 lb of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 1/2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce
1 cup fresh apple cider (or apple juice)
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

Add the chicken thighs to the slow cooker and season them with salt and pepper. In a large bowl whisk together the BBQ sauce and apple cider. Pour over the chicken, making sure all the meat is covered (if you need some more liquid, just add a little water). Set the slow cooker for 4 hours on high.

30 minutes before the cooking time is up, take the chicken out an shred it with two forks. Put the shredded chicken back in the slow cooker to finish up. Serve and enjoy!

Pictured here with French roasted potatoes

Homemade Pizza, Take Two

Hoo boy. Am I ever behind on posting recipes!

Remember when I made homemade pizza for the first time? Boy was it good. What could be better than a recipe for homemade pizza crust? Well, an updated version of said pizza crust would be good (camera battery ran out, so none of my terrible photos for you).

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour (unbleached preferred)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons raw sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 heaping tablespoons herbs de provence
1 cup lukewarm water
1 packet dry active yeast.
1 cup of your favorite pizza sauce
1 ball fresh mozzarella
8 slices of sandwich style pepperoni

Directions:

Start with the dough. Add flour, salt, sugar, olive oil, herbs de provence, water, and yeast to a bowl. Mix it together with your hands, stirring at first and then switching to kneading. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into ball. Wipe your bowl out with a paper towel and oil your bowl. Roll your dough ball around so that it's coated, then cover it with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Let it rise for 2 hours.

When the 2 hours is up, heat your oven to 450. Dump your dough out onto a floured surface and press the air out. Shape it back into a ball and let it sit under the bowl for 20 minutes. Then roll it out (start from the middle pushing outward, do a quarter turn, roll out from the middle again, repeat) to a 12-inch circle.

Lay it out on your pizza pan (dust a little cornmeal on there if you want). Spread the sauce out over the dough, add your pepperoni. Thinly slice your mozzarella ball and lay the slices on top.

Arrange your oven racks in bottom third and top third of the oven. Start on the bottom and bake for 10 minutes. Move it to the top and bake for 10 more minutes. Slice and enjoy!