Egg Noodles

Although it was a beautiful, sunny day yesterday, the thermometer still dipped in the single digits and I thought it was high time for soup. I have been wanting to make egg noodles for some time, but have given in to convenience and bought the frozen variety instead. After a little research I discovered that homemade egg noodles are very simple and worth the effort. I let them dry briefly on wire racks and stirred them in to some chicken noodle soup about 25 minutes before we sat down to eat. If you have some freezer space available I think it would be wise to make a double batch and keep some on hand for a quick weeknight meal.

Egg Noodles
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup whole milk
1 T. butter, melted

Stir together flour and salt. Add the beaten egg, milk, and butter. Knead dough for about 5 minutes or until smooth. Cover and let rest in bowl for 10 minutes. On a floured surface, roll out to 1/8 inch thick and cut into strips. Air dry until ready to cook.
**Note: When I started to roll the noodles, they did not want to cooperate. I had read somewhere that if you let the dough rest for a few more minutes it should be easier to work with. I did, and it definitely did the trick!

Barefoot Bloggers Pasta with Sudried Tomatoes

This weeks selection for the Barefoot Bl0ggers came from Cat over at Delta Whiskey. We took this dish over to our friends Timm and Faith, and one of the comments that came from that noshing was, "This is Summer!" Our sentiments exactly. A couple of modifications we made: We could not find sundried tomatoes at the local grocery store so we substituted a jar of sundried tomato bruschetta and we found it worked like a charm. After perusing the reviews at the Food Network we decided to cut back on the oil, double the pasta, and due to our personal tastes we nixed the kalamata olives and the capers. Verdict: we will be making this again during the height of the tomato harvest. The tartness of the vinegar, the acidity of the tomato, and the creaminess of the fresh mozzarella was an unbelievable combination of tastes and textures. A big thank you goes out to Cat for choosing this simple, fresh summer dish.

Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes
courtesy of Ina Garten via the Food Network

1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta
Kosher salt
Olive oil
1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
1 pound fresh mozzarella, medium-diced
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:

5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

6 tablespoons good olive oil

1 garlic clove, diced

1 teaspoon capers, drained

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

nocoupons

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.

Lemony Snickets!!

It has been such a beautiful weekend! The sun was shining, the wind was warm, and the breeze smelled like the summer was coming. What a wonderful time to make something springy and fresh! That is why I picked the Baked Lemon Pasta from Pioneer Woman. It looked like the perfect dish for the nice warm spring day that we had today.
Although pasta dishes are very filling, this dish seemed to to be "lighter" than the normal spaghetti and meatballs or fettuccine alfredo plate. The lemon seemed to compliment not only the thin spaghetti, but also worked well with the parmesan cheese. It gave you the feeling that you were having a nice brisk lunch in the cafe down the street in late spring.
We had some zucchini left over and decided to slice it up thin and put it in the dish. The best part is that your imagination can run wild and come up with a dozen different ideas to perk this up to your own taste and more than likely, all of them would be wonderful. My husband, who has the idea that pasta without a sauce or dressing on it is going to taste bland, was pleasantly surprised with this dish. He went back for seconds and said that he was looking forward to his leftover lunch tomorrow. When Bubba heads back for a second helping, you know something went right.

Sistah Sausage

Don't you just love and easy, delicious dish that you can throw together in no time? Tonight's dinner was Sausage Pasta and it certainly fit that criteria. We have only had this dish a handful of times, but I was reminded tonight that it needs to go in the regular rotation. My sister happened to give us this recipe and if I'm not mistaken it came from an old issue of Everyday Food. I did try to search their website for it to give credit, but to no avail. I guess I just have Cha to thank for this one! Speaking of her, readers can look forward to her guest blog on Wednesday. She will expertly be whipping up some Cherry Chicken to share with us. An homage to Northern Michigan and The Answer Man, I'm sure.

Sausage Pasta

1 lb. Italian sausage
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 lb. bow tie pasta, cooked
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 c. plus 2 T. olive oil
Heat 2 T. olive oil in a large pan. Add sausage and cook until done. Add bell pepper and cook 3-4 minutes. Add cooked pasta and the rest of the ingredients and stir.

*Note: I added the garlic with the red pepper since we are not big fans of raw-ish garlic.

Not Your Mom's Spaghetti!

We love goat cheese. I mean even our cat loves goat cheese. So, in trying to find a clever way to use it in a main dish, I stumbled upon an idea on the internet that used mushrooms, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and basil. Sounded like a tasty way to pull a pasta dish together, and boy was it ever! We used our favorite baby bella mushrooms to add a nice woody flavor and we got some brightness out of the fresh basil. As for the caramelized onions, you just can't go wrong when serving them. If you have never tried to fix them, you should. It is a simple preparation that yields fantastic results. Throw said ingredients together, season with salt and pepper, and you've got a meal to be proud of!

1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 T. sugar
2 T. butter
3 T. olive oil
12 oz. pasta (we used spaghetti--we had it on hand)
8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 T. fresh chopped basil
4 oz. goat cheese
4 T. grated parmesan cheese (more if you like)
salt and pepper to taste

Melt 1 T. butter and 1T. oil and stir in the sugar and some salt to taste. Add onions and cook over medium heat until they are a nice brown color. This will take quite some time, so be patient. After onions are done, remove from pan and use the same pan to saute the mushrooms with remaining butter and oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
In the meantime, cook pasta according to package, drain and add mushroom mixture along with the caramelized onions, basil, parmesan, and goat cheese. Toss to combine and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.

Ole!

When I look for din-spiration, I usually turn to Ina or some of my favorite food blogs. As I was browsing through recipes on Katie's site, I stumbled upon a recipe for Fiesta Lasagna and I figured I could amend it to fit our needs. Since ground beef was on sale, we opted for that, although I'm sure ground turkey would do in a pinch. I have never actually written a recipe, but here is my humble attempt at a delicious dish even Caribe Flay would be proud of!

Mexicali Lasagna
9 lasagna noodles
2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 c. red bell pepper, chopped (plus more for garnish)
3/4 c. green bell pepper, chopped (plus more for garnish)
1 c. sweet onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pkg. Ortega taco seasoning
1 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/4 c. + 4 T. chipotle sauce
3/4 c. fresh salsa--we like sweet onion (plus more for garnish)
1 c. sour cream
1/3 c. french onion dip
3 T. cilantro, chopped and loosely packed
1 16 oz. can refried beans
3 c. Mexican blend shredded cheese
Green onions for garnish
Chopped tomato for garnish
Shredded lettuce for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown meat until no longer pink and add the taco seasoning, garlic, onions, and peppers. Cook for 2 minutes and then add tomatoes, salsa, and 1/4 c. of the chipotle sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes. While the mixture is simmering, stir together the sour cream, french onion dip, cilantro, and 4 T. chipotle sauce. In a 9 x 13 glass baking dish assemble as follows: Spread small amount of meat mixture to lightly coat the bottom of the dish. Next, layer lasagna noodles, refried beans, sour cream mixture, meat mixture, and cheese. Repeat until you have three layers, ending with the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting and serve with additional sour cream, salsa, peppers, green onions, tomato, and lettuce if desired.