Spaghetti and Meatballs

Yield: 6 servings

MEATBALLS
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg, beaten

SAUCE
3/4 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 (28 ounce) cans whole peeled
tomatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 bay leaf
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder and beaten egg. Mix well and form into 12 balls. Store, covered, in refrigerator until needed.



Yummy. :)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is translucent. Stir in tomatoes, salt, sugar and bay leaf. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 90 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, basil, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more. Serve.

*This was amazing! I really loved it. My only suggestion on this one is to be sure to buy lean ground beef. Mine turned out a tad oilier than I would have liked. Also--this wouldn't be hard to make healthier either! Use ground turkey instead of ground beef, and use whole wheat pasta!*

Grilled Chicken Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce

Sorry that I haven't posted anything in awhile. We didn't have the money to go grocery shopping last week, so I didn't have any ingredients to make anything new!

This pasta was so delicious. I've never cooked with fresh herbs before, and they adding such amazing flavor, that it inspired me to grow my own herb garden. I will definitely be doing that sometime in the future, so be watching for a post on that.

On to last night's dinner:


1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Montreal Steak seasoning
1/2 pound penne pasta
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chicken broth
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 to 1 tsp salt & pepper (to taste)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded*

Rinse chicken breasts in cold water. Layer between sheets of wax paper and pound to even thickness. Season both sides with Montreal Steak seasoning. Preheat grill for medium high heat, lightly oil grate, and grill chicken breasts on medium high heat for 6-8 mins each side.

OR heat 2 tbsp butter & 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the butter and olive oil is nice and hot, add chicken breasts and cook 5 mins each side.

Set chicken aside to cool.

In a large pot, boil water with 1 tbsp salt. Add 1/2 lb penne pasta noodles and boil according to package directions.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is tender, but do not let the garlic turn brown (about 3-5 mins).

Add the chicken broth to the pan and allow to reduce by half. Meanwhile, slice chicken.

Once the broth has reduced, stir in tomato sauce. Add the heavy cream and stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat to low.

Chop the parsley and basil, add to sauce and mix well. Drain pasta and add to sauce. Stir well to coat. Serve pasta on plates, top with sliced chicken.

*If you're wondering what chiffonaded means, it means to stack the basil leaves on top of one another, roll them up (like you're a kid making a telescope out of paper) and thinly slice the leaves.

Also I got this recipe from kevinandamanda.com. She takes beautiful step-by-step pictures, so be sure to check it out HERE!

Mesquite Chicken and Bacon Bowtie Pasta

8 oz. Farfalle pasta
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed OR garlic salt (I do a spoonful of crushed garlic)
1/2 tbsp pepper
1/2 c. butter
1 lb. bacon, crumpled**
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice

**We like to cook our bacon in the oven (400 degrees, convection). Way less messy. And it’s crispy every time. Time varies, so you just have to watch it. I think it’s usually around 30 minutes. Allow to cool and then crumple.

[ directions ]

Crock pot chicken and bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred.

Set this aside.

About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.

--This recipe was soooo yummy. Dustin doesn't like cheese so I did not add the cheese to the sauce. It was still amazing. But I bet it's about 5 times more amazing with the cheese.

I baked my bacon in the oven just like she said. I lined a cookie sheet with tinfoil (easier clean up) and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. It came out burnt! I should have watched it more. But--it didn't ruin the recipe at all. It gave it a nice smokey flavor.

This pasta had such a unique flavor. I absolutely loved it! I will DEFINITELY be making this again.

Gnocchi

My husband Dustin served his mission in Argentina. He's always talking about the amazing gnocchi he had there. I've made gnocchi in the past but it was always pre-packaged gnocchi and I served it with Ragu. So I got courageous and decided to make my gnocchi by hand, and make a sauce from scratch (see below).

Gnocchi

INGREDIENTS

* 2 potatoes
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 egg

That's it! That's all you need. Putting it all together is a little trickier though.



1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Peel potatoes and add to pot. Cook until tender but still firm. Drain, cool and mash with a potato masher. This didn't get my potatoes mashed enough, so I got out my mixer and mashed them even more.
Get them as finely mashed as you can. It's very important.
2. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time. The actual amount used will vary every time, becuase not all potatoes are the same size, and the amount of water absorbed during the boiling will be different. Knead it all together until dough forms ball. It needs to dry but soft enough to roll it into snakes.
Cut snakes into small pieces. Press pieces with a floured fork, and make an indentation with your finger in the middle. This helps hold the pasta sauce.
3. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Drop in gnocchi and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until gnocchi have risen to the top;

drain and serve.

Dustin's grade: B
Erin's grade: B

There were a couple problems I encountered with this. First, I don't think I mashed the potatoes enough. I should of beat them with my mixer for even longer than I did. Second, I didn't realize that the gnocchi would get bigger when I boiled them. Next time I will cut them even smaller. Third, it was a little bland. They were great with the sausage sauce I made (see below), but if you got a bite with more gnocchi than sauce...it was lacking a little. I don't know what I would add to them, but they definitely needed a little something extra.

Lastly- I made the mistake of making the gnocchi first. I should have waited until after the sauce was made. They sat out too long and I had to re-heat them in the microwave, which may have added to their blandness.

Italian Sausage Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage links
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 (14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt
another 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

Directions

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and add the sausage links. The sausages I purchased had skin on them so I removed them first. Cook until nice and brown on all sides. Remove from pan and cut into small slices. Place them back in the pan and continue cooking until no longer pink. Drain and set aside.

In a medium sauce pan, saute the onion until translucent. Add the garlic and 1 1/2 teaspoons italian seasoning. Cook until tender. Add the crushed tomatoes, water, salt and remaining italian seasoning and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Combine sausage and sauce and cook until sausages are re-heated.

This sauce was awesome! I loved it! The only thing I might have done differently is cut the sausage even smaller than I did, or just brown it all together, like you would ground beef.

Dustin's grade: A
Erin's grade: A