Pepperoni Pasta Bake

This dish reminds me a lot of Pizza Spaghetti, so no surprise that it was a big hit with KK! I added a red and green pepper to the dish to sneak some veggies into our meal (and also to use them before they went bad), and it was certainly a positive addition.  I had leftover pasta mixture after filling my 2.5-qt. corningware dish, so I filled a smaller 15-oz. baking dish with the remaining pasta.  I cooked both at the same time, and it did not affect the cook time.  We paired this pasta bake with a 2010 Casa Emma Chianti Classico which is one of the vineyards we visited in Tuscany last fall.  We were thrilled to find a wine shop near Kevin’s parent’s house where Casa Emma wine is sold! As usual, KK and I both topped our servings with a generous amount of crushed red pepper flakes!

Pepperoni Pasta Bake

Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

Time: 55 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 lb. gemelli
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
½ tsp dried oregano
4 cloves garlic, minced
24-oz. jar marinara sauce
15-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
½ cup Parmesan cheese
30 slides of pepperoni, sliced in half

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and cook pasta al dente according to package instructions.


2. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Sauté onions for 2-3 minutes. Add diced peppers and cook an additional 5 minutes; onion should be translucent, and peppers should be soft.  Add garlic and oregano to the skillet and cook for 1 additional minute.  Once garlic is fragrant, remove skillet from heat.


3. Stir onion mixture marinara sauce, diced tomatoes, 1 ½ cups mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, and pepperoni into the pasta.  Mix well.


4. Transfer pasta mixture into a greased baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 40 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.  Serve immediately.

Cheesy Baked Bowties

For some reason, I have a hard time getting bowtie pasta cooked perfectly.  It’s either a little crunchy in the center, or too mushy on the outside.  This time, I erred on the side of caution, and left the center a bit crunchy, knowing it would likely soften up as the pasta baked (correct).  But does anyone know how I can perfect the art of cooking bowtie pasta? The original recipe seemed a bit bland (I’m noticing this as a common theme in the few Martha recipes I’ve tried recently), so I added some additional basil and red pepper flakes to enhance the taste.  Use a gentle touch when breaking up the whole tomatoes.  As I learned from experience, if you’re too forceful, you’ll end up with tomato seed and juices squirting out at  you or all over your stovetop.   As I read down the ingredient list, I knew I wouldn’t want to make/eat a salad with this dish.  Sure enough, the gooey, cheesy pasta blend was too appealing, and I wanted seconds of it instead of having a salad.   Thankfully, I added some spinach to the pasta bake, so I was able to sneak some additional nutritional value into it.  Win! To add more nutritional value to this dish, next time I’ll consider adding diced onions and/or a chopped red pepper.  Any other suggestions?

Cheesy Baked Bowties

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Time: 45 minutes

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil, divided

2 chicken sausages, ~6 ounces

8 oz. bowtie pasta

1 clove garlic, minced

28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, in puree

¼ tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
⅛ tsp sugar
3 oz. baby spinach
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.  When water boils, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Drain cooked pasta and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook sausage on all four sides, about 3-4 minutes per side.  Remove from heat and slice into ¼-inch thick rounds.  If sausage is not cooked through, return to skillet and cook, flipping until sausage is no longer pink.  Set aside with cooked pasta.

3.  Using the same saucepan, heat remaining 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute.  Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and sugar.  Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes, until thickened.  Add spinach, and continue cooking 3-4 minutes, allowing spinach to wilt.  Season with salt and pepper.

4. Stir pasta, sausage, and half the mozzarella into the sauce mixture.  Transfer to a 2.5-quart baking dish; top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.  Bake until top is lightly browned, 10-15 minutes.  Let sit for 5 minutes prior to serving, allowing additional liquid to be absorbed by the pasta.

Honey Balsamic Chicken

As much as I enjoy cooking, sometimes it’s nice to have a quick recipe filed away in my back pocket for days I’m feeling lazy.  Not only is this one of those quick and easy recipes, but we usually have all of the ingredients in our pantry, making it a go-to dinner for nights when we haven’t been to the grocery store in awhile.  Tortilla Egg Scramble (http://3ddinners.blogspot.com/2013/05/tortilla-egg-scramble.html) and Tofu Pad Thai (http://3ddinners.blogspot.com/2013/01/tofu-pad-thai_23.html) also fall into both categories.  I should really add those as categories on the blog’s sidebar (adding that to my To Do list right now!).  So… back to dinner! The savory-sweet juxtaposition between the garlic and honey was especially nice.  Overall, it was very similar to the Honey Garlic Chicken (http://3ddinners.blogspot.com/2013/07/honey-garlic-chicken.html) dish I made over the summer, but this meal was more sweet and less spicy.  If you’re going to serve this meal with rice or another starch, I recommend starting with that first.  I started my Chicken Rice-A-Roni (http://www.ricearoni.com/Products/rice-a-roni/classic_favorites/Chicken) just before cooking the chicken, but the chicken cooked and sauce thickened well before the rice was finished cooking – that’s just how fast this one really is! Since the chicken and sauce are cooked in the same skillet, even cleanup is a cinch!

Honey Balsamic Chicken

Adapted from Baked Bree

Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb chicken breast, cut into 1-in pieces

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ cup chicken broth

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ tsp honey

Rice, optional for serving

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, then add olive oil.  Season chicken with salt and pepper, then cook in prepared skillet until no longer pink inside, 5-10 minutes.  Remove cooked chicken from heat, plate, and cover with tin foil.

2. Add chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, and honey to the same skillet.  Cook for 5 minutes over medium-high heat; sauce will begin to thicken.

3. Return chicken to pan, coating evenly with sauce.  If desired, serve with rice or orzo.

Sriracha Corn Chowder

This soup originally called for fire roasted corn, but it isn't exactly corn season, so we stuck with frozen corn instead.  With a little Google research, I opted for pan roasting the kernels instead and that did the trick.  The makers of Sriracha sauce have been in the news recently, but that hasn't stopped KK and I from using it.  We opened a new bottle for this recipe, but I think it’s safe to say that it’ll last until the so-called Sriracha shortage ends.  My recipes frequently call for small quantities (teaspoons here and there) of Sriracha sauce, but this is the first time that it’s been one of the major ingredients in a meal.  Since we usually like spicy food, I wasn't overly concerned about the level of spiciness.  In fact, the contrast between the spicy Sriracha sauce and the sweet corn in the soup was pleasantly surprising.  With that being said – be warned – if you can’t handle spiciness, then this soup isn’t for you.  We both enjoyed this soup (I even had it for lunch the next day), but neither one of us topped our bowls with extra sauce, a testament to how spicy it really was!

Sriracha Corn Chowder

Adapted from The Sriracha Cookbook

Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

4 tsp olive oil, divided

2 lb. frozen corn, thawed and divided

2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced

2 medium yellow onions, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups vegetable stock

½ cup Sriracha sauce

½ tsp dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1 cup light cream

Salt and black pepper

Smoked paprika, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Cook 1 cup of corn in the skillet, stirring occasionally until kernels begin to blacken, about 20 minutes.  Plate and set aside.

2. Heat remaining oil over medium heat in a Dutch oven or stock pot.  Add peppers and onions, cooking 5-7 minutes until slightly softened.  Add remaining 1 cup thawed corn and garlic, cook an additional 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant.  Add vegetable stock, Sriracha sauce, thyme, and bay leaves.  Increase heat to high and boil mixture, then reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 45 minutes.

3.  After the soup cooks for 40 minutes: pour cream into the same skillet used for the corn, and heat over low for 5 minutes; cream should be just below a simmer.

4. Remove bay leaves and puree the soup with an immersion blender.  A food processor or blender can be used as well, but take caution when transferring the hot liquids to and from the Dutch oven.

5. Mix in warm cream and reserved roasted corn.  Cook an additional 5 minutes, until heated through.  Season with salt and pepper; sever immediately, garnished with smoked paprika and additional Sriracha if you can handle the heat!

Orange Chicken

Talk about a quick dish! KK usually sets out the ingredients for me before I get started cooking (usually it’s the night before :)).  Of course, I'm always appreciative of his planning, but this is one of the moments when it really makes a difference! There isn’t much time between each step, so it helps to have everything ready otherwise you'll be frantically running around the kitchen, trying to find the ingredients.  We served this dish with some Minute Rice, which I just after I put the chicken in the skillet.  The goal of the first step is only to brown and crisp the outside of the chicken; it will not be cooked through.  Don’t worry though, there’s more cook time in step #3! Both KK and I found ourselves adding excessive amounts of Sriracha sauce to this dish because it was a little bland, so I’ve updated the ingredient list below to add a little extra kick to the dish before serving it.

Orange Chicken

Adapted from Recipe Girl

Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

2 tsp sesame oil

1 lb boneless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper, to taste

15-oz. can mandarin oranges in light syrup

½ cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

2 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp Sriracha sauce

Directions

1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Season chicken with salt and pepper; place chicken in skillet and cook until golden on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.

2. Drain oranges, reserving ¼ cup of the light syrup.  Add oranges and reserved syrup to the skillet; let simmer for 2 minutes.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together chicken broth, soy sauce, corn starch, and Sriracha sauce.  Add mixture to skillet and simmer until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, about 3 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Turmeric Chicken

This recipe came together quickly! The longest wait-time in the recipe was while the chicken marinated, but that gave me time to slice and dice the onion, peppers, and green beans.  Be mindful not to get turmeric on your hands or clothing because it will leave a hard-to-remove yellow stain! I’m on the hunt for a better wok, so I prepped this dish using my everyday nonstick skillet, but cooking it with a wok would’ve been my preferred method.  We cooked up a cup of white rice to server this with, but you can eat it alone or with naan instead.  If you think you can handle it, leave some of the chili seeds in to make this meal extra spicy! I tend to err on the side of caution when cooking, so I carefully removed all of the seeds, but ended up adding Sriracha sauce J

Turmeric Chicken

Adapted from Rasa Masala

Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

1 lb. chicken breast, chopped into 1-in pieces

2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp oyster sauce

4 Tbsp canola oil

1 medium onion, sliced

2 red chilies, deseeded and cut into thick strips

4 oz. green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces

6 Tbsp water

1 tsp sugar

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Combine chicken, turmeric powder, and oyster sauce in a bowl or plastic bag.  Marinate for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over high heat.  Saute onion for 5 minutes.

3. Add chicken, red chilies, green beans, water, and sugar to the skillet.  Continue sautéing, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through.  Season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Sesame Orange Tofu

Adapted from Cook It Fresh
Serves: 2

Ingredients
14-ounce package extra firm tofu
2 large eggs
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 cup baby carrots, diced
1 cup frozen edamame
1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts
2 cups cooked white rice

Directions
1.  Drain tofu.

2.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn starch, salt and sesame seeds until frothy. Add the tofu cubes to the bowl and toss until well-coated.

3. Cook tofu in skillet using canola oil and plate.

4.  Cook the instant rice.

5.  In the same skillet as the tofu, cook the vegetables until crisped.

6.  Pour in sauce ingredients into skillet with cooked vegetables - orange juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and sesame oil.  Bring sauce to a boil and cook until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Mix together with the tofu and cooked rice and serve.