Spaghetti and Meatballs

Good morning, everyone!  We have spaghetti a lot in this house, as its one of the few things we can get our daughter to eat with us, without a fight....or bribery.  She loves everything about spaghetti, and even has the recipe memorized, so...yeah, we have it a lot in our house.

Kickoff Chili!

Hello, everyone!  Happy Thursday!  I don't know if you're aware, but college football has started.  That means, that for the next few months, all of my Saturdays (and, sometimes on Thursdays!) are booked up!  That also means that fall is upon us.  Pumpkin spiced everything, hoodies, crisp air and crunchy leaves....and chili.  Chili in my family was always a big deal, and served at almost every football game!  Load it up with toppings of your choice, and you have a perfect meal to eat while screaming at the TV!  Because, if we're being honest, the team and refs can totally hear us!

Baked Spaghetti

Hello, everyone!  Welcome back, and happy Tuesday!  It seems like lately, I have been on quite the Italian kick!  I've done semolina pizza dough, semolina spaghetti, homemade cheese tortellini, and chicken parmesan all in August alone!  What can I say?  I love Italian food, and I don't care who knows it.  Although, I don't think baked spaghetti is very authentic Italian, but it sure is tasty!

Chicken Parmesan

Hello, everyone!  Happy Thursday!  The other day, I posted about semolina spaghetti, which I made to go with this: chicken Parmesan!  

What's not to love about chicken parm?  It's fried chicken smothered in melted cheese, served over pasta!  

Homemade Cheese Tortellini

Good morning, everyone!  Happy Thursday!  Today we're going to go over how to make homemade tortellini!  

As I have stated before, I love making pasta at home, people seem so impressed, even though it really isn't that difficult, or expensive to do!  What's better than that?

Semolina Spaghetti

Hello, everyone!  I have been on a bit of a semolina flour kick lately, and I'm not even going to apologize for it.  I have been dying, for years, to get my hands on some, and unless I order it online, I have not been able to find it in stores.

Until now.  There is a store that I have come across, that sells dried goods (almost like a general store), and they have so many goodies!  I have to walk in with blinders on and zero in on exactly what I came in for, or else I would just go nuts and buy all of the goods!

Semolina Pizza Dough

Hello, everyone!  Happy Tuesday!  I adore making pizza at home, who wouldn't?  It's WAY more affordable than ordering pizza in, not that much more effort, and once the dough is made and risen, a lot quicker than waiting for delivery.  How is that not a win-win-win?

Pasta with Vodka Cream sauce

Hello again, everyone!  Happy Thursday!  I probably have mentioned how I don't often drink alcohol, but I cook with it frequently.  I find that it really adds a ton of flavor to the food, and that's always welcome!

Since I don't drink often, our liquor cabinet is so sparse, its nonexistent.  We sometimes have a bottle of vodka in the freezer, but we haven't had any in awhile.  On our vacation, my husband picked up a mini bottle of vodka, because he knows I like to make pasta with vodka cream sauce.  He's a keeper!  

Pulled pork tamales

Hello, everyone!  Welcome back!  Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Tamales are far and away one of my favorite Mexican treats to make, although they are a little time consuming, which is why this is the one day per year I make these up!
This year, I cooked the pork a couple of days ahead of time, shredded it up and stuck in the fridge, so that when it came time to make these, they came together fairly quickly (for making tamales).  I've made these with ground beef, shredded chicken and now with shredded pork!  I think that this may be my new favorite...

Mexican inspired chicken chili

Hello, everyone!  It's Tuesday, and for the last couple of days here, we have had SUNSHINE!  It's been raining so much here lately, that I've almost forgotten what it looks like!  However, while the sun has been out, it has been pretty chilly here, which I'm kind of surprised about.  It's almost May, it is supposed to be warmer than 60 degrees outside...although, it'll go from being 60 degrees to 110 degrees in a matter of a couple of weeks, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

Anyhoo, my husband was out traveling for work the last couple of weeks, and while he's out of town, I just don't cook that much.  I don't like cooking huge meals for just myself (my daughter doesn't care for grown up food yet....she's still happy with a sandwich and some carrots).  So, what I usually end up doing is making a pot of soup to eat off of while he's gone.  

I figured, it's chilly out, so I should make up some chili!

Arancine (fried risotto balls)

Hello, everyone!  Happy Thursday!  The weekend is well on its way, so why don't we celebrate with some fried stuff with cheese?  I don't know if you're familiar with arancine, but these little lovelies are just leftover risotto, surrounding a filling of choice (mine just happened to be little balls of mozzarella cheese), coated in panko bread crumbs, then fried until golden brown and delicious!

Roasted garlic, Ricotta Cheese and Spinach Ravioli

Hello, everyone, happy Tuesday!  A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were wondering around one of my favorite stores, Sur La Table, and as we were talking with the clerk (after we had finished checking out), I mentioned that I'd been looking more into a ravioli mold.  

I love the idea of making ravioli, and I'd tried once before.  Once.  It didn't go well.  I'm not sure if I didn't get all of the air out, or maybe I didn't seal the ravioli well enough...I'm not sure, but it put me off trying to make them again, when the little beauties exploded as they were cooking.

Chicken enchiladas with homemade tortillas

I know, I know, Thanksgiving is in 2 days, what am I doing posting a chicken enchilada recipe??  Well, I figured with turkeys, and all of the fixings would be every where over the next few days (not to mention the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving), I'd do something a little different.
I never ate enchiladas growing up, mainly because they have onions mixed into the meat, and as we're aware, I don't like onions.  But one day, I  wanted to try something different than our usual "Taco Tuesday", so I made up some enchiladas!  ...and I have never looked back.

Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti sauce is one of those things that I grabbed while I was grocery shopping, for years.  Until one day it dawned on me, I could just as easily make mine at home!  All you need is some tomato sauce, some herbs (dried and fresh, if you can!), and a protein of your choice, or just leave it as a meatless sauce, and that's just one step closer to goodness!  I also have a secret ingredient that is subtle, but will leave you scratching your head, going, "Well.....why didn't I think of that?"

Canned homemade tomato sauce

One thing I really wanted to tackle this year was making canned, homemade tomato sauce.  I even planted two tomato plants, in hopes of getting some for sauce (I knew I wouldn't get enough off of two plants to can, but I had hoped to toss one or two of my own in there!), alas, no luck.  My tomato plants look good, but I haven't gotten any tomatoes off of them.  Yet.  However, the local farm in my area is selling pecks of tomatoes for $10 each, so I took my daughter out to the farm, and we bought two pecks for this adventure!