Broccoli & Garlic Penne Pasta

I don't know about you, but I am a fan of garlic!  I know it doesn't leave you with kissable breath, but I'm willing to sacrifice that to have a great garlic-y tasting meal.  I saw this pin and thought that it had to be great!  Broccoli too?  I was sold.

The recipe originates from the Schnucks website, which is a grocery chain in the Midwest.  I had to search around for their "about Schnucks" link; I've never heard of them until I tested this recipe.

Here are the ingredients and directions:

What you need:

(click + to add ingredients to your shopping list)

+ 1 c. Swanson® Chicken Broth or Swanson® Chicken Stock
+ 1/2 tsp. dried basil leaves, crushed
+ 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
+ 2 cloves garlic, minced
+ 3 c. broccoli florets
+ 1/2 of a 1-lb. pkg. penne pasta (about 3 c.), cooked and drained
+ 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
+ 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

What to do:

1. Heat the broth, basil, black pepper, garlic and broccoli in a 10-in. skillet over medium heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook until the broccoli is tender-crisp.
2. Add the penne and lemon juice and toss to coat. Sprinkle the penne mixture with the cheese.

Nutritional information:

Calories: 124;   Total Fat: 2g;   Saturated Fat: 1g;   Cholesterol: 4mg;   Total Carbs: 22g;   Fiber: 3g;   Protein: 6g;   Sodium: 281mg;  

It's a really simple and easy recipe!  I used more garlic because 2 cloves didn't seem like it would really be enough to taste, especially in the broccoli.

The verdict?  If you're trying to watch your waistline, this recipe is for you.  The husband told me I should've been tipped off by the "lightness" of the flavors just from the calories alone. ;)  It's definitely light and the flavor barely comes through.  I ended up adding more garlic and lemon juice to get more of a taste to come through.  I won't add this to my recipe box, but if I'm trying to cut back, I may come back to this one.


Cheers!

Taco Pasta Bake

Oh my!  I've been MIA from this blog for over a month!  My apologies for those of you that actually read this blog!  March was so hectic with family events that it flew by so quickly for our family.  I'm back though, and have plenty of pins to test out and post.  :)


I bring you a pin that I've been curious about since I saw it last year; the Taco Pasta Bake.  The only time I've really tasted something like this was when the mister brought home a taco type Hamburger Helper meal home because it was on sale.  I don't remember if we liked it or not (it was so long ago and we usually avoid HH so that we cook more from scratch-nothing against it!), we only had it that once.  Yesterday while running errands, I browsed through my food board and cam across the pin and figured it was time to test it out.

The original pin had an incorrect link to "Cole World" blog, which doesn't have any recipes whatsoever!  I Google'd and corrected the link for the pin on my food pin board.  :)
 

You may have seen the pin with the entire recipe listed out in the description.  As you can tell in the photo, I just put the dish name and that it's already been tested by me ;)

Here is the recipe as found on Claudia's Recipes website:

Taco Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
1/2 - 3/4 of a bag of ziti
1lb of ground beef
1 envelope of taco seasoning
1C water
1/2 pkg of cream cheese
1 1/2C shredded cheese (Mexican style or Colby Jack)

Directions:
Boil pasta until just cooked, drain, rinse with cold water.

Brown ground beef, mix together taco season and  water, pour over cooked beef and let simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid has reduced.

Add the cream cheese to the beef mixture, stir until melted and combined, remove from heat.

Add pasta to the casserole dish and mix in 1C of the shredded cheese.

Top pasta and cheese with beef mixture, gently mix until the pasta is coated, top with remaining shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 uncovered for approx 30 minutes.  


It is as simple as it reads.  There were only a few things I did differently compared to the original; I didn't use Ziti noodles, but Penne since we usually have a lot in stock in our pantry (I also used the entire box instead of 3/4),  and I used 1 cup total of shredded cheese.

I used a 7 x 11 dish when I made this pasta bake.  It was actually a perfect size IMO.  It was a bit tough mixing, but it all fit!  Here are the cooked noodles (only to al dente) and 1/2 cup shredded cheese, mixed in the pan.

 I melted in the cream cheese with the taco seasoned meat and then combined it with the pasta...

Added1/2 cup shredded cheese on top (we used a fiesta blend), and baked uncovered for 30 minutes.

 The finished Taco Pasta Bake, fresh from the oven!  Also a picture of a serving in a bowl, waiting to be devoured by our oldest kiddo!

 

Another pinterest recipe success!  A definite hit with the kiddos and the mister found it tasty as well!  He did mention that the next time we make it, he wants to experiment with adding another spice or something to it to bring more flavor to the dish.  Gotta love someone who loves to try and improve on things, right?

Hope y'all enjoy this dish!  Cheers!

Penne Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Before this recipe, I don't think I've ever cooked with sun-dried tomatoes.  Of course my family has had dishes with them at restaurants, but I've never thought to use them at home nor used a recipe that called for them.  Good ol' Pinterest, getting people to try new things (or think about it) one pin at a time. :)

There it is to the right, the picture that convinced me to pin this very recipe over 50 weeks ago.  Now that I'm back to meal planning weekly, besides using trusted family recipes and family favorites we've tried over the years, I also comb through my food board on Pinterest in search of recipes to try out on my family.

This pasta just looks so creaming and tasty, doesn't it?  It must be an amazing recipe with "sun-dried tomato cream sauce" and everything!  That's what I was thinking when I saw this pin!


Being that when we went grocery shopping for the week we chose to go to WinCo, we didn't exactly find sun-dried tomatoes.  I almost gave up hope even attempting this dish until Google came to the rescue of course.  I used a DIY method courtesy of allrecipes.com and viola, sun-oven dried tomatoes!  Word of caution, if you decide to go this route, make sure you either start in the morning or do this the day before.  For you working parents, do this on the weekend because it really does suck up majority of the day.  Again, that's if you're going to make your own sun-dried tomatoes at home (using the oven-I'm not sure how fast a dehydrator is).

My results from making sun-dried tomatoes at home

As you can see, I did slice up some tomatoes as if I were going to put them on a sandwich or burger because I wanted some to dry out quicker.  Note: If you do this, cut the slices thick otherwise if they're too thin, they will dry out too fast and then stick to your cookie sheet and burn!

Now for the main event!  Here is the recipe straight from Very Best Baking site:

Ingredients

• 2 cups (8 oz.) dry penne pasta
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Lowfat 2% Milk
• 2 cups (8-oz. pkg.) shredded Italian-style four-cheese blend
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

PREPARE pasta according to package directions, adding sun-dried tomatoes to boiling pasta water for last two minutes of cooking time; drain.  

MEANWHILE, COMBINE evaporated milk, cheese, basil, garlic powder and pepper in medium saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until cheese is melted. Remove from heat.  

ADD pasta and sun-dried tomatoes to cheese sauce; stir until combined.  

What the directions fail to mention is that you should remove the tomatoes from the pasta pot before you drain.  If you don't, the tomatoes will mix in with the penne and then you won't have any for your sauce!  When I added the tomatoes, I made sure that I stirred it up a bit first (you know, to prevent noodles from sticking to each other) and when the noodles stopped moving around I added the tomatoes.  Then before I was ready to drain the pasta, I used a slotted spoon to fish out the tomatoes and put them straight into the cream sauce.  Yes, the heat was still on as I did this because I wanted the sauce to thin out more.  After the tomatoes were incorporated then I removed it from the heat.

Sauce ingredients just added to the saucepan

Sauce after it's been cooking for a bit

It didn't dawn on me until I started making the sauce that it was a lot of cheese!  Keep in mind that it at first as you're stirring it, the consistency will be thick and it won't exactly become a "cream" sauce.  Once it cools down, it will harden and will have to be warmed up again to make it easier to spoon onto your pasta.

The final product!

Verdict: It was a hit!  The creamy (and I do mean creamy) sauce was oh-so-delicious and tasty and a hit with my kids!  The husband of course enjoyed it and said it was recipe book worthy!  The next time I make this, I think I'll try adding more milk to help thin out the cheese a bit more, but it was great!

Cheers!