Stuffed Shells & corn/cherry tomato side dish

This is a VERY simple dinner, everyone seems to love. Great for if your kids have friends, they also love it.

Boil Stuffing shells in water with a little salt till al dente. Drain & let cool. In bowl add: 1 container ricotta cheese, 1 egg, 1 package shredded Italian cheese. Then in food processor, add 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 onion, a few leaves of spinach & a few leaves of basil. Add this mixture to the bowl & salt & pepper to taste, stir all ingredients together. Spray rectangular baker with cooking spray & put marinara sauce of your choice on botton of pan to cover entire bottom with thin layer. Stuff all shells with cheese mixture. Top with some more sauce & shredded parmesan cheese. Bake 350 degrees, 1/2 hour.

Cheese Mixture:

Before being cooked:

After being cooked:

For delicious side dish, I make corn/tomato saute, salad & garlic bread.

For corn/tomato side dish, cut cherry tomatoes in half, as many as you desire, dice some shallots. Saute shallots in butter, season with salt/pepper. Add corn (1 bag frozen), a tsp of sugar. Cook a few minutes over medium heat. Add the tomatoes & cook until tender. You can also add torn basil leaves, fresh rosemary, whatever you're in the mood for to season additionally. Even balsamic vinegar if you wish. This is the dish:

Simple easy dinner, everyone loves!

Vegetarian Pasta Dish

This dish I made some items separately (a picky kid doesn't like spinach/mushrooms). The rest of us like it together. It could be made to look fancy if you add some thin asparagus, shaved cheese on top. It's pretty rich, but great for a little indulgence!

INGREDIENTS:
Pasta of your choice, I used Penne, Butter, Salt/Pepper, White truffle oil, chives, parmesan cheese, mushrooms, spinach, chicken broth, half & half

This is the sauce in the pan before being tossed with pasta & vegetables:

Sauce cooking left
& vegetable mixture below

To make this I slice large mushrooms (about 8) thinly. I also cut one small onion. I saute these vegetables in some butter & a little chicken broth. I season with salt & pepper. Take vegetables out, set aside in bowl.

To get this sauce, Melt 1/4 stick of butter in this same pan you cooked the vegetables in. Deglaze the pan with a little chicken broth. Add some white truffle oil, about 1/4 cup. Whisk together & add about 1 cup half & half (could use heavy cream for richer sauce), when blended, add parmesan cheese & melt (about a cup). Then season with pepper & cut chives into sauce, about 1/4 cup of chopped chives. Then toss with pasta & top with shaved parmesan cheese:

In the end as you plate this dish, you could serve with garlic bread & salad. You can toss in as many of the sauteed vegetables as you like. Here's a picture (sorry not the best) of the final product with some salad & garlic bread.

You can make a different variation on this & instead of using truffle oil, you could use marsala wine. Either way, this dish is very tasty. Enjoy

Sausage Ragu Recipe

My husband loves my sausage ragu sauce. Could also be called meat sauce. (: Recipe follows:

Garlic - 2 cloves chopped
Celery 1 stalk - diced
1 carrot stick - peeled & diced small
1/2 Red Pepper - diced small
Onion - 1 small diced
Small can tomato paste
Large can tomatoes (pureed)
Red Wine
Chicken stock
1 lbs. hamburg
4 hot sausages/2 sweet sausages
salt Pepper nutmeg
Parmesan cheese block & romano cheese block
Thyme & fresh basil leaves cut in strips or chopped

*Sorry, sizes are approximate, I never cook exact, but to taste.

After chopping all vegetables, saute in olive oil. Season with a little salt & pepper. Deglaze pan with some chicken stock. Add Sausages (out of casings) & saute. Add hamburg & saute. Season meat with a few dashes of nutmeg & thyme to taste. Add some red wine (about 1/2 cup) & stir in. Simmer 5-10 minutes. Add Tomato paste (after adding paste, fill can 1/2 way with broth to get it all out), then add large can of pureed tomatoes. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Finally, shred parmesan & romano cheese over top & cut basil for color. Put over pasta! Note: Sometimes I add a little hot pepper for some zip!

I like to serve with some thin asparagus, salad & garlic bread. Also great with a glass of red wine! You can put the leftover onions & red pepper from the recipe in the salad. Enjoy~