Comfort Food 001

I love pasta with every fiber of my being.  In another life, I was probably a very overweight Italian woman.  It brings me so much happiness and you can prepare it a gazillion ways.  Pasta is as diverse as meat.  There's orzo which is akin to rice, penne that goes with any sauce and large shells or manicotti for adding substantial fillings.  Really, I love them all.  I make a great, cold orzo salad for the spring and summer with fresh veggies, grilled chicken and feta.  In the winter, I often make a big pan or some sort of pasta for leftovers.  It freezes well and is easy to reheat.  That was a lot of build up to share one of my favorite recipes with you - baked ziti or rigatoni or penne.

Baked pasta

• 16 oz "tube" pasta - ziti, penne or rigtoni
• 1 jar pasta sauce - I recommend tomato and basil
• 8 oz ricotta
• 1/4 C sour cream - I use low fat
• 1 egg
• 8 oz shredded Italian cheese blend
• 1 lb ground pork, ground beef or Italian sausage - if using pork or beef, I recommend adding some diced onion, garlic and parsley for flavor

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Make pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook ground meat or sausage over med-high heat in a skillet.
3. Mix pasta sauce, ricotta, sour cream, egg and half of shredded cheese in a large bowl.  Add ground meat and then pasta, mixing thoroughly to cover all of the pasta with the sauce.
4. Spread pasta mixture in 9x13 pan and top with remaining shredded cheese.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbling.

A Toast to Sunday Brunch

I'm a big breakfast fan.  It's probably my favorite meal, but unfortunately that little pesky thing called a job keeps me from a legit breakfast most days.  So I can typically found over my stove on a Sunday morning.  I believe in a wholesome Sunday breakfast, spent with full mugs of coffee and the Sunday paper.  It's practically a ritual for me.  It feels good for the soul and it feels good to spend some time with loved ones and/or the news.

So this Sunday, I poked around my fridge and cabinets for some ideas.  After noticing a chunk of fancy scmancy sourdough still in fridge, I decided on French toast.  While I believe in Sunday brunch, I also believe in good bread for French toast.  You just shouldn't use some old white bread for this....it's just not right.  Find a bakery or heck, buy a nice loaf of French bread from your grocer's bakery department.  It will do.

What you'll need

Christine's French Toast, makes 4 slices

• 4 slices sourdough, about 1/2 inch thick
• 1 egg
• 1/4-ish C milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg

Break egg in a shallow dish and beat well.  Add milk, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Beat well.  Place sliced bread in the dish to absorb the liquid, turning over once.

Let it soak up all the eggy, milky deliciousness!

Heat a nonstick skillet over med-high heat.  Cook the toast for about 3-4 minutes per side or until golden brown.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup.

Doesn't that look fab?

Perfect pizza

I'm a big fan of pizza.  I mean big.  The more I think about it, the more I'm realizing that pizza might be one of my top fav foods.  Like maybe top 3.  It's so awesome - you get all the food groups with enough junk food-ness to be super satisfying.  Tonight I made a seriously awesome pie.

Yea I know it doesn't exactly look perfect, but let me tell you it was delish.  It consisted of Trader Joe's pizza crust (hmm you're probably really thinking I'm an undercover PR person for them with back to back posts on their products), some baked chicken breast (of the boneless, skinless variety, sliced very thin), Williams-Sonoma artichoke and garlic pizza sauce and freshly grated Parmesan.  That's it - 4 ingredients and you're done.  

If you've never tried this pizza sauce, by golly get thee to a Williams-Sonoma and buy it immediately!  It's delicious.  I think I got about 4 homemade pizzas out of the jar.  It's pretty garlicky so if you don't like the stuff, stay away.  You can use it somewhat sparingly since it's very strong in flavor, meaning more pizzas.  Hooray!