Stuffed Pasta Shells

I saw this cooked on TV a few days ago and of course I just had to make it !! I looked at a few recipes and took some from each of them and came up with this. Danny came home early and we cooked it together..I love cooking with him. And not just cause he does the dishes !!

It was so easy to make and I have some of the cheese filling left. Either gonna freeze it or make a lasagna.

Spinach, Bacon, Mushroom, Asiago,Mozzarealla, Parma & Ricotta Cheese stuffed Pasta Shells with Asiago & Parma Alfrado sauce.

Recipe

1 Box pasta shells, boiled

Filling

3 cups Ricotta cheese

2 eggs

10 OZ spinach, thawed and squeezed of all it water

5 Slices of bacon, cut up small and fried

1 PK of mushrooms, sliced and seasoned with salt & pepper,fried in the leftover bacon fat

1 Cup Mozzerella cheese grated

1 Cup Asiago cheese grated

1/2 cup Parma cheese grated

Black pepper and salt to taste

Sauce

2 TBS Butter

2 TBS AP flour

2 Cups heavy whipping cream

1 Cup asiago cheese grated

1/2 cup parma cheese grated

Salt, black & white pepper to taste

About 1/4 cup of parma & asiago on top before baking.

Mix all the filling stuff together. Mix reall good cause the spinach lumps up from being squeezed.

Spay pan on the bottom of 2 8 X 11 baking dishes.

Stuff the shells and put in pan.

Put oven on 375 and make the sauce.

In wide pan, add butter and flour and cook for about one min. Add heavy cream and wisk till blended.

Let cook on low fire till thick, about 10 mins. Use a wide pan so it does not take too long to get thick.

Turn off fire and add cheese and stir till melted. Season with salt & pepper

Pur sauce over stuffed shells and add a little more parma & asaigo cheese on top and back till bubbly and a little browned on top, about 20 mins.

PS. I only did on pan and saved the filling in zip lock bag. Either gonna freeze it or make a lasagne with it.

All the filling stuff

Mix real good

Stuff the shells.

Butter and flour for the sauce.

Add the cream a cook down.

Add the cheese.

Season with salt & peppers

Pour sauce over stuffed shells and top with more cheese

Bake till bubble and browned.

If you don't like the oil on top, don't add the parma

I like it..LOL

It was sooooo GOOD !!

Very easy to make and fun to cook with my Hubby : )

I cooked a smoked chicken gumbo

Smoked Chicken, Andouille Gumbo, Tater Salad & French Bread..YUM

Joey's Fried Cajun BLT : )

Just left the house heading to the camp and was starving, all I ate for breakfast was a nectarine and banana. We stopped at Joey's down the street. I ordered the Cajun BLT. Fried green tomato,thick bacon,avocado,lettuce,alpha sprouts and not sure what else but it was sooo GOOD !!

Pork Chop with fennel and capers AND pork chop with mustard and capers

Danny has been loving capers lately so I wanted to cook something with them. I saw Giada De Laurentiis cook this on her TV show on the food channel and it looked sooo good I just had to try it. I have not cooked with fennel in years and was not sure if Danny would like it, so I looked up another recipe with capers just in case he didn't like the fennel he would have something to eat..LOL. I found one on Food and Wines web site and it looked really good too. They were both so good, I can't wait to cook both of them again.

I chopped up some fennel, onions and some of the fennel fronds. The recipe said to use shallots but I didn't have any. I think the onions worked out fine.

I browned the pork chop reall good on both sides in the olive oil.

I took it out and added the fennel and onions.

Let that cook till soft and a little browned. Then I added the fennel fronds and some chopped parsley and let cook a few more mins.

Then I added the tomatoes and let cook for a few more mins.

Then I added the pork chop back to the pot with some chicken stock. The recipe called for white wine but I just added the stock.

I let it cook for a good 30 mins, I had to add some more stock a few times while it was cooking. When the fennel was cooked till soft, I added the capers, lemon zest and more parsley. Let it cook for just a min or two.

It was soooo good !! Danny loved it too : )

Recipe

1 pork chop
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 fennel bulbs chopped
1 med onion chopped
Chopped fennel fronds
1/2 cup chopped parsley..divided
14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock or white wine
1/2 lemon zested
3 TBS capers

Salt and pepper the pork chop and brown in olive oil over med high heat.
Take chop out and add fennel and onions and cook about 10 mins.
Add fennel fronds and 1/2 of the parsley and cook about 5 more mins.
Add tomatoes and cook just a few mins to heat up.
Add pork chop back to the pot and add chicken stock.
Lower fire and let simmer about 30 mins till pork chop and fennel are tender. Add more chicken stock when needed.
Add lemon zest, capers and rest of parsley and let heat up for just a min.
YUM

The other pork chop was way too good too. Pork chop with mustard and capers. They were both so easy to cook.
Season a pork chop with salt and pepper and brown in olive oil on both sides over med high heat.

Take it out and add the capers and chopped rosemary and let cook for a min.

 Add water and chicken boullion. Let cook for about 5 mins.

Add the pork chop back to the pan and let cook about 20 mins..adding more water as needed.

When the chop was tender, I took it out and I thought the sauce was a little too thin for me so I mashed together 1 TB of butter with 1 TB of AP flour and when it was mushed together real good, I added it to the sauce in the pan.

I wished it in and let cook for a few mins to thicken the sauce. You don't have to do this, i just like a thicker sauce. Then I added the mustard and wisked it in.

I added some chopped parsley and let heat up.

I put the chop back in the pan to heat back up. It was sooooo good !!

Recipe
1 Pork chop
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 knorrs chicken boullion cube
1/3 cup drained capers
1/2 tsp chopped rosemary
2 TBS dijon mustard
1 TBS chopped parsley
IF NEEDED...
1 TBS butter
1 TBS AP flour
Mixed together and added to the sauce if needed.

Season pork chop with salt and pepper and brown over med high heat in the olive oil and butter till browned reall good on both sides.
Take the chop out and add the rosemary and capers and let cook a for about a min.
Add water and chicken boullion and let cook for a min till the boullion is melted.
Add the pork chop back to the pot and cook for about 20 mins till tender.
Take chop out and add the butter and flour mix if you want a thicker sauce.
 IF NOT, just add the mustard and wish in and let cook a few mins.
Add the parsley and let cook for a min.
Add the chop back in and let heat back up.
YUMMY

This is the bread that I make that I served with it. Dannys favorite...He snacks on it all the time.
Slice the french bread and put on baking sheet. Brush with melted butter. Add the canned OR freash parma cheese and top with dried parsley.

Back at 350 till browned.
Its a great way to use up stale bread..BUT make a lot cause it gets eaten fast !!

I took some mac-n-cheese I had in the freezer out and baked in the oven and we ate it with the pork chops. They were both very good. If you love capes, you need to try one or both of these : )

Potatoes, Onion & Chesse Au Gratin

Taters, Onions & cheese. Fried Shrimp and Tarter Sauce

We came back from the camp and did not have a whole lot of food in the house, as usual..LOL. I found some taters in the fridge with a bunch of small pieces of different kinds of cheese.  Danny loves cheese and taters so I looked up some recipes and came up with this from a couple of them.

I took 2 1/2 lbs of red taters that I peeled and cut 1/8 inch thick. Put them in a pan with 2 cups of whipping cream and 1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2. The regular milk had gone bad..LOL Glad I had all that other milk in the fridge. I was going to use some pet milk till I dug in the fridge. I added a few bay leaves and let cook for about 15 mins on a low boil. The taters were almost cooked and the cream was good and thick..YUM
I seasoned with black, red & white pepper and some salt.



In a seperate pan, I sliced an onion into 1/4 in slices and cooked them in 2 TBS butter, seasoned with salt, black,red & white pepper. I cooked it on a low fire for about 20 mins.

In a baking pan that I sprayed with pan..LOL. I put 1/2 of the taters and then covered with all of the onions.

I put some cheddar cheese then some asiago cheese then some gruyere cheese.

Then I covered with the rest of the taters and topped with some Parma cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour till browned on top.

I really was soooo good !! Danny put 3 big spoonfulls of the 3 different cheeses and said he liked them all but could not say if one was better than the other. It was too funny cause he kept going back for more saying he was just trying to tell the difference between the cheeses...It is too much fun watching him eat when he really likes something. I can't wait to eat the left overs for supper with some pork chops. I sure it will be even better today : )
 OH...the tarter sauce is just some dill pickles, parsley,garlic in a small food processor and then add it to some mayo and horshradish. Salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Parmesan

I think I am finally getting Danny to like Italian food !!
We are leaving tomorrow and was going thru the fridge to clean it out and saw that I had a little of the sauce's I made the other day left. I was gonna throw them away and then got busy. I went to walmart and was passing by the meat department and saw some reduced chicken thighs. Well I sure can't pass that up. I got 4 thighs for 2.23. I came home and was gonna freeze them this afternoon but when I put them in the fridge, I saw the sauce : )
I took the skin off and took the bone out and cut them in half.
I took some AP flour, beat 2 eggs with 2 TBS oil and had some panko break crumbs..I put that in the fancy Paula Deen breading set I bought reduced at walmart years ago for 5.00. I glad I got it, I use it all the time.
I added black pepper and salt to all three of them.

I put the chicken in the flour then the egg then the panko. You can use regular bread crumbs too.

I cooked them over med. heat till browned and cook thru.

I drained them on a cooling rack over paper towel, it helps them stay crispy.

I re-heated the Vodka Tomato Cream Sauce and the Roasted Bell Pepper sauce. You can just use some jar sauce if you don't have these.
Put them on a cookie sheet and top with the sauce.

Top with cheese. The round cheese is Provolone and the square is Mozzarella.

Bake at 500 degrees till the cheese is melted and browned. I would have used the broiler but I realised when I went to put it on..the boiler is at the bottom of the oven..like close to the floor..LOL. We just moved into the house so I never noticed.

I had some roasted garlic bread we got a Rouses when we went to the camp so i put on some butter and toasted it up. I DID NOT EAT IT !!!!! When I went to cut it, I saw a little mold on it and of course my Hubby said it was still good and just trimmed it off !!!!
He joked about me buying reduced meat BUT..the meat is still good....Not like moldy bread...YUK !!
Anyway... Danny loved the food. He saw it on the food channel not that long ago and said he wanted to try it.
I said I guess you like Italian food now ?? He said he likes mine...LOL

Home Made Ravioli

OK.. I will start off by saying I have never made ravioli before. I had some crab meat I picked from some crabs I boiled and wanted to try something different. I started looking for recipes and could not decide which one to use so I ended up making 4 different ones. Crazy I know, but they were not really that much work and I was kinda bored anyway. The old saying seafood and cheese don't mix is not always true but I find the raviloi with the chesse filling was not as good as the one with the bechamel sauce. Danny does not like crab too much and of course he did not really like the ones with the crab meat in them.
I used wonton wrappers for the pasta and it worked out great.
 Out of the 4..the plain cheese with the egg yolk and the crab bechamel were the best. The vodka cream sauce was so good and easy to make, I can't wait to buy some frozen raviolis from the store to try with the sauce.

I took 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 1 cup of goat cheese and mixed it with a lil salt, pepper and chopeed parsley.

I divided it in 1/2 and added 1 egg yolk to one bowl. Mario Batali had that in one of his recipes. I find the one with the egg yolk was better than the one with out, it made it creamier.

I added the about 1/2 cup of the crab meat to the one with out the egg yold. After it was cooked, it tasted OK but not as good as the one with the egg yolk and no crab meat.

The next one is kinda from a recipe from Gumbo Pages.com. They have some really good recipes on that web site. That's how we started doing out New Orleans BBQ Shrimp. We tried a few of the recipes from that site and have changed it over the years but it was a great way to learn to cook them.

In a pan, I added 1 TBS butter and 1 TBS of AP flour.

Let cook for a min but do not brown.

I then added about 3/4 cup of heavy cream and let cook for several mins over low fire.

Keep stiring till it gets very thick. I added a little salt and pepper.

In another pan, melt 1 TBS butter and add 2 chopped green onions and let cook.

I was busy and not watching it too good and burned it...LOL !! I had to do it again. I kept a closer eye on it this time.

I crushed up some town house crackers in a zip lock bag and added about 1/4 cup of them to the pan. Don't cook it, just mix it real good.

Mix the butter cracker and crab meat to the cream sauce and mix together.
To me....this one was the best ravioli. It was YUM !! When you broke into the ravioli, the creamy crab oozed out and mixed with the vodka sauce...OMG !! I will be making this again !!

I lined up some wonton sheets and put a lil filling in each one. Then I kinda mashed the filling down with my finger. I brushed with a lil beaten egg and put another wonton sheet on top. They say to make sure you get all the air out cause it will make the ravioli bust open when you boil them.
Because I had 4 different kinds. My Mom gave me a great idea on how to tell the differnce between all of them after they were cooke.
The 1 st batch of ravioli, I just made them and left them that way.
The 2 nd batch I made with a different filling,.I cut off one corner ot the ravioli.
The 3 rd batch with a differnt filling, I cut off 2 corners of the finished ravioli.
The 4 th batch with a different filling, I cut off 3 corners.
I worked out great until I forgot which order I made them..LOL
Glad I took a ton of photos so I could go back and remember which corner missing was from which filling.

I add them to salty boiling water. Everything in the ravioli was cooked so it just had to heat the filling up. Except the one with the egg yolk. When they floated to the top, they were ready. I was lucky cause none of them busted open. I was kinda proud of that...LOL.

Danny laughed cause I had so many different plates for him to taste. He liked the plain cheese and the cheese with the egg yolk the best. I loved the crab bechamel one the best. We both loved the vodka sauce too. The roasted pepper sauce was yummy too !!

It was fun making them. Now he wants me to get a pasta maker to try and make the home made pasta since he loved the sauce so much. At least he is trying new things to eat !!