Tag Archives: dinner

What’s Cooking: Cheesy Stuffed Shells

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We’ve had a bit of a hiatus around here recently, but the good news is that even though the blog has been quiet, our kitchen has been busy!  So I’m finally putting down the pots and pans and picking up the computer to bring you recaps of all the yummy things we’ve been working on over the past few weeks.  First up is this quick and easy stuffed shells recipe.

$1.25 and I came into an abundance of meaty spaghetti sauce not too long ago and when we got tired of same old same old spaghetti, I decided to re-purpose it in the stuffed shells.  So, for starters, you need some sauce.  You absolutely can use store-bought non-meaty sauce, though, so no stressing if you don’t have any “laying around.”

Here’s what you’ll need:

15 oz whole milk ricotta

1 egg, beaten

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4 oz 1/3 fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

Italian seasoning, salt and pepper

1 package of shell pasta, cooked for about 1/2 of the recommended cooking time

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

While the pasta cooks, mix together the ricotta, egg, garlic, cream cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella, and the parmesan cheese.  Season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a square baking dish.

Drain the shells well and then gently stuff them with the filling.  By undercooking them, they’ll be a little more resilient to breakage, but you still have to be careful.  Line up the stuffed shells in your baking dish.  You will probably have some pasta left over, but it’s good to have extra in case any of the shells break in the process.

Pour more sauce over the shells.  Top the stuffed shells with sauce and then cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30-40 minutes until the sauce bubbles.  Then uncover and bake until the cheese is golden brown and bubbly.  Enjoy!  They are perfect for a cold night when you need something warm and hearty.

What’s Cooking: Chicken and Black Beans with Chorizo

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As our feature of Emeril’s Sizzling Skillets and Other One-Pot Wonders comes to a close, we managed to save the best two dishes for last (in my opinion).  First up: Chicken and Black Beans with Chorizo.  This dish is SOOO flavorful.  We marinated the chicken overnight in a delicious blend of spices and some sherry.  The black beans are chock full of aromatic vegetables and a hearty helping of spicy chorizo.  For a weeknight, this one took a little too long to cook, so $1.25 and I didn’t sit down to eat until super late.  But most of the heavy lifting comes in the form of marinating and baking in the oven, so if you’re home with a little bit of time on your hands, you can pull this together pretty easily.  $1.25 was partial to the black bean/chorizo bottom layer and we’re already planning on using it for our pulled pork nachos!  Get your copy of the cookbook here for this recipe and all of our favorites from the past few weeks.

Don’t forget about our giveaway of the Zak dishes!  Only a little while longer to enter to win.

Come back tomorrow for the knock out final dish.  We can’t wait to eat it tonight and tell you all about it tomorrow!

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What’s Cooking: Chicken Eggplant Parmesan

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One of the first things I was eager to make with our most recent bounty from Hollygrove Market was Eggplant Parmesan. However, $1.25 was a little touch and go on the thought of eating “just” eggplant and the eggplant we got was on the smaller side of things. So I decided to beef it up (er, should I say bird it up? Sorry, that’s horrible) with a few chicken breast cutlets. I also wanted to keep it light, so I didn’t bread the chicken or the eggplant, just gave them a little suntan in some olive oil before layering them together in a dish with some cheese and sauce and sending them off to the oven. When I sat down to write this post, I really thought I had done a great job on the photography this time, but I realized I totally forgot to take a picture of the finished product!! Oops! We were too excited to dig into it I guess! Continue reading →

What’s Cooking: $1.25′s favorite chili

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I recently overheard a debate about whether or not chili can contain beans. Apparently chili purists would never put beans of any kind in chili. So, if you’re a chili purist, this may not be the recipe for you. But if you’re looking for a hearty fall dinner that incorporates lots of spice and vegetables, you’re going to love this dish. $1.25 has helped me perfect it over time, although it seems that it’s never the same each time I make it depending on the ingredients I have on hand. You can tweak it to fit your tastes, but here’s a jumping off point to get you started.

1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
4 links hot Italian turkey sausage, casings removed and broken into small pieces
2 cans diced tomatoes (not drained)
2 cans black beans (drained and rinsed well)
3 chipotle chilies, chopped
1 palmful* of chili powder
1 palmful of cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1 cup frozen corn

Coat the bottom of a heavy pot with olive oil, heat on low. Sweat the onion, bell pepper, garlic, jalapeno and a pinch of salt until all of the vegetables are soft. Add the sausage and saute until color develops on the sausage. Add in the chipotles, tomatoes and juice, black beans, chili powder, cumin, salt, and water. Bring to a boil, add corn. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour or more. Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream, or diced red onion (or all of the above!).

*here’s a picture of a “palmful” in case you aren’t sure:

 

What’s Cooking: Cilantro Lime Grouper

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I’m on a grilling kick right now…probably because grilling = less kitchen cleaning! That, and the fact that all that eating for Jazz Fest has necessitated a lighter touch, consumption wise. $1.25 and I had the opportunity to get some really fresh grouper over the weekend so I pretty much threw this together after work tonight. What you’ll need: Grouper (or any similar fish), limes, chives, cilantro, white wine, salt and pepper. Having fresh herbs handy in the back yard made this even easier. Continue reading →

What’s Cooking: Asian Chicken Noodle Salad

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Fresh vegetables and a spicy Asian-inspired dressing make this noodle salad a perfect springtime dinner or lunch. It sure beats heavy Chinese take-out and it’s relatively quick to throw together. The dressing is key here, as you use if for both a marinade and the finishing touch. Although it’s definitely “Asian” in flavor, it’s made with fairly simple pantry staples, so don’t worry about having to drive to the “nearest” international market on the Westbank or spending your last paycheck on random ingredients you can’t pronounce that you’ll never use again. We paired the dish with the our new favorite cocktail, La Coloniale.

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Bistro Daisy

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The sheer number of restaurants to choose from in the city combined with a hefty level of indecisiveness has led to more than its fair share of “discussions” about where to eat dinner with my family and friends. To help minimize these discussions, we’ve adapted various strategies to employ in picking a place to eat or even what to eat.

For me, the old reliable is the coin flip, heads or tails and the choice is made. No one can be at fault for the choice made, plus it provides one last out. If you peek behind your hand to see a head and your heart sinks, you must buck the rules and go with tails. Of course, the coin flip is not without its drawbacks, it requires a coin–which I rarely ever have–and you’ve got to be down to two items.

Another method we use is to have one person rattle off a list of places to each and the other person must pick from the list. This is how we ended up at Bistro Daisy on Saturday. Cupcake provided the list and her parents excitedly picked the one restaurant on the list they hadn’t been to.
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