Welcome back Ladies and Gents!
Your blog mistress (and of course Ma as well) is back again to feed your food recipe knowledge as well as your tummy. Tonight we bring you a recipe from everyone's favorite Food Network lush (I kid, I kid we love Sandy) Ms. Sandra Lee. No clue on whom she is then I think a brief look into her special "cocktail times" on youtube is in order: Sandra Lee's Cocktail Times! <---(I provided the link. Saves time for more laughs.)
Aw, all jokes aside I adore Sandy. She reminds me of one of those chicks at a holiday gathering who constantly has her glass filled with whatever is on tap and has the whole place lit up with her over the top/loud antics. She's our kinda gal.
Tonight though we'll give Ms. Lee's alcohol cabinet a night off. We're sticking with her recipe and it's a good one. Let's get started! Here's what you'll need:
Sandra Lee's Pepperoni and Cheese Casserole
Total Time: 55 min
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
* Canola oil
* Kosher salt
* One 1-pound box rotini pasta
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 medium zucchini, chopped
* 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
* One 6-ounce package sliced pepperoni, roughly chopped
* One 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes
* 6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1 cup shredded mozzarella
* 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Directions
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with 1 teaspoon oil.
*Bring a large pasta pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add a big pinch of salt and the pasta. Cover and return the water to a boil. Remove the cover and cook for 5 minutes. The pasta will not be completely cooked through.
*Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil. When it is hot, add the onions and zucchini and cook until they are softened and brown slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and pepperoni and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes and basil and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Reserve 1 cup of the tomato sauce for another use, such as Round 2 Recipe Garlic Bread Pizza.
*Stir in the pasta and cheese into the skillet. Pour into the prepared baking dish and smooth out the top. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top and drizzle with the 1 tablespoon oil. Bake until the top is browned and the casserole is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.
Sandy's recipe is pure genius! It reminded me of macaroni and tomato's (which is a childhood staple of mine) and Ma's pizza casserole (that's another blog entirely). My only thing is I'm not a huge fan of zucchini (I'm only a cheerleader for it when it's baked into bread) but I'd definitely make this again and soon.
Tid Bits:
*To make it a little lighter of a recipe. Omit the olive oil for canola/veggie spray wherever it calls for the oil in the recipe.
*Want more moisture? Add a little tomato juice.
Ma's Spot: I LOVED IT! It was better than I thought it was going to be. Cheap and super easy to make. So if you're looking for a quick family dinner or a nice dish to take to a Christmas party or a nice church potluck this is the dish for you.
BAKING CORNER: Stained-Glass Christmas Tree Cookies
INGREDIENTS
*About 15 brightly colored hard candies (ring-shaped, rectangular or round)
*1 cup butter or margarine, softened
*2/3 cup sugar
*1/2 cup light corn syrup
*2 teaspoons vanilla
*1/4 teaspoon lemon extract, if desired
*3 cups all-purpose flour
*3/4 teaspoon baking powder
*1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS
1) Heat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place each color candy in separate resealable freezer plastic bag; seal bag. With rolling pin, coarsely crush candy; set aside.
2) In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in corn syrup, vanilla and lemon extract. On low speed, gradually beat in flour, baking powder and salt.
3) Divide dough in half. On floured cloth-covered work surface, roll each half to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with 3-inch Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter. Cut out and remove several smaller dough shapes from each cookie. Place tree shapes 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. If desired, reroll small cutouts with remaining dough. Fill each hole in tree shapes with about 1/2 teaspoon crushed candy.
4) Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown and candy is melted. Place cookie sheets on cooling racks; cool cookies 8 minutes. With back of metal pancake turner, gently lift warm cookies from foil; place on cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes, before storing in loosely covered containers.
Dinah: I know what you're thinking. Yes, I Dinah (professed cookie making hater) chose these to make. I'm shocked just as much as you but the cute "stained glass" effect got me. They were too cute not to make. The dough is delish, ended up making a lot of cookies, and it was fun to be creative with the candies. I even made a little gingerbread man with a heart. You can call him mini tin man. ;].
PS. Oh, and the whole not having a pic of an actual tree cookie? Let's just say everytime you need something it's nowhere to be found. So if anyone comes across a plastic green lined tree cookie cutter please contact your blog mistress immediately. I am fearful it met a fate of either getting lost in the land of that one missing sock or Charlie 's (our friendly poodle) chewing habit.
Ma: These cookies were not only fun to eat they were also fun to make. The recipe for the standard cookie dough is so versatile. You could do so many things. You can change up the extract. You could add in peppermint (to of course make peppermint cookies). Instead of butter (in another batch we made) we used Country Crock pumpkin spice butter (<--shameless plug lol) and they were fantastic. We used lifesavers in ours but you can use any hard candies you enjoy. The lifesavers set off the cookies though with the crunch and sweetness so those are the kind we recommend using. I encourage you to make these with your children cause they will have so much fun cutting out the shapes and putting the candies in the middle.
And that's all folks! Well, you know the drill until next week. We'll be back with another great recipe and something to beef up your baking agenda. Have a great week guys!
Spoons & Spatula's
~Dinah & Ma
Yes pure genius! Pepperoni and Cheese in a casserole. A delish dish.
ReplyDelete