Spinach and Artichoke Baked Pasta {Annah}

This pasta was ok on flavor. When you got an artichoke in your bite then it was pretty good. With out the artichoke it is just kind of a cream/cheesy pasta. It was not hard to make this dish to make. Tyler was adding chicken to everything I made this week. With the chicken he enjoyed the dish probably more then I did. Overall if you like cheesy pasta and artichokes I would say it is worth it for you to give this one a try.

Ingredients:

• 14 oz shell pasta
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Cup of Chopped Onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic ( Minced)
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 4 oz of Cream Cheese ( Room Temperature)
• 3/4 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice + Zest
• 10 Oz of Spinach ( Make sure to squeeze excess moisture, after it has been thawed of course)
• 13.5 Can of Artichoke Hearts rinsed and chopped
• 1 Cup of Mozzarella
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1 Teaspoon of Pepper

Directions: 

 Preheat Oven To 425

Cook pasta according to the box. Keep 1/4 Cup of the Pasta Water before you drain the cooked pasta.

Heat oil in pan and cook onions for 8 – 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one minute.

In a large bowl – Mix Sour Cream, Cream Cheese,  Parmesan, Lemon (juice and zest), onions and garlic. Add Pasta and mix.

Stir in spinach, artichokes, 1/4 cup of cooking liquid from the pasta, salt, pepper, and 1/2 Cup of Mozzarella

Place mixture into greased 2.5 – 3 qt casserole dish and place the rest of mozzarella cheese on top.

Place in the oven till golden brown on top – about 10 – 15 minutes.

Original recipe from: Budgets Savvy Diva

Fennel, Pepper, & Onion Fusilli

Colleen's take: "This dish was good, I didn't have fresh basil, I used dried, but I wish that I did because this dish was missing a pop of flavor. It was simple and good but I doubt I will make it again, unless it's for a side."

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper

• 1 pound fusilli

• 2 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for serving

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 1 bulb fennel--quartered, cored and sliced

• 1 onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise

• 1 cubanelle pepper--halved, seeded and sliced

• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

• 1 can  (29 oz.) italian plum tomatoes

• 1/2 cup torn basil

• Grated parmigiano-reggiano, for serving

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the pasta cooking water.
2. While the pasta is working, in a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp. EVOO and the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the fennel seeds for 1 minutes. Add the fennel, onion, cubanelle and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and basil. lower the heat and simmer until thickened, 20 minutes. Stir int he reserved pasta cooking water.
3. Toss the pasta with the sauce. Top with cheese and more EVOO.

Recipe Referenced from Rachael Ray Magazine

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper

• 1 pound fusilli

• 2 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for serving

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

• 1 bulb fennel--quartered, cored and sliced

• 1 onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced crosswise

• 1 cubanelle pepper--halved, seeded and sliced

• 3 - 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

• 1 can  (29 oz.) italian plum tomatoes

• 1/2 cup torn basil

• Grated parmigiano-reggiano, for serving

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving a ladleful of the pasta cooking water.
2. While the pasta is working, in a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp. EVOO and the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the fennel seeds for 1 minutes. Add the fennel, onion, cubanelle and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and basil. lower the heat and simmer until thickened, 20 minutes. Stir int he reserved pasta cooking water.
3. Toss the pasta with the sauce. Top with cheese and more EVOO.

Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce

  This recipe was pretty good. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. It wasn't that it didn't taste good, it just didn't have really strong flavors. I thought that the goat cheese would have had a tart/salty flavor, but I think it was washed out by the cream and the pumpkin. I had to add a lot of Parmesan cheese to bring up the flavor level. 

  I forgot to buy sage so that was not in my dish. I also spilled my heavy cream, so it ended up being 1/8 of heavy cream and  3/8 of half and half.  Try this recipe if you love pumpkin. Otherwise skip this recipe and save your pumpkin for the pancakes I made a couple of weeks ago or for one of my other up coming pumpkin recipes.

1 pound campanelle or penne pasta
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 to 3 oz goat cheese
1 tsp salt
½ tsp fresh cracked pepper (or 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 ½ tablespoon of chopped fresh sage
 

Grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of salt.  Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the shallots, crushed red pepper (if using), and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the  broth, pumpkin, salt, pepper and cream. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk in the goat cheese and 1 tablespoon of the fresh sage.  Lower the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.  Can add a little of the Parmesan cheese here if you like.

Toss the pasta with the sauce, cover and let sit off the heat for 5 minutes or so.  Place in a serving bowl and top with the remaining fresh sage and a good dusting of the Parmesan cheese.  Serve with additional Parmesan cheese at the table.

Original recipe from Circle B Kitchen

Venetian-Style Spaghetti allArrabbiata

Colleen's take: "I couldn't find the fresno chilies for this recipe, so I used red pepper flakes. I originally wanted to use up my saffron that I spent half my life savings buying and only used once, so when my pregnant self saw a recipe filled with pasta & saffron my eyes were the size of saucers and I ripped it from the Rachael Ray Magazine that second. Results were positive, I thought it tasted like pizza spaghetti, kinda weird, but boy did my kids love the mess out of it!" 

Ingredients

• salt
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 pinch saffron threads
• 1/4 cup EVOO
• 2 fresno or other medium- hot red chile peppers, very thinly sliced (I leave in the seedsthe hotter the better!but remove them if you want to dial back the heat level a bit)
• 4 cloves garlic, very thinly sliced
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• freshly grated parigiano-reggiano

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving 12 cup of the pasta cooking water.
2. While the pasta is working, in a small saucepan, bring the chicken stock and saffron to a boil. Lower the heat to a low simmer to keep warm.
3. In a deep skillet with a tight-fitting lid,heat the EVOO, 4 turns of the pan, over medium heat. Stir in the chiles and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and saffron stock, cover and cook over medium-high heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until the tomatoes burst, about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and mash the tomatoes a bit with a potato masher. Stir in the parsley.
4. Toss the pasta with the sauce and a handful of cheese. Add a splash of the reserved pasta cooking water to combine. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls; top with more cheese, if desired.

My oldest twirling his 'sgetti