Baked pasta with four cheeses

Another winner from the Classic Pasta Cookbook, this recipe comes together quite easily once you have the cheeses on hand. It takes a bit more time than most pasta recipes due to the extra baking step, but is still pretty quick. It is a pretty heavy and creamy meal, though, so you probably want to add something salad-y to balance it out.

The recipe as written calls for penne. We used a 2:1 mix of green rotini (made with spinach, broccoli, kale, and zucchini) and plain penne.

Ingredients, for 500g dried pasta

• 125mL table cream
• 15mL butter
• 128g fontina, grated
• 64g mascarpone
• 64g gorgonzola (the recipe calls for hard crumbled gorgonzola; we used gorgonzola dolce and it turned out just fine)
• a generous portion (perhaps 500mL) of finely grated fresh parmesan

Procedure

1. Start the pasta water boiling and preheat the oven to 450°F. Once the water is boiling, toss in some salt and the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot, melt the butter into the cream over medium low heat.
3. Stir in the fontina, mascarpone, gorgonzola, and half the parmesan. Stir continuously until it has melted and the sauce is smooth and creamy. (If the sauce ends up thickening into a kind of elastic glop, stir in more cream until it cooperates.)
4. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and remove from the heat.
5. Once the pasta is cooked molto al dente (about a minute before al dente), drain it and add it to the pot with the sauce. Toss well until covered.
6. Fill a casserole dish with the pasta/sauce mix. Top with the remaining parmesan. Bake until the parmesan turns golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.
7. Let stand for 5 minutes, then eat.

Pennette with a Creamy Sundried Tomato and Prosciutto Sauce

Another recipe from Hazan, this one comes together very quickly. I've made some changes from the version given in the cookbook, cranking up the onion and prosciutto and cutting out the salt (the increased prosciutto adds enough on its own). As written it calls for penne, but I find I prefer the smaller penette.

Ingredients for one pound dried, store-bought pasta

• 30mL butter
• 1 medium-sized yellow onion, finely chopped
• 150g prosciutto, thinly sliced into sheets and then sliced or shredded
• 250mL heavy cream
• 50mL coarsely chopped sundried tomatoes in oil
• freshly grated parmesan

Procedure

1. Melt the butter in a pan over medium-high heat.
2. Sautee the onion in the butter until it softens and starts to turn golden
3. Add the prosciutto and sautee until it starts to brown
4. Add the cream and tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium and cook until the cream has reduced by about half.
5. Add the pasta (cooked al dente) and the cheese. Toss to coat the pasta and mix with the sauce components. Serve with additional parmesan.

PB&J Smoothie

I spent a while looking for new smoothie recipes a few weeks back and came across one for a PB&J smoothie that appealed to me. I jotted down the ingredients and was fully intending to follow the recipe, but one tweak lead to another and I ended up with something fairly different from the original in the end. Tasty, but not very much like the recipe at all.

PB&J Smoothie
1 c. strawberries
1/2 banana
1/4 c. plain yogurt
1/4-1/2 c. vanilla almond milk
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
1 Tbsp. honey

1. Blend and enjoy. (You may need to adjust the amount of almond milk depending on whether or not you're using fresh or frozen fruit and how thick you like your smoothies.)

Tropical Fruit Smoothie v2.0

I wasn't planning on making any smoothies yesterday, but the toddle-bot had other ideas. Sifting through the freezer, I realized that I had most of the bits for a tropical fruit smoothie, so I figured I'd give that a try. Using coconut yogurt instead of plain really upped the deliciousness quotient though!

I didn't really do a lot of measuring for this one and I made it again today with slightly different proportions, but it turned out to be one of my favourite smoothies so far, so I figured I'd jot something down anyway.

More Delicious Tropical Fruit Smoothie
1/2-3/4 c. coconut Greek yogurt
1/2-1 banana
~1/2 c. frozen pineapple
~1/2 c. frozen mango
~1 Tbsp. honey
0-4 Tbsp. cashew milk

1. Blend and enjoy!

Apple-Cranberry Baked Oatmeal

Yet another online find that I neglected to record the URL for. Sorry 'bout that.

Baked Oatmeal
1 c. steel-cut oats
1/4 c. butter
4 c. hot water
1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger powder
3-4 apples, peeled and chopped
8-10 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
1-2 c. cranberries (fresh or frozen)
3 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 c. pecans, toasted and chopped
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. applesauce (unsweetened)
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine steel-cut oats, 2 Tbsp. butter, and hot water. Set aside.
2. Mix the ginger and cinnamon together.
3. Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a pan over medium heat.
4. Add apples, 2-4 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. spice blend, and 3/4 tsp. salt to the pan. (Original recipes calls for 2 Tbsp. of sugar here, but I used more cranberries so I bumped the sugar up a bit as well.) Cook the mixture until the apples begin to caramelize.
5. Off heat, stir in cranberries. (Original recipe calls for 1 c. but I had some extras so I just threw them in. I think there were close to 2 c. of cranberries in the end.) Set the fruit mixture aside.
6. Add rolled oats, remaining spice blend, nutmeg, 3/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 c. pecans into steel-cut oat mixture.
7. In a separate bowl, combine milk, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla.
8. Fold milk mixture into oat mixture.
9. Grease a casserole dish (or Dutch oven).
10. Spread half the fruit mixture in the bottom of the greased dish.
11. Pour oat mixture over fruit.
12. Top with remaining fruit and 1/2 c. pecans.
13. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.

Γίγαντες Πλακί (Giant Baked Beans)

I found this recipe during some aimless Internet wandering. It looks to be a slow cooker adaptation of γίγαντες πλακί (gigantes plaki) or giant baked beans. Apparently dried runner beans (γίγαντες) are traditionally used for this. I couldn't find any, so I tossed in some great northern beans instead. And wow! Did they ever come out nice! This one is definitely a keeper. This was both easier and more delicious than any other baked bean recipe I've ever tried. Seriously good.

Γίγαντες Πλακί
~450g great northern beans (or gigantes if you can find 'em)
2 bay leaves
~1 tsp. red pepper flakes
6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
4 onions, chopped
1 (28 oz.) can San Marzano tomatoes, smashed/broken up
a few sprigs of thyme (or maybe 1 tsp. of dried)
~1 tsp. dried oregano (optional)
~150g cubed pancetta
1 good-sized hunk of Parmesan rind
8 c. chicken stock
2 Tbsp. olive oil
pepper, to taste
crusty bread, to serve

Apparently with the traditional method, you cook the pancetta and vegetables first and build a fond and all that good stuff. I think the beans are meant to be soaked overnight as well. However, this slow cooker version just has you throw everything in the pot at once and cook it on high for six hours. My slow cooker is currently out of commission, but letting it simmer on the stovetop all afternoon certainly seems to have done the trick. I did have to add a bit more water partway through cooking, but that was no trouble. And other than that brief intervention, it was completely hassle-free!

And did I mention that this is probably the most delicious bean dish I've ever tried? Ever. Seriously. This made a huge pot of beans. We've been eating them for a week. And I'm okay with this! I'm not tired of them yet and I will certainly be making more in the future!

Cranberry Smoothie

I used to sometimes make cranberry smoothies that consisted of nothing but plain yogurt, frozen cranberries, and a tiny bit of honey. They were probably reasonably healthy, they were certainly nice and thick, but they were also almost inedibly tart. I recently came across an actual recipe for a cranberry smoothie, so I figured I'd give that a try. I'll admit, I tweaked it a bit, but the original was gonna be hella watery. Honestly, I'll probably tweak it even more if I make it again. I'll share three versions here: the original, the tweaked version I made today, and what I'd do next time.

Cranberry Smoothie
1 c. cranberries
2 c. water
1 1/2 c. almond milk
1/4 c. raw cashews
1/8 tsp. stevia
4 ice cubes

Cranberry-Yogurt Smoothie
1/2 c. frozen cranberries
3/4 c. vanilla almond milk
2-3 Tbsp. raw cashews
2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt

Better Cranberry-Yogurt Smoothie
1/2 c. frozen cranberries
1/2 c. vanilla almond milk
1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp. almonds
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. frozen raspberries