Find your favorite spinach and pasta recipe and you’ve got a hearty dinner in the making!  Technically, this is a Spinach Cannelloni recipe, but as you can see, I skipped the cannelloni part and stuffed some jumbo pasta shells with spinach and ricatta cheese before smothering with a mushroom-filled marinara sauce. It’s spinach and pasta and cheese – you can’t really go wrong with this trio of ingredients.

The original recipe calls for using egg roll wrappers. You might also try rolling the filling into al denta lasagne noodle strips to make your cannelloni tubes.  If you’re using fresh spinach, you’ll be able to use nearly three-fourths of your Costco bag or you can always thaw and saute two 10-ounce packages of frozen spinach.

Why not make this for your next family dinner?

Spinach and Pasta Recipe (aka Spinach Cannelloni)

Filling
20 cups loosely packed fresh spinach, chopped
2 tablespoons butter + 2 tablespoons butter
15 ounces ricotta cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup Romano cheese
1 cup mozzarella + 1 cup mozzarella
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs

Pasta
1 box jumbo shells, cooked al dente, cooled

Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 8-ounce package fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 can (28-ounce) crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil

Prepare the pasta shells by cooking according to box directions for al dente pasta.  Drain and spread on a baking sheet to prevent sticking. Set aside.

Prepare the spinach by sautéing half of the fresh spinach a large skillet using 2 tablespoons butter.  Cook approximately 3 minutes or until spinach has reduced to one-fourth the original volume. Remove spinach from pan and store in a small mixing bowl.  Add second batch of spinach and butter and repeat.  Drain any excess liquid and return all spinach to your large sauté pan.  Add ricotta cheese and cook another 3 minutes.  Add Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, nutmeg and eggs. Continue to stir until well blended.  Remove from heat.

In a second sauce pan, sauté onions and garlic in butter until onions are translucent.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for at least 15 minutes.  Short cut – You can also use a store-bought pasta sauce, but jazz it up by allowing to simmer and by adding the extra ingredients above minus the tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 9×13-inch pan, spoon one half of the sauce and spread evenly.  Using a spoon, fill the jumbo shells with filling mixture and place in pan.  Cover shells with remaining sauce and cover pan with foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes. With 10 minutes bake time left, remove the foil and sprinkle last cup of mozzarella on top. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Serves 6-8 dinner portions.

Adapted from Colorado Collage

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Since Easter is all about rebirth, what better reason to give this dish a new life as part of my Easter Brunch menu!

What’s new? The cheese. Le Gruyere frommage!

Gruyere cheese is like no other cheese.  It’s created using cow’s milk to form a hard, yellow cheese.  One cheese maker describes its flavor as “distintive with notes of candied walnuts, dried fruit and spices.”  It’s trademarked name and process of creation make it near impossible to imitate, although the two towns in the French and Swiss Alps named “Gruyere” both claim to have prize-winning cheeses.

What can you do with a cheese that’s made from a specific species of cow, that’s eaten a specific variety of grass grown only in the high altitudes of the Alps mountains, that’s cured in a temperature range of a single degree (13-14 degrees Celsius) in order to simulate the temperature of a natural cave?

Quiches, fondues, soup (a la French onion soup) are yummy ways to bake Gruyere. You can also serve it cold on salads or as part of a cheese platter.

Deliciousness!

Here’s a recipe for Gruyere Cheese Potatoes for your Easter Brunch or any meal when you want your guests to feel like royalty.*

Gruyere Cheese Potatoes Recipe
5-6 medium sized potatoes, your favorite variety
1-2 6-ounce packages of authentic Gruyere cheese, grated
1 leek, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cream
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Give your potatoes a good scrub and slice thinly by hand or in a food processor with peels intact.  Finely grate the cheese by hand or in a food processor.

Rinse and slice leek bottom, using the stalk of the leek, but not the green tops.

In a 9×13 pan, using half of each ingredient, layer the potatoes, leeks and cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Pour up to 1/2 cup cream over the dish and top with a dash of salt if desired. Note: A Gruyere aged more than 6 months will have a saltier and stronger flavor than a younger Gruyere cheese, so additional salt is often unnecessary.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cheese is golden and pan is bubbly.  Potatoes will be fork tender.

*A 6-ounce package of Gruyere cheese costs more than the price of a movie ticket, so be sure to serve it to guests who will appreciate its yumminess.  Now you know why those cows are treated like royalty too!

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Recipe provided by Ann Orton, my mom.

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If you’re hosting Thanksgiving, these plaques can help guests navigate the potluck table traffic jams.

Supplies

1 can chalkboard paint

1-inch foam brush

1 – 36-inches long x 3/8-inch diameter dowel

painters tape

cordless drill and 3/8-inch drill bit

1 dozen wood plaques (I used 5-in square and 5-in x 7-in rectangles)

Step 1 – Measure and mark your dowel at 2-inch intervals. Using sharp scissors, slowly cut into the dowel and turn until you’ve cut through the stick.  If you have a jigsaw, you can make quick work of this step.

Step 2 – Sand the ends of the sticks until smooth.

Step 3 – Prep your plaques by marking your drill holes.  Measure 1 inch from the bottom and center your hole across the back of the plaque.

Step 4 – Drill your dowel holes in the back by placing the plaque on top of a scrap piece of wood before drilling up to 1/2 inch hole.  Go slowly.  The holes need to be deep enough for the dowels to fit and stay in, but you don’t want to drill all they way through the plaque.  Hold the drill perpendicular to the wood to ensure a nice, straight hole.

Step 5 – Using blue painter tape, prep the face of the plaques for painting by covering the outside edges.  Tuck any excess tape to the back of the plaques to prevent sticking while while painting.

Step 6 – Paint your first coat of chalkboard paint on the face of the plaque.  Allow to dry completely.  Sand if desired.  Paint a second coat and allow to dry.

Step 7 – Gently remove the painters tape and clean up any edges with a light sanding.

Step 8 – Insert dowel pieces and your plaques are finished!

You can use these to label stations at kid parties, to tell a story with a series of photos, to play a big game of tic-tac-toe … what else can you use them for?

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Now, where did I leave that “system of organization?”

No where is it more apparent that the system is GONE than in our nightly dinner routine.  Ramen noodles at 9:15 pm, kids?

So when a day (or week or month) like today hits, I bust out my Sanity-Saving Lasagna recipe.

What? Lasagna in a jiffy?  Yep, and you’ll have an extra pan to put in the freezer for when that next crazy storm hits your house.

Speedy Beef Lasagna Recipe

1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped frozen onion
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon basil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper
1 box lasagna noodles
1 pound cottage cheese
2 extra large eggs (or 3 medium)
1 pound Mozarella cheese, thinly sliced
grated Parmesan cheese

Bring large pot of water to boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions.  While noodles are cooking, heat large skillet and brown the ground beef.  Add onions and cook until transparent.  Add tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, tomato paste and seasonings.  Let simmer.  Drain noodles and set aside.  Slice or grate the block of Mozarella cheese.  Crack eggs into cottage cheese container and mix until incorporated.

In a 9″x13″ pan and a 9″x9″ foil pan, layer  half of the noodles, meat sauce and then cottage cheese.  Top with a layer of Mozarella.  Repeat with the remaining halves.  Top with grated Parmesan cheese and bake the large pan for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Wrap smaller pan with  foil and then plastic wrap.  Write baking instruction on the top and place in the freezer.

To cook frozen lasagna, place in cold oven and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  The lasagna will thaw slightly as the oven heats and but then take a little bit more time to cook.

Other time-saving tips: Use pre-cooked noodles or place noodles in a boiling pot of water and turn them off while you run your daughter to piano. Twenty minutes with the heat off is just as fast as watching a boiling pot of water.  Remove promptly.  Use grated cheese (although I like the starch-lessness of cutting my own cheese when in a lasagna).

And I forgot the onions and the Parmesan on this batch, so skipping ingredients all together makes the recipe faster!

Adapted from The Heritage Cookbook Blue Ribbon Lasagna recipe which takes over 2 hours to make.

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Well, I wasn’t content to stop at breakfast. OH NO. I was determined to reacquaint myself with dinner too.

A quick browse of my Yum! board on Pinterest and I knew that this Baked Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken from Food.com was calling my name.

Image via Food.com

Pros:

• Delicious
• Quick
• Short ingredient list

Cons:

• Cooking at 500 degrees, will pretty much permanently encrust everything to your pyrex permanently.

Yeah.

This is not the meal to cook in the “cute” serving dish that you want to be able to use to haul Jell-O salad to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving.

Also, you’re going to want to thoughtfully consider the state of your oven before jacking that dial up to 500. That cheese that dribbled off your take-and-bake pizza last weekend?

Yeah, that’s gonna smoke like the dickens.

But, I promise, this chicken is totally worth it.

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What’s on hand these days?  Zucchini.  Voila!  A Stir Fry with Zucchini recipe.

This recipe has an easy teriyaki sauce.  If you have pineapple , you might try using the Sweet and Sour Pork sauce.  You can always add mushrooms, baby corn, water chestnuts, or sugar snap peas.

Have fun!

Teriyaki Pork Stir Fry with Zucchini

2 pound pork tenderloin or thick-cut pork chops, cubed
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup corn starch
2 teaspoons white pepper
1 teaspoon salt
zip-top bag or sealable storage container
2 tablespoons oil
1 stalk broccoli, pieced
1 cup mini carrots, diced
1/2 medium onion, rough diced
1 red pepper,rough diced
1 green pepper, rough diced
1 large zucchini, diced
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup hot water or more
1 tablespoon minced garlic

Chop and prepare vegetables. Cut ingredients in consistent sizes for even cooking. In large mixing bowl, layer the tender vegetables (e.g. peppers, zucchini, mushrooms) on the bottom and hardest vegetables (carrots, broccoli) on top.

Trim and cube the pork into inch-sized pieces.  Place in a zip-top bag or sealable container. Add flour, cornstarch, pepper and salt. Toss to coat each piece of meat.

In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil.  Carefully place coated meat in pan.  Stir and cook until pork is evenly browned.  Remove from heat and store in a clean container or bowl.  Return pan to heat and add in hard vegetables – carrots, onions and broccoli.  Stir to soften for 2-3 minutes.  Add soy sauce and continue to saute the vegetables for 3-4 more minutes.  Add the peppers and zucchini. Stir to coat in soy sauce. Add water and allow vegetables to soften and cook in the bubbly liquid.   Liquid should be about half way up the side of your pan but not entirely covering the vegetables.  If needed, add more water.  Continue to stir until vegetables are crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes more.

Add garlic. Return pork to the pan and stir to coat in sauce.  The flour and corn starch from the pork will begin to thicken the liquid.  By the time the pork has been incorporated into the sauce, the cooking time is over.  Serve immediately over a bed of white jasmine rice.

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We’re much too practical to just buy all the dutch oven gear before having a run through to see if we can really enjoy this style of cooking.  So, in honor of my 2-year old’s birthday, we asked Always Friendly, Ever-Helpful Spence to whip up some classic dutch oven fare for the party.

Here’s a list of tips we picked up.  We’re no experts, but it was enough info to get us started.

• Create a safe cooking zone.  Remove flammable materials and cordon off the kids.  No one wants to take a curious toddler to the ER with burnt fingers.
• Give yourself plenty of time. Enjoy the process.  Yes, we could do all this inside, but the goal was to spend more time outside.
• Recruit help. A one-man kitchen may cause Little Red Hen Syndrome.  Many hands make light work, as the saying goes.
• Prepare your ingredients. Having everything chopped and measured will speed up the cooking process.

• Prepare your charcoal.  We used a chimney or a charcoal started on a steel table to heat the briquettes to a nice grey color.  It only took 5-6 pieces of newspaper, one at a time,  to get the temperature we needed.
• Preheat your pans.  Using one batch of charcoal to heat up your ovens will cut down on the cooking time.

• Set up a cooking table.  Make space for your spices, ingredients, sauces and other supplies that is near your cooking zone.  Be prepared for spills and clean up by having paper towels and a trash bag ready.  We should have started with this as we were running around gathering items as we were cooking.

• Don’t forget your grill.  We added some bright crunchy grilled vegetables to our menu since we were cooking outside anyway.
• Test your heat.  If you can leave your hand 10 inches above your pot for more than 10 seconds, it”s not hot enough.  Ideal temps are in the 300s.
• Share!  Recipes tend to feed a large number of people so be sure to invite some guests!

Basic Supplies

Here’s the list of basic supplies we had on hand.  You may not need all of these when cooking with dutch ovens, but they can be very helpful.

Dutch ovens,  Aluminum Dutch Oven Liners, large aluminum tins to create a cooking area, long tongs, large spoons, a lid lifter, oven mitts, charcoal briquets, newspaper, matches, chimney or briquet starter, working table and ingredients.

What tips do you have for cooking with dutch ovens?

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Let’s do this!

And by “this” I mean “eat food cooked over a flame in the great outdoors!”

I love a great burger. On my birthday (which happens to be TODAY) I always request that my husband make hamburgers. I like my burger garlicky and covered in cheddar and roasted green chili. Mmmmmm.

I could eat a green chili cheeseburger every day…but then I would probably have to stop writing my Healthy Living for Mom posts. BUT that doesn’t mean I am willing to only enjoy a burger only once a year! I just think we’re going to need to experiment with healthier options and this Hoisin Burger from Dinner: A Love Story sounds delicious.

Image via Dinner: A Love Story

Oh, yes. As for the parenting pep talk…prior to the Hoisin Burger recipe, Jenny shares her thoughts on spending time together as a family. Thoughts that I found to be encouraging, inclusive, and inspiring. Enjoy!

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Weekly Dinner Menu Planning Printable 

The post Hoisin Burgers and a Parenting Pep Talk appeared first on TodaysMama.

My baked macaroni and cheese recipe isn’t anything extraordinary.  But somehow, the warm, cheesy pasta dish always feels like a big hug, like I can whisper into my kids’ ears and tell them everything is going to be alright.  That’s probably why I made it, since I don’t think there’s such a thing as too many hugs.

Try it at your house!

Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

8 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
1 16-ounce bag of large elbow or shell pasta
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3-5 drops tabasco
3 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, divided

In a large sauce pan, bring 8 quarts of salted water to a rolling boil.  Add the pasta and cook to al dente.  Drain and set aside.  In a large skillet, melt butter and add flour. Whisk together until mixture is smooth and lump-free.  Slowly add milk and seasonings and continue to stir until sauce begins to thicken.  Add 3 cups of the cheese and continue to stir until sauce is creamy and smooth.

Remove from heat and fold in the cooked pasta.  Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.   Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until bubbling and golden brown on top.  Makes 8-10 adult servings.

Optional: I typically use sharp cheddar cheese to give more flavor and my kids never notice the Tabasco.  You can also top the dish with garlic bread crumbs if you want a crunchy topping.

Since we skipped opening a box for dinner, it seemed appropriate to whip up a pan of brownies for dessert.  Yes, from a box.

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