Lemon Pepper Pappardelle Pasta with Grilled Chicken Breast, Roasted Tomatoes and Green Beans

Long title but in reality it was the easiest meal ever. Make sure to grill some extra chicken breasts from a previous dinner and save to use for other meals, like this pasta dish. The tomatoes and green beans can be roasted at the same time in a 425 degree oven, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil infused with garlic, sea salt and fresh black pepper. Takes about 20-25 minutes to roast vegetables and in the mean time you can be boiling water and cooking the pasta.

I used a thick noodle like pappardelle and it is infused with lemon pepper. Very light and refreshing. You can find it at my favorite store, Trader Joe’s. If you can’t find it, just use linguine. Boil water and cook pasta till al dente. Strain and add back to pot with chopped chicken, roasted tomatoes and green beans. Mix well and serve with goat cheese.

30 minutes later dinner is ready!

Buon Appetito,
Fallon

Sunday Supper

I made a delicious lasagna Sunday night. I finished off all the red sauce I had stored in the freezer and decided to make use of it. Once I leave Augusta, Mike won’t get homemade meals and since he isn’t one to cook, unless you call boiling eggs a cooking technique he is going to rely on pizza and sandwiches. I’ve already started to freeze some items for him and this lasagna is one of them. It will be a delicious meal he can pull out of the freezer and enjoy for dinner one night.

These are awesome!

I made a ricotta mixture with fresh spinach, eggs, shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I added Italian sausage to his side of the lasagna, while mine was sausage free. I loved the no bake noodles I picked up, they were flat and so easy to assemble. Once cooked they were thin and light, just like a homemade lasagna noodle.

It was a delicious dinner that had Mike going back for seconds. I’ll miss cooking him dinner, especially our Sunday suppers.

   

Someone is camera shy!!

Buon Appetito,
Fallon

Barefoot Contessa Weeknight Bolognese

Here is a classic Italian dish that the Barefoot Contessa transformed into a simple, quick and delicious dinner. Bolognese is a rich beef sauce slowly cooked with a vibrant, dry red wine and towards the end a luscious serving of heavy creamy is added. This is a rich and hearty meal. While the Barefoot Contessa tweaked it to make it doable during a weeknight, I tweaked it to my own likings. Anyone can use ground sirloin but using completely grass fed beef kicked this meal up a whole other level. The beef was so rich and tender, it almost tasted like butter in my mouth. My sauce may not look very rich and creamy because I refused to buy heavy cream just for 1 meal. That is something we don’t consume unless I’m making a very decadent dessert. I opted to use some organic milk instead to round it out slightly. I did make sure not the skimp on the red wine. That is what made this meal a winner!

Weeknight Bolognese
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 pound 100% grass fed ground beef
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/4 cups dry red wine, divided (umm make sure you have a glass for yourself!)
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound dried pasta, rigatoni or penne was my choice
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
Splash of milk
1/2 cup freshly ground parmesan cheese
4-5 tablespoons whole milk ricotta cheese

Directions
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook, crumbling the meat with a wooden spoon, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the meat has lost its pink color and has started to brown. Stir in the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 more minute. Pour 1 cup of the wine into the skillet and stir to scrape up any browned bits.

Okay so 2 glasses.. one for me and one for Mike!

I’m not a huge cab fan, but this was delicious for a budget friendly wine.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper, stirring until combined. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a tablespoon of salt, a splash of oil and the pasta. Cook according to the box directions, making sure the pasta is al dente.

The best pasta!

While the pasta cooks, finish the sauce. Add the basil, cream and remaining wine to the sauce and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. When the pasta is cooked, drain and pour into the large serving bowl. Add the sauce and parmesan cheese and toss well. Serve hot with a tablespoon of whole milk ricotta cheese on top.

Along with our bolognese I roasted up some broccoli with salt, pepper and olive oil. I always like to bulk up on a vegetable and use less pasta. I like when I can get best of both worlds!

His..

 
Hers! Oh yes.. the ricotta was dreamy in this dish. We ate at Spago
almost 3 years ago and we both ordered the bolognese and it had
the creamiest ricotta cheese on top. Totally brought back those
memories with this dish.

Make this for your family or loved ones because it is absolutely delicious. I’m sure the heavy cream would of made the dish extra special but honestly we didn’t miss it. I also didn’t have nutmeg on hand and I wish I did because that always adds a nice flavor. I ended up topping our pasta with some whole milk ricotta cheese instead and let the warm sauce melt it into our pasta. Now that is delicious!

Buon Appetito,
Fallon

Turkey Meatballs

My boyfriend and I love our pasta! Of course he can eat more the me but it is a meal we always enjoy. He likes his Italian sausage and I’m not really a fan of it. I mean 1 sausage link is almost 300 calories! I can eat a lot more food compared to 1 sausage link. I had lean ground turkey breast in the freezer and decided I will enjoy my baked pasta with turkey meatballs. For my boyfriend’s dish I was inspired by this recipe from The Foodie and The Family, Farfalle with Spicy Sausage and Spinach. I ended up using mostacholi shaped pasta, my homemade red sauce and nixing the heavy cream. I topped his pasta dish with 2 slices of mozzarella and 2 slices of provolone. He was able to enjoy his dish with Italian sausage and I ended up enjoying my dish with turkey meatballs.

The cooked sausage with the spinach tossed in.

I used a cast iron skillet to bake his pasta, it was perfect!!

I’ve made turkey meatballs and shared them on the blog before but I’ve never shared this recipe for turkey meatballs. Back when I was counting calories religiously, this was a recipe I enjoyed because it was a big meal that clocked in around 300 calories, and allowed you to have 2 meatballs and 1 1/3 cups of pasta and sauce. When I mentioned turkey meatballs to my boyfriend he gave me that “look.” Turkey is known to be dry and rather tasteless but I kept telling him this recipe is great! It produces super moist turkey and the flavor is delicious. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly but I used some different ingredients and used my food processor to finely grate my carrots, onion and garlic. Who really measures exactly when cooking?? The more vegetables the better, IMO!

Turkey Meatballs

Adapted from Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

1 pound ground lean turkey breast

1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs (whole wheat is a nice substitute)

3 tablespoons grated parmesan

1/2 cup finely grated carrots

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned

1 teaspoons dried thyme leaves

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Direction

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a food processor, add 2-3 handfuls of baby carrots and pulse till broken down.  Then add in chunks of half an onion and the garlic cloves. Pulse until combined but not pureed. This releases all the juices and makes for an extra moist meatball.

Combine the turkey with all the other ingredients in a large bowl. Form into 2 1/2- inch balls and place on the baking sheet. Cook for 20 minutes. Flip over and cook for another 7 minutes or until browned and cooked thoroughly. Remove from oven and let cool. Continue to leave the oven on to finish baking up the pasta dish.

 

Makes a great meatball sandwich or as a pita pizza topping!  

To make baked pasta with turkey meatballs

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling water, cook pasta till tender but still firm. It will continue to cook in the oven or else you will end up with mushy pasta. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add tomato sauce, handful of spinach and 2 chopped up meatballs. Mix till combined and add to a baking dish. Top with cheese and bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes. (This is the pasta I also baked up for my boyfriend’s dish, I used 3/4 a box of pasta.)

 

I used about 1 cup of pasta as a single serving for myself. I ended up making 2 meals out of this for myself! I used fontina cheese on top of my dish. I love this cheese when it melts, very nutty and creamy. The only default was we were sweating while eating this meal, I guess it’s going to start to get too hot for baked pasta dishes! Oh and my boyfriend tried a meatball from me and said not bad. ;)

Buon Appetito,

Fallon

Red Sauce

I am here today to share my red sauce recipe with you. It still needs tweaking but my boyfriend told me it isn’t a bad start. Score! His mother makes one of the best red sauces. He always tells me that it has to have Italian sausage and beef ribs. That is how you get the flavor and to make a great red sauce for spaghetti, lasagna, parmigiana etc. I then told him I’m not his mother and It won’t ever taste exactly like hers but I will do my best. I made sure to make plenty, so I’d have enough for several meals. I made so much I ended up putting some in the freezer!

     

Mason jars work beautifully for homemade sauces. I used a smaller jar for the sauce in the freezer.

I had a hard time finding beef ribs at the store and didn’t feel like driving all over the place. I decided to just go with the Italian sausage. As for sauce making I had exchanged emails with the Proud Italian Cook. Her food always looks so wonderful, fresh and vibrant. She knows her Italian cooking and she gave me a simple guideline to follow. Many people will add carrots and celery to their sauces but she kept it very simple with the use of onion, garlic, San Marzano whole tomatoes, olive oil and salt.

I know next time to get the sauce just right with the addition of beef ribs and I finally was able to find them at the supermarket! Until then we have plenty of red sauce for several more meals! Who wants to come over for dinner? ;)

Fallon’s Red Sauce

Ingredients (I had almost 7 lbs of tomatoes, so I’m not going to list actual amounts since I kept adding more)

Italian sausages

Garlic (I used a whole bulb for 7 lbs tomatoes)

Sweet onion (Approx. 1 1/2 onions chopped)

San Marzano tomatoes

Dried oregano

Salt (For every 28oz San Marzano tomatoes add 1 tsp salt)

Black pepper

Sugar (optional)

Olive Oil

Direction

In your largest pot, add olive oil on a medium heat setting. Add the sausages to the warm pot and cook up till nicely seared and releases any extra fat. Have a large plate with a paper towel ready to set semi-cooked sausages on.

In the mean time, chop your onion and garlic. Once the sausages are browned, place on paper towel plate and add in half your garlic and all the onion. Add more olive oil and sauté till onions are translucent. Lower heat to medium- low and add the tomatoes. Squeeze each tomato into the pot and remove access stems/seeds. Then add the remaining liquid from the can. Turn up the heat to medium- high and stir. Once the mixture starts to bubble add in the remaining garlic (I threw some whole cloves in), oregano and salt. Stir and wait till it boils. Next put the Italian sausage back into the sauce and cook on low/simmer. Keep covered with a lid to avoid splattering and stir every 10-15 minutes.

Don’t worry about keeping your kitchen clean, I had tomatoes everywhere!

Taste the sauce, too acidic add a little sugar. Balance the flavors out with salt and pepper. I added red pepper flakes to add a little heat to the sauce. Cook for at least 2.5- 3 hours before serving and making sure the sausages are fully cooked. Otherwise cook all day to really let the flavors marry into each other.

Nothing like a big plate of pasta and a green salad on the side!

How do you make your red sauce?

Buon Appetito,

Fallon

Chicken Sorrentino Penne

Usually on Sunday I like to have a drink while I cook! I think it makes the food taste extra better. ;) My choice was rum and coke, one for me and one for my babe!

Sundays around here are lazy days for us! We all sleep in and end up lounging around the house the rest of the day. The girls are cleaning, doing laundry and thinking of what to make for dinner. While the guys well, they play video games the majority of the time. I try to get in a workout, bake something and/or get dinner going. Like this meal for Chicken Sorrentino Penne (I couldn’t find fusilli, so penne it is). My favorite Cake Boss now has his own TV show called Kitchen Boss. I love his show because he makes original Italian recipes and his taste is right on when it comes to flavors.

This particular recipe he made called Chicken Sorrentino Fusilli immediately caught my eye because it is casserole style, has a good amount of protein, breaded eggplant and pasta. This meal has everything and more you could ask for. The only thing is, it is VERY time consuming. I literally spent 5 hours making it (with prep work involved) and we spent 30 minutes eating it. This meal is so delicious but be prepared to spend most of your day in the kitchen making it. It requires several steps but in reality it is simple to prepare once you do get through all the steps. My favorite part about this meal was the breaded eggplant, prosciutto and fresh mozzarella cheese. I also made the Roasted Asparagus with Crispy Breadcrumbs to go with it and a caprese salad minus fresh basil (it was bad at all the stores we went too). I can’t wait to make this meal again when I have extra time for it.

Cut tips and use a potato peeler to peel the ends a little. No strings!

The theme of this show was Date Night. It clearly was only enough for 2-3 people. I ended up doubling this recipe so it could serve at least 6 people.

Chicken Sorrentino Penne

Adapted from Kitchen Boss

Ingredients

2-3 halves boneless, skinless chicken breast

3 crushed clove garlic

2 small eggplants

4 thin slices prosciutto

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 large eggs

2 large egg whites

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 pound fresh mozzarella, sliced

1/4 cup grated parmesan

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

4 cups marinara sauce (homemade or a favorite store brand)

1 pound penne pasta, cooked al dente

Few leaves torn fresh basil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with foil and cooking spray to bake the eggplant on.

Sprinkle the chicken breast halves with salt, pepper, drizzle with olive oil and turn to coat with the crushed garlic. Let rest while you prepare the sauce and eggplant.

In a small saucepot, heat the tomato sauce and warm through.

 

Peel the eggplant and slice across the width into 1/4 inch rounds ( I ended up cutting them horizontal). Please the breadcrumbs and the flour each in two shallow plates. Crack two large eggs into a bowl; separate the yolk from the two large egg whites and beat. Dip each piece of eggplant first into the flour, tapping off excess, then into the beaten egg, allowing excess to drip off, then lastly, coat in crumbs. Place the eggplant onto your baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray into the preheated oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until lightly brown and crisp edges. Take out and set aside while finishing the chicken.

Heat a cast iron grill or skillet pan oven medium high heat. Grill or sear the chicken breast on each side until nicely marked but not cooked through. Set aside.

In a bowl, toss the penne with 1/2 of the marinara sauce- enough to coat well and sprinkle with a little grated parmesan. Place in the bottom of a 9 x 13, lightly oiled baking dish. Place the chicken pieces side by side on top of the pasta. Top each piece of chicken with a slice of prosciutto, then place the eggplant on top and the sliced mozzarella. Bake until the cheese is melted and the chicken is cooked through- approx. 10 minutes. You can brown the cheese with a quick turn under the broiler. If desired, top with remaining sauce, parmesan cheese and fresh basil.

To make the Roasted Asparagus with Crispy Breadcrumbs click this link HERE.

 

As you can see I slightly prepared my eggplant a bit differently from Kitchen Boss’s version. I simply used whole wheat flour, added some egg whites and baked it instead. If you want to fry up your eggplant go ahead, it will be extra delicious!

I hope you enjoy this dinner as much as we enjoyed it here on our lazy Sunday.

Buon Appetito,

Fallon

Skinny Italian

Who else watches The Real Housewives shown on Bravo? It all started with Orange County and now I just can’t get enough of it. I watch each and every season. While some I enjoy more then others, I don’t like to miss out on anything going on in their lives! One housewife that I really enjoy watching on TV is Teresa Giudice from New Jersey. I love her attitude, personality and the fact that she dresses her girls up like little dolls. Being she is an Italian girl she grew up being surrounded by wonderful food and lots of family. In her own home she cooks for her family every night and makes sure it is as authentic and healthy as Italian can be.

Teresa wrote her own cookbook called Skinny Italian. I wanted to see what it was all about in person before ordering it online, so I went to the bookstore first. I skimmed through her recipes and loved how simple her meals were. I figured this be a great book to have for when I start living with my boyfriend because she has recipes with meals containing meat and cooking it the Italian way. Something I’m not fully familiar with but willing to learn so I can cook my man some good meals! Luckily my birthday came and one of my presents was Skinny Italian. She explains about ingredients and what is authentic in Italian cooking. I loved the chapter on pasta and the myths stated.

Pasta Myth 1- White Pasta is Bad

To make pasta 100% Italian make sure the label states “100% durum wheat semolina” or “100% durum wheat.” Italian pasta is actually considered a whole grain and not part of the white flour family.

Pasta Myth 2- Pasta is Fattening

If you look at the nutritional label on pasta most of the time it is only 1g of fat per serving. The stuff that is fattening is the crazy amount of cheese people will put on their pastas. As long as you dress the pasta lightly with healthy oils, vegetables and fresh ingredients you will have a beautiful pasta dish.

Pasta Myth 3- Pasta Has No Nutritional Value

The durum wheat used in Italian pasta has 8g of protein per serving and the same amount of fiber you’d find in wheat bread. In the US, companies often “enriched” their pastas adding vitamins and minerals.

That really opened up my eyes when it came to eating pasta. I was only buying 100% whole wheat pasta because I thought it was healthy. Which don’t get me wrong it is still healthy but now I know I can enjoy 100% durum wheat semolina pasta and get the same nutritional benefits like the whole wheat kind.

Make sure you buy a red wine you’d like to drink as well as cook with.

My first recipe I made from her cookbook was Milania’s Marinara Sauce. It starts with using her “quickie” tomato sauce recipe and turns it into make her marinara sauce with red wine, mushrooms, onion, garlic and fresh herbs.

My boyfriend is very picky when it comes to sauce and if it doesn’t taste like mom’s then it isn’t the best. His mom gets a lot of her flavor from meat and meat bones. It is a great sauce. For me, I like a more fresher and chunkier sauce with tomatoes and good red wine. I made this sauce for a Sunday dinner.His words were, “some meat bones cooked in while simmering would be even better.” Maybe next time. ;)

I already have more recipes I want to try like Gabriella’s Bolognese Sauce, Giardino Minestrone, and Chicken Breasts with Lemony Thyme Marinade.

I find her cookbook to be very educational and straight to the point. It isn’t overly wordy and it is easy to understand for the home cook. Her recipes are simple and fresh, guaranteeing a great dinner for the night.

Always,

Fallon

No one is paying me to write up this review. I like Teresa and wanted to support her cookbook with positive feedback. To get the recipes you will have to purchase the book.     

Linguine with Spinach Sauce

Holidays are coming and I’m going through all my recipes I’ve printed out and stored in a binder. Time to find those holiday cookies, cakes and candies. Yikes, just thinking about that is making me feel 5 pounds heavier! Luckily in the miss of all the sugar, butter and flour I came across a recipe I’ve never tried! Giada De Laurentiis Penne with Spinach Sauce. Such a simple recipe and I had everything in my fridge. I love when that happens.

The best gourmet pasta ever!

Back in September when I visited my boyfriend in Texas, we went to a wine tasting event and I purchased some homemade pasta by DeCio Pasta. I picked up their top seller, spinach basil garlic linguine. I remember it being delicious and flavorful. You don’t need anything fancy for this pasta. I decided I wanted this pasta instead of penne. After mixing everything up, I realized the contrast in color was very green and not as appealing. For the taste factor though, it was AMAZING! I felt very healthy eating all this green and not guilty at all that it involved pasta. ;)

The beautiful sauce.

Pasta water is your best glue for making a sauce stick like this one. Blended in a food processor, the spinach sauce comes together quickly. This was a perfect meal right before heading into work. I like anything quick, healthy and delicious!

 

 

I followed the recipe exactly, except using different pasta! Click HERE for Penne with Spinach Sauce or in my case linguine. ;)

Buon Appetito,

Fallon