Some things have been going *very* right in my kitchen lately. So, I decided I’d share a few of these tidbits. I don’t do affiliate links, these ones are just for your reference or for my reference.
- Stuffed shells with meatballs
- Cook the shells in heavily salted water per package cooking time, then rinse under cool water to stop the cooking.
- Make the filling: mix together two eggs, two 15 oz containers of ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup parmesan, 8 oz freshly grated part-skim mozzarella, and one 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed, all the water squeezed out).
- Assemble the night before splitting into two pans, one for the freezer and one for the next day.
- Top each pan with one jar of pasta sauce and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. When ready to bake or freeze, add in some premade meatballs and add extra sauce to cover them.
- Bake at 375 F, covered in tin foil, til hot and bubbly (about an hour for the fridge version, longer from the freezer).
- Wait at least 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven to serve, then top with parmesan cheese and enjoy.
- Easier to throw together than Lasagna, and easier to reheat. Plus, you get two dinners for the work of one. Do it.
- Lettuce cup “sushi”
- What do you do when you want to make sushi but realized half way through that you don’t have any nori? Well, if your local store is closed for the night, you serve it up in a romaine lettuce leaf instead!
- Make this sushi rice recipe, and after it’s all prepared/cooled chop up some carrots into matchsticks, seed, peel, and slice up a cucumber, chop up some pickled ginger, top with toasted sesame seeds, then either top with a drizzle of soy sauce or go wild.
- Ways to go wild: add avocado, add thinly sliced jalapeno, add some cooked salmon, add some teriyaki chicken, get some sushi grade fish and add it raw (I have yet to do this one), make a peanut/soy/rice vinegar dipping sauce and then drizzle because dipping is stressful.
- Ways to cheat even more: make it with regular rice and top it with “Asian” salad dressing. Still delicious. Leave out rice completely for some low-carb deliciousness.
- Not necessarily food safe idea: put leftover sushi rice in a Ziploc bag, leave it on the counter, and add chopped up lettuce and all the ingredients to a bowl for a “salad” the next day. Try it at your own peril, but I found it delicious and didn’t get sick.
- Oreo pudding poke cake
- It’s a recipe that’s not really a recipe, but more a method for putting together boxed stuff. It tastes REALLY good.
- This “recipe” inspired me to try other combinations. So far, my favorite is to use the same method with this triple chocolate cake mix, top it with Hershey’s Special Dark pudding (follow directions for pie filling, two containers mix with 3 cups cold milk), top with crumbled oreos that have most of their filling removed. Better than the original, and the pudding is less sweet than regular frosting.
- Oatmeal, made with milk instead of water. Perfect for any cold morning.
- Jalapeno poppers, but coat the outside with BBQ sauce before baking and eat them for breakfast, or any time you want to be happy.
- Spinach artichoke dip
- Make sure to top it with some cracked red pepper and extra parmesan.
- After you make it, use the leftovers on top of some (cooked) meat, and stick it under the broiler to heat up the dip/topping/goodness. Thank me later.
- This blogger is a genius who has also adapted it for the slow cooker.
- Pot roast
- I have some in the slow cooker *right now* because it was on sale at my regular grocery store for $3.99/lb and that price means I make pot roast.
- Serve it with rice, egg noodles, or some potato product. Today we’re having mashed potatoes, crusty-store-bought-rosemary-bread, and green beans.
That’s all, folks! Cooking has become a bit of “me time” that I am very happy to have. I hope you’re all finding ways to relax, get creative, and get away from your cares if only for a little while.
CrustyBeth 