Pasta and Pizza

Cheap and Easy Meat Sauce and Pasta

October 17, 2005 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

We had another family over for dinner this weekend and I decided to make just an easy meat sauce for dinner rather than cooking anything too fancy. I got the sauce started about an hour before they arrived, made up a salad, and got some garlic bread ready to pop under the broiler. This left [...]

Spaghetti with Shrimp & Ricotta Sauce

September 20, 2005 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Ricotta cheese was on sale “buy 1 get 1 free” and they were the large containers. So 2 large containers ended up costing me less than one smaller container, which was still more than I needed. I take opportunities like this to explore new recipes. Eldest is tired of chicken. Around here chicken is today’s [...]

Weeknight dinners: Pasta with vegetables and leftover chicken

August 26, 2005 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Reading Tomatilla’s post about weeknight cooking and pulling dinner out of a hat must have sparked this… The dinners you create out of what’s around, with no clear plan from beginning to end, are often the best dishes. My original plan was to make a quiche tonight, because I had lots of eggs and was [...]

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

August 3, 2005 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

I absolutely love this time of the year, when I can wander into the garden and gather food for the next meal. Tomatoes are the star of my garden this year. I got lazy and didn’t plant any experimental crops, although I did try some new varieties of tomatoes. I’ve got Beefsteak, Abe Lincoln, Early [...]

Pasta Salad

April 19, 2005 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

Over the weekend, summer started. Well, not exactly. But our summer social life revolves around our neighborhood swim club and we got the first phone call of “Hey, we’re lighting some coals and cooking out tonight at the pool. Want to join us?” I had some of those great apple-chicken sausages. I had some sugar [...]

Chicken Alfredo over Pasta

December 23, 2004 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

When I originally started this blog, my thought was to keep a record of what I cooked, not just record new recipes. Last night’s dinner was “barely” cooking. As were sitting around with a nice bottle of Blackstone Cabernet that my friend had brought over discussing what to fix for dinner, pasta was high on [...]

Pasta and Ricotta Cheese: Kids’ New Favorite

November 11, 2004 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

My girls love this little tiny round pasta I buy to make what we’ve nicknamed Frog’s Eye Soup. It’s basically just chicken broth, carrots, and little tiny pastas. Sometimes I buy the little alphabet pastas for fun, but usually I use this tiny little round one, called ancini di pepe. (By the way when I [...]

Easy Alfredo Sauce

October 8, 2004 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

2 Tbs butter 1/3 cup cream cheese 2/3 cup milk pinch of nutmeg pinch of pepper (white is best!) 1/3 cup grated Parmesan plus more at the table Melt the butter. Stir in the cream cheese while stirring with a wire whisk. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly. Bring just to a very low simmer [...]

Tomato, Basil, and Onion Salad or Pasta

August 1, 2004 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

I’m not sure why but my basil never took off this year. I have parsley and oregano and rosemary galore, but no basil or cilantro–which I desperately need for my tomatoes! But my tomatoes are doing great and I grew a batch of red onions as well. I pulled some up, let them dry, and [...]

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

May 14, 2004 by Ellen · Leave a Comment 

A good use for boiled ground beef. When you want a meat sauce, heat up a jar or can of spaghetti sauce and add some already cooked ground beef to the sauce and heat through. This is great for last minute meals because you can thaw the already cooked meat in the microwave while you’re [...]

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