Alley's Recipe Book: canned tomatoes

Showing posts with label canned tomatoes. Show all posts

Chicken Parm Paninis - total time 45 minutes

If you live in Ohio, you have probably heard of Melt Bar & Grilled. Even if you don't live in Ohio, you may have heard about these huge gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches on shows like Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. The first one opened in Columbus last winter (original is based in Cleveland) and I had a Parma, Italy which is chicken parmesan between two slices of Texas toast with a side of fries. While it was really, really good... I kind of feel like I might have a heart attack afterward! So I have been wanting to make a healthier version ever since.

So when Food Network teamed up with Sargento to do the Chopped at Home challenge, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to recreate this sandwich. I buy a lot of local cheeses, but I also love Sargento and their artisanal cheese wedges. I also like their commercials about how they are "real cheese people"... that cheese slices shouldn't come wrapped in plastic and I couldn't agree more!

Shredded cheese for a grilled cheese sandwich can get a little messy, but it's the best way to get all of those Italian flavors without tons and tons of cheese. Some other big differences between my sandwich and Melt's is that the chicken just has a light breading instead of being fried and the sauce is for dipping (kind of like tomato soup) because I hate, hate, hate soggy bread (can't have condiments of any sort actually touching the bread, ew). With the garlic butter, the bread ends up becoming garlic bread, so this really is a complete Italian meal without the pasta. Buon Appetito!

Oh boy, I am such a messy eater. My husband can always tell when I've been getting into something sweet because I somehow end up with chocolate on my face. I really have no idea how it happens, but he always notices! I swear it's happened when I haven't had anything with chocolate...

So if it happens with a bit of chocolate, you can imagine what happens with something like wings or... heaven help me... sloppy joes. You don't even want to see the damage afterward.

As a result, I have steered clear of the sloppy joe sandwiches. The occasional exception needs to be open-faced with fork and 10 napkins in hand.

But what if you could make it less messy? Why not make it encompass all of the sloppiness? My husband called these sloppy joe hot pockets... but I would like to think these are of higher quality than a microwaved, processed, pocket of heat. It really is just sloppy joe made from scratch (although I just ran out of my own canned tomatoes) and just like you would eat a normal sloppy joe, just all wrapped up! Perfect for lunches and days your short on napkins. :)

I can't remember what I first saw Jamie Oliver in, but I became a pretty big fan of his after watching Food Revolution where he tried to make an impact on healthier school lunches in America. I don't think I ever saw an episode of the Naked Chef, which was Jamie's first US cooking show, but I saw several episodes of Jamie at Home. Love the way he says the word basil... makes me giggle every time.

Now he has a show that airs on CBS every Saturday morning called Jamie's 15-minute meals. I LOVE this show! Not only does he make home cooked meals in 15 minutes flat (there is a timer and everything), he shares tons of tips on how to get dinner ready faster and easier (like having a garlic press or the fastest way to cut a bell pepper). The show is 30 minutes long... that means he cooks two complete dinners that are healthy and made from whole ingredients.

15 minutes... everyone has 15 minutes to make something delicious to eat.

So do the meals really take only 15 minutes? Well, it's pretty darn close. I've made 3-4 of his 15-minute recipes now and it does take me longer than 15 minutes... but not much longer. Jamie Oliver has a bit more skill in the kitchen than I do or any other home cook. But I did buy a garlic press because garlic is in just about everything I make. It probably saves me a good 3 minutes! (I also bought a nifty parm grater like the ones they have in restaurants and they ask is you would like any fresh cracked pepper or parmesan. It doesn't really save any time, but I think it is sooo cool!)

I was a little apprehensive about trying these ricotta fritters at first. Just thought it sounded a little strange. They are kind of creamy and fluffy at the same time. If you have had ricotta pancakes, they are kind of the same concept with less flour (and for dinner). Give 'em a go and you'll be glad you did! :)

Just like the Dark Knight movies, sometimes classics need a reboot to make them cool again. Lasagna is a classic dinner in my family for sure. We have even had lasagna for Thanksgiving meals... you know... with ground turkey for Turkey Day. And it never fails, when my husband is at an Italian restaurant, he orders the lasagna. You might call him a lasagna aficionado.

I've tried making lasagna a lot of different ways (with butternut squash, spinach & artichoke, pesto chicken, broccoli chicken, and the classic rollup that we're improving upon today)... this recipe is the best. You don't have to make it all rolled up either if you prefer regular pan style. I like the rollups because they make the perfect serving size and you don't have to worry about cutting it up and layers sliding around... plus they look cute! And if you wanted to make extra, the rollups freeze well... perfect for individual servings to heat up in the microwave or freeze a tray of them for a weeknight dinner or busy friend.

So what makes this recipe so cool now after it has been rebooted? I think it is the sun-dried tomatoes. A little bit goes a long way for flavor with these babies! Also, adding some of the sauce to the rollup filling just makes sense when you look at regular pan-style lasagna.

This recipe will be in heavy rotation at our house, especially while it is cold out... it's the perfect Italian comfort food. Hope you enjoy it too!

I used to buy those premade stuffed chicken breasts from the freezer section of my grocery store. That used to be one of my "I'm in the mood to cook so I'll put these in the oven with some potatoes and we'll have a gourmet dinner that I slaved over a hot stove for". How times have changed! I don't even want to know what all was in those little plastic pouches. I'm sure it was still better than going to a fast food place, but I would rather spend a little more time and energy on what is fueling my body. Plus, I get to pick the filling... and I pick gouda!

This really is pretty easy. If you start out with chicken cutlets, you really just lay out the chicken and filling, roll it up, and tie it closed. I like to use really thick freezer bags covered in a towel to flatten meat... it keeps everything nice and clean. And then another trick... instead of using toothpicks which can be hard to find once cooked and easy to find when you're taking a big bite... use baker's twine. At the end you just give it one snip and the twine is easily peeled off. Plus, it is usually in bright colors and easy to see once cooked.

This recipe is pretty versatile too. Try it with turkey, pork, of fish.

Canning tomatoes is like storing a little bit of summer and getting to open it up again when the ground is covered in snow. It is also pretty easy to do. As long as you have a large pot, some mason jars, and lots of tomatoes... you can do water bath canning. Tomatoes are high enough in acidity that it doesn't require being canned in a pressure cooker. There are only a handful of things you can can this way, and even with high acidity, you still need to be careful and follow every step. You're not putting the preservatives and additives that food producers use in their canning process. So follow the steps and make sure your kitchen is nice and clean before starting!

Ugh, it has been a rough week with some late nights at work. It is easy to come home and not want to cook. Since we're trying to limit processed foods in our diet, not wanting to cook doesn't leave a lot of options. So after seeing a pin on Pinterest about freezer meals, I thought about having a 'backup' meal ready to go from fridge to oven to table. In fact, I could even call my husband ahead of time and have him put it in the oven and it could be ready by the time I got home (and then we aren't eating after 9pm).

So I thought about what I could make that could sit in the fridge a few days before being completely baked and I think this works for most noodle dishes (just remove any raw eggs from the recipes and make sure to completely cook the meat). I decided to go with the disposable/recyclable tin pans because I didn't want anything to break going from a cold fridge to a hot oven (and my husband doesn't have a good track record when it comes to cooking).

My first go at a make ahead (or fridge-to-oven) meal was a success! I wasn't even home when the mexican stuffed shells were made or even eaten. I say a home cooked meal is definitely better than the Taco Bell run or frozen pizza that would have happened if it was not available. :)

It took about 20 minutes to boil the noodles, brown the ground turkey, cook in the additional ingredients, and stuff the shells. I ran cold water over the noodles to stop the cooking process and let the filling cool down a little. After stuffing the shells and topping with cheese, I covered the tin pan with aluminum foil and wrote the baking instructions on top. So simple! I'm definitely planning to prepare one of these every week for that night that inevitably comes where I just don't want to cook.

What do you do when you don't want to cook?

Manicotti - total time 40 minutes

My husband thinks that the reason Mexican restaurants are able to get you your food so quickly is because everything on the menu is a variation of the same thing. Pick your shell (tortilla for burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, hard shell for tacos, chalupas, and salads), pick your meat/veggies, and pick your sauce (cheese, red, verde) then wrap it up and serve with some rice and beans. Seems like it should be the same for Italian restaurants... pick the type of noodle, cheese or meat, and type of sauce... done... but it never comes out quite that fast.

I used to think manicotti was the superior Italian entree until I started making it myself and realized manicotti is just stuffed shells in tubular form. Still delicious!

One of the less fun things about cooking a lot at home is the mess that needs to be cleaned up afterward. It doesn't matter how simple the meal is, my kitchen looks a wreck every night. I don't know how I manage to be so messy and use so many bowls, pots, pans, spoons, and knives. I seem to fill up the dish washer every night... and there is only two of us!

This meal actually had minimal clean up. It is almost a one pot meal (you need one to boil pasta in, but that isn't hard to clean up after). Everything else is just sauted, tossed, and served in one pot. Soak the pot while you eat and you're pretty much done cleaning!

Another opportunity to open up a jar of tomatoes from the garden. It smells like summer every time, which is certainly welcome when I can see how cold it is outside from the kitchen window. Although I would rather be wearing shorts and enjoying the sunshine, winter allows everything to renew itself in the spring. Can't wait to get out in the garden again... the seed catalogs are showing up in the mail.

If you love enchiladas, you will love this casserole... and it is super easy! Swap the chicken for spinach to make it vegetarian.

1 lb chicken

1 cup rice

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup shredded cheese, divided

.5 cup cream cheese

10 oz. tomato juice

1 tbsp chili pepper

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare rice according to package. Cook chicken.

2. In a medium sized pot, heat olive oil, add onions and garlic, and saute for three minutes. Add in tomato juice and chili pepper. Simmer until sauce thickens, about eight minutes.

3. Shred chicken using forks and add to medium sized mixing bowl. Add cream cheese, rice, .5 cup shredded cheese, enchilada sauce, salt, and pepper and mix together. Transfer into casserole dish and top with remaining shredded cheese.

4. Bake for 25 minutes. Eat as a casserole with sour cream and green onions or serve with tortillas.

Creamy Baked Spaghetti - total time 45 minutes

My husband was actually the one that first attempted this recipe here. He doesn't really know his way around the kitchen and he would be the first to admit it. So I thought I would try it again and see if I could get a better result. It really is just your basic spaghetti kicked up a couple notches, really easy and mostly ingredients you should have on hand at all times.

1 lb ground turkey

4 oz. cream cheese

1 onion, chopped

.5 cup mozzarella, shredded

.5 cup parm, divided

1 egg

12 oz. spaghetti noodles

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups marinara sauce

.25 cup bread crumbs

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start by browning the turkey meat. Drain excess grease and add in onion, garlic, salt, and pepper.

2. Prepare noodles according to package.

3. Spoon out cream cheese over the cooked turkey, let soften for a minute or two. Stir in cream cheese, mozzarella, half of the parm, and sauce. Add cooked and drained noodles as well as the egg. Transfer to a casserole dish.

4. Top with bread crumbs and remaining parm. Bake for 30 minutes.

Tortellini Soup - total time 30 minutes

Yippee! I got a new pot this week! It is 'tri ply' like my pans, which means it combines three different metals to get the best advantages from all of them (copper, stainless steel, and aluminum). No more of the non-stick teflon coating! Actually, my old soup pot didn't have the coating either, but anything that did is officially out of my kitchen now. Using a small amount of healthy fats, like olive oil, to prevent food from sticking to your pots and pans is way better than something that the EPA says is a 'likely carcinogen'.

Any way, I made this tasty tomato based soup in my new pot and it is delish!

1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp butter
.25 cup cream
1 cup milk
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups tomato juice (or tomato paste & water)
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 package tortellini
italian herbs
salt & pepper

1. Melt butter in pot. Add in chopped onions and saute for two minutes. Add in garlic, salt, and pepper and let cook for another 2 minutes. Add stock, tomato juice, tomatoes, and herb; bring to a simmer.
2. After it has been simmering for three minutes, add milk and cream, bring back to a simmer. Once simmering again, add tortellini, cover, and cook for 10 minutes. Top with some shredded parm and enjoy!

My shiny new pot!

Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs - total time 1 hour

It is squash season! Put a twist on the classic spaghetti and meatballs by using spaghetti squash instead of noodles. It is so simple, I wish I would have tried this earlier!

1 spaghetti squash

1 lb ground turkey

1 egg

1 cup bread crumbs

.25 cup parm, grated

herbs, salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squash in half and bake for 45 minutes.

2. Combine meat, egg, half of the breadcrumbs, cheese, herbs, and spices and mix together. Form balls slightly bigger than ping pong balls. Roll meatballs in remaining bread crumbs.

3. Sear meatballs in a hot pan. Turn every few minutes. After all sides are seared, put pan in oven for 20 minutes to finish cooking meatballs all the way through.

4. Run a fork through the cooked squash to make 'spaghetti' and scoop onto plate. Add your meatballs and some sauce and enjoy!

Lasagna Rollup - total time 50 minutes

After the success of Pesto Chicken Rollups from a couple weeks ago, I changed my normal lasagna recipe into rollups because they make perfect serving sizes.

1 lb ground turkey

1 cup ricotta

1 cup mozzarella, divided

1 egg

1.5 cup spinach

8 lasagna noodles

1 jar crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce

italian herbs

salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook ground turkey in a pan. When turkey is just about fully cooked, add chopped spinach to wilt down a little. Cook lasagna noodles.

2. Combine turkey/spinach to ricotta, .5 cup mozzarella, egg, herbs, salt, and pepper.

3. Lay out lasagna noodles and spread the mixture across the noodle. Roll the noodle up and place seam side down in a casserole dish. Pour tomato sauce over top the rollups and top with mozzarella. Bake for 25 minutes.

Pesto Chicken Lasagna Rollups - total time 50 minutes

There are two great things about lasagna rollups; they take less baking time and they are already in individual serving sizes. This particular recipe is lightened up by using chicken instead of the traditional ground beef or turkey. Additional bonus, I finished off the pesto I made last year (now its time to make more).

.5 pound chicken

.5 cup shredded cheese

1 cup ricotta cheese

.5 cup pesto

1 egg

6 lasagna noodles

1 cup tomato sauce

1 fresh mozzarella ball, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook chicken in pan (season with salt and pepper). Boil lasagna noodles in pot, then drain. Move cooked chicken to cutting board to shred with a fork.

2. Combine ricotta, shredded cheese, pesto, and egg in a mixing bowl. Add shredded chicken and stir.

3. Spread a small amount of tomato sauce on the bottom of a small casserole dish. Lay out lasagna noodles on cutting board and spread chicken and cheese mixture over each noodle. Roll up and place in casserole dish seam side down. Top with remaining tomato sauce and a slice of mozzarella on each rollup.

4. Bake for 25 minutes and serve!