recipe – Page 2 – forEVR and always

Ziti Time!

January 7, 20137 Comments

This weekend we did a whole lot of relaxing! A fun dinner at our friend’s apartment Friday, movies and fun night in Saturday, and laundry/de-christmasing the apartment Sunday. I think we both needed that kind of weekend.

On Friday I made ziti for dinner with friends and I wanted to share the recipe with you. It is a family favorite and one that I love to make!

ZITI RECIPE

What You Need:

1 – 16 oz box ziti
1 large onion (or two small)
2 tbs olive oil
8 cups sauce (I use original Francesco Rinaldi…any will work)
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic (I use a little close to 1 tsp though)
2 tbs sugar
1/2 cup ricotta
2 tbs Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella (I use more like 2 cups)
Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Finely chop up the onion…

Then cook the onion on medium heat with the oil until soft…stir constantly!

2. In a pot boil water and cook ziti for 10 minutes.

3. Once the onion is soft, add the sauce and seasonings to the onion (basil, sugar, garlic, I also add a bit of oregano, pepper, and parsley)

4. Cover and simmer the sauce mixture for 15 minutes.

yummy yummy sauce

5. Once the pasta is done and drained, and the sauce has cooked, mix the pasta and sauce in a pot. Add the ricotta and parm and mix.

6. In a glass pan, pour the pasta mixture. I do layers…put 1/2 the pasta mixture in the pan then a bit of the mozz cheese, then the rest of the pasta on top and lots of cheese….

7. Bake the ziti for 30 minutes at 375*.

Here it is…beautiful, delicious ziti!

8. Enjoy with friends…

(rondo and albus loving each other at em & reg’s while we ate)

I actually added chicken sausage for the first time on Friday and it came out amazing! To do this slice sausage into tiny bites (crumbles), then brown in separate pan, and add to sauce mixture for the 15 minutes. It was a new twist and came out really well!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

xo-j

Butterball Cookies

December 11, 2012Leave a comment

(rondo investigating the cookies…good thing they were covered!)

This weekend I made my favorite cookies for Christmas/Doug’s Birthday! They are so yummy and beyond easy. I thought I would share the recipe with you today.

What You Need

1 stick butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar + some for rolling
1 cup flour
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Directions

Preheat to 250

1. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together in mixing bowl

2. Make sure that is all mixed up well…

3. Now add the flour, vanilla, water, and nuts. Continue to mix…I use a spoon at first then my hands for this part because I think it works better than the mixer.

4. Once it is all mixed up start rolling the mixture into about tsp size balls…

5. Place balls on a cookie sheet. No need to space, they don’t rise. Cook for 30-40 minutes.

6. Get your powdered sugar ready for rolling! The second you take the cookies out of the oven, roll them into the sugar…

7. Let cool…and you are done! Tasty simple butterball cookies!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! One of our close family friends always made them for us when we were kids and they’ve been my favorite ever since!

xo-j

Carrot Cake (I totally won an award)

November 21, 20122 Comments

Last week I made carrot cake for our friendsgiving and another one for Jay’s office Thanksgiving. Turns out they were doing a contest and my cake won!! Yes…we won a carving knife, and not a trip to the Bahamas…but still, it won!!

I wanted to share the recipe to this amazing cake (thanks Mom for always sharing your recipes and being the best non-professional cook ever)…

CARROT CAKE

What you need:

For Cake:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla

1 – 8 1/4 oz can of crushed pineapple (drained)
2 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped nuts (optional…but totally adds to it)

DIRECTIONS
preheat to 350

First sift the first four dry ingredients together (I don’t have a sifter, I just fluff it around a bit with a fork)

(like my picture shadow in that?!)

In a separate bowl beat the eggs. Then beat the sugar, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla into the eggs…

Once that is ready to go mix the egg mixture and dry ingredients together…

Now grate up those carrots! This is by far the worst part but it pays off! Once the carrots are grated mix the carrots, pineapple, and nuts into the egg/flour mixture..

Beautiful!

Pour into a lightly greased pan (I used baking Pam) and bake for 55 minutes.

Time for the FROSTING!

What you need:
1 – 8 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 lb butter softened
1/2 to 1 lb powdered sugar (depending on taste)
1 tsp vanilla

Go ahead and leave out the cream cheese and butter while the cake cooks so it can soften. Wait patiently…drink wine…yum…

Ok now your cake is baked…let it cool!

Mix up your frosting while the cake is cooling. Mix the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together. Gradually stir in the powdered sugar. This is the best part because you get to stop and taste check. I only use about a 1/2 lb of the powdered sugar, but if you are a sweet tooth you may want more…

Then frost!

Now you are all done and ready to enjoy the best cake you will ever have…

I would have taken a picture of it cut open to eat, but by the time we got to friendsgiving we ate it all too fast!

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

xo- J

Don’t judge a book (or soup)…

November 12, 20121 Comment

The problem with a puppy is you can’t say “come on just smile at the camera for me please”…well you can, and I tried, but it doesn’t work. This ^ is the result of countless attempts of a picture together on Friday…oh well!

(rondo in his winter coat / unreal pizza from Friday night)

This weekend was nice and lax. We went to the movies (NiteHawk if you’re ever in the area go! Awesome food and such a fun atmosphere!), saw some friends, played with the little guy, and enjoyed time at home together. I also made some lentil soup to have for lunch this week…

LENTIL SOUP RECIPE

This is one of my favorites. My Mom always made it and it’s just delicious. It may look ugly, but don’t judge…the taste is unmatched!

What you will need:

In the spirit of honesty, I used a can of diced tomatoes, 2 cups stock/5 cups water, a weird amount of black pepper, and some pickle juice on the top…yup…

First get those lentils going on the stove with the water/stock…they need to come to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on.

Next chop up the onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes (or open the can 😉 ) and put them all in a frying pan with a couple tbs of olive oil…

Let that cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add all your spices (thyme, basil, oregano, garlic, s&p)…

Mix the veg & spices together and let cook for another 5 minutes, then remove from heat until your beans are ready…

Once your beans are done, mix the vegetables and beans together. Then add the lemon juice and brown sugar…mix this all up, put the lid on, and let it simmer for at least 15 minutes (the longer the better, but make sure to stir).

Then top with some vinegar, or in my case pickle juice (about a tbs), and enjoy! It may not look beautiful but my goodness it is delicious…

The perfect winter meal!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

x0-j

Fall in the City / Recipe

October 26, 2012Leave a comment

Fall in nyc isn’t quite the same as driving through the town I grew up in with changing leaves on every corner…but there is a little bit of color here which makes me happy. I’ll take what I can get! Plus, not being home means I don’t have to rake leaves…Dad knows how happy this makes me.

Last night I made some Halloween Bark for a party we are going to Saturday. It came out pretty perfect…it was also crazy easy! You can find the recipe here. Here is the cooled bark:

And the final all bagged:

Jay and I are both excited to dress up this weekend and enjoy the party!

I’m pretty sure my family has already seen this picture but I love it so much I thought I would share…

Look at the anger! I put the leash on him and then went to brush my teeth. He was NOT having it…cracks me up.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Meatballs! (recipe below)

October 1, 2012October 1, 20122 Comments

Another weekend over…bummer…we did enjoy it though! Friday we had our friend’s engagement party at Brooklyn Brewery (congrats T&K!). Below are some pics from the night (cheese much Jay?!)…

Saturday we took it easy during the day, and went to see David Byrne on the waterfront at night. Such an awesome show! Plus, we were standing next to Bobby from Twin Peaks (which we were way too excited about).

The rest of the weekend was spent paying attention to our man…

He’s a horrible New Yorker…

Sunday I decided to use my herb garden since it is starting to grow out of control and make turkey meatballs (we are a red meat free house). I thought I would share the recipe since they are so delicious and pretty healthy as meatballs go!

TURKEYMEATBALLS

What you will need:

3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup parsley
1 pound turkey meat (I get 99% fat free organic)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated parm cheese + a couple tablespoons for rolling
1 egg beaten
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 large yellow onion chopped or 1 teaspoon onion juice

(As you can see above I have an onion hater in my house. I use onion juice in exchange for the onion since it gives the same flavor and keeps the moisture.)

First, preheat your over to 400 degrees, then tear up your turkey with a fork in a bowl:

Next, chop up your parsley (I used some from my garden and bought the rest…I was a little short):

Beat your egg in a separate bowl then add all ingredients to the turkey bowl including the egg:

Now mix it up really well…use your hands! use a fork! but make sure all of the turkey gets seasoned and doesn’t become compacted:

Now start scooping and rolling your meatballs onto a lined baking sheet. Once you have your meatballs on the sheet, sprinkle with those extra tablespoons of parm:

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until they are firm. I usually bake for 25 then let them cook in the sauce for another 10 minutes or so:

Use any sauce you want! I made mine from scratch yesterday (Trubiano’s you know the recipe) since I had herbs to use and time to kill.

While your meatballs are making the sauce taste extra yummy cook your pasta:

Then plate, serve, and enjoy these tasty (and pretty healthy) meatballs! Below is Jay’s version and mine:

Let me know if you have any questions and enjoy the start to your week everyone 🙂

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: