Italian Pasta Bites

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I've been wanting to make this for a long time. My family loves pasta, which is a good thing because it's cheap and easy and we have it at least twice a week.

After I had my two boys, I went on a carb-free diet for about a month, which was honestly about all I could handle. The only thing that kept me sane during that month was Diet Dr Pepper which luckily has no carbs :) Anyway, my husband wanted nothing to do with my diet. He comes from a French-Italian family and the idea of eating no carbs is about as foreign as not breathing. While I ate grilled chicken, salad, and scrambled eggs for a majority of my meals, he gladly piled his plate with pasta and potatoes and bread.

Luckily I'm over that diet. Like forever. I'd much rather amp up my exercise routine than say no to pasta. And this recipe is one of the reasons why.

I used a variety of white cheeses, so it's not your traditional macaroni noodles with cheddar. I also steep fresh rosemary and thyme in the milk before adding it to the sauce to give the dish. The taste is earthy and aromatic. While I like using thyme in dishes, rosemary is a bit tough to eat and I didn't want to ruin the creamy texture of the pasta, so by steeping the herbs in the milk you get the taste without actually adding the herbs to the pasta.

Start by greasing your mini muffin tin with butter and then with a mixture of breadcrumbs and Parmesan. This will give your pasta bites a great crusty, cheesy bottom.

The pasta is delicious on its own. If you wanted to serve it as a side dish, go right ahead. The pasta bites are just a fun way to serve the pasta, especially for a party.

Stuff the pasta into the muffin tins. You'll want to lightly press down so the pasta sticks to each other and keeps its shape. Top with a bit of the breadcrumb and Parmesan mixture.

Doesn't it look delicious! You can reheat the pasta cups in the muffin tin or just on a baking tray for about 5 minutes at 400 degrees. The recipe makes 3-4 dozen pasta bites, depending how much you stuff your muffin tins.

Italian Pasta Bites
by Girls in Aprons

Butter, for greasing the pan
1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 1/2 cups milk
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
3 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
1 cup shredded smoked gouda
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Using a mini muffin tin, butter each mini muffin cup. Mix 1/4 cup bread crumbs and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Add 1-2 teaspoons of mixture to each muffin cup. Spread the mixture around so that it adheres to the butter. Set aside.

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, pour milk into a small saucepan on low heat and add fresh herbs. Stir frequently until bubbles begin to form around the edges. Turn off the heat and let sit 15 minutes.

In a large pot over medium low heat, melt 3 Tbsp butter. Add 4 Tbsp flour and whisk until butter and flour are combined. Whisk for one minute. Remove fresh herbs from milk. Slowly stir in milk to butter and flour mixture. Continue to cook on medium low heat until sauce starts to thicken. Add shredded cheese a handful at a time and whisk until melted and incorporated. Quickly whisk in egg yolks and salt. Add in cooked macaroni.

Using a tablespoon, place macaroni mixture into prepared mini muffin tins, pressing down lightly. Slightly overfill each cup. Sprinkle remaining bread crumb-and-Parmesan mixture over each cup. Bake for 15 minutes or until the macaroni was starting to lightly brown.

Let cool slightly before removing. Serve warm.

Spinach-Almond Pesto

I'm always looking for easy, homemade recipes that my family will love. Emphasis on the word "easy". With four boys ages seven and under, a part time job, a house to maintain, PTA responsibilities and church duties, my plate is pretty full. One thing I love to do is make big batches of sauces and freeze them for easy dinner making later. Things like spaghetti sauce, enchilada sauce, and verde sauce. But one sauce that I love but had never made was pesto. Little did I know how easy it is to make pesto!

Traditionally pesto is made with basil, garlic, pine nuts, and parmigiano reggiano. But that doesn't mean you have to make it that way! With this recipe you can for sure substitute the basil for the spinach and the pine nuts for the almonds, but I almost always have almonds in my pantry and they are cheaper than pine nuts. Parmigiano reggiano is a bit pricey (you can find it in the specialty cheese aisle) but you only need a third of a cup, and you can substitute Kraft parmesan if you want. It won't be as amazing, but it will still be really good. Try it both ways, and if you can't tell the difference or don't care about the difference, use the Kraft stuff!

I used pesto as a condiment on open-faced chicken sandwiches. You can also toss it with pasta, use it in place of pizza sauce, dip crusty bread in it, or use it as a spread for paninis. Make a big batch and freeze part of it, and store what you are going to use in a sealed container for the week. It's pretty healthy (you use olive oil and just a little amount of nuts) and super yummy, a nice change up from the usual condiments you might find in your fridge!

Place your spinach, garlic, almonds, and cheese in your food processor. I think it is oh so fun to play with my food processor! Something about watching everything get pureed or whatever. And then slowly adding the olive oil and watching it all come together. Ahhh...the small things in life.

PESTO! It's such a fun color, perfect for St. Patrick's Day coming up!! *HINT HINT* But seriously, my kids thought it was so fun to dip their bread and carrots in this stuff. I just set out a bowl before dinner and they snacked away, which, by the way, is a great way to get your kids to eat veggies. Set out a plate of cut up fruits or veggies before dinner when your kids are starving (well, at least my kids are starving) and watch them gobble up all that healthy stuff.

Spinach-Almond Pesto
by Girls in Aprons

2 cups packed spinach, tough stems removed
2 T slivered almonds
1/2 clove garlic
1/3 cup parmigiano reggiano
3-4 T olive oil

In a food processor combine the spinach, almonds, garlic, and cheese. While combining, slowly add your olive oil until it's at your desired consistency.

SEE! SO EASY!!

Tutorial: How to Grill Chicken

I have to admit, a year ago I had never touched a grill (well, except to move it). I hadn't the first clue how to turn it on, what temperature was appropriate, how to clean it, and certainly not how to actually cook with in. In fact, I was so intimidated by the grill that I either postponed dinner until my husband could take care of the cooking, or I used my grill pan on the stovetop, which works great but doesn't get nearly as hot as an actual grill, and therefore the results aren't exactly the same.

Then we ended up living with my parents for a year, and my dad is a grill-aholic. He about fell over when I said I'd never grilled, and I'm pretty sure he dropped everything he was doing just to teach me a few things, such as how to turn it on.

Now that I know how to grill, I usually grill up 2 additional chicken breasts to use throughout the week. Sliced thin, they make great sandwiches. I also toss chicken into salads, pastas, or use it instead of hamburger or burritoes or nachos. I also love chicken on my pizza, but my husband doesn't (one of those questions I should have asked him before we got married).

First of all, you are welcome to marinade your chicken. I usually start marinading in the morning, giving the chicken about 8 hours to become friends with the marinade. You can always use those premade bottles of 30-minute marinades, but the fun really comes from doing it yourself. I always include the following (for 3-4 chicken breasts):

• Extra virgin olive oil, about 1 cup
• An acid, usually lemon or lime juice (1/3 to 1/2 cup), plus zest
• A splash of vinegar (any flavor), about 2 Tbsp
• Aromatics aka fresh herbs. My favorites are rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme.

Sometimes you can even experiment. Try marinading in Sprite with herbs :)

Now for the grilling. Start by firing up your grill and getting it hot, about 350 to 400 degrees. Spray the grill with a good non-stick spray. We use one specifically designed for high heat (from Pam). Using tongs, lay the chicken out and let cook for about 3-4 minutes per side, closing the lid of your grill as you cook. You want the outside of the chicken to be a nice golden color with beautiful grill marks.

Obviously, at this point, your chicken looks great, but I promise the inside is still raw. Here's where my dad's fancy-pants trick comes in. Using a long piece of foil, about 18 inches long or so, fold up the sides to make a long dish. He calls it a "boat". I call it, well, a boat, or the foil-thingy-that-holds-the-chicken. Anyway, after the chicken has grilled on both sides, place the foil boat on the top rack of the grill and place the chicken inside the boat. This is great because it cooks like it's in a hot oven (allowing the insides to cook without burning the outsides) and it cooks in its juices.

Don't worry if your grill doesn't have a top rack. You can also transfer the chicken to a preheated 350 degree oven to finish cooking. The whole idea is to let it get nice grill marks and a crispy outside without drying out the inside by keeping it on the high-heat flames. An oven will work great, too.

 Confused? Check out the pics:

Cook in the foil boat for 10 minutes with the lid closed. Check to ensure the chicken is cooked through. It should read 165 degrees on a meat thermometer and the juices should run clear.

I promise the outside will have that great grill flavor while the insides remain moist and delicious.

Roasted Chicken (Your Way)

There are a few recipes that I find daunting. Souffles used to be one. Clams and mussels are another, but maybe that's because I don't like them. Ahi tuna? Forget it! Some recipes look (and are!) so tempermental, and I'm afraid to mess them up, although it has happened that I screwed up a recipe so bad that we ended up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead :)

Roast chicken was also one of those recipes. Something about "discarding the innards" threw me off. The fear of undercooking it...or overcooking it. I was just as happy cooking up chicken breasts. Until I finally got brave and tried it. It is So. Surprisingly. Easy! And, best yet, you can make it however you want. I prefer lemon and fresh herbs, the lemon seeps through the whole chicken, giving it a light citrus taste, and the herbs make it taste fresh and flavorful. I generally use thyme or rosemary, but basil would be great too, or anything else you're just giddy to try.

The chicken and its friends. I got this whole chicken (about 3-4 lbs) at Target for $4 and, get this...the "innards" were already removed! Bonus!

Rosemary is my favorite herb to use. It's so fragrant and woodsy and amazing.

This is one of my FAVORITE items in my kitchen. My mother-in-law was dejunking a few years ago and came across this Le Creuset pot that she never used. These babies run at over $200 each! It is amazing for Sunday roasts and other recipes that call for a dutch oven.

Usually I roast the chicken with some onion halves at the bottom (it helps keep the bottom from burning if the chicken isn't sitting directly on the bottom of the pot) but my husband has this obsession with fennel. He grew up snacking on it, while I never even heard of it until a few years ago. It's also known as anise, and yes, it tastes licorice-y. To prep it, you cut off the fronds (which would be great as a replacement for rosemary in this chicken), cut the bulb in half, and cut out the thick stem part (picture 3 of the fennel). Isn't it a beautiful vegetable?!

Slice up the lemon, keeping the ends to put inside the chicken. The slices will be set between the chicken and the skin, which will allow the lemon juice to get into the meat. You could even use limes or oranges if you so desired.

Stuff the lemon ends, some rosemary springs, and a few fennel slices into the cavity of the chicken.

Separte the chicken meat from the skin and slip lemon slices and rosemary sprigs (or whatever you are using) around the front, sides, and underneath the chicken.

Place the chicken in a large oven-safe pot and brush with olive oil and salt and pepper. I omit the salt and pepper because we don't eat the skin. I discard it before serving, but brushing it with olive oil helps keep the chicken moist.

The finished product. So good! After we are done eating, I take off the additional chicken and refridgerate it. I like to use it for chicken salad sandwiches, in chicken soup, or in chicken pot pies, which, just so you know, is another recipe coming up in the next week or so.

Roasted Chicken
by Kelli Lafranca

1 whole chicken, 3-4 lbs, innards removed, chicken and cavity rinsed and dried
1 lemon, sliced
9-10 springs rosemary, or other herb
2 onion and/or 2 fennel bulb, halved or quartered (you could also use carrots)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place chicken on cutting board. Using your fingers, separate the skin from the meat. Slide in your rosemary (or herb of choice) and lemon slices around the top, bottom, and sides of the chicken. Stuff the lemon ends, a few herb springs, and a few slices of onion (optional) into the caviety of the chicken.

In a large oven-safe pot or dutch oven, brush the bottom with olive oil. Lay out your vegetables in a single layer and place the chicken on top of the vegetables. The chicken shouldn't touch the bottom of the pot. Brush the skin with more olive oil, and if eating the chicken with skin, sprinkle some salt and pepper on the skin, too.

Bake uncovered for 45-50 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 165 degrees and the juices run clear.

Let rest for 5 minutes before carving and serving.