Penne A La Vodka

Hearty and tasty

The Good: Absolutely delicious and easy to adjust to your own taste-buds and spicy level!

The Bad: The recipe takes a bit of time to cook up.
The Ugly: Be careful on the type of tomatoes you use.  We have made this recipe several times and it tastes a lot different (and gross) if you use cheap tomatoes or crushed/diced tomatoes.

Suggestions Before Starting:

When buying ingredients, be sure to buy the better tomatoes... We like Del Monte.

It is best to have all ingredients measured and ready before you start.

Be careful when cutting up the tomatoes, sometimes they squirt at you.

We add crushed red pepper instead of black pepper to make the recipe a little bit spicy and so it pairs better with red wine.

As always, feel free to use your favorite noodle type.  I like to use Rigatoni, Penne or Farfalle (bowtie) in order for the noodle to hold in the sauce!  Remember to adjust the time you start the noodles to how quickly your stove heats up and how long your noodles take to cook.  Our stove is generally very quick so we turn the water on when there is 5 minutes left of the vodka step.

If you need help with how to use fresh garlic please visit our older post.

I like to "cook" the sauce into the pasta on low heat for flavor for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly so the heavy cream does not burn.

Double Tomato Brushcetta

Flavorful and appetizing

The Good: Delicious and easy to make.

The Bad: Tomato seeds are slimy and messy.

The Ugly: Not good for tomato allergies.

Suggestions before starting:

If you are unclear about mincing garlic or what a clove is visit Garlic, Yes Please! for further instructions.  Remember when cutting bread to use a serrated knife.  Allow the blade to cut the bread by using long strokes rather than applying large amounts of pressure.  When spreading the cheese be careful not to leave any on the pan b/c it is extremely difficult to wash off the pan.  Be cautious when using the broiler setting.  Stay close by otherwise you will have burnt bread instantly.

Family Favorite- Meatloaf twist

It seems every family has their own version of meatloaf.

This has always been one of my favorites but this time we improvised.

The Good: Simple, tasty and cheap, it is hard to go wrong with a good meatloaf.

The Bad: Every family has their own style of meatloaf so sometimes its hard to make one you know everyone will be familiar with.

The Ugly:  If you're looking to go on a diet, do not use ground beef!  There is a lot of fat released from the meat but if you are just looking for great tasting comfort food you are in for a treat!

Suggestions before starting:

Due to the oils released from the meat I always cover my pan with foil with a very light layer of cooking spray before starting so it is easier to clean.

The recipe below has saltines, onion and spices; however, if you followed the Stuffed Pork Tenderloin and had a lot of extra stuffing leftover, you can substitute most of the ingredients with the stuffing you had leftover.  The fresh spices are incredible but you can also use dried herbs. The bread crumbs just make the meat softer.  For a harder meatloaf use the saltines.

When making this, if you think the measurements do not look how you would like them to, change it.  Add anything you want and as much or little as you like.  That's the great thing about meatloaf, it can be made however you would like.  I have seen people add celery, peppers, salsa, raisins... you name it!

To mix/combine means use your hands in this recipe.  I always sit the ingredients out early so they will be at least luke warm.  Otherwise this can be painfully cold.  Dish soap is the best cleaner to cut the grease off your hands afterward.

I always mix the seasonings together before mixing in order to make sure they are evenly spread.  If using fresh spices make sure they are minced first.  If using dried, just use more than you would if fresh.

For a healthier option: do not be afraid to try Turkey meat.  It will just be a little dryer.  When using ground chuck we tend to get 80% lean.

Tomato Artichoke Chicken

Delicious... scrumptious... succulent...

The Good: This is definitely one of our new favorite recipes! Absolutely tasteful!

The Bad:  If you are someone who likes every recipe to measure out according to plan, it won't.

The Ugly: If you are also using a Casseround... it is incredible difficult to wash the cheese off.

Suggestions before starting:

Although this recipe says to stuff the chicken, we used some of the extra stuffing to layer the chicken almost like a lasagna.

I think it is crucial to use fresh spices to get the full flavor from this recipe.  Depending on the size of your cloves of garlic, you may want to add extra cloves.

When dishing out, we used a slotted spoon so it was not too juicy and served with pasta covered with the extra juice.

We had a large portion of the stuffing left over, we saved it to use as a marinara.  It could also be used for lasagna, meatloaf or stuffing any other type of meat.  It is very versatile and tasty.