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.

Provolone Burgers

"So juicy and flavorful you don't even need condiments!"

The Good:  If you want to be known as the grill chef this is the recipe to do it with.

The Bad: The recipe calls for a large amount of meat.  Great for parties, not so practical for couples.

The Ugly: Ground beef is not the healthiest option.

Suggestions before starting:

We used the griddle instead of a grill set to 375. I absolutely love my griddle.

The original recipe says it makes 8 burgers but we made 11 last time we made this recipe.  Make them the size you prefer but remember to pat them down tight and flat so they will cook evenly.

It says to cover while cooking, you can cover it with a ceramic bowl or any type of dish that can stand high heats.  I usually do not cover it other than when putting the cheese on.  It is supposed to help cook it more evenly and trap the heat in.

If you are unsure if the burgers are done, do not hesitate to cut one down the middle.  I like mine a little pink but I know others do not.

As you can see we added some sauteed portobello mushrooms... they're perfect for all meals!

Healthier option: try all the same spices with turkey instead of ground beef.

Stuffed pork Tenderloin

Flavorful, hearty, juicy and tender... this dish is enough to make any one's mouth water.

Stuffed Pork, Smothered Green Beans & Sauteed Mushrooms

The Good: This recipe is absolutely delicious and the fresh herbs are to die for!

The Bad: There was so much stuffing left over when we followed the recipe.  Friday expect to see what we did with the extra filling.

The Ugly: Only 2 servings!  This is a lot of work for only 2 SERVINGS!

Suggestions before starting:

When making this we did not having any kitchen string so we used toothpicks instead.

This dish is extremely fragrant and will leave the smell in your clothes, purse and other items.  If this is something that bothers you, be sure to put those items in another room before starting.  Sage is a very fragrant spice when baked.

We made the green beans to go with the pork because I don't use bacon often and wanted to use it up.  Tomorrow expect to see the recipe for that and Friday watch for a recipe that uses the extra stuffing!

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.

Cabbage Rolls

This typical European and Western Asian dish is absolutely delicious when prepared properly.  Typically filled with onions, rice and meat, it can be a simple and delectable meal best for large groups.

This particular recipe used hamburger for the meat and a tomato sauce that turned out almost tangy.

The Good: The recipe is easy to make for large groups.

The Bad: Parts of the recipe can be fairly ambiguous, especially for those new to cooking with cabbage.

The Ugly: This recipe does not save well.  The cabbage tends to get stringy when reheated.