ORZO SALAD

I have started making some terrific fall recipes and I cannot wait to post them all (when I have time)!  But...I realized I do in fact have a bunch of summer recipes that I have not posted yet.  I am going to try to "squeeze" the last bit of summer out this week and post some summer favorites that I made for family and friends recently.  The first of these recipes is a super simple and quick Orzo Salad that I made for a friend to take to a baby shower a month or so back.  There are so many recipes out there for pasta salads you could make one every day for a whole year and still not get any where near making them all.  The one thing I have realized is that pasta salad is very filling.  For this reason when making a starchy salad for an all women's party I try to stick to either orzo or couscous.  Does it make any sense when I say it is more "lady like" when eating more of a dainty pasta like orzo or couscous rather than a big tortelinni?  That being said this recipe is also great along side a simple piece of grilled chicken and grilled salad for a fast summer meal!

FARMERS MARKET PASTA

This Farmers Market Pasta was the second pasta I served at my parents 40th anniversary party.  Like usual I found a recipe that seemed like a good one BUT I tweaked it here and there to make it my own.  The original recipe I found was a Tyler Florence recipe.  His recipe included ground pork sausage, but I switched that out for grilled and sliced italian sausage.  I also added sliced mushrooms and quartered artichoke hearts.  I roasted some grape tomatoes with sliced garlic and olive oil with some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and that created the "sauce" when mixed with a little of the salted pasta water.  This dish was a hit!  The key to making the dish a success was to cook/saute each fresh ingredient one by one.  In this way they are cooked the way each ingredient should be cooked.  The zuchinni is not overcooked and mushy and the mushrooms stay in tact and keep their shape.  Once everything is grilled, cooked, roasted and sauted you can add them quickly to the pasta so not to overcook anything.  Toss it all in in a big bowl with a ton of fresh grated parmesan cheese and you will have a pasta dish that everyone comes back for seconds for!!!!

SEASHELL PASTA W/ FRESH TOMATO BUTTER SAUCE & CREAMY BURRATO

This was #1 pasta out of two that were passed around the 30 person seated dinner party at my parents 40th anniversary party.  I have posted this pasta recipe before, but it is my families all time favorite; therefore it deserves a second posting!  You start by making a super simple tomato butter sauce.  Make the pasta al'dente and place in a large pasta bowl.  In the center of the pasta place diced up burrato  mozerella cheese.  Ladle some piping hot sauce over the top which slightly melts the cheese and the cream just pours out of the cheese.  I have an embarassing confession to make.  The first time I bought burrato cheese was by accident at Costco.  I was having a large family party and I meant to buy fresh mozerella that was to be used for eggplant parmesan.  When the day of the party came and I was making the eggplant parmesan, I cut into the mozerella cheese and all this white, creamy liquid came pouring out.  I tried another mozerella ball and the same thing happened.  I opened a whole secocond package and the same thing happened to all the mozerella balls.  Well, I just thought Costco had put out a really bad batch of mozerella cheese.  I returned both large packages the following day and told customer service that it was a bad batch of mozerella.  What is embarassing is that the cheese was actually Burrato, a form of mozerella that has a yummy fresh cream and creamy strips of soft mozerella in the center.  When you cut into the ball the cream and cheese come pouring out.  Long story short....when the tomato sauce hits the creamy cheese you have heaven in a bowl!!!!!

CREAMY ITALIAN PASTA SALAD

When I think of summertime food I instantly think of my mom's Creamy Italian Pasta Salad.  Her famous line, "Who wants some hotdogs and pasta salad?", was said a million times while I was growing up.  Everyone...and I mean everyone loves this pasta salad, including kids.  The combination of cheese, salami, grape tomatoes and pasta all mixed in with a mayo based tangy italian dressing is a sure fire way to get in good with your family and friends! I just made this for about 25 people for  an 8th grade graduation party.  It was such a compliment, because the 8th grader actually looked at my menu and chose what she wanted.  She chose the Creamy Italian Pasta Salad among many other things.  I believe it was a hit!   Not only is it really tasty, but it is so simple to make you could do it in your sleep!  Make this pasta salad at your next bbq and you will be the hostess with the mostess!

DIVITO FAMILY LASAGNA

Every year right around Thanksgiving time I start to crave my Grandma's lasagna.  Every Thanksgiving my Grandma used to make her lasagna as a first course to our Thanksgiving meal.  Yes, that is right....we each ate a huge piece of lasagna before we moved on to the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and pumpkin pie!   What can we say...we are Italian!  Since my Grandmas passing my family has kept the tradition alive.  This year we will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my husbands family so I know I will be missing out on my large hunk of lasagna.  It was for this reason that I made a huge batch of lasagna a few weeks ago.  To make it a bit easier on me I always  make a huge batch of marinara sauce and freeze it in smaller batches.  When I make the lasagna I take a batch of my marinara sauce out and just add a  1/2  pound of ground meat to the sauce....tadah....I then I have my lasagna sauce.  This lasagna is great!  It has been a family tradition for years and will be for years to come!

GRANDMA'S HAMBURGER & NOODLES

My grandma used to make this dish for my mom when she was growing up.  My mom made this dish from my brother's, sister and I when we were growing up.  And now I have started to make this dish for my family.  I started really craving this dish when I became pregnant.  My whole family was up at the cabin this summer and my mom was taking requests as to what we all would like to eat for our dinners while we were up there.  I immediately told her that her Hamburger & Noodles were a must!  I recently just made it again for my family and it is a huge hit!  This dish comes from the Swedish/German side of my family instead of my usual Italian side.  It is so comforting! I want to say it is almost like Shephards Pie deconstructed, but instead of mashed potatoes you use pasta.  Also, if you double it like I do you will have left overs for dinners and lunches for a few days.  My husband is not a big left overs fan.  He will eat leftovers the next day only.  But when I make Hamburger & Noodles he will eat them for dinner the next night and then lunch for the next few days.  The secret ingredient (which is not so secret anymore) is spice - Allspice.  It adds a flavor to this dish that really makes it unique.  We also garnish with some Lesuer peas and fresh grated parmesan cheese.  This is the only way my daughters will eat peas.  Everyone in my family loves this dish....please try it with your family, I know they will love it too!

TAGLIATELLE & SHRIMP W/ A ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE

So I have actually found time to make a few really awesome recipes lately.  Because I am pregnant they have mostly turned out to be really homey & stick to your ribs meals.  This is ok, because fall is coming and these are the foods I believe we all turn to when the weather starts to get a bit cooler.  I came up with a great pasta dish using one of my favorite pastas; Tagliatelle.  This pasta is almost like a ribbon and wider than fettucinni.  I took some grape tomatoes and tossed them with some garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper and roasted them in the oven until they "popped".  I tossed the al'dente pasta along with the roasted tomato sauce and some shrimp and it turned out to be one of the best meals I have cooked in a long time (does that say too much since I have been cooking buttered noodles for 3 months?)!!  Anyway, this pasta dish is sure to be a hit for your family and friends.  It is very quick and easy to make and tastes amazing!

FETTUCINNI WITH ROASTED PEPPERS AND GRILLED CHICKEN

I make a killer roasted red pepper appetizer.  After I roast and peel the peppers I slice them and then slow cook them with some olive oil, garlic, celery leaves, italian parsley, water and some salt & pepper.  I cook them on low for about 20 minutes until all the flavors meld together.  This produces the most wonderful olive oil/ juice that you can imagine.  I serve these with some toasted baguettes which sops up the olive oil/juice until you can get the last drop.  This juice is so good that I started to think of a pasta dish that I could make that incorporated this wonderful roasted peppers with their juice, but add some more ingredients to make it a meal.  What I came up with was awesome!  It was a creamy pasta dish, without the cream.  I grilled up and sliced some chicken breasts and tossed those along with the roasted peppers with some fettucinni.  This dish really is decadent without all the heavy cream.

GREEK PASTA SALAD

My neighbor and friend, Amanda, made this awesome greek pasta salad a couple week-ends ago. She sent me home with a big tupper-ware filled with some leftovers.  It was so good!  I ate it all in one day!  Every time I would go in the fridge for just one bite it would turn into two bites and then three bites...ok you get the picture...I really, really liked it!  I liked it so much that I decided to make my own version of this salad this past friday night.  It was the easiest pasta salad to make.  Just some pasta, tomatoes, cucummbers, black olives, feta cheese and some greek seasonings and you have got a great summer salad.  I served my
Greek Pasta Salad with some balsamic grilled pork chops and called it a meal!

PASTA WITH FRESH ASPARAGUS PESTO

I love asparagus, but you can only make and eat asparagus spears every so often.  I am always trying to come up with new and fun ways to incorporate asparagus into my recipes.  A few nights ago I came up with a WINNER!  Dinner consisted of a fabulous Pasta with Fresh Asparagus Pesto.  I used a whole wheat angel hair pasta, but you could use any kind of pasta.  I pureed some par-boiled asparagus spears with some fresh basil from my garden, olive oil, parmesan cheese, halved grape tomates and salt & pepper.  It was the easiest thing to make and the taste was super fresh....great summer flavor.  It was a light pasta dish that I served on the side of a lemon chicken.  I tossed in a side salad of fresh greens, artichoke hearts and black olives and we had an awesome summer meal!

SUMMER SPAGHETTI

Here at our house we absolutely love pasta.  We do however try to only make a pasta dish once a week.  When summertime comes it is always too hot to slave over a stove making a slow cooked pasta sauce.  It is also too hot to usually even think about a steaming plate of spaghetti and meatballs with sauce.  I few years back we were having my friend Kerry and her husband, Justin, over for a mid summer dinner.  I decided to make some really simple appetizers along with a grilled pork tenderloin, chopped italian salad and I knew I wanted a starch.  I came up with something I call, Summer Spaghetti.  This recipe is the perfect summer time pasta.  It is made with angel hair pasta along with some wonderful summer grape tomatoes and fresh grown basil!  You mix these ingredients along with some fresh chopped mozerella cheese and other yummy ingredients and you have got a perfect pasta dish that you can serve on a hot night!  I also make and toast my own breadcrumbs which I toss into the pasta dish ....this really adds a ton of flavor.  You serve the pasta dish room temperature.  This is perfect because you can make this dish ahead of time, cover it, set it to the side and then you can enjoy your guests and serve dinner leisurely instead of slaving over a hot stove while your guests sip their cocktails.  I cannot emphasize enough about how awesome this pasta is.  The flavors are outstanding and are even better the next day!

OLD FASHIONED MACCARONI SALAD

Usually someone who likes to cook has a certain way of cooking.  For instance I usally cook a bit more gourmet, but I would not say that I cook "fru, fru" gourmet.  I would say I love to make interesting dishes with fresh ingredients which tend to be very italian and mediterranean.  Every now and then I do however like to venture into the "good ol' home cookin' " realm.  I don't go as far as a Paula Dean...she is a great cook, but she does use a lot of butter and oil and grease in her cooking.  So I would not say I go as "good ol' " as Paula Dean, but at times I can get pretty up there on the comfort food level.  Summer cook outs is usually when I bring out the oldies, but goodies recipes such as potato salad, summer tomato salad, baked beans, brats, burgers, hotdogs and a really good maccaroni or pasta salad.  I have a million different pasta salads up my sleeves.  Most of them contain fresh vegies that are either left raw or yummily (is that a word?)...yummily grilled and added to the pasta with a lemon or vinegar based dressing.  Last  year however, I came up with a maccaroni salad that was out of this world!  I made sure I jotted down the recipe so I could make it again this year.  This past Memorial Day I made this salad.  Let me tell you it was a hit!  My Old Fashioned Maccaroni Salad goes perfect with any summer cook out and BBQ!

CHICKEN DIABLO WITH PARMESAN POLENTA

This past Easter while my husband & I were visiting his parents in Pittsburgh, we went to an Italian restaraunt.  My husband ordered "Chicken Diablo", which means very hot chicken in a tomato sauce served over pasta.  I tasted his meal when it arrived and it was good, but I immediately had ideas of how to make it excellent!  I sliced some chicken breasts and added some onions and assorted bell peppers.  I turned up the heat with a little seeded and minced serrano pepper and crushed red pepper flakes.  The good news about this recipe is that you can omit all the spicy ingredients and still have a great tasting chicken dish.  I guess you could not call it Chicken "Diablo" anymore....maybe you would have to call it "Chicken de Angles' " instead.  Either way this dish is great. You can make it extremely spicy or extremely mild OR you can make it somewhere in the middle like I did.

WHOLE WHEAT PASTA SALAD WITH OLIVES AND ARTICHOKES

I officially stepped out of "the box" and have crossed over to loving whole wheat pasta.  I especially love it now when I make my pasta salads.  Whole wheat pasta cooks up perfectly al'dente for a nice fresh pasta salad.  Load the salads with some nice fresh vegies and you have got yourself a healthy and colorful side dish!  In my Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Olives and Artichokes, I mixed in some black olives, canned artichoke hearts and tossed it all with a lemony olive oil and dijon mustard vinegarette.  You can serve this pasta salad along side any meat, poultry or fish.  Serve it along side some grilled turkey burgers and you have got yourself a healthy BBQ!

LINGUINE WITH CLAMS AND TOMATOES

It was so nice for someone to give me a recipe for a change.  Even though I love finding new recipes and coming up with new menus to plan, sometimes it is really nice if someone offers me a family recipe to try out.  Loria Harman of Sew Simple Design , recently e-mailed me her family recipe for Linguine with Clams & Tomatoes.  I have to tell you a little bit about her first.  She does amazing window treatments & upholstery.  Her website http://www.sewsimpledesign.com/ has beautiful pictures of  her work.  We are finally, after almost three years in our new home, ready to do some window treatments.  I was searching on-line for just some pics of what I wanted and I came to her website.  I loved her work.  I had no idea that she actually lived in the Chicagoland area and when I saw her phone number and that she had a (630) area code I called her immediately!  She came out to my house, we came up with a few ideas, now all I have to do is pick some fabrics!  She is great!  Please check out her website should you need window treatments or pillow made or anything re-upholstered.

Anyway, long story short, Loria was nice enough to pass along her families recipe for Linguine with Clams & Tomatoes.  I jumped at the chance to make this dish because I have only made Linguine & Clams in white sauce or chicken broth based sauce, but I have not attempted it with tomatoes.  A little tidbit that you do not know about me....I love, love, love tomatoes.

SEASHELL PASTA & FRESH MOZERELLA WITH TOMATO BASIL BUTTER SAUCE

Ok...if there was just one pasta I cook eat for the rest of my life...this pasta could possibly be it!  The key to this pasta dish is fresh ingredients.  Make sure you get a good medium sized seashell pasta and cook it al'dente.  I went to Caputo's where they have all the great imported pasta to choose from.  Fresh basil is a must.  Again, Caputo's sells big bundles of fresh basil...it is awesome!  Last but certainly not least, you have to get the best kind of mozerella...this ingredient is key.  The kind that I used is called Burrata.  It is a fresh and creamy mozerella ball on the outside, but the inside is really creamy in texture, not solid like most mozerella cheese.  If you cannot find Burrata, then make sure you go to the deli (again, Caputo's is great for this) and ask for their freshest mozerella.  Believe me, this will really  make a difference since their are basically only four ingredients to this dish: pasta, mozerella cheese, basil and the tomato sauce.  When the fresh creamy mozerella meets the heat of the pasta and the sauce it starts to melt into this mouthwatering goodness! If you need a little pasta pick me up my Seashell Pasta & Fresh Mozerella with Tomato Basil Butter Sauce is just what you need!

RIGATONI WITH PULLED PORK SAUCE

Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely love any recipe that includes some sort of pulled pork in the ingredients...no....yes....well I do!  Sometimes I throw a pork roast in the slow cooker and make some sort of sauce or meat sandwhich with it, but when I really want that slow roasted flavor to come out, I go crazy and roast it for a few hours in the oven.  I found a recipe in my Jan-09 Gourmet magazine ( so sad that they are no longer in publication).  I adapted it a bit but all in all the recipe included most of the same flavors.  For a more "robust" flavor I substituted some beef broth for chicken broth. I also increased the amount of broth for the recipe because they did not include any in the pan when they roast their pork.  In my experience if you do not put any liquid in the bottom of the roasting pan, the pan will eventually burn.  I add about 1 cup of broth every 1/2 hour to hour depending on how fast it evaporates.  The one other key flavor that I added was the chopped celery leaves.  I am not a huge celery fan at all, but when cooking certain foods and sauces celery is a must.  Not only is the celery stalk needed, but I have found an ingredient best friend in the celery leaves.  Add just a tablespoon and it just gives a recipe that certain something.  Try it and you will see.  I also add chopped celery leaves to my roasted red peppers....I will post that recipe shortly.  Anyway...to get back to my Rigatoni with Pulled Pork Sauce; this dinner was so awesome!  It is really filling and by the time you add the 2-3 pounded shredded pork to the sauce you pound of pasta now becomes 3 to 4 pounds of yummy stick to your ribs goodness!

 

Chicken Parmesan with Orzo & Feta

The very first meal I had ever made my husband (my then new boyfriend at the time) was Chicken Parmesan with Orzo and Feta.  I picked this for two reasons: (1.) this dish is one of my specialities and I knew I could not mess it up, (2.) this dish is also out of this world when made properly and I knew I would blow him away and he would fall instantly in love with me.  We were married two years later...it worked!  This dish does take a little time and preparation so I usually save it for special occasions.  This past week-end we had a very close friend of my husband's (mine too) come and stay with us, so I decided to break out my Chicken Parm recipe.  Unfortunately, one of my little one's had the flu which was then past down to our house guest!  I did end up making this dinner on Sunday, but I think he may have been a little too under the weather to enjoy it.  That being said...this recipe is a must for a special occasion or when you just want to "wow" someone with the tastes and flavors! 

Linguine & Clam Sauce

Friday is coming up again...you know what that means all my favorite Catholics out there...time to come up with some creative and yummy meatless meal!  Look no further...help has arrived!
 My Linguine & Clam Sauce is so simple to make and yet the taste is out of this world! I am posting the recipe and the pics will follow Friday night after I make this for my family. I don't call it Linguine and Clams on purpose....I call it Linguine and Clam Sauce, because I use whole canned baby clams instead of the fresh in the shell clams.  To be honest with you I just don't have the time to deal with all of that....don't get me wrong, I love it in a restaraunt, but I just don't have the time.  I prefer the Del'Apia brand of canned clams.  The canned clams along with fresh italian parsley, white wine, chicken broth and some other fresh herbs and spices makes this dish a must have for the Lent Season.  Again, if you are not Catholic and are looking for a good pasta dish....this dish is for you!  Serve with some garlic broccolli and a caprese salad with some fresh baked bread.  To make it even simpler....serve with a garden salad and you are done.

A Family Valentine's Day Dinner

We are having some family come over for dinner on Valentine's Day.  The perfect way for me to show them that I love them is to cook for them.  One other way for me to show them I love them is to actually spend time with them and enjoy their company instead of  cooking and cleaning the kitchen the whole day and night.  So I decided to make a dinner where I could make most of it before hand to make it    bit easier on me.  I made an awesome Tomato Basil Sauce today which I can keep in the fridge until Sunday.That will be served over some store bought ravioli.   The morning before they come I am going to make a  huge roating pan filled with Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes that I will roast in the oven while they are here.  Also, the morning before they come I am going to make an Italian Layered Salad with  a home-made Balsamic Vinegarette.  For a special Valentine's Day "touch" I made a home-made loaf of Italian Bread that is formed in the shape of a heart!  For dessert I am  making an awesome White Chocolate  & Lemon Mousse Trifle!  You don't want to miss this special Valentine's Day menu!