Tortellini, Peas and Asparagus in a creamy, tarragon sauce p.175

Delicious!  I used skim milk because I didn't have any half and half, and it did just fine- I like thickening the sauce and adding it to the pasta instead of just serving it on top.  Make sure you use fresh tarragon and fresh pasta- I used Buitoni-then you finish in 30 minutes.

Both my boys loved this one!  And it had two green veggies in it!

Spaghetti with Spinach, Bacon & Toasted Bread Crumbs (page 165)

My husband liked this dish a lot more than I did simply based on a tasting preference. I added grilled chicken to go on top and I think that I really wouldn’t have liked this dish without the chicken. When I subtract the time it took to grill the chicken, I needed about 45-minutes to make the rest of the dish. If you do make this and you really like it, then you will be in luck because there are a lot of left-overs. For the bread crumbs I used “Oatnut” by Oroweat. Make sure you read the note at the bottom of the page for tips on how make your own bread crumbs; they’re very helpful.

Quick Cheesy Ravioli Bake (page 177), Creamy Caesar Dressing (page 25), & Garlic Toast (page 90)

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted anything that I have been cooking. We had company and things got a little out of control, but I’m back now and I have a lot of cooking adventures to share with y’all. I’m going to try to remember everything, but still keep it quick and to the point.

On this particular night I must to have been feeling pretty brave because I attempted 3 new recipes. Best advice for the ravioli is to READ the recipe. I had a major blonde moment that my sister has had a blast laughing over. For some reason when I read the recipe instead of reading “ravioli” I read “ricotta.” I think I must to have assumed that I was going to be making homemade ravioli? What was I thinking? This is a 30-minute cookbook! No way was I getting homemade ravioli in 30 minutes! So anyways, I had to do a last minute switch up and just use penne (because I already had it) and dump the ricotta I bought into the sauce. It’s kind of like ravioli, but in a different shape, right? No one complained about the taste, so everything besides the shape of the noodles, I can attest to being pretty easy and delicious.

I served a Caesar salad with dinner. I was not a fan of the dressing, but everyone else seemed to like it. I omitted the anchovies because I’m weird.....I can’t eat those little fish. Eek! It’s entirely possible that this is why I didn’t like the dressing. Maybe I actually do like anchovies in my dressing! (gasp!)

The first time I flipped through the cookbook I didn’t see the little garlic toast recipe box. To be honest though, I don’t think you need the box. There isn’t anything in this recipe that you don’t already know on how to make your own garlic bread.

Ok that was NOT short. Let me try again: All in all, a good meal and under 30-minutes

Skillet Baked Ziti (page 140) and Bread Sticks (page 160)-

After Morgan’s post about the bread sticks I decided that I needed to find a pasta dish to make ASAP so I could have the bread sticks (it’s funny how my brain works sometimes). Though this pasta is one of the recipes featured in the skinny photograph section of our book, I don’t think my picture matches well. Looks aside, the taste was great. I used whole-wheat penne and Kraft Italian Cheese Blend instead of the parmesan. For the bread sticks, I had the same issue as Morgan with finding the recommended size. Taking note of Morgan’s suggestions though, I doubled the thickness of the dough (so I had fewer bread sticks) and really monitored them in the oven. I also used grated cheese, but agree that shredded parmesan would be better. Considering the taste, time to prepare, and having all of the ingredients on hand on a normal basis, I will probably make this again.

Fettuccini w/Shrimp, Tarragon & Cream (pg.173) and Quick Cheesy Breadsticks (pg.166)

I love shrimp + pasta dishes....and this one was delicious!  This is the first time I've ever cooked with (or even seen) tarragon.  I've heard of it but just never used it.  When I was mincing it, I thought it smelled a little funny....like licorice, actually.  I thought maybe my sniffer was deceiving me (b/c I'm pregnant), but have to admit I was a little worried that my pasta was going to taste like licorice (which I hate).  But, as I already said - it was delicious and did not taste like licorice at all!  (sidenote:  I looked up tarragon on Wikipedia of course, and it turns out that I am not crazy....it does have "an aromatic property reminiscent of anise" which has a licorice-like flavor.  So, I was right - it does smell like licorice!)

I used their suggested method of not cooking the shrimp all the way (initially) as it will finish cooking in a covered bowl while you finish the rest of the dish.  They were perfect!  We will definitely be making this one again.  (and it did take me a bit longer than 30 minutes but that extra time involved prepping the shrimp).

(camera flash washed this picture out - it is way more appetizing than it looks!)

I served this with the quick cheesy breadsticks on page 166.  We did like these but I need to do a few things differently next time I make them.  It calls for one pound of pizza dough, rolled out to 1/2 inch thick.  My husband (who does the grocery shopping - huge blessing!) brought home two cans/rolls of the Pillsbury pizza dough and each one was 11 ounces.  I didn't think we'd need both, so I just used one.  I was lazy and did not re-roll the dough to get the proper thickness of 1/2 inch, so my breadsticks were thin and a bit crunchy (although I cooked them for less time than it said).  Next time, I will make them the proper thickness so they should be more soft and bread-y.  I think I might alter the cheese a little too....maybe add more or a different kind (shredded instead of grated parmesan, maybe?) b/c I did not think they were cheesy enough.  I also think they could use some garlic!  I do have a question for anyone reading this.....is there another kind of pizza dough besides the kind that comes in the can/roll (the kind packaged like biscuits)??  Not sure if we used the right kind.

and the two together - it was yummy!

Easy Cheese Lasagna p. 179

I was very intrigued by this recipe because we make lasagna pretty often.  I didn't read all the way through that it should really be called Microwave Lasagna :)  Oh well!

I didn't have no bake noodles, and usually don't use them in my recipe, so I tried them out- don't do it!  It took about 40 minutes of microwaving time to cook it enough and it soaked up every last bit of liquid from the sauce.  Use the no bake noodles and it should be fine!

It had great flavor and I'll try it again the correct way- a great alternative to the usual one.

I did have a concern that I haven't asked about though...anyone else a bit concerned about all of this microwave cooking with plastic wrap on top?  I thought I'd heard that that wasn't the best for us- or is it just stryrofoam in the microwave?  Just a thought that bounced in my head....

Penne with Chicken, Artichokes, Red Peppeer, & Goat Cheese (page 169-170)

This tasted like something you would order at a fancy Italian restaurant, & coming from someone who does not even like artichokes I think this says A LOT! Now you may be asking yourself, “Darby, why on earth would you select a recipe with artichokes in the title if you don’t even like them?” Easy answer: goat cheese! Yes, it was solely the goat cheese that captured my interest. Yum-o! I will admit though, since I don’t like artichokes I have never bought them; in fact, I have never even seen them in the frozen food section, but keep looking they are there. There are a lot of ingredients in this recipe but it’s totally worth it. Some things I think you could cut back on: garlic (the recipe calls for 8 cloves, only do that if you want to have stinky breath for the rest of the year) & goat cheese (as you can see from my picture, it’s pretty creamy; I would cut back to about 4oz.). I used whole wheat penne pasta & will again next time I make this as well. I think I might add some spinach too. You gotta add this one to your list of to-dos; it’s delicious!

Quick Cheesy Ravioli Bake (pg.177)

This was really good and really easy! We will definitely make this again. I'm not really a huge fan of Italian sausage, so I am thinking of maybe trying ground beef next time just to see how it tastes that way. My husband loves sausage of any kind (me, not so much) and thinks that ground beef might be too bland in this dish. I ended up picking out most of my sausage and still thought just the ravioli and sauce were great. I've never cooked with fresh ravioli and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it is! (honestly, the only ravioli we've ever eaten at home is Chef Boyardee, ha!) This recipe makes me want to find some other recipes that use fresh ravioli.

(my picture is from when I ate it for leftovers like 2 days later, so it's not the most appetizing looking shot...although it still tasted fine)

Quick Cheesy Ravioli Bake

"How'd you make that so fast?" 

That was the comment my husband had when I said dinner's ready!  I did a whole recipe of the sauce, but only one 9 oz container of Buitoni ravioli- so I froze half of the sauce for another meal.  This was very yummy!  I have a recipe for a similar version but it uses canned ravioli- this was MUCH better!  We ate all of the leftovers.  This is a great kids dish- Brayden loved it!

This took me 25 minutes from start to table.