Skinny Chicken Enchilada Rice Bowls sprinkled with optional low-fat Mexican cheese (don’t forget to add points for the cheese!)
Pasta Puttanesca: a pantry pasta sauce
Don’t crowd your buns into the pan…they can touch though
OMG! I *love* to eat!!!
Isn’t it the greatest thing on Earth?
Over the years, I’ve posted a lot of my favorite recipes on this blog, but I do realize that sometimes all those awesome recipes get a little lost with all my Cricut crafting.
Hence this Recipe Round Up!
Each recipe is linked to this index, so feel free to bookmark this page! I will update it as I add more recipes!
ON TO THE FOOD!
Jalapeno Cheese Bread in the Dutch Oven
Completed Cioppino ready for the bowl
Beer Battered Fried Pickles, golden brown and fluffy
Not just rich–decadent!!–but Oh! So delicious Cinnabon Style Cinnamon Buns
Skinny Chicken Enchilada Rice Bowls sprinkled with optional low-fat Mexican cheese (don’t forget to add points for the cheese!)
Pasta Puttanesca: a pantry pasta sauce
Don’t crowd your buns into the pan…they can touch though
OMG! I *love* to eat!!!
Isn’t it the greatest thing on Earth?
Over the years, I’ve posted a lot of my favorite recipes on this blog, but I do realize that sometimes all those awesome recipes get a little lost with all my Cricut crafting.
Hence this Recipe Round Up!
Each recipe is linked to this index, so feel free to bookmark this page! I will update it as I add more recipes!
ON TO THE FOOD!
Jalapeno Cheese Bread in the Dutch Oven
Completed Cioppino ready for the bowl
Beer Battered Fried Pickles, golden brown and fluffy
Not just rich–decadent!!–but Oh! So delicious Cinnabon Style Cinnamon Buns
Beef & Barley Soup–if you don’t count chowder–is quite possibly the quintessential New England soup.
But nowadays finding a good version can be difficult to find, except maybe in a can. And even the best canned soups are still too salty and tinny for regular consumption.
So, I set about making a healthy and easy Beef & Barley that would rival the ease of warming up a canned version and I think I’ve done it. Of course, I used my trusty Dutch Oven, but I also used my Instant Pot to make ready the beef.
I started with a small piece of meat that was intended as a small roast. I got it on sale for less than $4 and it weighed just under two pounds. Because I froze it when I bought it, I first defrosted it and then cooked it with a small amount of beef broth and some salt and pepper in the Instant Pot on the beef setting. Couldn’t be easier, but note that you could use a portion of roast beef leftovers if you have that.
Once the beef was cooked and had rested, I chopped it up in small pieces and tossed it into the Dutch Oven along with some tomato sauce, a box of beef broth and the drippings from the Instant Pot. I added a can of peas and carrots, but you could use fresh or frozen. It’s up to you, of course.
The Barley was cooked separately from a dried bag of the grain. If you’re wondering where you find dried Barley, check the dried beans section of your grocery store. Once cooked, add the Barley to the soup toward the end of the cooking to keep it from getting too soggy.
Small oyster crackers are the only thing you need to complete this wonderful, homey meal, which is perfect for a cold late Autumn supper.
One small points:
This soup is exceptionally economical. I figured the entire recipe cost me under ten dollars for ten servings!
Ingredients:
Small cut of roast beef, prepared either in an oven or Instant Pot, about 1 1/2 pounds
Box of beef broth
Small can of tomato sauce
Can of diced carrots and peas
About two cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste
Barley, 1 cup, dried and cooked separately with 2 1/2 cups water and salt to taste
Directions:
Cook beef in Instant Pot with a small amount of beef broth and allow to rest OR use precooked cut of roast beef
Slice and then dice the cooked beef and place in Dutch Oven with any pan drippings from the cooking of the beef
Add tomato sauce, beef broth and water to the Dutch Oven and bring contents to boil on the stovetop
Reduce heat to allow the soup to slowly boil off some of the added water and thicken, about 1 hour
Meanwhile in a separate pan, bring the dried Barley to boil with 2 1/2 cups water and salt to taste; cook for 45 minutes
After cooking off some of the liquid, add the can of peas and carrots and the Barley
Allow soup to simmer for an hour or more so that all the flavors meld together
I’m back with my Dutch Oven and a new recipe for what I call “Lazy Lasagna”–but it could also be a pasta bake, if you’d like. I call it Lazy Lasagna, because it has all the ingredients of my regular lasagna without all the time consuming layering.
Mezzi rigatoni, regular sized rigatoni or even ziti would work fine for this dish
To make this dish, I started with cooking two boxes (two pounds) of Barilla’s Mezzi Rigatoni, which is a short but wide tube of pasta. I cook the rigatoni for 10 minutes only, because I want to keep my pasta firm. Regular rigatoni or even ziti would work just as well, so feel free to use what you have.
When the pasta has cooked, drain off the water in a colander and return the cooked pasta to the original pot. It’s helpful if you do not overly drain your pasta for this one, because a little of the pasta water will help when mixing your ingredients into the pasta.
Ricotta and Shredded Cheeses used for making this Lazy Lasagna
To the drained pasta, add a full container of ricotta, a jar of pre-made sauce OR your own homemade sauce, a generous portion of shredded mozzarella cheese and seasoning. I like to add salt, pepper, a touch of crushed pepper, and a blend of dried basil, oregano and rosemary, but obviously adjust to your preference. Mix until blended well.
I was making this for people who don’t like too much sauce, so my pasta looks pink! You can adjust the amount of sauce you use.
Add some sauce to the bottom of your Dutch Oven then add your pasta mixture. Two pounds of pasta with all the other mix-ins will fill a 5.5 quart Dutch Oven almost to the top. If you have a smaller pan, adjust accordingly.
Lazy Lasagna all assembled and ready to go into the oven
Top the pasta mixture with the remaining sauce and then sprinkle the top with shredded mozzarella and then a healthy portion of shredded, dry cheese (I use Stella Three Cheese Italian, which is a mixture of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano cheeses).
Just removed my Lazy Lasagna from the oven and it’s cooling on the board
Cover and bake in your preheated 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Then remove the cover and bake for another 10-15 minutes to brown the cheese on top.
No need to worry about cutting THIS lasagna perfectly!
Ingredients:
Two boxes of Mezzi Rigatoni or similar tube shaped pasta
Two jars of prepared pasta sauce or equivalent of homemade sauce
One 32 ounce container of ricotta cheese
Two cups (or so) shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
Seasonings such as salt, pepper, crushed pepper, basil, oregano and rosemary
Spoon a portion of your Lazy Lasagna and serve with extra sauce if you’d like…or not!
I’m back with more Dutch Oven goodness for you all! Dinner couldn’t be ANY easier than making this lovely whole chicken in the Dutch Oven–and I’m including the time it takes to stop at Costco for one of their rotisserie chickens!
I will admit, the Costco rotisserie chickens are tough to beat–value and taste-wise–but if I consider the time it takes me to get in and out of my local Costco to pick one up…not to mention the money I spend when I am in there! This MAY be a tie!!
And it was so easy! Simply throw a whole raw chicken into the pot, dress it with fresh lemons (2 lemons, sliced), some garlic and a drizzle of olive oil. Add oregano and salt and pepper, cover and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours in a 375 degree oven. Internal temperature should be 160 degrees.
Allow to rest for about ten minutes and serve! The meat–quite literally falls off the bone!
I’m back with more Dutch Oven goodness for you all! Dinner couldn’t be ANY easier than making this lovely whole chicken in the Dutch Oven–and I’m including the time it takes to stop at Costco for one of their rotisserie chickens!
Miss Rita to the Rescue! 