Penne a la Vodka

So I absolutely LOVE Vodka sauce.... I've had a hard time finding a great sauce outside of a restaurant setting however.... this one is totally YUMMY! It takes a lot of work but it's well worth it...I would serve this sauce a top Penne Pasta, sprinkled with Parmesan and prosciutto chopped up.

Penne a la Vodka

Below is the sauce recipe, you'll need to make a base sauce first, then use 4 cups of that for the vodka sauce... make sure to pick up a good quality vodka... cheap vodka will only ruin your sauce!

Simple Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
• 4 to 6 basil leaves, chopped *
• 2 dried bay leaves
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 Tbls. unsalted butter, optional

* I chop all my fresh herbs the day I get them from the grocery store... then I throw them in a baggie and store them in the freezer... this way I never waste the left overs and they taste just like fresh herbs when I use them for cooking!

Directions:

1. In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes.
2. Add celery and carrot and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and simmer for 1 hour or until thick.
4. Remove bay leaves and taste for seasoning. If sauce tastes too acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, to round out the flavor.
5. Pour half the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
6. If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and then pour 1 to 2 cup portions into plastic freezer bags. Freeze for up to 6 months.

Yield: 6 cups

Vodka Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 C. Simple Tomato Sauce
• 1 C. vodka
• 1/2 C. heavy cream, at room temperature (I added a little more than 1/2 C.)
• 1/2 C. grated Parmesan
• 1 pound penne pasta

Directions:

1. Simmer the tomato sauce and vodka in a heavy large skillet over low heat until the mixture reduces by 1/4, stirring often, about 35 - 45 minutes. Sauce should not have a strong vodka taste!
2. Stir the cream into the tomato and vodka sauce. Simmer over low heat until the sauce is heated through.
3. Stir in the Parmesan cheese until melted and well blended.
4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
5. Drain the pasta and transfer it to the pan with the sauce, and toss to coat.

Don't forget to make some fresh whip cream for dessert with that left over heavy cream!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I posted the recipe for our gravy and the icebox cake below (thanks Aunt Nancy!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Icebox Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 pkg. (9 oz.) FAMOUS Chocolate Wafers
• Garnish
  

Directions:

1. Beat cream with mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently stir in vanilla.
2. Spread 1-1/2 tsp. whipped cream onto each wafer; stack, then stand on edge on platter. Frost with remaining whipped cream. Sprinkle with garnish if desired.
   
3. Refrigerate 4-6 hours. Cut into diagonal slices to serve.
   

White Wine Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
  

Directions:

1. While the turkey rests, place the roasting pan on the stove across two burners (if using a disposable roasting pan, scrape drippings and browned bits into a medium saucepan). Heat drippings over medium-high, scraping up browned bits, until thickened, about 10 minutes.
2. Add wine; cook, stirring constantly, until syrupy, 5 to 6 minutes. Gradually whisk in flour, and cook, whisking constantly, until incorporated, about 1 minute. Gradually add 1 cup broth; cook, whisking, until flour is a deep caramel color, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Gradually stir in remaining broth and 4 cups water. Bring to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until gravy reaches desired thickness, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove neck and giblets, and strain gravy through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids. Season generously with salt and pepper.
   

Holiday Cookies!!!

I made three batches of my favorite cookies to send out to family and friends for Thanksgiving... I'm pretty sure they'll arrive late but I figure better late than never!

YUM!!!

Butter Pecan Cookies

Ingredients: **I double this recipe as it's a small batch.

• 3/4 cup pecans
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar, plus more for coating
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet, toast pecans until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Let cool completely; finely chop.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until light, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla, salt, and flour, scraping down sides of bowl, just until dough comes together. Fold in pecans.
3. Separate dough into 12 pieces; squeeze dough to shape into balls. Roll in sugar. Place, 3 inches apart, on a baking sheet. Gently flatten with the bottom of a glass (reshape sides if necessary). Sprinkle with sugar.
4. Bake until golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more sugar. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
   
   

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Milk Chocolate Chocolate Morsels
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
   

Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. (14 oz.) Angel Flake Sweetened Coconut (5-1/3 cups)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 6 Tbsp. flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 4 egg whites
• 1 tsp. almond extract
  
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour baking sheets; set aside. Combine coconut, sugar, flour and salt in large bowl. Stir in egg whites and almond extract until well blended.
   
2. Drop coconut mixture into 36 mounds, 2 inches apart, on prepared baking sheets, using about 1 tablespoonful of the coconut mixture for each mound.
   
3. Bake 20 min. or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 1 week.
   

Amazing Pumpkin Bread

Ok, I think it's safe to say I found the most bad ass pumpkin bread recipe ever! I did break my favorite santoku knife while cutting the pumpkin so at least it was worth it, lol. I'll post the original recipe and note the changes I made at the bottom.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree *
  
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour **
  
• 2 teaspoons baking soda ***
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

* I baked then mashed a fresh sugar pumpkin, please see directions below.
** I increased the flour amount by 1/4 C. due to high altitude.
*** I used 2 tsp. baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.**** In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

**** Please note: I don't have 7x3 pans so I used two 9x5 in. and increased the time to 65-75 minutes. The bread is very moist but the center should be set and not "goupy" before you remove it from the oven.

This is about the size of the pumpkin I used. I cut it in half, removed the stem, seeds and pulp, then wrapped the two halves separately in foil and baked at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. You'll have to wait until it's cooled completely before you can peel the skin off. After you've removed the cooked portion of the pumpkin, mash it. This pumpkin is also known as a "Pie Pumpkin" so you could see either or at the grocery store.

Easy and Delish Lasagne!

Ok so I admit it, I totally suck at making lasagne, but the other night I found an awesome super easy recipe and it came out totally delish!!! I didn't take a photo of the dish until Joe had already devoured most of it so here's a generic lasagne photo to go with the recipe... enjoy!

No Boil Lasagne

Ingredients:

1. 1 Box, Barilla Lasagne No Boil Noodles
2. 2 Large jars of Marinara sauce (I think it's 24 oz., I also used one with extra basil and garlic in it, try different flavors)
   
3. 2 eggs
   
4. 15 oz. Part skim Ricotta cheese
5. 4 C. Part skim Mozzarella cheese, shredded
6. 1/2 C. Parmesan cheese, grated
7. 1 lb. 90% lean ground beef, cooked and crumbled
8. 1 tsp. Basil seasoning
9. 1 tsp. Oregano seasoning
10. 1 tsp. Minced garlic
    

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375°F and spray a 9x13x3-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
• Brown the meat in a skillet over medium heat, drain.
• Beat eggs in a medium bowl; stir in ricotta, 2 cups of mozzarella, Parmesan, garlic, and seasonings.

To Assemble:

• Overlap sheets slightly when layering Lasagne. Lasagne will expand to the edges during cooking. Spread fillings to edges to seal in and cook the Lasagne during baking.

Layer in the following order:

1. Spread 1 cup sauce on bottom of baking pan.
2. Layer 4 uncooked Lasagne sheets, 1/3 of ricotta mixture, 1/2 of the browned meat, 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup of sauce.
3. Layer 4 uncooked Lasagne sheets, 1/3 of ricotta mixture and 1 1/2 cups sauce.
4. Layer 4 uncooked Lasagne sheets, the remaining ricotta mixture and browned meat and 1 cup of sauce.
5. Layer 4 uncooked Lasagne sheets, the remaining sauce and 1 cup of mozzarella.

• Cover pan with foil and bake until bubbly, approximately 50-60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160°F.
• Uncover and continue cooking until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.
  

Birthday Guacamole...

I got a local cookbook from my Dad and Step-mom for my birthday this year and one of the first recipes I tried was guacamole. It's now one of my favorites!

I figured I'll post the recipe since it's so yummy! I don't really measure anything, the recipe is pretty forgiving and you can't really mess it up. I also used cayenne pepper instead of Tabasco as I never keep Tabasco in the cabinet. Enjoy!

Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 4 Ripe Haas avocados
• 3 Tbls. fresh lemon juice
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you'd like it - or 8 dashes of Tabasco sauce)
• 1/2 C. red onion, diced
• 1 Lg. garlic clove, minced
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 Lg. tomato, seeded and diced
  

Directions:

1. Cut avocados in half; remove pits and scoop flesh into bowl.
2. Add lemon juice, cayenne, onion, garlic, salt and pepper to avocados.
3. Using sharp knife, cut through avocados to dice.
4. Add tomatoes mix well.
5. Serve with blue corn chips for dipping.
   

Creamy, Cheesy Kale

My first time having kale and all I have to say is YUM! I found this recipe at our local grocery store and decided to try it out.... we paired it with some Trader Joe's Stuffed Salmon Belle Mer and it was totally yummy!!! Please give it a try, you won't regret it. I didn't have any cream on hand so I used all milk instead and it still came out pretty darn good.

Creamy, Cheesy Kale

Ingredients:

• 8 C. cleaned and chopped kale (about 2 bunches)
• 3 Tbls. butter, divided
• 2 Leeks, trimmed, cleaned and sliced
• 2 Tbls. flour
• 1/2 C. cream
• 1/2 C. milk
• 1/2 C. chopped Havarti cheese
• 1/4 C. seasoned bread crumbs
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Lightly coat 1 qt. casserole with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Cook kale in lightly salted boiling water 3 minutes or until tender; drain and run under very cold water.
3. In a saucepan, melt 1 Tbls. butter, add leeks and cook 5 minutes on medium-high.
4. Add remaining 2 Tbls. butter, flour, cream and milk. Cook until thick, stirring often; remove from heat.
5. Stir in kale and cheese, season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Spoon into prepared casserole; top with breadcrumbs.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden and bubbling.
   

Yummy Banana Bread!

Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 packed brown sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (aprox. 2 banana's)*
  
• 1/2 cup fat free plain Greek Yogurt (or sour cream)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
• Cinnamon sugar mixture

*I freeze my banana's when they get too old to eat, when I'm ready to use them I defrost them and just throw them in the bowl, no need to mash after they've been frozen!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan. Top with Chocolate chips.
3. Lightly sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.
   
4. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.