Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Now that the holidays are over, it's time
to look in the frig and cabinets and try to
use all the leftover items before they go bad.


I have so many different odds and ends that
need to be used that I need to be a little
more creative with dinners this week.


This recipe is great because it allowed me
to use some of the sun-dried tomatoes and
the goat cheese that I had.




The recipe is from Everyday Food
Goat Cheese and Sundried Tomato Pasta


Ingredients:
Coarse salt and ground pepper
12 ounces rigatoni, penne, or other short tubular pasta
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed), thinly sliced
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
5 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled, plus more for topping (optional)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Directions
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes less than package instructions. Add sun-dried tomatoes, and cook 3 minutes. Remove 2 cups pasta water; reserve. Drain and return pasta mixture to pot.
Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add almonds and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl; reserve. Return skillet to medium heat; add oil, garlic, and red-pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 20 to 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
To pasta mixture in pot, add garlic mixture, reserved pasta water, cheese, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper; stir to combine. Let stand until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Divide pasta among four shallow dishes; sprinkle with almonds and, if desired, additional cheese.




I really enjoyed this dish, mostly because I love goat cheese.

The BEST Banana Bread

This is an excellent recipe for Banana Bread!

It turns out so moist and delicious.

Chocolate Chip, Sour Cream, Banana Bread

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or chocolate extract
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions
Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl. Then add the eggs one at a time and mix. In a another bowl mix the dry the ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the first mixture.

Add the bananas and sour cream and mix. Then add in the chocolate chips and pour into 3 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick that has been inserted into the center comes out clean.

MMM, good!

Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe is great for an appetizer or side dish.
I made the other night and brought these little
beauties to a party and they were very well received.


I did not follow a recipe per say, I just combined a few
yummy ingredients to create this fun dish.


Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
3-4 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
1 cup cream cheese
6-8 chives chopped
1/4 cup onions chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
parsley

Cut and cook the onions and garlic. Cook the bacon and cut into
small pieces. Mix all the ingredients together. Pour into a
pastry bag. Wash and core the tomatoes. Stuff tomatoes with
the filling and chill.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Wish

My Happy New Year wish for you

Is for your best year yet,

A year where life is peaceful,

And what you want, you get.

A year in which you cherish

The past year’s memories,

And live your life each new day

Full of bright expectancies.
I wish for you a holiday

With happiness galore;

And when it’s done,

I wish you Happy New Year,

and many, many more.

By Joanna Fuchs

Manicotti

The Christmas Eve Dinner Tradition in my family

is homemade manicotti from scratch including the shell.

Before the holidays my husband and I had several

practice runs of manicotti, all of which, I think turned out

good but yet I still was not totally satisfied.

As I was preparing the grocery list for the "big" shop

before the holidays I decided on a little twist for the

manicotti that I just knew would make it GREAT!

For the Meat Manicotti I used chicken, feta sausage

and sundried tomatoes as the base instead of the normal

meatball mixture.

For the cheese I used a three cheese mixuture: parmesean,

ricotta and mozarella but the secret ingredient was goat

cheese.

In my opinion, this batch of manicotti was the best one!

The cheese ones were so creamy and delicious and the

meat was a little spicy and full of great flavors.

Dinner was great but laughing around the table with my family

was even better!!!

Making Manicotti

The Shell - made one at a time.

The mixture is placed toward the end and then you roll.

A full pan - yum!

The table was set awaiting the family's arrival.

My sister came up with a great idea. Instead of using

the regular place holders we put an object near each

seat representing that person. In the photo above

you can see the small pair of binoculars for my husband

who loves birdwatching. I loved it because it added such

a personal touch to the table.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

to you and your family!!

Gingerbread Man Cookies

Run, run, as fast as you can,

You can't catch me,

I'm the gingerbread man

I'm the gingerbread man

and I'm out of the pan!

Gingerbread Man Cookies

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

** I did not have molasses so I substituted honey**

Method
Sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

Cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy.

Mix in eggs and molasses.

Gradually add the flour mixture; combine on low speed.

Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic.

Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Before rolling out, let sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes

If at any point the dough becomes sticky add a little flour to the rolling pin.

Heat oven to 350°.

Place a dough on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper or wax paper.

Using a rolling pin, roll dough 1/8 inch thick.

Use either a cookie cutter or place a stencil over the dough and use a knife to cut into desired shapes.

Transfer to ungreased baking sheets.

Bake until crisp but not darkened, 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from oven.

Let sit a few minutes and then

to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Decorate as desired.

I think they turned out great!

I used a lemon frosting to

balance the gingerbread flavor.

Risotto

Risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish.

It is rich, creamy and full of flavor.

I don't make it often because it seems like so much work.

Recently, I was inspired by the many

different types of risotto on a menu

at a local restuarant.
I decided to give it a try.

Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:
2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
4 1/2 cups chicken stock, plus more as needed
1 cup water
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups Carnaroli rice
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the mushrooms,

1 cup of the stock and the water. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Let soak for 30 minutes to soften. Drain the mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid and discarding any sediment that falls to the bottom of the pan. Chop the mushrooms and set aside. In a saucepan over high heat, combine the mushroom soaking liquid and enough stock to total 5 cups. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and keep the liquid hot. Set an electric pressure cooker to brown according to the manufacturers instructions and melt 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) of the butter. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir until each grain is well coated with butter and nearly translucent with a white dot in the center, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the wine and stir until it is completely absorbed. Add the stock mixture, cover and cook on high for about 10- 12 minutes.

This is not the finished product - forgive me but we forgot to take the photo

before sitting down and eating the risotto.

And let me tell you - it was very good!