Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

Nothing beats butternut squash-- delicious and good for you. I’ve been on a butternut squash kick lately. Having just made soup with this super veggie only a few weeks ago, I went hunting for another recipe and found this one on the AllRecipes.com website: Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta.

It’s sweet and smoky and cheesy—the perfect comfort food. I pretty much followed the recipe word for word, so I’ve included a link to it. However, I made a couple of adjustments:

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Hello dear readers! I have returned from my travels in the great state of Michigan and couldn't be happier to be back in the kitchen. For the last 3+ weeks I have survived on a diet consisting of Subway, Panera, Wendy's, Lean Cuisine, and free hotel breakfasts. Since arriving home on Friday, I have cooked Tuscan Baked Chicken and Beans (very yummy recipe from Cooking Light), veggie stir-fry and two loaves of bread.

Bow ties with sweet potatoes and turkey sausage

New pasta recipes have been my choice of late since they're usually pretty quick to throw together. This recipe for bow ties with sweet potatoes and smoked turkey sausage only takes about 30 minutes to put together. The original recipe from Food and Wine's Quick From Scratch Pasta originally called for Canadian bacon, but I couldn't find Canadian bacon at Meijer. But, I did have about half a pound of smoked turkey sausage in the freezer, so I pulled that out and substituted. I also used fresh thyme instead of dried sage.

This recipe is really good, and I'd definitely make it again. The sweet potatoes are really unusual, but yummy.

Bow ties with sweet potatoes and smoked turkey sausage (4 servings)
2 Tbsp. of extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 sweet potato (1/2 lbs.), peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup of water
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/8 tsp. of ground cayenne
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes (16-oz)
1/2 lbs. smoked turkey sausage, diced
1/2 lbs. bow tie pasta

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sweet potato and cook 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft. Then, add the tomatoes, water, cayenne pepper, and salt. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add the sausage and thyme and cook for 5 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, cook the bow ties according to pasta directions.

Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce and serve and ENJOY :-)!

Bow Ties with Chickpeas and Tomatoes

It's been weeks since the last post here on Goode Taste due to the lack of internet access at our house. But, my hubby was nice enough to bring his laptop home so I could get online.

Since we were getting tired of regular pasta with tomato sauce, I tried the Bow Ties with Chickpeas and Tomatoes from the Food & Wine Pasta cookbook. I really wasn't expecting this recipe to be good, I thought it would be okay, but it turned out to be very tasty and easy. It also got a thumbs up from a very picky eater :-).

This sauce differs from others since its seasoned with cumin and cayenne pepper. These spices aren't overpowering in the dish, you hardly notice that they're in the sauce. Also, the original recipe only calls for 1 cup of chickpeas, but I added in a whole can.

Bow Ties with Chickpeas and Tomatoes
Ingredients (4 servings)
3 1/2 cups (28 oz.) canned whole tomatoes with juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3/4 lbs. bow ties
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

I prepped all the ingredients before beginning the sauce-- that way I could get the onion, garlic, and parsley chopped before getting the cutting bored all soggy with the tomatoes.

So, go ahead and chop the onion, garlic, and parsley and set aside. Next, drain the whole tomatoes and save 3/4 cup of the juice from the can for the sauce. Chop the tomatoes.

Heat a saucepan over medium low heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic and seasonings. Once the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes and tomato juice and simmer for about 20 minutes until the sauce reduces. Then, add the chickpeas and cook for 10 more minutes.

In the meantime, boil the pasta for about 15 minutes. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce for a couple of minutes so the bow ties soak in the flavor. Serve garnished with fresh flat leaf parsley.

This recipe makes enough sauce for 4 servings-- I cooked enough pasta for 2 people and then saved the rest of the sauce to eat later in the week.

Bison Cincinnati Chili

I never had heard of Cincinnati Chili until I rented the first season of Cook's Country from Netflix. Honestly, I probably never would have tried it unless my mother had begged me to make it for dinner. Of course I made some modifications to the recipe, but it was very spicy (not hot spicy, just lots of spices) and really filling.

The ingredient list is long, but the recipe is really easy to put together. The recipe makes 6 generous servings. What distinguishes this chili from others is that

• the meat isn't browned, it's cooked in liquid
• you serve it over spaghetti (awe-some!)

Ingredients
1 lb. ground bison (original recipe calls for 1 1/2 lbs. of 80% lean ground chuck*)
2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 medium onions, minced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper (I went a little shy on this)
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 cups tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar (original recipe calls for cider vinegar, but I couldn't find any in the house)
2 tsp. dark brown sugar
1-15 oz. can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Hot sauce-optional (I didn't put any in)

Accompaniments
Spaghetti (you can add butter to it)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped white onion

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the canola oil. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and cook until they are soft and brown on the edges (this takes about 10 minutes). Add the garlic to the onions and cook for about one minute, or until the garlic is fragrant.

Then, add the chili powder, oregano, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, allspice, black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir stir stir :-) until the spices are fragrant, only about 30 seconds. Add the tomato sauce, broth, water, vinegar and sugar to the pot and scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add the bison meat (*see the note at the bottom of this page if using beef. This is where I deviated from the recipe-- I thought bison meat would be lean enough not to make the chili greasy. It was pretty lean, but I still had to skim some fat off the top. Next time I'll blanch it). Increase the heat to high, and once the mixture starts to boil, kick the heat back down to a simmer. Stir the mixture occasionally until the chili has thickened (it took about 1 1/2 hours).

Here is another deviation from the Cook's Country instructions: the kidney beans are traditionally a topping, but I just added them into the chili for about 30 minutes before serving. (Everybody at our house wanted beans, so why not throw them in the mix?)

Season with the salt (and hot sauce) to suit your taste.

Serve over spaghetti and top with the cheese and onion (and beans if you don't want them in the chili).

*If using ground beef, you need to get rid of some of the fat so the chili isn't greasy. Boil 2 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon of salt in a pot. Then add the meat, and stir stir stir until the meat separates into strands. When the foam from the meat rises to the top of the water, drain the meat in a strainer and set it aside*

Two-Tomato Arrabbiata Pesto Pasta

This is a pretty easy recipe and yields delicious results. I think this recipe came out of the Food Network Magazine, but can't be sure since my mom photocopied the page and then cut out the recipe. This is a good summer dish since the only thing you have to cook on the stove top is the pasta.

This recipe makes 8 servings (although the original recipe reads it serves 4). When I make this again, I would cut this recipe in half to get 4 servings.

Ingredients
1 pound spaghetti
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves
2 Tbsp. hot water
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used a 3 cheese blend of Romano, Asiago, and Parm)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped chives

Now, go ahead and get a big pot of water boiling on the stove and cooke the spaghetti. That way you can get the sauce finished as the pasta is cooking. Make sure to heavily salt the pasta water, and you'll need to reserve at least a cup of the cooking liquid to add t;o the sauce and pasta at the end.

(NOTE: Make sure your food processor is in working order before you being the sauce. Unfortunately, the food processor I was using had a crack in it and one of the parts fell off, so I had to use a mini food processor, which worked well enough.)

Put the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, crushed red pepper, and 2 tablespoons of hot water in the food processor, and turn on the machine. Drizzle in the extra-virgin olive oil as the mixture is processing. Next, add in the halved tomatoes, salt, and pepper and process until the sauce is smooth.

Transfer the sauce to a big bowl and mix in the cheese, parsley, and chives.

Stir in about 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water into the sauce (you can always add more if you need it).

Drain the pasta and add it to the bowl. Toss it with the sauce to coat it well. Garnish with parsley.

It’s a winner!

The lazy days of summer are bringing on boredom, and there’s no better way to break up the boredom than trying a new recipe, which is exactly what I did last night. Let me tell you, this was yummy! I made some modifications to the Chicken Rigatoni with Bell Peppers, Kalamata Olives, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes from the Top Chef cookbook.

Top Chef is one of my favorite shows, but the recipes always look so gourmet and exotic. Just for kicks I was browsing the show's website and happened on the recipe search function, and up came Chicken Rigatoni.

Since I’d never cooked this before, I prepped all of my ingredients before I heated up the pots and pans. This took some extra time, but at least I wasn’t running around trying to find the ingredients once the cooking started.

Once everything was chopped and set aside, I put the pasta water on to boil, and added the bacon to a cold stainless steel pan. Once the bacon was in, I turned the heat up to medium. Meanwhile, some pine nuts were toasting in my non-stick skillet. Once the nuts were slightly brown, I moved them to a bowl, and added a tablespoon of olive oil to the non-stick skillet. Next, I seasoned up the chicken chunks with salt and pepper, and browned them in the non-stick skillet. Once those were cooked, I moved them to a separate plate to hang out. After the bacon was crisp, it was removed with a slotted spoon to a plate with paper towels. The pasta was dropped into the now boiling water, and it was time for the vegetables to get sizzling in the bacon renderings!

To the bacon fat, I added one tablespoon of olive oil, the peppers, onions, scallions, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Once those veggies hit the pan, you know you are in for something good—it will smell like a fancy Italian restaurant in your kitchen. The veggies sweated for about 5 minutes until the softened up, and then I added the garlic, and let that cook for one minute more before adding in the chicken and dried rosemary.

Next, the pan was deglazed with the chicken broth, and I let that reduce until the pasta was ready. Once the pasta is cooked to al dente it was drained and added to the veggies along with the kalamata olives and pine nuts to heat through (which only takes a few moments). Next, the cheese and parsley were stirred in and the dish was served.

I really enjoyed this, and my picky hubby also liked it. I was thrilled he went back for seconds since it had olives in it (and he thinks he hates olives). The key to getting him to eat them was chopping them up very finely and not telling him they were in there!

Chicken Rigatoni from Top Chef (with my modifications. Click here for the original recipe).(3 BIG servings)

6 ounces of Rigatoni pasta

2 tablespoons of Extra-virgin olive oil

4 slices of center cut bacon, chopped

½ onion, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips

2 shallots, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

¼ cup of chicken stock

2 5-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt

½ cup pitted & chopped kalamata olives

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

1 tablespoon of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

½ teaspoon of dried rosemary

I had to make some modifications because of lack of ingredients, and I wanted to get three meals out of the dish (the original recipe makes two servings.) Bacon was substituted for pancetta, chicken broth for the wine, and dried rosemary instead of fresh. To make it a little healthier, I did not sauté the chicken in butter as the recipe calls for.

Summer Garden Lentil and Pasta Salad

To switch things up a bit this week, I made a pasta salad on Sunday for dinner with plans to eat the leftovers for lunch this week (I'm growing very tired of turkey sandwiches).

This is salad is very good, but if I make it again I would increase the amount on the vinaigrette to give it more flavor. Plus, the flavor of the dish seems to mellow after being refrigerated.

I started out making the vinaigrette in my handy-dandy mini-food processor. It's simple enough, just combine balsamic vinegar, shallot, garlic, dijon mustard, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. I did this first and let it sit for all the flavors to meld together.

Next, I tackled the lentils. I had never cooked lentils before on their own, and suffice to say I managed to cook them without burning them. Simmering them in chicken stock gives them a lovely flavor.



While the lentils cooked, I set about cutting up the veggies and cooking the pasta shells. I used a whole red bell pepper (the recipe calls for red and yellow peppers, but the yellow peppers didn't look so great at the store), half of a red onion, a small zucchini, and a little over half of a container of grape tomatoes. All of the herbs came from my herb pot, with the exception of oregano. I had to leave that out since I was also out of the dried.



The Parmesan cheese was also (inadvertently) omitted, but the salad was still very tasty. I have been adding cheese to the leftover pasta salad and it does bump up the flavor.

This is suppose to make 4 servings, but I should get at least 5 or 6 meals out of the batch. It would be great for a cookout since there is no mayo.

Recipe

Vinaigrette:
* 2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1 tablespoon minced shallots
* 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
* 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1/2 cup dried petite green lentils
* 1 bay leaf
* 2 cups uncooked orecchiette pasta ("little ears" pasta)- These are also labeled as "small sea shells
* 1 cup diced zucchini
* 3/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
* 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
* 1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper
* 1/2 cup diced red onion
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
* 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
* 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper