Baked Penne with Pancetta, Mushrooms, and Spinach

Found this recipe on Safeway's website recently, tried it and man was it AMAZING!

Give a try guys, I know you will love it too!

Baked Penne with Pancetta, Mushrooms, and Spinach

Recipe by: Safeway

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound O Organics(TM) Penne Rigate
• 1 (3 ounce) package Primo Taglio Pancetta
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for pasta water
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 (5 ounce) packages O Organics(TM) Baby Spinach
• 10 ounces Primo Taglio Smoked Fontina Cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Lucerne(R) Half-and-Half
• 1/2 cup Lucerne Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large pot of salted water, cook penne according to package instructions. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot, then set pot over low heat.
2. Meanwhile, in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook pancetta until browned and crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove from pan to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain. Add mushrooms to pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 6 minutes. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes longer. Season with the salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add spinach to pasta by handfuls, stirring so the heat from the pasta wilts the spinach. Add the mushroom mixture and crumbled pancetta, then the fontina and the half-and-half. Stir to combine.
4. Transfer pasta to a buttered 9- by 13-inch ovenproof dish and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake, covered with a greased piece of foil, for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until top is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes more.

A quick and yummy soup

Made this tonight because I was feeling lazy. Strange to make soup in the summer but I'm a rebel like that. Ha.

Here is what you need:

1 32 Oz box of Chicken Stock
1/2 can of (safeway brand) fire roasted tomatoes w/garlic - you can get plain too if you wish
1 1/2 cups of dry bowtie pasta
4 cloves of garlic (leave em whole if you dig soft garlic, dice em if you don't)
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper

(you can add some garlic powder/garlic salt if you like it more garlic-y)


Pour the chicken stock into a medium to large sauce pan. Heat on high. Remove the leaves off the rosemary sprig and toss in the stock, add the garlic and other spices. Let the chicken stock come to a slow boil then add the pasta, reduce heat just a tad so it won't boil over.

Let the pasta boil in the stock and spices until soft (about 12 minutes)

Add the tomatoes, stir and reduce heat to medium-low. Let the soup simmer for about 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat, stir again then serve. Try it with some sourdough bread.

ENJOY!

A note about my substitutions

So there isn't a recipe in this post but I wanted to make a quick note. I have a strange food allergy that quiet possibly makes me the worst Italian on the planet.

I am allergic to ONIONS..... lame right?


So you may notice that in some of my recipes you will not see onions listed. I will try to add side notes for those recipes for those of you who wish to have onions in your yummies.

Also wanted to give you a heads up that I am working on my chili recipe, it's running about a 9 alarm at the moment but I am attempting to cool it down for y'all. Keep checking back, it should be up within the week.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog, in the mean time GET COOKING!!!!!

A fresh take on instant rice

So if you are like me (super impatient and usually waits to cook dinner until I'm STARVING) then you are or should be familiar with instant rice. Besides, who really has 30 minutes to wait for rice to cook anyway? Right?

Well as great of an invention as Instant Rice is, it can get pretty boring...

So My mom actually used to make this recipe and it has become one of my favorite comfort foods.
Really simple all you need is:
1 Can of Condensed Cream Of Mushroom Soup
and some instant rice.

Here is how you do it (really every household should know how to make this dish)

in a medium saucepan pour one can of cream of mushroom soup followed by one can of water (use the can to measure the water and Rice) bring to a boil then throw in one can's worth of dry instant rice. Cover, remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes.

DONE! Easy right?

My favorite way to enjoy this side dish is to pour some Crystal Louisiana Hot Sauce on it. YUM YUM!

Hope you enjoy it :)

Classic Itallian Tricolore Snack

So this one is pretty simple, but simple can be delicious!

If you aren't familiar with Tricolore, allow me to break it down for you: The word tricolore refers to the Italian flag (red, white and green) translated into food: tomatoes, cheese and basil. Super simple and super refreshing, great for a summer snack!

This particular pairing is great if you have to throw something together for a potluck.

What you need:
Grape tomatoes - sliced (that can be tricky, please be careful)
Smoked Mozzarella - sliced to 1/4 inch thick and about the size of a wheat thin cracker or ritz
Fresh Basil - also cut to cracker sized pieces
Wheat thins OR Ritz (your decision)

All you do is take a cracker, place a slice of smoked mozzarella on top, then a slice of basil and topped of with a slice of grape tomato.

Pick up cracker and toppings, eat and enjoy!

Variations: you can use Trisquit crackers with a drop of olive oil for a twist on the taste.

Chicken Ceaser BLT salad

Yes I just said Ceaser BLT SALAD!

If you aren't a fan of Sir Ceaser you can always substitute any type of salad you like.

This is another tip, I discovered it because I was growing tired of plain boring packaged ceaser salads.

All I did was take on of those Fresh Pack Chicken Ceaser Salad kits from the grocery store (hey, I have my lazy days too!) and tossed in Crispy Bacon and fresh Roma tomatoes.

Easy Right?????

And delicious, seriously, give it a try and tell me you don't love it!

Other things you can do to spruce up a boring  salad:
Add things that are "salad-y"
Like: Honey Mustard
Fresh Herbs - (cilantro is amazing!)
Basil and Mozzarella Cheese and tomatoes (Tri Colore style!)
spice! Don't be afraid to get creative, I once added a bit of chili powder and garlic salt to some ranch, can you say mouth watering?!!!!!

Feel free to submit your own ideas, let's get crazy up in here!

How to make crispy bacon EVERYTIME!

OK so this is more of a tip than a recipe but you are gonna want to know this awesome tip!
Are you tired of getting popped by hot bacon grease? Dude, me too. So next time you want to get your bacon on, try this tip.
What you will need:
A cookie sheet (preferably a heavy duty one as it may warp just a tiny bit under the broiler)
Aluminum Foil (go for heavy duty)
Bacon (DUH!)
Your oven set to broil with the rack in it's highest position

OK, so first, lay some foil down over your cookie sheet (super easy clean up!). Then while your broiler is preheating lay the bacon in a single layer on the cookie sheet, try to leave a tiny bit of space between the pieces or they may stick together. Once all your bacon is laid out, place the cookie sheet under the broiler for 3-4 minutes (depending on thickness of the bacon, super thick cuts may require up to 6 minutes), after 3-4 minutes pull the cookie sheet out and then flip the bacon strips. BE CAREFUL! There is hot bacon grease that can splash you if you are careless. Return the flipped bacon to the oven for about one minute less than the other side.
Depending on how fatty the bacon is you might have some burnt edges, if that grosses you out just snap the burnt pieces off after it cools.
Once the bacon is done, remove each piece and lay them on some paper towels. Try to absorb as much grease as possible. Let it cool just a few seconds then dig in!
Clean up is a snap, if you save your bacon grease: carefully fold the foil and pour the grease into whatever it is that you save your bacon grease in.

ENJOY!