Three Cheese Ziti Bake

One of the most popular recipes on this blog is Tortellini Bake. This recipe looked similar and just as easy. J. really likes pasta with alfredo so we gave it a try.

This recipe comes from Southern Living.

Ingredients: 

-1 (16-ounce) package ziti

-2 (10-ounce) containers refrigerated Alfredo sauce

-1 (8-ounce) container sour cream

-1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese

-2 large eggs, lightly beaten

-1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

-1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

-1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.
Drain.
Stir in alfredo and sour cream. 

Spread half of the pasta into a pan.

Mix together the ricotta, an egg and parmesan.
Spread over the pasta in the dish.

Top with the rest of the pasta.
Then add mozzarella.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, broil for 5 minutes.

Serve with a salad and garlic bread.

I wasn't a huge fan of this recipe because I really don't like alfredo sauce. J. really liked it and took all of the leftovers home with him to reheat for lunch at work. I would make this again to serve it to him, I think that cutting the recipe in half was a good call for me since I was only serving two. The ingredients list is the full ingredient amounts, if you make the full recipe bake in a 9x13, not an 8x8.

Italian Skewers

This was originally a recipe to make in the oven, but we were at the beach and wanted more of a different and upscale appetizer, but didn't have an oven so we made these on the grill instead. The color was great and there wasn't much prep or cleanup which was perfect for a quick beach appetizer.

I got this recipe from the cookbook "320 Italian Recipes"

Ingredients:

-1 loaf Italian bread

-1 block mozzarella cheese

-3 plum tomatoes

-olive oil

Cut the bread, mozzarella, and tomatoes into bite size pieces.

Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.
Thread the pieces on a skewer and place on a piece of foil
on the grill.

Grill for a few minutes until the mozzarella
starts to get a bit melted.

This was a good appetizer that everyone enjoyed, and was really simple. You could also make this more fancy by adding some peppers or onions as well.

Sliced Frittata Salad

This recipe is unique because it isn't really a regular frittata, and it isn't really pasta, and isn't traditional salad, but still it is sort of a combination of all three. This is good for either a light meal, or a side dish. It is a good summer dish, you can use fresh tomatoes and herbs if you have them.

This recipe comes from the cookbook 320 Italian Recipes.

Ingredients:
-6 eggs
-2 Tbsp fresh basil or parsley
-1/4 cups Parmesan
-3 Tbsp olive oil
-salt and pepper

Sauce
-2 Tbsp olive oil
-1 onion
-14 oz can chopped tomatoes
-1 clove garlic
-4 Tbsp water
-salt and pepper

I've been growing fresh herbs, they are looking pretty good.
Everything I've made has tasted better from using fresh.

Start by making the tomato sauce. Heat the olive oil, and cook the onion. Add the garlic, water, tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 15 minutes while the frittata cooks.

Beat the eggs, and add Parmesan, chopped herbs, salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil on medium and pour in the mixture.

Once the bottom gets browned, it should slide out of the pan.
flip it over onto a plate, and slide it back into the plan.

I was skeptical, but it worked pretty well flipping with the plate.

Cook for 3-4 more minutes on the other side.

Take off the heat to cool a bit.

Slice into thin strips.

Top the slices with the tomato sauce.

This was something different, but really good. The strips of frittata came out a lot thicker than I thought they would, they were almost like the consistency of bread I thought. The egg went well with the tomato sauce, and would be good as an appetizer to a lot of Italian meals.