Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Risotto

This is the 500th post from Vegetarian & Cooking! and I cannot believe that we're already halfway to 1,000. This post comes at the perfect time because we have a lot of exciting things coming up as we move into Thanksgiving, Christmas and the two year anniversary of us starting this blog. In the meantime, check out the Milestones tab above to see all of our other milestone blogs and features.

This recipe was really popular on my Pinterest board, Recipes to Try and the photos from the original were stunning. Also, in my opinion you cannot go wrong with risotto, it is always absolutely delicious and the leftovers are a great thing to take to work for lunch.

Other risotto recipes: Tomato & Spinach Risotto, Corn Risotto, Champagne Risotto and Butternut Squash Risotto.

From the blog Sheer Luxe.

Ingredients: 
-1 small onion, diced
-2 cloves of garlic, minced
-Two tablespoons of butter
-1 1/4 cup of risotto rice
-1 cup of white wine
-4 cups of vegetable broth, heated
-Jar of roasted red peppers, drained
-Chunk of Parmesan, grated
-Splash of cream
-Handful of spinach, wilted
-Wedge of goat’s cheese

Melt butter in a large skillet, saute the garlic and onion over medium heat for about five minutes.

Stir in the arborio rice, coating with the onion, garlic and butter.
Pour in the wine, stirring until absorbed.
Slowly ladle in the hot vegetable broth, stirring until absorbed each time.

Once the last ladle of  stock has been added, drain the oil from the jar of roasted red pepper. Puree in a blender and add into the risotto with a splash of cream and some Parmesan. 

Serve the risotto with chunks pieces of goat cheese and topped with wilted spinach. 

To eat mix in the goat cheese and spinach into the risotto. 

Always a pretty presentation with such striking colors.

The roasted red pepper flavor was really strong in this, that made my mom not like it. I really enjoy roasted peppers and I thought this was fantastic. There was a nice depth of flavor to the risotto, the goat cheese was a nice creamy balance to the rich flavor of the roasted red pepper. The spinach added color and some additional texture to the risotto. The leftovers were good for lunch the next day.

This is something that would be great for a dinner party or for a nice date. There is nothing more impressive than when your date cooks a nice meal for you!

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.

Caprese Pasta Salad

The more I eat pasta salad the more I like it, this was good when I first made it, and I ended up eating it as a snack the next two days.

This recipe is adapted from The Daily Meal.

Ingredients:
-12 oz box tri-color pasta
-3 ounces Provolone cheese, cubed
-3 ounce container fresh mozzarella
-1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
-1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
-1/2 clove garlic

-1/2 teaspoon fresh parsley
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-1/2 teaspoon dried basil
-Salt and pepper

When I ate this the next day, I added some Italian dressing, I would recommend adding that too.

Cook the pasta and rinse with cool water. Mix in olive oil. Toss in the other ingredients.

I usually just get cheaper versions of ingredients when I can, but I think using fresh mozzarella made a difference in this one. It was only moderately more expensive, and I think the price difference was worth it. I liked using the tri-color pasta too, it gave it some extra color and pop.

Buffalo Cauliflower Mac & Cheese Muffins

Happy World Vegetarian Day! I have been a vegetarian for about seven years and I think that it was one of the best lifestyle changes that I have ever made. My boyfriend is not a vegetarian, but choose this recipe to celebrate with. If you're interested in finding out more information about a vegetarian lifestyle check out this link.

The original recipe uses chicken, I almost always use cauliflower as a substitute for chicken. You could also buy a chicken meatless substitute.

From Emily Bites.

Ingredients:
-1 T butter
-1 T flour
-1 c skim milk
-¼ t garlic powder
-1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
-1/3 cup light blue cheese dressing
-3-4 T Buffalo Wing sauce
-2 large eggs
-1 large egg white
-1 cup cauliflower
-1 medium celery stalk, chopped small
-4 cups cooked whole wheat or high fiber macaroni (about 8 oz uncooked)

Preheat the oven to 400.

  In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour, mixing it into the butter. Stir in the milk and garlic powder and raise the temp to bring the mixture to just under a boil. Add the cheddar cheese and whisk until combined into a sauce. 

Add in the blue cheese, buffalo sauce, celery and cauliflower.

Mix in the macaroni. 

Spoon into a well greased muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes, then let cool 15 minutes so that the "muffin shape" is retained.

Serve with additional buffalo sauce if desired. 

We enjoyed this recipe -- but we didn't love it. Without the extra hot sauce, this wasn't really that spicy and I really enjoy spicy foods. I was surprised how well it retained the muffin shape, out of twelve, we only had difficult getting two out of the muffin tin. J. and I were really hungry so we both ate three or four muffins, but I'm not sure if I would make it again. 

Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

After searching for a good crock pot macaroni and cheese recipe, I was a little disappointed. Most recipes contained horrible reviews of the final product. This was the first recipe I found that had really good reviews so I decided to give it a try.

Photos by Kayla.

Recipe from Taste of Home.

Ingredients
-2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions.
-1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
-1 cup 2% milk
-1/2 cup sour cream
-1/4 cup butter, cubed
-1/2 teaspoon onion powder
-1/4 teaspoon white pepper
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
-1 cup (4 ounces) shredded provolone cheese

Mix all ingredients in a crock pot and cook on low for one to two hours or until cheese is melted.

Serve.

This recipe was just okay. Everyone ate it and we barely had any leftovers, but I really didn't love it. For all of the cheese that was in this, the flavor was just okay, it was kind of bland. It didn't do any of the awful things that other recipes contained reviews about (curdle or turn out greasy), but I don't think I would make this again.

Nacho Pasta Salad

I like pasta salad, and it is perfect for a summer party, and since it is getting close to the end of summer, I'm glad I got to make another pasta salad. This one was really good, probably one of the best pasta salads I have made. It had just the right amount of kick from the dressing, but wasn't overwhelming.

I got the idea for this recipe here.

Special thanks to our friend Kayla for her awesome photography, check out her blog here.

Other blogs featuring Kayla: Twice Baked Red Potatoes, Corn Risotto, King Cake Cocktail, Smore's Cake, Rust City Buffalo Sauce, Lucky Charm Doughnuts, Poutine with Guinness Gravy, and Birthday Cocktail, 

Ingredients:

-1/2 box pasta, cooked

-1/2 cup chunky salsa

-2 cups tortilla chips, crushed

-1 cup cherry tomatoes

-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

-1/2 cup chipotle ranch dressing

For this one, I cooked the pasta ahead of time, and added the salad to keep it from sticking, and cut up and added the tomatoes. When I was ready to serve it, I just added the dressing, chips, and cheese.

I really liked this because it was easy to make ahead of time, and took almost no work at the time of serving when other dishes need attention. This was a good side, it had the perfect combination of crunchiness and saltiness from the chips, and the salsa and ranch went together great.

Cheesy Corn Ramen

I've seen a few books and websites that make meals out of ramen. I like the concept, because it takes something that can be really boring and make it into an interesting meal. I think it is cool too because there are so many twists and options that you can do with it because the noodles are pretty versatile.

This recipe comes from the book 101 things to do with ramen noodles. My mom and I are hoping to do some more of these ramen recipes soon.

Ingredients:

-1 packet of ramen, with any seasoning packet

-1 14 oz can creamed corn

-1/2 cups shredded cheese

Make the ramen noodle packet in boiling water. In another saucepan, heat the creamed corn and cheese together until the cheese melts, about the amount of time it takes for the ramen to cook. Pour the cheese corn sauce over the ramen.

I didn't use all of the sauce, it was a little too much for the amount of ramen I had, I used probably 1/2, so if you wanted to make 2 packets of ramen or cut down the amount of cheese and corn, I think that would work well.

This was really simple, there were not many ingredients, but it really made them taste good and different than the plain ramen. It was almost like mac and cheese, it was really creamy, and the corn gave it some extra texture and sweet flavor.

Sweet Corn Gnocchi

A few weeks ago my family went out to eat at Cleveland Chop, and we had a Sweet Corn Gnocchi as an appetizer. It was really good, and I hadn't ever had anything similar, so I wanted to try it. It had a little bit of a sweet taste and a buttery sauce with a little bit of cheese.

Ingredients:

-1 package gnocchi

-1/2 can corn

-2 Tbsp butter

-sprinkle garlic salt

-sprinkle Parmesan cheese

-parsley for garnish

Cook gnocchi according to package directions.

Melt the butter in a pan, and add the gnocchi.

Cook for about 2 minutes, then add corn and a little more butter.

Add the cheese and garlic powder, cook for another 2 minutes.

I thought this was pretty good, and actually filling as a main dish. I think the restaurant version had some sugar in it too, and maybe it was cooked a little longer because it had a little bit of a crunch that mine didn't. Overall though the flavors went together well, an unexpected combination.

Taco Pasta Salad

I was looking for pasta salad, but wanted to try something different. I came across this recipe, and it turned out to taste even better than it looked!

I got the original recipe from Divas Can Cook.

Ingredients:

-1 box rotini
-3/4 cup salsa
-2 teaspoons taco seasoning
-1/2 green bell pepper
-1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
-2/3 cup sweet corn kernels
-2/3 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
-1/2 cup romain lettuce, chopped

Cook the pasta according to package directions.
Mix with salsa and taco seasoning.

Add corn, black beans, and cherry tomatoes.

Add the rest of your ingredients when you are ready to
serve so they don't get soggy. I added some extra salsa too.

This was good to serve to a group because part of it can be made ahead of time, and the rest doesn't take long to make. Also, if you really wanted to make the whole thing ahead of time, I think it would work because I ate the leftovers from this for about 2 days and it still tasted good with everything sitting in the fridge mixed together. I think next time I would also add shredded cheese.

Ranch Pasta Salad

This recipe comes from SheKnows.

I pinned this recipe because like many people I'm used to seeing pasta salad recipes with an oil based dressing such as Italian and I thought it would be really interesting to serve one with a ranch based dressing.

Ingredients:
-1-1/2 cups cooked pasta
-1/2 cup red or yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
-1 cucumber, sliced
-1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
-1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
-1/2 cup ranch salad dressing
-1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

Cook the pasta according to package directions. I made two cups of pasta by cooking one cup of dried pasta. According to most blogs I've found, for the yield of pasta you want make.

I made this the day before I planned on serving it, in order to keep the pasta salad fresh:

Just mix the pasta and grape tomatoes in a bowl with about a tablespoon or less of olive oil, enough to coat the pasta.

When you're ready to serve, add in the red onion, green pepper and ranch dressing.

Stir all of the ingredients to coat them in the dressing. 

This recipe was okay, I served it at a party and everyone at it, but overall I wasn't too impressed. J. suggested serving the pasta salad warm rather than cold, he said that changing the heat would have made this recipe better for him. Overall, I might make this again if I'm looking for something simple to make, otherwise I might seek out a new recipe.

Asparagus Mac and Cheese

This recipe was adapted from Closet Cooking.

Ingredients:

-4 cups water

-1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cleaned, reserving the stems

-1 pound pasta, your choice

-4 tablespoons butter

-4 tablespoons flour

-2 cups cheddar cheese

-salt and pepper to taste

-1 tablespoon grainy mustard

-1/2 cup basil pesto

-1 cup cheddar cheese

Put the asparagus to a boil, boil for two minutes. Drain, but reserve two cups of the water.

Boil another pot for the pasta, cook according to directions.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, stir in the flour and cook until it is golden brown and bubbly. Stir in two cups of the cheddar cheese until a thick sauce forms. Add in the pasta, pasta water to loosen the sauce as needed, the asparagus and the mustard.

Pour into a greased 8x8 or 9x13.
Top with the additional cheese and pesto.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350.

I thought this recipe was good, but my dad loved it. He's asked for me to make it again at least twice since I first made it. My brother wasn't a big fan, he said the cheddar cheese wasn't good in this recipe, especially when reheated. Overall it had more likes than dislikes, I'll probably make it again.