Category Archives: Pasta

Dec 19 2011
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8P+, Main Course, Mushrooms, Pasta, Spinach

Creamy Gnocchi Alfredo with Spinach and Mushroom

I think I have mentioned before that I have an unhealthy relationship with cheese. What I didn’t mention was that when I was looking for a blog name, I was going to choose “Cheese Fetish” and only blog recipes that had cheese in them.

Two things derailed this idea:

  1. I really enjoy baking, and felt that I would need to incorporate that into my blog.
  2. I Googled “Cheese Fetish” to make sure the name wasn’t taken. My search results made my tummy feel weird.
I made some Gnocchi Mac and Cheese a few weeks ago, and had a lightbulb moment: alfredo! I headed back out to the market and purchased some mini-gnocchi. If you can’t find exactly what I used, 2 (17.5) oz packages of fresh gnocchi would suffice. It shouldn’t change the serving size too much, your gnocchi will just be bigger and plumper.

Anyhow, this recipe contains cheese, is cooked on the stove top, and is incredibly decadent.

WIN.

Creamy Gnocchi Alfredo with Spinach and Mushroom

Stovetop method adapted from whiteonrice couple

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 12 oz pre-rinsed, pre sliced mushrooms
  • 1 (6oz) bag baby spinach, rinsed and drained
  • ½ cup sweet onion finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 (17.5 oz) packages Rienzi mini gnocchi, fresh, not frozen
  • 2 ¼  cup reduced fat milk (2%)
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a medium skillet sauté mushrooms. When mushrooms become soft, add spinach and remove from heat. Cover, allowing spinach to wilt while the gnocchi cooks. Set aside, covered.

2. Rinse raw gnocchi in a colander and let drain.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, warm 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion,cook  2-3 minutes until fragrant.

4. Add gnocchi and milk to the saucepan with garlic and onion. Slowly bring the milk/gnocchi mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. Once the mixture comes to a simmer, immediately turn down the heat to low. Gnocchi will cook in the milk. Plan to stand at the stove, if this mixture boils over it will be VERY messy!

5. Cook and stir for about 5-7 minutes or until milk has been fully absorbed.  When milk has thickened, stir in cheese, until melted. Remove from heat.

6. Stir mushrooms and spinach into gnocchi.

7. Place a lid on top of pan and cover for about 5 minutes. This rest period will allow gnocchi to plump up and absorb any excess milk.

Nutritional Information Per Serving* (8P+ per 1 cup per serving, makes 8 servings):
Calories: 475
Carbs: 45
Fat: 6
Protein: 14
Fiber: 3
Sodium: 954
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com
*NI may seem high for this particular item. Myfitnesspal did not have the exact gnocchi listed, so I estimated with a heavy hand. :)
Oct 29 2011
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8P+, Pasta, Sauce, Turkey

Rotini with (Turkey) Meat Sauce

Wednesday, I felt like being lazy about dinner. It doesn’t happen a lot.

Usually, when I’m lazy about dinner, it’s because I’m secretly hoping that my father or brother will volunteer to order in. Typically, when they volunteer to order in, we order from my favorite Italian Restaurant/Pizzeria.

Italian food is another love of mine. I like to attribute my ability to cook to my paternal genes. (I usually advertise that I’m Irish-German because I look the part, but shhhh, there’s some Sicilian blood in my veins.) I love to make sauces and fancy, cheese-laden pasta dishes from scratch. I’ve been making manicotti from scratch since I was 13.

But tonight (sorry grandma) I used jarred sauce.

I also used ground turkey. Sacrelige, by Italian standards. I can’t stomach beef. I like it, it doesn’t like me.

My faux-Italian dinner was delicious. And delightfully lazy….

Lazybones dinner.....

…..so lazy, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture of the completed dish. Perhaps those sexy little cupcakes photo-bombing will make up for it.

(Turkey) Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 99% lean ground turkey (1 package, or 1 1/3 pounds)
  • 1 jar Francesco Rinaldi Marinara Sauce (I used Tomato & Basil Hearty Pasta Sauce)
  • 1/2 jar water

Directions:

  1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, adding turkey to “brown.” Break up turkey constantly with a spoon. Cooked turkey will turn white.
  2. When turkey is fully cooked, add Marinara Sauce, and 1/2 jar of water. Simmer 5 minutes, or until sauce is warm.
  3. Add ½ cup of hot sauce and simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
Want to bulk this up?
  • Add chopped onions when browning turkey in step 1.
  • Add fresh spinach when heating sauce in step 2.
**I served myself 1 cup of pasta topped with 1/2 cup of meat sauce, for an 8P+ meal. You can adjust your pasta serving accordingly.
**I used 1/2 cup of leftover sauce on 2 oz of Italian bread for a “Turkey (Sloppy) Joe” sandwich the next day.
Nutritional Information Per Serving of Sauce (3P+, makes 10 1/2 cup servings):
Calories: 113
Carbs: 7
Fat: 3
Protein: 15
Fiber: 1
Sodium: 303
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com
Oct 28 2011
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9P+, Chicken, Main Course, Pasta, Spicy

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Ready to go to the oven for some lovin

This meal is a marriage of many wonderful things.

Pasta? Love. Cheese? Love. Chicken? Love. Buffalo flavor? Love. (Am I channeling Joey from FRIENDS?)

I used pre-cooked, home-ground chicken that I already had in the fridge, though for aesthetic reasons, in the future, I will shred or cube my chicken for this recipe.

I had both my brother and cousin (both 25) taste it before it was oven ready, and they liked the buffalo flavor. So, without further delay, here is my first recipe!

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Inspired by skinnytaste.com and foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

  • 12 oz Ronzoni Smart Taste Elbow Macaroni
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • ¼ c flour
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 stalks celery, minced
  • 12 oz cooked chicken breast, cubed or shredded (depending on your preference!)
  • 2 cups skim milk
  • ½ cup fat free chicken broth
  • ½ – ¾ cup hot sauce (to taste)
  • 2 cups shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar (I used Stop & Shop Brand)
  • pepper to taste (I skip the salt, hot sauce is high in sodium)
  • ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • cooking spray

Directions:

  1. Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente. (You want it to still be slightly firm so it doesn’t fall apart in the baking process.) Drain pasta and set aside.
  2. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375.
  3. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add the garlic and celery, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add flour and cook another minute, or until the flour is golden and well combined.
  5. Whisk in ½ cup of hot sauce and simmer until mixture is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
  6. Add milk and chicken broth and whisk, raising the heat slightly until the mixture comes to a boil. Cook about 5 minutes, whisking until the sauce becomes smooth and thick. **This may possibly look a little “ugly” when you add the milk to the hot sauce mixture. To me, it looked as though the milk was separating. Keep whisking & cooking, it will go away.** Season with pepper, to taste.
  7. Once the sauce is thick, remove from heat. Add cheese to skillet and stir until it is completely melted. (If you would like some extra heat, add ¼ c of hot sauce.) Then, add cooked macaroni and chicken breast and mix well. Pour into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and garlic powder, and spray a little more cooking spray on top.
  8. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then broil for a few minutes to allow the breadcrumbs to golden.
Optional: Sprinkle some crumbled bleu cheese on top if you enjoy the flavor. It will change the P+ value. I served with some delicious veggies :)

Dinner is served.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (9P+, makes 8 servings):
Calories: 347
Carbs: 44
Fat: 10
Protein: 25
Fiber: 4
Sodium: 413
Nutritional Information from myfitnesspal.com