Six-Cheese Turkey Manicotti Recipe

Here's another amazing recipe from my friend Heather. I had this stuffed manicotti at her house shortly after I met her, almost four years ago now, and I can still remember how melt-in-your-mouth delicious these were. I asked her for the recipe that night, she hand wrote it down for me and then I promptly lost it. So after getting to know her a little better, I decided it would be ok to ask for it a-gain and of course she happily gave it to me a-gain because she's awesome like that. So I finally recreated these last night to post and save this as one of my favorite recipes. I did use turkey instead of beef (which her original recipe calls for) so choose whichever you prefer. Turkey's just a bit healthier and I figured with all that cheese...

Ingredients
2 boxes manicotti noodles
2 cans spaghetti sauce
1 lb turkey (or ground beef)
2 (8oz) pkgs shredded mozzarella
2lb ricotta cheese
24oz cottage cheese
3 (5oz) containers asiago, parmesan and romano cheese blend
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil

Directions

1. Prepare manicotti in large stock pot according package. I like al dente.

2. Brown turkey (or beef) in a skillet. Drain if using beef.

3. In a very large bowl, mix together all packages of cheese except one of the mozzarella packages.

4. Fold in cooked turkey (or beef) and garlic to cheese mixture.

5. Put thin layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom of two 9 x 13" baking dishes.

6. Gently stuff manicotti with turkey and cheese mixture using a spoon. Place stuffed manicotti in the baking dish. If a manicotti noodle rips, don't worry, place the noodle rip-side down in the baking dish.

7. Pour spaghetti sauce over the manicotti, then put mozzarella over top.

8. Bake at 350˚ for 30mins. Sprinkle with basil right before serving.

Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Sage Sauce

So, I've been trying different brown butter sauces for awhile now and can't say I'm overly impressed with any of them. Are they all kinda blah tasting or is it just me? After some experimentation of combining recipes I've collected, I finally came up with the best brown butter sage sauce recipe I've made to date. I do cheat and use fresh, packaged ravioli but you can of course get ambitious and make your own ravioli, too. I love this recipe because it's got a refreshingly different flavor yet it's easy enough to throw together on a weeknight.

Ingredients
1 package fresh butternut squash ravioli

Sauce
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 onion, diced

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp sage
1/4 tsp black pepper

Toppings

1/4 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano 

1/4 cup pine nuts

Directions

1. Begin cooking ravioli as directed. Toast pine nuts until light golden brown.

2. Melt butter over medium-low heat. Add garlic, salt and onions. Sauté onions until translucent. Keep an eye on the butter and remove from heat when little brown specs appear throughout.

3.  Pour brown butter sauce in a large bowl and add lemon juice, sage, and black pepper.

4. Add pasta and Parmigiano-Reggiano and toss to coat.

5. Top with toasted pine nuts and serve.

Serves: 2-4

Creamy Tomato Spinach Ravioli Recipe

I tasted this dish for the first time a few weeks ago and it's already a family favorite. I went to a Pampered Chef party my friend was hosting and they cooked a sample meal to demonstrate the products and this is what they cooked. This dish is incredibly easy to make and it tastes like something you'd pay $20-25 for at a fancy Italian restaurant. I recreated this recipe for friends and they said it was awesome (even the kiddos liked it!)

Ingredients
1 (32oz) bag frozen cheese ravioli
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 small onion, chopped
2 (14.5oz) cans petite diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste (get the kind in a tube)
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp oregano
1 (8oz) bag fresh spinach leaves
1 cup mozzarella, parmesan cheese blend

Directions
1. In a large skillet, saute garlic and onion in oil ove medium/low heat. Add frozen ravioli, stir to coat in oil so it doesn't stick to pan. Cook ravioli for about 15 mins, stirring frequently.

2. Add diced tomatoes, whipping cream and oregano. Cook over medium heat for another 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add spinach and cover. Cook about 8 mins or until spinach is wilted.

4. Add cheese and stir to thoroughly mix. Serve with homemade garlic bread.

Serves: 4

By the way, here's what I ordered at the Pampered Chef party. The medium-sized spatula which is awesome, it's like a scraper, stirring stick and spatula all in one! I also got a new pizza stone with handles (per my husband's request). It's great to use for making homemade garlic bread, too. (To make garlic bread, I usually just use whatever bread I have laying around, butter, minced garlic, basil and oregano and put it the oven for about 7 mins.) Last thing I ordered was a bamboo dry erase board that I'm planing to mount and use as my honey-do list. Pretty excited about that one, not sure how excited hubby is though!
 

Catalina Pink Pasta Salad Recipe

This is one of my family's recipes that takes me back to summer barbecues we had when I was a kid. Now, I often make it at my own barbecues and everyone is always surprised to see a pink pasta salad! It's not just the lighting in the photo above, it's actually pink! Bet you haven't seen or had a pasta salad like this one before and if you have, then you know how good this is.

Ingredients
1 (20oz) large box of elbow macaroni
1 (16oz) bottle Catalina dressing
1 large red onion, very thinly sliced
10 hard boiled eggs, sliced
2/3 cup mayo
1 (7oz) jar sliced green olives (optional)


Directions
1. Slice onion and eggs into rounds & then cut rounds into quarters. 

2. Cook pasta al dente; drain & rinse w/ cold water. 

3. Mix dressing, mayo, olives and onions. Add pasta then lightly fold in eggs.

4. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving, preferably overnight. 

Serves: 10-12 

Shrimp & Chicken Pesto Recipe

This is a super easy and fantastic recipe if I do say so myself. Well actually my hubby is the brains behind this recipe so I can't take the credit anyway. I love this dish because it's so insanely good, it's easy to prep and it can be double to serve a large group. Perfect for our extended family dinner nights.

Ingredients
5lb bag raw shrimp
2 chicken breasts
1 package linguine
2 tbsp basil
1 tbsp spinach
1/2 tbsp parsley flakes
1/2 tbsp oregano
1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup grape seed oil, plus more to grease pan
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheesed
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. Cook linguine as directed on the package.

2. Toast pine nuts until golden brown then set aside.

3. Mix together basil, parsley, oregano, salt and garlic powder with oil and set aside.

4. Pound out chicken breasts, slice into thin strips. Sear them in an oiled pan on medium-high heat for 1 minute on each side, then turn down to medium and cook the rest of the way. Add shrimp so that they cook 3-4 minutes on each side or until just pink.

5. Once chicken, shrimp and noodles are cooked, toss everything together with the pesto sauce and pine nuts then serve topped with parmesan cheese.

Serves: 4-6