I made this stuff up! Cooking with Mimi

Pasta Fagioli

Another soup we made on New Year's Eve. The recipe was intended for a crockpot but we just did it on top the stove and it was fine. A very yummy recipe!

Pasta Fagioli 

• 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
• 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
• 4 medium carrots, sliced in coins
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups beef broth
• 1 (26 ounce) cans spaghetti sauce
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry pasta, saved for later ( macaroni is our favorite)

Directions

1. Brown the beef (or you can use ground turkey if you prefer), drain, and let cool a bit while you handle the other ingredients. If you wish, you can use minced garlic and onion while browning the meat to add a little extra flavor.
2. Fill a large crock pot with the chopped carrots, celery, minced onion, rinsed beans, 2 cans of tomatoes, can of pasta sauce, beef broth, salt, pepper, oregano, and Tabasco sauce. You can also add in any extra vegetables you'd like if you have some on hand to add.
3. Add in the pound of meat and stir it all together.
4. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
5. When the vegetables are tender, or about 3/4 into the cooking time, stir in the dry pasta and continue until the end of the cooking time.
6. Enjoy!

Chicken Lasagna/ Roll ups

Tim grilled some chicken last weekend while I was gone and he had leftovers. This turned out wonderful. Tim and I really liked it as well as Natalie. 3 out of 5 ain't bad!

1 box uncooked lasagna noodles

1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 cup chopped onion

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup white wine

1 8 oz container of mushrooms sliced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

4 cups chopped cooked chicken breast

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I used mozzerella)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. Meanwhile in a pan saute onions in a little bit of oil or butter. When onions are almost brown pull them out and set them aside. Add a little more butter to the pan and saute mushrooms, when they are nearly done add onions back in as well as a 1/4 cup of white wine. 
4. In a medium bowl, combine chicken soup, mushroom soup, onion, Parmesan cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise and garlic salt.
5. In a 9x13 inch baking dish, layer 1/3 of the noodles, soup mixture, chicken and cheese; repeat 3 times, ending with cheese.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

Note: I had leftover lasagna noodles and filling so I laid the noodles on a pan and filled them with the leftover ingredients and rolled them up. I baked them for 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil. They were yummy also!

Tortellini pasta salad

We made this salad up for the 4th of July party we went to. We didn't really have a recipe just made it up as we went along. It turned out really tasty. I'm guessing at amounts we used but it's not rocket science you can add or take away as your taste suits you. Enjoy!

• 1 pkg dried or fresh tortellini
• 1 bottle italian dressing (caeser would work also) we used almost the whole bottle. It really depends on the tortellini you use to see whether it soaks the dressing up or not.
• 1/4 cup Pesto (If you don't have pesto it's okay to just use dressing but I like the pesto)
• 2 handfuls Arugula
•  Handful Fresh Basil
• 1 container Grape Tomatoes cut in half
• 1 Red, or Orange Pepper chopped up
• 1 Cucumber diced up
• 3/4 cup Feta Cheese (Bleu Cheese would work also)
• 1 can Black Olives sliced
• 1-2 jars Artichoke Hearts
• Salt to taste 
• Pepper to taste

Cook Tortellini as directed on package. After it's done, rinse it with cold water. If the tortellini is hot when you add the dressing it will make your salad dry out. Chop up the rest of the ingredients and toss your salad together. Chill for 4 hours. Check and see if it needs more dressing and add as needed. Enjoy!

 

Yakisoba Noodles

While Tim was getting the fence supplies last Friday I had to find a recipe for yakisoba noodles because normally this is his forte in the kitchen. I found this recipe and it turned out great the kids loved it. I did two batches and in our batch I added sweet chili sauce to it and that was tasty also. I added bbq pork and frozen veggies to ours because it's what I had but you could add chicken or whatever suits you! I buy my bbq pork at Costco or United Grocers because the quality is much better and it freezes beautifully!  Enjoy!

Yakisoba Noodles

20 min | 5 min prep

SERVES 10 -12

• 1 (3 lb) bag sun noodle brand fresh yakisoba noodles
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons granulated garlic powder
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce

1. Loosen the yakisoba noodles in a large pan. Remove the noodles from the pan.
2. In a large sauté pan (non-stick preferably), add the cooking oil, cook in medium heat.
3. Add the fresh garlic, about 10 seconds, add the granulated garlic.
4. Add the noodles right away, then, add the chicken broth.
5. Stir the noodles around to blend with the garlic mix.
6. Add the soy sauce, and then the fish sauce.
7. Stir constantly but be careful not to break the noodles apart.
8. Cook until noodles are smooth and coated (about 10 minutes).
9. Add the oyster sauce and stir about 5 more minutes.
10. Serve plain or with any of the toppings mentioned above.

Rigatoni Vegetable Soup

This is my Grandma's recipe.

Rigatoni Vegetable Soup

• 1 pkg 12 oz rigatoni
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 32 oz can spaghetti sauce
• 1 can 2 1/4 oz sliced olives
• 1 cup sliced fresh carrots
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 cups sliced zucchini
• 1tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Cook rigatoni as directed on package. In large frying pan brown ground beef, onion and garlic. Add spaghetti sauce, zucchini, olives, salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes, or until zucchini and carrots are tender. Drain rigatoni. Add rigatoni to the sauce and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve with bread.

Sicilian Supper

This was a dinner my mom used to make a lot when we were growing up. I added green and red peppers to mine because that's what I had and I used more sauce. I also substituted plain greek yogurt for the sour cream because we were out and it turned out just fine. I hid the peppers and onions in with the sauce so my kids would eat it.

Sicilian Supper

55 min | 20 min prep

SERVES 8

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 15 ounces spaghetti sauce
• 2 cups elbow macaroni
• 8 ounces cream cheese, cubed
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brown ground beef, garlic, and onion in heavy saucepan, stirring to break up ground beef. Drain well. Add spaghetti sauce and stir well to blend. Let simmer for 10 minutes to blend flavors.
3. Meanwhile, cook elbow macaroni as directed on package. While macaroni is cooking, combine cream cheese and milk in medium bowl. Cook in microwave on medium power for 2-3 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. Remove from microwave and stir with wire whisk until sauce blends. Drain noodles and add to cream cheese sauce along with sour cream, green pepper, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
4. In 2 quart casserole dish, place all of cream cheese mixture. Top with all of the ground beef mixture and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until casserole is bubbly.
5. To freeze, add 1 tablespoons cornstarch to the cream cheese sauce. Prepare casserole as directed, except instead of baking, chill in refrigerator. Wrap well and freeze up to 3 months. To thaw and reheat, thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator. Bake, covered, for 25-30 minutes until hot. Uncover, sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese, and bake 5-10 minutes longer until bubbly.