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Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Shells

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Date: 4/26/2012

Recipe: http://annies-eats.com/2009/02/27/sausage-and-spinach-stuffed-shells/

Modifications: I got diced tomatoes for the “chopped tomatoes” called for in the recipe – I’m not sure if there is a different thing actually called chopped tomatoes, but if there is, I couldn’t find it. I only made 2 8×8 pans, and for my preference, there wasn’t NEARLY enough sauce. I added a large can of crushed tomatoes to the top – a 28oz can split pretty evenly between both pans.

Time to table: 1 hour prep, ~1 hour baking time

Servings: Three 8×8 pans (but I got only 2 + some extra)

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Like

Notes: This made a little more than 2 8×8 pans for me – but the remaining weren’t quite enough for another pan. I used my small pampered chef cookie scoop to stuff  the shells – about 2 scoops per shell. I froze the 2nd 8×8 pan prior to the baking step. This is very similar to the other stuffed shells recipe we tried, but I liked this one better, especially since I knew to add a lot more sauce. The filling was especially rich and delicious, probably due to using sausage versus turkey.

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Baked ziti

Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti

Date: 2/17/2012

Recipe: http://annies-eats.com/2009/07/02/baked-ziti/

Modifications: None

Time to table: 45 minutes prep, 75 minutes to bake

Servings: 8-10 adults

Ben: Love

Erin: Love

Annie: Love (the 2nd time with no distractions)

Notes: This dish fills a 13×9 pan completely and makes a massive amount of food.We had our friends over on Friday to eat this and we barely had half of the pan for four adults and two toddlers. We gave them a meals worth of leftovers and we have ourselves a meals worth of leftovers still, very good bang for the buck

I made this the night before and refrigerated it. Even after 75 minutes this still wasn’t hot in the middle, but it was certainly warm enough to eat. We THINK Annie liked this, but she was so wired from having guests over that she barely ate anything.

Baked Ziti

Stuffed chicken breasts

Fontina & Sun dried tomatoes stuffed chicken

Date: 2/8/2012

Recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Breasts-Stuffed-with-Fontina-Artichokes-and-Sun-Dried-Tomatoes-241332

Roasted broccoli: Toss broccoli with olive oil, salt, and parmesan cheese. Roast for 20 minutes at 400.

Modifications: We halved this recipe because it was just for us and two chicken breasts is plenty for three of us.

Time to table: 45 minutes

Servings: 2 adults, 1 toddler

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Dislike

Annie: Like

Notes: Erin and I didn’t really like this recipe. We had just picked it because we had fontina cheese and sun dried tomatoes from other recipes to use up, and from that perspective it was a success :) We just gave Annie a plain piece of chicken under the assumption that she wouldn’t like thee stuffing. She enjoyed her bland chicken and broccoli just fine though :)

Fontina & Sun dried tomatoes stuffed chicken

Tortellini Salad

Tortellini Salad

Date: 12/25/2011

Recipe: http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2010/01/balsamic-chicken-spinach-and-tomato-pasta-salad/

Time to table: 30 minutes

Modifications: Since this was a side dish, we left out the chicken. We also doubled this. I didn’t use Newman’s Own dressing, just some generic balsamic.

Servings: I think there were around … oh, 17 adults or something? The single recipe would easily feed 6 I think.

Ben: Like

Erin: Like

Annie: Dislike, would not try a bite.

Notes: Everyone really liked this! It felt very summery (as most of the ingredients are freshest in summer obviously) which was a nice change of pace – but obviously this would be better in the summer using actual fresh ingredients. Stuff like basil and tomatoes right now are pretty sad, but I still enjoyed it despite that.

Pasta with vegetables

Pasta w/ veggies in a cream sauce

Date: July 19th, 2011

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/07/farfalle-with-zucchini-a-yummy-summer-meal/

Modifications: We used a zucchini and a summer squash because that’s what we got in our csa box.

Time to table: 30 minutes

Servings: Enough for 4 adults and 2 toddlers

Ben: Dislike

Erin: Dislike

Annie: Dislike

Notes: This didn’t turn our nearly as well as the last time we made it. Annie was NOT A FAN. I think I used too much pasta which diluted the creaminess of the sauce, so it just kind of tasted like pasta with veggies and no sauce, not very tasty at all. I’m making spaghetti sauce tonight and we’ll use the leftovers with some red sauce. Better than chucking them :)

Pasta w/ veggies in a cream sauce