Ravioli Lasagna

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

Marinara Sauce:

4 lbs tomatoes, quartered

1 large onion cut, into wedges all the same size

6 whole cloves garlic, unpeeled

Olive oil

2 Tbls tomato paste

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

2 Tbls fresh oregano, chopped

2 Tbls fresh basil, chopped

1- 4 lbs bag of frozen ravioli (preferably the kind from Sam’s – you will have extra to use for another use)

2 Cups mozzarella

Directions:

1. Place tomatoes, onion, and garlic cloves on a jelly-roll pan. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until tomatoes pucker and onions look translucent.

2. Allow tomatoes mixture to cool before blending in a blender. Once ready to blend remove the skin from the garlic cloves and place them in the blender. In batches, add tomatoes and onions along with pan juices to the blender and blend until smooth. Place tomato mixture in pot on the stove and add the tomato paste and herbs. Adjust seasoning to taste and heat to warm. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Prepare a 9X13 baking dish with cooking spray. Pour a small amount of sauce in the bottom of the pan. Place a layer of frozen ravioli across the bottom of the pan, spread more sauce over ravioli and sprinkle about 1/3 cup of mozzarella over the sauce covered ravioli. Repeat with 2 more layers and finish the dish with remaining sauce on top and remaining cheese. Bake covered with aluminum foil for 1 hour. Remove foil after 1 hour and cook ravioli for an additional 5-10 min.

Meatloaf by Geisel Nye

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 Lbs. lean ground beef

2 eggs

½ Cup milk

½ Cup beef gravy (from 12 oz jar) reserve rest for top of meat loaf

1 6oz box of Stove Top Stuffing Mix (your favorite flavor)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Directions:

1. In a food processor or blender, process stuffing mix until fine crumbs.

2. Prepare a 10x15 jelly roll pan with a sheet of parchment paper or cover pan with foil. Set aside for later use. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

3. In a large bowl; combine meat, eggs, milk, gravy, crushed stuffing mix, salt and pepper. Mix all ingredients until thoroughly combined.

4. Place meat on prepared jelly roll pan and shape into an even loaf. Pour the rest of the gravy from the jar on top of loaf and place in preheated oven.

5. Cook loaf for 1 hour and allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Flank Steak with Texas Dry Rub by Geisel Nye

4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

1 Whole Flank Steak

Olive oil

Dry Rub:

2 Tbls chili powder
2 Tbls salt

1 Tbls garlic powder

1 Tbls onion powder

1 Tbls ground black pepper

1 Tbls sugar

2 tsp ground mustard

Directions:

1. Combine dry rub ingredients in small container and mix thoroughly.

2. Pat flank steak dry with paper towels and rub with a little olive oil. Pour dry rub all over both sides and rub into meat.

3. Allow meat to marinate overnight in the fridge or allow meat to rest on counter for 1 hour before grilling. Preheat grill to high heat 15 minutes before grilling.

4. Place on grill for 10 minutes per side. Allow meat to rest 10 minutes uncovered on cutting board before slicing thin against the grain.

Roast Chicken Breast by Geisel Nye

4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

4 whole bone-in, skin on, Chicken breasts

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees

2. Rinse chicken breast and trim off excess fat but make sure you keep enough to cover breasts as they roast. Pat chicken dry with paper towels.

3. Line a jelly roll (10x15) pan with heavy duty foil. Place chicken breasts skin side up on pan making sure no pieces are touching. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and sprinkle a generous amount of salt and pepper all over the top of chicken.

4. Roast chicken uncovered in 425 degree oven for 45 minutes or until chicken registers to 165 degrees internal temp. Depending on the size of the chicken breasts you may need to increase your cooking time 5 minutes. The chicken should look golden brown and internal juices should be clear. The skin acts as a baster to ensure a nice juicy piece of chicken. The skin may be peeled off and discarded before serving to your guests.

5. Allow chicken to rest, covered for 10 minutes before serving.

6. Chicken may be served with gravy, bbq sauce, honey mustard sauce or cooled and served as chicken salad.

Fajitas (recipe by Geisel Nye)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

Marinade (Mojo)

1 Orange, juiced or ¾ of a cup of orange juice from a bottle

2 Limes, juiced or ½ Cup of lime juice from a bottle

4 Tbls of Olive Oil

2 Garlic Cloves, minced

1-3 Chipotle Chilies in adobo sauce (depending on how hot you want it)

3 Tbls Cilantro, roughly chopped

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Salt

1 Whole Flank Steak, cut into thirds (Can Substitute with Chicken)

2 Red Bell Peppers

2 Green Peppers

1 Large Purple Onion, or whatever onions you like

12 Flour Tortillas

Directions:

1. In a blender combine all marinade ingredients, puree until smooth. 

2. Place Flank Steak (or Chicken) in a large gallon size zip lock plastic bag.  Pour marinade over meat and seal bag shut. 

3. Massage bag gently to make sure meat is well coated.  Place bag on a dish incase it leaks, and refrigerate for 2-4 hours for steak (refrigerate for 15 minutes for chicken)

4. In a large, lightly oiled fry pan, preheat on high.  Drain meat and season with salt and pepper,  grill meat for 7 minutes on each side or until done to your liking.  Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this in batches. (Can also be grilled on an outdoor grill over high heat)

5. Transfer meat to a cutting board and allow to rest 10 minutes.  A MUST or you will be mopping up all that yummy juice off your counter.

6. While meat is resting, slice peppers and onions and toss to coat with olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper.

7. In same grill pan, grill onions and peppers until just barely limp about 7 minutes.

8. While peppers and onions are cooking, heat up flour tortillas in a microwave 1 minute, covered with damp tea towel.

9. Once meat has fully rested slice ACROSS THE GRAIN in thin long slices.

10. Enjoy eating these with: Pico de Gallo, cilantro, cooked peppers, cheese, sour cream and guacamole.

Basic Tortellini Recipe

Making Homemade Pasta - Taste of Home Magazine

Precise step by step instructions in English 8)

Noodle Basics

Fresh pasta contains only three ingredients: flour, salt, and eggs.

• Semolina, a high-protein flour made from Durum wheat, makes better pasta than all-purpose flour. It creates a stronger gluten structure, allowing for more pliable dough.
• Salt provides flavor, and the eggs create richer dough, along with binding the dough together.
• Olive oil is sometimes added for flavor, or, if the pasta is to be dried, water is used instead of eggs.

Top 20 Homemade "Allrecipes" Pasta Recipes

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Mixing

Kneading the dough creates the important gluten structure that holds the pasta together. Using a stand mixer with a dough hook simplifies the process: just add the ingredients and mix. Kneading by hand takes more effort, but is still quite enjoyable (and a good workout).

• Start with a large, clean work surface. Make a mound of the flour and salt with a well in the middle.
• Add the eggs to the well, and start stirring with a fork, slowly incorporating all the flour until the dough comes together.
• Knead the dough until it is soft and pliable. This might take several minutes.

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Rolling

A pasta machine is a pasta maker's best friend. Just follow these tips for flawless dough:

• Use the machine for the final kneading. Run the dough through the widest setting on the machine, fold into thirds, and roll again. Continue this process until the dough is shiny and elastic.
• Work the dough through the settings of the machine until the desired thickness is reached.
• Four hands are better than two: enlisting some help with turning the handle of the pasta machine will make this job much easier.
• If you're working with only a portion of the dough at a time, keep the remainder wrapped in plastic to prevent it from drying out.

Rolling by hand works, too, and can easily be done with just a rolling pin and a large work surface.

• Just as with a pasta machine, roll the pasta dough flat, fold into thirds, and roll flat again, until the dough is shiny and elastic.
• Make sure the dough is in small enough batches to be workable. (Slightly smaller than your fist is a good gauge.) Keep extra dough covered in plastic until you're ready to work with it.
• Roll to the final thickness, and form desired shape.

Try these recipes for fresh pasta:

Unique Spinach Noodles Fresh Semolina and Egg Pasta Egg Noodles Homemade Noodles Spelt Noodles Homemade Egg Noodles Eggless Pasta

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Shaping

Fresh pasta allows you to choose your favorite shape of pasta, in any size you choose.

• Any sort of thin, flat pasta is possible when making pasta by hand, including lasagna, fettuccine, or linguine.
• Complex shapes, such as penne, spaghetti, or macaroni requite special cutters and attachments added to the pasta machine.
• Filled pastas, such as ravioli or tortellini, are perfect for fresh-made pasta. You can fill them with anything you choose, and create the best pairing possible between filling and sauce.

Try these ravioli and filled pasta recipes:

Smoked Salmon Ravioli Pumpkin Ravioli with Hazelnut Cream Sauce Afghan Beef Raviolis (Mantwo)

Kitchen Aid instructions

Homemade pasta lessons from the Italians!

Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 to 2 teaspoons paprika
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 to 8 boneless pork loin chops (1 inch thick)

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1 can (4 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice
Hot mashed potatoes

DIRECTIONS:

In a large re-sealable plastic bag, combine the first four ingredients.

Add pork chops, one at a time: toss to coat. Set remaining flour mixture aside.

In a large skillet, sauté chops in butter until golden brown; transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish.

In the same skillet, sauté the onion, green pepper and mushrooms until tender.

Stir in reserved flour mixture: gradually add milk until blended. Bring to a boil: cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Remove from the heat; stir in lemon juice. Pour over chops.

Cover and bake at 350" for 50-60 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink.

Serve with potatoes. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Chicken Cacciatore w/ Spaghetti

Ingredients:Vegetable oil

2 ½ pounds boned chicken breast, cut into 2 inch cubes

1 ½ Tablespoon flour

¾ cup dry white wine or chicken broth

4 Tablespoons butter

1 pound mushrooms, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

2 green bell peppers, cut into ½ inch strips

1 cup beef broth

1 garlic clove, pressed

6 ounces tomato paste

1 (35 oz.) diced Italian tomatoes (or diced tomatoes with garlic onion, & green pepper), undrained

¼ pound pepperoni, sliced

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon rosemary

Salt and pepper

2 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Pour enough oil into a large flame-roof casserole to cover the bottom. Add chicken and stir over high heat until browned. Sprinkle on flour. Continue stirring over high heat until flour is lightly browned. Pour on wine/chicken broth. Stir to release any cooked on meat particles and bring to a boil. Transfer the mixture to a bowl.

Add butter to the pan. Melt over medium heat, then add mushrooms, onions and peppers. Toss to coat. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Cook for 10  minutes or until the onions are tender.

Increase the heat to medium-high. Pour on beef broth. Stir in garlic and tomato paste. Add tomatoes, breaking them up. Add pepperoni. Blend in basil, oregano and rosemary. Return chicken and wine to the casserole and mix. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat. Stir in the parsley and cover the casserole. Place the covered casserole in a cool oven and set to 325 degrees. Bake for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Cook spaghetti and pour Chicken Cacciatore on top of spaghetti

Freeze leftovers! Still tastes great.

Another version of Chicken caccitorre (Click here for ingredients): 

Meatballs

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs ground beef

1 lb ground sausage

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 grated carrot

1 egg

¾ c bread crumbs

1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 finely chopped onion

¼ c of ketchup or the spaghetti sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Mix well and roll into 2” meatballs

Place in 9x13 pan and bake @ 350^o for 30 mins or until done 


1) Pour sweet and sour sauce over them and serve them with toothpicks.

2) Add them to spagetthi sauce and pasta.

3) Make them in bulk. These freeze well. 

P.S. Same ingredients if add more bread and put into a loaf pan, can be made into a meatloaf!

Spaghetti Sauce

Just cook pasta and add spaghetti sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

1 jar Ragu Garden Vegetable or Chunky Tomato, Garlic & Onion

3 12-oz. cans tomato paste

2 14-1/2-oz. cans diced tomatoes with green pepper & onion

1 15-oz. can tomato sauce

2 chopped onions

2-3 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp oregano

1 Tbsp sweet basil

½ tsp red pepper flakes

1-1/2 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together in crock pot or medium-size roaster, covered

Cook 4-5 hrs In oven; start @ 300^o for 1 hr; stir – turn down to 250^o

Stir every hour.