Baked Ziti with Spinach

Baked ziti is a favorite comfort dish in my home! Adding spinach is a quick and easy way to get more leafy greens into your family’s diet without complaints. A great dish for Meatless Mondays, or any day of the week.  We eat it with a garden salad, the portions and generous and satisfying.

I’m reviving this from the archives to update the photos. This makes enough for eight, so if you have a small family, you’ll probably have leftovers for lunch or freeze the rest for convenient freezer meals.  This can be assembled a day ahead and kept refrigerated, let it sit at room temperature 30 minutes before baking.

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Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 53)

Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 53). So this week I taped a spot for News12LI, what a great experience! For those in the area it airs in two weeks on Tuesday morning. As you get ready for Christmas parties and cookie swaps check these out…Gingerbread Christmas Trees, White Chocolate Oatmeal Lace Coookies, and for a traditional “no meat” Christmas Eve that some celebrate, Quick Mussels Fra Diavolo.

This week’s meal plan features some easy meals that also make great leftovers for lunch. Meal planning is a great way to get organized before heading to the supermarket to get ready for the week! My breakfast is usually something quick like eggs with fruit, a smoothie or avocado toast. We’re a family of four, so if a recipe serves more, it’s either packed up for everyone’s lunch or eaten the next day as leftovers. If you would like to see some of the previous week’s dinner plans, click here

 

Skinnytaste Dinner Plan (Week 53)

Monday: Spaghetti Squash Primavera
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Paleo Jalapeno Popper Chicken Chili
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Stuffed Pepper Soup
Friday:Stuffed Baked Pork Chops with Prosciutto and Mozzarella with salad
Saturday: Dinner Out
Sunday: Pasta with Italian Chicken Sausage, Escarole and Beans with salad

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Stuffed Baked Pork Chops with Prosciutto and Mozzarella

These stuffed pork chops are SO good, inspired my a meal I had at a local Italian restaurant stuffed with prosciutto, mozzarella and baby spinach then topped with garlic and breadcrumbs.

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Recipes: Gingerbread Folks

• Prep Time:5 Minutes
• Cook Time:12 Minutes
• Serves:24

 

Tagged:
bungalow chef, christmas, cookies, food channel, gingerbread, holidays, mike mech, molasses,

Who doesn’t love the spicy peppery flavor of Gingerbread?  From cookies and cakes to bread and lebkuchen, I’m completely addicted…especially around the holiday season. Nothing accompanies gingerbread better than a glass of cold milk.

Gingerbread Folks (politically correct) have been a staple in the bungalow for years. In addition to serving them to friends and consuming many of them myself, I always hang these “folks” on my holiday tree. You’ll see the original handwritten recipe, circa 1920, is quite versatile. You can roll it out and use it with your favorite cookie cutters or shape the dough into two logs, wrap them in parchment paper, refrigerate, slice and bake. In no time your home will be filled with their magical scent. I also make a great honey glaze to give them a great shine after baking.

 

Foodie Byte

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar (and a bit more for rolling out the dough)
2 eggs
1/2 cup dark molasses
4 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger (4 teaspoons if you dare)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Add the ground ginger, mix well and set aside.
In another large mixing bowl, cream the butter with the sugar.
Add the eggs and molasses, mixing well.
Incorporate the flour mixture in two steps. Mix well, and split the dough into two equal portions. Wrap in parchment paper and refrigerate for one hour.
For the roll-out cookies, cover the surface with granulated sugar to avoid sticking to the rolling pin.
Roll out to 1/4 to 1/3 of a quarter of an inch thickness and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on wire racks to cool.
You can also dip the cookies in tempered dark chocolate or tell the younger generation to decorate as they wish!

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Articles: Late Autumn Breakfast

Is Christmas Creeping Into Your Menu Too Fast?

Food News

If you are among those who want just a little more fall before winter. . .if you love the holidays but want a little more space between them, well, this breakfast menu is for you!

It’s that time of the year again, when peppermint and gingerbread invade everything from our cereal to our beer—and it happens all too quickly after Thanksgiving!  The infamous “Christmas creep” that has snuck into retail for years is now infiltrating our food.

If you’re unfamiliar with the notion of “Christmas creep,” it’s the idea that Christmas décor, themes, ideas and spirit all begin to seep into the retail world well beyond December, and, in some cases, before Halloween.

For years, we’ve been able to avoid it from a food standpoint, still enjoying harvest meals throughout early December and casually ascending into Christmas fandom, but now that "food as entertainment" is in full force throughout pop culture, Christmas-themed food events and entertainment start the day after Thanksgiving. That means all those leftover pumpkins you have that survived a Halloween carving now have one of two options: 1) be tossed out; or, 2) be made into a delicious soup that everyone will tell you is “so last month.”

What happened to the in-between? Autumn to winter should be a transition, not a one-day turnaround. Winter doesn’t even start until the end of December, but culturally we’ve trained ourselves to throw out the pumpkin with the spice the second December 1 rolls around for gingerbread and peppermint.

Well, we say not so fast! There’s plenty of time left to savor the best and brightest of autumn, and that it’s time to take back that time between the end of Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season—after all, there’s only twelve days of Christmas; the carol doesn’t mention “on the first of December. . .

So put your pumpkins to good use, go pick a squash and keep the autumn colors around the house a bit longer, because it’s not all gumdrops and candy canes yet! The breakfast recipes below will help you remember to savor the whole season and not rush through it quite so fast.

Pecan Pie Oatmeal

Citrus, Pear & Pomegranate Salad

Sausage and Sage Spaetzle

Autumn Frittata

 

 

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Recipes: Citrus, Pear and Pomegranate Salad with Vanilla Syrup

• Prep Time:15 minutes
• Cook Time:N/A
• Serves:4

 

Tagged:
autumn, breakfast, citrus, pear, pomegranate, salad,

Citrus, Pear and Pomegranate Salad with Vanilla Syrup makes an eclectic addition to your Autumn Breakfast table, waking up your senses and getting you ready for the day!

This is part of our Autumn Breakfast series. Check out all the recipes at this link.

 

Foodie Byte

The red grapefruit is nice because of the pop of color, but you can use any type of citrus fruit in this salad.

Ingredients

3 navel oranges
2 red grapefruit
1 pear, sliced into thin wedges
1 small pomegranate, de-seeded, about a cup
juice of 2 lemons
1/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out

Preparation

Trim the tops and bottoms of the oranges and grapefruits, then cut away the peel and pith with a paring knife. Slice the pear into thin wedges, removing the core.
Combine lemon juice, sugar and ¼ cup water with the vanilla seeds in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is melted.
Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Artfully arrange the fruits on a large serving platter and pour the syrup over the fruit.
Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

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Recipes: Sausage and Sage Spaetzle

• Prep Time:15 min.
• Cook Time:30 min.
• Serves:6

 

Tagged:
autumn, breakfast, noodle, sage, sausage, spaetzle,

 Here's a dish that is warm and comforting--and a surprisingly hearty addition to the breakfast table. It's a great way to warm up when the weather turns chilly!

This is part of our Autumn Breakfast series. Check out all the recipes at this link.

 

 

 

Foodie Byte

Add more sage if you want a more robust flavor. You can use any brand, but Maggi is one commonly available in grocery stores.

Ingredients

2 10.5 oz. packs of Maggi spaetzle
1 lb. lean mild sausage
1/4 cup fresh chopped sage
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 tablespooons butter
3 cups water

Preparation

Bring water to a boil on stove top.
Stir in 2 packs spaetzle.
Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until tender.
Remove from heat, before draining pull off 1/2 cup of the water for later use.
On stove top, fry sausage and break into small crumbles, add salt and pepper to taste.
Add in fresh chopped sage.
Once sausage is fully cooked, turn heat on low and add spaetzle back into pan, stirring until well integrated.
Add in 4 tbsp butter and 1/2 cup heavy cream; stir until well integrated
Add the reserved 1/2 cup of drained water back into the pot, the starch will serve as a thickening agent.
Mix well over low heat for approximately 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve.

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