Spicy Chipotle Meatballs

I made these meatballs a couple of weeks ago and just now got to posting about them. Trust me, these suckers are definitely SPICY! But so good!

These meatballs are a slight adaptation of the recipe on Simply Recipes.com.

First, preheat the oven to 450º.

I chopped the uncooked bacon and 1 garlic clove and then combined them in a large bowl.

Using my small chopper, I combined the eggs*, bread crumbs and 1 teaspoon salt. Add this to the bacon and garlic.


*side note about my eggs this recipe. My friend and co-worker, Summer has 3 chickens in her back yard and she brought me 6 of their eggs! I used three of them because they are kind of small. If you're using XL eggs from the store, just use two. It's the first time I've ever cooked with "farm-fresh" eggs before! So cool!!

Finally, add the meat and using your hands, mix all the ingredients well.

Now, with wet hands, form meat into about 15 plum-size balls and place them in a greased baking dish.

Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.


While the meatballs are baking, use this time to combine the tomatoes, chipotles (remove all seeds first!), the adobe sauce from one can of the chipotles, oregano, the rest of the garlic (chopped) and ½ teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor. Process to a smooth purée.



When meatballs are done baking, drain the fat from baking dish.


Now, combine the tomato mixture with your favorite tomato sauce (homemade or otherwise). And pour the sauce on top, covering the meatballs evenly.



Bake until sauce has thickened, about 15 or 20 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking a second time, go ahead and start your pasta, whatever kind you like. I used no-yolk whole wheat eggs noodles, which are always awesome. Just follow the directions on the package.

Spoon 2 meatballs and sauce over each serving of pasta and enjoy!


Feel free to garnish with freshly-grated Parmesan!

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Spicy Chipotle Meatballs
makes approximately 15 meatballs

Ingredients:
3 slices bacon chopped into 1-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 large eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Salt
1 ¼ pounds ground meat (feel free to use beef, pork, veal, any combination of those three, or even turkey)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 or 2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, stemmed, seeded and sauce reserved
1 teaspoon dried oregano
24 oz. of your favorite tomato sauce
1 lb. pasta (whatever kind you desire)


Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450º.

Chop bacon and 1 garlic clove, combine in a large bowl.

Combine eggs, bread crumbs and 1 teaspoon salt. Add to bacon and garlic. Add meat.

Using your hands, mix all the ingredients together well.

With wet hands, form meat into about 15 plum-size balls and place them in a greased baking dish.

Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking, use this time to combine the tomatoes, chipotles (remove all seeds first!), the adobe sauce from one can of the chipotles, oregano, the rest of the garlic (chopped) and ½ teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor. Process to a smooth purée.

When meatballs are ready and drain the fat from baking dish.

Incorporate the tomato mixture with tomato sauce (homemade or otherwise). Pour the sauce on top, covering meatballs evenly.

Bake until sauce has thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking again, start water boiling for your pasta and follow directions on package.

Once the meatballs and sauce are finished baking, spoon 2 meatballs and sauce over each serving of pasta and ENJOY!

Chicken Mushroom (and Spinach) Lasagna

I've been meaning to make this for awhile and I finally got around to it this weekend.

The recipe doesn't call for spinach, but I had some left over from a previous recipe and I didn't want it to go to waste, so I snapped the little stems off and added it to the mushrooms.

This recipe is one of the best things I've cooked in awhile, by FAR! I HIGHLY recommend this one!

INGREDIENTS:
1 10 oz. package of baby 'bellos or white mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 a bag of baby spinach (pinch off the stems)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 1/4 cups of roasted chicken*
2 1/2 cups of skim milk**
1 cup of half & half
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
9 no-boil egg lasagna noodles***
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyère

*Regarding the roasted chicken, you could easily pick up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and use that - or you can do what I did and make your own 'quick' roasted chicken at home. (see recipe below)

**The original recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of whole milk. I don't drink whole milk and so all I had was skim milk and some left over half & half for another precious recipe. So I split it up. Just use whatever milk you happen to have on hand. Yes, it may effect the richness of your sauce, but that really isn't a huge problem with this recipe. (The wine gives it such a good kick that you won't notice.)

***I didn't use the "no-boil" noodles because I already had a new package of whole wheat lasagna noodles. Also I recently bought a Pasta Boat and it makes cooking pasta SO easy. And I cooked the noodles slightly less than al dente, since they're going in the oven anyway.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Roasted Chicken Breasts

Preheat oven to 400° with rack in middle.
Brush the chicken with EVOO on both sides Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.



Chicken Mushroom (and Spinach) Lasagna

Preheat oven to 425° with rack in middle.

Cook mushrooms, spinach, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in olive oil and add 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes.



Add wine and simmer briskly 2 minutes.


Transfer mushroom mixture to a large bowl and stir in chicken.


Bring milk to barely a simmer in a medium saucepan.

In a different pan, Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter medium-low heat. Add flour and cook roux, whisking constantly, 3 minutes.


Add hot milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Add thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve 1 cup sauce. Stir Parmesan into sauce remaining in pan, then stir into mushroom filling.


Pour half of reserved plain sauce into baking pan, spreading evenly to coat bottom.


Add 3 lasagna noodles, overlapping slightly, and one third of mushroom filling, spreading evenly, then sprinkle one fourth of Gruyère over top. Repeat 2 times.



Top with remaining 3 lasagna noodles and remaining plain sauce, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with remaining Gruyère.


Cover with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching top of lasagna but sealing all around edge, and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until cheese is golden, about 15 minutes more.

Fresh out of the oven!

Let lasagna stand at least 10 minutes before serving.

Again, I can't stress just HOW good this non-traditional lasagna is! Don't be put off by the roux - it only takes a few minutes.

Enjoy!

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Chicken Mushroom (and Spinach) Lasagna

INGREDIENTS:
1 10 oz. package of baby 'bellos or white mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 a bag of baby spinach (pinch off the stems) *optional
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 1/4 cups of roasted chicken
2 1/2 cups of skim milk
1 cup of half & half
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
9 no-boil egg lasagna noodles
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyère

Preheat oven to 425° with rack in middle.

Cook mushrooms, spinach, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in olive oil and add 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are softened, about 5 minutes.

Add wine and simmer briskly 2 minutes.

Transfer mushroom mixture to a large bowl and stir in chicken.

Bring milk to barely a simmer in a medium saucepan.

In a different pan, Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter medium-low heat. Add flour and cook roux, whisking constantly, 3 minutes.

Add hot milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Add thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve 1 cup sauce. Stir Parmesan into sauce remaining in pan, then stir into mushroom filling.

Pour half of reserved plain sauce into baking pan, spreading evenly to coat bottom.

Add 3 lasagna noodles, overlapping slightly, and one third of mushroom filling, spreading evenly, then sprinkle one fourth of Gruyère over top. Repeat 2 times.

Top with remaining 3 lasagna noodles and remaining plain sauce, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with remaining Gruyère.

Cover with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching top of lasagna but sealing all around edge, and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until cheese is golden, about 15 minutes more.

Let lasagna stand at least 10 minutes before serving.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo

So I'm trying to be more healthy these days by eating more veggies and cooking healthier stuff and ya'll are just going to have to learn to live with it. :)

I was standing in the checkout line of my Wal-Mart (HEY! I live in a small town; it's pretty much all I've got.) when I picked up a Cooking Light Magazine and started flipping through it. I ended up buying it because they had some good lookin' recipes in there. And this week's post is one of those good-lookin' recipes.

I try not to cook stuff with pasta too often because of the carbs, but whatever...this looked good, damnit!

As previously stated, I live in a small town, BUT we still have a fresh seafood place! So I went down there and picked up a pound of fresh, raw shrimp. Now I've been to some pretty good seafood markets and see people buy shrimp with the heads on...um yeah no. I will peel and devein shrimp all day long (and sometimes i feel like i have) but I will NOT remove heads. EW! GROSS! So get fresh HEADS-OFF shrimp unless you're weird and want to cut their little heads off.

Peeling the shrimp is the easy part, Deveining them can be kind of gross, but remember that little line of brown you're cutting out isn't really poop - its more like sand and dirt, but sometimes you run into some other nasty stuff. Just buck up! Be an adult and get over it. That's why the good Lord made soap and short term memories.

If you don't know HOW to peel and devein shrimp, here's a handy little video from epicurious.

When finished, they should look like this:

It's a good time to put on your pot of water to boil for the pasta because by the time its boiling, you'll be ready to cook the pasta.

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is heated up, roll it around the pan, covering the entire bottom.

Put the shrimp and 1 1/2 tsps of garlic in the pan and saute until the shrimp are done. They will start to curl up and will be the traditional "shrimpy" pink when they are done.



Now, remove them from the pan and place in a container to keep them warm until the sauce is done. I put them in the plastic dish with a lid and wrapped it in a towel.

Keep your pan hot while setting the shrimp aside because you're going to be adding another tbsp of olive oil and 3/4 of a cup of onions. (I recommend having the onions diced and measured out before starting the actual cooking process. There's no real "down" time in the recipe.) Saute the onions until they become soft and almost translucent.

Add to the pan, the last tbsp of garlic, the crushed red pepper, basil and oregano and STIR CONSTANTLY. It will burn quickly, if you don't. Cook for about a minute.



Next, add tomato paste and lemon juice, cooking for an additional minute or so. The whole mixture will start to brown a bit. (Feel free to add an extra tbsp of oil here, if you need to. I did. It seemed too "dry".)

Finally, add in crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and salt. Cook the whole sauce down until it starts to thicken, stirring frequently. This took about 5 -7 minutes and is a GREAT time to go ahead and put the linguine in the water that should be boiling by now.

The sauce should be the consistency of a thin paste, now. So go ahead and put the shrimp back in the pan.

Give the whole thing several good stirs to mix it all up and continue to cook it for about another 2 or 3 minutes. Just long enough to bring everything to the same temperature and mix the flavors well.

By now the pasta should be done, so drain it and put some on a plate or in a bowl because it's time to add the sauce and shrimp!!

VIOLA!


The only change or footnote I would add to this recipe the next time around is adding more shrimp. I love shrimp and I think it could have used a 1/2 pound+ more. I guess it depends on what size shrimp you're using though.

Anyhoo! Here are the nutritional facts on this little guy. As to what they consider a "serving size" I haven't a clue. ENJOY!!


Calories: 477
Fat: 10.7g (sat 1.4g,mono 5.3g,poly 1.7g)
Protein: 33g
Carbohydrate: 59.4g
Fiber: 5.4g
Cholesterol: 172mg
Iron: 5.4mg
Sodium: 552mg
Calcium: 121mg

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Shrimp Fra Diavolo

Ingredients:
1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 oz. uncooked linguine
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 ½ tbsp minced garlic, divided
¾ cup diced onion
1 tsp crushed red pepper
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp fresh, lemon juice
1 ¾ cup canned, crushed tomatoes
¼ tsp salt
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained

Instructions:
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

Add 1 ½ teaspoons of garlic and the shrimp; sauté for 3 minutes or until shrimp are done.

Remove from pan; keep warm.

Add remaining 1 tbsp oil and onion to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until softened.

Stir in remaining 1 tbsp garlic, pepper, basil, and oregano; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.

Stir in tomato paste and lemon juice; cook 1 minute or until slightly darkened.

Stir in crushed tomatoes, salt, and diced tomatoes; cook 5 minutes or until thickened.

While the sauce cooks down, cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; keep warm.

Return shrimp to pan; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Serve over pasta.

Chicken Lasagna Rolls

I've been meaning to make this recipe all week and I finally got around to it today! YAY! Aren't we all excited? Yes, we are!

Okie dokie, so I've had this recipe for probably several years, but have never made it. In fact, I'd never really even looked at it that closely until this week. Well, I discovered it lacked greatly in pretty much every conceivable way... so I fixed it up!

This week it's another Sarah Original!!
(Sorry for the lack of pictures, they just weren't up to my standards this time.)

Ok, first we need to cook the chicken. To be honest, I don't know exactly how long I cook chicken when I boil it. I took 3 thawed chicken breasts, put them in a large pot with enough water to cover them and put them on the stove to boil. I probably boil them for about 7 - 8 minutes before pulling one out, cutting it in half to see how done it is (usually still raw in the center) and then putting it back in the pot for another 8 or so minutes. I know its not very cool to say that I cook them until I "feel" they should be done... but its what I do. Sorry!

After the chicken is done, set it aside to cool long enough to be able to handle. To shred the chicken, I'll put one breast at a time in a medium sized bowl and pull it apart with two forks. This is a thankless process but looks SO much better than chopped chicken.

Onto the noodles! Cooking them is simple; just follow the directions on the box! Try to cook them in a dutch oven or wide, shallow pot so that the noodles can stay flat.

While the noodles are cooking, mix the following together: egg, chicken, ricotta, 3/4 cup of mozzarella, 2 Tbsps of Parmesan, thyme, basil, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.


Go ahead and prep your baking dish too. Take 1/3 of the spaghetti sauce and cover the bottom of the dish. And preheat the oven to 375°F.

After the noodles are done cooking, I used a pair of tongs to gently pull them out one by one and laid them out on a large plate.

Next, I put out a sheet of parchment paper to make the rolls on so the noodles wouldn't stick to the counter. Then I laid out one noodle and spread a good layer of the chicken/cheese mixture onto it.


After you've got all the rolls made and in the dish, evenly spread the remaining sauce over the lasagna rolls and sprinkle half of the remaining mozzarella on top of sauce.

Cover the dish with foil (I tented the foil so my cheese wouldn't all come off when I removed it later) and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven.

Time to take the foil off! Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella and a bit of freshly cracked black pepper on top and bake uncovered for another 8 -12 minutes or until golden brown.

Be careful not to cook too long uncovered or the exposed parts of the noodles will become hard and crunchy.
Here's the final product! Serve with a romaine salad or asparagus, if in season. (I'm so angry I can't find good asparagus in the winter!!) Enjoy!


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Chicken Lasagna Rolls

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
3 cups spaghetti sauce
8 - 10 lasagna noodles
1 egg
15 oz. Ricotta cheese
1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella
5 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon minced thyme
1 tablespoon minced basil
1 tablespoon minced sun-dried tomatoes (optional)
Salt and pepper


Instructions:
Cook chicken. Let cool and then shred using two forks to pull the meat apart. Set aside.

Cook noodles in boiling salted water until al dente - do not over cook as they will be going into the oven and cooking again for the final dish.

Mix ricotta, ¾ cup of mozzarella, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, egg, chicken, spices, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper in small bowl.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Evenly spread 1/3 of sauce on bottom of the baking dish. Spread about 2 tablespoons of ricotta mixture over each lasagna noodle. Carefully roll up, placing seam side down in baking dish, on top of sauce.

Evenly spread remaining sauce over lasagna rolls.

Sprinkle the half of the remaining mozzarella top of sauce. Cover in foil and bake for 40 minutes or until it bubbles. Remove from oven.

Top with remaining mozzarella and a bit of freshly cracked black pepper and bake uncovered 5 - 10 minutes or until browned.