Stuffed Shells (Or, The Only Food With Mystery Filling You WANT To Eat)

I’ll be the first to admit I have an obsession with stuffed pasta. It’s the novelty of it really. “Oh hey there pasta, let me cut you open. *GASP* What is this glorious surprise you have here for me?”

Well, that’s the idea. I imagine the people who eat my stuffed pasta think that since I spoil the surprise for myself by being the relatively unimportant figure behind the meal. *cough*

And they’re so easy to make I’m appalled that I don’t make stuffed shells more often!

Step 1: Glorious fiery bubbling sauce



Step 2: Messily stuffed ricotta-romano joy shells


Step 3: Cue Spice Girls: “When 2 become 1~~~~~” (+ cheese :D)


Step 4: Melty cheesy happy pasta goodness



Stuffed Shells:

Sauce:
1 zucchini, cubed
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ onion, chopped finely
½ lb ground beef
1 cup olives, diced
24 oz tomato sauce (jarred pasta sauce works fine, too)
½ tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp basil
Salt and pepper
(The spice measurements are all relative, as you have to adjust it to your own tastes, really)

Filling:
1 cup spinach leaves, chopped
½ cup parsley leaves, chopped
24 oz ricotta cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper
¾ cup Romano cheese

1 box conchiglie (AKA super huge shell pasta)
1 ½ cups mozzarella and cheddar cheese, grated

Brown ground beef in a large pan; transfer to small bowl and set aside. Add 1 tbsp of oil to pan over medium-high heat. Toss in zucchini, garlic, mushrooms, and onion and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add olives, beef, tomato sauce, and spices. Stir well and simmer for about 20 minutes over medium-low heat.

Boil pasta as directed.

Mix all filling items together. Fill pasta shells with about 1 tbsp filling each. (Warning: pasta shells will be very hot so run them under cold water before handling!)
Line pasta shells in a 9x13 baking dish; cover with sauce. Sprinkle grated cheese over top and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve with salad!

Serves 6-8.

--Jirafa

Curry Fried Rice

I warned you. Rice recipes in abundance.

These days I’m trying to find what can possibly be mixed with what. I’m strange like that. I blame it on being an only child. My imagination is over-developed.

Curry Fried Rice:

3 cups cooked rice (whatever kind you prefer)
1 veggie burger patty
1 cup green beans, chopped to about 2’’ long
2 tsp sweet Bombay curry powder
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt

Fry veggie burger patty until dark on both sides, about 3 minutes per side. Chop roughly.

Pour 1 tbsp of oil into a frying pan and add green beans, sautéing about 3 minutes. Add in the rest of the ingredients, stirring well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes (until the rice is heated through if you’re using cold leftover rice).

Serves 2

--Jirafa

Spicy Broccoli Beef with Udon

This is an experimental dish made with tossing this and that into a pan and calling it golden. My hope is to use more noodles in recipes, because noodles are fun and tasty and they deserve their chance to be special too.

Yes, my food has feelings.



Spicy Broccoli Beef with Udon

8 oz udon noodles
1 large round steak, sliced into strips
1 head of broccoli, chopped

Sauce:
1 large clove garlic, minced
I tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
½ cup water

Mix sauce ingredients together in small bowl; set aside.

Boil noodles according to package directions (~5-6 minutes).

In a wok over medium-high, heat 1 tbsp oil. Stir-fry meat until browned; remove. Add another tbsp oil and stir-fry broccoli until bright green, about 4 minutes. Return meat to the pan along with sauce; lower heat to low/medium. Cook for about 2 more minutes. Drain noodles and add to wok, mixing thoroughly.

Serves 2-3.

--Jirafa

Pita's Comfort Dinner

You know that saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Yeah, that’s it. Yum x 1,000. This meal is my favorite carb-laden vicetastic (yes, viceTASTIC) dish of pure indulgence.

Mashed potatoes now, jogging later.

What you’re currently drooling over—what? Oh excuse me, that was me. Let me get a napkin.

…

Okay, I’m good now. What you’re seeing is panko fried chicken, basic mashed potatoes, and sautéed zucchini and mushrooms. And I’m going to show you how to make it all!

First things first:


Basic Mashed Potatoes

These are just your run-of-the-mill delectable mashed potatoes. Nothing overly fancy and that’s because I’m kind of a purist when it comes to mashed potatoes. And stuffing. Putting things like nuts and cranberries and apples into wholesome savory stuffing is the worst idea in the world. If you do that well…go away right now. Just kidding. But seriously.

ANYWAY. Potato purity, people. Potato purity.

And while I’m here I may as well discuss gravy. Pictured, you see tasty chicken gravy FROM A PACKET. I’ve long gotten over my shame. I cannot cook gravy from scratch. My mother is a gravy-cooking queen who can take an empty pan and make amazing mushroom gravy appear much like Mrs. Weasley and her cheating wand (Oh yes, Harry Potter reference for you nerds. I love you all.) I, unfortunately, was not given gravy-making genes. I accept this.

If you can make delicious smooth scratch gravy, then go for it. Just know that I loathe you.

3 Yukon Gold potatoes (peeled if desired and sliced into even chunks)
4 tbsp butter
¼ cup milk
½ tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper

Add potato chunks to a pot of boiling water and boil until fork-tender, about 7-8 minutes or so. Drain and place into a sturdy bowl. Add butter and mash until butter has melted. Add milk, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, mixing thoroughly.

Serves 2



Panko Fried Chicken

Panko, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. Something like that. Panko, for those of you unfamiliar, are Japanese bread crumbs. They can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store and some regular bread crumb brands have started offering “Panko-style” crumbs as well. I prefer to get the authentic kind but we’re all on a budget these days so do as you will.

Unlike traditional bread crumbs, panko crumbs are light and fluffy and stick well during frying or baking.

I like pan-fried chicken, but I LOVE panko fried chicken. And like everything else I make, it’s easy-peasy.

2 thinly-sliced chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten
½ cup panko bread crumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp salt

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Mix garlic powder, pepper, and salt into panko crumbs in a flat dish. Dip chicken breasts into egg wash, then into panko crumbs. Fry until golden-brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.

Serves 2



Sautéed Mushrooms and Zucchini

And in order to cordon off the guilt of mashed potatoes, I make this vegetable dish which tastes even more decadent than the potatoes. This dish is one of my mother’s signature vegetable recipes. This used to be the only way I would eat zucchini because it’s really just that good.

2 zucchini, sliced into coins
6-8 oz mushrooms
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
Salt and pepper

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium-heat. Add all ingredients, stirring only to blend spices. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring 2-3 times so that zucchini gets browned but doesn’t burn. If you prefer softer vegetables, cook for another 3 minutes or so as they will be otherwise still firm.

Serves 2

And there you have it: a great meal for a winter evening. Or comfort sustenance when you have 20 pages of Japanese grammar to study in one night.

--Jirafa

Fettuccine Experiments #1--Mushroom Chicken Fettuccine

I’ve started falling in love with fettuccine pasta. That and Target sells whipping cream in tall plastic bottles.

This recipe is basically me pulling a good old-fashioned “by-the-seat-of-my-pants” meal and creating something sinfully delicious.

And oddly enough, there’s no sugar. Could it be that there is sin sans sugar?

Fine, No Sin Sans Sugar (Or Whipping Cream). All better.



Mushroom Chicken Fettuccine:

½ lb fettuccine pasta
2 thinly-sliced chicken breasts (or 1 large), cut into chunks
½ onion, diced
1 ½ cups mushrooms, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup tomato/pasta sauce
¼ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
½ tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil pasta according to package directions.

In a large pan, heat 1 tbsp oil over medium-heat. Fry garlic, chicken, mushrooms, and onion until chicken is cooked through (about 3 minutes). Add in the remaining ingredients, stirring thoroughly. Heat another 2-3 minutes.

Either mix cooked fettuccine into sauce or serve fettuccine in bowls, topped with sauce.

Serves 2-3.

--Jirafa

Broccoli Beef

I consider broccoli beef heavenly delicious and I think a higher power agrees, judging by the glorious light gracing the above photo. It can only mean acceptance.




And really, what’s not to accept? Crunchy broccoli, savory beef, all over rice.



Nom. Nom. Nom.

Broccoli Beef:

2 round steaks, sliced into strips
1 head broccoli, chopped
¼ onion, diced
1 cup water

Sauce:

6 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp mirin
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
¼ tsp black pepper

Mix all sauce ingredients together, set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok over medium-heat. Fry meat until browned, about 2-3 minutes. Remove meat to a plate.

Add another tbsp of oil to the wok and toss in broccoli and onion. Cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in meat and sauce plus 1 cup water. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring as sauce thickens.

Serve over sticky rice.

Serves 3.

--Jirafa

Rice Cooker Love

This is my new rice cooker. I consider it the NASA version of cooking rice because of its cool clicking lid.

I know, I'm too easily impressed.

This comes as a warning. Many rice recipes shall be appearing.

--Jirafa

Bento #1--Teriyaki Beef

Sometimes I'll be posting images of my bentos just for fun and recipes if they're relevant. My classes end after 1 this quarter so I usually just head home to eat and don't bother with a bento but tomorrow I'm donating blood on campus so fortifying bento it shall be!

Top tier: White rice with teriyaki beef mixed with celery and onions.
Bottom tier: Peach yogurt, cheddar cheese, mini-chocolate.
Side car: Cucumber slices mixed with lemon, salt, and pepper.

--Jirafa

Beef Egg Rolls

My first attempt making egg rolls. Fraught with imperfections but overall satisfying.



I used a filling of ground beef, egg, bean sprouts, cabbage, and carrot with oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper for additional flavoring. I think that with some onion thrown into the mix it would have been even better.



First fold.



Second fold.



Finished products.



I don’t have any fancy schmancy deep-frying equipment. In fact, I don’t even have a thermometer! So this was all done very crudely and carefully to insure no oil fires were started.



I did end up with two little burns though (I’ll spare you the pictures) that were immediately treated with honey and don’t hurt a tad now. Yes, good thing to know. Honey is an antiseptic and works well to ease the pain of burns!


The filling amounts I used weren’t enough to utilize all of the wrappers but it was a good test batch.

I served them with a side of soy sauce although I’m sure sweet and sour sauce is the preferred choice for many people.

Beef Egg Rolls

1 lb ground beef
1 lb large egg roll wrappers
2 carrots, thinly sliced
3 cups cabbage thinly sliced
2 cups bean sprouts
2 eggs
3 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup water

In a wok or large frying pan, brown beef 2-3 minutes. Add vegetables and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes. Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and eggs, mixing thoroughly. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Fill wrappers according to package instructions, sealing the end flap with cornstarch mixture.

Fry at 350 degrees, turning occasionally until golden brown. Set on paper towel to drain.

Serve with sauce of choice.

--Jirafa

Apple Pie Bars

Sometimes it’s too much to ask to roll out one’s own dough and cut cute little leaves and put together an entire pie. Sometimes you just want apple pie and you want it NOW. Or as close to now as you can get.

Apple pie bars for the win. Good warm and ever better when cold and topped with homemade vanilla whipped cream.



Apple Pie Bars:
(Taken from Cuisine at Home’s Holiday Cookies magazine)

2 cups flour
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp table salt
9 tbsp butter (6 tbsp cold, 3 tbsp melted)
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/3 cup white sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl combine 2 cups of flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Remove ¾ of the mixture to a small bowl and set aside for the streusel. Returning to the remaining mixture, cut in 6 tbsp cold butter and the milk using either a pastry blender or your fingers until clumps form.

Using a greased 9x9 pan, pat the base mixture into the pan, pressing down firmly to make a stiff crust. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

In another bowl, toss together apples, white sugar, heavy cream, 1 tbsp flour, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and ¼ tsp cinnamon. Pour this overtop of the finished crust.

Mix 3 tbsp melted butter into the reserved streusel mixture and sprinkle evenly over the top of the apples. Return to the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until apples are soft.

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Makes ~six servings.

--Jirafa

Chicken Spinach Pizza

It seems to be a spinach week. Now, without any attempt at transitioning, here’s a story. Sometimes I tell myself, “I love you.” Well tonight, I needed to prove this love to myself.

So I made pizza.

Really good pizza.




I got all my little ingredients on there, happy and willing to transcend their boring, lonely lives into something fun and delicious! And they were all so snug and I thought, this looks great. But what could really make this fabulous? I need to show that love.

I know, chicken.



It’s all about the love. <3

Chicken Spinach Pizza

1 personal-sized Boboli whole wheat pizza crust
¼ cup tomato sauce (more if you like saucy pizza, just keep it away from your relatives)
½ cup mixed mozzarella and cheddar cheese, grated
½ cup baby spinach
1/3 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 thinly-sliced chicken breast, sliced into strips and coated with salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Arrange pizza to preference. I like to do sauce, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and chicken lastly. But be wild. Mix it up. But do keep in mind that the spinach will burn if you leave it too close to the heat. So maybe don’t be too wild.

Pop pizza into oven heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.

Plate, tell yourself “I love you,” and devour.

Serves one hungry college student.

(By the way, I'm sure it tastes just as fabulous without chicken, for those of you who would like to avoid eating feathered friends)

--Jirafa

Spinach-Ricotta Manicotti

Winter quarter begins tomorrow so I held a farewell winter break luncheon today. Manicotti seemed like the perfect food to have on a chilly day. Yes, what really is better than manicotti, salad, and Torchwood season 1?

Manicotti shells that boiled intact, maybe. Lo and behold, ALL of the shells went into the water whole and came out aldente and like flat tortillas instead of round tubes.

Fine. Manicotti is essentially lasagna enchiladas anyway, no reason to not treat it as such. If this happens to you, fill the pasta, curl it into a tube shape and place it into the pan seam side down. It comes out looking and tasting just the same and it’s really a lot easier to fill this way!



Spinach-Ricotta Manicotti:

1 80z package manicotti pasta
1 ½ cup medium cheddar cheese, grated
1 ½ cup mozzarella cheese, grated

Sauce:

½ lb lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 24oz can or jar of tomato sauce
1 cup sliced black olives
1 tablespoon basil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Ricotta filling:

2 cups fresh baby spinach
15oz ricotta cheese
¾ cup parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 cup parsley
Salt and pepper

In a medium sauce pan, brown the ground beef on medium-high. Transfer to bowl; cook onions and mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Return ground beef to pan, as well as all remaining ingredients. Turn heat down to low; cover and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Boil pasta as directed. While pasta boils, combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Run pasta under cold water, as it will be very hot. Then, using a small spoon (or your fingers, it’s a messy job), fill the manicotti tubes with the spinach-ricotta filling. Line manicotti in a 9x13 glass pan.

Cover manicotti in sauce; finish by covering in both cheeses.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Serves ~6

--Jirafa

Parfait Project (1)--Cookie Pudding Parfaits

Just a quick dessert that is fun to look at and better to eat!


Cookie Pudding Parfaits:
1 5 oz box Jell-O instant vanilla pudding
5 chocolate cookiescrumbled finely
1 banana, sliced


Prepare pudding as directed. Cover bottom of parfait glasses with some of the crumbled cookies; layer with pudding. Add more cookies, top with banana slices, reserving a few for the top. Continue alternating with pudding and cookies until glasses are full; top with remaining banana slices.

*This can be done with more than one type of pudding, or even vanilla yogurt, granola, and berries! It’s very, very basic so HAVE FUN.

Serves 2-3 depending on size of glasses.

--Jirafa

Chocolate Cherry Crinkle Cookies

This is my first experience with a chocolate-based cookie. All the cookies I’ve made previously incorporated chocolate in some way but never to this extent.

Verdict: deeeeeeeeelicious.



Cookies are so magical, aren’t they? They shouldn’t work, all of this and that thrown into them and warmed to a crisp.

And yet somehow they do. Cookies, Eighth Wonder of the World. I’m telling you.



¾ cup flour
½ cup white sugar
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ table salt
½ stick butter, melted
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips (semisweet work fine, too)
1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped roughly
¾ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, mix together butter, cocoa powder, egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; mix in sugar. Combine with wet goods. Add chocolate chips and dried cherries to batter, mixing well.

Roll into roughly 2’’ balls and coat in powdered sugar. Be sure to coat thickly so the cracks will show as the cookies bake. Place on a lined cookie sheet and bake 12-14 minutes.

Yields about 24 cookies.

--Jirafa