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Spinach Ravioli Lasagna
Figuring out the new normal around here has been a challenge. Over the last few years, I’ve become really good at cooking elaborate, time-consuming dinners for my family. Fresh bread at dinner was not uncommon, nor were comforting, simmer-all-day kind of meals. But then, I started working away from home again, and now I get home after 6pm, and even then I’m at the mercy of my girls’ schedules. Dinner has become somewhat of an afterthought, and as a food blogger, that’s a really, really…
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Creamy Skillet Mac & Cheese
My oldest daughter is learning a hard lesson this week. She’s found her independence a bit, and has used her new-found “power” to voice her opinions rather loudly and forcefully to her Dad and me. In other words, she’s a back-talking fool. We’ve noticed it more lately, the back-talking with a twinge of sassy-attitude, and it’s just gotten worse. She’s particularly offended by chores it seems, and when her Dad told her to go “pick up the office a little bit before lunch,” she did…
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Easy Marinara Sauce
So, if a magic genie in a lantern gave me three wishes, I think mine might be for 1) money (duh), 2) more wishes (also duh) and 3) that pasta would become a health food. As in, I could eat it all day every day and have the same results as if I lived on raw green veggies. I’m really not kidding. And don’t try to tell me that you wouldn’t wish for money or more wishes, because that’s what makes the game fun.
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Gnocchi with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
As I’ve mentioned in {previous posts}, I’m not a big seafood fan. But being desperate to not pass that on to my girls, my husband makes some kind of seafood for dinner at least once a week. I would really hate to deprive them of the health benefits of fish, so I don’t mind that they eat without me every once in a while. It’s usually on those nights that I get to whip up my own dishes that the rest of the family would…
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Rigatoni with Creamy Marsala Sauce
I know, it’s surprising. Another pasta dish! This is a new one for us, but it sounded good tonight and we had all of the ingredients so we decided to try it out. This pasta is actually called “Rigatoni di Gregorio” but since I changed it a little, I’m not sure that it really qualifies as such anymore. We grilled the chicken instead of pan-frying it, and I added green olives in lieu of parsley, mostly because my girls won’t eat “green stuff” on their…
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Penne with Broccoli
Ok, so by now you know how much I love pasta. I could go the rest of my life without eating meat again, as long as I have pasta. And this recipe is one my favorites. I saw it on the Food Network ages ago and my husband was the first one to make it, and I fell in love. It’s good hot or cold, but I think I prefer it warm. I’ve adjusted the recipe depending on what we have and I’ve never been…
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Mushroom Marsala
I’ve talked about my obsession with pasta before…I don’t think I’ve ever met a pasta I didn’t like. When I make it at home though, we usually stick to the Mac & Cheese or Spaghetti variety so I thought it was time to branch out. Giada made this Mushroom Marsala with Artichokes on one of her cooking shows last week and for some reason, it called out to me. Strange, because I usually don’t care for mushrooms at all. Nonetheless, I bought all of the…
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Spaghetti a’la Jimmy
Ahhhh…spaghetti. I love it. I could live on it. I think I came to appreciate spaghetti my sophomore year in college, when I was on my own in an apartment for the first time. I actually went to the grocery store and bought a box of Kraft Spaghetti. Noodles, sauce, everything all in a box. It didn’t take long to realize that it was nothing like the spaghetti I grew up with and that I was going to have to figure out how to make…
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Creamy Baked Pasta
I love pasta. I really, really love pasta. I seriously think I could eat it every day and never tire of it. Since my husband doesn’t really share my obsession, we don’t eat it as often as I would like, so I tend to save it for the nights he’s working and I’m just cooking for myself and the girls. However, I made this earlier in the week and JR really liked it too, so I guess that says something! The best thing about it…
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Fontina Mac & Cheese
Any of you out there with young children know that Macaroni & Cheese is a staple of most kid’s diets from the time they have teeth. And while I have two really good, healthy and adventurous eaters of my own, I know that given the choice, they would have Mac & Cheese for every meal. Breakfast included. The older and wiser I get =) the more I realize that real food is always better than processed food. Yes, the blue and yellow boxed Mac &…
