Roasted Tomato Sauce

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...I love the site Real Mom Kitchen.  I have never been disappointed with anything I've made from her site.  I had about a gazillion tomatoes this year, and after canning quite a few with my mom, I still needed to come up with something to do with them.  I found this tomato sauce and started to drool.  I used fresh tomatoes right out of my garden and garlic from the farmer's market.  Talk about Heaven!! 

Roasted Tomato Sauce with Garlic

Olive oil

2 pounds fresh tomatoes (I used Roma tomatoes)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 350°F and line 9×13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil. (Note: This step is optional, but it will make cleanup faster.) Spray the baking dish with baking spray, or rub lightly with olive oil. Chop the tomatoes roughly but evenly. Spread them in the baking dish. Stir in the minced garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, and about 1 teaspoon of salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Cut the butter into small cubes and scatter evenly over the tomatoes.

Bake the tomatoes for 2 to 3 hours (Two hours was plenty for me. The moisture was gone at this point and the tomatoes were getting black around the edges of the pan. You want the tomatoes simple begin to break down and release their juices or until their edges blacken, and the juices are reduced significantly.

Put the tomatoes into a blender or processor and process until smooth. Then I added around 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to get it to a nice and saucy consistency and served over cooked pasta. Makes two cups.

Results: This was so goooooood!  My house smelled absolutely wonderful all day.  Make a bunch of breadsticks, garlic bread, or rolls, throw a salad together, and you are GOOD TO GO.  This one made my favorites list for sure!

Sweet Pork Burrittos

I am determined to post on this blog regularly!!  I haven't been out of the kitchen all of this time, I've just failed to blog about it!  I've made some pretty yummy stuff, so I have a lot of catching up to do!  Here is my Sweet Pork Burritos recipe.  I love, love, love them.  My SIL asked to have the recipe like a year ago (sorry R!), but better late than never! They are so easy to make and are delicious.  I hope you like them as much as we do.

Sweet Pork Burritos

1 pork roast
1 jar salsa
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup Coke
8-10 flour or wheat tortillas
2 cups cheddar or favorite mixed cheeses, grated
2 cups lettuce, shredded
1 cup sour cream
Any other toppings such as avocados, salsa, cilantro, etc.

Combine roast, salsa, brown sugar, and Coke in slow cooker and cook on low 8 hours or on high 5 hours. Shred with fork. Serve in tortillas with any toppings you wish.

Results: Always a winner!! I actually never make the same recipe twice. Sometimes I use the Coke, sometimes I leave it out. I actually forgot to use salsa the last time I made this and it still came out perfectly delicious. It also makes great leftovers! We use the cook yourself tortillas that are at Costco for a little more homemade tortilla taste. Enjoy!

Santa Rosa Rice Salad

Wow!!  It has been forever since I posted anything on this blog...

I am now trying to correct that by sharing this wonderful recipe I got from my friend.  It is a perfect summer meal.  It's easy to prepare (even easier if you use Costco Rotisserie chicken like I did!) and it tastes even better the second day!  My kids don't love it, but we will usually grill hot dogs for them and everyone is happy.

Santa Rosa Rice Salad

2 Boxes Uncle Ben’s Long Grain Wild Rice
1 Lemon, juiced
3 boneless, chicken breasts, cooked and diced
4 green onions, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
2 medium avocados
¼ to ½ cup cilantro, chopped

Cook rice according to package and let cool. Add everything together, except avocados, including the dressing (see below). Chill 2-4 hours. Just before serving, add nuts and avocados.

Dressing:
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 T. Dijon Mustard
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. sugar
¼ tsp. pepper
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix well and add to salad.

Results: Huge hit with the adults...not so much with the kids.  I can't wait until my peppers grow and I can use them and my cilantro from my garden.  Mmmm!

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ever since I watched the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", I love saying the word "bundt".  The lady in the movie can't say it, and doesn't even know what a bundt is.  Hilarious!  This "bundt" is one of my favorites because it is a triple chocolate threat.  I made this for my mom's birthday last weekend and it came out so rich and delicious.

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix
6 oz. box chocolate pudding mix
12 oz. chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup warm water
1 cup oil

Beat all ingredients for 2 minutes. Pour into greased bundt pan and bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes, until the cake springs back to touch. The top will probably be cracked, but that’s OK. Cool 20 minutes in pan, then invert onto cake plate. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Results: We melted chocolate frosting and drizzled it over the cake.  I guess that makes it a quadruple chocolate cake!  How can you go wrong with that!!??!  So decadent and delicious!

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

I made this really easy dish the other night.  We were heading out of town the next day, so I gave the leftovers to my sister, Denise.  A few hours later, she texted me that she had to have the recipe.  That is always a good sign, so I'm posting it here.  I don't remember where I got this recipe, some website, probably, but I changed it a little.

I've prepared the chicken for this dish several different ways.  I've cut it up and browned it like the recipe calls for, but found that it was flavorful, yet to dry.  I've also boiled chicken and shredded it, but that didn't have enough flavor.  So this time, I used a Rotisserie chicken from Costco.  They now sell it in packaged form with just the meat already shredded.  Yea!  All of the flavor and none of the work!  I will always use that chicken if I have it from now on. I just tossed it in a skillet with the basil to heat it up and incorporate the basil flavoring better. 

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

1 ½ cups penne pasta, uncooked

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil
1 jar (14 ½ oz) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14 ½ oz) diced tomatoes, drained
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Heat oven to 375°. Cook pasta as directed. In large skillet, cook chicken and basil on medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil and then simmer for 3 more minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in cream cheese. Drain pasta and add to chicken mixture with ½ cup Mozzarella. Spoon into dish. Bake for 20 mins. Sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and bake for an additional 3 minutes.

Results: My family really likes this dish.  It comes together quickly and is really yummy and creamy.  And, according to Denise, it makes great leftovers as well!

Iron Chef America (and really really good Zupa)

For a youth group activity, our church held our very own "Iron Chef America".  The youth were divided into teams of 5 or 6, were given a secret ingredient that had to be used in their dish, and were assigned to go to various designated houses in the neighborhood to cook a dish in under an hour.  We signed up to help, so we had a team come to our house.  The secret ingredient was potatoes and extra points were given if the dish was Italian.  Potatoes and Italian?  We couldn't think of anything good right away, but after looking in some of my cookbooks, we settled on Zupa.  It is a delicious creamy soup with Italian sausage and potatoes in it.  We tweeked the recipe a little bit to mimick the dish from one of my favorite restaurants, Gabor Brothers.  Their Zupa is wonderful, and I think ours just might match it in flavor.  We had to use what we had on hand, but I would have added spinach for added color and flavor if I would have had any.

I feel bad that I didn't take any pictures of the kids cooking their hearts out in my kitchen.  We were all having so much fun and trying to beat the clock (just like the TV show), that I failed to snap any photos of the kids, just the final result.

Zupa Tuscana Soup

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage, crumbled

1/2 lb. smoked bacon, chopped

1 quart water

2 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth

2 large russet potatoes, scrubbed clean and cubed

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown sausage, breaking into small pieces as you cook.  Rinse and set aside (if you don't rinse, the soup will have a red tint to it).  In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown bacon, drain adn set aside.  Place water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion in soup pot.  Simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender.  Add sausage and bacon.  Simmer for 10 minutes and then add cream and cheese.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Heat through.

Results: The youth took most of the soup with them for judging, but left me a little and it was AMAZING!!  This soup is definitely going in my recipe book...I'm almost a little sad that soup season is nearly over (I said almost!).  As a side note, our youth team took third place with this dish (I think there were at least a dozen teams who participated).  Not bad for spur of the moment, huh?  I'm very proud of my Iron Chefs!!

Little Taste of Italy

On Sunday evenings, we love getting together with family. Last Sunday was no exception. My little sister made a request for my Fettuccine Alfredo. I aim to please, so we made it Italian night at my house. I'm going to post four different recipes that I made that night, but on separate posts, so they are labeled correctly.

The first one is my Fettuccine Alfredo. I found it years ago in a restaurant's secret cookbook. It is supposedly Olive Garden's version. I tweeked it a little and my family has been enjoying it ever since. I make it on those nights that I don't have a lot of time because it comes together in the same amount of time as it takes to cook the noodles. Throw together a quick salad and you're good to go!

Fettuccine Alfredo

½ cup butter
2-3 T. flour
2 cups heavy cream
½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. ground black pepper
1 (12oz) box fettuccine pasta
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth. Add the cream, garlic powder, and pepper, and simmer or 10-12 minutes, or until thick. At the same time, bring 4-6 quarts water to a boil and add the pasta. When sauce has reached your desired consistency, stir in the Parmesan cheese (let sauce sit off heat for a few minutes to thicken). When the pasta is cooked, drain and serve with sauce.

Results: Always a winner at my house! It's SO good if you are making a red sauce and you mix the two together...Heaven!