Ricotta and Spinach Manicotti

If I had to pick my favorite comfort food, it is probably pasta. I don’t really have a preference for a particular kind. I’ll eat it all. Making it from scratch is even better. It taste fresh and isn’t going to be filled with lots of sodium and preservatives like the frozen ready-made meals. There really isn’t a way to go wrong with manicotti. You can fill it with anything you like. However, I usually stick to either just a cheese blend or mixing in some veggies.

Ricotta and Spinach Manicotti
1/2 package manicotti noodles
1 container ricotta cheese
2 cups Italian cheese (mixture of mozzarella, provolone, asiago, romano, etc.), divided
1/2 cup frozen spinach
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning (mixture of parsley, oregano, basil)
salt and pepper, to taste
dash of nutmeg
3 cups tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Defrost frozen spinach. You can either let it sit out on your counter for about an hour until it is no longer frozen, or–if you’re like me and forget until the last second–pop the spinach in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 2 minutes. If you do this you might want to go on and salt the spinach since it is very bitter and that will add some flavor to the spinach while it defrost! After it is defrosted, squeeze the spinach to remove any excess liquid. You will want to do this with some cheesecloth, paper towels, or an old dishtowel you don’t mind being stained. Set aside.
Boil water and allow manicotti noodles to cook about 2 minutes short of al-dente. They will still cook in the oven and you don’t want rubbery, overcooked noodles! Drain and allow to cool so they can easily be held.
In a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, 1 cup of Italian-blend cheese, defrosted spinach, garlic, salt, pepper, various spices, and a dash of nutmeg. Set aside.
Layer the bottom of a casserole dish with tomato sauce. Create an assembly line to you can easily access the noodles, filling, and casserole dish.
When manicotti noodles are cool enough to hold, take a spoon and begin to stuff cheese mixture into the noodles. Fill, and place in casserole dish. Continue until you are out of manicotti noodles. I usually have extra filling left over and you can try to squeeze as much as you can into the noodles, or save it for another recipe.
Top noodles with remaining tomato sauce, and liberally sprinkle the rest of the Italian-blend cheese on top of noodles.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Serves 4
Baking by Becca original

Soft Sugar Cookies

One thing I’ll never understand is why people buy store-bought cookies. Maybe it’s just because I love to bake, but I think it is so fun to mix a couple of ingredients together, roll the dough into balls, and pop them in the oven. At my old work, anytime we would have a luncheon, someone would always bring those grocery store soft cookies with frosting. Admittedly, I would eat one, but when I would see the “sell/eat by” date I always felt bad. I knew they were loaded with preservatives. When I saw Annie post a recipe for these cookies, I made them that night! They were great, and didn’t last long in our house at all.

Soft Sugar Cookies
cookies:
4½ cups all-purpose flour
4½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
3 sticks butter, room temperature
1½ cups sugar
3 large eggs
5 tsp. vanilla extract

frosting:
5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/3 cup (5 1/3 tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
7-8 tbsp. milk (plus more, as needed)
Food coloring (optional)
Sprinkles (optional)

To make the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy–approximately 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and mixing until thoroughly incorporated. Add vanilla. Adjust speed to low, and add in the flour mixture until just mixed. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour.
After the dough has chilled, roll 1/4 cup of dough into a ball. Slightly press down on the ball to flatten. Make sure cookies are 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, making sure not to overbake (no golden brown edges!). Cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

To make the frosting:
In a medium bowl, add the confectioners’ sugar. Mix in butter, vanilla, and milk and whisk until smooth. If needed, add more milk if the mixture is too thick. If making the frosting different colors, separate frosting into different bowls. Add the correct food coloring, and mix until no streaks remain. Spoon the frosting onto the cookies and spread with an offset spatula. Top with sprinkles, if using.

Enjoy!

Adapted from:
Annie’s Eats

Sloppy Joe

I’ve always eaten sloppy joes. I distinctly remember my mom making these for me when I was a kid. She would use the canned sauce mix though, not from scartch. Jarrett really loves sloppy joes, but I never want to make them because of the preservatives and other unnatural things in the canned sauce. I came across this recipe and thought I needed to try it! It was great and doesn’t require much effort at all. The inclusion of vegetables also make it more nutritious.

Sloppy Joes
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 carrots, coarsely grated (2 cups) (I didn’t use carrots, so this could be optional )
1 medium onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 pound ground turkey (you can also use ground beef)
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons dark-brown sugar
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 whole-wheat hamburger rolls, split (I used kaiser rolls)

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, and garlic. Cook until the veggies are soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and stir continuously for 1 minute. Add the turkey and cook until no longer pink.
Add the crushed tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. Continue cooking, until the mixture has thickened–approximately 15 minutes.
Warm the rolls in the oven, and top with the meat-sauce mixture.
Enjoy!

Adapted from:
Martha Stewart

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The best comfort food, I think, is chocolate chip cookies. What’s not to love? If done correctly, they’re chewy, moist, straight out of the oven, and oozing with chocolate. I recently went to lunch at this local deli and got a chocolate chip cookie with my meal. They’ve never disappointed me before, but this time they certainly did. It tasted like burnt sugar and was hard as a brick. Needless to say, I needed to remedy this situation and make my own batch of cookies. I’ve used this recipe probably since I started baking and it’s never failed me. I also like to freeze the leftover dough so whenever the urge strikes me, all I have to do is pop them into the oven!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped (optional)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, stir the flour and salt together. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixture, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Mix until incorporated, but don’t over-beat.
On low, add the flour-salt mixture. Finally, add the chocolate chips and nuts (if using, I usually don’t).
Scoop the cookie dough and roll into uniform balls. Space out evenly on the baking sheet*, and bake for 18 minutes.
Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely, or–if you’re like me–eat one (or two or three) straight out of the oven with a glass of milk.
Enjoy!

* If you plan on freezing the dough, stop here. Do make sure to place the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet, but transfer it to the freezer. This will allow for them to freeze separately so they won’t stick together. After they are firm, place them in a freeze-safe zip-top bag, and keep in the freezer. When you are ready to bake, I usually just have to add 2 more minutes to your bake time, but it may vary depending on your oven.

Adapted from:
David Lebovitz via Smitten Kitchen