Baked Taco Pasta

This is a really easy, really delicious comfort food dish that's perfect for a cold winter night. Tacos are one of my favorite foods, as is pasta, so why not combine the two??

I sort of wished I had crumbled up some Fritos or tortilla chips as a topping, to give this the sort of crunch I love from hard shell tacos, so I'd recommend giving that a try. You could add any number of other toppings too, based on your preferences - fresh or pickled jalapenos, olives, sour cream, whatever floats your boat. Make it work for you!

Baked Taco Pasta

16 oz. rigatoni noodles
1 lb. ground beef
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup water
4 oz. cream cheese
2 cups shredded cheese
Toppings - tomatoes, scallions, jalapenos, olives, sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil the pasta for the shortest time listed on the package instruction so it remains a little al dente. Drain.

Cook the ground beef in a large skillet and drain the excess grease. Add the taco seasoning and water to the ground beef and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Add cream cheese to beef mixture and stir until melted.  Put cooked pasta in a casserole dish (I used a deep 9 x 13 pan), and mix in 1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese. Add the beef mixture to the pasta and gently combine. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and bake at 350 degrees, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted and the top is beginning to get slightly brown. Serve toppings per your personal taste.

Thursday Thoughts

1. I finished Sons of Anarchy on Sunday. It took just under a week to watch the whole series, about 70 - 75 hours of TV. I'm obsessed and wish there were 6 more seasons. I don't know how I'm going to wait until September for the next season premiere.

2. My best friend is coming to visit this weekend. I haven't seen her since last Christmas, the longest we've been apart in 22 years of friendship. We don't have any big plans. I'm just so excited to hang out together!

3. I have been a Nutriblast nut this week. I've had more fruits and vegetables in the last three days than I have in the last three months combined. And the Nutribullet continues to amaze me. It blends right through fruit skins, seeds, anything I've thrown at it. It's magical. 

4. Going back to work after 13 days off sucked. I had to actually set an alarm and put on real clothes. Not cool. I really could have used a few more days to get through the to-do list I had made for myself and completely neglected because of my SoA obsession. 

5. Now that Christmas is over, I'm basically ready for April or May to get here. These next few months suck. Cold weather, nothing exciting to look forward to. Bring on springtime!

6. I'm tired and out of thoughts. 

Hershey Kiss Pies

 

I kind of screwed up with this one, because I forgot to take a few neater, more presentable photos of the finished product. I made these in the middle of a three-day Christmas baking spree, on a very snowy Saturday when my friends and I were trying to decide the wisdom of venturing out in the bad weather to go to our favorite Christmas party of the season. So I wasn't quite focused and have to apologize that the above picture is all I have to show you!

These are really simple (only TWO real ingredients!) and pretty delicious, though they do take a bit of practice and care to avoid exploding pies like you see a few of in the photo above. It's really important to properly pinch together and seal all of the dough, or they won't stay together once the crust begins to expand as it bakes. It's fine if they open a little (they likely will) but you want to avoid them completely opening up like that one at the top. Here's what they look like before they bake:

You can use any flavor of Hershey Kisses that you'd like. I went with the Mint Truffle Kisses since I was bringing them to a Christmas party, but any other variety, or the good old originals, would be delicious. I got 13 or 14 pies out of each crust, so I used both crusts that came in the package to make enough to bring to the party. Good thing I did too, after some of them were too much of a mess to bring anywhere!

Hershey Kiss Pies
Recipe from Picky Palate

2 refrigerated pie crusts, thawed
28 Hershey Kisses, any flavor
1 egg white
Granulated sugar for sprinkling before baking

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Unroll pie dough onto a lightly floured surface. Use a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass to cut circles around the pie crust. The circles should be about 3 inches in diameter. Place a Hershey Kiss in the center of each circle. Fold half of the pie dough around the top of the Kiss and pinch the edges together. Bring the remaining sides up to the top of the Kiss as well, and pinch all sides together to make little pouches like in the second photo above.  Reroll the scraps of pie crust to get a few more pies out of the first crust, and repeat with the second crust.

Whisk the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush all of the pies with the egg white wash, then sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar. Bake for 20 - 24 minutes or until the pies are golden.  Remove and let cool.

Garlic and Basil Whipped Feta

 

As promised, I'm finally back with a new recipe! This was one of the appetizers I made for a Christmas party at my house. It's so super simple, really flavorful, and versatile too. You could eat it like I served it, as a dip, (it goes great with pita crackers!) or spread it on toast or sandwiches.

I believe that the writer of the blog that I got this idea from used a mixer to make this, allowing the basil to stay in slightly bigger pieces throughout. However, I used my food processor, which meant that the basil got completely broken up and gave the feta a pale green hue. I think either way would be fine, depending on what kitchen appliances you have, but I kind of liked my green feta and how the basil flavor was present in every bite.

One more note - the original recipe called for salt to be added, but I think feta is salty enough so I didn't add any. Use your judgement! This can stay in the refrigerator for a few days, but make sure you take it out of the fridge a little while before you want to serve it. It will firm up quite a bit when cold and will be difficult to dip into or spread.

Garlic and Basil Feta

Recipe from Sweet Treats and More

8 oz. crumbled feta cheese, room temperature
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
2-3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Pepper to taste

Whip cream cheese and feta (or mix in a food processor) until smooth and creamy and all the lumps are gone. Mix in minced garlic, basil, extra virgin olive oil and pepper. Whip for a few minutes until fluffy.

Thursday Thoughts

Oh hey. Happy New Year! Yes, it's been over a month since I last posted, and no, it's not because I died. To put it simply, I just didn't have the time. It's kind of a shame, because I had grand plans for my December posts. A whole week of Christmas cookie recipes, appetizers for New Year's parties, holiday cocktails. Grand plans. But, during the time of the year when I do the most cooking and baking, there was just no time to sit down and write about all that cooking and baking. Between work, Christmas decorating, shopping, wrapping, parties, cards, etc., I suddenly find myself sitting here on January 2nd and I don't know where the hell the last 6 weeks have gone!

But, on this first Thursday in 2014, I figured there's no better time to post some Thursday Thoughts. I've been off of work for the past 10 days and have been planning out what to post on here for the next month, so I'll be back at it with regular recipes starting next week.

1. SONS OF ANARCHY. Who watches this?? I've been told for years that I would love it and should hurry up and watch it. Well, I already watched a ton of TV that I can never keep up with, so I hadn't started it until now. But with all this time off, I decided this was an appropriate time to immerse myself in Charming, CA. I can't freakin get enough. I have watched 52 episodes in the past 4.5 days and have no doubt that I'll get through the last two seasons before I go back to work on Monday. Then begins the LONG wait for Season 7 to start in September.

2. My brother got a Nutribullet for me for Christmas and it is amazing. It pulverizes my smoothie ingredients, even with raw cashews in them, in mere seconds. A-mazing.

3. I would be so awesome at being a permanent lady of leisure. I know some people get stir crazy hanging out at home, and crave human interaction and a sense of routine, but I am not one of those people. The first half of my break was filled with Christmas stuff, but the past 4.5 days have been blissfully lazy. With the exception of a New Year's Eve party, I have slept, read, and watched Sons of Anarchy, obviously. That is all, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

4. I don't know how I'm going to get back into a proper sleep schedule. I have stayed awake until 4, 5, sometimes even 6 in the morning this week, then slept, then woken up to watch more SOA, then slept a little more. My system is a mess.

5. Monday I am back on the discipline. I've had so many holiday leftovers this week that I wasn't even going to pretend to be good, but Monday it's back to cleaner eating, counting points, and exercising 5 days a week. It's been too long since I've been really disciplined, and it shows in how I look and feel. I don't like it.

6. In about 3 minutes, it will no longer be Thursday, so I'd better hurry up and post this. Plus, it's been like 4 hours since I've watched any Sons of Anarchy and I think I'm starting to have withdrawal symptoms. See you next week!

Apple Cider Sangria

 

Though I'm not much of a wine drinker, I'm a huge fan of sangria. Red, white, it doesn't matter. I like it all. So it makes perfect sense that I'm in love with this Apple Cider Sangria too. It would make for a perfect beverage on Thanksgiving, or, you know, on a quiet fall Saturday when you might want a nice cocktail to sip on while taking a bubble bath. I've made it for both of those occasions and can attest that it's a perfect drink for any situation, particularly at this time of year.

The original recipe is from my food blogging idol, who I kind of want to be best friends with, Jessica at How Sweet It Is. I followed her recipe pretty closely, but cut down the number of apples and pears from three each to just two each. The first time I made it, I used three of each kind of fruit and it was way more than I needed. You can see in the photos that there's already a substantial amount of fruit, so I wrote the recipe below with the quantities I now use.

Apple Cider Sangria

Recipe from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

1 bottle (750 mL) of pinot grigio (I tried a new kind, Fancy Pants, because I just loved the label so much!)
2 1/2 cups apple cider
1 cup club soda
1/2 cup brandy (use ginger brandy if you can find it; I often can't)
2 apples, chopped (I used Braeburn because they were on sale)

2 pears, chopped

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and stir to mix well. Refrigerate for at least an hour (longer is better) before serving.

Bolognese Sauce

What's better than the smell of a big pot of sauce slowly simmering in your kitchen? Especially this sauce, which gets extra love from some bacon! It's thick, it's hearty, it's easy to make, and it tastes so darn good. I haven't bought jarred sauce in years because I always like to make my own and freeze it in small portions to have on hand for a quick dinner. I've switched up my sauce recipes over the years and I think this may be my new go-to when I want a good bolognese. On top of being delicious, it's fairly healthy, at just 3 points plus per half cup serving. Can't beat that!

Bolognese Sauce
Recipe adapted very slightly from Skinnytaste

Ingredients:
4 oz pancetta, chopped (or center cut bacon - that's what I used because it was cheaper)
1 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, minced
1/2 cup carrots, minced
1 lb lean ground beef (I used 93% lean)
1/4 cup red wine
2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup half & half

Directions:
In a large pot (I used my Dutch oven), cook the pancetta or bacon over low heat until the fat renders/melts. You're not looking to completely cook the bacon or get it crispy; you just want a lot of the grease to cook out so that there's more red/pink parts of the bacon left than the white fatty parts. This took about 8 - 10 minutes to get to the stage I was looking for. Increase the heat to medium-low and add butter, onions, celery and carrots and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

Increase the heat to medium-high, add ground beef and season it with salt and pepper. Once meat is browned, add the wine and cook until it reduces down, about 3-4 minutes.

Add tomatoes and the bay leaf. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Just before serving, stir in the half & half and parsley and cook just a few minutes longer.

Makes about 8 cups.