Jessica

The Creamiest Pesto Stuffed Shells

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Sometimes I swear that I am a genius, I mean I have come up
with some pretty amazing recipes.

Not that I can take all the credit, I get lots of
inspiration from all different places.

Inspiration for this recipe came from Amanda K. by the Bay,
an amazing blog full of wonderfully comforting recipes; both classic and
modern.

I love pesto, as evidenced here, here and here, so this
recipe instantly struck a chord with me. I knew I wanted to make it but I also
had some different elements I really wanted to try, and I knew that Chuck would
appreciate some of them. The ol’ man loves him some meat.

The secret to this dish is the decadently creamy pesto béchamel
sauce. For something so simple béchamel is pretty damn wonderful on its own.
Then the addition of a little extra garlic, parmesan cheese, and a whole lot of
pesto just takes it to a whole new world.

This is one of those great dishes that you can prepare ahead
of time and bake a day later just before you’re ready to eat it, and feed a
whole horde of people at the same time. Could it get any better? Let me answer
that for you and just say, no it really can’t.

Unless of course you’re a vegetarian in which case a little
more spinach or tofu, maybe some pine nuts or walnuts mixed in, or perhaps some
chopped red pepper could all take up the space of the sausage, but that’s really
up to you. Maybe that will be an experiment for a later date.

Pesto Béchamel Sauce

1 stick of butter

¼ cup pesto

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup flour

3 cups milk

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tsp salt

Stuffed Shells

½ lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, crumbled and
cooked

1 large egg

12 oz chopped fresh spinach

16 oz container of ricotta cheese

1.2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 box Large Pasta shells, prepared according to package
instructions

1 cup parmesan cheese

1 tomato deseeded & chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a thick bottomed sauce pan
melt butter and whisk in garlic, pesto and cook for an additional minute. Whisk
in flour and cook until it begins to turn golden (5-6 minutes). Add milk and
whisk until smooth. Bring to a light simmer and cook for 8-10 minutes whisking
continuously. Add cheese and salt and remove from heat and set aside. In a bowl
combine sausage, egg, spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese, mixing until
well blended. In an oven safe baking pan ladle enough béchamel to lightly coat
the bottom on the pan (about ½ cup). With a spoon stuff each shell with some of
the sausage mixture and place in the pan. Continue until the pan is full or the
shells are gone. Ladle the remaining béchamel over the shells. Top with
parmesan cheese and tomato. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or
until the top has melted and begun to brown.

5 Awesome Valentines Day Menus to Prepare at Home

By Jessica

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Valentine ’s Day is a day
for love.

It’s also a day that makes
card stores, candy companies, restaurants and jewelry stores million of
dollars.

I don’t mean to be a Negative
Nancy about the whole thing. Having an extra day to celebrate love is pretty awesome;
I just hate how it’s all about spending money (isn’t everything?).

The last few years Chuck
and I have opted for something a little lower key for the big day. We don’t
bother trying to get reservations; we would have to know what we felt like
eating about 2 months in advance which is simply not possible. We choose not to
do gifts, we have so much already. Instead of all of those things we usually
have a quiet night in with a somewhat fancy homemade dinner, a bottle of wine,
and snuggling on our couch.

In honor of the holiday I’ve put together a few easy dinner menus, including
the links to all of the recipes on My Recipe Magic. I chose to use My Recipe Magic for a couple reasons. Mainly because of the Menu feature. At the bottom of each recipe is an “add to menu” button, which allows you to collect a group of recipes into one list. Once you have all of your recipes
chosen you can then click on the menu tab at the top, and see them all in one place. From here you can click on the “make a shopping list” button to get a PDF shopping list of everything you will need to prepare your chosen recipes. If your interested you can also see the nutrition values, and points. I mean how convenient is this?

Each of the menu’s below is meant to be a four course meal with a little something for everyone. I know that a lot of people are afraid to put together a meal with all these courses, but there are a lot of ways to make it easy. For starters I tried to choose recipes that were easy to prepare, and quite a few that can be prepared in advance. Give it a shot, and definitely mix and match to create your perfect menu.

Glutten Free

Insalata Caprese // Easy Cheesy Potato Soup // Butternut Squash & Spinach Risotto // Cheese Cake bites

Chicken

Garlic Soup // Spinach & Apple Salad with Sweet Italian Dressing // Spinach & Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken with Rice // Basil & Strawberry Meringues

Beef

Simple Salad w/ Dijon Vinaigrette // Carrot & Ginger Soup // Blue Cheese Stuffed Steak with Roasted Potatoes** // Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake

Seafood

Crab & Red Pepper Crostini // Spinach Soup // Linguine with Clam Sauce // Triple Chocolate Biscotti & Tea

Vegetarian

Carrot & Beet Salad with Spicy Mustard Dressing // Irish Roasted Shallots // Tortellini with Pesto Cream Sauce // Maple Creme Brulee

Whole Roasted Brown Trout

By Jessica

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I have never whole roasted a fish before, even though I have
eaten a lot of fish. I mean I grew up fishing, and have an obsession with sea
food. I don’t know whether it’s relaxing in the boat with a book that I enjoy
more or the actual fishing, but it’s definitely an activity that Chuck and I enjoy
together. Even in the winter cold, ice fishing is pretty fun too.

Last weekend I let Chuck run off with his cousin Shecky (don’t
ask where these names come from, I promise you that the stories are unoriginal)
for a day of ice fishing sans women. It has to be done once in a while, or the
poor guy ends up with estrogen overload and develops a little tick. That and it
was ranging between one and zero degrees out that day. I took one for the team
and stayed ~~warm~~ home practicing my camera skills.

I was pretty impressed that Chuck not only managed to remain
fairly sober, but was also able to catch an actual fish between beers and
shenanigans. I don’t want you to get the wrong impression and think that Chuck
is a bad fisherman, it is more the fact that when these two hooligans are
together very little of what they set out to accomplish actually gets done, unless
of course their goal is to finish the thirty rack, they can handle that one
pretty well.

Anyway somehow between the two of them they managed to get
this fish, so of course it was up to me to cook it. I have wanted to try
roasting a whole fish for a while. Everyone says it’s easy, they look
beautiful, and I was hoping they tasted as good as they looked. I scanned a few
recipes before I came up with this one, and was pretty impressed with the
result.

Whole Roasted Brown Trout

1 large whole trout, gutted and cleaned

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt & pepper

1 lemon, sliced

1 bunch fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Rub the trout with oil, salt
and pepper inside, and out. Then Stuff the stomach cavity with lemon and thyme.
Roast in the oven on the middle rack for 20 to 30 minutes or until the ski is
crisp and meat flakey.

Along with this I chose to serve potatoes. If you have been
following along recently you have probably noticed an upswing in the simplicity
of my meals. This is an extremely simple side dish that is adored in our
household. You can swap out these fingerlings for chopped russets or red
potatoes as well, whatever your preference.

Garlic Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 lb fingerling potatoes, halved

Course sea salt

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large oven safe
skillet heat oil and garlic over medium high heat for 1 minute. Add potatoes
and toss to coat. Place in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until potatoes can
be pierced with a fork. Remove from heat, sprinkle with salt and serve.

Slow Cooker Hungarian Goulash: An Impromptu Dinner Party

By Jessica

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Sometimes and an impromptu dinner party is the best kind of dinner party.

We were sitting on the couch enjoying our day off when we got a text from a friend who was in town staying with other friends. He told us yet another friend was there from across the country and was coming down. He asked if we could come over later that night.

The aspiring chef that I am had already put a roast in the crock pot to cook for just this recipe and I knew there would be left over’s if it was just Chuck and I. So I asked instead if they wanted to all come to our place to eat before we all went over to their house for an evening of heady drinking. Of course, they said yes, who wouldn’t?

I was nervous that there wouldn’t be enough so I put out some cheese and crackers because we always have it on hand. I shouldn’t have; I ended up putting enough for a dinner of 4 in the freezer. It appears that this is one of those recipes that can easily feed a crowd. It’s a homey, stick to your ribs kind of meal too so perhaps it should be paired with a nice light salad instead of the cheese and crackers that I served it with. Oh and a good German beer. This is a German-style recipe after all, and the heat from the paprika goes well with a nice hoppy beer, at least that’s what I thought.

Hungarian Goulash

1 lb Beef Chuck Roast
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
2 tbsp Hungarian paprika
2 tbsp butter
2 large carrots (peeled & chopped)
2 onions (peeled & chopped)
2 bay leaves
4 large tomatoes diced (2 cans diced can be used instead)
2 tablespoons flour (optional)

Season the meat with salt, pepper and paprika.
Melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Sear the meat on all sides until a nice crust forms, about 2-3 minutes per side.
Place the meat in a crock pot and add the carrots, onions, bay leaves, and tomatoes. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours (high for 4 hours).
For a thicker sauce combine flour with ¼ cup broth or water and blend well. Add to the slow cooker and cook for an additional 30 minutes on high.

Similar Recipes:

Slow Cooker Pork Ragu

Slow Cooker Venison Pot Roast

American Style Venison Goulash

The Simplicity of Garlic Soup

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I’m really into simple lately.

It’s a new year so reflection, change, and all that. It’s just in the air right now, and I am soaking it in. All month I’ve been sharing a few of my favorite simple recipes, things that are simple, and good for both your body and your soul. This is another one of those recipes.

I stumbled on it while Stalking Mrs. Mimi Thorrison on her blog, Manger. If the images aren’t enough to completely captivate you I assure you that her heart felt stories and homey recipes are.

There is something about garlic that I simply cannot get enough of. I go through heads and heads of it weekly. I would take stock in it if there were such a thing, and I would be paying myself. Chuck and I have been known to roast a head of it just for eating, and I find so much pleasure in browning it in a pan. It is the best prize to find that wonderfully brown slightly crisp little clove hiding in the bottom of a soup or pasta dish for us. When I found this recipe I was in a state of shock. Why had I not made this already? How had I not thought of it or even heard of such a thing? I felt robbed, and proceeded to go home and make it without hesitation.

It was the absolute best decision I have ever made.

Though the ingredients are few the flavors in this dish are huge. There is depth and complexity here where with such a simple preparation you would not expect. With some good crusty bread toasted well to dip with it is pure unadulterated heaven and something that must be recreated as often as possible.

Garlic Soup

2 tbsp olive oil

1 shallot, peeled and chopped

1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 tbsp flour

4-5 cups vegetable stock

Salt & pepper to taste

2 additional cloves of garlic, sliced thin

2 eggs, whites and yolks separated

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Heat the 1 tbsp oil and shallot over medium high heat sautéing
for 1-2 minutes. Add the head of garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
Stir in flour until well combined. Add stock, salt & pepper to the pan and
bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile in a frying
pan heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium high again, and cook the sliced garlic until
brown and crispy, then set aside. Once the soup has simmered and reduced some
puree and return to the pan over medium heat. In a small bowl whisk the egg
yolks together with the vinegar and set aside. Next carefully whisk the egg
whites into the soup, until thin strands begin to appear on top. Immediately remove
the pan from heat and begin to whisk in yolk vinegar mixture. Serve with garlic
chips on top and toast.

Jessica

Hungarian Goulash

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