Cheese Manicotti

Sorry - again - for my lack of posts/recipes lately. I've been in town ... just not cooking as much as I'd like! Please stick with me though; I promise it will get better soon!

This recipe is one I grew up eating, and it's sort of a comfort food to me. And, it's an Italian meal, which I adore. I tend to gravitate towards the delicious combo of pasta and cheese!

Again, I don't have a photo because (let's all say it together) we ate it too fast and by the time I remembered all I had left on my plate were a few blobs of marinara sauce. But y'all know what manicotti looks like, right? I paired this with garlic bread and a salad (with my favorite Italian dressing - Good Seasons - the mix that you combine with oil, red wine vinegar and water).

Delizioso!

Cheese Manicotti
Recipe passed down to my mom from a dear family friend, Mamie Coffey
8 oz. (2 cups) diced or shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 slightly beaten eggs
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Marinara sauce (I use a whole jar store-bought sauce for this recipe)
Approximately 8-10 uncooked manicotti noodles

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Mix the first seven ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour a small amount of marinara sauce in the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 baking dish. Fill uncooked manicotti noodles with cheese mixture and place in dish on top of marinara sauce. Pour the remaining sauce on top of the cheese-filled noodles. Top with extra Parmesan cheese, if desired. Cover dish with foil and bake, covered, for approximately 45 minutes (at 350 degrees).

Penne with Butternut Squash & Italian Sausage

Also known as one of my very favorite fall meals.

This recipe is delicious. The combination of sweet and tender butternut squash, sage, sweet Italian sausage and garlic is sublime. Patrick made me smile last week when he saw the recipe card laying on the kitchen counter and said, with a sigh, "I miss that meal..."

He was in for a treat last week because it was on the menu. I made it for our weekly Thursday night dinner with the Akins family and all of us - including the two kiddos - liked it (although, I do think the kids liked the penne and sausage part of the meal a little more than the squash part).

All this coming from someone who rarely eats squash. I LOVE this meal, and it's perfect to help usher in the fall season. Hope you enjoy!

Sorry for the lack of photo. I was so looking forward to eating that I forgot to snap a picture until my plate was clean.

Penne with Butternut Squash & Italian Sausage
Recipe courtesy of a dear family friend, Joan Coffey
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/4 lb. sweet Italian sausage, crumbled (remove casings first)*
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Pinch of crushed red pepper - optional
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage
8 ounces penne pasta
2 ounces (1/2 cup) shredded Parmesan cheese

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat; add olive oil and swirl to coat pan. Add squash and cook until browned. Transfer to a bowl. Cook sausage until well browned and drain. Stir in garlic and red pepper and cook 1 minute. Add wine and simmer 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Return squash to pan; add chicken broth and sage. Bring to boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer until squash is very tender, 10-12 minutes (stir occasionally). Cook pasta al dente. Gently combine pasta and squash/sausage mixture. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serves 6.

*At first, I had the hardest time finding sweet Italian sausage. I once broke down and bought it at this fancy-schmancy gourmet grocery store on the Island and paid something like $20 for it. Never again! (By the way, with prices like that, the store is now out of business.) I have found, thankfully, Johnsonville's sweet Italian sausage in the freezer case at Publix. It's nowhere near $20.

Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs with Carrots & Potatoes

Sorry for the lack of recipes lately. Patrick and I were out of town for a while (as in 10 days) to welcome my brother home from Afghanistan. Good excuse, eh? We drove to Illinois with my parents (and their lab) and stayed with family there. We had a great time. And, I only cooked once. The other nights we were treated to delicious meals by my aunt Susan, and we also went out to eat a few times (Italian Village pizza ... heavenly).

The one night I did make dinner -- for 17 family members -- I made two pans of baked spaghetti. I think it was a hit.

But now we're back to the real world where I cook.

Today I branched out of my comfort zone and pulled the never-been-used-in-two-years-0f-marriage Crock Pot down from the pantry. As I was flipping through the latest issue of Southern Living the other day I came across a tasty looking slow cooker recipe and decided that I'd give it a whirl. Now, the reason I have never used a Crock Pot before is that frankly, none of the recipes I've seen look too tempting. I'm not a huge fan of stew, and why would I want to brown meat before putting it in the slow cooker? Isn't the entire point of the appliance so that I don't have to do that?

This recipe, however, looked easy (no browning meat!) and had two of my favorite cooked veggies in it - potatoes and carrots. And, I didn't even let the fact that it called for chicken thighs (dark meat, never cooked/eaten before) deter me. So, today I gave it a try and folks, we have a winner.

The prep took all of 20 minutes, and six hours later we had a tasty, fall-ish meal in front of us. We declared it a keeper.


Chicken Thighs with Carrots and Potatoes
Courtesy of Southern Living
1 medium onion
4 medium-size new potatoes (about 1 lb.)
2 cups baby carrots
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
1 teaspoon paprika
6 skinned, bone-in chicken thighs*

Halve onion lengthwise, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Cut potatoes into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place onion in a lightly greased 6-quart slow cooker; top with potatoes and carrots.

Combine broth, next three ingredients, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pour over vegetables.

Combine paprika and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; rub over chicken. Arrange chicken on top of vegetables.

Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours or until chicken is done and vegetables are tender.

*I apparently have a poor memory because I came home from Publix with skinless, boneless chicken thighs, not the bone-in kind. I don't think it affected the taste at all, and was probably easier to eat.