NOT from a cookbook--Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti
The Ugly Binder, from the internet

1 (16 oz.) pkg. ziti I used Smart Taste penne, which is only a 14.5 oz box
1 lb. ground beef
1 (15 oz.) container Ricotta cheese
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. chopped parsley
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 tsp. salt
1 (29 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 (8 oz.) pkg. Mozzarella cheese, shredded

About 1 hour before serving, prepare ziti as label directs; drain. In an 8 quart Dutch oven, cook ground beef until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove Dutch oven from heat; stir in Ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, parsley, egg, 1/2 of spaghetti sauce, and seasonings (I added about half the mozzarella to the pasta and reserved half for the top). Stir until mixed. Add ziti and toss gently to coat well. Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan. Pour remaining spaghetti sauce evenly over mixture. Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Yield: 8 servings.
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I don't usually make recipes for my blog that I pull off the internet, unless it already had a place in my Ugly Binder. However, this recipe illustrates an important point. I decided I wanted to make baked ziti. I used to make it but I couldn't remember exactly how I did it so I went looking through my cookbooks to find a recipe. I found several meatless varieties but none with meat (except in a Sopranos cookbook, but that recipe sounded kind of blah and even looked dry in the picture). Which just proves that I need to keep buying more cookbooks, right? Good, I'm glad you agree with me. Okay, I clearly didn't really need a recipe for something this simple but there should have been one somewhere in my collection.

This would have been better served immediately but since I have such limited time, I made it the night before. It was okay reheated but I would make it fresh if at all possible. It's a relatively fast dish since that you can get on the table in under 45 minutes. Under 30 minutes if you have a commercial break (ever notice how much Rachael Ray gets done during her commercial breaks?)

Question of the Day: Do you have a long weekend coming up (Columbus Day)? I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to a long weekend.

Another good one from Martha--Thin and Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thin and Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies
Martha Stewart’s Cookies Copyright 2008

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, 1/4 cup water, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
2. Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake until cookies are golden brown 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Makes about 3 dozen (I got 4, with 2 dozen using a larger scoop and I still had extra dough.)
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Martha may have done time for lying about a stock tip but my investigation concludes that she was definitely not lying when she named these cookies 'thin and crispy'. They are definitely the thinnest and crispiest chocolate cookies I've ever had.

Normally I'm a chewy, gooey cookie kind of gal. I'm not sure why I developed a hankering for a crispy chocolate chip cookie but I did. These certainly fit the bill. These disappeared very quickly in our house.

These cookies spread a lot. My first two batches, I used my larger cookie scoop and they almost all grew together (I was able to use a sharp knife to separate them). I switched to my smaller scoop and they were still some merging going on but it was better.

I think I underbaked some of them. The color looked right but they still had a slight chew to them. One batch was just right. One batch I got distracted and almost burned. That turned out to be my favorite batch.

I own a few different Martha Stewart cookbooks but this one is my favorite, so far. This is only the second recipe I've tried but both have been big hits in my house (the other recipe was for Surprise Cookies.)

Question of the Day: Have you tried many (or any) of Martha's recipes?

Weekly recap

Nothing new to post about today. I had one more recipe that's been on my to-do list for two weeks and I still haven't found the time to make it. Maybe this weekend.

I don't think I recapped last week's meals and I can't even remember what we ate now. I know we had cube steak sandwiches and they were awesome. I think we had meatballs and pasta too. Friday I made pizza with that great dough. Oh, there was Kielbasa with Beer & Onions .

The other meal I made was this Chicken-and-Rice Bake that I loved the first time I made it. When I was making it this time, I wasn't so sure it was going to work out. I was making it the night before and it didn't look as creamy as I'd remembered it and I just knew it wasn't going to be as good. I was wrong! I loved it all it over again.



This week started with Liberace's pork chops (not quite how he intended them but wonderful the way they turned out), Tuesday we had grilled chicken, Wednesday we had Cheeseburger Macaroni and last night we chicken fried rice and potstickers. Tonight is homemade pizza again (I can't wait!)

I got kind of a nasty comment on an old post yesterday. The recipe used canned soup and the commenter (who is hiding behind a private profile) suggested that anyone who used canned soup must not know how to cook. What an ass. I think I do pretty darn well for someone who's out of the house 11.5 hours a day (yes, I leave at 6:30am and I don't get home until 6pm*). I've been putting mostly cooked-from-scratch food on the table and if I want to use some canned cream-of-whatever soup in a recipe every now and then, I'm going to, and I'm going to do it without apology.

(*The boys come with me for anyone who's worried that I'm away from them that long. I have onsite daycare.)

I had a lot of luck at the grocery store last night. As a promotional thing, I earned 15% off of my total. With sales and 'club' savings, I saved almost 28% on my groceries this week. I spent less than last week. I found some great deals on meat. I got a value pack of cubed steaks, a 3-lb package of Hillshire kielbasa, 2 small pork loins, and 2 2-lb boxes of all-natural Angus beef burgers. I stocked up on a few other things too.

Question of the Day: What did you have for dinner this week?

Bread of the Week--Onion Rye Bread

Onion Rye Bread
Great Bread Machine Recipes Copyright 1992

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
¾ cup bread flour
2 tablespoons onion soup mix
¾ cup rye flour
½ cup whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon butter
4 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons molasses
4 ½ ounces warm water

Add ingredients per your bread machines instructions.

Makes 1 1-lb loaf.
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I'm still on a bread kick. A nice piece of toast makes for a quick breakfast in the morning and generally breads don't require any special ingredients which is nice.

I had a little trouble with this. I often have to add a bit more water to a recipe which is normal when making bread but I had to add a LOT more to this recipe and it was still a very stiff dough. It actually came out alright but I'd be curious to see what a little wheat gluten would due. It was a bit denser than the breads I've made with gluten. This cookbook usually includes it as an optional ingredient when it might help the texture but it wasn't listed for this recipe.

I enjoyed the flavor although it wasn't very oniony. Most of what was left in the half-package of soup mix I had left was powdered broth, not onions. I meant to add more dried onion out of my spice cupboard but I forgot. We ate a lot of rye bread growing up so this was very comforting.

If anyone thinks I should start copying the amounts for the larger loaves too, let me know. My machine only makes 1-lb loaves I can give the larger amounts too if anyone is interested.

Question of the Day: Are you shocked by the price of bread lately? Silly question - the price of everything in the grocery store is getting rather shocking.

Another winner sneaks up on me--Pork Chops with Mustard

Pork Chops with Mustard
Liberace Cooks Copyright 1970

6 large pork chops
2 tablespoons wet mustard I used Dijon mustard
Flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons pepper
1 cup water

Cut fat from chops and spread with mustard on both sides. Sprinkle with flour, salt and pepper. Brown in butter on both sides. When brown, add about 1 cup of water, cover, and simmer for an hour. Add more water as needed.
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This recipe looked simple and needed no extra ingredients, which are two great qualities I look for in a recipe these days.

It didn't go exactly as I thought it would but that was mainly due to user error. I didn't brown my chops as well as I would have liked. They were sort of wet when I started but I figured I was adding wet mustard so I didn't dry them off. I might have been too heavy-handed with the flour so it didn't really end up adhering to the meat. I definitely wasn't patient enough.

I added the water, put on the lid and let them cook. The recipe says you may need to add water but didn't they have air-tight lids in 1970? How would you lose all that water in a covered pan? When I opened the lid, they were swimming in liquid (modern pork gives off it's own liquid too). They didn't look too appetizing, to be honest. The mustard was gone and they weren't very brown.

I was cooking them for the next night so I put them in the refrigerator in the liquid (so they wouldn't dry out). When I took them out the following evening, I removed the fat from the top and then I was surprised to see that the liquid had jellified like a good soup stock (surprised because I though it took bones to do that and these chops were boneless). I decided to add a bit of flour and water to make gravy out of it when I reheated the pork chops on the stove top.

I ended up with perfectly tender pork chops (not stringy at all!) with some excellent pork gravy on top. I couldn't believe that I ended up with such a nice gravy when I only used water to cook the chops and there was nothing besides the boneless meat, mustard, salt and pepper to flavor it.

This is one of those times when I have to wonder if it was all just a big fluke? Could I repeat this success? Someday I'll try.

Funny thing - as I was reading this cookbook, the baby was absolutely enthralled with the cover.



I don't know if it was the black, white and red colors but he was giving it such an intent look with furrowed brow. It was comical, especially considering how understated Liberace looks in that picture.

Question of the Day: Have you ever made a recipe that you loved but you could never get it to turn out quite the same way again?