Tag: pasta

SRC – Stuffed Shell Casserole from Making Miracles

Well Dined | Stuffed Shell Casserole

Remember when I thought that the fall SRC post was my last one?  Well, I had completely forgotten that I still had one more regular Secret Recipe Club post.  Oops!  Luckily I did remember in time and was able to look through my assigned blog – Making Miracles.

Rebekah is a mother of two who traveled extensively as a child, including living in Africa – wow!  Most of her meals are “quick, easy, and family friendly”, but sometimes she has time for something more complicated.  She has also been a surrogate for many years resulting in 4 baby girls, 2 of whom are twins!  What an amazing gift!  I can’t imagine how challenging and rewarding that must be.

On Rebekah’s blog I saw lots of casseroles, and you KNOW I love casseroles.  I was particularly interested in this Crockpot Turkey and Rice Casserole, this Deconstructed Stuffed Cabbage Casserole, this Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken Casserole, this Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole with Doritos, and this Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole.

Other dishes that peaked my interest were Brown Sugar Meatloaf, Mozzarella Stuffed Italian Meatloaf, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, and Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Roast.

Well Dined | Stuffed Shell Casserole

I let my husband look through all of my top choices (so generous of me *wink*).  He picked out these classic Stuffed Shells, and I was happy to oblige!  But then I ran into a problem – the store didn’t have any jumbo pasta shells!  I thought I remembered having a box at home, so I bought the rest of the stuff and went back to check.  It turns out that what I had was actually large shells, not jumbo.  I was out of time and had already bought the other ingredients, so I decided to improvise. (more…)

Halloween Recipe Round-up

If you are in need of festive dishes, look no further!  I have collected my most relevant recipes onto one page for you.

Halloween Candy

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Halloween Candy Bark
Candy Corn Jello Shots

Apple Desserts

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Apple Oat Muffins
Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies
Cheddar Apple Hand Pies

Black and Orange
More like green and orange, but you get the idea.

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Butternut Squash and Kale Mac and Cheese
Sweet Potato and Chard Gratin
Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon
Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles (more…)

Food ‘n Flix – Hotel Transylvania 2 (Oozing Eyeball Pasta)

Well Dined | Spinach Dip Stuffed Meatballs

Holy miracle, Batman – I finally got my act together in time for Food ‘n Flix again!  It’s been almost a year, yikes.  This month, our film was Hotel Transylvania 2, hosted by Kimberly at Coffee and Casseroles.

Well Dined | Food 'n Flix

This film is a sequel, and though we didn’t have to, I watched both films – I had been meaning to see them anyway, because my neighbor’s kids are obsessed and quote them all the time.  These are really cute films about acceptance, diversity, fear mongering, and family.  Big topics for kids movies, I know.  They voice actors are big names, too – Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi.

Well Dined | Food 'n Flix

They also had all kinds of cute and creepy (but not too creepy) foods – like “scream cheese” and “monster-ball soup”.  So there was lots of foodie inspiration.

Well Dined | Spinach Dip Stuffed Meatballs

I had seen a Buzzfeed video for Spinach Dip Stuffed Meatballs and thought how cute those would be as Oozing Eyeballs! (more…)

ICC – Orecchiette with Chicken, Garlic, and Rosemary

Well Dined | Orecchiette with Chicken, Garlic, and Rosemary

I have recently joined a group called Improv Cooking Challenge (see my first post here), where we are assigned 2 ingredients to incorporate into a dish each month.  This month, the challenge was garlic and rosemary – perfection!

Well Dined | Orecchiette with Chicken, Garlic, and Rosemary

I chose to make a simple pasta with shredded rotisserie chicken, garlic, and rosemary; tossed together with starchy pasta water and Parmesan to make a light sauce.  Five ingredients, 30 minutes, easy and delicious.  You’re welcome, world! (more…)

Chicken Bacon Alfredo Lasagna Roll-ups

Well Dined | Chicken Bacon Alfredo Lasagna Roll-ups

I have been saving Tasty (Buzzfeed Food) videos on Facebook like crazy.  They always look so good!  So this week, I declared that I must make one thing from a saved link; and I chose these decadent Chicken Bacon Alfredo Lasagna Roll-ups.

Well Dined | Chicken Bacon Alfredo Lasagna Roll-ups

Start by cooking lasagna noodles and filling them with a mixture of cooked chicken, bacon, and Alfredo sauce (made with butter, garlic, cream, cream cheese, and Parmesan).  I made some changes to the original, using 12 noodles instead of 8 and more filling per noodle to use up all the filling.  I didn’t like how, in the video, there was chicken and bacon on the top instead of all contained. (more…)

SRC – Memorial Day Meal from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Well Dined | BBQ Beef and BLT Pasta Salad

May has five Mondays this year, which means – themed Secret Recipe Club post!  Falling on Memorial Day, the theme for this reveal is Picnic/BBQ and my assigned blog was A Day in the Life on the Farm.  Wendy and her husband are former police officers who moved out to the country and became farmers.  They treat their animals humanely, are part of an organic CSA, trade with other farmers, and live sustainably as much as possible – I am so jealous!  I dream of being a radical homemaker, but don’t have the commitment.  I was on a specific mission this month, but I look forward to perusing the blog more thoroughly.

Well Dined | Black Forest Trifle

I actually made three recipes from Wendy’s blog this weekend, in order to have a full meal for the holiday.  She had tons of recipes that are appropriate for the challenge, and I chose BBQ Beef Sandwiches, BLT Pasta Salad, and Black Forest Trifle.  Each of these was easy to make with the help of store-bought ingredients, so that I didn’t have to spend a full day in the kitchen.  And each of them was a big hit! (more…)

Rye Spaetzle with Spring Vegetables and Gruyere

Well Dined | Rye Spaetzle with Spring Vegetables and Gruyere

I love Spring. I love the flowers, and the weather (sometimes), and the resurgence of vegetables.  Spring vegetables are here and gone so quickly (if you are buying seasonally, that is), so take advantage of them while you can!  Melissa (Smells Like Brownies) and I decided to make this Spring vegetable dish because it uses spaetzle, which is a bit more fun than your standard pasta, and gruyere, which pairs so well with these veggies.

Well Dined | Spaetzle with Mushrooms, Herbs, and Duck Egg

Spaetzle is a chewy German egg noodle.  Melissa is familiar with it because she studied German.  I’ve eaten it in restaurants many times, but only made it once before this past fall.  And by made it, I mean that my friend made it with her Grandmother’s (I think) recipe and her spaetzle press.  Meanwhile, I made a vegetarian ragu with mushrooms, butter, onion, thyme, and oregano and poached some duck eggs (thank you, gorgeous Portland farmer’s market). (more…)

Miami Pt 2 – Fontainebleau Signature Restaurants

Well Dined | Fontainebleau Miami
image courtesy of Fontainebleau Miami

In my last post about our Miami trip, I talked about the Fontainebleau Miami Resort.  But I didn’t talk about any of the (numerous) restaurants on the property.  There are a number of casual spots on the property, which I will talk about later.  Then there are the four upscale “Signature Restaurants”, which are the subject of this post.

First up is Stripsteak by Michael Mina, the most upscale restaurant at the resort.  We are fans of Bourbon Steak (also by Mina) here in DC, so we were pretty excited to try this out.  The space is pretty and modern, with a really cool glass wine room (and a really good wine list to go with it).

Well Dined | Stripsteak Miami

Like Bourbon Steak, Stripsteak serves buttery truffle rolls as it’s complementary bread.  So friggin good.  Just give me 8 loaves.  Also like Bourbon Steak, like the appetizers are on point.  We ordered a burrata, asparagus, and duck prosciutto salad; a trio of oysters with salmon roe, paddlefish roe, and uni; and seared foie gras with strawberries, pickled fennel, and macadamia nut.  They were all delicious, especially the foie. (more…)

Spam Mac and Cheese

Well Dined | Spam Mac and Cheese

I have talked about my growing obsession with spam in recent months.  I was looking for recipes to use it in, and found suggestions for Spam Mac and Cheese – of course!  That sounded awesome!  But the first recipe I tried didn’t turn out great.  It was probably due to the fact that I used shredded Mexican cheese blend (because that’s what I had on hand) to make the cheese sauce, and not the idea of a mornay type sauce itself, that caused it to fail.  But I was turned off to that method.

Then I made that really delicious Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Macaroni and Cheese with Velveeta and realized this was the way to go.  Of course weird processed cheese product would go well with weird processed meat product (don’t judge me)!

Well Dined | Spam Mac and Cheese

I was right!  It came out creamy and salty and just awesome in general.  Again – I wouldn’t recommend making this a weekly thing, but as an occasional treat, it’s delicious. (more…)

SRC – Seared Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter and Pasta from Morsels of Life

Well Dined | Seared Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter and Pasta

It’s time for April’s Secret Recipe Club reveal! I was assigned Morsels of Life. The author is an engineer, and brings her desire for efficiency to her blog. She doesn’t like to use any crazy complex methods, and is loose with measurements. She writes, “Generally, if you like something, use more; if you dislike something, use less, substitute something else, or just eliminate it altogether. You’ll probably be fine.” I love that. Often when I’m writing recipes, and have to try and figure out how much of something I used, I just want to write – use your best judgement. She also has pretty extensive privacy and disclosure information on her blog, which I think is admirable.

CJ’s blog has a lot of Asian influence, and I really like the look of this Pork Meatball Ramen, as well as this Cha Shao Chinese BBQ Pork.  For sweets, I was drawn to Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes, and Spiced Date Ice Cream (made with cashew milk!).  But I ended up running out of time before leaving on a last-minute trip; so when I saw this Seared Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter and Pasta, and realized that I already had all the ingredients for it – I knew that’s what I needed to make!

Well Dined | Seared Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter and Pasta

This was incredibly easy to make – just toss hot pasta with lemon herb compound butter, spinach, and Parmesan, then top with seared salmon and more compound butter.  I used frozen Alaskan salmon, frozen spinach, and store-bought garlic butter spread (I added lemon juice and zest to it) – so this was really quick and easy.  Plus (with the salmon, spinach, and protein-plus pasta), it was really healthy! (more…)