Lots of Cooking

Today is Saturday, and for that I am thankful. I got to spend the entire day with my love, which is unusual. We didn't do too much -- just ran a few errands and picked up some groceries. We spent the entire afternoon and evening talking, cooking, watching football, and reading side by side. It was my kind of night! (It also helped that the Broncos lost, but I won't get further into that.)

First, Dan made beer bread today. It isn't just any beer bread, though. He made it with his own home-brewed beer as well, which sort of makes it double homemade. And it is delicious! I normally don't like bread, but it has such a good flavor to it. We kept half of it out to enjoy this weekend and the other half in the freezer to pull out later, probably for a Superbowl party. :)

Then, we made homemade cinnamon rolls. Again, I normally don't like cinnamon rolls, but getting to help make them was fun, and we added raisins, which I do love. We baked them and had one together and saved two for the morning. We wrapped up the rest in pairs to freeze for other weekend mornings!

For dinner, we decided we wanted breakfast. We made biscuits and gravy, but we had to make two kinds of gravy. Dan wants pork sausage in his, so we made that, and we made a batch with vegetarian "sausage" as well. I spice mine up with cayenne pepper and the seasoning from Red Robin; it's delicious. Dinner was great, and when we finished, the football game came on. It was perfect timing.

While watching football, we decided to go ahead and prep our dinner for tomorrow since we have a few things to do during the day. We made stuffed shells. I will post the recipe below. We love this recipe and can't wait to share it with a couple friends for dinner tomorrow. We are making garlic/cheese bread to go with it, along with a salad and a pie. We're chilling some wine to serve as well.

DISH NAME: Stuffed Shells

TIME NEEDED (PREP/COOKING): 1 hour 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

One box jumbo shells

One tub Ricotta cheese

One package grated Mozzarella cheese

One tub fresh grated Parmesan cheese

One package frozen or fresh spinach
One white onion chopped small

Onion powder (to taste)

Garlic powder (to taste)

Italian Seasoning (to taste)

One jar red sauce with mushrooms and green peppers

DIRECTIONS:

    Cook jumbo shells until al dente, but not too soft

    Mix ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheeses together

    Add onion powder, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning to the cheese mixture to taste

    Boil frozen spinach until soft (not too long)

    Drain spinach and dry as much as possible

    Add spinach to cheese/spice mixture and stir well

    Add onion to cheese mixture and stir well

    Line 9x13 baking dish with a layer of red sauce

    Spoon cheese/spinach mixture into jumbo shells so they’re full, but not overflowing

    Line the stuffed shells in the sauce in the dish

    When all shells are filled and placed in dish, pour remaining red sauce over the top

    Top with any extra mozzarella and/or parmesan cheeses

    Cook on 350 for 30 minutes or so

Enjoy! 

Janelle