Make One; Freeze One

Posted by TheRoomMom

It is embarrassing how little food preparation I have done for my family in recent weeks. TheRoomDad has completely taken over weekend meals and school lunches. The best I have been able to do for weeknight meals is scrambled eggs and grilled cheese. He practically fell off his chair when I told him I was headed to the grocery store and had decided to make Spaghetti Pie for Sunday dinner.

My original Spaghetti Pie recipe came from the Beyond Parsley cookbook, but there are many Spaghetti Pie options if you run a Google search. Over time, I have adjusted my recipe slightly because I always make a double batch, so we can eat one pie and freeze one for later. The only reason I considered making Spaghetti Pie this Sunday was because it had the benefit of an extra freezable pie, so I could avoid preparing dinner on another night in the future.

Crust Ingredients (for 2 pies)

2 boxes (16 oz.) thin spaghetti cooked and drained
1 garlic clove, minced
5 T. butter
1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
2 t. dried basil

Meat Sauce Ingredients (for 2 pies)

~1 lb. ground beef (find a package that is close to 1 lb.)
~1 lb. Italian sausage (1 package)
1 28-oz can tomato sauce
1 6-oz can tomato paste
2 t. sugar
2 t. dried basil
2 t. dried oregano
1/2 c. white wine

Other Ingredients and Equipment (for 2 pies)

1 15-oz container ricotta cheese
2 c. mozzarella cheese, grated
2 10-inch pie plates (can be disposable)

Directions

Make the crust first. Combine the cooked spaghetti with the other “crust” ingredients while the pasta is warm. Chop mixture with two knives until ingredients are well combined and spaghetti is in small sections. Put the two knives in the center of the ingredients and pull in opposite directions to chop the pasta. Repeat the knife movement moving the pan around, so all noodles are cut into small pieces.

Press half of the pasta mixture into each pie plate making sure the pasta covers the bottom and sides of the pie plates and set aside.

To make the filling, brown ground beef, sausage, and onion together. Drain the fat. Stir in remaining sauce ingredients and heat thoroughly.

Put the ricotta in a small bowl and add 1 to 2 T. warm water and mix together, so the ricotta will be easy to spread.
To assemble the pies, spread about half of the ricotta cheese on each pie “crust.” You may have some leftover ricotta.

Top the ricotta with meat sauce on each pie.

Sprinkle 1 cup shredded mozzarella on each pie.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Freezing and Reheating Directions

Before baking, cover pie completely with foil wrapping around the bottom as well. I like to use the disposable pie pans that come with lids. I attach the plastic lid, then wrap completely in foil.

Put covered Spaghetti Pie in the freezer.
When ready to eat, thaw the pie in the refrigerator overnight keeping the covering on it.
Remove all coverings before baking. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown on top.
The pie can be reheated straight from the freezer. Remove any plastic covering and cover the top with foil only. Bake at 350 or 375 degrees until thawed in the center (test with a knife). Remove the foil covering and continue baking until golden brown on top and bubbly on the edges.

Notes

I think you could assemble the layers in a casserole dish rather than a pie pan and make a spaghetti casserole type thing.
Leftovers taste very good reheated.
These pies make great gifts for a new neighbor or a friend with a sick family member, new baby, etc. I have also given these pies to my children’s teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week with freezing and reheating instructions!

Do you have a recipe that you always double, so you can set a serving aside for later?

Brownie Cups

Posted by TheRoomMom

I hate it when my ideas don’t work. Mr. Star Wars had his 10th birthday yesterday, and he wanted brownies with ice cream on top for his birthday dessert. This was just going to be a family dinner and celebration since we celebrated his birthday with a few friends before school started, but I still did not think that a plain old pan brownie was birthday-y enough, so I hunted down an alternative.

I had seen an idea on Pinterest for brownie cups. They seemed easy enough and upon closer inspection, they even used a boxed brownie mix, which I thought would translate into minimal time and effort.

Here is what Dreyer’s Ice Cream told me I could make:

Here is what I actually made:

Ingredients

1 box brownie mix
2 cupcake tins
Pam spray or Crisco
a little luck

Directions

Make the brownie mix according to the box directions. I think a fudgier brownie mix would work better than the one I used.
Spray with Pam or grease with Crisco the insides of a cupcake tin and across the top of the pan where the brownies will rise over the edge of the cup VERY WELL.
Fill the cupcake tins about 2/3 full with brownie mix.

Spray or grease the bottom of the second cupcake tin VERY WELL and gently rest the second cupcake tin on top of the filled cupcake tin.

Bake brownies according to the box directions. I baked my brownies about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
Remove from the oven and remove the top cupcake tin. I thought it was best to remove while the brownies were still warm, but my brownies stuck to the pans, so I am not sure what to advise on this. I let them cool before lifting the cup out of the bottom cupcake tin after seeing the disaster with the top pan, but the base of the brownies completely stuck to the pan, so I ended up with brownie crumbles and broken brownie cups.

Take whatever brownie pieces you can salvage and put them in the bottom of a bowl.

Top with ice cream. Mr. Star Wars and Miss Priss wanted mint chip. TheRoomDad and I had coffee ice cream. Drizzle chocolate syrup over the ice cream.

Thankfully, broken brownie cups taste just as good as perfect brownie cups. Anyone else want to give this one a try and report back? Is it my cupcake tins that are the problem?

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Posted by TheRoomMom

First of all, let’s just clarify that this recipe is not for a real salad. It is for a dessert. It is called a salad in the sense that Jell-O with fruit or nut bits mixed in is known as a Jell-O salad, gelatin salad, or congealed salad (that name gives me the “no” feeling).

My grandmother had a whole box of these gelatin salad recipes. Some of the combinations made no sense to me like grated onion in lime Jell-O with a tuna topping. I am happy to report that there is nothing repulsive about this strawberry pretzel salad. It is delightful and delicious, and it was the perfect ending to our neighborhood 4th of July parade and feast.

Ingredients

2 c. crushed pretzels
10 T. butter, melted
1/4 c. + 1 c. sugar
16-oz cream cheese, softened
1 t. pure vanilla extract
8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed
1 6-oz pkg strawberry flavored Jell-O
2 c. boiling water
3 c. strawberries, sliced

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a bowl, pour the crushed pretzels and 1/4 cup sugar and stir to combine. Add the melted butter and stir again until mixed thoroughly.

Press the pretzel mixture on the bottom of a 9×13 pan and bake for ~8 minutes.
Remove pretzel crust from oven and let cool completely.

While the crust is baking, slice strawberries and put them in a bowl in the freezer. The cold strawberries will help the gelatin set up faster.

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and 1 cup sugar, and stir until smooth. Add the Cool Whip and continuing stirring until cream cheese is combined, and the texture is smooth again.

Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the cooled pretzel crust. Make sure the cream mixture is against the edges of the pan to prevent the Jell-O mix from seeping through.

Place the pan with the crust and cream layers in the refrigerator while you mix the Jell-O.
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Remove from the stove and add strawberry Jell-O. Stir until Jell-O is dissolved. Let sit for a few minutes to cool. Add the strawberries from the freezer and let Jell-O cool a little more.
Remove the pan from the refrigerator and carefully poor the Jell-O mix over the cream layer.

Put pan back in the refrigerator until the Jell-O is set. It will take a minimum of 1 hour.

Notes

If the Jell-O is too hot when you pour over the cream layer, it will leak through. This will not ruin the taste of the dish, but it won’t look as pretty.
Skinny pretzel sticks or the tic-tac-toe board pretzel shapes work well. You can crush in a food processor or put the pretzels in a Ziploc bag and run a rolling pin over them. Pretzel crushing is a great job for littler helpers.
There are many versions of this dessert, and I compared several recipes. The ingredient list and amounts stay about the same. You may want to add a few more scoops of Cool Whip than what I listed or adjust sugar amounts.

Swimming Food

Posted by TheRoomMom

We are summer swim team people. Mr. Star Wars moved up an age group this year, and his practice time is now an hour later than Miss Priss’. That means we spend every evening at the pool from 5:30 until about 7:45. Prime dinner hour. I was bringing snacks with us to practice and then we would eat really late dinner– like a bowl of cereal– when we got home but that was a disaster. I have started just bringing meals to the pool. My goal for pool meals is food that does not require utensils or dishes.

Yesterday, I brought a pan of those baked ham sandwiches that people serve at tailgates or football parties. The classic recipe with the Hawaiian rolls is really greasy and has too much butter for me (I can’t believe I am saying that), so I combined a few different recipes to reduce the butter amount– a little.

Mini Baked Ham Sandwiches

Ingredients

1/4 c. butter, softened
2 T. horseradish mustard
2 T. finely chopped yellow onion
1 1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 lb. deli ham, very thinly sliced– almost shaved (I like maple glazed)
1 lb. baby Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
1 pkg dinner rolls (you will use 9 rolls)
9×9 inch metal baking pan (disposable aluminum pans work well)

Directions

Mix the softened butter, horseradish mustard, chopped onion, and Worcestershire sauce in a small bowl. Combine well.

Cut the rolls in half horizontally. Keep the top and bottom halves separate.

Spread a layer of butter mixture on the bottom half of each roll and place in a 9×9 pan.
Cut the Swiss cheese slices into quarters. Place one piece of cheese on the buttered bottom half of each dinner roll.
Top the cheese slice with ham.
Add another quarter slice of cheese.
Spread the remaining butter mixture on the top half of each roll and place one on each cheese/ham stack.

Cover the pan of sandwiches with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

What kinds of snacks do you bring to eat at the pool? It is amazing how hungry swimmers get!

Blue Cheese Dip

Posted by TheRoomMom

I got a text earlier this week from my neighbor, Miss Jackie, suggesting we order pizza and have snacks Saturday night in the front yard while the kids rode bikes, played Ghosts in the Graveyard, and ran around. Easy enough– we love casual summer get togethers. Who knew there would be a pop-up thunderstorm at 5:00? The whole group ended up in my kitchen and playroom, and I drank margaritas. I made a blue cheese Columbine dip that works really well as a topping for hamburgers too, so we cancelled the pizza idea and grilled burgers.

The original recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Colorado Collage. Sewing Sister thinks we should add crumbled bacon to the top to make it even more delicious.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. crumbled blue cheese
1/3 c. chopped red onion
1/3 c. olive oil
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 T. red wine vinegar
1/2 t. crushed garlic
1 t. dry mustard
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Pour crumbled blue cheese in a 9-inch pie pan or similar sized dish (I used a quiche dish).

In a food processor, combine onion, olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, mustard, and pepper. Pulse to blend.

Pour the dressing evenly over the blue cheese.

Sprinkle with parsley.

Let stand 2+ hours at room temperature.
Serve with blue corn tortilla chips, pita chips, or little toasted bread triangles.

Notes

Add a scoop to the top of a freshly grilled hamburger to make a blue cheese burger.

TheRoomMom

The Parent with the Teacher's Perspective

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Make One; Freeze One

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