Technical Difficulties

I apologize for the absence of recipes the last couple of weeks. My computer has been on the fritz. I will add photos to the recently posted recipes as soon as I am able. Thank you for your patience!

Quick Tomato-Basil Pasta with Fresh Mozzarella

The other night my kitchen was barren and I really didn't feel like take out, so I used the recipe finder here on my blog and typed in pasta. I added the ingredients tomatoes, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese and here is the recipe I found. Though I had to make some modifications due to my depleted kitchen, this was amazing. Scott kept telling me over and over how good it was. The major modifications I made were to use bowtie pasta and grated mozzarella cheese. I would definitely recommend this!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
5 tablespoons fresh basil, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar
table salt
1 lb fusilli
8 ounces fresh mozzarella balls, mini, drained and cut in half
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot.

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil, garlic, and pepper flakes in medium saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in crushed and diced tomatoes, bring to simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 15-20 minutes. Stir in 3 tablespoons basil, sugar and 1/2 teaspoons salt.

3. Add 1 tablespoons salt and pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water, drain pasta, and transfer back to pot. Stir in sauce and remaining tablespoons oil, and cook over medium heat until heated through (adding reserved water if pasta seems dry), about 1 minute. Stir in mozzarella and season with salt. Serve, sprinkling with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and Parmesan.

Servings: 4

Serving Size 1 (494g)

Recipe makes 4 servings

Nutrition Information:

Calories 802
Calories from Fat 246 (30%)
Amount Per Serving %DV
Total Fat 27.4g 42%
Saturated Fat 10.7g 53%
Monounsaturated Fat 12.1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.5g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 52mg 17%
Sodium 1137mg 47%
Potassium 1017mg 29%
Total Carbohydrate 107.0g 35%
Dietary Fiber 8.1g 32%
Sugars 14.1g
Protein 33.3g 66%

www.recipezaar.com

Pumpkin Patch Torte

This is a lovely cake for fall. It is light and the frosting is not too sweet. I could not imagine being able to cut the cake widthwise into thirds, so I cut it in half and made four layers. I also didn't bother with the green frosting for vines, I just used candy pumpkins to decorate.


Ingredients:

1 can (15 ounces solid-pack pumpkin
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Frosting:

1 cup maple syrup
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 drops green food coloring
1 drop yellow food coloring

Candy pumpkins

Directions:

1. Line a greased 15x10x1 inch baking pan with waxed paper; grease the paper. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, sugars, eggs, and oil until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt; gradually add to pumpkin mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.

2. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Carefully remove waxed paper.

3. For frosting, in a large heavy saucepan over low heat, combine the syrup, egg whites, and cream of tartar. With a portable mixer, beat on low speed for 1 minute. Continue beating until the frosting reaches 160#, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Beat on high speed until frosting forms stiff peaks, about 7 minutes. Remove 1/4 cup frosting to a small bowl; tint with green and yellow food coloring and set aside.

4. Cut cake widthwise into thirds. Place one layer on cake plate. Spread with 1/3 of the frosting. Repeat layers. Arrange pumpkins on cake; add vines with reserved green frosting.


Taste of Home: Halloween

Recipes for Adults and Children with Cystic Fibrosis

Individuals with Cystic Fibrosis require a high fat, high calorie diet. Unlike most people who are worried about losing weight, those of us with CF need to worry about maintaining and often gaining weight. Here is a site with some good high calorie/fat recipes to try.

http://kidshealth.org/kid/recipes/cf_recipes/about_cf_recipes.html

These high-calorie recipes are especially for kids with cystic fibrosis (CF). Kids with CF may need additional calories to meet their nutritional needs. Check out these delicious recipes:

Alfredo Pesto Pasta
Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Quiche
Bacon Cheeseburger
Bacon Mushroom Chicken
Baked Beans
Baked Creamy Chicken
Beef Stroganoff
Broccoli Salad
Cheesecake Squares
Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Coleslaw
Creamy Chicken Fettuccine
Dirt Pudding
Enchilada Casserole
Italian Burgers
Macaroni and Cheese
Mashed Potatoes
Mighty Milk
Milkshake
PB&J French Toast
Powerful Oatmeal
Sausage Meatballs
Scalloped Potatoes
Shepherd's Pie
Southern-Style Beef Pie
Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Sweet Potato Casserole
Tex-Mex Sausage and Scrambled Eggs
Trail Mix
Yummy Chicken

Black Halloween Punch

I was looking for a fun punch for Hannah's Halloween Birthday Party and found this at allrecipes.com. It turned out great and the kids really liked it! I used orange and grape sweetened Kool-Aid, so I didn't add sugar. I also put orange Kool-Aid into the glove and added gummy worms before freezing, that made it look spookier. It was very easy, but creepy and fun!

Ingredients:

1 (.13 ounce) envelope unsweetened grape soft drink mix
1 (.13 ounce) envelope unsweetened orange soft drink mix
2 cups white sugar
3 quarts cold water
1 liter ginger ale

Directions:

1.To make a frozen hand, wash a disposable glove, fill with water, seal with a rubber band and freeze until hard.

2.Stir together grape soft drink mix, orange soft drink mix, sugar and water until solids are dissolved. Combine with chilled ginger ale just before serving. Dip the frozen hand briefly in warm water, then peel off the glove. Float the prepared hand in the punch bowl for a ghastly effect.

www.allrecipes.com

Kitty Litter Cake

This was the most disgusting, yet yummy, cake I have ever made. It was a huge hit at my daughter's Halloween party, but even the kids had a hard time taking that first bite. What an easy cake to make and it definitely looked like a litter box. If you have kids, they will love this!!!

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package German chocolate
cake mix
1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla (I think one would probably be enough)
pudding mix 1 (12 ounce) package vanilla sandwich
cookies
3 drops green food coloring
1 (12 ounce) package tootsie rolls (I used the long thin tootsie rolls)

Directions:

1. Prepare cake mixes and bake according to package directions (any size pan).

2. Prepare pudding according to package directions and chill until ready to assemble.

3. Crumble sandwich cookies in small batches in a food processor, scraping often. Set aside all but 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup add a few drops of green food coloring and mix.

4. When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble them into a large bowl. Toss with 1/2 of the remaining cookie crumbs, and the chilled pudding. You probably won't need all of the pudding, you want the cake to be just moist, not soggy.

5. Line kitty litter box with the kitty litter liner. Put cake mixture into box. (I couldn't find an actual litter box that was small enough, so I used a plastic container that looked like a litter box. We chose not to use a liner.)

6. Put half of the unwrapped tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until softened. Shape the ends so that they are no longer blunt, and curve the tootsie rolls slightly. Bury tootsie rolls randomly in the cake and sprinkle with half of the remaining cookie crumbs. Sprinkle a small amount of the green colored cookie crumbs lightly over the top.

7. Heat 3 or 4 of the tootsie rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake and sprinkle lightly with some of the green cookie crumbs. Heat the remaining tootsie rolls until pliable and shape as before. Spread all but one randomly over top of cake mixture. Sprinkle with any remaining cookie crumbs. Hang the remaining tootsie roll over side of litter box and sprinkle with a few green cookie crumbs. Serve with the pooper scooper for a gross Halloween dessert.


Nutrition Information:

Servings Per Recipe: 20
Calories: 357
Amount Per Serving
Total Fat: 8.3g
Cholesterol: < 1mg
Sodium: 541mg
Total Carbs: 76.7g
Dietary Fiber: 1.4g
Protein: 3.5g


www.allrecipes.com