Introductory post.
So, for the sake of using my journal and not seeming like a dead-beat, I've decided to start posting. I apologize to anyone who has friended me thus far on LJ, both for my inactivity and potentially boring and useless posts.
So, for starters, I made some baked penne the other night.
You'll need:
Start off by boiling some water and getting the penne cooking. Cook according to the instructions on the box, or if you're like me you can just wing it. It's probably easiest to have everything prepped beforehand, so use this time to dice the tomato, cut up the mushrooms, and tear up the spinach. I added my seasonings after the meat had cooked, but in retrospect I wish I had done it while it was cooking, so I'd suggest tossing in whatever seasonings are to your taste whilst the meat is browning. Drain off the excess grease and add the tomato, mushroom, and spinach. Cook for a few minutes until everything starts to get soft. By now your penne should be cooked, so strain it and add it to the pan with the meat. Add in some pasta sauce- I just eyeballed it. Stir until everything is combined, then in a baking dish pour about half of the meat/penne/veggie concoction. Add a layer of the shredded mozzarella, then fill the rest of the dish. On top, put the rest of the shredded mozzarella, and top with some parmesan. Set the oven to 350F and bake on the middle rack for about 20 minutes.
This actually turned out pretty good, minus the meat not having enough flavor (hence wanting to add the seasonings earlier, and perhaps more of them) and was actually quite easy to make. I made a bit of a mess when cooking, but it cleaned up easy enough. The small pan I had made enough to have leftovers for a few days, which was convenient.
So, for starters, I made some baked penne the other night.
You'll need:
- 1/2 lb ground beef
- fresh spinach
- diced tomato
- misc. seasonings (I used what I could find, which were parsley flakes, celery salt, onion salt, sage, and rosemary)
- mushrooms
- pasta sauce (I used the Ragu I found in the pantry)
- about 1/2 box penne
- shredded mozzarella cheese (I ended up using the whole bag)
- grated parmesan cheese
Start off by boiling some water and getting the penne cooking. Cook according to the instructions on the box, or if you're like me you can just wing it. It's probably easiest to have everything prepped beforehand, so use this time to dice the tomato, cut up the mushrooms, and tear up the spinach. I added my seasonings after the meat had cooked, but in retrospect I wish I had done it while it was cooking, so I'd suggest tossing in whatever seasonings are to your taste whilst the meat is browning. Drain off the excess grease and add the tomato, mushroom, and spinach. Cook for a few minutes until everything starts to get soft. By now your penne should be cooked, so strain it and add it to the pan with the meat. Add in some pasta sauce- I just eyeballed it. Stir until everything is combined, then in a baking dish pour about half of the meat/penne/veggie concoction. Add a layer of the shredded mozzarella, then fill the rest of the dish. On top, put the rest of the shredded mozzarella, and top with some parmesan. Set the oven to 350F and bake on the middle rack for about 20 minutes.
This actually turned out pretty good, minus the meat not having enough flavor (hence wanting to add the seasonings earlier, and perhaps more of them) and was actually quite easy to make. I made a bit of a mess when cooking, but it cleaned up easy enough. The small pan I had made enough to have leftovers for a few days, which was convenient.