Baked Pasta with Veggies

This was pretty darn good and it smelled magnificent while it baked. I think with a few minor modifications it will be much better next time!

Ingredients:
- cooking spray
- 1 lg onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 zucchini, slices (works with summer squash, carrots or eggplant, I used eggplant)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- 1lb ziti or penne pasta
- 1 c ricotta cheese (definitely use 2-3 cups)
- 1/4 c Parmesan cheese plus 1/2 c
- nutmeg, just a pinch
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 c shredded mozzarella
- 1/2 c bread crumbs

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly coat a large, shallow baking dish with cooking spray. Place a large pot of salted water over medium-high heat.

- Toss onion, garlic, red pepper and zuchini in a large bowl with olive oil; season with salt & pepper to taste. Place veggies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

- While veggies are roasting, add pasta to water and boil about 2 minutes short of package directions (it should still be slightly firm). Drain.

- In a large bowl, mix ricotta, 1/4 c Parmesan, and nutmeg. Season with salt & pepper. Gently toss pasta with the ricotta mixture, vegetables, tomatoes, oregano and mozzarella. Pour mixture into a baking dish.

- Sprinkle top with remaining Parmesan and bread crumbs. Bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

* You can assemble through step 4 and refrigerate up to a day a head *

** When I made this, it ended up filling 2 13x9 baking dishes.**

Fress Tomato & Basil Pizza

This pizza was so good! The dough was perfect and the overall taste was delicious! Definitely will be making this again!

Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp yellow cornmeal
- homemade or purchased pizza dough
- 6 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/3 cups, shredded mozzarella
- 2 Roma tomatoes, cut crosswise into 1/4" thick slices
- 1/4 grated Parmesan
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 6 fresh basil leaves, plus extra for garnish
- 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

- Sprinkle cornmeal over pizza baking sheet and roll out dough into over the pan.

- Drizzle 2 teaspoons of oil over the pizza dough. Sprinkle on the mozzarella, leaving a 1" border around the pizza.

- Arrange the tomato slices in a single layer over the cheese, sprinkle with Parmesan.

- Arrange basil leaves on top, drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle garlic all over.

- Bake pizzas until the crusts are crisp and brown on the bottom and the cheese is melted on the top, about 15 minutes.

- Drizzle 1 tsp of oil over the pizza, sprinkle basil for garnish and salt.

Japanese Mum's Chicken

This recipe is quite yummy! I got it off a friends cooking blog, Busy Mom's Cookbook. It was really quite tasty! I made extra so that there would be leftovers but we were pigs and ate it all! It is definitely worth the try and not too spicy, it just has a little bite to it but of course you could leave our the red pepper flakes and some of the garlic if you arent a garlic person.

Ingredients:
- 8 chicken drumsticks, skin on. (I actually used 4 boneless, skinless breasts and it turned out just fine!)
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed (I used 3 cloves smashed and 1 clove minced)
- 1 small hot chili pepper, slit open, seeds removed

* I also added 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and 2 teaspoons of cornstarch (dissolved in water during the reducing process) *

Directions:

- Place all the ingredients in a saucepan over high heat.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes.
- Increase the heat, turning the drumsticks frequently in the sauce and cook until the liquid has reduced to a sticky glaze.



- Arrange chicken on a serving platter, remove the garlic cloves & chili pepper from the liquid and spoon the glaze over.

I made this and topped it over brown rice. Very good!