Change Up Chopped Salad

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Change Up Chopped Salad

A MEAL IN ITSELF

Change Up Chopped Salad

 

This is one of my favorite green salads. Actually, it is many salads in one. The main ingredients are green and red leaf lettuce. Need some crunch in your lettuce? Just add a little iceberg. No bag lettuce here. Nothing against bag lettuce. I use it. But for this salad full flavor is needed to compete with the other ingredients. The choice of ingredients is up to you. Do you want the salad to have a Mexican flare, Italian, or…. I’ll give you some ideas and then you change up as you and your family like. I have a simple dressing that too can be changed up. My favorite dressing for this has no measuring and only includes two ingredients.

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Antipasto for the Last Day of Summer

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A Last Minute Get together

Antipasto for the Last day of summer

Bruschetta with wine can be dinner. This took some rethinking on my part. In fact, I had to develop a taste for raw tomatoes, specifically Roma. Roma tomatoes are mild in flavor and the texture is firm. These facts made this easy. My taste for wine had not fully developed either. This was Ed’s favorite meal. The recipe is one he put together many years ago.

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Easy Baked Pasta

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A recipe for your pasta sauce or jar sauce

Easy Baked Pasta

This Easy Baked Pasta is a changeable recipe. Use your favorite meat sauce or marinara, or try my gravy, or use a jar of marinara, and even make it vegetarian. It’s easy to change up.

The dish in this picture was made with my Italian gravy rich with meat and meat balls. The only ingredients I added to my gravy were the cheeses and pasta. Just layered in this oblong baking dish without much significance in what layer goes first.

Now I am going to give you ways to change this up, add meat or vegetables, add your sauce or jar.

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Italian Sauce or Gravy The Old Fashioned Way

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A Rich Meat Sauce

Italian sauce or Gravy the Old Fashioned Way

The cooking time is lengthy but a slow cooker works well if it is large enough. I like to cook this recipe on a weekend when the weather has me pretty much trapped at home. The warmth and smells from the kitchen are comforting. And my family loves it.

After cooking for some hours the gravy rests so any excess fat can be skimmed off the top. Sunday it is ready for either spaghetti and meatballs, rigatoni, or lasagna. If there is any gravy left over it is frozen to be used for that quick meal during the week … Or maybe this November when I cook my recipe of bracciole for Marc or Ed.

But what about those jarred sauces! Most are not meat sauces as this is but marinara. There are some very good ones out there … Some being sold on behalf of the TV chefs we know. Giada used a jarred sauce to prepare one of her grandfather’s favorite holiday recipes. I have used the brand she used many times. And it is very good. When I use these jarred sauces it is usually not alone … Adding wine, olive oil, finely chopped tomatoes or meatballs to not only extend it but to give it an extra oomph. I do watch for certain ingredients on the label and am cautious about the sodium level.

It’s just nice, if you have the time, to make this from scratch.

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Simply Italian Pantry Pasta

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Simply Italian

Including My pantry pasta recipes

Simply Italian

Just loving all things Italian! I was fortunate enough to be able to take a trip to Italy some years ago. And while there took a class in Italian cooking, specific to the region.

Marignolle was a farm house in Florence made over into a lovely hotel. The class held there was for a dinner meal, start to finish. The simplicity of this recipe, their recipe, doesn’t take away from the elegance of this dish … Beautiful presentation, light but not in taste … And pairing with a nice Chianti … It just doesn’t get any better.

I’ve included here some recipes of my own, too. My family, specifically Will, likes to call these Pantry Pasta Recipes because almost all ingredients are in the pantry. These recipes, too, are simple, quick and delicious. I hope you will try mine or branch out and invent some of your own.

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