Chili Pasta Bake and a Cooking Planit and T-Fal Giveaway!

In my last post I did a little demo of how to use the cool new Cooking Planit application.  This time I am going to talk a little about my experience using the T-Fal cookware that was sent for me to review and GIVEAWAY!  I made this awesome Chili Pasta Bake which is perfect for chilly weather that is right around the corner this fall.  YAY!  

First I drizzled a little canola oil in the skillet to get things going.  As you can see there is a thermo-spot in the middle…just watch...

Once the skillet gets hot, the little target in the middle disappears.  To the naked eye, it truly was gone but in this picture it still shows up a bit.  Awesome!

From there I added the onions and let them sauté a bit...

I then added the ground beef

And seasoned with a bit of salt

And plenty of black pepper. From here, let the meat cook until no longer pink.

Meanwhile, I brought the stock pot out and filled it with hot water.  How pretty is she!?

And how smart, it has the measurements inside of the pot!  Awesome!  I brought this to a boil and cooked my pasta--yeah I didn't take a picture of that but you can handle cooking pasta, right?

Once the ground beef was cooked, I added tomato sauce

And diced and fire roasted tomatoes with green chilis.  LOVE that stuff.

Gave it a quick stir

And added a few kidney beans.

Next came the seasoning, lots of chili powder

Cumin

Cayenne powder

And a bit of water

Gave it a stir and let it bubble for a bit

I drained the noodles and added them back to the pot

I then added the chili mixture to the noodles 

And gave it a quick stir to combine.

After that, I poured everything into a 9x13 pan

And sprinkled with a three cheese mix.  I popped it in the oven for 30 minutes until it came out looking like...

THIS!

Cheesy chili pasta goodness.

We topped ours with a  little sour cream and green onions, just like we like our favorite Perfect Chili.

This will definitely be a staple in the Schwartz Household this fall and winter!

Chili Pasta Bake

• ½ Tablespoons Canola Or Vegetable Oil
• 1 pound Ground Beef
• 1 whole Onion, Chopped
• 1 dash Salt
• 1 dash Black Pepper
• ½ pounds Cooked Pasta
• 15 ounces, fluid Tomato Sauce
• 14-½ ounces, weight Diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies
• 15 ounces, weight Kidney Or Black Beans, Rinsed
• 1-½ Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 2 teaspoons Cumin
• 3 dashes Cayenne Powder
• ¼ cups Water
• 2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
• ½ cups Sour Cream, For Topping
• 4 Tablespoons Green Onions, Chopped

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Drizzle the oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the onions and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook until no longer pink.

While the ground beef is cooking, cook your pasta to firm al dente. Once cooked, drain and set aside for now.

After the ground beef is cooked, add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and green chiles, beans chili powder, cumin, cayenne and water. Give it a stir and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, stir in the cooked pasta. Stir to combine.

Pour the chili pasta mixture into a 9×13 pan. Flatten out with a spatula and sprinkle with cheese. Place in the oven for 30 minutes or until the edges are bubbling and the cheese has fully melted.

Spoon into serving dishes and top with sour cream and green onions.

Enjoy!

(NOTE MY FORMATTING IS ALL DIFFERENT BECAUSE I COPIED AND PASTED THIS FROM MY TASTYKITCHEN PAGE.) 

Isn't this cookware set just about the prettiest thing you have ever set your eyes on!?  Well, not only are they gorgeous, they are oven safe to 500 degrees, are dishwasher safe, have a limited lifetime warrantee  and have a stainless steel interior!  I have to say, I also made eggs the other day in the skillet and wow, that baby cooked my eggs to perfection cleaned like nothing! 

So, after all of that, have I convinced you that this cookware is awesome?  Well good, because you can WIN it! Use the Rafflecopter widget below and let me know if you have any questions!  

You will need to create a Cooking Planit account to enter and your an do so by going here.  Or you can download the FREE or for purchase app by going to the app store on your phone.  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway started on August 19th and goes until August 25th.  I will be announcing the big winner on Monday, August 26th.  If you don't win on my blog, please check out the other 49 bloggers who are participating below:  

THE COOKING PLANIT AND T-FAL 2013 GIVEAWAY
Start	End	Flight 1	Flight 2
8/19/13	8/25/13	Baby Boomster	Mrs. Schwartz’s Kitchen
8/20/13	8/26/13	CopyKat Recipes	Daily Dish Recipes
8/21/13	8/27/13	Lisa Cooking	Lark’s Country Heart
8/22/13	8/28/13	ME Redone	Hot Eats and Cool Reads
8/23/13	8/29/13	Mother Would Know	The Two Bite Club
8/24/13	8/30/13	Sophistishe	Citron Limette
8/25/13	8/31/13	Kitchen Concoctions	Cupcakes and Kale Chips
8/26/13	9/1/13	I Can Cook That	Leave a Happy Plate
8/27/13	9/2/13	Peaches & Cake	i love my disorganized life
8/28/13	9/3/13	Diddles & Dumplings	Yates Yummies
8/29/13	9/4/13	basilmomma	Cooking With Libby
8/30/13	9/5/13	Persnickety Plates	Creole Contessa
8/31/13	9/6/13	Ancestral Chef	Bite Sized Blog
9/1/13	9/7/13	The Staten Island Family	Mamal Diane
9/2/13	9/8/13	Food Fash	Recipes For My Boys
9/3/13	9/9/13	The Wicked Noodle	Hungry Little Girl
9/4/13	9/10/13	Unorganized Mommy of 3	The Tasty Fork
9/5/13	9/11/13	Yi Reservation	Dixie Chik Cooks
9/6/13	9/12/13	Chicago Foodie Sisters	The Fountain Avenue Kitchen
9/7/13	9/13/13	Cooking from a SAHM	FoodThoughtsOfaChefWannabe
9/8/13	9/14/13	Bobbi’s Kozy Kitchen	Rants from My Crazy Kitchen
9/9/13	9/15/13	What Jew Wanna Eat	Sumptuous Spoonfuls
9/10/13	9/16/13	The Mama Report	Busy Mom of Two
9/11/13	9/17/13	Culicurious	Huppie Mama
9/12/13	9/18/13	Three Diets. One Dinner.	Spice’s Bites

• FINE PRINT: Contests open to US only. Limit one winner per household/per family from the 50 blogs participating in the promotion. Individuals winning more than one giveaway will receive 1 set of cookware and the other winning entries will be disqualified and an alternate winner will be chosen. 

• 
  

I was given a set of T-Fal pans as a promotion to try before giving a set away.  Please know that all of the opinions are my own, as always, you cannot buy my love baby. 

Cajun Pasta

I, and I think I can safely say we, are suckers for a spicy pasta.  There is something uber comforting about a big bowl of spicy pasta.  Add in some charred vegetables and we are completely sold.  

This recipe fits the bill completely.  I used smoked chicken sausage which made it come together in a matter of minutes.  Honestly the entire recipe took about as long as boiling the water and cooking the pasta.  I can seriously back a recipe that promises that.  

Musical selection: Fly Over States by: Jason Aldean.  Is anyone else as obsessed with this song as I am?  

First slice up an onion as well as a red and yellow pepper.

Pop them in a large skillet with a drizzle of canola oil.  Make sure the pan is really hot--medium high heat so you can get that char.

The secret ingredient--this stuff is so good and makes the recipe super fast since it is already fully cooked.

Slice it up and pop it in the pan.

Until things start to look like this.  Just starting to char.

Pop the broccoli in the pan and cook for a few minutes but just a few, no one likes soggy broccoli. 

Remove the sausage and veggies from the pan and set aside. Doesn't it look pretty? 

Deglaze the pan by pouring a bit of chicken stock in, stir and try to scrape up the charred bits. 

Add a block of cream cheese.

And stir it until it is fully melted.  It will look like it isn't going to come together, trust me, it does, and it gets thicker.

Mix in a bunch of cajun seasoning.  keep tasting it and add more if you like more spice.

Add some black pepper

And salt

Dump in the cooked pasta

And return the sausage and veggies to the pan.

Stir it up.  You can stop here if you would like but, if you want to guild the lilly...

Pour it into a 9x13 baking dish

Shred some cheddar cheese on the top

And some parmesan over the top of that.

A little sprinkle of cajun seasoning on the top and into the oven it goes for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Like this.

Hello spicy delicious.

Even better.  Now, I'm off to burry my head in the leftovers.

Cajun Pasta


3/4 lb rigatoni (or pasta of your choice) cooked
drizzle of canola oil
1/2 yellow pepper, sliced in thin strips
1/2 red pepper, sliced in thin strips
1/2 medium onion, sliced in thin strips
1 1/2 cups smoked sausage (I used chicken sausage), cut in thin bite-sized pieces
1 cup fresh broccoli
2 cups reduced sodium chicken stock
1 block (8oz) cream cheese
2 tablespoons (or more depending on your level of spice) cajun seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated

While cooking the pasta (according to the directions), heat a skillet with canola oil on medium high heat.  Once the skillet is heated, add the peppers and onions and cook for about 2 minutes.  Add the sausage and cook until everything begins to char.  Add the broccoli and cook for about a minute.  Remove the sausage and veggies from the pan and set aside.

Pour the chicken stock into the pan and scrape the bottom.  Add the cream cheese block and stir until combined.  Add the cajun seasoning to your taste along with the salt and pepper.

Toss the pasta, veggies and sausage into the sauce.  Pour into a 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Top with cheddar and parmesan cheese, sprinkle with additional cajun seasoning if you wish.  Put this into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Top with additional parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz