Meatball and Pepperoni Pasta Bake

Are you ready for the easiest week night meal ever?  Well, grab your fork and a few things out of the pantry and freezer because things are about to get easy up in here.  

Start by adding frozen meatballs into a large skillet on high heat with a little bit of water.  Liven these little guys up a bit...

Meanwhile, cut up about a 1/2 cup of pepperoni.

Once all of the water has evaporated, add the pepperoni.  We want it to start to get a little crispy.

Then add one jar of your favorite marinara sauce.  I buy the cheap stuff (aka whatever is on sale), don't judge me.

Some body wanted a meatball.... I said no, I know with that face?  I'm heartless.

Then add a little water to the jar and get every last drop of it out.  I told Mr. Schwartz that it was a Mama D thing (my mom) and he told me it was "just a MOM thing" because his mom does the same thing.  Either way, do it.

Add it to the pan. 

Add 3/4 of a pound of cooked pasta.  I choose penne

And give it a good stir.

Pour it into a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Then you will need some of this.  You guys, this cheese is amaze-balls.  It melts like a dream.  And no, Kraft didn't pay me to say that...although I wish they did.

Sprinkle the cheese all over the top and into the oven it goes.

When it comes out, you will have this.

Cheesy pasta meatbally-pepperoni goodness

Dinner is served.

The end.

Meatball and Pepperoni Pasta Bake 

1 pound frozen meatballs

1/2 cup pepperoni, sliced in half

1 jar marinara sauce

3/4 pound cooked pasta 

2 cups Mozzarella cheese 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start by adding the meatballs to a large skillet on medium high heat.  Pour in the water and move the meatballs around a bit.  Cook until the water has evaporated and add the pepperoni.  Cook for about a minute or two, making sure not to burn the pepperoni.  Add the marinara sauce and give it a good stir.  Then add the pasta and stir again to ensure everything is coated in the sauce.  

Pour the pasta mixture into a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Sprinkle cheese over the top and place in the oven for about 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the cheese has melted.  

Enjoy!  

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz 

Super Bowl Recipes

If you know me outside of the blog, you know I am a planner.  I have things planned already for next Christmas.  Yes, I'm that girl.  That being said, I have been thinking about Super Bowl food for some time now.  We are going to our friends house to watch the big game.  Let me back up, the ladies will chat, snack and watch the commercials and the boys will watch the game and eat.  I have been racking my brain trying to come up with something good to bring.  I haven't 100% decided but you know it will be up on the blog.  

In the meantime, I thought I would do you a favor and post some Super Bowl worthy recipes because, I figure you want to plan as well.  Just trying to help out.

Happy weekend!  

Musical Selection: Love and Memories by: O.A.R.  This came up on my iPod the other day and it made me happy.

Sloppy Joe's

Buffalo Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Pulled Pork with Corn Salsa 

Buffalo Chicken Burger Sliders

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Mini Pigs in a Blanket 

Pizza Bites

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas 

Garlic Bread Pizzas

Southwestern Egg Rolls

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joe's

What are you planning on making? I'm still taking ideas….

Pulled Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches with a Celery Blue Cheese Slaw

Sounds almost fancy doesn't it?  Naw, this is just a little something I saw on Pinterest then came up with my own recipe!

This came together so fast, it was perfect for a Thursday evening dinner on the fly.  It was my first time poaching chicken too, can you believe it?  I had no idea what I was missing.  Poaching the chicken was perfect for this because I needed to get it shredded and didn't want any hard pieces.  I even put the chicken in a little frozen and it came out perfectly.  

Give this recipe a try and make extra chicken and saw, I've got something even better to do with these left overs! The buffalo chicken saga continues...

Musical Selection: Smoke a Little Smoke by: Eric Church.  This is my jam.  I will never forget dancing to this with my best friends and husband at the bar following our wedding.  It makes me really happy.  

 Okay, like I said, poach the chicken.  Bring some water to a boil in a medium sauce pan.  Place the chicken breasts into the water and cook for about 10 minutes or until you cut into them and they are no longer pink.

 Then, give them a shred.  I find the best method is taking two forks and pulling the chicken apart.  Hence the "pulled chicken."

 Put the chicken into a sauce pan (I just wiped out the one I poached in) with a little butter and Franks Red Hot Sauce or your favorite buffalo sauce.

 Bring it to a simmer and start working on the slaw.  I let this go for maybe even an hour while I waited for Mr. Schwartz to make his way home.  Note: don't take a whiff of this stuff while it's boiling, yow talk about cleaning out the sinuses!

 Okay, for the slaw, chop up some celery.

 Add it to a 1/2 of a bag of cole slaw mix.

 Pour in some of your favorite ranch dressing. I suppose you could use blue cheese but Mr. Schwartz is not a fan.

 Give it a stir.  At this point I took 1/2 of the slaw out of this bowl and set it aside for Mr. Schwartz.

And I added a little blue cheese crumbles to mine! Yum.

 Assemble the sandwiches by placing the chicken on the bun, then slaw and top with the other side of the bun.

These are spicy little devils but ooooh are they good.  We just happened to accompany them with ice cold beers and it was divine!  

**Remember, make extra, I have a great recipe coming with the leftovers!!!!**


Pulled Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches with a Celery Blue Cheese Slaw
For the chicken:
4 Chicken breasts
1 bottle (or 2 1/2 cups) Franks Red Hot Sauce or your favorite buffalo sauce
2 tablespoons butter

For the slaw:
1 bag cole slaw (or about 3 cups)
2 ribs of celery, coarsely chopped
1 cup ranch dressing (or blue cheese)
1/4 cup (or more to your liking) blue cheese crumbles

Hamburger buns for serving

Start by bringing a medium sauce pan filled 1/2 way with water to a boil.  Add the chicken and cook for about 10 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle.

Remove the chicken from the pan and shred with two forks.  Return the chicken to the pan and add the butter and hot sauce.  Bring to a simmer and cover while you prepare the slaw.  This mixture can simmer on the stove up to about an hour.  If it looks like it is getting dry add a bit more hot sauce.

Combine the cole slaw mix, celery, dressing and blue cheese crumbles together.  Add additional dressing to your liking.

Assemble the sandwiches with the chicken on the bottom topped with slaw.

Enjoy with a cold beer : )

Recipe by: Mrs. Schwartz

Four Cheese Pasta with Seasoned Chicken

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!  Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner, as in...this weekend!?  I really hope I'm not stressing you out even more than you already are.  I have a few more gifts to pick up after work and I think we are set.  That is, after Mr. Schwartz wraps them up--he is pretty skilled in that area. 

But, with all of the hustle and bustle I thought I would start of this week with a quick pasta dish that comes together in a snap, Four Cheese Pasta with Seasoned Chicken.  This recipe is from my good friend, Melissa.  She made it once for me and ever since I have been completely smitten.  Nothing says delish like cream and cheese right?  Since then, Melissa wrote out the recipe for me and it has gone missing so I just eyeball and estimate all of the ingredients.  I made it a few weeks ago for my college roommates when they came over for dinner.  Since I had everything I figured I might as well double it and put a pan of it in the freezer for when my family came to dinner over the weekend.  I was sure glad I did since all I had to do was thaw it over night in the fridge and it was good to go into the oven the next day.  Talk about a time saver.  

I do have one small disclaimer, I was entertaining while finishing off this dish so I have to apologize that I missed a few pictures.  Sorry, but you will get the gist.  Also, note that the recipe at the bottom is only for one batch of this and not two.  To make two full baking dishes of pasta, double the recipe.  

Happy Monday and enjoy! 

Musical Selection: Set Fire to the Rain by: Adelle.  Mel loves her some Adelle, seems only fitting. 

Start by sautéing some garlic in a small pan with a bit of butter. Might as well begin with a bang!

Cook up some pasta--I always use penne for this recipe.

Add ricotta....

Pizza mix cheese--or mozzarella and provolone

Italian seasoning...

Shredded parmesan

Gorgonzola

And cream

Give it a stir and add the garlic and butter.  See how pretty and brown it got, that is what you are looking for.

Then the pasta part is set.  Grease a baking dish and pour it all in.  I like to top it with a little more pizza blend

And parm, duh.  Okay, at this point I wrapped up one of the dishes and put it into the freezer.  The other I put into the fridge because I was going to use it the next day.

To prep the chicken (I like to do this the day before because it marinates in the seasoning)...drizzle a little olive oil over thinly cut chicken breasts

Shake a generous amount of Montreal Chicken seasoning over the top.  Seriously, this stuff is the.best.

See, just coat it.  After, cover and place in the fridge until you are ready to cook it.  

The next day, preheat the oven to 350 and bake the pasta for about 30 minutes or so until it is bubbly and all the way heated through.  Please note that you will not need to cook it that long if you are making this the same day.  

For the chicken, obviously I forgot to take a picture of the cooking process, but, all you do is preheat your frying pan on medium with a drizzle of olive oil.  Add the chicken to the pan and cook on both sides until the middle is no longer pink.  

Place the chicken on top of the pasta bake and grate additional parmesan cheese on top.  Put the whole thing back into the oven for about 5 minutes and serve! 

This is what it will look like...ooh and I forgot top with parsley, as usual.  It really adds a pretty touch.

See all that cheesy goodness!?

Add some more cheese on top.  Why not?!

Yep.  Thanks for an awesome dish M!  

Famous Four Cheese Pasta with Seasoned Chicken

For the Pasta:

1 pound penne (or noodle of your choice)

1 tablespoon butter

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 container ricotta cheese

1 package pizza blend cheese

½ cup parmesan cheese + additional for topping

¼ cup gorgonzola cheese

1 ½ cup heavy cream

1 ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Dried parsley, for garnish

For the Chicken:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 tablespoons Montreal Chicken Seasoning

1 tablespoon (or so) olive oil

Preparation: 

The evening before (if you can) butterfly the chicken breasts (click here if you need further instruction)  so that you have 6 pieces of chicken. Drizzle each side with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.  

The following day: Cook pasta short of al dente.  You want to make sure it is not fully cooked since you will be finishing it off in the oven. 

While the pasta is cooking, mince up the garlic and add to a small sauté pan with the butter.  Brown the garlic but be careful not to burn it, it can turn on you very fast. 

Pour the pasta back into the pasta pot.  Add the ricotta,  ½ of the package of pizza blend, parmesan and gorgonzola cheeses along with the heavy cream, Italian seasoning, garlic with butter and salt and pepper.  If the pasta is looking a bit dry, add a little more cream or milk. 

Heavily spray a 9x13 (or equal sized) baking dish and add pasta.  Top with remaining pizza blend cheese and additional parmesan. 

Bake for about 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the top is slightly browned.  When there is about 15 minutes left for the pasta to bake, take the chicken out of the refrigerator and preheat a large skillet on medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil.  Cook the chicken on both sides until it is no longer pink in the middle.  It should take between 3-5 minutes per side depending on how thick the chicken is.  

To serve, take pasta out of the oven and add chicken breasts to the top, sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese and dried parsley. Place back in the oven for about 5 minutes and serve. 

Enjoy!

Recipe slightly adapted from my buddy, Melissa.