Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Posts Tagged ‘tomato sauce’

Spaghetti Pie

Posted by terrepruitt on May 3, 2021

I saw this on Facebook.  It was a Tasty recipe.  I did a few things different:  I used salt when cooking the spaghetti, I increased the amount of Italian Seasoning from 1 teaspoon, and I added the garlic.  And I oiled the pan.

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Spaghetti Pie

16 ounces of dried spaghetti
Salt
4 eggs
1 cup Parmesan cheese – divided
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
Olive oil
1 cup ricotta
1 1/2 cup mozzarella – divided
1 1/2 cup sauce

Cook the spaghetti (with salt if that is how you regularly cook your pasta).

While the pasta is cooking, beat the eggs.

Drain the spaghetti.  Mix the cooked, drained spaghetti with the beaten eggs, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the Italian seasoning, and the chopped garlic.

Oil/grease a baking dish/pan*.  Put the spaghetti mixture in a baking dish/pan.  Make a well in the middle, as if the pasta is a pie crust.  Put the ricotta cheese in the middle.  Sprinkle the ricotta with 3/4 cup of the mozzarella.  Put the sauce on top of the ricotta**.  Sprinkle the sauce with the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan.

Bake at 375° F for 45 minutes.  Then broil for 2 minutes.

Slice like a pie and serve.

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We liked this.  As we were eating it I thought it was a bit dry so I was trying to think of what to do to make it a little more flavorful and/or moist on the outskirts of the “pie”.  But when I was cleaning the pan I noticed that most of the egg/moisture had seeped out of the bottom of the pan.

*I used a cheesecake pan.  I noticed when I picked it up to put it in the oven that it was leaking.  I was hoping that I put it in quick enough that the egg would have solidified before all leaking out.  I think most of it leaked out.  Because I noticed it leaking I put the pan on aluminum foil while baking.

**The recipe shows the sauce being added on top of the ricotta in the “well” . . . I think when I make it again I might put a little on the outside of the well.

I will make this again because it was easy and it was good.  And we will be eating it for three nights.  You know how I love leftovers.  But . . . and I know this will “complicate” it . . . I think next time I am going to add meat.  I just wanted it to be a little heartier so I think ground beef will do it.  I will probably add more cheese to the spaghetti before I put it in the pan . . . probably some ricotta.  I did like how the spaghetti was crispy on the edges.

What do you think?  Spaghetti pie?  Do you have a recipe for a version of this?  I know it is basically just spaghetti with read sauce, but ricotta really makes it yummy.

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Italian Chicken

Posted by terrepruitt on June 5, 2014

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaI recently made lasagna with tomato sauce using the recipe I posted here My First Tomato Sauce Lasagna.  So yes, I use jarred sauce because otherwise I would never make the lasagna because I am kinda not a big fan of tomatoes so I know I would not make a good sauce.  I like this one (pictured).  I didn’t use the whole jar though.  I didn’t measure either.  I just put what I thought was about three cups or more, but I wanted to save a little sauce for pasta.  We don’t usually have pasta with red/tomato sauce, because . . . . well, you know.  But the other night I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner.  I had just cooked ground turkey and if it were just me, I could eat that almost every night, but recently I was told by my husband that he could not.  So . . . . there was chicken in the freezer, but it was not in a marinade bag so . . . .what to do?  Then I remember that ol’ recipe where you pour tomato sauce over the chicken and top it with cheese.  Just like the Salsa Chicken, I had never done that because . . . . well, you know.  So I decided to try it because it would be something new to us even though it is an old recipe.  So I made Tomato Sauce Chicken, I think of it as Italian Chicken.

So easy and so good, just like the Salsa Chicken.  This time I had what I think of as regular chicken breast (instead of the thin ones I had for the Salsa Chicken), but I decided to cut them up into smaller pieces because I was going to serve them over pasta.  I didn’t have that much sauce, but that was fine with me.  After I made it and ate it, I realized that I probably could have been eating something like it all along as long as I hadn’t followed the recipe and drown the meat in tomato sauce.  The little bit I had and used was perfect, to me.

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Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia at the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Zumba, PiYo, Gentle YogaItalian Chicken

Two Chicken breast, cut into pieces
Poultry spice
garlic salt
3/4 cup (or so) Tomato Sauce
3/4 cup (or so) Shredded Cheese
Pasta (cooked to you liking)

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Spread out the chicken pieces in a baking dish.  Sprinkle the chicken with the poultry spice and garlic salt.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Take the dish out of the oven and turn each piece of chicken over.  Sprinkle the chicken with the poultry spice and garlic salt. Spread the tomato sauce over each piece of chicken.  If you LIKE tomato sauce use more.  Then top each piece of chicken with cheese.  Bake until chicken is done to your liking.  I baked it for 10 more minutes.  Turned off the oven and let it sit for 10 more minutes.

I served it over linguine.  I put some of the tomatoes and the “juice” on the pasta.

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Yes, this recipe is easy.  And yes, you can figure it out on your own.  You can add and subtract, but sometimes do you just need ideas?  You need a starting point?  I do.  I actually have always thought about trying this but my dislike of tomatoes kept me from doing it.  But now I am more tolerant of them.  I would imagine it would be really good with mozzarella cheese, but we had the Mexican Blend type of shredded cheese.  And that was actually really good.

The chicken we buy from Costco is packaged in twos and they are rather large so we have enough for another meal.  Yeah . . . you probably know I love leftovers as much as you know I don’t really like tomatoes.

So what are you having for dinner tonight?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Grated Zucchini is GREAT

Posted by terrepruitt on June 21, 2012

As a Nia teacher, my schedule changes a bit sometimes.  I had recently added an evening Nia Class to my Nia Class Schedule that just wasn’t getting the attendance I needed in order to keep it going.  So sadly there is no longer Nia in Campbell on Monday evenings.  The end came rather quickly so the announcement time was short, but sometimes it is better to just rip the bandage off and move on.  The opportunity given to cancel the class was wonderfully kind so I took it.  You know how I have to cook on Sunday to be ready for Monday.  Well, that Sunday’s cooking plan got de-railed because of a party so at the party in my head I was planning on spending my Monday afternoon cooking, but in the wee hours on Monday morning the opportunity arrived to cancel the class.  So I actually was able to cook Monday’s dinner on Monday evening.  Thankfully there were leftovers, because I was asked to sub for a class on Tuesday.  I was still working through my vegetables that I had received.  I had received two zucchini.  Since I have been out of cucumber I have been putting the zucchini in our salads.  I like raw zucchini in salads, but I like it sliced REALLY thin.  I had used a half of zucchini for salads.  I don’t often buy zucchini because the only way I know how to cook it is to roast it or cook it in a pan where you lay the rounds out in the pan.  Then you have to flip each little round to make certain they get brown and yummy on each side.  That is a bit too time-consuming for me sometimes.  That is how I usually cook it, because I forget about grating it.  When I remember I am so happy.  Grated zucchini is GREAT!

I don’t remember where I first learned about grating it.  But I know the first thing I did with it was mix it with pasta.  I am not a big tomato fan.  I have never liked tomato based pasta sauces.  When I cook pasta it is usually dressed with a little butter and cheese or olive oil and garlic, but not tomato sauce.  So one time I grated some zucchini then sautéed it.  I tossed it with the cooked pasta and VOILA my husband actually liked it.  He is not a big pasta fan so to have him like it was great.  As I said I don’t remember when I learned about grating zucchini but it was a long time ago.  And I haven’t done it that often since.

Recently I was visiting my mom and she puts slices of zucchini in her salad.  So I came home and bought some to put in our salads, which I did, but then  I remembered about grating it and I added it to rice.  Again, I was reminded of how good that is.

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, NiaAs I was wondering what to cook for dinner Monday night, I was thinking I would use my baby bok choy with the ground turkey I had taken out to defrost on Sunday.  But when I took the lone bunch out of the fridge it just seem too lonely to mix with all that turkey.  So I decided to use the zucchinis that I had left.  As usual, as I was cooking I thought I should take a picture because I will probably post about it, but then I thought, “No, I won’t post about it.”  But here I am posting about it because I think that grated zucchini is GREAT (Ok, I like saying that!) and I want to share.  I don’t know many people who grate zucchini and add it to things.

So while I was not really that impressed with the entrée overall, I did love the turkey and zucchini.  I grilled some corn tortillas and lined a 9X13 baking dish with them.  My plan was to cook the turkey and zucchini with my “normal” mix of onions and garlic.  I had forgotten until after that I had originally planned to add a bit of Nutritional Yeast for an extra “cheesy” flavor.  Half way through cooking I decided to see if we had and taco seasoning.  I decided NOT to look at the ingredients on that package and I dumped it in the meat.  Then I added the zucchini.  Then I thought, “Well this is going to be weird.”  Well, I might have ended up being weird, but I liked it.  I put the meat on top of the tortillas then put some cheese on top.  Part way through I remembered the green onions and the Nutritional Yeast so I threw them on top.

I use my blog as a bit of a recipe book and to remind me of things.  With this post about how much I enjoy grated zucchini I am sure that I will remember to use it more often.  I might not mix it with taco flavoring but I do love it with pasta and rice.  Since it is is so good I am going to experiment with it an other things.

Do you ever grate zucchini?  How do you cook it?  What do you add it to?

Dance Exercies, Nia, Nia Campbell, Campbell Nia, Nia classes in Campbell, evening Nia, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia

Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »