I found this pretty cheesy recipe from Pinterest and gave it a try last night. I've got no real cute anecdote to go with it so onward:

Two Timin' Pasta

Recipe can be found at the original source here or transcribed below.

Ingredients

• 1 Box Penne Pasta
• 1 15-oz jar Alfredo Sauce
• 1 24-oz jar Marinara Sauce
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella
• 1 cup Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cook pasta according to directions and drain.

Mix the Alfredo and Marinara sauces together in a large bowl (ok - I did the lazy way and just mixed them in the 9x13 casserole.  Didn't think it was worth dirtying another bowl).  Add the mozzarella and stir to combine.

Add in the penne and toss to coat.

Pour into 9x13 baking dish (unless you're already there like I was) and cook for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.  Remove from oven, sprinkle with shredded parmesan, and bake for another 5.

Notes

Look at all that cheesy goodness.

So I picked this recipe because the pin on Pinterest said "just like Olive Garden 4 cheese Ziti al Forna!!!!!".  I was skeptical, particularly when I opened the link and saw that it's just mozzarella and parmesan cheeses rather than the 4 used by Olive Garden. And the original post itself doesn't mention Ziti al Forna at all so not sure where that comment came from.

Skepticism aside, I figured either way, why not - particularly when I saw I had ShopRite 3 cheese tomoto sauce and Classico 4 cheese alfredo on hand to boost up the cheesy factor.

Well definitely not like the 4 Cheese Ziti al Forna - but definitely good nonetheless.

The recipe gave Boyfriend and I enough for dinner, seconds at dinnertime for both of us, and leftovers for both to bring to work for lunch.  For those who're better at portion control than either of us are, this could go a long way.

Only criticism I have is with the parmesan on top.  A full cup was too much for my taste.  Next time I would probably just take it out and sprinkle whatever cheese we each want on top after it's been scooped to bowls.

I think I'll definitely be adding this as an alternative for when we're bored of either marinara or alfredo, both together is different and pretty tasty.

Chicken Bruschetta Pasta

This isn't so much a recipe as a item review.

With Boyfriend's wiffleball on Mondays (fall seasons done but he's prolly starting the winter league in January), my dance Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and $1 off Thursdays at the Laundromat, our weekdays are typically pretty crazy.  I try to cook real food rather than rely on fast food or delivery so something that I can make really quickly is pretty appealing to me.  I know I've mentioned the Kraft Fresh Take bread crumbs and cheese before and I've also used Hamburger Helper occasionally.  Well I recently saw the Kraft also has Recipe Makers and the other day, we tried the Chicken Bruschetta Pasta recipe maker.

Picture from Kraft's website

The box has directions on it and they're really simple.  Boil up some pasta to al dente.  Cook chicken in half of the first of two sauces - the "Simmer Sauce".  Add the pasta to the skillet with the remainder of the Simmer Sauce.  Add the Finishing Sauce on top with some parmesan cheese, cook just a few more minutes to heat throughout.  About 20 minutes total.  Easy as pie.

The Simmer sauce was really good - it was a zesty garlic sauce that was really enjoyable on the chicken and pasta (I tried some prior to the Finishing Sauce).  The Finishing Sauce though - the Bruschetta - I didn't enjoy as much.  It was pretty acidic and gave me bad heartburn; that doesn't happen to me often or easily so it's got to be pretty bad to make me feel that way.

I'll probably try other of the Recipe Makers at some point.  As I'm sure I've said earlier, I like low key recipes like this so it's probably worth trying the other varieties. I may even get this one again and just give more of the Finishing Sauce Bruschetta to Boyfriend and keep the simmer sauce for me.

Meatball Biscuit Sandwiches

It's essentially just grands, cheese, and meatballs.  What could possibly go wrong?

Meatball Biscuit Sandwiches

The original post that started this can be found here.  I didn't end up following most of it so not bothering to copy it here.

Ingredients

2 cans Pillsbury golden layers biscuits
10 frozen fully cooked Italian style meatballs - thawed
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese 
Italian Seasoning 
Garlic Powder
Marinara Sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.  Take 1 biscuit, add a meatball on top along with some mozzarella cheese.  Put another biscuit on top of the sandwich and seal the sides.  Repeat for remaining meatballs and biscuits.  Arrange in a round cake pan.  Sprinkle the biscuits with some Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with marinara sauce for dipping.

Notes

So. Definitely misread the instructions and not sure how that happened so badly.  The original post talks about 1/2 a meatball to 1/2 of a biscuit (using only 1 can instead of by 2).  Whoops.

I used mozzarella cheese rather than the suggested string cheese because I just can't stand string cheese.  Well after trying to use shredded mozzarella, I can see the appeal in string cheese.  I had trouble keeping my shredded in the biscuit long enough to seal it.  Maybe I'll try getting a block of mozzarella next time so I can just cut off a bit to be more solid than the shredded.  Definitely need to try something because this time did not give as much cheese as I would like.

I don't think I enjoyed the garlic. I love garlic and garlic bread and all that but it wasn't working for me with everything else.  I liked the parm and seasoning though.

We just had the sandwiches, no pasta or such alongside.  I think I had 4 while Boyfriend had 6 and was real full.

Overall pretty good though and worth another try.

Kraft Fresh Take Chicken Parm and Pasta

A while ago when wondering through the supermarket, Boyfriend and I discovered Kraft Fresh Takes along the dairy aisle.  These cheese and breadcrumb mixes seemed simple enough for a low key dinner so we picked up a bunch to give them a try.

Fresh Take Varieties (picture from thehungrydudes.com)

We definitely were not disappointed.  For the simplest of meals, we just opened up the fresh take mixing bag, used a touch of water to moisten chicken (packaging says 2 lbs- I usually just buy those slight > 1 lb packages and used that), plopped chicken in the bag, rolled around to gather the cheesy breadcrumby goodness, and baked.  Usually I'd toss on some pasta or mashed potatoes for a side.  Pretty easy and we'd enjoyed the varieties we'd tried - so far I think we've had most of the ones pictured.

Well Friday, boyfriend's little sister was down for the day and we'd planned on the Fresh Take Italian Parmesan chicken for dinner and I decided to try and take it up a notch.  Here's what I managed:

Kraft Fresh Take Chicken Parm and Pasta

Ingredients

Kraft Fresh Take Italian Parmesan
1 lb or so of Chicken Breasts

Pasta - I made about 1/2 a box of rotini for 3 people

1 cup mozzarella

1 jar marinara sauce

Directions

Open up the Fresh Take Italian Parmesan mixing bag and mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together.  Briefly run the chicken breasts under water and then coat with the breadcrumbs and cheese in the mixing bag.  Place on a cookie sheet or casserole dish (I used a 9x13).  Add about a spoonful of marinara sauce to each breast and sprinkle some mozzarella on top of - I used about 1/2 a cup of mozzarella for this.  Bake as directed on the Fresh Take packaging - I don't have it in front of me but I believe says 25 minutes at 375 degrees.  Whatever the packaging says - I let it go for a bit longer since I tested one of the larger breasts and it was still pink inside.

Boil up your pasta and drain.  In a smaller casserole dish (I think mine's 8x8 or so), pour the cooked pasta in with whatever is left from the marinara sauce used for the chicken and mix together.  I had quite a bit of the Fresh Take left so I poured that on top of the pasta with the remainder of the mozzarella.  Then toss in the oven with the chicken.  I started boiling the water after the chicken was in the oven and both the chicken and pasta were pretty much ready at the same time - the pasta's already been cooked so it's pretty much only in the oven so the cheese will melt.

Notes

The above is why I usually find other peoples recipes to try rather than attempt to write my own.  I know I use a lot of approximate language when it comes to food but I'm really not sure the amounts of what I used.  I just kinda go with what seems right.

I also just went with what I had.  Most of this was a spur of the moment idea - particularly the baked pasta which I only decided to do after seeing I still had some of the Fresh Take and cheese left. I did get the complaint that it could use more cheese, I prolly would've used an entire 2 cup package of mozzarella between the chicken and the pasta if I had it but it wasn't an option at the time.  I also was contemplating adding in some ricotta cheese to the pasta as well but it'd unfortunately expired/gotten a tad moldy.  Whoops.

Both Boyfriend and his sister said dinner was really good - which since boyfriend is hardly the most vocal of people is a real win - additional cheese comment aside.