Baked Pasta with Sausages, Tomatoes and Cheese

Pasta plays a big part in our weekly meals and I often love trying out and introducing new pasta dishes to our table. I had some lovely Italian sausages begging to be used in the fridge, so my loyal friend Google went into action to find me the perfect pasta recipe to incorporate those yummy sausages into. I came across this recipe on Myrecipes, where it immediately caught my eye and I knew this was the one! This pasta dish is simple and quick to make but its pure comfort food and just the kind we love. I added a splash of red wine and oregano for that added flavour and let it simmer for longer. If you love your pasta and are looking for an easy quick meal that your family will appreciate then look no further. My son and hubby really enjoyed and loved this dish and so did I. I will definitely be making this again and again!


Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomato, and Cheese

Ingredients
1 (1-pound) package uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 pound hot turkey Italian sausage links (I used pork Italian Sausages)

1 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 (14.5-ounce) cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Cooking spray (I used butter)

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese

1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain the pasta, and set aside.
3. (I added 1 tbsp of olive oil to the pan.) Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil.
4. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes (I simmered my sauce for 25 minutes), stirring occasionally.
5. Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture, and basil. Place half of the pasta mixture in a 4-quart casserole coated with cooking spray or butter. Top with half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Apple & Cinnamon Muffins

I had to post this pic of my beautiful princess Coco. This is how I sometimes find her, on her back in all her fluffy glory! Yep, she definitely has a good life ;o)

After having a break from baking last week I was sure my boys were starting to miss their home-baked goods and I couldn’t have been more right! The Apricot Seed Bars I made yesterday have been devoured in less than 24 hours; do you reckon they missed my baking? So being the good mummy and wifey I have baked them these Apple & Cinnamon Muffins. I wonder how long they will last?! I am sure they will be a great success, they really are wonderfully delish. If you have some spare apples sitting in the fruit bowl, this is the perfect recipe to make use of those apples. These muffins are beautifully moist from the grated apple and personally I think apple and cinnamon flavours work great together. I love how the topping adds that extra crunch. This muffin recipe is a "must try".

Apple & Cinnamon Muffins

Ingredients
275g (10oz) plain flour
4 level tsps Baking Powder
75g (3oz) caster sugar
2 medium sized eggs
225ml (8floz) milk
110g (4oz) butter (melted)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
75g (3oz) cooking apples (peeled and grated)
1 tsp cinnamon

Topping
2 tbsp Demerara sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon.

Method
Preheat oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas Mark 6 and place 12 Muffin Cases in a muffin / deep cupcake tin.
Sieve the flour and Baking Powder together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs, milk, butter and Vanilla Extract.
Fold flour etc. into the egg mixture; add the apple and cinnamon and mix gently to form a lumpy batter.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cases, sprinkle on the topping and bake at the top of the oven for 25-30 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
Remove muffins from tin and cool on a wire rack.

Apricot Seed Bars~BookMarked Recipes Event

It seem's like ages since I last baked or blogged. Sorry for not having been around much lately but recently I have been feeling run down and lost my baking mojo. I woke up today and decided that I had to bake something for my boy's who have missed my baking. So this morning whilst drinking my cup of tea I came across these Apricot Seed Bars, an easy and rather healthy recipe that I've had bookmarked. These bars are packed full of dried fruit, seeds and home-baked goodness. They would make a perfect energy snack if you’re hiking or biking or just need an energy boost fix during the day.

The lovely Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments has a wonderful blog event which she hosts every Monday called BookMarked Recipes, where you bake or cook a book marked recipe from magazines, cookbooks, online recipes etc. I love the concept of an event that encourages you to try out recipes that you've had your eye on. So I am submitting my Apricot Seed Bars!




Apricot Seed Bars

Makes 20 Bars

¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp cinnamon
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
¾ finely chopped dried apricots
¾ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ flax seeds
¼ sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350oF/180oC
13- by 9-inch cake pan, greased

In a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar and egg until smooth and creamy. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir into creamed mixture, mixing well. Stir in rolled oats, apricots, cranberries, sesame seeds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven until top is set and golden, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on rack. Cut into bars.


Recipe source: Bars & Squares..more than 200 recipes by Jill Snider

Fresh Blueberry Squares

These blueberry squares are light, sweet and luscious. They make for a wonderful breakfast, dessert accompanied by cream or an afternoon snack with your tea/coffee. The recipe is from yet another of my newest books (yep courtesy of Amazon), The New Good Cake Book by Diana Dalsass. A book full of mouth-watering recipes, from sumptuous cakes to reduced-fat cakes and sections on biscotti, bar cakes, and cakes for special occasions. The only down-side to this book is the lack of photos but the recipes are simple and sometimes I like the idea of picturing in my head what a cake will look like as I read the recipe!

Fresh Blueberry Squares

Ingredients
Topping:
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter, softened

Cake:
3 eggs (large)
1 cup sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 ¾ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups blueberries, rinsed and dried

To make the topping. In a small bowl, using your fingertips, mix together all the topping ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350oF/180oC.

Grease and flour a 9” x 13” baking pan.

To make the cake, in a large bowl, beat the eggs. Gradually beat in the sugar until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Beat in the melted butter, then the vanilla and buttermilk.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the egg mixture, stirring until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle the blueberries over the batter. Sprinkle the topping over the berries.

Bake the cake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool. Once cooled cut into squares.

Baked Chicken with Cashew Nut Rice

Tonights meal consisted of oven baked seasoned chicken breast with an all time family favourite of cashew nut rice. This rice dish has so many wonderfully combined flavours, such as turmeric, ginger, coriander, cayenne pepper and lemon. What I love about making this dish is after an initial simmering of 15 minutes, the dish is finished off baked in the oven for 30 minutes, leaving me some time to sit back and catch up on blogging or the afternoon tv soaps. This rice is very versatile, personally I have used it as a stuffing for chicken, hot side dish and is just as nice served cold for a buffet/BBQ.

Cashew Nut Rice

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil (I only use 1 tbsp)
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 medium red (bell) pepper, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, crushed
125g/1/2 cup basmati rice
350ml/1 1/2 cups hot chicken stock
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 ground coriander
pinch of cayenne pepper
90g/1/2 cup salted cashew nuts

Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion, red pepper and garlic and cook gently for 4-5 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat in the oil. Add the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.

Transfer to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients to the rice. Season well. Spoon the rice into a greased ovenproof dish and cover with foil.

Bake in a preheated oven 190oC/375oF/Gas mark 5, for 30 minutes and serve.

Apple Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting

There is nothing better than the post man delivering a package from Amazon with new and exciting cookbooks. This morning I was the lucky recipient of such a package, after my latest instalment of Amazon late night shopping! One of the books I received is Bars & Squares more than 200 recipes by Jill Snider and where I found this great recipe. The book is packed full of recipe after recipe of amazing sweet delights, it is definitely a book that will encourage you to get in the kitchen and bake. I have already seen so many recipes that I want to try but this recipe really caught my attention, blondies with apples just sounded amazing and brown sugar frosting!! Who could resist? I am sure they are going to be a big hit in our home.

Apple Blondies with Brown Sugar Frosting

Blondies:

2/3 cup butter, softened

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chopped peeled apples

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (i did not add nuts)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Brown Sugar Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup milk or cream

2 cups confectioner's sugar

Blondies:

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture on low speed, mixing until blended. Stir in apples, cinnamon and nuts, mixing well. Spread evenly in greased 9x13 pan.Bake in Preheated oven at 350 degrees until set and golden, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on rack.

Brown Sugar Frosting:

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring mixture just to a boil then remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Stir in the confectioner's sugar, mixing until smooth. Spread evenly over bar. Let stand until frosting is firm enough to cut. Cut into bars or squares.

Marbled Banana Bundt Cake

I wanted to share this pic of my beautiful Madison sleeping, he has such a purr-fect life!

I walked into the kitchen this morning and took one look at the ripe bananas in the fruit bowl and they were screaming out, Banana Cake! I had some sour cream in the fridge too so I decided to search online for a cake combining both ingredients, it didn’t take me long and I found this yummy recipe on Baking Bites. I love Bundt cakes; they make an everyday plain cake look elegant and perfect for this marbled effect cake! The cake has a light moist texture, from the wonderful combination of the sour cream and bananas, with the chocolate adding even more of a perfect balance of flavours. This is definitely a great cake to whip up when ripe bananas are screaming to be used.

Marbled Banana Bundt Cake

Fudge Granola Bars

I recently became the lucky owner of The Best of Better Baking.com Book by Marcy Goldman (thanks to Amazon!). The book features 175 recipes, all fail-safe and each one delicious. I came across the recipe for Fudge Granola Bars and immediately was mesmerized by the long list of wonderful ingredients, only imagining what a delicious granola bar would be born. I couldn’t have been more right, I’ve made granola bars before but these are really something special! The only ingredient I was missing was sesame seeds but nonetheless these bars are so more-ish and filling but best of all they are full of fudgy chocolate goodness!

Fudge Granola Bars

Makes 12-16 bars

Ingredients
½ cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
⅓ cup honey
⅓ cup of firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups granola
5 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, chopped
½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
¾ cup chopped dates or dried cranberries
⅓ cup chocolate-covered raisins
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
⅔ cup whole pecans
2 ½ ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped, melted and cooled, for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 350oF/180oC. Line the bottom of a 7 by 11-inch brownie pan or a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper and spray the paper with non-stick cooking spray. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, stir the butter, honey, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla together. Stir in the granola, chopped chocolate, coconut, dates/cranberries, raisins, cinnamon, salt, cocoa, flour, sesame seeds, and pecans until blended. Pat the mixture into the prepared pan. Place the pan on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake on the lower shelf of the oven for 20-24 minutes, or until the top seems set, the edges seem dry, and the centre is just a bit jiggly. Let cool completely on a wire rack, then freeze or refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut into squares. Drizzle with melted chocolate and let the chocolate set (or refrigerate to set the chocolate).

I Love You This Much Award!

I have been passed on this really lovely award from my special friend Rosie from Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake. Thank you so much Rosie, I'm so touched and I love you just as much! You've been a really good friend to me and I can always count on you. If you have not had the pleasure of visiting Rosie's blog then I urge you to pay a visit, she is one very creative, talented lady! Her cakes and bakes will have you drooling.

In my eyes everyone who takes time to visit my blog and leave such kind comments is worthy, so please feel free to add this award to your blog as a token of my affection for your time! I am choosing the following blogs:

Anna At Anna's Kitchen

Vicky at A Healthy Appetite

Priscilla at A Peek in Priscilla's Kitchen

Ruth at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments

Gigi at Gigi Cakes

Biscuity Lime Pie

Looks like summer has arrived and with that arrives BBQ season! This evening we are having our first BBQ of the year, with my father in law coming over. I know he loves his cakes and desserts and although I have been suffering with a cold and generally feeling run down this week, I didn’t want to let him down and not have a home-baked dessert waiting for him. I remember coming across this recipe a while back on the BBC Good Food website, perfect for a quick and easy dessert when short on time and energy. This pie has a wonderful mixture of a ginger nut biscuit base, combined with a zingy citrus topping to get your taste buds tingling. I have a feeling my father in law won’t be leaving this evening without a doggie bag (Tupperware).
I have linked the recipe below!



Biscuity Lime Pie

Blueberry-Buttermilk Bundt Cake

Why is it when you need a recipe including a given ingredient, in my case today with buttermilk you can never find one? I had a pot of buttermilk sitting in the fridge that needed using by the end of today and hating to see food go to waste I set about hunting down a recipe. My friend Google helped me in my search and it came up with this wonderful recipe from Epicurious. Whilst reading the list of ingredients and the reviews I knew this was the one. The cake was easy and quick to make and not much preparation involved, which was ideal for me as this cake was a last minute decision after having a busy day with dinner yet to be made. I did however have a little baking disaster, (sure won’t be the last) and I should have gone with instincts but my excitement took over. I took the cake out of the pan as instructed in the recipe but only to find this was the wrong decision. A combination of still too warm and a ring of blueberries close to the surface making the sponge break away on removal of the tin!! The cake itself is a gorgeous light fluffy moist cake with a lot of flavour and I will definitely be making this cake again. But will not make the same mistake next time. If you would like to re-create this delicious cake, the link for the recipe is below.

Blueberry-Buttermilk Bundt Cake

Banana Chocolate Flapjacks

Finally looks like summer has arrived and gone are the wet miserable days. I spent a lot of time in my garden this bank holiday weekend, enjoying the warm sunny weather whilst hubby done gardening. So it seems like ages since I last did any baking. This morning I decided to bake another favourite flapjack recipe, Banana Flapjacks with dark choc chips. These flapjacks are not as chewy but moister due to the banana, giving these a different but lovely texture. If you have any bananas going ripe in the fruit bowl, these are the perfect excuse to do some easy, simple and quick baking!

Banana Flapjacks

125g unsalted butter

85g light muscovado sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

350g porridge oats

½ teaspoon baking powder

2 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

100g dark choc chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and lightly butter a 23 x 33cm/9 x 13 in swiss roll tin (I used a 23cm/9inch square cake tin and lined it with baking paper).Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a bowl in the microwave (or in a pan over a very low heat), then tip in the oats, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Once combined, stir into the bananas and combine well (add choc chips and combine), then tip into the prepared tin, smoothing the surface with the back of a metal spoon.Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are turning golden brown and it feels fairly firm all over.Remove and cut into bars while hot, then leave in the tin until cold before transferring to a wire rack.

Introducing Sweet and Simple Bakes

Sweet and Simple Bakes is a new and exciting blog that has been started by Rosie from Baking Cakes Galore and myself. Our blog will be aimed at newbie bakers or bakers who just love to bake and want to participate in the fun each month. If you would like to be part of our new venture please visit Sweet and Simple Bakes for more details. Hope to see you there!
Maria
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