Friday Foodday

Happy Friday lovebugs,

Here are my favorite recipes this week!

Ancho Paloma

c/o Gastronomistra

Ingredients

1.5 oz Milagro Reposado
1/2 oz Ancho Reyes
1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
3 oz Grapefruit Soda

Directions

Build the cocktail in a collins glass over ice, and top with grapefruit soda.  Garnish with a grapefruit peel. 

Baked Rigatoni Lasagna

c/o Lauren's Latest

Ingredients

1 lb. rigatoni pasta {or ziti}

for the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 small zucchini, diced
1/2 lb. ground turkey
28 oz. jarred marinara + 1 cup water to wash out jar
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon sugar
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper, to taste

for the cheese layer:

2 cups low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic seasoning salt, such as Lawry's
salt & pepper, to taste

1/2 lb. fresh mozzarella, sliced thin

Directions

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook pasta 1-2 minutes shy of al dente and drain. Set aside.

Place hot pot over medium heat and sauté onions, garlic and zucchini in olive oil for 3 minutes or until they start to get tender. Add in ground turkey and break apart to brown. Once turkey meat is completely cooked, add in remaining sauce ingredients, adjusting seasonings as you like. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer and cook 15 minutes. *Add in splashes of water as needed. You don't want this to get too terribly thick.

While sauce is cooking, stir all ingredients for the cheese layer together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Remove bay leaf from sauce. Stir in pasta and toss to coat. Spoon half pasta and sauce into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 glass baking dish. Spread entire cheese layer over hot pasta and top with half the sliced mozzarella. Pour over remaining pasta and top with last few slices of mozzarella.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sit 10 minutes before serving.

Apple Pie Snickerdoodle Bars

c/o Stephanie Cooks

Ingredients

½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2-3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 ounce can apple pie filling
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

Directions

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
2- In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs; beat until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the flour mixture and stir until combined. Do not over beat.
3- Press 2/3 of the dough into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 4 tablespoons cinnamon sugar and then spread the apple pie filling over the dough. With the remaining dough, take small pieces and flatten them and place on top of the apple pie filling. Continue with additional pieces of dough, piecing together a random top. You will not cover all of the apple pie filling.
4- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the dough is baked and the bars begin to brown around the edges. Cool completely. Use the foil to lift the bars from the pan; place on a cutting board. Remove the foil and cut into bars.