Ravioli with Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce

I found this meal on Pinterest, but it's originally from MyRecipes.com. It calls for 1 jar of Sun-dried tomato Alfredo sauce, but I couldn't find that, so I used the Roasted Garlic Parmesan Alfredo sauce and added sun-dried tomatoes. It turned out super yummy and I really liked the ravioli. With all of our leftover sauce we cooked up some more pasta and had it as leftovers. This meal worked well for our busy schedule! I hope you like it too.

Ravioli with Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce

 Ingredients
1 [20oz] package Four-cheese Ravioli
1 [16oz] jar Roasted Garlic Parmesan Alfredo Sauce
1 Tbs Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbs White wine
1 [14.5oz] can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup Basil, chopped
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Add sauce to pot on medium-low heat. Pour wine into sauce jar, tighten lid, shake and pour into sauce. Stir.

Chop sun-dried tomatoes & basil.

2. In large pot, boil water and cook Ravioli according to package.

Love this tip: Place your wooden spoon over your pot of boiling water/pasta and the water won't boil over. It works & it's pretty cool!






3. Add can of diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, and basil to sauce. Cook on medium heat. Stir. Cook about 5 minutes.

4. Drain pasta. Ladle desired amount of sauce in with pasta. [We had a lot of sauce, so I did it this way to save the rest of the sauce and use it with different pasta as leftovers]

5. Plate and top with Parmesan cheese and basil.

Enjoy!!!

Broccoli and Chicken Pasta

This recipe is from one of my Slow Cooker recipe books. It originally calls for Beef, but Taylor is not a huge beef fan, so I used Chicken. This turned out great, and Taylor liked it! :-D

You will need:

2 cups of broccoli florets

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 can [14.5 oz] Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 can [14.5 oz] chicken broth

2 large boneless chicken breasts

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbs tomato paste

2 cups of rotini pasta

3 oz shredded Cheddar cheese

** If you want to use Beef instead of Chicken use 3/4 cup of beef broth and 1 pound of ground beef.

If cooking with Chicken: 

1. Layer broccoli, onion, spices, tomatoes and chicken broth in crock pot. 

2. Place the chicken and garlic on top of the vegetables. Then cook on High for 4-6 hours. Or until chicken is cooked all the way through. 

*Cooking raw chicken in a crock pot takes longer. Make sure to let it cook thoroughly. 

3. When the chicken is cooked, begin to shred the chicken. 

Then stir in tomato paste, pasta and cheese. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes. 

4. When serving, add more cheddar cheese and salt & pepper to taste. 

Enjoy! 

*If you don't have all day to let the chicken cook through, cook the chicken first, baking it for 30 minutes on a baking sheet with oil, garlic, salt & pepper, while the vegetables cook in the crock pot. Then, using the beef directions, place the [cooked] chicken in the crock pot and let it cook for 2 hours. 

If cooking with Beef:

1. Layer vegetables, spices, tomatoes and beef broth in crock pot. Cook and cover on LOW 2 1/2 hours.

2. Cook beef and garlic in a large skillet on the stove, until meet is no longer pink. Pour off the drippings/grease. Then add beef to the crock pot and cook, covered, for 2 hours.

3. Stir in tomato paste, pasta and cheese. Cook, covered, for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and everything is heated all the way through. 

Enjoy!

Good Eats & Friends!!

Taylor & I had the pleasure of having our dear friends, the Rosses, over Friday night. :)

Greg, Hilary, Zach, & Will

We enjoyed yummy foods and one of our new favorite games, Balderdash.

Here's what we ate:

Baked Penne with Chicken Sausage & Roasted Vegetables

You will need:

1 onion

1 green bell pepper

2 red bell peppers

1 yellow squash

1 garlic clove

a pinch of red pepper flakes

tsp basil

tsp oregano

salt

pepper

olive oil

penne pasta

chicken sausage [we used Trader Joe's, regular Kielbasa would work too]

3 cups of marinara [we used garlic & onion sauce]

1 1/2 cups of peas

2 cups parmesan cheese

1. Set oven to 450 degrees.

2. Slice onion, green pepper, red pepper, and squash. Chop garlic clove.

3. On baking sheet, place onion, green pepper, red pepper, squash, and garlic. Drizzle olive oil , red pepper flakes, basil, salt & pepper on top. Toss together & roast until tender for about 15 minutes.

4. While the veggies are roasting, cook pasta [halfway] for about 6 minutes & sausage [all the way].

5. Once veggies are done, toss drained pasta, veggies, chicken sausage, marinara, peas, & cheese together. Add salt & pepper, to taste. Mix together until all the pasta is covered with the marinara.






6. Pour pasta into a greased dish & top with the rest of the cheese & pieces of butter.

7. Bake for 25 minutes.

8. Enjoy :)

Great times with great friends!! 

Some of our funny answers ;)

Greg won, both times. :)