This is one of my favorite dishes! It is warm and sunny, a perfect meal for a cold winter’s day. It is also a great meal if you are feeling under the weather or depressed because eating it just feels like home and happiness. I like to eat it alone as a stew but it is also great on a bed of Spanish rice.
Arrabiatta sauce is a spicy marinara sauce. I first fell in love with Arrabiatta sauce at the Olive Garden when a bunch of my friends and I decided to order the never-ending pasta bowl. We all wanted to try more than one sauce/pasta/meat combination which is really hard because the portions are enormous! This recipe is from Rachel Ray’s first book Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals.
I was looking for some new recipes to try out so I headed over to search through Rachel Ray’s recent recipes. I’m not really sure why this particular recipe called out to me, but it did and it was excellent. My friend Dorothy loves Penne alla Vodka so maybe I was thinking of her.
Cheesy goodness
I think this recipe is based on a recipe for shredded beef enchiladas from the Better Homes and Gardens Mexican Cookbook. We’ve added to it a little over the years by adding peppers to the meat mixture. Dad likes to add a can of diced green chilies while I prefer to add a couple of poblanos and jalepenos.
Yesterday was Josh’s birthday and one of the meals he requested I make for him was Elementary Macaroni. This is a recipe by Justin Wilson that Mom and Dad saw on his television program on PBS in the 80’s. When I was a kid I hated this recipe but now it is definitely a regular in my rotation. I’m not sure if I grew up or if it was just the addition of mint (that was always my theory as a kid) but I definitely like this recipe now. The recipe as written makes a ton of food so I usually halve the recipe and that is what I’ve posted here. Continue reading
No Meat No Meal 