At the beginning of the year I made it my mission to cook at home more often. We actually challenged ourselves not to eat out at all for a while and we made it a little over a month. I was so proud of us! And the only reason we stopped when we did was because we wanted to go out to eat for Valentine's Day. So I've actually learned to cook some this year, but I still consider myself a beginner. Cooking just isn't one of those things that comes naturally to me! If there aren't very specific directions I'm likely to get lost.
Samantha sent me this recipe for No Boil Baked Penne earlier this week. I love Italian food of any kind and this was billed as quick and easy so I decided to try it. And since I love pictures, you get pictures of my big cooking effort for this week!
I made my list before we went grocery shopping last night. We hadn't been in two and a half weeks, so it was way past time. For some reason I've developed an aversion to grocery shopping recently. Hopefully it will pass soon. I don't know why because I LOVE Publix. The pasta and spaghetti sauce were both on sale buy one get one free. The Publix brand cheeses were all cheaper than the alternative and just as good. I didn't look too hard for a deal on the sausage though because I had no clue what to look for in comparing the brands. I decided to go with a brand name I recognized, and then to pick which type I went with Italian since I was cooking an Italian themed dish. Um, works for me.
Then I mixed it all up in a big bowl. That wasn't very pretty... sausage, tomato sauce, uncooked pasta, three different cheeses, and water. So I did us all a favor and skipped taking a picture of that step! I popped it in the oven, set the timer for 55 minutes and headed out to the front yard to take some pictures of the spider lilies that are blooming. I absolutely love spider lilies because they mean fall is officially here. Plus they're one of the only flowers I'm capable of growing. For some reason I do okay with bulbs. Probably because they're tucked safely under the ground and they don't need me!
(Click on that one to go to flickr and see it bigger if you like. I think it's pretty. Go ahead, I'll wait here. LOL)
We watched TV while the deliciousness was cooking. I wouldn't really classify this as a weeknight meal. It had to bake for 65 minutes! We are used to eating between 5:00 and 6:00 because David has to leave for work at 6:30 on work nights... this didn't get finished until after 7:00 and we were starving! It tasted good, though. Sorry I don't have a prettier picture of the finished product... I promise I even cooked it in my pretty baking dish that matches my dishes!
But trust me that it was pretty good. I'll make it again. I'll probably use a tad bit more sauce next time and perhaps less sausage. It was very meaty and we're just not huge meat eaters here.
2 comments:
Yum! I'll have to give it a try, though I bet the boys wouldn't touch it. It always works like that. :) And Spider Lily!! I love them and I always get happy when I the beautiful blooms. I saw some growing along the road going to Jay the other day and almost stopped and took pics. Now I really wish I had.
Suggestions:
Like you said, use less sausage since it was too meaty. Maybe consider the Italian sausages that are in casing, but take the casing off before browning. Sheila and Sheri both do this for recipes that call for sausage.
To speed it up - what about boiling the penne before hand? I would look up a baked ziti recipe to see to what point the pasta should be boiled to (since it will also cook in the oven). That should cut the time in half. :)
Post a Comment