Tasteful Tuesday

Since I was really having too much fun with my family last week and left you high and dry, I decided to give you two recipes to try out. One is a really yummy breakfast recipe and the other is amazing pasta. I did change the recipes a bit from what they were originally but I tried to let you know what changes I made. Both recipes are really good and have definately made it into my must make again pile. Hope you have had a great start to your New Year and that you haven't already abandoned your resolutions....I haven't abandoned mine but am definately falling short. Good thing we get to start over each day and try to do better.

Baked Oatmeal

3 cups oats (I used 1 cup old fashioned, 2 cups quick)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Mix all together and pour into greased 8X8 pan bake at 350 for 20-25 min. Serve warm with raspberries and milk, if desired.

**This is half of the original recipe and I still had left overs. I did make some changes to cut out some of the fat: I used 1/4 cup applesauce and 1 Tablespoon ground flax, 3 Tablespoons oil in place of the amount of oil called for. I used partially thawed frozen raspberries since fresh ones are a little hard to come by for a decent price in the middle of winter. ***Update 2/5/10: I did make this again and have heard back from several of you and have found that it really is better to cut the sugar back to 3/4 cup and maybe trimming down the salt a little to 1/2 -3/4 teaspoon. Thanks for all your thoughts!

Easy Manicotti

Sauce:

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, in juice

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 medium cloves garlic, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons dried basil

1/2-1 pound ground beef, cooked

Cheese Filling and Pasta:

3 cups small curd cottage cheese

2 cups grated parmesean cheese

2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (dried can be used, just less)

2 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped

16 no-boil lasagna noodles (1 box of Barilla brand works great)

Heat oven to 375. Heat oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) in large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, basil, and salt and ground beef. Simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 min.

In medium bowl, combine cottage cheese, 1 cup parmesean cheese, mozarella cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs.

To assemble, pour 1 inch boiling water into 9X13 baking dish. Add noodles one at a time and let soak until pliable, about 5 min. Separate occasionally with sharp knife tip to prevent sticking. Remove noodles from water and place in a single layer on clean dish towels. Discard water in baking dish and dry dish.

Spread bottom of dish with 1 1/2 cups sauce. Spread 1/4 cup cheese mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll each noodle into a tube and arrange in baking dish with seam side down. Top evenly with remaining sauce, making sure to completely cover pasta. You should be able to make 2 rows of 8 manicotti. Cover baking dish with foil and bake about 40 min or until bubbly. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining parmesean cheese. Bake until cheese is browned and bubbly, 5-10 min. Remove from oven and let sit 15 min before serving.

**You can prepare this up until the baking step and then refridgerate or freeze. If you freeze it, thaw and increase baking time to 1- 1 1/4 hours.

**The original recipe left out the ground beef and used ricotta cheese.

Recipe Source: slightly adapted from My Kitchen Cafe