Fettuccine Alfredo

Ingredients:

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
8 oz. fettuccine, cooked, drained
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Method:

MIX cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, milk, butter, white pepper and garlic powder in medium saucepan; cook on low heat until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended.

TOSS with hot fettucine. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

This is basic alfredo recipe and you can put sauteed shrimp or chicken breasts into it as well and adjust accordingly :)

Lasagna

Lasagna is a favorite in my house, we usually eat it about once a month. Since summer is coming I probably won't make it as much, but I usually get a request from those who do not have to stand in the hot kitchen and make it, heehee... And it is a good follow up to the tomato sauce recipe, since I use it in this recipe.

1/2-3/4 of the basic tomato sauce recipe (depending on how saucy you like it and if you like extra sauce on the side, my clan does :-)
16 oz container of ricotta cheese (if you are a traditionalist), or cottage cheese (if you are like my mom)
1 box of no boil lasagna noodles (I prefer Barilla)
1 pound of ground meat (beef, turkey, or lamb)
1 pound of mozzarella
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 teaspoon of dried basil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Olive oil a 9x13 pan. Brown the meat in a skillet. Once brown add the tomato sauce and bring to a bubble then let simmer. In a bowl mix together the ricotta (or cottage) cheese, the Parmesan cheese, the egg and the basil. In the olive oiled pan place a small amount of the sauce in the bottom. Lay three noodle sheets on top of the sauce. Ladle some of the meat sauce onto the noodles. Take small spoonfuls of the cheese mixture and scatter them around the sauce. Then a layer of the mozzarella cheese. Continue layering until you have about 4-5 layers, ending with mozzarella with some additional Parmesan cheese if you like. Cover with foil sprayed with olive oil spray (any oven non stick spray will do)(this is so the cheese doesn't stick to the foil while baking). Put it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Then take the foil off and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. After you pull it out for best results let it sit for 10-15 minutes to set.

Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe

A quickie introduction for me, since Em (my 3 yo daughter) is calling me, lol. I am a mom, daughter, wife and all around busy body. I love to cook, mostly traditionally American dishes. Right now I am learning to cook Indian food and loving it. This is a basic tomato sauce I use for many different things. It freezes great, and doubles fine. Usually I get the enormous cans of crushed tomatoes at Costco and make a large amount at one time and freeze several containers. I have also given it away to friends as it makes a quick meal for a new mom, new house, and newlywed couples :-)

3- 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons of fresh basil chopped
1/4 cup of minced garlic
2-3 red onions chopped
1/4 cup of good olive oil
salt, pepper and sugar to taste

saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil. add basil right at the end of the saute. add all of the tomatoes. add about a tablespoon of salt, some cracked black pepper, and a teaspoon of sugar (it will keep it from getting bitter). Stir to combine. Bring it to a bubble, and then reduce the heat and simmer for 3-4 hours.

I use it for spaghetti and lasagna (which, insha'Allah, I will be posting a recipe for soon :-)

Baked Ziti

My older sister is our resident Italian cook in the family. I had my sister's baked ziti for the first time a few months ago. I attempted weeks ago to make her baked ziti recipe. I changed a few things around for this one. Instead of ziti, I used rotini. You can also use penne or any other kind of pasta you like. I just happen to love rotini!

Here's what you'll need
- spaghetti sauce (baked ziti is delicoius with a really good tomato sauce. You can use your favourite recipe or you can use my recipe posted here.)
- 1 lb of rotini pasta
- 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (next time I'd omit this... I'm not a cheese person, so more than 2 kinds of cheese is too much for me)
- around 150 grams of ricotta cheese

- whatever spices you prefer (I add spices in my sauce and not directly on the pasta)

Recipe

1. Make your sauce and sit it aside.
2. Make your pasta. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees at this point.
3. Mix your pasta with as much sauce as you prefer, and mix it really well.
4. Add your ricotta cheese, cheddar cheese, and only 1 cup of your mozzarella cheese and mix well.

5. Top with 1 layer of your sauce and your remaining 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.

6. Bake for 35 minutes.

Serve with a nice salad and a slice of garlic bread.

Enjoy!

Ground Beef Spaghetti Sauce

Often times I ask myself why I didn't watch my mom cook more often while I was home! She ran her own restaurant for a little over a year, and yet I still didn't learn from her.

"Why don't you bring your girls in the kitchen?" her friends would ask, baffled at the fact that we were over the age of 15 and still having our mother cook for us.

One of the first things I learned to make was spaghetti sauce. You can't possibly run a Somali household and not make pasta. I thought long and hard trying to remember what ingredients my mom used. Determined to make it without calling her, I experimented until I made it just right.

So, here's my ground beef spaghetti sauce recipe:

You'll need:

- half a pound of ground beef
- 1 jar of Primo's tomato and basil spaghetti sauce (or any spaghetti sauce of your choice)
- one whole onion, chopped
- red and green bell pepper, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 Maggi chicken cube
- a handful of chopped parsley
- 1 lemon

Recipe:

1. Boil the ground beef in 3-4 cups of water on medium heat.
2. When there is very little water left, add your jar of spaghetti sauce, and 1 maggi cube
3. Add 2 cups of water
4. Add your chopped onion, and your bell peppers.
5. Leave on medium heat for 25-30 minutes
6. Now mince your garlic cloves and chop your parsley, add them to the pan. (The aroma this creates is fantastic!)
7. Squeeze 1 lemon and add it to your sauce, then leave on medium-low heat for 20 minutes and let it simmer

This is delicious with lasagna. (recipe coming soon!)

Enjoy :)

Tiramisu II

Since making tiramisu for the first time, I knew there were tons of changes I was going to make. First and foremost, I don't like cheese that much :D that's no secret, so I was going to use MUCH less cheese, and I was going to skip the eggs- something about raw eggs didn't sit well with me :) I also used Jell-O instant vanilla mix after a sister advised me that it tastes much better this way. I served my cake to guests over the weekend and it was a hit!

So follow this recipe and make the following changes IF you're not much of a cheese fan or looking for more of a vanilla flavour in your cake

* Add one and a half packs of vanilla flavoured Jello-O instant pudding mix
* Skip the eggs
* add only 6 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese
* Add 2 cups of cream
* Keep everything else the same

Notes
- I served each slice with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream :)

Tiramisu Cake

Okay, so my 1st attempt at making Tiramisu was not without flaws. I'm not much of a baker so I tried it out hoping to ignite some sort of motivation, and surely, it worked! I plan to keep trying until I get it right =). The filling turned out a little too runny (too much cream and not enough mascarpone cheese) as seen in the photo, but I put it in the freezer for 1 hr before putting it together to thicken it out... it was still too runny though. I will adjust the recipe accordingly.



So here's what you'll need:

- 750g mascarpone cheese (fresh cheese aisle at your local grocery store)
- 6 eggs
- 500 ml of cream
- 1 cup of espresso coffee
- 3 packs of ladyfingers (cookie aisle at your local grocery store)
- 1 cup of sugar
- cocoa powder

Making the Filling:

1. Mix 6 eggs (without the whites) and 1 cup of sugar thoroughly using an electric hand mixer or until it thickens and turns a light yellowish colour.

2. Put on the stove (preferably a double boiler so that it doesn't burn!) and heat for 5 minutes.
3. Pour 500 ml of cream in a separate bowl and mix for 5-10 minutes until it thickens using an electric hand mixer.
4. add 750 g of mascarpone cheese, then add your 1 cup of coffee to the cream and mix them together using a good spoon.


5. Pour the egg and sugar mix in to the cheese and cream mix and mix thoroughly using a good spoon, until it becomes a smooth paste. [warning: it shouldn't be as runny as in the pic... mine turned out that way. It should be much thicker!]


6. now you're ready to put the cake together

Putting it together

1. Line up your lady fingers across your pan making sure to cover all of the holes



2. Fill up your first layer of filling on top of the lady fingers
3. Line up your second layer of lady fingers
4. Put the top layer of filling on
5. Refrigerate over night
6. In the morning (or at least 6 hours later) top with cocoa powder.
7. So from the bottom up: lady fingers, filling, 2nd layer of lady fingers, 2nd layer of filling, cocoa powder.
Enjoy!

*Notes

- In the future I plan to substitute the cheese for vanilla or something similar inshaa Allah, I'm not a fan of cheese in general so I wasn't fond of the taste. alhamdulilah!
- Instead of pouring the coffee into the mix, you have the option of dipping each lady finger into a bowl of coffee before putting the cake together so that the coffee flavour is still there.
- Instead of lady fingers, you can use wafers or graham crackers. I haven't tried it but it's been recommended to me

questions? ask away!