Spinach Mostacciolli Pasta Bake

This is an oldie. I've been making this for years, but not too often because there are so many recipes out there in the (internet) sea. This is from Cooking Light, I think from one of my first CL cookbooks.

 

I've always liked this recipe because it is meatless. Sometimes you don't need meat. For real. And this is full of spinach and tomatoes, and cheese, and creamy goodness. You just don't miss the meat.

The crunchy breadcrumbs really make this pasta dish. And it makes plenty. I should probably half this recipe one day. I always forget.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Spinach Mostacciolli Pasta Bake.

 

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Bacon Lover's Mac & Cheese

Yeah, my husband loves bacon.

I damn near had to do a bacon intervention a few weeks ago and I purposely stopped buying the bacon. I did give in to this recipe because... well, I love my husband but I do love my bacon too.

This was gooooood. Jim gave it a 9.5! I discovered that I love Fontina cheese- so tangy and creamy. YUM.

The baby bella mushrooms and spinach made me feel a LITTLE better about using so much bacon and then using the bacon grease to cook the mushrooms, and then a little grease added to the butter for the roux. Oh, and a little more grease on top of the entire dish before it went into the oven. Hey, the recipe said to do all that!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Bacon Lover's Mac & Cheese.

Spinach and Cheese Strata

This was made for Easter brunch. I loved that it was make-ahead and this morning I just had to let it sit for half an hour on the counter before throwing it in the oven for 45 minutes.

We used a cheese that I'm not familiar with- Gruyere cheese. My sister told me it's a stinky cheese that melts well. It was good :) I also was not familiar with stratas. I read that it is similar to a bread pudding, which doesn't appeal to ME but I knew it would turn out well.

The verdict: everyone loved it. I saw second helpings.

We also had:
Honey Baked Ham
Juicy Strawberry Scones
Fresh fruit and dip (my Mom brought this, I'm guessing at the recipe)
Carrot Cake cupcakes
Caramel corn "carrots"
Mimosas

Click here for the stolen recipe.

Comfort foods

For dinner we had Mozzarella stuffed turkey meatloaf, homemade macaroni and cheese, and salad. James refused it all :(

Click here for the stolen meatloaf recipe.
Click here for the stolen macaroni and cheese recipe.



This is an easy meatloaf if you have an hour to wait for it to bake. I love that it includes spinach!

Also, the macaroni and cheese recipe makes TONS. I can usually freeze portions of it and bake them later.