I love a good one dish meal. Not exactly a one pot meal since we’re cooking in a pot and a sauté pan on the stove before putting everything in a baking dish. But one dish where all the protein, veggies and starch are combined for an all-in-one meal deal.

You’re probably sitting on your phone or computer thinking, um, Lauren, it’s called a casserole. But casseroles are usually cooked slowly in the oven, while this Light Baked Spaghetti is mostly cooked on the stovetop and then just baked a little extra in the oven to get warm and melt the cheeses.

There’s so much goodness in this meal! It’s basically a hybrid of a spaghetti dinner and sausage, peppers and onions. We’ve loaded in angel hair pasta, a simple tomato and basil sauce, chicken sausage, sautéed mushrooms, peppers and onions and some gooey cheese.

You can use any type of chicken sausage you prefer. I used a sun-dried tomato and basil chicken sausage from Wegman’s and it was perfect. The original recipe calls for whole wheat pasta, which you can certainly use if you like it. Matt and I aren’t big fans of whole wheat pasta so instead I used Barilla Protein Plus.

Matt and I ate this Light Baked Spaghetti three nights in a row for dinner and we weren’t mad about it one bit. In fact, we missed it when it was all gone! I hope you all enjoy this baked pasta dish!

Light Baked Spaghetti

 

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Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 8 ounces angel hair pasta, whole wheat or preferred type
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 8 ounces chicken sausage, crumbled, see note
• 2 bell peppers, stems removed and diced, see note
• 8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• ½ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil then cook pasta according to package instructions for al dente, drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the crumbled chicken sausage and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, salt and Italian seasoning. Cook until the veggies are tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the crushed tomatoes, basil and ¾ cup of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 15 minutes. The sauce should be thickened slightly.
4. While the sauce is simmering, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9”x13” pan with cooking spray.
5. When the sauce is done simmering, toss in the pasta until coated. Add half the pasta mixture to the baking dish. Sprinkle with half of each cheese then add the remaining pasta mixture on top. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20-25 minutes, removing the foil with 5 minutes left. If you want the top to be crunchier you can broil for a couple minutes at the end. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Notes

You can use any type of chicken sausage you prefer. Sweet Italian, roasted garlic or sun-dried tomato and basil are all great options. If your chicken sausages have thick casings that are able to be removed then remove them before crumbling. If the casings are soft and crumble along with the sausage then just do that instead.
You can use any type of bell peppers you prefer. I don’t like green peppers so I used 1 red pepper and 1 orange pepper.

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 Recipe from January/February 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine.

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Have you jumped on the spiralizing bandwagon yet? I’ve had the KitchenAid attachment for a couple years now and it makes spiralizing veggies so easy. Spiralized zucchini is my go-to, but I’ve also enjoyed baked spiralized french fries and roasted spiralized beets. I had yet to try spiralized sweet potatoes so I was excited when I came across this recipe for Southwestern Sweet Potato Noodles in my Food Network Magazine binder archives.

Once you have your sweet potato noodles, whether you spiralized them yourself or picked some up at the store, this is a quick one-pan meal. The sweet potato noodles get sautéed along with corn, bell pepper and onion. Smoky ground cumin, chili powder, ground coriander, fresh cilantro (or parsley if you dislike cilantro), and plenty of lime juice help give the dish it’s southwestern flair.

This is a vegetarian meal so have it for Meatless Monday alongside a small salad, or add a protein of your choice. Matt and I liked it left vegetarian, but I think it would also be great with some chicken sausage or sliced steak on top.

When you’re sautéing the sweet potatoes, use the time in the recipe below as a gauge. It will greatly depend on the thickness of your sweet potato noodles. The original recipe photo showed really thin noodles, almost shaved, and I could tell since the cook time they had listed was way too short for my much thicker noodles. You want them cooked through, but still with a little structure to them, otherwise they’ll taste mushy. Also, another note about the recipe is that if you’re looking for some extra zing with these noodles try adding a little zest from the lime. Enjoy!

Southwestern Sweet Potato Noodles

 

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Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 3 small sweet potatoes (about 1¼ pounds), peeled
• ½ cup frozen corn
• 1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, stem removed and thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced into rounds (see note)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
• Up to ¾ teaspoon chili powder, depending on preference
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• Juice of 1 lime, plus wedges for serving

Directions

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add the sweet potato noodles, season with salt and pepper and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the pan.
2. Add the frozen corn to the pan and let get slightly charred, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil (plus more if needed), the red onion, bell pepper and the jalapeño. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until slightly charred then add the garlic, cumin, chili powder and ground coriander. Cook for 1 minute then add the sweet potato noodles back to the pan. Cook until warm then remove from the heat. Add the cilantro and lime juice. Toss, season with salt and pepper and serve with the lime wedges.

Notes

If you don’t like spicy food, slice the jalapeño in half, remove seeds and pith, then thinly slice into half rounds.

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 Recipe adapted from April 2017 issue of Food Network Magazine.

Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission for my referral. This does not affect the retail cost of the item. Thank you for supporting Lemon & Mocha!

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I want to be clear right from the first sentence that this is not a recipe for homemade butternut squash ravioli. What we’re focusing on today is this easy and delicious brown butter sage sauce. Add some fall raviolis, toasted hazelnuts and crumbled biscotti cookie and you will think you’re at a fine dining restaurant instead of your own kitchen!

Now, if you’re feeling really ambitious you certainly could use homemade ravioli for this dish, but fall brings a wide variety of fresh butternut squash and pumpkin ravioli to the grocery stores so I’m all about taking advantage to get a quick meal on the table.

Every time I see squash ravioli in a brown butter sage sauce on a restaurant menu I always end up ordering it so I decided it was time to make some to enjoy at home. If you’ve never had brown butter, it’s simply butter that has continued to cook over low heat after it has melted until it has a darker color and tastes rich, nutty and toasted.

Also, if you’ve never browned butter that means you’ve never made my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies! If that’s the case please stop reading right now and go bake these cookies!

Okay, for those of you that are still with us, the sauce is simply brown butter that we then use to fry a couple sage leaves before removing from the heat. A little seasoning and Parmesan are added before tossing with the cooked ravioli. The toasted hazelnuts and crumbled biscotti add just the right amount of crunch to the finished dish. I love using hazelnuts since they’re so buttery, but you could also use toasted pine nuts or pistachios. Enjoy this one and have a great weekend!

Butternut Squash Ravioli in a Sage Brown Butter Sauce

 

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Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• ½ cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1 pound fresh butternut squash or pumpkin ravioli
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 fresh sage leaves, torn
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• ½ cup fresh grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
• 2 amaretti or biscotti cookies, crumbled

Directions

1. Toast the hazelnuts. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the chopped hazelnuts on a baking sheet then bake for 3-5 minutes, or until lightly toasting, being careful not to let burn. Set aside.
2. Cook the fresh ravioli according to the package directions. If they’re done before the browned butter sauce, very lightly toss with olive oil so they don’t stick together.
3. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Once melted, let the butter continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally. Once the butter is a light tan and starts to smell a lightly nutty, add the torn sage leaves. Let the sage leaves lightly crisp up then remove from the heat. Add the ground nutmeg. Add the cooked raviolis and toss to coat. Add the Parmesan. Plate the raviolis and sauce then top each plate with the toasted hazelnuts and crumbled cookies. Top with additional Parmesan, if desired.

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Lauren Uncategorized 4 Comments

Tomorrow is my birthday! Woo hoo! I love my birthday, but I’ve been so busy planning for our little guy’s arrival that I haven’t given it much thought this year. I did, however, decide to make a special birthday meal. And by that I mean I made it in August since I’ve been trying to get the blog ahead in anticipation of taking a few months off, but it had the spirit of my birthday just the same.

I thought I would combine two of my favorite dishes: salmon and risotto. I’ve had risotto with plenty of proteins on top, but never salmon. Now after having them together I don’t know why every restaurant doesn’t have a salmon risotto dish on their menu because it was so crazy delicious.

The lemon herb risotto is rich and creamy, while still tasting light because of the lemon and fresh parsley and chives. The risotto is a little cheesy, without being too cheese forward, which is perfect when paired with the tender salmon.

I baked the salmon very simply with some olive oil, salt and pepper and added some crispy panko breadcrumbs over top for extra texture. I could eat this combination every day of the week! It hit all the right flavor and texture notes and I gobbled up every last bite. Plus, it got two thumbs up from Matt, who I consider my in-house salmon skeptic. If he honestly enjoys it then I know it must be good!

If you’ve never made risotto before then now is the time! It’s the perfect cozy fall dish and is definitely not as intimidating as it seems. Enjoy, everyone!

Lemon Herb Risotto with Salmon and Crispy Panko

 

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Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

for the risotto

• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small leek, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced and rinsed
• ¾ cup arborio rice
• ⅓ cup dry white wine
• ⅓ cup fresh grated Parmesan
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ¼ cup chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives

for the salmon

• 2 4-ounce salmon filets (preferably skin off, but if not just remove after baking)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper

for the panko

• 2 tablespoons panko bread crumbs
• ¼ teaspoon olive oil

Directions

for the risotto

1. Heat the chicken broth in a saucepan then keep warm over low heat.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter and the tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the leek then season with salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the rice, season with salt. Cook for 1 minute, while stirring, until the rice is coated. Add the wine and cook while stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.
4. Add ½ cup of the warm chicken broth. Cook until absorbed, stirring frequently. Continue this process in ½ cup increments of the chicken broth until you’ve used it all up. This takes about 18 minutes. Remove the risotto from the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, Parmesan, lemon zest, lemon juice, parsley and chives. Season with salt to taste.

for the salmon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with nonstick aluminum foil or spray with cooking spray. Place the salmon filets on the baking sheet then drizzle with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until cooked and it easily flakes when you touch it with a fork. Serve over the risotto with the panko sprinkled on top.

for the panko

1. Add the panko to a small sauté pan over medium heat. Drizzle with the olive oil. Sauté, stirring frequently, until the panko is lightly browned, about 5 minutes.

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 Risotto recipe from March 2017 issue of Food Network Magazine.

Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission for my referral. This does not affect the retail cost of the item. Thank you for supporting Lemon & Mocha!

Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

Once October hits I am all about the pumpkins. Not just pumpkin flavors, like Friday’s Pumpkin Spice Latte Whoopie Pies, but actual pumpkins. My house is usually covered in them during this time of year, from actual pumpkins on our doorstep, pumpkin wreath on our door, indoor ceramic pumpkins, fabric pumpkins, wood signs with pumpkins… you get the idea!

One other form of pumpkin I look forward to this time of year are mellowcreme pumpkins. Yes! Those corn syrup, sugary pumpkin candies that look like candy corn, but taste way better. The little sugar bombs are creamy on the inside and look so adorable right before you snarf them down. I have tasted plenty that taste waxy so the brand you buy is key in them actually tasting delicious or not. My go-to is Zachary’s, which can be difficult to find, but I can usually find them at the Christmas Tree Shop. I normally hate Brach’s, however, I believe they may have changed their recipe, including adding honey, and I bought a bag this year that was actually pretty good.

The reason we’re buying these cute sugary pumpkin candies is so we can make cute nostalgic haystack treats! Did you have these when you were a kid? I haven’t had them for years and years, but I was dying to make some.

Butterscotch flavored chips are melted down and then mixed together with creamy peanut butter, mini marshmallows and crunchy chow mein noodles. You drop them onto a baking sheet to make little haystacks; don’t forget to plop a little mellowcreme pumpkin onto each one! The combination may sound a bit strange, but they are buttery, sweet, crunchy and crazy addictive. I couldn’t stop eating them!

It’s a good thing I made only a half batch, which you can easily do. The recipe below will make about seventy haystacks so you will probably want to halve it as well unless you are making them for a party or a large group of people. Some recipes substitute peanuts for the mini marshmallows, but I love the soft and gooey texture they add. Have you ever had these fun and tasty treats before?

Butterscotch Pumpkin Haystacks

 

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Yield: about 70 haystacks

Ingredients

• 11-ounce bag of butterscotch flavored morsels (about 1⅔ cups)
• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• 3½ cups miniature marshmallows
• 2 5-ounce cans chow mein noodles
• 1-2 bags pumpkin mellowcremes

Directions

1. Line 2 baking sheets that will fit in your fridge with wax paper and set aside.
2. Melt the butterscotch morsels using either a double boiler or a microwave. If you’re using a double boiler, melt the morsels over medium heat, stirring occasionally, then skip to the next step. If you’re using a microwave, heat the morsels in a large microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds. Stir then continue to microwave and stir in 15 second increments until they’re melted.
3. Stir in the peanut butter and the mini marshmallows. Stir in both cans of the chow mein noodles until completely coated. Spoon little stacks onto the prepared baking sheets, adding a pumpkin mellowcreme to each stack. Put in the fridge to set completely.
4. Once set, you can either store at room temperature or in the fridge.

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