Sunday Pasta Dinner

I'm trying to do better with blogging.  I had a quiet weekend, got some knitting done and read some today.

I did plan a menu for this week and tonight is a pasta casserole from Cooking Light.  It says it serves 8, which it probably will not serve us that much, but it will give leftovers which I need for tomorrow night.  I have all new recipes to try from Cooking Light and Rachael Ray.

• Sunday - Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake
• Monday - forage for yourself (I have a meeting in the evening)
• Tuesday - Whatever for me
• Wednesday - Tex-Mex Meatloaf
• Thursday - Black Pepper Citrus Chicken
• Friday - Gnocchi with Turkey Ragu
• Saturday - tbd

Smoked Cheese Pasta Bake from Cooking Light January 2007

1 pound uncooked penne (tube-shaped pasta)
1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
 Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups reduced-fat sour cream
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded smoked farmer or mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.

Heat marinara sauce in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add salt, pepper, and spinach, stirring until blended; cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in cooked pasta.

Spoon half of pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine sour cream, smoked cheese, and basil; spread over pasta mixture in dish. Spoon the remaining pasta mixture over sour cream mixture; sprinkle evenly with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I used smoked mozzarella and it looks good.  I wanted something easy for the weekend.  Here are the before pictures:

I also have an update on the seafood enchiladas.  We had them Friday night and they were good after the freezer.  I thawed them for 1 1/2 days in the refrigerator and then baked them covered with foil for about 1 hour on 375 degrees.  They were no longer in the shape of enchiladas, they were more of a casserole with no form to the corn tortillas, but they tasted as good as they did when I made them fresh for Christmas Eve.

My pasta should be about done now so I'm going to eat.  Probably no wine with dinner because of my obsession to work on my cape.