Tag: easy

Boat Baked Ziti

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Ello Bloggies!

This next recipe is really special to me. The first thing the hubby ever made me was baked ziti. We were on his boat and he started off the meal with wheat thins, cheddar and brie cheese and a homemade Mai-Tai. Let me tell you it was definitely a great way to start a relationship! Fast forward 5 1/2 years and although I’ve added some magic to the recipe it still remains one of our weeknight boat or land favorites. Make it for someone special on your first date and see if it still has the same charming effects. Then again, it may have been the mai-tais. But hey, it all worked together perfectly right?!?! Alright, enough with the match-making. Go grab a mai-tai and let’s make some baked ziti!

The Goods

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 1/2 large onion, diced
  • 1 box rigatoni or ziti pasta
  • 1 large jar Vodka pasta sauce (this is me not making my own sauce. Ironically, I did recently make sauce and freeze it but then we ate it. Because that’s what you do with food. You eat it. So store bought it is. Remind yourself, it’s a weeknight, and you worked <fill in the blank> hours today and just the fact that you are making dinner makes you awesome. Pats self on back.)
  • 8 oz sour cream
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (a little more if you want to top it with some at the end)
  • 1/2 c Italian breadcrumbs
  • 1 c parmesan (1/2c for sauce, 1/2c for breadcrumb topping)
  • 2 Tbls butter, melted
  • Seasonings: Garlic Powder, dried Oregano, S&P

Ziiiiiiiiiiiti Time

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F

In a pot, boil heavily salted water (it should taste like the ocean). Add your pasta and boil for about 10 min. When done drain and add back to the pot.

I know, I know. This is rigatoni. Which is not ziti. Which is totally fine because rigatoni works just as well for baked pasta dishes. I don’t know why we just always all it baked ziti but we are all special so go with it.

In a pan, swirl olive oil over Med/Hi heat and cook your onions. You only need a minute or two as they’ll continue to cook with the meat.


Add in your ground beef, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp oregano and S&P. Cook until the ground beef is no longer pink in the middle.


Add in your jar of tomato sauce and 1/2 c parmesan. Simmer for about 10 min until all the flavors come together. Note: I did not drain the meat before adding the sauce. The meat I had really didn’t have much fat. If yours has a lot, drain the meat, then add the tomato sauce. You may need to adjust seasonings again once you do that to ensure salt level is still legit.


Now, add the meat/tomato sauce mixture to the pasta and stir to combine.

Add in the sour cream and 1 cup mozzarella cheese and stir one more time.

Spray a baking dish with cooking spray and put your delicious looking pasta mixture into the baking dish.

Next, let’s make the amazing topping. In a small bowl combine the melted butter, rest of the parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Mix with a fork for best results.

You may be tempted to try this to see how it tastes. Don’t do it. It’s like unicorns wrapped up in hugs topped with ice cream and sprinkles. It’s amazing. Don’t eat it or you may not have any left for the pasta.

Top your pasta dish with the breadcrumb topping and bake for 25 min or until bubbly and the topping just starts to get brown. Then eat it. Yum!


This is a super easy dish that is full of flavor. We make this sometimes with sausage pieces or turkey ground sausage or even cut leftover meatballs! Just make it, eat it and then go nap. Because, who doesn’t love a good nap.

xoxo Shawna

Stuffed Sweet Mini Peppers

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We are friends right!?! (Picture me dramatically walking with a glass of Pinot in my hand to the West Wing of my estate and sitting down on a luxurious chaise on my veranda overlooking the Caribbean to start my syndicated cooking show. Ok…OK fine. The blog hasn’t skyrocketed to a Kardashian level of fame existence yet but I feel like we’re close. In the mean time I’ll grab a coke, head for the kitchen and keeping writing my post. Same thing). Back to the matter at hand…

Can we talk about bacon for a second? It’s one of my favorite ingredients. I like to showcase it as a show piece (think pork belly), let it be the salt element in soups, casseroles and stews and wrap it around some of our fav ocean givings – scallops and shrimp. Today, we are making the most delish cheese stuffing for those adorable mini sweet peppers you see at the market. These work great as an appetizer, veggie side dish or a lunch & cocktail party to share with friends. These peppers are not spicy at all so it’s safe for even our favorite younger diners.

The Goods

  • 1 bag of those colorful small mini peppers
  • 4 slices of bacon (thick words well)
  • 1 jar ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella or pepper jack or even shredded manchego if you’re feeling fancy!
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas (Hold up what?!?!? Yup, I said peas. They add such a great pop of sweetness against the salty cheese interior. Trust me on this.)
  • S&P
  • Garlic Powder

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Pepper magic

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook your bacon until it’s pretty crispy. Place on a paper towel to absorb some of the fat and chop it up.

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First you want to give your lil’ peppers a rinse. Using a small paring knife remove the top stem and carefully cut out the interior stems (this is mostly to remove the seeds but also to get maximum space to add your delicious filling.) Set those aside.

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In a mixing bowl add the jar of ricotta, the bacon, mozzarella, and your peas. Hit it with S&P and about 1/2 tsp of garlic salt. Mix together with a fork (I find that works best but really any implement will do). Make sure to taste it but I’m sorry in advance if it’s amazing. EVERY time I make this I end up eating…a tad too much and run out of filling for the peppers. Don’t be that girl. Do as I say, not as I do…

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Using a spoon shovel some filling into each pepper and place onto a baking sheet.

Bake those mini flavor bombs for about 20-25 min. You want the underside just to get brown and delicious and the flesh of the peppers to get soft and just start to wilt down. Yes, the filling may come oozing out and that’s totally ok! The little cheese that hits the pan may get some brown bits on them and OMG browned cheese is amazing. You’re welcome in advance for those tiny gifts from cheese heaven.

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Remove and let cool for just a few min then plate up your gorgeous peppers. Big shout out to our equally gorgeous friend Maggie who bought us these plates from West Elm as a wedding present. Now they, and you, are famous.

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Happy Cooking Friends!

xoxo Shawna

Sour Cream & Verde Chicken Enchiladas

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Ok guys. Seriously. These have got to be one of my favorite meals I make at home, period. Let me remind you I live in San Diego…the gateway to Mexican food. I’ve had a whole lotta years to experiment and taste amazing Mexican food and this recipe is the prodigy child of all those years. One of my fav restaurants growing up had these KILLER sour cream and chicken enchiladas and these are a nod to that memory.

But these enchiladas are made with flour tortillas?!?! Gasp! You make it all from scratch on a week night, gasp?!?! Yup! But you know what, you can bet your sombrero not only will you love these you’ll be willing to come to the dark side of “making food that tastes good and doesn’t necessarily fit the norm.” Exciting right?!?! You’re welcome. Let’s get cooking….

The Goods

  • 3 Chicken Breasts
  • 2 Anaheim chili peppers (dark green, medium to large is fine)
  • 1 lb tomatillo peppers (round, looks like a green tomato with paper skin)
  • 1 small tub sour cream
  • Taco size tortillas (we used flour…I know, I know…OMG they didn’t use corn. Nope, we didn’t. And we loved it.)
  • Pepper jack cheese (We like a bit of a kick and the sauce we are making is not spicy at all. This cheese is a nice addition. If you want you can replace with regular jack cheese, shredded)
  • 1 cup jarred salsa (you can use homemade if you have it…I actually ran out of tomatoes and it was coming up on 6pm and my household had not eaten so needless to say I went with jarred. You get it, I know you do. That’s why we are friends.)

The Fiesta (Ironically, Enrique Iglesias just came up on our cable music channel…ha! It’s like the world knew I was blogging about enchiladas. Perfect.)

Preheat your good ol’ trusty oven to 350 degrees F. (Note: I’ve made these on the boat before and they were amazing. Make sure to pick a smaller lasagna dish to make them in beforehand so you don’t end up with a large pan and a tiny oven.)

Start by filling up a stock pot with water and set the heat to medium. Add your chicken breasts and poach until they hit 165 degrees F.

Next, using tongs you want to char your Anaheim peppers over an open flame (gas stove) or under the broiler. You want them super charred on all sides. When done add them to a small bowl and cover TIGHTLY with plastic wrap. Add something on top so it stays shut and don’t touch it for about 15 min.

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After 15 min take them out and using a paper towel simply slide the charred skin off and you have this amazing dark green flesh left that is AMAZING to taste. Slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds. Chop it up and set it aside.

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While that’s happening peel the tomatillos (the paper comes off super easily), rinse under water, cut into quarters and add to a smaller sauce pot.

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Cover with water and boil until the dark green turns to pale green and they just get soft. (This only takes a few minutes. Just enough time to grab another margarita. Go ahead, we don’t judge here.)

Once complete place the tomatillos into a blender, add in about 1/2 c of the cooking water and lots of S&P. Give it a whirl until it looks like enchilada sauce. Pour out the remaining water in the pot and add the sauce back in. Hit it with some heat and let her reduce a bit and come together.

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Once your chicken is done shred her up and return her to the pot.

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Add in 1/2 c sour cream, the salsa, your chopped Anaheim peppers and mix it up. Taste. It should be amazing. Add S&P if needed. Now stop eating it or else you won’t have enough to make the enchiladas.

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Spray the bottom of a lasagna pan with cooking spray. Grab a tortilla, add some of the delish chicken mixture, some shredded cheese, roll up tight, and add to the pan. Repeat until you fill up the pan. We made GIANT enchiladas (I had some help from the Dudes in the Galley tonight and well…they are men…and they like to eat…so big enchiladas is what happened.) We ended up fitting about 7 in the pan but you can probably get 8.

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Now slather the whole thing with your amazing tomatillo sauce you made and top with some shredded cheese.

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Bake for about 20 min at 350 degrees F and enjoy. Serve with beans and rice and your favorite Margarita. Ole!

xoxo Shawna

Working Lady’s Lasagna

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Let me give it to you straight. I work way over 40 hours a week number crunching, typing and engaging in general office shenanigans. I love my friends and hubster a TON but there are not enough hours in the day for homemade lasagna – by scratch – on a weeknight – while there is still light outside. So, I’ve come up with the “working lady’s lasagna.” There are some homemade parts, some store bought parts and a whole lot of wine. I mean a whole lot of love. But mostly wine.

If you really want to get down and dirty we’ll post a full blown made-from-scratch lasagna that would be the talk of the town in any trendy hipster alcove. That post will come soon enough. For now. Working Lady Lasagna.

The Goods

  • Lasagna noodles (alright, just buy a box of the kind you boil in water. Trust me, it’s fine. Breathe in, then out and then realize there are worse things in life. You’re making dinner for crying out loud! *patting self on back*)
  • 1 large jar (24 oz or so) pasta sauce
  • 1 bag mozzarella cheese (shredded)
  • 1 container ricotta (17 oz, I used low fat but who are we kidding, this is lasagna. Get the regular kind if you’d like)
  • 1 bunch basil leaves
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground beef, ground pork, or a mixture of both (get crazy if you want just stay away from the heavily seasoned meat like chorizo. There is a time and place for that delicious Spanish & Latin morsel and this is not one of them)
  • 1 large onion
  • 1/2 cup sour cream or greek yogurt plain flavor
  • S&P
  • Garlic

Let’s do this…

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Boil the noodles until al dente. The lasagna will continue to cook in the oven. Ideally, you want the noodles to be done as soon as you are ready to start layering. If they get done early, drain the noodles and lay out on some parchment or wax paper and it’ll prevent it from sticking. Rad, right?!?

Get your lasagna pan ready (I have both glass and ceramic and both work fine) by putting a bit of the sauce at the bottom of the pan.

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Heat a large sautee pan (I’m talking as large as you can get. If you don’t have one feel free to use a pot, either works just fine) and give it a couple o’ swirls of olive oil.

Dice up the onion and throw it in the pan. Immediately hit it with S&P (seasoning is your best friend).

Once translucent add a healthy tablespoon full of chopped garlic and stir around a bit for a few seconds.

Add in the meat. You’ll want to break it up so it ends up looking like ground beef when done. Cook until all the pink is gone.

Add in the rest of our sauce to the pan and stir to combine. Let this hang out a bit until the meat is cooked through then turn down the heat to low to keep warm.

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Next you want to make the delicious cheesy layer. You see the Mister does not like ricotta. So I basically hide it. You know, like you hide vegetables in kid’s meals? I hide Ricotta in adult meals. Same-same.

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In a bowl combine: the jar of ricotta, 1/2 c sour cream, 1/2 c mozzarella cheese, and a handful of basil either chopped up or ripped by hand. Be rustic, I dare you. Add S&P and taste. It should taste lovely.

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Now it’s time to layer.

Lay down 4 pieces of lasagna noodle, lengthwise, overlapping, to create a bottom in your lasagna dish.

Add half the meat/sauce mixture.

Add half the cheese mixture and spread evenly. It’s ok if the two layers mix, it will be all that more delicious.

Add 4 more pieces of lasagna noodle, the rest of the meat and the rest of the cheese.

Top with 4 more noodles and some shredded mozzarella.

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Bake in oven for about 30-40 min until bubbly and hot. Invite some friends or family over and dig in. Or eat the whole thing yourself. This is a no judging blog, eat your heart out. We dig it.

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Enjoy friends!

xoxo Shawna

Summer Veggie Couscous Deliciousness

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Oh man. You know, summer grilling/roasting/eating/general tomfoolery is my favorite. In southern california we are blessed with pretty epic weather for 99% of the year and even though May can be a bit blah the sun still peeks out and days like today warrant fire and vegetables. Our good friend Billy is turning 30 and he’s brining and grilling a 33 lb WHOLE piggy. So, the side dish I’m bringing for the hostess Kiley has got to be equally as fabulous. I’m thinking veggie couscous with a lemon vinaigrette. Let’s get cooking!

The Goods

  • 2 cups uncooked couscous
  • 2 cups water (or broth)
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 3 small zucchini (or any summer squash)
  • 1 onion
  • 2 lemons
  • olive oil
  • dijon mustard
  • S&P and garlic powder
  • If you stick with water or veggie stock this dish is vegan/vegetarian

Annnnnnd go….

  1. Cook up the couscous. Generally you boil equal cups water (in this case 2 cups) and add in the same amount of couscous (again 2 cups), take it off the heat and let sit 4-5 minutes then fluff with a fork until your little heart is content.
  2. Chop up the veggies (bigger than a dice, smaller than a large chunk)
  3. Heat a pan (I used a nonstick pan) on med/hi heat and give her a couple o’ swirls of olive oil
  4. Add veggies and immediately hit it with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Always, ALWAYS, season each layer of food you add to the pan. Your guests, your future judges on Chopped and your future children will thank me. So for that, you’re welcome.
  5. Once they are sauteed just until soft (mine had some random brown bits so I went with that) add them and the couscous to a large bowl. Mix it up a bit. Now, dressing time.
  6. Juice two lemons and make sure to remove the seeds. Nobody wants to eat lemon seeds. If they did, you’d probably owe them some money to visit a dentist and we do not have time for that.
  7. In a vessel (glass measuring cup, small bowl, a dressing maker…) mix 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon dijon mustard, S&P and garlic powder. Now, drizzle in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and whisk away. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Now taste.
  8. Don’t dunk your hand in there like a crazed dressing cave woman (or man). Use a spoon. Like the pros do. Resist the urge to double dip said spoon. Trust me, as you get into cooking you end up using lots of spoons and your dear husband (or wife) ends up cleaning a lot of spoons but you know what? The product is usually yummy.
  9. Feel free to double the dressing or add other goodies. It’s really the perfect base.
  10. Pour dressing over couscous and veggies and stir it up. Best served soon after but it’s always yummy for left overs.

Couscous

See. There you have it. The perfect delish veggie couscous salad. Now I have to go eat some pork. Cheers until next post.

xoxo Shawna