What's for Dinner?

[katiesue]

44 Clove Garlic Soup. Quite tasty but a bit of work involved.

[alphabassettgrrl]

Shrimp in lemon and butter, fried rice with bacon and mushrooms, green beans fried in bacon. I'm pretty proud of myself- I've cooked a lot lately, all from scratch.

[Betty]

That sounds yummy Alphabassettgrrl. I quite enjoy cooking from scratch. If I'm realistic, I know that sometimes I make dinners that don't quite turn out. But for the most part, cooking from scratch gets better results.

Somethings though are just easier when I'm using them as an ingredient. I made chicken manicotti 50/50 night before last. I fill uncooked (or cook them first, whatever) manicotti noodles with chicken goo. Chicken goo is uncooked chicken breast in the food processor with garlic salt, mozzerella and some spinach, an egg and a little milk and some pepper. I pipe that into the noodles and put them in a 9x13 pan that I've coated with some spaghetti sauce on one side and alfredo sauce on the other. ( both jarred sauces - I like prego traditional and bertoli alfredo). Then I add a little bit of water to the sauces - about 2 tablespoons - and pour the sauces over the filled pasta. (white on white, red on red). top with a little more mozzerella.

Cover in foil and bake at 325 for about 50-60 minutes until even the middle of the pan is all bubbly. Remove foil and let finish for another 5-10 minutes until the top of the cheese is a little toasty.

*Feel free to add other things to the filling but chop it really small or throw it in with the chicken to get chopped up. use another egg if it seems too loose as that will help when it cooks.

**Use any leftover chicken goo as meatballs or a strip of chicken goo along the edge. I always end up with a tad bit too much and hate to waste it.

***I've also made this with cooked manicotti and chicken, putting it all together and then baking it for less time. The cooked manicotti is a pain to work with though as it rips and is hot - or you cool it down and it's sticky. The pasta doesn't absorb the flavors as it cooks either - but it's faster.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I've generally hated cooking, but I sure like eating, and cooking is a fairly certain method of making sure I get food I like. And I've had some inspiration a few times, which makes it more fun.

Chicken manicotti- have to make a note of that. Sounds delicious!

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by Betty

I made chicken manicotti

Hmm, what is this pasta Manicotti???

Oh... you mean Cannelloni !

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Cannelloni is often erroneously referred to as manicotti (Italian: sleeves) (English pronunciation: /ˌmænɨˈkɒtiː/), which is actually a filled Italian dinner crepe, as opposed to pre-rolled pasta.[1] While manicotti and cannelloni are sometimes used interchangeably in preparing non-traditional versions of some dishes, in traditional Italian cooking cannelloni are made with pasta and manicotti with a specialized crepe pan, and the two have particular uses. Although both terms are plural nouns in Italian, the English term is often construed as singular, particularly when used as the name of the dish.

I have to try Chicken Goo now !

[Betty]

Lash - I'm going by what the box of pasta says. There's no way I'm making crepes for it. lol. I always thought cannelloni were those rolled up fried things filled with cream.

We generally call it "50/50" though so I guess it doesn't matter as long as the shape is right. Although - I've made this in those really big shells you can stuff too.

Edited to add: This is what I usually buy. Now I'm curious as to why they don't call it cannelloni.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Betty

Lash - I'm going by what the box of pasta says. There's no way I'm making crepes for it. lol. I always thought cannelloni were those rolled up fried things filled with cream.

Cannoli

[Ghoulish Delight]

Meanwhile, searching around, there is no straight answer for the difference between manicotti and cannelloni. Wikipedia says that canneloni are rolled noodles while manicotti are rolled crepes, yet there's not separate page for manicotti (it redirects to canneloni) imlying that they are the same thing.

Other sources online say manicotti are pre-rolled packaged tubes while cannelloni are fresh pasta sheets rolled into tube shapes.

Still others say they are identical except manicotti are rolled on a bias while cannelloni are rolled as straight cylinders.

In other words, call 'em whatever the hell you want.

[Betty]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Cannoli

Aha! I was close.

[Betty]

I've used a package of egg roll wrappers for some pasta thing before - ravioli maybe? I wonder how they work rolled with filling.

I've got a fancy Italian pasta roller with a fettuccine cutting blade I got from a church rummage sale for $5 (such a bargain! I don't think it was ever even used.) But it's a lot of work to use by myself and the pets have to be locked up or they interfere.