Baked Ziti

Baked Ziti

Ingredients

pasta (I used penne rigate, making this actually "baked penne")

pasta sauce (whatever you like)

ricotta cheese

shredded mozzarella

Equipment

pot, oven, stove, baking dish

Instructions

Prepare the pasta according to package instructions. Preheat oven to 350F. Drain it and put it in the baking dish. Add sauce to your liking and stir until evenly coated. Add ricotta and stir until thoroughly incorporated. Top with mozzarella. Bake for about 30 minutes (until cheese is melted and bubbly).

Yields

as much as you make

Total time

about 45 minutes

Cleanup rating 3/10

If you stir the sauce and cheese in with everything already in the baking dish, you only have one thing to really clean. And if you wait too long to do it (or keep leftovers in the dish) it'll be harder to clean.

Difficulty rating 3/10

Other than just boiling pasta and adding sauce, this is almost the easiest pasta dish you could possibly make.

Flavor rating 8/10

Classic, simple, and delicious. I think of baked ziti as a wintry comfort food.

Adjustability: medium

Use whatever kind of pasta you want. Obviously it's intended to be ziti, but like I said in the "ingredients" section, I used penne rigate. I was looking for rigatoni, but couldn't find any. We also had rotini, which would work just fine. It only gets weird if you use long pasta like spaghetti or vermicelli, or small pasta like orzo. You can also use whatever sauce you like (I imagine it would be interesting to try an alfredo sauce or something) and any cheese. You could put veggies or meats in it, too.

Make it with...

I went super simple and just microwaved some frozen peas, but any green veggie goes really well with pasta. Salad is a good choice too. To make a more robust meal, you could make chicken or steak or pork chops or something like that with it.

Steamed Chicken Dumplings

No, not chicken and dumplings... chicken dumplings. Like, Chinese food. I got a bamboo steamer! And I was very, very excited to use it. I got it so I could make steamed buns, but I thought I should start with something a little easier to get the hang of how the steamer works, since I've never used one before.

Steamed Chicken Dumplings

Ingredients
1 lb ground chicken
4 green onions, minced
4 Tbsp minced garlic
about 1" of fresh ginger, peeled & minced
4 Tbsp soy sauce
1 package wonton wrappers
optional: cabbage or lettuce leaves instead of parchment paper

Equipment
mixing bowl, wok, bamboo steamer, stove, parchment paper

Instructions
In a large bowl, mix the ground chicken, green onions, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce by hand until thoroughly combined. Line your bamboo steamer with cabbage or lettuce leaves or with parchment paper. Spoon a little bit of chicken mixture into the middle of each wonton wrapper, wet the edges and fold together into a triangle, pressing out the air and sealing it. Set the dumplings into the paper-lined steamer trays in a single layer. Steam according to your steamer's directions for about 10-12 minutes. (Mine calls for putting about 2" of water in the wok, setting the steamer in, waiting until it boils, and then starting the timer for how long to cook.)

Yields
We made about three dozen dumplings and had a little chicken mixture left over.

Total time
Since we made ours in three batches, it took about 45 minutes, what with the 10 minutes per batch, and figuring out how to work the steamer and putting together the first batch of dumplings (I made the others while the previous batch was cooking).

Cleanup rating 2/5
For so much work, it's surprising how easy it is to clean up. We used parchment paper, so I don't know if lining with leaves makes a difference, but the steamer just needed a quick clean, and other than that, there's just a mixing bowl and spoon to deal with.

Difficulty rating 7/10
In future dumplings recipes, I'm sure I'll rate this a lot lower, but with it being our first time using the steamer (and not realizing that you can leave at least the bottom tray in the wok while you remove cooked dumplings) and getting the hang of making dumplings that don't make big air pockets... it was a little more difficult than it probably will be in the future.

Flavor rating 7/10
YUM. We made dumplings, you guys. Real, honest-to-goodness, dumplings. Like the ones in restaurants. It's kind of amazing. We used a little bit too much ginger (my fault) but they were delicious. Birk threatened to eat all of them so I had to pack up leftovers for lunch before he could do that.

Adjustability: high
You can put pretty much whatever you want in your dumplings. The original recipe actually called for ground pork, but I couldn't find any at the store, so I used chicken instead. You can add minced veggies or other spices or whatever! You could also pan-fry them after they're steamed, which I plan to do next, as far as dumplings are concerned.

Make it with...
Well, there's a dipping sauce recipe here that I loved with these. You could make some rice, steam some vegetables in another tray of the steamer, make tempura... whatever!

Bonus photos:

Pre-steaming

Chicken mixture

Bamboo steamer in the wok, starting to heat up

We cut open the first one to make sure it got cooked thoroughly

BIG pile of dumplings!

Lime Cake

Let's talk lime cake. I made this for Game of Thrones night! Everyone said it was good (and I agree). (Apologies for the photo... I forgot to take a picture when it was still whole... so this is the piece I took to work the day after.)

Lime Cake

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp butter (room temperature)
2 eggs, well beaten
juice of 1 lime
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
powdered sugar

Equipment
mixer, oven, 8"x8" square cake pan

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and lime juice and mix thoroughly. Add the flour and baking powder and mix thoroughly. Pour (my experience was more like "drop") into your greased and floured cake pan (I had to spread it evenly with a spoon, so do that if you need to). Bake 25 minutes (inserted toothpick should come out clean). Let it cool for a few minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before it's completely cooled (it will stick better if it's a little warm).

Yields
I don't know, an 8"x8" cake.

Total time
About 45 minutes (maybe a little longer if you forgot to get your butter up to room temp before you get started). It takes a little while to get the butter and sugar creamed (unless I'm doing it wrong).

Cleanup rating 2/5
Remember my rule about rating cleanup of things that involve powdered sugar? That applies here. Also, I didn't cool my cake on the cooling rack so it kind of stuck to the plate but still, not a biggie.

Difficulty rating 4/10
The most difficult thing about this recipe is creaming the sugar and butter (not my favorite thing in the world to do). Remember: I use a hand mixer. So that contributes. But you have to get the batter spread evenly in the pan or it's probably not going to turn out well for you.

Flavor rating 8/10
YUM. Everyone seemed pretty happy about this one. It almost totally disappeared, which is a good thing for cake.

Adjustability low
At least, as far as I know, it's low. The original recipe recommended garnishing with chopped peanuts, which I planned on doing, but I had no peanuts. I want to look into some kind of honey sauce I could put on top... but still, options are limited.

Make it with...
My coworker Missi was the lucky recipient of my other leftover piece that came to work with me, and she said it was screaming for coffee (not in the way that it's dry but in the way that it would pair extremely well with coffee). I don't drink coffee, so I wouldn't know, but I'll take her word for it. I think it would go really well with some fresh strawberries too.

Winey Chicken and Roasted Carrots

It's a two-fer! (There's also garlic mashed potatoes and peas but there isn't much to say about them... follow box directions for the potatoes, and microwave the peas with some butter. Ta-da...)

Winey Chicken

Ingredients
Chicken (I used tenderloins, about 10 of them... 1 package)
Red wine, about a cup
Minced garlic
Olive oil, 1 Tbsp
Paprika
Brown sugar (about 1/2 cup)
Salt

Equipment
Skillet (with a lid), stove

Instructions
Put the oil in your skillet and put it on medium heat. Add garlic and let it cook until it's tender and starting to turn golden. Add the chicken in one layer and cook it ten minutes on each side (until it's almost entirely cooked; no pink on the outside). Sprinkle the brown sugar and paprika on the chicken, and pour in the wine. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. (If you want even color, turn the chicken about halfway through. You can see in the photo that I didn't do this.)

Yields
About 3 servings, for us. Scalable to a degree.

Total time
About 45 minutes.

Cleanup rating 3/5
You get a gunky pan but if you wash it quickly, it's not a problem. (I didn't wash it quickly.)

Difficulty rating 5/10
You really have to pay attention to this one at all the stages, and it takes a long while. It's helpful to have a few other things going (like I did) but then you have to orchestrate everything.

Flavor rating 5/10
Good... not great. I feel like I can fix it somehow. Maybe more sugar and paprika? Maybe I needed to flip the chicken? I'm not sure. But it was good.

Roasted Carrots

Ingredients
Baby carrots
Vegetable oil
Seasonings, including kosher salt (I used shallot-pepper seasoning)

Equipment
pan, oven, foil

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400F and line the pan with foil. Toss your carrots in the oil, coating them evenly. Lay them in a single layer on your foil-lined pan and sprinkle with kosher salt and the seasoning of your choice. Bake for 40 minutes.

Yields
How many carrots did you use? Scalable.

Total time
45 minutes

Cleanup rating 1/5
Wait for foil to cool; throw away foil. Easy-peasy!

Difficulty rating 2/10
Other than testing to make sure the carrots are done, there isn't much to this. You can do it.

Flavor rating 7/10
I love roasted veggies, especially potatoes and carrots. YUM. Just... just yum.