5 Ingredient Tortellini & Vodka Sauce

May 19, 2023 Amanda Plott

It doesn’t get much more simple for dinner than this 5 Ingredient Tortellini & Vodka Sauce. That’s right, it’s just 5 ingredients and a few minutes of cooking until this meal in a bowl is ready to go for the family. You can easily swap some of the ingredients out to make this dinner into your own thing. Even changing the sauce would make the dish completely different from what I have here.

I went with a fully cooked chicken sausage that had Italian herbs and seasoning in it, but really you could go any which way with it as you wanted. Another good one would be a a sausage with feta cheese for a Greek twist or something with a spicy kick and a nod to something more Cajun…

Skinny Antipasto Pasta Salad

March 5, 2023 Amanda Plott

I've been making Antipasto Pasta Salad for almost my entire adult life. It's one of those things that is readily asked for in the Spring and Summer in my house and everyone can find something about it at that they love!

The original idea for this pasta salad came some years ago back when I was in high school. There was a great italian restaurant that we used to go to on occasion that served something similar as an appetizer and we were all hooked on it…

Air Fryer Toasted Ravioli

February 11, 2023 Amanda Plott

These Air Fryer Toasted Ravioli are not only easy to make, but they’re pretty damn good too! I took some refrigerated raviolis that happened to be on theme this month, and I decided to see if air frying them would get the same effect as frying or toasting would. And it absolutely does! The ravioli turn out crisp on the outside and melty cheesy on the inside. Perfect for dipping and dunking into your favorite pasta sauce.

They can be served as a pain part of dinner or as a side, snack, or hot appetizer. I lightened them up by using a whole wheat bread crumb and of course by using the air fryer rather than deep frying. I found too, by seasoning the egg mixture rather than the crumb mixture you get a lot more even seasoning and the seasoning is locked in with the breadcrumbs!…

Honeycomb Lasagna

January 27, 2023 Amanda Plott

I’ve seen this Honeycomb Lasagna trending all over the place and I finally decided it was high time for me to make my own iteration of it. So, this version of the famous Honeycomb Lasagna is healthified. The very first thing I did was to make and use my own meat sauce. And this one right here has to be my favorite. Now, I know the sauce takes a lot of time but I promise that it’s worth it. BUT. You can really use whatever spaghetti sauce that you want, meat sauce or just standard spaghetti sauce.

I liked the meat sauce here because it gave the noodles something hefty to stand upright in. And making the sauce myself means that I got to reduce it down to be as thick and full of flavor as I wanted it…

Air Fried Stuffed Mushrooms

January 4, 2023 Amanda Plott

These Air Fried Stuffed Mushrooms are really just another way to cook stuffed mushrooms. I’m just being honest here. It doesn’t change their taste at all, but it DOES change their texture. Usually when I bake my stuffed mushrooms they end up a little bit soggy on the bottom from cooking in their own water as it releasing in the cooking process. These, however, don’t end up that way!

It helped too to top these off with some grated parmesan which gave a little bit of a crunch factor to the tops of these stuffed mushrooms. They’re completely loaded with cheesy goodness too. Cream cheese, cheddar, and of course the parmesan. There’s even some bacon in there for extra yum…

Spinach & Ricotta Pasta Bake

November 9, 2022 Amanda Plott

Dinner is SERVED. This Spinach & Ricotta Pasta Bake is super simple to make, it’s meatless vegetarian, and it only has a few ingredients. It starts off with a whole wheat pasta. I used some odds and ends of small pasta that I had on hand; some elbow and some shells that I put together to make a full 10 ounces of noodle. Of course, it’s lightened up with reduced fat cheeses, both with the mozzarella and with the ricotta which goes along with a full 16 ounces of spinach!

I did decide to use a jarred pasta sauce to keep it extra simple. But if I had any leftover sauce stored in the freezer, I would have used that instead. So feel free to use your favorite tomato based spaghetti sauce or marinara here. And you’ll want to reach each part individually so that you really get the flavor through it all that you want…