Creamy Tomato Pasta Bake

One of the pasta restaurants around me reworked their menu a while ago and did away with one of my favorite dishes. It wasn't a perfect dish at the restaurant, but it was something different than the pasta normally offered.  I decided rather than letting it go, that I might as well try to make it myself.  Be aware if you make this recipe that it makes a very full casserole dish, so it will probably be enough pasta for a family.  It has a bit of something for everyone, though, so I really recommend it.

Serves 4-6

1 package cheese tortellini, enough to serve 4
1 cooked chicken breast, cut into bite-sized piece
1 Italian turkey sausage link, cooked and cut into thin coins
1 1/2 cup marinara
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons flour
Salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Italian six-cheese blend

1. Preaheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 2-quart casserole dish.
2. Cook tortellini according to package directions, undercooking slightly.  Drain well.  Place pasta in a greased casserole dish with the chicken and sausage, stirring well.  Stir in marinara and smooth top.  Set aside.
3. In small saucepan, whisk flour and milk together.  Set on medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture simmers and thickens.  Stir in salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste.  Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese.
4. Pour creamy Parmesan sauce evenly over pasta-tomato mixture.  Do not stir.  Sprinkle evenly with six-cheese blend.
5. Bake pasta dish for 30 minutes or until sauces are bubbly and cheese on the top is browned.  Serve immediately.

Spring Fruits Pie

I have never really seen the point of the "Fruits of the Forest" pie.  It might just be that I hate all pies that aren't homemade (frozen and store-bought aren't really my thing) and fruits of the forest was not one that I had ever had.  Frankly, the concept of apples with berries sounded sort of gross. There is a story behind how I then ended up making one; a story that involves me thinking I had much more rhubarb than I really had and stupid already having measured all the dry ingredients for pie filling into the mixing bowl.  Apples are tart and I had some, so that's what ended up in this pie.  The pie has a very pretty color and a fantastic flavor.

Makes 9-inch pie

Crust for double-crust pie
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
Dash cinnamon
1/2 cup diced rhubarb
1 cup sliced strawberries
3 Granny Smith apples, sliced into bite-sized pieces
Sugar, for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In large mixing bowl, mix sugar and flour.  Stir in cinnamon.  Toss all fruits with with the sugar mixture and set aside.
3. Usually I let the fruit filling sit while I make the crusts.  The fruits in the filling will release juices and the flour will start to thicken it as it sits. 
4. Roll out the bottom crust and fit it to the pie plate. Stir the fruit filling and pour it into the lined pie plate.  Roll out top crust, cut a vent, and place it over the fruit filling.  Seal the edges and flute them as you desire.  Sprinkle the top crust with a fine layer of sugar to help it brown.
5. Bake pie in oven for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles out of the vent.  Remove pie to cooling rack.  Serve warm of cooled.

Greek Chicken Salad Pizza

For a quick weeknight meal that has some redeeming nuritional value, salad seems like a good idea.  I like salad, but I never seem to like it enough to make it an entire dinner unless it's a dinner I'm not making.  This meal is a good compromise between filling and salad.  One thing I can say, though, is that the pizza itself doesn't have a ton of flavor without the salad and the salad on it's own is very strong, so I would recommend eating them together.

Serves 3-4

1 tube pizza crust
Garlic salt
3/4 cup feta cheese crumbles, divided
1/2 cup grilled chicken pieces
1 Roma tomato, sliced very thinly
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
4-6 cups salad

1. Preheat oven to 425 (or the temperature called for on the tube of pizza crust). Grease a jellyroll pan.  Using your hands, spread out the pizza crust as thinly as you can without it tearing.  I ended up with something that covered almost all of the jellyroll pan.  Sprinkle sparingly with garlic salt. Bake pizza crust for 10 minutes.
2. Remove hot pizza crust from the oven and sprinkle evenly with 1/2 cup feta.  Top feta with chicken, tomato, and black olive, trying to make sure the toppings are evenly distributed.  Sprinkle the pizza evenly with the mozzarella cheese and return to the oven.for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned.
3. While pizza is baking the last time, whisk lemon juice and olive oil together in a large bowl.  Add salad and toss well.
4. When pizza is done baking, remove it from the oven and cut into 4-6 pieces.  Let sit a couple of minutes, then place a piece of pizza on a plate and top with salad.  Sprinkle remaining feta cheese on top of the salad on the plate. Eat immediately.