Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica {copycat recipe}

It's freezer cooking time, I am in the cooking mood and my kitchen is on fire. I've made 5 dinners in a row this week and doubled every recipe in order to get 5 extra freezer meals for my cousin. I was so excited to share these extra meals with my aunt who is visiting from Washington, my cousin, her husband and their brand new baby girl Nikki. My cousin just had her first baby 3 weeks ago and I wanted to share some of my freezer meals with them to help make dinner time a little easier.

Today, I made this amazingly delicious pasta recipe. I might even go as far as to say "this is the BEST pasta dish I've ever made". This recipe is wonderful, it's out of this world delicious and it will for sure be repeated in my house (probably sooner then later) and you can bet it will make it into my Volume 3 Family Cookbook. It's a copycat recipe of the Macaroni Grill chain restaurant Penne Rustica recipe, I don't eat at Macaroni Grill, I think I've only been there once or twice in my life, so I have no idea how this recipe compares to the real recipe, but I can tell you this recipe here is amazing.

Look at this darling little girl. I am a baby lover at heart and since my babies are 19 years old and 13 years old, there are no babies in my life and therefore I get to go and steal all of my family members new babies.

This recipe makes ALOT and I mean ALOT of pasta dishes. It's a perfect freezer meal, a perfect meal to share with a new mom or a friend or family member who may need a little help with the dinner time blues. You can always half the recipe if you wish, but I will be sharing the FULL recipe here, it makes about (3) 9x13 pans. Since my family is only a family of 3 I made our dishes in very small Purex baking dishes and I was able to make (2) 9x13 pans that I shared with my cousin and (5) smaller baking dishes that I keep for my family, and boy am I so glad I have 4 more of these left in my freezer.

I did cheat a little and use pasta we had on hand, I made up one box of Penne pasta and two boxes of Shell pasta. I also made a few other changes to this recipe by using my standard Crock-Pot Chicken recipe and shredding it (only because my hubby wasn't home to BBQ the chicken and because it's cold outside and not BBQ season), I think I will try it this way once we dust off the BBQ. I also used Turkey Bacon instead of regular bacon (and only because Turkey Bacon was on sale and it was cheap, like half the price of regular bacon) and since I know it's healthier, why not.

I've already had the opportunity to make up one of my small dishes. It worked out wonderful for this small one/two person serving dish to be cooked up in my toaster oven. A-MAZ-ING!

Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica {copycat recipe}

adapted by me, Tina, originally found over at Your Homebased Mom

FREEZER MEAL: This is a freezer meal and will make at least (3) 9x13 pans of pasta. If you wish to make just one dish or a smaller portion, you will need to cut the recipe in thirds or half.

1 whole chicken using Crock-Pot Chicken recipe; shredded and then add 1 to 2 tsp garlic salt

or 12 oz grilled chicken breast (marinate in olive oil and garlic salt overnight, then grill on barbecue for best flavor)

2 full packages of turkey bacon
48 oz. (3 boxes) penne pasta (or your favorite pasta); cook al dente about 6-8 minutes
2 large red bell peppers; diced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese; use fresh
½ to 1 tsp paprika

1 to 2 cups Monterrey Jack Cheese; grated for garnish on top

Sauce:
2 tsp butter
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 cup liquid (I used half 1/2 cup chicken broth and 1/2 cup apple juice with 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar or you can use 1 cup marsala wine)
1 tsp dijon or dry mustard
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chopped rosemary; use fresh for best flavor
¼ tsp (or more) cayenne pepper
8 cups heavy cream (yes 8 cups is alot, and you will need 4 small pint containers)

Chop and prepare everything first. Shred chicken, dice up red peppers, and start cooking your bacon. Chopped up the turkey bacon first before you cook it, saves time later and it's so much easier to cook. Then get your water boiling for the 3 packages of noodles, use a really large pan if you are cooking all 3 packages at once.

Sauté garlic in butter in large pan. Add liquid (chicken broth mixture), mustard, salt, rosemary, cayenne pepper, and heavy cream. Cook to a soft boil.

Combine sauce, cooked pasta, shredded chicken, cooked bacon, bell peppers, Parmesan cheese, and paprika and mix thoroughly. Spread into pans; top with Monterrey Cheese and sprinkle of paprika.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 1 hour. Remove foil during the last 15 minutes, cheese with brown on top and it will begin to bubble.

FREEZER MEAL: Thaw in refrigerator the day of cooking and then follow above directions.

GLUTEN FREE Banana Bread {from a cake mix}

This has got to be the easiest and simplest banana bread (and GLUTEN FREE) to top it off. You can make it either way though, gluten free or not, choice is yours.

After the Banana Bread is baked and cooled, I wrap them individually and freeze them for my daughter. This gives her a fresh gluten free banana bread slice anytime she wants.

Banana Bread from a Cake Mix {gluten-free}
adapted, original recipe found at Betty Crocker

Betty Crocker GF Yellow Cake Mix (we used a GLUTEN FREE cake mix, but either work well)

3 Eggs

3 to 4 Overripe Bananas

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped nuts (but you can add in mini chocolate chips too)

(Options: adding in a 1 tsp of vanilla, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and someone added a snack size applesauce, I will try this for sure next time. Fall Option: Instead of Bananas add in 1 cup of pumpkin and 1 cup of chocolate chips instead of nuts.)

Smash bananas on a paper plate before added them to your mixer (if works great and it's easy peasy). Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. Prepare your loaf pan with non-stick spray and a little bit of flour, then pour batter into a loaf pan and bake.

Bake at 350 for 55 minutes, or until center comes out clean on a toothpick.

FREEZER TIP: When you have a stack of bananas or just one or two left on the counter that go uneaten FREEZE them. I never throw away a ripe banana. You can freeze them whole just as they are with the peel and everything. Then when you are ready to bake some banana bread, banana cupcakes or banana cookies, just remove the banana from the freezer and within 5 to 10 minutes its ready to add to your batter. OR if you LOVE smoothies, I take the banana and slice it and put it into a ziploc bag so I can add it to my next smoothy. No need to even thaw it out, just add to smoothy like ice and it makes it cold and also adds all the nutrients of a banana. I hope you try this and NEVER throw another banana away again.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

This is an ole' time favorite of my families, it's actually already in my Family Scrapbook Cookbook (Volume 2) and it's a dessert I've made before, just never photographed and blogged. So, today here it is a good ole' fashion homemade cookie dessert bar.

It's a Sunday afternoon and the reality of my twins being 1837 miles away at college, is really starting to set in (it's been 7 months now and I miss them terribly). It's very lonely here without all my kidlets at home. I still have my 13 year old son at home, but he is away at a birthday party and today mama is all alone and needs a few more hobbies.

I am coming off of having the flu for 7 days, trust me when I say this, "you do NOT want this horrible flu in your home", it's so awful. I haven't been sick like this is many many years and it's been over a week and I am still recovering. Let's move on though to this delicious dessert instead...

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookie Bars
recipe source unknown

1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 pkg Pillsbury Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie (or a homemade cookie dough)

Heat oven to 350. In small bowl beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth.

You can use refrigerated cookie dough or make your favorite homemade cookie dough from scratch. In ungreased 8x8 square pan, break up half of the cookie dough and with floured fingers press dough evenly in the bottom of the pan to form a crust.  Spread cream cheese mixture over dough. Crumble and sprinkle remaining half of dough over cream cheese mixture before baking.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool for 30 minutes and then refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Cut into bars and store in refrigerator.

Pizza Bites

It's been a few months now, with several plane trips back and forth from California to Missouri, but my daughters are away at college and having the time of their life. I will admit facebook and txt'ing make it a whole lot easier. And God knew what he was doing when he blessed me with twins, because I have one twin who calls me almost everyday (thank GOODNESS) and I have another twin who I hardly hear from at all. Good thing her sister keeps me up to date on all the happenings around there. I think I've talk to them almost every single day in some way shape or form, txt, email, or facebook. It sure makes being 1837 miles away so much easier.

Here they are enjoying their very first ride down the slopes. These California girls are learning all about their first winter, not just the fun on the slopes, but the 25 degree days, tornado warnings, and finding their car covered in snow in the mornings. Let the FUN begin, they are experiencing their first ever White Winter.

Before my daughters left I was trying to make all the things they wanted and one of them had found this on Pinterest and begged for me to make it, it was one of those things I keep putting off, but I did finally make it for her before she left and she loved it.

Pizza Bites
adapted by me, recipe found at The Gunny Sack
original recipe from Pillsbury - Appetizers Dec 2005

2 - 3 cans Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits (10 biscuits per can)
approx 56 pepperoni slices (or use sausage, pineapple or just cheese for my little guy)
1 small block of cheese (Colby Jack works great), cut into small squares
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Your favorite Homemade Pizza Sauce (works great with left-over spaghetti sauce too)

First flatten out all biscuits. You can use a small rolling pin or even just your hand. Layer on a small tsp of sauce, a pepperoni (or sausage, pineapple or whatever filling you like), add in a chuck of cheese and then fold. You will fold like a square (gather the bottom, then both sides, then the top), you will end up with a round'ish-square'ish bundle.

Have a 9x13 glass baking dish ready with non-stick spray and then line up the pizza bites into rows in your baking dish. Brush the rolls with the beaten egg and then sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese, Italian Seasoning and Garlic Powder. Bake at 425 degrees for 18-22 minutes. When dough is done and cheese is melted they are ready to go.

You can reserve some pizza sauce to serve as dipping sauce, or since sauce is already inside they are ready to go. My kids dip them in ranch. Pizza and Ranch they just go together.

Texas Trash {Warm Bean Dip}

Yep, this replaces all other bean dips I've made (or posted) in the past. Sometimes you just come across those recipes and no other recipe will ever take it's place. Yep, this is one of those recipes. You can bet on it that this will for sure make it into my Volume 3 Family Cookbook/Scrapbook. And I just LOVE the name too.. how CUTE is that and since I have a step-son who lives in Texas, this ones for you Brandon!

Texas Trash {Warm Bean Dip}
recipe found at Life as a Lofthouse, original recipe from from allrecipes

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream
2 (16 oz) cans refried beans
1 pkg taco seasoning

3 to 5 drops of Tabasco Sauce

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
diced green onions (mixed in or just garnish on top)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cream cheese and sour cream in a large bowl. Mix in refried beans until combined. Stir in taco seasoning and half of each of the cheeses. 

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Spread mixture evenly into the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle the top with the remaining amounts of both cheeses.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese in melted and slightly browned. Serve with tortilla chips.