Pepperoni Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
*12 oz. rotini pasta
*2 egg, lightly beaten
*1 cup cheese (cheddar or Mozzarella), shredded
*1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
*2 cups cottage cheese (Homemade cottage cheese is AWESOME in this recipe.)
*1/2 tsp. salt
*1/4 tsp. pepper
*4 oz. pepperoni, sliced and slivered (I use turkey pepperoni.)
*1 cup frozen peas

Directions:
1.  Cook pasta, but slightly undercook.

2. In large bowl, combine beaten eggs, cheeses, salt, pepper, and pepperoni.

3.  Stir in pasta.

4.  Pour into greased 9x13 pan.

5.  Bake covered 20-25 minutes at 400-degrees, or until edges begin to brown.

Notes: 
*If mixture seems too dry, add up to 1 cup of milk.  Be careful not to add too much liquid, the pasta will absorb it while cooking and you'll end up with mush.

*I only use about a half cup of the shredded cheeses and it's still really good.

Recipe Source:  ???

Chicken Broccoli Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
*12 oz pasta (I like penne, or rotini)
*2 eggs
*1 cup milk
*1 cup cheddar cheese (I probably don't use quite a whole cup.)
*1 cup Parmesan cheese (I probably don't use quite a whole cup.)
*2 cups cottage cheese (use this recipe or just buy it.)
*1 large chicken breast, cooked and cubed
*2 cups frozen broccoli, somewhat thawed
*1 tsp. salt
*1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions:
1. Cook pasta and drain.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, stir in cheeses, broccoli and chicken.

3. Stir in pasta.

4. Pour into 9x13-inch baking dish.

5. Bake uncovered 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees or until edges brown and center is almost set.

6. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe Source:  Inspired by the Pepperoni Pasta Bake recipe.

Ravioli

My kids are fans of the frozen ravioli from Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, I haven't been to buy it for quite a while now either because Wal-Mart no longer sells it or they've moved it to some secret location in the store where I can't find it. Anyway, I've dabbled a little in homemade pasta-making and decided to try ravioli. It turned out better than I expected but needs some fine-tuning.


Pasta:
*1 egg
*2 Tbsp. milk
*1/2 tsp. salt
*1 cup flour

(You'll probably want to at least double this, unless you're only cooking for a couple of people.)

Mix all ingredients together and let sit 20 minutes. Divide in half and roll each half out onto floured surface. Roll very thin.

Filling:
(I made this up as I went along. It was okay but a little on the bland side. You can use anything you want for your filling.)
*1/2 lb. ground turkey, browned and well seasoned
*1 cup cottage cheese (fat free)
*1 egg
*1 tsp. basil
*mozzarella cheese, shredded (as much or as little as you want)
*marinara sauce (or whatever kind of sauce you want)

Mix all ingredients except sauce. (Note: I added the egg because I thought it might make the filling a little more cohesive. I don't think it helped much, kind of made things a bit runny and I think I'll omit it next time.)

Place spoonfuls of filling onto one of the rolled out pasta sheets, leaving a generous space between scoops. With a pastry brush, brush water or milk around each filling scoop. Cover filling with second pasta sheet. There will be air trapped around the scoops of filling, you need to expel as much of this as you can, otherwise your ravioli may burst when cooking. Press the pasta sheets together to form a seal around each filling scoop. Cut individual ravioli in whatever shape you wish, I used a ring from a mason jar. Make sure each piece is sealed.

I set my ravioli on a wire cooling wrack for about an hour to dry, but you might be able to skip this step and cook right away.

When ready to cook, bring pot of water to boil. Gently drop ravioli in water and cook 8-10 minutes, depending on the size of your pasta and how much filling you have. (I only cooked mine for about 7 minutes and it wasn't quite long enough.) Drain. Place in baking dish, pour sauce over ravioli, garnish with cheese and bake at 350 degrees until sauce is heated.

From the Critics
Brittany:

Brooklyn:

Damon: 10 - "I love it so much."

Pasta Skillet

Ingredients:
*1/2 - 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
*2 1/2 - 3 cups Ziti pasta
*1/2 cup sour cream (I use fat free.)
*1/2 - 1 cup cheese, grated
* 1 can Spaghetti sauce

Directions:
1.  Cook pasta and drain.

2.  Brown meat and season.

3.  Add sauce and sour cream. Stir. Add pasta.

4.  Simmer until heated through.

5.  Sprinkle cheese on top and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Recipe Source:  No clue.  It's been too long.