Gourmet Pizza 3-ways w/ Store Bought Crust!

08 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by thereluctantcountrygirl.com in Italian & Pasta creations, Recipes (ALL), Vegetarian

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flat bread pizza, gourmet pizza, grilled pizza, home made pizza, make your own pizza, pizza, sausage and leek, Soppressata, veggie pizza

So i have not yet made my own pizza dough. I haven’t. I am not sure why, but something in me is fearful of failing at this almighty pizza dough thing. This has not, however, kept me from finding the perfect store bought pizza dough and this is exactly what I have finally done! No, they did not give me this pizza dough or ask me to try it. I was just lucky enough to find it one day and said “Eh, why not?” since I was not succeeding with any other dough. Well, BINGO! This is the one. It was unanimous amongst the house dwellers. I have found the perfect frozen dough. Now to recreate my favorites! Creamy leeks and sausage for me, the Soppressata inspired from A TAVOLA and of course a sautéed veggie pizza. I wanted each crust to be different to let you see the choices out there for the home “pizzaiola or pizzaiolo.

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Alfredo Sundried Tomato, Asparagus Bowtie Pasta

25 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by thereluctantcountrygirl.com in Italian & Pasta creations, Recipes (ALL)

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alfredo pasta, alredo pasta, aspargus alfredo, bow tie pasta, ragu pasta, sun dried tomato

My daughter loves Ragu cheese sauces. Yes I realize alfredo is easy to make and I realize that this stuff is in a jar but this is her Birthday week and “What baby wants, baby gets.”. (<—* Movie quote do you know which movie? Gimme a comment if you do!) Sometimes you just have to give in. Being the first day of school and the fact that I was drop dead tired, why not give in? I do love that this pasta sauce is low carb because on a day like today when my stress level if through the roof, low carb is good. I also like that Ragu’s sauces are not bland. This one is Alfredo parmesan garlic. I love sun dried tomatoes and asparagus together. It was a really nice addition to this pasta. Well, needless to say, my daughter loved it but I think she would eat cardboard covered in this Ragu sauce. For me, I loved the freshness that the tomatoes, asparagus and garlic brought to the sauce. It made it more of my own by kicking it up just a notch with some fresh flavors. This is an easy weeknight meal for sure.

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Gnocchi Italian Style w/ Butter, Sage, Basil and of course Cheese

20 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by thereluctantcountrygirl.com in Italian & Pasta creations, Recipes (ALL), Vegetarian

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basil and butter gnocchi, brown butter and sage gnocchi, cheesy gnocchi, gnocchi, italian jalapeños, potatop gnocchi

To say gnocchi is one of Heaven’s little gifts would put it mildly. These pillowy puffs of goodness are not only comforting but so versatile. These can be made into wonderful savory dishes or sweet with touches of cinnamon and sugar. I love it best Sicilian style. Now the traditional way is just brown butter and sage, a little salt and done. I like to take it a touch further and add cheese, garlic and fresh basil with the sage. This is my comfort food.

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Pesto Chicken Rotini Pasta w/ Fresh Cherry Tomatoes and Mushrooms

08 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by thereluctantcountrygirl.com in Chicken, Italian & Pasta creations, Recipes (ALL)

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basil pasta, chicken pesto, food, Homemade Pesto, pasta, pesto pasta, rotini pesto

When we made this yummy pesto, we had to make something to go with it, right? So my daughter came up with her own recipe tonight and I let her roll with it. Not only was it wonderful, but I loved how she added special little touches like fresh spinach, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. Nice to have a break and sit back and watch your little one create. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

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Roasted Eggplant Parmesan Low Carb

02 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by thereluctantcountrygirl.com in Italian & Pasta creations, Recipes (ALL), Vegetarian

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eggplant and cheese, eggplant parm, eggplant Parmesan, mozzarella bake, roasted eggplant, spaghetti marinara, vegetarian pasta

I am a huge fan of of roasted vegetables and like everyone else, when I can, I go low carb. Even my pasta was low carb tonight and I limited it to one cup. I had an abundance of this beautiful light purple eggplant and tonight I was going to use it. I didn’t want the heaviness of it being fried nor the extra breading, so I thought “Why can’t I do this roasted?”. Well, lucky for me, I can because I am the only one eating this tonight! Yes the other spoiled people in my family opted for chicken Parmesan so I had to make two dinners tonight. Not something I do often but I knew mine was so easy I didn’t mind. I loved the fresh flavors of this with the fresh basil and tomato sauce. Ok, let’s get into this as I am tempted at the moment to go get more!

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