Tortellini Spinach Bake -- Amber Williams

Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce
Recipe by Our Best Bites

12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)
4 oz bacon or pancetta, (about 4 strips bacon)*
3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced
2 Tbs flour
2 C milk
¾ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil.  Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.

Place bacon in a medium sized skillet on the stove-top at medium-high heat.  Cook until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and set on paper towels to drain.  Reserve two tablespoons bacon drippings in pan and discard the rest.  Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute.  Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon.  Then cut lemon in half and remove juice.  Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce.  (Note:  I really love lemon so I added this to my tastes.  If you don’t want as strong of a lemon flavor, I suggest cutting it down to 1 teaspoon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice) .  Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot.  Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture.  Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.  Add sauce and gently stir to combine.  Place pasta mixture in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout.  Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

* For a vegetarian meal, omit bacon.

Serves 4-6

Pasta Salad -- Amber Perry

Pasta Salad

6 green onions

1 lb bacon (cooked, broken up)

1/2 lb grated swiss cheese

16 oz pasta (I used penne)

mix together and refrigerate

Whisk together:

2 C mayonnaise

1/2 C sugar

4 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Add to pasta mixture, may add vegetables such as frozen peas, broccoli, snap peas.

*I left out the bacon the night of book club. Men are much more fond of bacon than the ladies in my experience.

Cranberry - Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip -- Melissa Mills

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces fresh cranberries
4-5 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 cup sugar (more or less to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about 1 large lemon)
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 (8 ounces each) packages cream cheese, light or regular, softened
Crackers, for serving

DIRECTIONS:
Pulse the cranberries in a food processor or blender until coarsely chopped (alternately, you can do this task by hand). Add the green onions, cilantro, jalapeno, sugar, cumin, lemon juice and salt and pulse until the ingredients are well combined and finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a covered bowl or tupperware and refrigerate for 4 hours (or up to overnight) so the flavors have time to develop and the cranberries lose a bit of their tartness.

When ready to serve, spread the cream cheese in an even layer on a serving plate or 9-inch pie dish. Top with the cranberry-jalapeno mixture, spreading evenly over the top of the cream cheese.

Refrigerate for up to an hour before serving. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

Peanut Butter Popcorn -- Shirley Morris

Peanut Butter Popcorn

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup Karo syrup

1 cup sugar

Bring ingredients to a boil.

Pour over popped popcorn.

Roasted Vegetables -- Shirley Morris

Roasted Vegetables

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens

• 1 lb. carrots, peeled and cut in 2-inch pieces
• 1 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks
• 1 large red onion, peeled, halved, and cut in 1-inch wedges
• 1 lb. red or russet potatoes, cut in cubes
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 16-oz. can chick peas (garbanzos), rinsed and drained
• 2 to 3 Tbsp. vegetable oil or olive oil
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
• 1 tsp. packed brown sugar or granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1. Position an oven rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Place all vegetables, garlic, and chickpeas in a large shallow roasting pan.

3. In a small bowl combine the oil, rosemary, brown sugar, salt, and pepper. Drizzle over vegetables; toss well to coat.

4. Roast, uncovered, about 45 minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned and tender, stirring twice.

Oreo Truffles -- Christy Young

OREO TRUFFLES

• 1 package Double Stuffed Oreos
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened (you can use up to 8 oz., I just like this consistency better)
• Dipping chocolate

Chop Oreos up finely in a food processor. Save some of the finely crushed Oreos for garnish later and set it aside. You don't need too much.

With hands (or a spoon, I just think hands are faster), mash softened cream cheese and crushed Oreos until well combined.

Roll into 1" balls and place on a wax covered cookie sheet. Put in freezer for 15 minutes.

While balls are in freezer, melt chocolate according to directions.

Pull the Oreo Truffles out of freezer, and dip into chocolate. Garnish with reserved Oreo crumbs before the chocolate sets up.

Let chocolate set, refrigerate and enjoy!

Favorite Frosting and Filling -- Amber Williams

Perfect Cupcake Frosting

by ourbestbites.com

I will do the conversions for you to make it easier. I usually make the last one.

For filling 24 cupcakes only or frosting big tops on 12 cupcakes:

3 T all purpose flour

1/2 c. milk (whole milk is best but I have used skim and been fine)

1/2 c. real quality butter (***Land O Lakes always works best for me)

1/2 c. granulated (not powdered) sugar

1 t. vanilla, or any other flavoring you want

For frosting big tops on 24 cupcakes:

6 T. flour (1/4 c. + 2 T.)

1 c. milk

1 c. butter (2 sticks)

1 c. sugar

2 t. vanilla

For frosting big tops on 24 cupcakes PLUS filling each one with frosting:

9 T. flour (1/2 c + 1 T.)

1 1/2 c. milk

1 1/2 c. butter (3 sticks)

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 T. vanilla (sometimes I do 2 1/2 t vanilla + 1/2 t. almond extract)

Put your flour and milk in a sauce pan - I use a large flatish one that has more surface area to heat up. It makes this step go super quick. Whisk together before turning on heat. Then turn heat about to medium. Whisk continuously and it will start to thicken. This is crucial that you cook the flour enough! I keep slowly whisking (scraping the pan) until it is the consistency of nice smooth thick vanilla pudding. Then let it cool to room temp. (I let it rest on a cool burner for a few minutes then stick it in the fridge, because who wants to wait!) It needs to be cooled completely or it will kill the butter.

While it is cooling, beat the butter and sugar in a mixer with the whisk attachement, scraping sides if needed, for about 2-3 minutes until it is well combined and fluffy. Then it usually sits there until the flour/milk mixture is cooled.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, along with your vanilla. Here is the magic - beat on the highest speed you can without stuff flying out--- for like 8 minutes. It is long, but oh so worth it. After 8 minutes, the goopy mess you started with turns into velvety fluffy frosting. Stir in food coloring if you wish.

*** Important tips:

1) For some reason this frosting only works with high quality butter. NOT even Costco butter. It stays lumpy and weird. I always use Land o Lakes. Good butter is totally worth the extra dollar anyway.

2) If you beat if for 8 min and it still looks strange, try to go a minute or two longer and on a higher speed if you can. This takes a little patience!

3) Store at room temperature in a sealed container. It may separate in fridge. (I did it once and it was fine though.) Can be made a day ahead and left at room temp in well sealed container, and will still come out looking great next day.