Giada's Macaroni & Cheese

One of my favorite Food Network chefs is Giada De Laurentiis.  I found this recipe for her "Venetian" Mac & Cheese when looking for a mac recipe for my husband.  It is definitely not traditional mac & cheese, but boy is it delicious!  It's more like an Alfredo dish, and it's packed with whole milk, cream, and three kinds of cheese - not exactly low fat.

The recipe is super easy, and the hardest part is shredding the cheese, so for a quicker prep time I recommend buying the cheese already shredded - at least the Parmesan and Mozzarella.  This dish is sure to please any family or guest!

Easy Delicious Chicken Sausage Herb Pizza

I have been trying to increase my cooking repertoire, as I am not a natural housewife, but I'm trying to have dinner on the table for my family every night.  I like recipes that are easy and tasty, and hopefully lower in fat and calories.  I adapted this pizza recipe from a Pampered Chef recipe called: Chicken Sausage & Herb Wheat Pizza.  Their recipe has you make your own dough, but I opted to use the pre-made stuff to save a little bit of time and effort.   I started with the regular old Pillsbury Pizza Dough and rolled it out on my baking stone, which does happen to be by Pampered Chef, but you can use a cookie sheet too.  Then I made a little mistake, and brushed the dough with the honey & oil mixture instead of the oil & garlic.  Hoping that it would still taste good, I just added garlic to the top of the dough and proceeded.  And there was success!  In fact, I think the honey gave it a sweet flavor that was better than if I had done it right!  My husband and 18 month old loved it too!  Overall it probably took 30 minutes from start to finish, and had simple ingredients, and was delicious while not being overloaded with fat and calories.

Easy Food - Broccoli Instead of Meatballs

So I LOVE easy recipes and tips and tricks in the kitchen.  I also love healthy food!  My maiden name is DiSabatino, and even though I'm really only 1/4 Italian, the food from that country is definitely my favorite.  I make spaghetti A LOT.  I make it for lunch, for dinner, I eat it hot and cold.  I could just eat noodles and sauce, but my husband loves meatballs.  I am also partial to having chunks in my spaghetti, but not really a fan of meatballs on a regular basis.  Usually, I buy frozen broccoli, cook it in the microwave, and then throw it in instead of meatballs.  But, I just found a super-easy way to do the same thing!  I cook my pasta and then when there's 2 minutes left on the timer, I throw fresh broccoli florets in the boiling water.  This blanches the broccoli to exactly the right tenderness, and then all you have to do is add sauce, and voila!  Spaghetti with broccoli instead of meatballs!  

I made this with Newman's Own sauce, and I added some Hunt's Diced Tomatoes w/ Garlic, Basil, & Oregano for extra chunkiness.  You can also add chicken, sausage, cheese, and if you're still hankering for beef, meatballs will still go very well!