Heather's Bytes

It’s been one of those months and I, for one, am glad to see the tail-end of February.

So, for this week’s collection of yummy food blog links I decided to look for posts that are all about comfort foods, which translates to carbs in my world!

~ Fresh Mango Bread at Seasaltwithfood

~ Twice Baked Potatoes at What’s Cookin’ Chicago

~ Skillet Cornbread at Southern Grace Gourmet

~ White Pizza at Sweet Beet and Green Bean

~ Triple Mushroom Risotto at Two Spoons

~ Cheesy Potato Pie at Cook Eat Love

~ Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies at Recipe Rhapsody

~ Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles at Vanilla and Lace

~ Baked Oven Fries at Annie’s Eats

~ Mahalo Candy Bar Review at Candy Blog

~ Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits at Shutterbean

~ Whole Grain Pancakes at 68 Days of Gourmet

~ Pesto Parmesan Dinner Rolls at Savory Sweet Life

It’s been nice and chilly here in Vegas for the last few days (you can’t even really call it cold) and because I know these days are limited I’ve been pulling out my dinner recipes that require the use of an oven. I do baked meals during the hot months too, of course, but even then I tend to put them in our (very awesome) toaster oven to bake rather than fire up the big one. A hot kitchen in the middle of a Vegas summer is miserable indeed.

Anyway, this baked ziti is one meal that I haven’t made in a while — in fact, it’s apparently been so long that my grocery store no longer even carries ziti, and I had to use rigatoni instead. Penne would work really well too, depending on what you can get.

Baked Ziti

1 pound dry ziti or penne pasta
1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce (or equivalent homemade sauce)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook about 8 minutes; drain.

In a large skillet, brown onion, garlic and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.

Butter or spray a 9×13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the pasta, 1/2 the mozzarella, all the sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, remaining mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted.

 Print this recipe!

At my last writing job I liked to link out to some of my favorite food blogs over the weekend. I usually had a theme each week which made it a bit easier to keep an eye out for specific things. I thought I’d start this back up again here, and for this week I’m linking out to recipes that feature fruits and vegetables:

~ Pesto Meatballs Served in Oven-roasted Tomatoes at Lucullian Delights

~ Apple Berry Pie at Une-Deux Senses

~ Green Juice 101 at Happy. Healthy. Life.

~ Luscious Lemon Mousse at Not So Humble Pie

~ Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip at The Girl Who Ate Everything

~ Poached Pear Cake at Sprinkle Bakes

~ Japanese Cucumber Salad at Sugar Cooking

~ Nectarine & Cardamon Ice Cream at Pease Pudding

~ Mediterranean White Bean Salad at Budget Bytes

~ Eggplant Parmesan at Southern Grace Gourmet

~ Double Melon Mousse Cakes at Gourmet Recipes

[image: flickr]

It’s National Margarita Day, which can only mean one thing: A Raspberry Chambord Margarita!

Mike and I used to go out to a restaurant here in Vegas called Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill — unfortunately it shut down a few years ago. However, they had the best margarita ever, the Raspberry Chambord Margarita. It was tangy, smooth, and packed a punch. I was able to find a “copycat” recipe of it online a while back and we tried it last summer. It’s a perfect clone of the one we used to enjoy at the restaurant, and is actually pretty easy to make.

Instead of freezing the pitcher of mix like the instructions said to do, we use our ice cream maker. Just pour the mix into the pre-frozen canister, turn your machine on and within about 20 minutes or so you’ll have the perfect consistency for the margarita.

Chambord Raspberry Margarita

4 cups warm water
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup lime juice
2/3 cup lemon juice
10 oz gold tequila
5 oz triple sec
Chambord raspberry liqueur

Combine the sugar and warm water and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Add lime and lemon juices, tequila, and triple sec. If making way ahead of time, pour into a pitcher, stick it in the freezer, let it freeze up a bit and give it a stir every now and then so it’s slushy. (This is a great plain margarita.)

If you’ve got an electric ice cream maker, pour the mix in and run it for about 20 minutes, or until it’s thick and slushy. Transfer to a pitcher.

Pour about 1/2 an ounce of Chambord (a little goes a long way!) into the bottom of a glass and spoon or pour the frozen margarita over it. This recipe halves well.

 Print this recipe!