Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake

Last night I decided that sick or not, I was going to cook a nice meal for the two of us.  I skimmed the recipes I had saved to my desktop and realized that I'd have to make a grocery run before I made any of them anyway, so I just picked the one that sounded the best.  That's how I decided upon this dish from Cassie Craves' blog.  She credits the original recipe from Food.com.  Nick and I both thought it was really good.  I felt like it would taste great with chicken, and he felt it needed more garlic.  So maybe next time?  Ha.

Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake

 Please do ignore the horrendously dirty stove!  As you can see, we had something boil over and haven't been able to scrape off the aftermath yet.  Back to the pasta!

 This is what you get when you take a picture in a barely-lit area.  This is my beautiful pasta bake, looking awfully green in that (lack of) lighting, accompanied with some garlic bread (store-bought, sorry!).

Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake Recipe

12 oz. pasta (I chose penne, take your pick)

1 (8 oz.) pkg. neufchatel cheese (sub in regular cream cheese if desired)

1 c. reduced fat sour cream

1 c. 2% milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. Crystal hot sauce (or sub for your favorite)

dash of red pepper flakes to taste

2 c. shredded swiss cheese

1 (14 oz.) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry

1/3 c. shredded parmesan (or sub in asiago, as I did)

1 c. breadcrumbs, mixed w/melted butter (I chose roasted garlic breadcrumbs)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  While oven is preheating, cook pasta according to directions.  Drain pasta, return it to the original pot and then set it aside.

2.  In large bowl at medium speed, beat cream cheese & sour cream until smooth.  Reduce speed to low and add milk, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and hot sauce.  Beat mixture until all is combined, for about 30 seconds.  Stir in 1 1/2 c. swiss cheese, the artichokes, spinach, and red pepper flakes.

3.  Pour mixture over pasta.  Combine until well mixed.

4.  Transfer pasta into a shallow baking dish.  Sprinkle pasta dish with remaining swiss cheese, parmesan, and buttered bread crumbs.  Bake until heated through, about 30 minutes.

If you decide to make this, let me know!  I'm always looking for new input on the things I've tried.

Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Bake

So I'll go ahead and say that cooking is generally a therapeutic action for me.  I love to cook on my 3-day weekends off from work when I'm not traveling to see family or friends.  I love cooking to try and impress Nick.  I also love digging around the internet trying to find awesome recipes.  It has come to my attention that I'm not cooking nearly enough, yet my recipe stash is still growing on my desktop.  To remedy this, I'll be storing recipes I've already made on here, along with pictures I take so that I can remember what the heck I made and so you can see what it will (should) look like!

I've been sick for a couple days now, but I really wanted to get in some quality cooking time this weekend.  I popped on to Cassie Craves and found that I had previously overlooked this recipe.  She credits the initial recipe from another blog called Hurricane Kitchen.  This would be a really great breakfast/brunch bake, or even a dinnertime meal for those of you who like eating breakfast at nontraditional times.

Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Bake

 

 

This is it!  My camera's being a liar and telling you that the crescent rolls weren't golden brown with little brown peaks, but they were!  I wouldn't serve undercooked food to Nick, or anyone else for that matter.

I felt like this recipe was missing something, and peppered white gravy was indeed the missing link!  This is the finished product smothered in white gravy.

Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Bake Recipe

2 pkg. crescent rolls

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese (softened)

1 lb. breakfast sausage (I used turkey)

6 eggs

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I prefer sharp cheddar)

1.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9"x13" casserole dish (I swiped a stick of butter along the dish to grease it).  Lay out 1 tube of crescent rolls in the bottom of the dish.  Feel free to knead the seams together to make it fit.  

2.  Brown your sausage in a medium skillet.  I seasoned mine with a mixture of Worcestershire sauce, light syrup, salt, black pepper, a few dashes of Crystal hot sauce, and garlic powder.  Drain the fat from the meat.  Add your cream cheese to the sausage (feel free to do this in another bowl).  Stir until the cream cheese is melted.

3.  Scramble your eggs in a medium mixing bowl, and then cook in a greased (I like to use butter) medium skillet (I re-used the skillet from the previous step).  You don't have to cook them completely because they will be going in the oven anyway.  I scrambled my eggs in milk, salt, black pepper, a few dashes of Crystal, and just a little pinch of garlic powder.

4.  Spread your sausage & cream cheese mixture right on top of the crescent rolls you squished down in the bottom of the baking dish.  Once the eggs are about half-done, pop them on top as the next layer.  Follow the eggs with the cup of shredded cheese.

5.  Roll out the 2nd package of crescent rolls on top of all the layers.  Whatever you do, don't let your crescent roll tubes sit out on the counter/oven, because they will be sticky as sin and super hard to smooth out on top.  Pop your dish in the oven for the amount of time listed on your crescent roll packaging (usually between 11-13 minutes), or until crescent rolls are golden brown.  I cooked mine for about 5-6 minutes longer than the indicated times, but that could be due to the altitude.

If you try this out, I'd love to hear about your results!  I'm no stranger to varying up the recipes I try, so feel free to try your own add-ins, just as long as you let me know how it goes!