Rigatoni with Cheese & Italian Sausage

1/2 pound rigatoni
1/4 pound spicy Italian sausage, casing removed
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups prepared marinara sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
Extra-virgin olive oil

Cook rigatoni in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta.
Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Cook sausage in heavy large pot over medium-high heat until no longer pink, stirring frequently and breaking up with back of wooden spoon. Add garlic and sauté until soft, about 2 minutes. Drain off excess oil and return pot to medium-high heat. Stir in marinara sauce and crushed red pepper, then pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide pasta among four 1 1/4-cup soufflé dishes or custard cups. Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan over. Place in broiler until cheese melts and begins to brown, watching closely to prevent burning, about 1 1/2 minutes. Sprinkle rigatoni with parsley, drizzle with olive oil, and serve.

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Roasted Garlic

We use garlic in everything. Its seriously a daily staple at our house, even for breakfast dishes. There's a restaurant in town that roasts garlic to spread on fresh baked bread, which is my husband's favorite way to eat it.

INGREDIENTS
Whole Garlic, as many as you want to roast
Olive Oil for drizzling

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place the garlic heads in a baking pan; muffin pans work well for this purpose. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil over each head, using your fingers to make sure the garlic head is well coated. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 400°F for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Allow the garlic to cool enough so you can touch it without burning yourself. Use a small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.
Eat as is or mash with a fork and use for cooking. Can be mashed into potatoes, spread over warm French bread, mixed with sour cream for a topping for baked potatoes, or mixed in with Parmesan and pasta.

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Ranch Cheese Puffs

Ingredients

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon dry Ranch dressing mix

10 slices French Bread

Directions

Mix cheese, mayo and dressing mix.  Spread of bread slices.  Broil until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

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Real Good Dip

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 pound pork sausage

1 pound Velveeta

1 can golden mushroom soup

1 can Rotel

Tortilla Chips

Directions

Brown hamburger and sausage.  Drain.  Add Velveeta cheese, soup, and Rotel, and heat over low temperature until cheese is melted and thoroughly blended.  Serve with tortilla chips.

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Roasted Chicken and Gravy with Roasted Potatoes and Veggies

OMG! This is the best chicken recipe EVER!!! It actually comes from a Rachael Ray recipe for an outstanding cook once, eat for five days recipe. I'll post the other recipes another day.

INGREDIENTS
3 3-4 pound whole chickens, remove and discard gizzard bag
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus additional for drizzling
2 large onions, thickly sliced
2 small bags carrots (about 2 1/2 pounds each), peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1 head garlic, peeled
3 pounds red-skinnned potatoes, halved or quartered, little ones left whole
6 cups chicken stock, divided
1/4 cup flour

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 375°F. Season the chickens with salt and pepper, and drizzle a little EVOO over each one. Using two roasting pans, place the onions, carrots and garlic in the first roasting pan and the potatoes in the bottom of the second. Add one cup of chicken stock to each roasting pan and season everything with salt and pepper. Place two chickens on top of the veggies and the remaining one on top of the potatoes. Place the roasting pan with the two chickens into the oven and roast for 1 1/2 hours, basting with the pan juices every half hour or so. While the chickens rest, prepare the gravy: to a skillet over medium heat, melt two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of EVOO. Once the butter melts, add the 1/4 cup of flour and cook for a minute or so. Whisk in the remaining quart of chicken stock, bring up to a bubble and simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken.
Remove from heat and reserve.When you are ready to serve tonight's dinner, cut chicken into eight pieces: two drumsticks, two thighs and each breast cut in half. Divide the chicken pieces between four dinner plates and serve with the roasted potatoes and the reserved veggies you left in large pieces. If the gravy has thickened up by the time you're ready to eat, thin it out with a little chicken stock and serve alongside.

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