Creamy Tomato Pasta with Zucchini and Meatballs

I was at the grocery store over the weekend picking up a few things when I noticed a sign in the dairy aisle marking a *NEW* product.  Philadelphia had come out with a new flavor of Cooking Creme.  I had never tried the stuff before but the Tomato & Basil flavor gave me an idea.  I love having pasta with a nice creamy sauce, but it's a pain to make at home on a weeknight when I am looking for something quick, so I thought this might be a nice fix for that.

So last night, after working slightly later than usual, I decided it would be a good time to try out a new recipe that had been brewing in my head.  The result is exactly what I was looking for, a creamy pasta dish with veggies and meatballs that only took about a half hour to make!

This recipe makes about 12 one cup servings.  For anybody following Weight Watchers, it has a points plus value of 6 ppv per serving.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

There are nights when I don't mind spending an hour or more crafting a delicious meal for my friends and family.  Tonight is not one of those nights.  I want something yummy to eat and I don't want to spend much time making it, so I go into my brain and pull out one of my semi-homemade recipes that I can throw together quickly.  It's getting chilly here in the northeast so I think I'll go for some chicken pot pie!

Dressed-up Angel Food Cake

This year was the first time I hosted Easter dinner for my family.  Sure, I've cooked big meals for my family before, but I've never hosted a holiday, so I was a little nervous.  Since we had church in the morning I knew I had to come up with some meal options that I could prepare ahead of time and then finish before dinner.  The dinner menu was easy.  We had twice-baked potatoes and salmon because they are favorites of my fiancee and I knew my family would love them too.  But it wasn't until I was wandering aimlessly around the grocery store that I figured out what to serve for dessert: angel food cake with an orange-mango filling and strawberry sauce.  I was worried that my relatives would poke fun at me for taking the easy way out, but it could not have been a more perfect springtime dessert and I only received compliments.

Crescent Roll Baklava

If you haven't noticed yet by all of my dessert blogs here, dessert is by far and above my favorite part of a meal.  This week I am bringing you a super simplified version of baklava, my adaptation of Pillsbury's Quick Crescent Baklava.  If you ever wanted to make this at home but were too scared by what appears to be a complicated recipe then this is the baklava for you!  Not only does it take half the work of regular baklava, I think the flaky, buttery goodness of the crescent rolls adds a whole other layer of yummy!

Mexican Ribbon Cookies

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In honor of the holiday I wanted to try out a cookie recipe with a little spice. These Mexican Ribbon Cookies were inspired by Betty Crocker's Crisp Chocolate-Espresso Ribbon Cookies. I made those cookies last week for a get together and they were really easy and tasty so I wanted to come up with some other variations.

Ravioli Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my favorite Italian foods, but I almost never make it because I don't normally have the time. After this week that is going to change for sure. This was by far the quickest and easiest lasagna recipe EVER. Seriously. And as an added bonus you get to see the pictures. Now if only computers had smell-o-vision...

Boston Cream Pi

Every year since college I have helped to organize a Pi Day celebration at my workplace. For those of you not in the know, pi is the the term mathematicians use to refer to the ratio of a circle's diameter to its circumference. Since the value of pi is approximately 3.14, dorks like me all over the world celebrate Pi Day on March 14th. (I could blame my high school math teachers for starting me on this path, but it's a tradition I've proudly carried on myself for over a decade, so I guess it's mostly my fault.)