Hearty Italian sausages sauteed with garlic and red pepper flakes are simmered with tomatoes and cooked with vodka and cream to make a rich, spicy sauce. Toss with penne and fresh parsley to serve.
'I created this meal-in-one dish when trying to use up a large head of broccoli,' recalls Lisa Montgomery of Elmira, Ontario. 'It's requested at least once a week in our home, which is handy for me since it's easy to prepare and we always have the ingredients.'
Colorful vegetables and the flavors of lemon and thyme make this orzo dish great for picnics. You can chop the zucchini and carrot instead of grating them to cut down on prep time, just be sure to cook them for a few minutes longer before adding the orzo.
This is a great recipe for a vegetarian pasta dish full of flavor. Colorful green and yellow squash, red onion, and red pepper are tossed with bow tie pasta, olive oil, and herbs.
This salad is all about contrasts in flavor and texture: chewy, nutty pasta mingled with crisp, sweet green beans and strewn with bits of crunchy bacon and creamy Roquefort. Prep and Cook Time: 40 minutes. Notes: Ingredients can be prepped and pasta cooked a day ahead of time and chilled (add 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil to the cooked pasta). Toss everything together just before serving. The dressing can be made ahead too; if it thickens, thin it with a little more vinegar or even milk.
This is a great recipe for parties. I freeze the leftovers; they reheat quite well. The zesty chicken and cooked peppers are a succulent delight when mixed with the melted cheeses. Cut the quesadillas into wedges and serve with sour cream and salsa.
Flavored with garlic, basil and Italian seasoning, this versatile sauce from our Test Kitchen staff will give Italian flair to all kinds of appetizing entrees. In fact, our home economists came up with the following two dishes that spotlight the zesty mixture.
No need to slave over the stove to prepare a delicious jambalaya! Toss the chicken, sausage, shrimp, vegetables, and seasonings in the slow cooker, and forget about it until dinner time.
Give any meal an exotic flair with this zesty twist on Middle Eastern tabbouleh--a traditional bulgur salad with tomatoes, onions and parsley. Laura Bryant German of West Warren, Massachusetts tosses her version with lentils and feta cheese.
A roux cooked to a deep reddish-brown is what gives gumbo it 's distinctive flavor. This gumbo incorporates andouille sausage, cubes of beef, crab and shrimp in a highly seasoned stew with okra.
These oven-baked meatballs are fast and easy to prepare and very kid friendly. You can serve them with pasta and spaghetti sauce or just eat them with ketchup, as my children do.