Friday Recipes

It's finally Friday, time to get ready for the weekend. And let's face it: whether your two days off falls on Saturday and Sunday, or at another time during the week, don't we all look forward to it?

That said, here are six recipes to help you through the weekend, including Graceland Oatmeal Meatloaf and Skillet Spaghetti and Meatballs. Enjoy!

MACARONI AND CHEESE CARBONARA

This comes from the Food Network kitchen, and begins, “The best parts of the traditional Italian dish Spaghetti Carbonara are found in this baked mac and cheese: richness from the bacon, creaminess from grated cheese and spice from the black pepper.”

Level: Easy; Prep Time: 10 minutes; Inactive Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 45 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes; Yield: 8 to 12 servings

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

Kosher salt

1 pound elbow macaroni

8 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Extra-virgin olive oil

2 1/2 cups half-and-half

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

8 ounces sharp Cheddar, shredded (about 3 cups)

3 ounces Gruyere, shredded (about 1 cup)

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

Set an oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until it is al dente, about 6 minutes. Strain, reserving 1 3/4 cups of the pasta water. Set aside.

Cook the bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until it is crispy and most of the fat has been rendered, about 15 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate. Pour the fat into a small heat-safe measuring cup. Add enough olive oil to total 1/4 cup of fat. Reserve.

Carefully wipe out the saucepan (or give it a quick rinse if it is really dirty). Add the half-and-half and 2 teaspoons pepper and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 15 minutes. Add the cream cheese and stir until melted. Whisk in the Cheddar and Gruyere until all the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.

Add the macaroni and the reserved pasta water to the saucepan and stir to combine. (It will look very loose, but the pasta will suck up a lot of the sauce as it bakes.) Season to taste with salt if needed. Gently fold in the bacon and 3/4 of the sliced scallions. Pour into a 13-by-9-inch baking dish.

Toss the bread crumbs with the reserved bacon-fat mixture and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the macaroni and cheese and bake until the cheese is bubbly and the bread crumbs are lightly browned and crispy, about 10 minutes. Garnish with the remaining scallions and serve.

VEGAN THAI CURRY VEGETABLES

This comes from Elaine Louie in The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. The recipe begins, “Drew Spangler Faulkner, a cooking teacher at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, Md., makes a Thai green curry that is a kind of comfort food. The sauce, made creamy with coconut milk, and gently spicy with the curry paste, is flavorful yet soothing. The vegetables, which are simply dropped into the sauce, and gently simmered for about 12 minutes, turn out tender, not soggy. It is startlingly simple. She makes her own green curry paste, but the recipe calls for any one of three store bought pastes. Although some green curry pastes contain fish or shrimp paste, she has found three brands which do not: Thai Taste, Maesri and Thai Kitchen.”

Yield: 4 servings; Time:1 hour

This was featured in “The Temporary Vegetarian: Vegan Thai Curry Vegetables” and can be viewed online here.

Ingredients

One 13 1/2-ounce can coconut milk (do not shake can)

1/2 cup vegetable stock

4 teaspoons soy sauce

4 teaspoons palm sugar or brown sugar

6 tablespoons Thai green curry paste, like Thai Taste, Maesri, and Thai Kitchen, none of which have shrimp or fish paste

1/2 cup diced (1/2 inch) onion

2/3 cup diced (1/2 inch) red bell pepper

2/3 cup diced (1/2 inch) zucchini or other summer squash

2/3 cup diced (1/2 inch) peeled sweet potato

2/3 cup sliced bamboo shoots, rinsed and drained

1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch lengths

2/3 cup diced (1/2 inch) Asian eggplant

1 lime

8 large basil leaves, cut into thin chiffonade

Preparation

Open the can of coconut milk without shaking it. Spoon 6 tablespoons of the coconut cream from the top of the can into a medium saucepan. Pour remaining contents of can into a medium bowl, and mix well. In a medium bowl, combine vegetable stock, soy sauce, and palm or brown sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Place saucepan of coconut cream over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble. Add curry paste and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir constantly until very fragrant, about 3 minutes; adjust heat as needed to prevent burning. Add onion, red pepper, zucchini, sweet potato, bamboo shoots, green beans, and eggplant. Stir until vegetables are hot, 2-3 minutes. Stir in coconut milk, bring the mixture to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Add the soy sauce mixture and a generous squeeze of fresh lime juice to taste; you may use the juice of an entire lime. Stir and mix well. Add up to 1/4 cup water if the curry seems too thick.

To serve, place the curry in a warm serving bowl and garnish with the basil chiffonade. If desired, serve over jasmine rice.

GRACELAND OATMEAL MEATLOAF

This comes from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list.

Serving Size : 10

2 Green peppers , diced

2 medium Onions, diced

2 large Eggs, lightly beaten

2 pounds Ground chuck

1 pound Bulk sausage meat

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Black pepper

1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon Onion powder

1 cup Rolled oats

1 1/2 cups Hunt's ketchup

Preheat the oven to 375'F. Combine all the ingredients except 1/2 cup of the ketchup in a large mixing bowl. Mix well and shape into a nice, even loaf. Place the loaf in a shallow baking dish and top with the remaining ketchup. Bake for 90 minutes or until well-done.

SKILLET SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

This is from Linda Larsen from The Spruce Eats. Linda wrote, “Skillet Spaghetti is a wonderful recipe that is very efficient. The spaghetti pasta cooks right in the sauce. That means you don't have to boil a big pot of water to cook the pasta. You'll love this simple five ingredient recipe and it will probably become a regular dish on your meal rotation.

“Be sure to stir this dish for Skillet Spaghetti frequently as the pasta begins to soften, separating the strands carefully with your spoon. The pasta tends to stick together as it cooks in the sauce. You don't want to bite into some undercooked spaghetti!

“You could use your own homemade meatballs or use precooked frozen meatballs to this easy recipe. As a bonus, the pasta has a wonderful flavor since it soaks up all the herbs and spices from the sauce.

“I sometimes like to start this recipe by cooking a chopped onion and some garlic in a bit of olive oil. Then add the pasta sauce and the water and continue with the recipe. In fact, you could add other vegetables too, such as shredded carrots or chopped zucchini, just to get some more nutrition into the dish.

“Serve this dish with some toasted garlic bread and a green salad tossed with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. An Italian salad dressing would be perfect on the salad.”

Total Time: 40 mins; Prep Time: 10 mins; Cook: 30 mins; Yield: Serves 4

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1 (28-ounce) jar pasta sauce

1-1/2 cups water

24 frozen precooked meatballs

1 (16-ounce) package spaghetti pasta, broken in half

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Gather the ingredients.

In a 12" skillet, combine the spaghetti sauce and water and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Add the meatballs, still frozen, and the spaghetti and stir well, making sure the spaghetti is all underneath the sauce, completely covered in it. If necessary, you can add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to make sure that all of the pasta is covered.

Bring to a boil again, cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently. As the pasta cooks, you will need to stir more often to make sure that the spaghetti doesn't stick together and to make sure the sauce doesn't burn as it cooks. The moisture in the sauce is really depleted by the pasta, so be careful about this. You may add more water or tomato sauce if the mixture appears to be too dry.

Cook until spaghetti is al dente and meatballs are hot. Top with both kinds of cheese and serve immediately.

FRUITY COOKIES

From an old Weight Watchers' email. This begins, “If you're in a hurry, grab two of these, a piece of fruit and a small container of fat-free milk for a healthy, energy packed breakfast-to-go.”

POINTS® Value: 1; Servings: 12; Preparation Time: 15 min; Cooking Time: 10 min; Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

1 cup white self-rising flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 Tbsp unpacked brown sugar

6 pieces dried apricot halves, chopped

1/4 cup dried apple(s), chopped

3/4 oz raisins

1 tsp olive oil

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup fat-free skim milk

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Coat a nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl and stir in dried fruit. Stir in oil, eggs and milk until well-combined. Place tablespoons of mixture onto baking sheet and bake in oven for about 10 minutes.

POTATIES AU GRATIN

This recipe begins, “You say potatoes, we say we've got a great au gratin dish on our hands. Even the most novice cook can throw together this gourmet-tasting grub on the fly. It's got plenty of 'appeal'!”

Servings: for 12 people.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

32 ounces frozen hash browns

1 can (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of celery soup

1 can (10.75 oz.) condensed cream of celery soup

1 1/2 cups can condensed cream of potato soup

8 ounces container sour cream

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 small finely chopped onion

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Spread frozen hash browns into the bottom of the prepared pan. Mix together potato soup, celery soup, onion, green bell pepper and sour cream; pour mixture over the potatoes. Bake in the oven at 300 degrees for 60 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with cheese, and bake another 30 minutes or until the cheese melts.