Back to Basics 22 - Stuffed Shells

So here's a cool thing I did recently... I MADE CHEESE!

Guys, I'm a cheesemaker now. Sort of. I made cream cheese and ricotta which are 2 of the easiest to make but still, I made it happen.
It's a really cool feeling to know that you are able to make something with your hands in your own kitchen. It's so rewarding to watch something as ordinary as milk transform into this thick, creamy and rich deliciousness. I highly recommend it. Especially if you are slathering the thick creamy cream cheese deliciousness on your own hot homemade onion bagels.

It's definitely something to write about in your diary: "Dear diary, I'm a badass. That is all."

Anyway, I made ricotta so I could stuff it into some pasta shells with spinach and homemade tomato sauce. This recipe does not disappoint. Trust me.

Ricotta, Brown Rice & Lentil Rolls

This is a vegetarian recipe, YAY!!!!! Trust me, you won't miss the meat.The past two posts have led up to this recipe. I made the brown rice and the marinara sauce in the morning on the day of. This was actually a recipe I saw on Giada at Home, she made them with goat cheese. I was all up for going to the store and buying some overpriced goat cheese. I've never tried it before so I thought it'd be fun. But then I saw she had the same recipe in her cookbook except she used ricotta instead of goat cheese. I had that lying around so, why not? I did make other changes to her recipe to suit our taste.

Back to Basics 9 - Homemade Marinara

Why would you ever want to buy marinara sauce at the grocery store? Convenience? Well, this sauce could not be any easier to make. And it only has 7 ingredients:

Olive oil
1 onion
28oz whole peeled tomatoes (organic if you can)
1 garlic clove
Sugar
salt & pepper to taste