HP Hood sent Deb some eggnog for the holidays that she brought to Mom’s for our weekend gathering and it was simply delicious.  One nephew who adores eggnog was living off of it that weekend.  HP Hood encourages us to use their products in all of their cooking and his mother(another sister) made an eggnog pie, so she’s well on her way.  HP Hood has a recipe contest to encourage our readers. All you have to do is submit a recipe using one of their Hood Holiday products: Hood Eggnog (any flavor), Sour Cream, Cottage Cheese, Instant Whipped Cream (must be used in conjunction with another Holiday product to be eligible), Hood Cream, or Country Creamer (Original or Fat Free).  The contest ends on January 16th, so get your recipes out and start entering because we’d really love it if one of you guys won the contest.  The winner receives a chef prepared dinner party for the winner and 10 friends plus three runners up will get a 200.00 gift card.  The contest is only open to legal U.S. residents of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York (Territory) who are 18 years of age or older at the time of the contest entry.  This means Deb and I aren’t eligible, but my sister with the eggnog pie is.  How about it Desiree, are you going to try and if you don’t can you still send us the recipe anyway to share?

We also received recipes from HP Hood using cottage cheese in place of other cheese with higher fats.  HP Hood has developed a series of healthy—and budget-friendly—family recipes that simply substitute its award-winning cottage cheese for higher fat cheeses like mozzarella, cheddar and ricotta.  Since it’s diet resolution time I thought it would be great to share these healthier recipes with you.

Italian Chicken
Servings: 4

• 2 cups Hood^® Lowfat Cottage Cheese
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp basil
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

· Blend cottage cheese in a blender or mini-food processor with oregano, garlic and basil.

· Place 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts into a baking dish and top each breast with 1/2 cup of the cottage cheese mixture.

· Sprinkle each piece of chicken with Italian seasoned bread crumbs.

· Bake at 350°F until the chicken is thoroughly baked (about 30 minutes).

Baked Ziti   

Servings: 4

• 8 ounces ziti, uncooked
• 1/2 pound extra lean ground beef
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 cups spaghetti sauce
• 2 cups Hood^® Cottage Cheese
• 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

· Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 2-quart or 2-liter baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

· Cook ziti according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cool water. Set aside.

· Meanwhile, crumble meat in a large skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Add onions. Sauté until meat is cooked. Add spaghetti sauce.

· In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg, parsley and garlic powder. Mix thoroughly. Add cooked ziti and mix well.

· Spread about 1/3 of the meat, onion and spaghetti sauce mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan. Spoon ziti and cheese mixture into the pan.

· Pour the remaining spaghetti sauce mixture into the pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes.

Four Cheese Pizza   

Servings: 6

• 1/2 cup Hood^® Cottage Cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1/4 cup Romano cheese, finely grated
• 1 Tbsp each chopped fresh oregano, parsley and basil
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 11-inch pre-baked thin crust pizza shell
• 1/4 cup plum tomatoes, chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese

· Preheat oven to 450°F.

· In a medium bowl combine the first three cheeses with the fresh herbs; mix well and set aside.

· Lightly brush the olive oil over the crust.

· With a teaspoon, drop the cheese mixture evenly over the crust, then scatter the tomatoes over the cheese.

· Season with pepper to taste and top with the mozzarella.

· Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Let rest five minutes or more before cutting.

Macaroni and Cheese

Servings: 6

8 ounces elbow macaroni, uncooked

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

2 medium onions, chopped

2 Tbl butter or margarine

1 Tbl dried parsley, plus pinch for garnish

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 cups Hood^® Cottage Cheese

1/2 cup Hood^® Milk

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

· Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 2 quart or 2 liter baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, and set aside.

· Cook macaroni according to package directions until tender but firm. Drain, then rinse with cool water, and set aside.

· Sauté onions in butter until just tender.

· In a large bowl, combine macaroni, onion, cheddar cheese, parsley and black pepper.

· Blend cottage cheese and milk together in a food processor until smooth. Pour this over macaroni mixture and mix thoroughly. Pour entire mixture into baking dish.

· In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over the top of the macaroni mixture, along with pinch of dried parsley. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until hot in the center. Serve hot.

For Thanksgiving or other big family meals, I take frozen meatballs and put it in a crockpot with onions and peppers, and sauce.  People munch on it all night long.  It’s such a treat and since we travel a couple of hours to visit family, it’s an easy set up.  Mama Lucia’s meatballs are just perfect for any gathering.

Diana’s Famous Meatballs in a Crockpot

• 1 box of Mama Lucia’s Italian Style Meatballs
• 1/2 jar spaghetti sauce (more if you like it that way)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can diced tomatoes with basil
• 1 sweet onion cut up into thin strips
• 2 green peppers cut up into thin strips
• Fresh Basil
• Mozzarella Cheese

Throw everything into crockpot and except the cheese and turn it up.  Leave a ladle by the pot along with the cheeses.  If you wish people can put it onto buns, but we find we like it better as an appetizer without buns. When they dish up their meatballs, they can reach for some shredded moz and sprinkle it on top. 

For all of you real Foodies – Mama Lucia’s is having a recipe contest Mama Lucia ‘Merry Meatballs’ Recipe Contest Entries can be turned in until November 23rd.  Good Luck and if you have a decent meatball recipe you’d like to share, post it in the comments. 

One of my favorite shows on the Food Network is Throwdown with Bobby Flay, where the chef challenges a specialist to a judged contest to see who makes the better dish.  It’s all in good fun and I learn a lot from watching the show.  A recent throwdown about eggplant parmesan inspired me to revisit my favorite summer comfort food!

August is the perfect time to make anything eggplant.  Unfortunately it’s not available locally most of the year.  This dish calls for baking which can be unpleasantly hot, so I make it in an 8×8 pan and use a convection toaster oven to bake.  It works great!  You can use the same time and temperature if you’re using a conventional oven.

You can see the recipe for Bobby Flay’s multi-cheese (with roasted red pepper sauce) eggplant parm here and the more traditional version that Italian deli owner Dave Grecco made here.  And, here’s mine… 

EGGPLANT PARMESAN (serves 4)

1 purple eggplant

2 cups tomato sauce (homemade or jarred)

1 ball mozzarella cheese, freshly grated (about 1 to 1/2 cups)

2 slices toast

2 TBL flour

1 TBL dried thyme

1 TBL dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1 egg, whisked

olive oil and butter

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

fresh chopped basil

(if you’re using a conventional oven, preheat it to 400 degrees.)

1. Make your breadcrumbs:  add the toast, flour,  herbs, and garlic powder into a small food processor and pulse until you have small crumbs.  Pour the crumbs onto a plate.  Put the egg on another plate.

2. Slice the eggplant into rounds.  I leave the skins on but you can remove them if you like.

3.  Coat the eggplant rounds in the egg, then dredge through the breadcrumbs.

4. Heat a medium saute pan or flat cast iron skillet on medium heat.  Add 1 TBL of olive oil and 1 TBL of butter.  The oil will lower the burning temperature of the butter and keep it from browning.   Make sure you have enough fat to coat the bottom of the pan, if not add more olive oil.  Brown the eggplant rounds in the pan, about 1 minute on each side.  Make sure you add more butter and oil for each batch of rounds.

5.  Grease a glass or metal 8×8″ pan.  Add 1/3 of the sauce, 1/2 of the rounds, another 1/3 of sauce, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese, then the rest of the rounds, the rest of the sauce, and the rest of the cheese.  Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.

6.  Bake in a convection toaster oven or regular oven for 30 to 35 minutes on 400 degrees.  Sprinkle with basil.

Serve with additional sauce over pasta and a green salad for a dinner, or tuck between two slices of toasted Italian bread for a sandwich.

Prep time: 30 min  Cleanup time: about 10 min