What's on Your Plate? Day #18 Baked Marinara Mac & Cheese and Cheesy Garlic toasts

I make pasta pretty often considering 3 out of the 4 of us love it. Its a no fuss dinner and pair it with Garlic toasts and all of a sudden my kids crown me the best mom in the whole wide world!! :D I mostly use home-made Basil Walnut Pesto but we are still waiting on our Basil plants to grow so I made a Marinara cream sauce and also snuck in a few veggies so its not all cheese in there. If your kids are picky about that you can make an only cheese version. This is also a good variation from the usual Mac. 

Baked Marinara Mac & Cheese:  

You will need:

2 cups elbow pasta
2 quarts water
2 tbsp Oil
3 pods Garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped Onion
1/4 cup chopped Bell pepper
1/2 cup Tomato- Basil Marinara sauce (from a jar)
1/4 cup Heavy cream
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp Black pepper powder
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar
1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella plus 1/4 cup
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs

Bring the water to a rolling boil. Generously salt that water and drop in the pasta Stir and cook for 10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup water and drain the remaining. Set aside the pasta.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Heat oil in a pan. When its hot, add the chopped garlic and bell pepper. Sauté until the bell peppers are almost done and then add the chopped onions. Sauté until onions are soft. Stir in the marinara and bring to a simmering boil. Season with salt to taste and pepper powder.Add the cream and the reserved water. Combine and add the drained pasta. Add more marinara if needed. Stir in the grated cheeses and give a quick toss. 

Lightly butter an oven safe baking dish. Melt the butter in a small bowl. Add the  parmesan and bread crumbs and stir to combine. Transfer prepared pasta into prepared baking dish. Top with the bread crumb mixture. Lastly top with the remaining 1/4 cup of Mozzarella. Bake for 12 minutes until the top is lightly crisp and browned. Serve warm.

Cheesy Garlic Toasts:

For this you can use a French Baguette or regular slices of bread. I had plain white bread and used that. 

You will need:
6 slices white bread
1 tbsp Mayonnaise
2 tbsp unsalted Butter, softened
2 pods Garlic, minced
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Red chilli flakes
1/4 tsp dried Oregano
1/3 cup grated Mozzarella

Preheat oven to 425F.

In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, softened butter, minced garlic and salt. Spread evenly on each slice. Top with Mozzarella and a pinch of oregano and chili flakes. 

Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes until the top is nice and bubbly and the bread is crisp. Cut into triangles and serve. 

The toasts were gone in minutes and so was the Pasta! :) 

What's on Your Plate? Day #11 Pull Apart Garlic Bread

This is the easiest, pillowy soft Garlic bread I’ve ever had in my life! Every bite has plenty  of garlic in it, can be served right of the pan on its own or with warm Marinara sauce. My older son loves Garlic bread and he was so pleased when I told him I’m making Garlic bread that he sat in the kitchen from start to finish watching my every move! :D 

Pull Apart Garlic Bread
Adapted from here
You will need:

1 tsp Active dry yeast (or rapid rise yeast)
1/2 cup Milk
1/4 cup Water
1/4 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 cups All- purpose flour (maida)
1/2 tsp Salt

For the garlic butter:

1/4 cup Butter, melted
1.5 tbsp finely chopped Garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped Cilantro
1/2 tsp dry Oregano
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Chili flakes

In a pan, heat the milk and water until warm to the touch (around 100F). Set aside for a few seconds. Add sugar and yeast. Allow the yeast to proof for 10 minutes. It should be frothy, if its flat and no activity even after 10-12 minutes. You will need to start over.

In a large bowl,  whisk together flour and salt. Add the yeast mix and combine well until it comes together into a soft and slightly sticky dough. If it’s very sticky to the touch, add only a teaspoon or two of flour until it’s easy to handle. Transfer to a clean counter top and knead for 8-10 minutes until dough is smooth and silky.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and proof for an hour or until dough has doubled in size.

30 minutes into proofing time, prepare the Garlic butter - to the melted butter add the other ingredients and set aside.

Butter a 9”x5” loaf pan. Dust with flour. Gently punch the proofed dough and knead once. Divide the dough into 16-18 small balls. Dip each ball in the Garlic butter and place in the prepared loaf pan. Place each boll a few centimeters apart and place them in rows. Cover and proof for 20-25 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Bake the bread for 35 minutes until the top is lightly browned. Brush the top with plain butter as soon as the loaf is out of the oven. Cool slightly before serving. Not only was this easy to make but super easy to eat. No buttery garlic mess on the outside but rather it was all baked into the bread. The whole house smelled like Garlic and my boy was in Garlic heaven..haha! We had ours just as is and it was all gone in minutes. 

I’m working on several variations to this bread, hope to try them soon and share it with all of you. Do enjoy this garlicky goodness meanwhile! :)