Make Take Out Italian Food at Home

When you have kids, it's not always that easy to find a sitter and get out with your spouse for a good meal. Italian restaurants are among my husband and I'd favorites but since we eat at home so frequently, I've learned to put together a fabulous Italian meal in no time flat! Hopefully the following menu and recipes will help you do the same.

For a starter, try simple garlic bread. All you need is a loaf of crusty Italian bread, sliced thick. Brush one side with melted butter, then rub a garlic clove all over it. Place it unbuttered side down on a baking sheet, sprinkle each slice with salt, paprika and basil and bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees, or until just browned on top. You can use store-bought, jarred tomato or Alfredo sauce for dipping. Or top it with a mixture of chopped tomatoes, red onion and fresh basil for an easy Brushetta.

It's quite easy to make lasagna from scratch using my homemade recipe. To make the noodles, just mix together six eggs, two-and-a-half cups of water, two cups of flour and one teaspoon of salt. Butter and electric frying pan and make them just like you would make pancakes. Next, in a deep skillet, brown one pound of ground beef or sausage until cooked through, seasoning it with salt and pepper. To make your cheese mixture, use one sixteen ounce container of Ricotta cheese mixed with 2 eggs, 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, and about a teaspoon each of garlic salt, oregano, basil or your other favorite Italian spices. You can use a jar or two of store bought spaghetti sauce, adding just a bit to the bottom of a casserole dish, then alternate layers of the noodles, meat, cheese mixture and sauce until you run out of ingredients or reach the top of the pan. Cover casserole dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the foil off, sprinkle the top with additional mozzarella and some Parmesan cheese and pop it under the broiler for a minute or so until the cheese browns and starts to bubble. Dinner is done!

In Italy, they typically eat their salad at the end of the meal, which is how my husband and I do it here at home as well. Aside from fresh, crisp veggies, a good dressing is really the only component to a good salad. I make a simple garlic and oil vinaigrette that is so yummy, people will ask you for the recipe. It's easy, just roast a head of garlic cloves by cutting the head in half and dousing it will good quality olive oil, wrap it in aluminum foil and put in into a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes. When you take it out, the cloves will pop right out of the skins and they'll be all creamy, melted and wonderful. Add equal parts of olive oil and white wine vinegar to a blender, and then add all of the roasted garlic, as well as a dash or two of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Blend it up, and that's it! Toss the dressing with Romaine lettuce, fresh chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and black olives and you have a great finish to your Italian meal.

For dessert, if you have room, simply soak ladyfingers in a thin layer of coffee, just until they absorb a little bit of the liquid - not until they get super soggy. Then serve with some whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon for an easy dessert that tastes a lot like Tiramisu!

A good meal really isn't difficult to put together. Think about what your family enjoys when they go out to eat and try to re-create it at home for a fun night in!