I pulled the recipe for Mediterranean Pasta with Fire Roasted Tomatoes, from an advertisement for McCormick spices, out of the April 2009 Better Homes and Gardens issue.

I couldn’t find plum tomatoes, so I used vine-ripened tomatoes. I used regular old table salt in place of the sea salt. And I walked on the wild side with egg noodles instead of spaghetti noodles.

And let me tell you, this dish was a winner. It’s good hot or cold. It does take awhile to make … the tomatoes have to roast an hour, but that leaves plenty of time for “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.”

With a little Italian sausage, this pasta dish would sing for meat lovers. I found this pepperoni- and cheese-stuffed bread at Walmart that complemented the pasta perfectly. Of course,  would never have bought the bread if I realized it had meat in it. But since it did, more for me since I didn’t have to share it with the vegeterian!

Try this recipe.

This is actually a side dish, but we treat it as the main course. I should mention that my husband is a vegetarian, so almost all the dishes I make are meat-free. He does eat dairy products and eggs.

These pagachi, a take on traditional Slavic potato-stuffed bread, are really easy to make. And only three ingredients — the recipe calls for brushing Egg Beaters over the dough, but it’s not necessary. The fewer the ingredients, the more I like the recipe. That might be why I have made this one a few times, and it’s one of my favorite finds.

The pagachi are so good straight out of the oven. They’re not near as delicious warmed up as leftovers. Still edible, but they lose a little of the crispiness that makes them so hard to resist.

This one’s a keeper.

Peanut Butter Pancakes

I can’t find the recipe online for Peanut Butter Pancakes. I plucked it from January 2007′s Better Homes and Gardens. But if you’re interested let me know and I’ll post it here.

We eat a lot of peanut butter at my house. Hubby is a PB fiend, so I knew these pancakes would make him happy and I figured they couldn’t be worse than last week’s cornmeal Jonnycakes.

And I was right! They are really good. I should have halved the recipe because it made a beaucoup of tasty little cakes. About 12 more than my family of two could eat. I kidded hubby that we needed to have a big family. His near-choking death stopped the jokes!

I popped the leftovers in the freezer for another breakfast, or two.

I topped the pancakes with butter and a little maple syrup, but I think another topping (maybe with some grape jelly) would have made them spectacular. The pancakes were pretty good plain, too.

I think I’ll make this again, and I think I’ll bring up kids again when hubby’s not eating.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie

I’ve got a strong sweet tooth (I’m a woman after all), so this recipe for Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip pie called my name. I have no idea where the recipe came from … I think it must have found me. Not the other way around.

And I think I have made this recipe before. The pie, which I made for dessert after the baked ricotta, was good, but overwhelmingly sweet. Woah! Sweet. Sweet. Sweet. It made my sweet tooth go into hibernation.

It makes enough to fill two pie crusts, and I think this would dilute the sugar rush, or at least slow it down.

I’ll probably make it again, but I’ll definitely split it into two crusts. Definitely. And limit my sugar intake the week before and the week after!

Baked Ricotta with Tomato Vinaigrette

After our big meal of Jonnycakes, I made Baked Ricotta with Tomato Vinaigrette for dinner.

I love ricotta, and gladly ripped this recipe out of April 2009′s Good Housekeeping.

I put hubby in charge of the lemons, and I think he got a little overzealous with the juice. The vinaigrette was a little too-lemony, but still a nice companion to the heavenly ricotta.

Note to self: I really need a pie plate. I used a square glass baking dish, so our baked ricotta was cut into squares, not triangles. Didn’t hamper us any … this dish was good!

Leftovers were good, too. Next time, I think I’ll pass on the salad and vinaigrette, and just make the ricotta sans extras.

East Bay-Style Rhode Island Jonnycakes

I made the Jonnycakes for breakfast on April 9. Breakfast for us is lunch or mid-afternoon snack for the rest of the world.

Hubby loved, loved, loved these pancakes, which I topped with butter and maple syrup. Not much maple syrup … I’m pretty coservative with the maple syrup since it’s nearly expensive as gold! I didn’t like them so much. I prefer good old-fashioned pancakes.

I didn’t have stone-ground cornmeal. I just used regular old White Lily. And, we only buy skim milk. I doubt these two difference would have made much of an improvement to my taste buds.

I’ll probably make this again for the hubby, and make myself something else.

Scalloped Potatoes with Green Onions

I kicked off my experiment on April 8, 2009, with Scalloped Potatoes with Green Onions, a recipe from April 2009 Good Housekeeping.

Since I can’t cut onions without my eyes stinging painfully, I enlisted my husband’s help. Don’t laugh, but this was the first time I have ever bought green onions and eaten them. Yes, I know, I had a sheltered upbringing.

I think I used more than 4 pounds of potatoes. My bag was a 10-pounder, and all the potatoes were different sizes, so I went with the husband’s guesstimate. It took a long time to make this dish, but it was worth it.

The potatoes were really good. I didn’t have freshly grated Parmesan cheese — just what’s in the green shaker. As good as they were, the potatoes would probably have been better with good Parmesan. But I’m not complaining … and neither is hubby. He ate them for a week — we had lots of leftovers.

I’m definitely going to make this one again.

Sometimes I actually use the recipes, but mostly they just gather dust and make me feel guilty for not being a better, more adventurous cook.

So, I have decided — much to my husband’s delight — to embark on a new adventure: I am going to make every single recipe that I have clipped out over the years. And you get to come along for the ride.