Spaghetti Casserole

I made this yummy recipe tonight from Salad in a jar . The whole family loved it except for the one that doesn't like cream cheese. The frenchs fried onions on top were extra yummy too. I think next time I make this I want to try mixing the vegetables and cream cheese in with the meat sauce, just to make it a little more blended. The recipe was definitely a keeper and I'll be making it again.

Sesame Noodles

I made sesame noodles tonight using this recipe, they were really good and I will definitely make them again. We had them with marinated salmon and green beans, and had a ton left over for another meal. The only thing I would do differently is that I made these using whole wheat pasta and as you know wheat pasta has a strong taste so it mellows out the seasonings/sauce, so next time I will use regular noodles. The whole family seemed to enjoy them though and that is always plus!

Chicken Spinach Alfredo Pockets

I made this recipe a few weeks ago from A Chef in Training, it was delish, even my husband thought so. Brent does not like chicken pizza, a he really liked it.

SPINACH CHICKEN ALFREDO POCKETS

• 2-3 cups cooked chicken-shredded (I used a rotisserie chicken just to save on time)
• 1 (16oz) jar Alfredo sauce
• 1 (10 oz) bag fresh spinach
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 (8 oz) bag shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mushrooms (optional) - I didn't use this because my hubby doesn't really like them
• I threw in about a 1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes for more flavor, but it is completely optional
• 3 (13.8 oz) cans refrigerated pizza dough*

*I don't know that I'd use the pizza dough cans again, I think next time I'd use the homemade pizza dough recipe I like from Allrecipes.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix shredded chicken, alfredo sauce, spinach, salt, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and mushrooms together by hand in a large bowl.

I rolled out the dough and cut to make rectangles for pockets. Place some of chicken mixture on one half of the rectangle dough leavining a 1 inch border. Fold the other half of dough over and press edges together until sealed.

After stuffing and folding each pocket, place on baking sheet. Whisk egg and 1 Tbsp. water together and brush over the top of each pocket. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes or until very golden brown on top. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you don't want little pockets, another option you could do is:

Unfold one can of dough onto prepared baking sheet. Gently stretch or roll into an 11-inch square; cut in half diagonally, forming two triangles. Place about 1 1/2 cups chicken mixture in the center of the triangle, leaving a 1 inch border on each side. Fold 1 side of triangle over filling, rolling up edges of dough to seal. Cut a small slit in top of calzone to allow steam to escape. Repeat with remaining dough and check mixture. Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes or until Golden Brown.

Comfort food- Chicken Zucchini Casserole

I originally found this recipe on Allrecipes and I LOVE it! It tastes like thanksgiving and its a fabulous way to use up your zucchini!

Ingredients

• 1 (6 ounce) package stuffing mix
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups diced zucchini*
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup sour cream

*I usually use 2 C. shredded zucchini instead

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine stuffing mix and butter. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping. Add the zucchini, chicken, soup, carrot, onion and sour cream to the remaining stuffing mixture. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved stuffing mixture. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

Taco Seasoning

I have been using this fabulous taco seasoning recipe that I found on Kid Appeal for about a year now, a great way to save money and lose the sodium (when you leave out the salt) and preservatives.

Taco Seasoning Recipe (based on this allrecipes.com spice ratio)
2 TBSP Cumin*
5 TBSP, 1 TSP Chili Powder*
2 TSP Red Pepper Flakes*
2 TSP Garlic Powder*
2 TSP Onion Powder*
1 TBSP, 1 TSP Paprika*
2 TBSP, 2 TSP kosher salt
1 TBSP, 1 TSP black pepper

Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl and combine. Return spice mix to an airtight container or empty spice jar. Per your taste, add 1/2- 1TBSP of this mixture to 1 lb of cooked ground meat. Add it in larger quantities to make taco flavored soups. You should get 8-16 servings assuming you're flavoring 1lb of meat. Add a label to your spice mixture with the amount to use "1/2-1 TBS per lb meat" so you don't forget!

Note: This mixture is forgiving. If you're out of something, leave it out. My grandma just used salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder to season taco meat, so that's all I usually use. It is a slightly different flavor than the packages, but your family will get used to it over time. Also, this doesn't contain flour or cornstarch, and it doesn't call for adding water, so this won't give you saucy meat, rather, flavored meat. That's the way we roll!

Yummy Healthy Yogurt Cake

l white cake mix
l weight watchers yogurt, any flavor
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup water
3 egg whites

Mix following the directions on the back of the box.
Bake 350 degrees 25-30 minutes

Frosting

1 weight watcher's yogurt
1 8oz. tub fat free Cool Whip
Keep refrigerated
optional - top with berries

This cake is super delish and I've tried with fiber one yogurt, and light and fit as well, it just needs to be a 6 oz container. The last time I made it I used strawberry light and fit and I think it was my fav so far.

Cheese and vegetable soup

A few weeks ago I made this great Cheese and vegetable soup from Jamie Cooks it up. I highly recommend it, it had a great flavor with out all the sodium. I am excited to make it again switching up the vegetables, I want to try broccoli and cauliflower next.

PW's Vegetable Lasagna with our changes.

We (aka my husband and I, Ava could care less and Katrena does care, a lot) like to eat at least one vegetarian meal a week. So when I came across Pioneer Woman's Vegetable Lasagna recipe on Monday morning I knew I had to make it. We made it last night, with a few changes and we LOVED it. Well one said nothing (Ava), some of us loved it (Brent and I) and the other said "why can't we just eat your regular lasagna with meat" (katrena). I think my sweet child really dislikes trying anything new unless its a sweet, and her mother likes to constantly make something new.

Anyways on to the lasagna:

Lasagna noodles, I use oven ready but you could use regular noodles as well.
2 T. olive oil
1/2 medium onion
4 cloves garlic ( I use 2tsp minced)
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 yellow squash, diced
2 zucchini squash, diced
1 small can sliced mushrooms
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes, italian style
1/2 c. white cooking wine
1/2 T. dried parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
black pepper
1/2 t. crushed red pepper
about 30 oz of cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/2 c. grated parmesan
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 c. parmesan cheese.


If needed cook noodles, and prepare vegetables.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for a minute. Add bell peppers and saute for another minute. Add squash and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes more. Pour in wine, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper and stir. Pour in tomatoes and parsley, stir to combine and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile:preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

And in a separate bowl combine cottage cheese, eggs, parmesan cheese and a little black pepper.

When your 2o minutes are up, you are ready to assemble. Spread a little of your sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan, layer your noodles on the bottom of the pan, spread a 1/3 of your cottage cheese mixture and a 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese, and then a little less than a 1/3 of the vegetable mixture.

Repeat the layering process two more times, finishing with the rest of the vegetable sauce mixture and sprinkle with 1/4 c. parmesan cheese.

If using oven ready noodles cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, remove foil and bake another 15 minutes. Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting.

If you are using regular lasagna noodles, cover with foil and bake 20 minutes, remove foil and bake 5-10 minutes more. wait about 10 minutes before serving.

Banana Bread (Paula Deen)

I found this banana bread recipe here, and fell in love. This is definitely my new favorite banana bread recipe.

Banana Bread:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar; mix well. Add the salt, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder and bananas. Mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes.

Easy Tuna Casserole

Easy, peasey and kids like it : )

This is a great stapple recipe at my house and you don't have to use tuna, we've used frozen shredded chicken and canned chicken too. This meal also freezes great too.

1 box macaroni cheese
1/4 c. butter/margarine
1/2 c. milk
dried onion
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can tuna fish
1 c. frozen vegetables (you can use any kind, mixed or peas) thawed
crushed crackers or potato chips (optional)

Prepare macaroni and cheese according to box directions. Then you are going to add soup, tuna, sprinkle in some dried onion, and vegetables (thaw first). Place casserole in baking dish and sprinkle with crushed crackers or potato chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 3o min.

If you are going to freeze this meal, leave off the crackers, cover with tinfoil and freeze before baking. Thaw over night, add topping before baking, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Baked Tortelini

LOVE this Casserole style tortelini, its one of our family favorites. Quick, easy and yummy!

1 pkg (9oz) refrigerated cheese tortelini, uncooked
1/2 C. boiling water
1 green pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 3/4 C. marinara
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, combine all ingredients except cheese in 13x9 baking dish and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes.

Rremove foil and stir, sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.

This recipe serves 4,
Calories: 310
Fat: 9 g.
Fiber: 4 g.

Thai Sweet Sticky Rice

YUMMY!!! If you have ever eaten ate a Thai restaurant I hope that you have taken a moment or two to enjoy Thai Sticky Rice, its more like a dessert rice served with mango, and my family loves it. We had it this last week for dinner, for lunch, after school snack...

Thai Sticky Rice
Basmati rice (cook according to package directions)
1 1/2 C. coconut milk
1 C. white sugar
1/2 t. salt

Mango's peeled and sliced

Make rice according to package directions. While the rice cooks, mix together 1 1/2 cups coconut milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil; remove from heat and set aside. Stir the cooked rice into the coconut milk mixture; cover. Allow to cool for 1 hour.

Serve mangos over rice.

Some, probably most, make a sauce with more coconut milk and sugar, salt and tapioca starch to serve over the rice and mangos, but we find it plenty sweet with out it.

Spaghetti

Ok. So Spaghetti, my spaghetti really doesn't need a recipe post, but I thought I would share how I spice up the plain ole spaghetti

First off to make it healthier I always use whole wheat pasta, and I only put in 1/2 lb of hamburger. I use store bought sauce, (lazy I know, but its all good), usually the vegetable one or traditional. I add either dried onion or about a fourth of a regular onion, diced, as well as one chopped green pepper and one cup diced or shredded zucchini. I also usually add a few shakes of basil, thyme and oregano.

There you have it our simple, whole wheat, vegefied spaghetti.

Fish Tacos

Some of us love fish tacos, others tolerate fish tacos at our house. I try to make them every once in awhile to please the whole family, and it helps that they are super easy

Corn tortillas (or flour)
Breaded fish (our favorite is breaded parmasean tortilla tilapia from costco)
black beans (optional)
coleslaw type lettuce
lime
salsa (optional)
sour cream (optional)
tarter sauce (optional)

Place your fish in the oven and cook according to directions on the box. While cooking your fish you can prepare your corn tortilla's, put a little oil in a skillet and cook each tortilla on each side for 1-2 minutes. This is also when you would heat up your black beans.

Once everything in heated; assemble. Place your fish in your tortilla along with some cabbage or coleslaw and squeeze with lime juice. If you are going to use black beans, I either serve them on the side or place them first in my tortilla shell, topped with fish, cabbage, lime, etc. Now you just top it off with any other toppings you want, salsa, sour cream, or tarter sauce.

So here you are super easy and yummy too.

Happy Eating!

Weekly Menu Plan 2/21- 3/2

Okay we are back! We went to Phoenix for the Weekend so my husband could renew a certification, we got to see a few old friends and catch up with my husbands brother and family. We also got to eat at some of our favorite restaurants. Places you must try if you are in the phoenix area. We ate at restaurants in Peoria, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert, some are a chain or Franchise and others are locally owned. I plan on doing a post on each of them this next week. As well as a shout out to a couple of others we love but didn't get a chance to eat at.

So with out further ado, here is our weekly menu.

Monday: Fish Tacos
Tuesday: Spaghetti/Salad/Bread
Wednesday: Curried Coconut Chicken with Mango Rice
Thursday: Pork Chops, Vegetables and Mashed Potatoes
Friday: Apricot Chicken, Cous Cous, and Vegetable
Saturday: Homemade Pizza
Sunday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, funeral potatoes and corn
Dessert: Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes
Monday: Enchilada's, yellow rice and mexicorn
Tuesday: Ravioli, salad and bread.
Wednesday: Balsalmic Chicken, Rice and Vegetable

So there you have it and recipes to follow.

Happy Eating!

Crazy Week Ahead...

Due to our crazy week this next week, I won't post a new menu plan until Monday, we will be eating out and eating out of a box I am afraid the next few days. I do have the olive garden Alfredo recipe from last night to still post as well, I will try to do that soon. Promise.

Happy Eating, and I will see you on Monday!

Creamy Lemony Chicken

I found a new recipe to try this week, simple, easy and I had all the ingredients on hand, now that is my kind of meal! I also like any crockpot chicken meal that allows me to throw my meat in frozen; because A) I'm lazy and B) I am forgetful I can NEVER remember to thaw my chicken!

The recipe was posted by Crafting Chicks, a craft blog I follow and it looked good and was simple so I thought why not. You can go here to try it. The only thing I would do differently would be to shred the chicken before serving and then serve it over the rice. It had a WONDERFUL flavor, but I thought the chicken was a little dry, this could be due to the fact that I cooked it on high for 4 hours (remember I am lazy and forget to thaw my meat and sometimes I just plain forget to start dinner) all I had was full size chicken breasts and thought I should give them an extra hour.

So go check out this super easy yummy recipe, that your whole family will eat.

HEARTS and Calzones

For our Valentines breakfast I went super simple: heart shaped nuttella toast and strawberry milk.

For lunch: peanut butter and jelly heart shaped sandwiches with juicy red strawberries.

And for dinner I decided to make my family heart shaped calzones. They turned out to be super yummy. I didn't end up doing a dessert as NUBI frozen yogurt was having a buy one get one, so we headed over there, before dinner :)

First I made the crust:

1 C. warm water
1 T. sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 t. salt
3 T. olive oil
2 1/2 C. flour.
1/2- 1 t basil
1/2- 1 t. oregano
1/2- 1 t. garlic powder
1/2- 1 t. thyme

Filling:
pizza sauce or marinara sauce
mozzarella cheese
pizza topings (pepperoni, canadian bacon, olives, pineapple, green peppers, etc.)

Combine water, sugar and yeast and mix until yeast is dissolved. Add salt and olive oil and mix. Slowly add flour and mix until well blended. Lest rest covered for 10 minutes.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and put a little olive oil on your fingers and press the pizza out flat making a rectangular shape. You are now going to sprinkle your basil, oregano, garlic powder and thyme over your dough until it is evenly covered. Now at this point you can either get out your cute heart shaped cookie cutter and make enough hearts as your dough allows for both top and bottom. Taking the excess from around the hearts and pressing it out again to make additional heart shapes or your can cut your dough in fourths making four larger calzones. If you are doing hearts then you will only do the following to half of the hearts, if you are doing larger calzones then you will only cover half of each of your rectangles. okay.

So first you spread your pizza sauce, or marinara sauce, then you place a nice layer of mozzarella cheese, followed by pizza toppings of your choice. Our toppings included turkey peperoni, canadian bacon, green peppers, and olives, Everyone built there own, so they were all different. Followed by a little more mozzarella cheese.

Now if you made heart shaped calzones you will place the hearts with nothing on them on top of your pizza layered hearts and press the edges to seal. If you made standard rectangular shaped calzones you will fold the dough in half and seal the edges.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Easy peasy and my whole family loves them. I cut my 2 year olds heart in half and she ate it just like a sandwich.

Happy Eating!

Steak quesidilla's

Another simple and easy dinner idea. I used my great steak recipe from here to give my steak some spice.

2 pound beef sirloin, cut into thin 2 inch strips
1/2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1 t. paprika
1 t. chili powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried basil
2 T. olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 green pepper, sliced
burrito size tortilla shells
Mexican cheese
any desired toppings, such as sour cream or salsa.

Thinly slice your steak and place in a large bowl along with the diced onion. In separate small bowl, mix all of your spices, then sprinkle half the seasoning on meat and onions, mix and then sprinkle the rest of the seasoning and mix again.

Then place 2 T. olive oil in a frying and heat, add your meat mixture and cook until done to your likeness.

When your steak is done sprinkle Mexican cheese on half of a burrito size tortilla shell add some of the steak, and a little more cheese, you could also add a little salsa in here at this point too. Fold tortilla in half and place in microwave for 1 minute, let cool and eat. Simple and easy and delicious too.

Happy Eating!!!

Sloppy Joe's

We had sloppy Joe's on Friday night and I went the simple route. I absolutely love Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joe recipe, but didn't want to go all out. Therefore the simple route it was, hamburger with manwich, a half of an onion chopped and a green pepper, diced, served on whole wheat buns with fresh fruit and yummy oven fries. Simple and yummy for the whole family to enjoy.

Marinated Pork Loin

We had this yummy dish earlier this week, its got a great flavor and is extremely moist. We served it with baked potatoes and green beans. This is one meal that EVERYONE enjoyed.

Marinated Pork Loin:

1/2 C. chicken broth
1/2 C. ketchup
2 T. cider vinegar
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
2 lb pork loin roast

Mix all but the pork loin in a medium sauce pan over medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Slice pork loin into 1 inch thick pieces. Place pork loin in a large ziplock baggie. Remove about 1/2 C. of the marinade from the pan and reserve it for later. Pour the rest of the marinade over the pork and let it marinade in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight.

Place pork on a broiling pan and broil 4 inches from broiler for about 20 minutes or until juices run clear, turning half way through. While broiling, use your reserved marinade to baste the pork loin.

Happy Eating!

Menu Plan 2/9- 2/15

Wednesday 2/9: Chicken Burritos
Thursday: 2/10: Winco Pizza
Friday 2/11: Steak Quessidilla's and rice
Saturday2/12: out
Sunday 2/13: Sloppy Joe's and french fries
Monday 2/14: Heart shaped calzones with salad and chocolate salted cupcakes for dessert
Tuesday 2/15: linguini with "Olive Garden" Alfredo sauce, grilled chicken and broccoli

There you go, its our simple easy week of meals!

Happy Eating:


I will post the marinated pork loin recipe from last week tomorrow night

Chicken Burritos in the Crockpot

YUM! I love these easy burritos and so does my whole family. This is a super great meal for when I wake up and realize I didn't thaw the meat the night before, whoops! I am really good at that. We started making these about a year ago, I combined a recipe I found online called Salsa Chicken and a friends Burrito recipe. I haven't tried this with any meat other than chicken, but the chicken is fab. It makes enough to feed our family with leftovers.

3 large chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning ( or homemade, whatever you prefer)
1 jar salsa
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can refried beans
Mexican shredded cheese blend
large burrito shells

Put chicken in your crockpot (frozen or thawed) and sprinkle with taco seasoning, pour in salsa and cream of mushroom soup. Let cook on low 6-8 hours .

Remove chicken and shred it with fork. Now here you can go one of two ways, I will tell you the way I usually do it first. I spoon a little of the sauce from the crockpot into the bottom of a casserole dish. Next take your burrito shell and spoon some of the refried beans into it, top with chicken, Mexican cheese, and more of your salsa mixture. Roll up your burrito and place seam down and repeat with remaining burrito's you can make these as full as you like. It will just change the amount you make. Lastly spoon the rest of the salsa mixture over the top of your burritos and sprinkle with cheese.

The other way to do this would be to add the chicken back into your salsa mixture and spoon it into your burritos at the same time. And then top it with your salsa/ chicken mixture. The reason I don't usually do it this way is because I like to pour the salsa mixture alone on top, but you could also just reserve some for later too. Just do whatever floats your boat.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until completely heated through.

Top with sour cream, or more salsa and enjoy!

Happy Eating!

Pork chops

These pork chops were gobbled up by my family. They are simple to make and very yummy. We ate them with Kraft homestyle mac and cheese and corn.

I found the recipe on allrecipes and tweaked it a little for our family

Pork chops:

1 - 1 1/2 C. crushed butter cracker
1/2- 1 tsp garlic powder (depending on taste, I use 1 tsp)
black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
4 pork chops
3 T. butter

Combine crackers, garlic powder, and black pepper in a medium size bowl. Beat eggs in a small bowl. Dip pork chops in egg and then coat with garlic powder mixture. Place pork chops in a baking dish and place pats of butter on and around pork chops.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, covered, turning after 20 minutes. Then cook another 5 minutes on broil, uncovered.

Chicken Nachos

Last Thursday while at Costco they had a sample recipe, we tried it, we liked it and I was debating going with my traditional 7 layer bean dip or going with something new. The something new won!

So our menu for tonight includes Lil' Smokies I posted this recipe for last years Super Bowl, Tyson BBQ wings, and quesadilla anytizers (only because I got a smoking deal), veggie tray, and chicken nachos only it will be more like a dip.

Chicken Nachos:
1 large can chicken
1 can refried beans
1 C. salsa
tortilla chips
mexican cheese, shredded

Preheat skillet, drain chicken and empty into skillet. Add refried beans, and salsa, mix together in skillet stirring constantly, until mixture is warmed through.

Serve with chips and cheese.

I am also serving with chopped roma tomato, sliced olives and green onions since I already had them on hand for my 7 layer dip.

Hope everyone has a fun Appetizer Super Bowl Sunday.

Happy Eating!

Apple Cranberry French Toast

Okay this will be my last meal from $5 dinners for awhile, promise, but oh my goodness this one is a keeper. I would not change a thing. This is a GREAT breakfast for dinner meal. The whole family enjoyed this, I will admit my oldest was not a huge fan, but she doesn't like french toast, which is a whole other story in itself. Our dinner conversation went something like do you like toast? yes. apples? yes. craisins? yes. sugar? yes. butter? yes. eggs? kind of. So why do you not like french toast? I don't know. So yes I am at a loss, but I will continue to feed it to her at least once a month anyways. So now back to the recipe.

AWESOME. You. Must. Try. It. Now.

Apple Cranberry French Toast:

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
3 apples – peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup dried cranberries
1 French Loaf, cut into 1 inch slices
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Favorite fruit: bananas, cantaloupe, berries or Fruit Salad
6-8 slices bacon

Directions
1. In a large bowl, mix together brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix in melted butter or margarine. Stir in chopped apples and dried cranberries until evenly coated. Pour into prepared pan.

2.Arrange french loaf slices in an even layer over apples.

3.In same bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Pour over bread, making sure every slice is fully soaked. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate over night.

3. Preheat over to 375 degrees. Remove dish from refrigerator while the over is heating. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Remove cover, and bake 5 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

4. Prepare your favorite fruit or turkey bacon.

I did try another french toast casserole that rocked but was really sweet for Christmas morning. I will post that recipe sometime in the near future.

Happy Eating!

Bacon Florentine Pasta:

Another recipe I got from $5 Dinners. I tweaked it a little, I honestly did not love it, but I will try it again doing things a little differently. I will post how I made it tonight and what I plan to do differently next time.

Florentine Pasta with Bacon (her recipe was for chicken and bacon I just doubled the bacon):

1 lb. pasta noodles, I used farfalle
8 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 box frozen spinach
basil, oregano, thyme, I used about 1/2 t. each
1/2 c. sour cream thinned with milk.

1. boil pasta.
2. while pasta is boiling prepare bacon and spinach
3. Drain pasta and combine all other ingredients.

Voila, enjoy.

Now for what I would do next time. I'd either make this with 2 c. diced chicken and 4 slices REAL bacon (we usually eat turkey bacon, but I felt this needed more umph) or just 8 slices of bacon. I would double the tomatoes and lastly forgo the thinned sour cream. I think the sour cream calmed the flavors, I would probably toss it in olive oil instead as she suggests. Next time I make it I will post how I like the changes.

Mexican Mess Up (AKA taco salad)

My husband is not a lover of homemade taco's or taco salads but had no complaints about this salad. I got this recipe from $5 dollar dinners and halved it to the following. It fed my family of 3 1/2 with leftovers for my hubby to take to work and for me for lunch the next day. I grew up eating taco salads pretty much just like this minus the pinto beans and tomato sauce so I thought I'd give it a try. I liked the added tomato sauce.

Taco Salads.

1 lb ground beef
1 onion, diced
taco seasoning
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese
tortilla chips
assorted toppings, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, salsa, ranch, etc.

1. Brown your beef and onion and taco seasoning.
2. Add drained pinto beans and tomato sauce and let simmer about 15 minutes.
3. Spoon meat mixture over chips, top with shredded lettuce and cheese and any other toppings you so desire.

Do to our menu switch up...

I did not post our menu and things have been slightly kooky with our menu .

So here is our menu plan for the week

On Tuesday 2/1: we had a super simple stir fry to simple for a recipe. Cooked chicken on the stove and let simmer in sweet and sour sauce. Cooked a bag of frozen stir fry veggies and combines with sauce and chicken and served over brown rice. Simple, easy and yummy too.

Wednesday 2/2: we had Taco Salads recipe in next post.
Thursday 2/3: Bacon Florentine Pasta (recipe to post on Friday, with the changes I will make next time).
Friday 2/4: Apple Cranberry French Toast
Saturday 2/5: out
Sunday 2/6: Super Bowl Sunday! Appetizer night! Lil' Smokies, Tyson wings (great deal with coupons), Tyson Anytizers quessidilla's (again great deal with coupons; I would normally make these), Veggie tray with dip, seven layer bean dip and chips or chicken nachos I haven't decided yet. I also have not decided on a dessert. I have linked to the Lil' Smokies recipe and the others will follow on Saturday.
Monday 2/7: Pork Chops, mac and cheese and veggies (recipe to follow)
Tuesday 2/8: Chicken Burritos
Wednesday 2/9: Marinated pork roast, mashed potatoes and green beans.

Okay. Happy Eating and I'll post all recipes the night before if they are not already linked.

Steak and Cheese Sandwiches

These are super yummy, easy quick sandwiches that were gobbled up by my girls. Because the sandwich itself has vegetables on it I just served it with some canned fruit.

Steak and Cheese Sandwiches:
2 pound beef sirloin, cut into thin 2 inch strips
1/2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1 t. paprika
1 t. chili powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried basil
2 T. olive oil
1 onion sliced
1 green pepper, cut into strips
sliced provolone cheese
hoagie rolls, cut in half lengthwise

Place sliced meat in a large mixing bowl.

In a small mixing bowl mix all of your spices together.

Pour half of the spices over the meat, stir and pour on the rest of the spices, mix again.

Put oil in a large skillet and heat, add meat and cook until desired doneness. Remove meat from pan using slotted spoon to leave any yummy goodness in the pan.

Add the onions and green pepper to the oil and seasonings in the skillet and cook just until softened.

preheat oven to broil.

Place sliced hoagies on a baking sheet. Put meat on half of the hoagie bun, and top with onions green pepper and cheese.

Slide baking sheet into the oven and cook just until the cheese is melted and edges are slightly crisp.

And your ready to eat. I ate mine just like this and so did my girls, but my husband added some BBQ sauce.


YUM, hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Happy Eating

Tuna Casserole

Super easy tuna casserole, my kids don't even complain about it. We had this meal last night and will be having left overs tonight. We swiched things up this time and made it with canned chicken instead of tuna.

Tuna Casserole:

1 box Mac and cheese
1/4 c. butter
3/4 C. milk
1 can cream of celery soup
2 C. frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans tuna fish (or sometimes we mix it up and use 2 large cans of shredded chicken)
ritz crackers or potato chips (optional)


Directions:
1. Bring water for macaroni to a boil.
2. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Pour in your noodles and mixed vegetables and boil for 8 minutes
4. Drain your noodles and vegetables and return to pan.
5. Add cheese sauce mix, butter, milk, cream of celery soup and tuna or chicken. Mix until combined.
6. Put mixture in a small 2 quart casserole dish and put in the oven for twenty minutes or until heated through.
7. As an option before placing casserole in the oven your can crumble ritz crackers or potato chips on top. You can also heat and serve from the stove too.

I usually serve this meal with a green salad as well.

Happy Eating.

Menu Change...

This is not unusual at our house, but we had a menu change that effects to nights at our house.

Last night Mom was busily crafting and had to switch to our great standby food, tuna casserole only it was chicken casserole instead this time :) We had enough left over between that and the BBQ Chicken that we are having a leftover night tonight. So we will pick up with are steak sandwiches on Sunday night and this weeks menu will carry on until Thursday. I will pick up with the next menu plan on Thursday night instead of Tuesday next week.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Oven Fries...

YUM YUM YUM!!! You have to try this recipe from Smashed Peas and Carrots. It is a must on your menu for this week. Hubby LOVED the BBQ and the whole family LOVED the non greasy fries. I am already thinking that Ava and I will be eating these fries again for lunch some days :)

http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/01/crockpot-barbecue-chicken-and-oven.html

GO GO GO, right now get the recipe, go to the store, feed it to your family. Trust me they will love you for it!

Happy Eating!

Weekly Menu Plan 1/26 - 2/1

Well we are having a little bit of a switch up we ended up having a left over night tonight, so we are pushing our BBQ Chicken dinner back to tomorrow night. This week is full of first time meals for us. This is fun for me, I love to try new things, scary for my family that is not always so open to trying new things.

Wednesday 1/26- BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, oven baked fries and mixed vegetables, new recipe from Smashed Peas and Carrots
Thursday 1/27- Philly Steak Sandwiches with boiled carrots
Friday 1/28- Apple Cranberry French Toast, a new recipe from $5 dinners
Saturday 1/29- Eating out
Sunday 1/30- Chicken and Bacon Florentine Pasta, another new recipe from $5 dinners
Monday 1/31- Connie's Mexican Mess, also a new recipe that can be found here from $5 dinners
Tuesday 2/1- Marinated Pork Roast, with mashed potatoes and green beans

I'll post after trying each new meal to let you know how it was. I'll also as is the new habit post new recipes the night before if they are not already linked up here.

Happy Eating!

Sweet Potato Casserole, its not just for the Holidays!!!

I often think we get in a rut certain foods on weeknights, certain foods on the weekend, certain foods we only make for holiday's or special occasions. I am trying to break out of this mold, I love sweet potatoes and I really love the not so healthy sweet potato casserole, but we eat it twice a year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why? Why only eat something you enjoy twice a year, so I decided if I want to make it once a month I'll make it once a month! Who knows maybe I won't want it as much once I am eating it more than twice a year :)

The great thing about sweet potato casserole recipes is that a lot of people that don't really enjoy sweet potatoes enjoy these.

Grandma's Sweet Potato Casserole:
1/2 C. sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C. melted margarine
1/2 C. evaporated milk
1 t. Vanilla
3 C. mashed sweet potatoes or yams (you can use 1 large can)

Topping:
1/3C. flour
1 T. brown sugar
1/4 C. melted margarine
1 C. chopped pecans

Combine all sweet potato ingredients together and place in a small 8x8 glass baking dish.

Combine all of the topping in ingredients and sprinkle over the top of the casserole

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Go on and give it a try!

Happy Eating!!!

Lil Cheddar Meatloaves

This Meatloaf recipe is our favorite hands down. It is tried and true and great for when company comes. The recipe serves 8, but lets be honest, I have never met a man that eats less than 2 servings! And my 10 year old daughter easily eats 1 1/2 servings. So my opinion is it should be 8 servings but realistically, it feeds 6.

Without further ado I give you tonight's dinner recipe:

Li'l Cheddar Meat loaves:
1 egg
3/4 C. milk*
1 C. (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese*
1/2 C. quick cooking oats
1/2 C. chopped onion*
1 tsp. salt
1 lb lean ground beef*

Sauce:
2/3 C. chili sauce or ketchup
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard

In a bowl beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion and salt. Add beef and mix well. Shape into eight loaves; place in a greased 13x9 baking dish.

Next combine chili sauce or ketchup, brown sugar and mustard; Spoon over unbaked loaves.

Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

*On a side note, I make this using fat free cheese and milk and it still tastes great, I usually buy meet that is 97/3, but I have been known to substitute ground turkey as well. I have also substituted dehydrated onion when I didn't have a fresh one on hand, I would only use a bout 1/4 cup dehydrated onion as it expands.

Happy Eating!!!

Weekly Meal Plan 1-19 to 1-25

Okay so I already have failed, slightly, but I did do two posts yesterday. So here is our weekly meal plan, two days later than I will post it in the future. Promise.

1-19 Wednesday: Polynesian Meatballs
1-20 Thursday: Costco Ravioli, with ceaser salad, galic bread and green beans
1-21 Friday: Meatloaf and Sweet Potato Casserole and boiled carrots
1-22 Saturday: Eating out
1-23 Sunday: Russian Apricot Chicken, couscous, green beans
1-24 Monday: Homemade pizza and salad
1-25 Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Sandwich and oven baked fries (from this website here, it will be a new recipe for our family too).

I will link up all recipes as posted the night before and in the future I will link to previous entries if applicable as well

Happy Eating

Yummy Easy Cake!

Today is my daughters tenth birthday and we talked about all of the different types of cakes we could make our favorite chocolate zucchini cake, PW's Red Velvet cake, PW's Chocolate sheet cake, my husband's favorite mellow cake, applesauce cake, salted caramel chocolate cupcakes, yes the options are endless and well its cake, you just can't go wrong no matter what you choose!

Since its her 10th birthday I will admit I was tempted to make a different cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner and well dessert! One its a day to celebrate, two you only turn double digits once, and three I am too young to have a child in the double digits!!!

Well, sadly I restrained myself, my waistline and my husbands rage and settled for a yummy Easy Cake that we had not made in quite a while (we are talking years) but one we all really enjoy.

The recipe was originally given to me by my friend Alisha and was called Heath bar cake, but we make it with all different kinds of candy bars. Today we are making one with twix and one with snickers, one for our house and one for achievement day.

So with out further ado here is the moistest chocolate cake ever!

Heath Bar Cake:

Cake:

3 oz instant chocolate pudding mix
1 yellow cake mix
2 C. warm water
2 eggs

Frosting:
1/4 C. margarine, melted
1 C. powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
8 oz. cool whip
4 heath bars, crushed ( you can chop up a different kind of candy bar, but you may need more than 4)

Cake directions: Blend together pudding, cake mix, water and eggs. Pour into cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and passes toothpick test. Let cake cool.

Frosting directions: Mix together margarine, powdered sugar, and egg yolks. Fold in cool whip and frost cooled cake. Sprinkle with crushed candy bar. The cake will need to be refrigerated once frosted due to the cool whip and egg yolk.

Enjoy!

Polynesian Meatballs

This was the Birthday girls, birthday dinner request. Simple easy and pretty good. I got this recipe years ago in a Kraft foods magazine.

Polynesian Meatballs:

12.5 oz pkg Meatballs (frozen, don't thaw)
1/2 C. BBQ sauce
1 20 OZ can pineapple chunks in juice
2 C. green pepper, chopped
2 C. cooked brown rice

Mix BBQ sauce and pineapples with juice in a large skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Stir in green pepper and meatballs (still frozen). Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally or until vegetable are crisp tender, meatballs are heated through and sauce is thickened. I don't mind if the sauce isn't very thick because we just spoon it over the rice anyways.

Serve over brown rice and enjoy!

Calories-510
Fat- 24g
Fiber- 5g

Serves 4.

Happy Eating!

I'm repenting...

Okay so I've been a total blog slacker all around, my personal blog, craft blog and food blog, so I am repenting. I am going to start posting our family's weekly meal plan; our plan won't follow the traditional week, it will go from Wednesday to Tuesday, because Wednesday is my shopping day. I will post the weekly meal plan on Wednesday and then I will post the recipes the night before we will actually be eating them . I hope you enjoy some of our family favorites and maybe can find something new that your kiddos will enjoy. I do like to try new recipes a lot, so if it is one we haven't had before I will let you know when I post the recipe and I will come back and update my post after I have blogged to give the families opinion. Everyone's opinion the health nut, the picky eaters (warning they very seldom like the same thing, they have very different tastes), and myself the pretty easy to please.


Alright its out there now, my promise to be a better food blogger, that means I cannot take it back.

Happy Eating!