Everybody Loves Lasagna

I know what you're thinking... Lasagna's hard! What with the pre-cooking the noodles and all that jazz. Never fear.. the World's easiest Lasagna is here!! I learned this at a church activity a few years ago and it has been one of my favorites ever since.

World's Easiest Lasagna
1 Lb. hamburger
8 oz. noodles
1 cup cottage cheese
32 oz. spaghetti sauce
1 cup water (Somestimes I use more like 1/2 if I make my own sauce)
2 1/2 cup shredded cheese

Brown hamburger. mix together spaghetti sauce, water, cottage cheese, and hamburger. Layer noodles,meat mixture, cheese as many times as desired. Cover with tin foil and bake at 375 for one hour.

If you want to make this as painless as possible, you can buy some Prego or Ragu or whatever kind of pre-made spaghetti sauce your heart desires. If you're feeling a little adventurous.. Make your own sauce! I usually use 2ish cans of tomato sauce (i want to say like 5-8 ounces or something?), a can of diced tomatoes, and some tomato paste. From there, season with Italian seasoning, basil, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. If you don't have all those herbs, no worries!! Using onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper do a surprising amount of good. If you don't have any of those, I would HIGHLY recommend getting those and AT LEAST some italian seasoning. They are all really good to have =] Also, here's a little tip. If you feel like you just can't get that tomatoey edge to go away, add a little bit of sugar. But there's tomato sauce in a nut shell! Just try it! I promise it's not too scary. 

On top of that, you can buy a container of Ricotta and put that on top of the noodles before you put the meat sauce mixture on. I'm not a huge Ricotta fan, so I usually just stick to the Cottage Cheese. 

Toss some garlic bread and a green salad or frozen veggies with it, and you have a great meal! One of my favorites. If you've never made garlic bread before, you have to try sometime! It really is delicious.

Garlic Bread

1 loaf french bread (You can usually buy these from a grocery store for like a buck)

3-4 tablespoons butter

Garlic powder or Minced Garlic

Parsley

I buy the garlic that is freshly minced and comes in a little jar you can refrigerate. If you want to go that route, melt the butter in a frying pan with about 1 tsp of the garlic. Once the butter is all melted and starts to turn brown, spoon it onto half of the loaf and mix it around so it is somewhat even. If you'd rather use garlic powder, melt the butter, spoon onto the half, and sprinkle garlic powder on top of all that. Sprinkle parsley evenly on top.

Turn the oven on to broil and put the bread on the middle rack on a flat sheet. This is where it gets tricky... I can't tell you how many times I've burned my garlic bread because it really only takes like 1-2 minutes. I have learned I have to just wait by the oven or else I'll forget to take it out and burn it and spend the next 5 minutes scraping black off while my husband tells me it's still edible...

Voila! Lasagna and Garlic bread. Enjoy!

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!!

Salsa Sheekun

Salsa Crockpot Chicken

2-4 chicken breasts (depending on the size. I use 2 normal size for Parker and I)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 package taco seasoning (The stuff I have is kind of strong, so I didn't use the full package)

1 cup salsa (you decide the spice level!)

1 cup sour cream

1. Put thawed chicken in your crockpot along with the CoC soup, taco seasoning, and salsa.

2. Cook on high for 3 hours, or low for 8 hours.

3. When cooked, shred chicken (it will pretty much fall apart) and add sour cream until it melts. 

4. Stir!

5. Serve over rice.

Thanks to Whitney Garcia a fellow DC wife for sharing. Not only did she give me the recipe, she let me use her crockpot! SUPER yummy =] 

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!!

Kiss Cookies

Peanut Butter Blossoms (AKA... Kiss cookies!)

 

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (185 grams) peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

1/3 cup (70 grams) light brown sugar

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Coating (optional):

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until creamy and smooth. 

2. Add the peanut butter and sugars and beat until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). 

3. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Beat in the milk. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat until incorporated. 

4. Cover and chill the batter for about an hour, or until firm enough to roll into balls.

5.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. 

6. Roll the batter into 1 inch (2.5) round balls. If desired, place the granulated white sugar in a shallow bowl and roll each ball in the sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.

 7.Bake the cookies for about 8 - 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned. Immediately upon removing the cookies from the oven, place an unwrapped Chocolate Kiss into the center of each cookie, pressing down gently until the cookie just starts to crack. Cool completely on a wire rack. 

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Thanks to Joy of Baking.com where I found this yummy recipe!! A few modifications... I didn't cool the batter at all and they turned out quite delicious. Also, the sugar coating is really not optional. =] If you want a little variation, I used hugs instead of kisses and it was HEAVENLY! In my oven 7 minutes was about perfect, but you'll have to decide what time is for yours =] Enjoy!

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!

Ground Beef, Meet loaf

Now I know not everyone is a meatloaf fan... but in case your families are saying, "enough with the chicken!" Give this a try =]

Meatloaf

1 lb. ground beef/turkey (if I can, I use turkey or half/half)

1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 c. ketchup

1/2 c. diced onion (or you can just used minced. I do that a lot if I don't have fresh, you don't need as much when it's dried tho, so check the conversion on the spice thing)

salt (to taste)

1 c. cracker crumbs

1 egg

Mix it all together, bake uncovered at 350. How long you'll need to bake it depends on the dish you put it in. If it's only about an inch thick, 20 minutes will probably do you  fine. The thicker it is, the longer it'll take. I baked mine in a glass dish.

Thanks Becca Teats for this! When I get back to a normal kitchen filled with all my normal ingredients and appliances, I am looking forward to trying this one out!

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!

Cereal Cake

After all that, you're probably ready for some dessert now right? Can you ever go wrong with dessert? Nope. Can you ever go wrong with CHOCOLATE dessert? Definitely not. This recipe puts two of my favorite things together.... Chocolate, and cereal!

Chocolate Crispy Cake

4 oz semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces (ummm, sounds like chocolate chips to me!)
2 T. butter or margarine
1 bag (10.5 ounces) miniature marshmallows
6 c. crispy rice cereal
1 c. salted dry-roasted peanuts (I sometimes leave these out and it's no big deal)
1 c. M&Ms mini baking bits

1. Spray a Bundt pan (or 9x13) with cooking spray. Pre-measure your marshmallows, rice cereal and M&Ms.
2. In large bowl, heat chocolate and butter in microwave on High 30 seconds. Stir. Heat for another 30 seconds. Remove from microwave; stir chocolate mixture until melted and smooth. Add marshmallows to mixture. Heat in mirowave on High 1 minute longer; stir until marshmallows are melted and mixture is smooth.
3. Add cereal, peanuts, and M&Ms to chocolate mixture. Stir until all ingredients are coated and mixture is well combined.
4. Transfer cereal mixture to prepared pan, pressing mixture down with fingertips. Let stand at least 1 hour to set chocolate. (In warm weather, refrigerate to set cake). I also recommend you pick the scraps off the bowl...chef's privilege...
5. Cut into slices to serve. Store in covered container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Thank you Cori Staples for sharing! Can't wait to make this one. Now to find a Bu... a boon... a boot... a cake pan!! (anyone catch that "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" Reference?) =] 

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!

Fajitas

Are you sick of rice yet? How about some tortillas to tingle your taste buds? 

Easy Fajitas

1 packet taco seasoning

1 green pepper

1/2 onion

1 red pepper

2-3 chicken breasts (again, this varies on your preferences. I like more veggies, less meat)

olive oil

water

Tortillas (the number you'll need will vary on the size you buy)

toppings: (suggestions)

sour cream

cheese

guacamole

salsa

Directions:

1. Cut the chicken into strips. The faster you you need them to cook, the thinner you should cut them. Great thing is that strips will cook pretty quick even if they're half frozen!

2. While your chicken is cooking, cut the peppers and onions into strips.

3. Take the chicken out of the pan and set aside. Add the peppers and onions to the pan with a little bit of water.

4. When the veggies are ready  (read as: close to whatever crunchiness you like them) add about a 3/4c - 1c of water (depends on how much sauce you want. I'd start w/ less because it's easy to add more) and add the taco seasoning mix. Stir it and add the chicken back in. Thoroughly coat all the veggies and chicken. 

5. Cook until everything is at the done-ness you like. If the sauce is too thick, add water. Too thin, add ultra gel.

Thanks for sharing Becca Teats! I have yet to try this one... I'm holding out for some garden peppers that aren't highway robbery to buy! =] 

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!

Italian Chicken and Rice

Italian Chicken and Rice

8 oz cream cheese, cut into cubes

1 can cream of (whatever) soup - i prefer mushroom for this, but cream of ANYTHING works, so get whatever is cheapest

1 envelope italian dressing seasoning mix

4 small chicken breasts (or 2 huge ones... just use your best judgement. You can add more chicken if you want it meatier, or less if you're at the end of the bag and just eat more rice w/ the sauce)

1.Add it all into the crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours. 2.Stir occasionally to mix it up. You can also do it on low for 8 hours if you're going to be gone for awhile.

3. Serve over rice.

Thank you Becca Teats for sharing this lovely one! It was easy, tasty, and different from anything else I've made =] 

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!

Chicken and Rice

CHICKEN AND RICE

one can cream of chicken soup
one envelope onion soup mix
2 chicken breasts

Pop those in a crock pot on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours.
Then serve on top of rice (maybe like 2 cups cooked).  Suuuuper
complicated, right?

Now don't panic if you don't have onion soup mix! Good eats to the rescue =]

ONION SOUP MIX (modified from "Make-a-mix" by Eliason, Harward, & Westover)

4 tsp beef bullion
8 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp onion powder

Thank you Amy Christensen for sharing this lovely gem! I made it and Parker came home and said how delicious it smelled.... and tasted =] 

--Eat well, eat good, good eats!