Manicotti

Manicotti ranks right up there on my all-time favorites list.  I got this recipe from my mom, who got it from her mom.  Definitely yummy!!  My family of 6 eats this all gone... so if your family is bigger, you'll probably have to double it... if your family is smaller, well you'll have some yummy leftovers!  :)

You can switch things up a little too and it will still be great.  Like the recipe calls for Italian sausage, but I forgot to grab that at the store, and just used 1 lb ground beef.  Still tasted the same!  :)


MANICOTTI

Manicotti Noodles

Sauce:
1lb gr beef

1lb sweet or mild sausage
3-6 cloves minced garlic
½ c chopped onion
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
2 jars sliced mushrooms (drained)
Chopped parsley
1tsp oregano
1tsp sage
1Tbsp salt
Pepper
¼ tsp thyme
1 bayleaf
2 Tbsp sugar

Filling:
1 container ricotta cheese

½ c parmesan
1 lb mozzarella
2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 beaten eggs
1tsp salt
Pepper



Brown meat in large pot with onion and garlic over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to low, add tomato sauces, then add mushrooms and spices.  Cover and simmer for 45 minutes- 1 hour.

Boil manicotti noodles according to package instructions.

Mix up the cheese filling.  Drain noodles and run under cool water.  Put 1/2 cup of meat sauce on the bottom of baking pan. (I use 13x9)  Stuff each noodle totally full with cheese, and place in pan.  Cover with remaining meat sauce.  Sprinkle cheese on top if you wish.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Oreo Balls

Oh my goodness these are SO yummy! Imagine the white chocolate covered Oreos, but instead of being crunchy in the middle (because the milk can't get to it! LOL), they are cake-like! Thank you to Rita for this recipe!! :)

OREO BALLS
1 package Oreos
8 oz cream cheese
1 bag white chocolate chips
Paraffin wax

Crush Oreos in food processor until they're very fine crumbles. Then mix with cream cheese. Roll into small truffle-sized balls. Chill until cold. (I stuck them in the freezer for 30 minutes)

Melt the white chocolate chips, and add a tiny bit of paraffin wax to help it set (optional). Dip oreo balls into chocolate, let set.


Enjoy!

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

I made this cake last night, and it's disgustingly goooooood! My dad never eats sugar, except when someone makes this cake, lol. :)

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!


Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

Crust:
1 box Chocolate Cake mix
1 egg
1 stick melted butter

• Mix and push into 9x13 inch pan.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
16 oz. powdered sugar (1 box)
2 Tbsp Cocoa
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

• Whip ingredients until fluffy
• Pour into pan over crust
• Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees

Mom's Dutch Apple Pie

Today marks the first day of fall! I was in the mood for something a little different than my normal chocolate chip cookies, and emailed my mom for her apple pie recipe. It is sooooo yummy!

Mom's Dutch Apple Pie
1C Sugar
1/2 C Flour
1tsp Nutmeg
1tsp Cinnamon
dash salt
8C sliced/chopped apples

Mix together in a large bowl

Crumb Topping:
1C Flour
1/2C Brown Sugar
1/2 C Softened Butter

Mix till crumbly Bake at 375 for 50-60 Minutes. Cover top with foil for 30 minutes to keep from burning.

You can use a store bought crust or use this easy recipe:

Easy Pie Crust:
2C sifted Flour
2tsp Sugar
1 1/4 tsp Salt
2/3 C oil
3Tbsp Milk

Mix dry. Mix oil and milk. Mix together. Push into pie plate.

So you have crust, then apples, then crumbly topping. :)

Chicken Tetrazzini and Chicken Enchiladas

This week I tried two new recipes, both of which my family loved! (That pretty much never happens, LOL)

Thanks to Jamie for posting these in her "Notes" on Facebook! :)

Chicken Tetrazzini (I doubled this for us, but this is the original recipe)
1 pkg (7 oz) thin spaghetti, broken in half
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
1 can cr of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/8 tsp ground mustard
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
Minced fresh parsley

Cook spaghetti according to pkg directions. Drain & place in a greased 11x7 baking dish. Top with chicken; set aside.
In a skillet, saute the onion in butter until tender. Whisk in the soup, milk, poultry seasoning, salt & pepper and mustard until blended. Stir in the cheddar cheese; cook & stir over medium heat until cheese is melted. Pour over chicken.
Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses (dish will be full).
Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 25-30 mins or until heated through and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with Parsley.

4-6 servings

Chicken Enchilada Casserole (The only thing Chris wanted added to this next time was jalapenos, because he wants it a bit more spicy. Otherwise he loved it!)

1 1/3 cup chicken broth
1 can green chiles
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup fat free sour cream
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
2 cans 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 pkg corn tortillas (at least 12 count)
4 cups cooked chicken (I boiled it and shredded in food processor)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Combine the 1st 9 ingredients and bring to a boil in a pan. Remove from heat. Spread a little of the soup mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Top with 6 tortillas. Sprinkle with chicken & cheese. Repeat Layers ending with cheese. Bake at 350 for about 35 mins.

Slow Cooker Recipes

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted! I've been busy every night working out... and I told myself I'd post before I went and worked out tonight. :)

Here are a few slow cooker recipes that we eat around here! (I've already posted my slow cooker chicken and dumplings recipe, the link is on the right side)

BBQ Beef Sandwiches
Take a roast, cook on low for 8 hours. When there is about 1 hour left, take roast out, shred, drain juice, put shredded roast back in and mix with your favorite BBQ sauce. Serve on buns.

Garlic Pork Roast
3 1/2 lb pork boneless loin roast
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 teaspoom salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 medium onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic
1 cup chicken broth

Heat oil in 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork in oil about 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place onion and garlic in slow cooker, place pork on top. Pour broth over pork.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.


Jambalaya (Chris loves this, but I do not like it, so it will depend on your taste, LOL)

1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups chopped fully cooked smoked sausage
1 TBSP parsley flakes
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce
3/4 lb uncooked peeled deveined medium shrimp
4 cups hot cooked rice, for serving

Mix all ingredients except shrimp and rice in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours.

Stir in shrimp. Cover and cook on low about 1 hour.

Serve with rice.



Those are the few slow cooker recipes I use... I need to find some more, I just haven't looked for those as much!

Coca Cola Cake

For Laila's birthday I baked a Coca Cola cake. It's YUMMMMY! Here's the recipe:

Coke Cake

1C Coke
1/2C oil
1 stick butter
3TBS cocoa
2C Sugar
2C flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1/2C Buttermilk
1tsp bkg Soda
1tsp Vanilla

In a saucepan bring Coke, oil, butter, and cocoa to a boil. Mix together sugar, flour, salt, and pour into liquid. Beat well. Add eggs, buttermilk, soda, and vanilla, Beat well. Pour into greased cake pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.


Frosting

1 stick butter
1/2 C cocoa
1/4 C Coke
3C powdered Sugar
1tsp vanilla
1/4C Hershey's syrup

Cream butter, add cocoa, vanilla, syrup, and Coke. Beat until smooth.
Add sugar a little at a time. Frost warm cake.

Cinnamon Roll Casserole

I told the kids earlier this week that we were going to start having "Special Saturday Breakfasts" to have something different and yummy to look forward to other than our normal eggs and OJ. :) This morning we had cinnamon roll casserole... a yummy treat I first tried when my mom made it Christmas morning! Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Roll Casserole
2 cans Crescent Rolls
2 Pkg Cream cheese softened
1 1/4 C Sugar- Divided
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 C Butter

Mix 1 C sugar and both cream cheeses. Add vanilla. Spread one can of crescent rolls in a 9X13 pan. Spread cream cheese mixture on top. Roll out 2nd can of rolls on top. Mix 1/4 C sugar with cinnamon (I add more cinnamon than 1tsp) Sprinkle on top. Melt butter and then pour on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.



It's not healthy at all, LOL, but it is very yummy!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm sitting here enjoying some of my yummy chocolate chip cookies, and since nothing interesting has been happening around here, I'll share my chocolate chip cookie recipe!

I'm always tweaking it to make it better and better, so here is the current recipe, (IF YOU CHANGE THE INGREDIENTS, IT WON'T BE THE SAME! LOL):

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup Crisco
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
3 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 bag Nestle mini chocolate chips

Mix Crisco and sugars until well mixed. Add eggs, beat well. Add milk and vanilla, then flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat for 3-5 minutes. Mix in chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are slightly browned on top.

Enjoy!

Dinner Tonight- Creamy Chicken Casserole

Tonight I made one of the recipes from http://www.kayotickitchen.com/

It was really yummy! Hubby liked it, which means I can make it again sometime, LOL.

Creamy Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
2oz bacon
1 pound potatoes
1 pkg chicken tenders
8 slices ham
8 slices cheese
2 cans cream of chicken soup
4 tbsp sour cream
black pepper
1/2 cup grated cheese

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400.

Peel the potatoes (about a pound), and cut them in 1/2 inch slices. Give them a good wash, and boil them until fork tender in lightly salted water.

Lightly grease an oven dish. Cover bottom with bacon.

Place one slice of cheese on top of one slice of ham, with one chicken strip on top. Make 8 rolls like this and place on top of bacon.

In separate bowl, mix soup, sour cream, and pepper. Layer 2/3 of soup mixture over chicken rolls. Layer potato slices on top of that, then add remaining soup mixture over the potatoes.

Sprinkle with shredded cheese, and cook for 45 minutes.

Dinner Tonight- Baked Spaghetti

Tonight we had baked spaghetti! I got this recipe from my Facebook friend, Jamie, and it was yummy! I used my meat sauce instead of adding a jar of sauce to meat, but you can make it either way! The buttery/parmesean mix added to the noodles is what makes it great! I used ground beef, and left out the cottage cheese because I'm not a cottage cheese fan. ;)

Baked Spaghetti

1 package (16 ounces) spaghetti
1 pound Italian Turkey Sausage or 1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jar (26 ounces) meatless spaghetti sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cups (16 ounces) 4% cottage cheese
4 cups (16 ounces) part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook meat and onion over medium heat until done; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and seasoned salt; set aside.In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, Parmesan cheese and butter. Drain spaghetti; add to egg mixture and toss to coat. Place half of the spaghetti mixture in a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Top with half of the cottage cheese, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. Cover and bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

YUM YUM!

Thanks to a post on MOMYS, I found a blog with some of the yummiest looking recipes I have ever seen!

http://www.kayotickitchen.com/

I'm glad I found this right as I was making my menu for the next two weeks! :)

Dinner Tonight- Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

Tonight we had slow cooker chicken and dumplings! Yum! It's a recipe I got from allrecipes.com. Here it is!

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.
Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 45 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

Dinner Tonight- Baked Ziti

Tonight we had baked ziti! This makes a lot, so you could either put it into two separate dishes and freeze one for later, or just make one dish and keep the leftovers. I just make one dish. Here's the recipe:

Baked Ziti

1/2 batch Lauren's Italian Meat Sauce (recipe on right hand side of page)
1 pkg. ziti pasta
8 oz shredded mozzarella
1 container ricotta
1 egg
Salt
Parsley
Grated parmesean

Cook ziti according to package. Meanwhile, heat meat sauce.

Mix ricotta, egg, 1 Tbsp salt and 1 Tbsp parsley in small bowl.

In a 9X13 baking dish, layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, ricotta mixture, 1/2 sauce, remaining 1/2 of the ziti, mozzarella, and then remaining sauce. Top with grated parmesean.

Cover with foil, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy! :)

Dinner Tonight- Ranch Chicken

Tonight we had ranch chicken, broccoli and cheese, and rice. The ranch chicken is easy to make and yummy! (And of course I double this recipe for my family, LOL)

RANCH CHICKEN

1 lb. chicken tenders
1 small bottle ranch dressing
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Coat chicken in ranch, then coat in Ritz crackers.
Place in greased pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Enjoy! :)

Lauren's Italian Meat Sauce

I'm going to share my recipe for meat sauce that I use for everything Italian... including spaghetti, manicotti, baked ziti, lasagna, etc. That way I can link back to this sauce recipe when I write out my other Italian recipes!

One batch of this can be used for two Italian meals, so you can stick half of this in the fridge/freezer for later use. :)

1 lb Sweet Italian sausage
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste
1 (12 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley


In a large pot, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium high heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. (It can be cooked for less time, but 1 hour is best to let all the seasonings marinate!)

Dinner Tonight- Chicken Alfredo Pasta and No Bake Cookies

Tonight we had chicken alfredo pasta and no bake cookies for dessert.

The chicken alfredo is easy peasy, since I don't make my own alfredo sauce (At least, not YET!!). I just grilled some chicken breasts seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, basil, and oregano, cooked some angel hair and warmed up 2 jars of the Bertolli mushroom alfredo. Cut up the chicken, and throw it all together, and it's YUM!

Then I made no bake cookies for dessert. I'm sure everyone on earth has the recipe already, but just in case you DON'T:

4 Tbsp. cocoa
2 C sugar
1 stick butter
½ c evaporated milk

Bring these to a strong boil.

Remove from heat, then add:
1 tsp vanilla
3 C oats
½ C peanut butter

Spoon onto wax paper and let dry.

Dinner Tonight- Taco Salad!

We had taco salad tonight for dinner. It's a quick and easy dinner to whip up! It's great for cooking, when you don't feel like cooking. :) Here's the recipe: (I double it for our family)

1 lb gr beef
Chopped onion
Small bottle of Catalina dressing
Chili powder
Salt
Doritos
Shredded cheddar
Optional toppings (black olives, lettuce, tomato, salsa, sour cream, etc.)

Brown ground beef with chopped onion. (sometimes I add 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic). Drain off fat. Add 1/2 bottle of Catalina dressing. Add 2-3 Tbsps of chili powder, depending on how spicy you like it. Add some salt and let cook on med/low for 15 minutes. Chop up some lettuce and grate some cheese, and serve with plain Doritos!!! Add toppings of your choice.

Here's Royce chowing down: