Pizza Pasta

Sorry for another pasta recipe, but its a good one!!!! This recipe makes a lot, just a warning! :)
recipe adapted from here




Pizza Pasta


1 lb. rotini pasta, cooked and drained
1 (5 oz.) package Pepperoni minis (found right next to the rest of the pepperoni in the refrigerated section)
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (or however much you like)
1 medium tomato (or 2 roma) diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 can sliced ripe olives, drained
1 T parsley flakes
3/4 c prepared Italian dressing

In a large bowl, combine pasta, pepperoni, cheese, tomato, bell pepper, and olives. Toss in salad dressing. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for 1-2 hours if you like pasta salad cold.

Lemon Drop Cookies

Lemon Drop Cookies

source here... of course :)

2 c. sugar

1 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening (I never use shortening, so I used butter and it worked great)

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. lemon extract

4 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Finely chopped zest of one lemon

1 (6-oz) package lemon drops (hard candies)

2 c. powdered sugar

juice of two lemons

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In mixing bowl, cream sugar, shortening, and eggs; add flavorings. Stir in dry ingredients, lemon zest, and crushed lemon drops (crush them in the blender). Roll into balls, flatten slightly, and bake on parchment lined (if you don't use parchment, cookies will stick to pan) baking sheet for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool slightly on pan for a couple of minutes. Make a glaze by mixing powdered sugar with lemon juice. Brush glaze over cookie tops. Let cookies cool completely.

makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies.

Pasta Taco Salad

again... another beauty from See Jane Cook
meatless, perfect for summer (yay for not having to turn on the oven), and so tasty!




Pasta Taco Salad

1 pound pasta (bowtie, wagonwheel or spiral)
salt
1 (10-ounce) package frozen corn
1½ cups salsa (I reccomend making this and using it, I make up a batch every Saturday and never buy jarred salsa anymore after finding it)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 roma tomatoes, diced
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 large avocado, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup olive oil

1. Cook pasta according to package directions with 1 Tablespoon of salt. Drain pasta and stir the corn in frozen to cool pasta and defrost corn. Toss the pasta with salsa then the beans, tomatoes, cilantro, and cheese.

2. Toss the avacado with the lime juice, remove avacado and add to pasta. With remaining lime juice, add spices, garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt, then slowly whisk in the oil. (I also added some taco seasoning in this dressing). Add dressing to pasta. Serve immediately. Stays well for up to 1 day in fridge, longer if you keep the avacado separate.



source found here

Sugar Cookies

2 cups butter (not margarine)
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons (1 Tbsp.) baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

-makes about 8 dozen 3” cookies

in a large bowl cream butter and sugar at least 5 min. until mixture is a pail yellow. add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each. add vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. add to butter mixture, 1 cup at a time. when all is thoroughly mixed and dough cleans the side of the bowl, wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill. roll dough to ¼ inch depth and cut into desired shapes. bake at 350 for 9-11 min. Let cool 5 min. on baking sheets then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Mexican Crockpot Chicken

4 chicken breasts (thawed)

1 16 oz. jar salsa

1 can black beans (rinsed)

1 can corn

1 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

Layer first four ingredients in the crock pot.  Cook on high for 3 1/2 hours.  At this time, shred the chicken.  Place the cream cheese over top and cook for 1/2 hour more.  Stir and serve spooned into tortillas.

Swiss Chicken

Another easy one!

Swiss Chicken

4 chicken breasts
6-8 slices of Swiss cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken)
1 cup milk (or sour cream for a thicker sauce)
1 box chicken stuffing
1/4 cup butter, melted

Pound the chicken to even out the thickness. Place chicken in a 9x13 dish. Top chicken with cheese slices. Mix can of soup and milk together. Pour over chicken. Top with stuffing. Drizzle stuffing with melted butter. Cover with foil and cook at 350* for 45 minutes. Remove foil, then return to oven and bake for another 5-10 minutes.


Recipe found here and here.

No Bake Cookies

I always have a hard time with different recipes for this, but this one is perfect! I usually can't get them to set very well, but these set up perfectly!! Just make sure to follow the directions carefully!


1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 Tablespoons cocoa
3 cups quick cooking oats
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring butter, sugar, milk, and cocoa to a boil for one minute. To make sure cookies set up properly wait until mixture comes to a complete FULL boil and then start the timer for one minute. Remove from heat.

Add peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Stir well and drop spoonfuls onto waxed paper or parchment paper. Let them set up and cool.

Makes 18 cookies.

Cheesy Mexican Chicken

Prep time: 15 mins

Total time: 55 mins

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:

-6 sm. Boneless skinless chicken breast havles

-1 can cream of chicken soup

-1 & 1/2 C. cheddar cheese

-1/2 C. milk

-1 pkg. taco seasoning mix

-2 C. Fritos corn chips

-4 & 1/2 C. cooked rice

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 375°F. Place chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish.

-Mix soup, 1 cup of the cheese, milk, and seasoning mix until well blended; spoon over chicken. Top with chips; cover.

-Bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake, uncovered, an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

-Serve over rice.

A few things I did differently:

-Used chicken tenderloins because that is what I had on hand.

-Added a 1/2 C. salsa to the mixture before pouring it over chicken.

-Served it over Mexican rice instead of white rice. 

-Topped it with a little lettuce, tomato, and sour cream; delish!

Original recipe can be found here.

Hawaiian Haystacks

Another recipe I'm sure all of you girls have, just didn't want to forget one of my most favorite dinner recipes EVER!

2 (10 3/4 oz) cans cream of chicken soup
1 c. chicken broth
2 c. cubed cooked chicken
4 c. cooked long grain rice
1 (9 1/2 oz.) can chow mein noodles (the dry crispy ones- La Choy brand makes them- in the asian section)
3 medium tomatoes, cubed
1/2 c. green bell pepper, cubed (i also use red, yellow, and orange bell peppers sometimes too)
1 c. sliced celery ( we never use this, but we dont like celery)
1/2 c. green onion, sliced thinly
1 (20 oz) can pineapple chunks, drained
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
1/2 c slivered almonds (we also dont really use this)
1/2 c. shredded coconut


Combine soup and chicken broth in medium saucepan to make gravy. Stir to blend. Add chicken. Simmer about 8 to 10 minutes until heated through. Layer rice then gravy, cheese, and chow mein noodles. Add tomatoes, celery, green pepper, and green onions. Top this with pineapple chunks. Sprinkle almonds, coconut, and peppers.

Obviously you can top it in whatever order you would like it though!
Enjoy!

Mexican Rice

1 cup long grain rice
2 TBS olive oil
1 small can tomato juice
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cumin

Heat oil in skillet and saute rice until a light tan color. Add cumin, garlic, tomato juice and broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Find recipe over at The Sisters Cafe

Taco Soup

This is super easy and quick to throw together last minute.

1 lb. ground beef or turkey (I always use turkey bc it's just healthier than red meat, and it tastes really good)
2 pkgs. taco seasoning (or 1/4 cup)
1 can pinto beans
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 can corn


Put raw meat and taco seasoning in skillet and brown. (Sometimes I add a little amount of water since the meat is really lean). Open cans and DO NOT DRAIN. Pour cans into large pot. Once the meat is browned and ready, add it to the pot. Heat all ingredients to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes. We like to eat it with tortilla chips and/or shredded mexican cheese on top.
Sorry there is no picture. I'll have to take one next time I make this.

Super easy Pot Roast

I'm sure most of you girls know this recipe like the back of your hand, but just in case you don't, I decided to post it. It's the easiest thing out there and it's so yummy! And just like your mom makes it for Sunday dinner!


1 rump roast (2-3lbs-depending on the size of your crockpot-mine is small- like 3qt size, and how many people you are feeding, you can buy a bigger roast. I usually buy a 2.5lb one and that is enough for the 3 of us, plus PLENTY for left overs.)
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3-4 big handfuls of baby carrots
4-5 potatoes, cut into quarters


Then, you basically just dump it all in, and cook on low all day (6-8 hours) until the meat is done! Turn it off when it is done cooking, to let the sauce/gravy thicken up before serving.

Mostaccioli

Alfredo Sauce:

1/2 cup butter

3 oz cream cheese

1 pint heavy cream

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

1 lb. mostaccioli or other tubular pasta (penne is fine)

1 jar meatless spaghetti sauce

2 cups of mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat. Mix in the cream cheese. Stir in the cream and garlic powder. Increase the heat and bring to a boil. Decrease to simmer, stirring often while you cook the pasta.

3. Cook pasta according to package directions.

4. Add parmesan cheese to sauce stirring until melted.

5. In a 9X13 inch pan layer noodles, spaghetti sauce and alfredo sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese.

6. Cover and bake about 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly

Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/8 t salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease loaf pan

2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add sugar and butter and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix on low about 1 min.

3. Mix in a bowl, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the banana mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon just until combined.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake 60-70 min. until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean but not dry. Let cool in pan 10 min.

Brownie Trifle

1 Lg container or Cool Whip
1 Family size pkg. of Chocolate Pudding prepared
1 box of Brownies prepared
1 bag of Health Bits or just crush up a few Skor/Heath bars

Layer in a trifle bowl 1/2 the brownies on bottom. Cut the brownies in 1 inch by 1 inch squares. Then add 1/2 the Chocolate pudding and 1/2 the Cool Whip. Add a layer or Heath bits. Then repeat, brownies, pudding, cool whip heath bits. Let it chill for a couple hours before serving.

Chicken Tacos

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts {2-4}
1 packet of taco seasoning
1-2 cans of chicken broth {depending on how much chicken}

Combine all 3 ingredients in crock pot. Then cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Spoon chicken into warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, olives, {and whatever else you please!}. I always make Mexican rice when we have this because my husband likes to put that in his tacos too.

{Sorry, no picture. But, this is SO yummy...trust me!}

Cranberry Chicken

This is a favorite at our house and is SO easy and fast to make.

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts {2-4}
1 medium bottle of french salad dressing
1 can whole cranberries
1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix

-Place frozen chicken breasts in 9x13 glass pan.
-Pour french dressing all over chicken {sometimes I use the whole bottle, sometimes I don't, it just depends on how many chicken breasts I am cooking}.
-Sprinkle soup mix all over.
-Scoop cranberries all over.
-Cook @ 350 degrees for 1 hour.
-Serve over rice.

'Germans' aka German Pancakes

-Place 1/2 stick margarine {or butter} in glass 9x13 pan, put in oven while it is preheating so margarine melts...

-In large mixing bowl:

6 eggs

1 c. flour

1 c. milk

1/2 tsp. salt

-Mix until smooth and then pour into pan.

-Bake @ 400 degrees for 20 mins.

-Top with powdered sugar, syrup, or jam! 

{We like a to squirt a little lemon juice on ours and then top with powdered sugar. So yummy!}

The BEST Sugar Cookies!!

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a mixer bowl, cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts (i always add more vanilla). Mix flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Roll out dough for cookies about 1/2 in thick (the thicker the better!!) and use cookie cutters for design. Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use. Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Makes about 2 dozen cookies. I always use a homemade cream cheese frosting. ENJOY!!

Homemade Pizza Dough

1 pkg. of Active Dry Yeast

1 c. Warm water (115 degrees)

1 1/2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp. Granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 1/2 c. White Flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow to rest 5 minutes. Add all other ingredients except last cup of white flour. Add water mixture to dry mixture. Knead remaining flour into dough for 5 minutes. (The dough will be smooth and elastic).

Cover pizza dough and allow to rise in a warm draft free place till doubled (about an hour). Spray one 14 inch pizza pan or two 10 inch pizza pans. (I put mine on a cookie sheet that has sides, it fills the pan nicely) Stretch pizza to fit. Top with desired toppings.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Bake until cheese is melted and crust browned (roughly 10 minutes). Enjoy!