taco soup

 My philosophy for a great dinner is this: simple.  I love easy recipes.  Love.  This is a great soup to make on a cold day.  It's hearty, filling, healthy, spicy, and sooo easy.  All you have to have to make this,  you can see in the photo above.

 Taco Soup

1 bottle of V8

1 can of beans (your choice)

1 can of chili or ranch style beans

1 can of Rotel

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of corn

1 dry packet of ranch dressing

1 packet of taco seasoning

That's it.  Put it all in a soup pan and heat up.  It will be seasoned so perfectly, you won't have to add anything.  Actually, you might want to add some grilled chicken.  Most of the time we just make it vegetarian style though.  So good.

Spinach Manicotti

...one of my boyfriends favorite meals is manicotti.  I don't make it for him very often, because it's such a messy and fussy thing to make.  But it's winter.  And it sounded really REALLY good.  A nice warm Italian meal on a really cold day is so good.  The secret ingredient here is the nutmeg, which adds just enough balance to the bold tomato and garlic flavors in this dish.  I hope you guys like it as much as we did!

Spinach Manicotti

1 package of manicotti noodles
1 LG package of fresh spinach (about 6 cups)
2 C ricotta cheese (part skim)
1 egg
1/3 C shredded parmesan cheese
1 jar of Newman's Own marinara sauce
garlic, oregano, nutmeg, salt, pepper, olive oil, cooking spray, and basil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Dig out a large casserole dish.  Line the dish with your uncooked noodles in a single even layer to see how many fit in your pan (this is how many you will cook).  Fill a large pot with water, add olive oil and salt and bring to a boil.  Cook noodles to al dente (you don't want to cook them all the way because they will become hard to stuff and they will fall apart).  While your noodles are boiling, spray your casserole dish with cooking spray and sprinkle the pan with a light layer of oregano.  Meanwhile, pull out a large saute pan.  Wash and drain your spinach.  Fill your pan with as many spinach leaves as possible (they will reduce down while cooking, making more room for fresh leaves, which you can just throw on top of the wilted ones, stirring as they cook) and cook them on medium heat.  When the leaves are cooked, add your garlic ( I like to use the kind you can find minced in a can next to the fresh garlic in the produce section in the grocery store...just about half a tablespoon full), and reduce the liquid out of the leaves, draining if necessary.  Then take the spinach off the heat, and add your ricotta and parmesan cheeses, salt and pepper, egg, basil, and a light sprinkle of nutmeg.  Mix the spinach/cheese mixture and to make things easier for stuffing.....put it in a pastry bag with no tip, or a ziploc bag with a corner cut off to pipe your cheese mixture into your noodles.  Place your noodles in your greased casserole dish, and start piping a little cheese mixture into each noodle.  (Twist the end of your pastry bag to prevent mix from escaping out the top.  This is a messy meal to make!)  Wash the cheese off of your hands, and then pour your maranara sauce over the top of your noodles, and bake for 30 minutes.  Serve with some nice warm french bread, and this makes a fine filling and comforting winter meal.

oreo balls

Image found on Google image search.

A co-worker brought these treats into work for us to enjoy the other day, and enjoy we did!  I had never heard of such a thing until that day, and I have to say, they are completely amazing.  And really easy to make too!
 
Oreo Balls
1 package of Oreos
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (softened)
1 package of white chocolate bark
toothpicks

* Crush up your Oreos.  You can do this in a food processor or a Ziploc freezer bag with a hammer.  Mix together crushed Oreos with your softened cream cheese.  Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet (that will fit into your freezer) lined with parchment or wax paper.  Freeze the balls for a half hour.  Next, melt your white chocolate.  Pull out the Oreo balls and dip them into melted chocolate using a toothpick.  Place them back on your lined cookie sheet.  You could customize your balls by adding food coloring to your white chocolate, and/or using milk or dark chocolates, and/or sprinkles or candy bits.

These things are so cute, creative, and delicious.  They would be perfect to give as a gift, to bring to a holiday party, or just to enjoy yourself!!!

Keepsake Cookbook

For this Handmade Holidays post, I wanted to share with you a recipe scrapbook that my mom gave me for Christmas last year.  It was by far the best present ever!!!!!  She scrapbooked the first few pages, and the rest is filled with hand written family recipes.  It is the sweetest thing.  If you spend the time and put in the effort to make something creative, it will always be a better gift than anything money could buy.  Here is what it looks like....

She purchased a pretty recipe book with divided sections for different categories of food.  Then added scrapbook pages (in page protectors) and wrote in all the recipes.  My dad even wrote in a few too.  This would make a really special gift for your loved ones for the holidays.  You could also do the entire thing by hand, or look into your local copy shop to get something printed/bound.  Online photo shops like Snapfish offer photo books as well, which you could easily customize by adding in pictures of your drawings and hand written recipes....with photos too!!!  You should totally do this for Christmas this year...your family will be really proud.

egg on toast

One of the most simple & delicious breakfasts ever.  Toast a piece of bread, crack an egg into a pan of hot olive oil, cook til over-easy.  Put your egg on toast and sprinkle on some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper.  Devour.

weeknight brushetta

Weeknight Bruschetta

french baguette

can of diced tomatoes with onion and garlic flavor

fresh basil

shredded mozzarella cheese

olive oil

 Preheat oven to 350.  Slice baguette.  Pan grill bread slices in olive oil over medium high heat.  This will take a few minutes for each side.    Set bread slices aside.  Chop basil.  Drain tomatoes.  Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Arange slices of bread on cookie sheet.  Place a few tomatoes on each slice.  Sprinkle on basil and cheese.  Bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.


This was such a simple recipe to throw together, and it turned out to be a big hit.  Fresh tomatoes would make it better of course, but they aren't in season here yet, and I really don't like chopping tomatoes (too gooey).  We made pasta with a simple butter herb sauce too!  I just boiled mastacholi noodles (adding olive oil and sea salt to the water), then drained the noodles and returned them to pan, added fresh chopped herbs (basil, oregeno, rosemary, and sage) and a half a stick of butter, some shredded parmesan, a little more olive oil......bliss. 

This would also make a great date night meal, or a good appetizer for late night guests.  I would imagine it pairing well with a fresh salad, and some Riverboat Red. 

In like a lion...

out like a lamb.  Hopefully.  It's March first, and the first day of making healthier choices for the next 4 months.  Our whole family will be "spring cleaning", not only our home, but our minds, bodies, and attitudes as well.  We're all ready to be a little healthier.

The girls signed up for the walking school bus.  The program was supposed to start back up today, but the weather guidelines are pushing that start up back a little further.  We decided to walk anyway, which was fun and refreshing.  Until they started complaining about frozen hands and legs that wouldn't take them any further.  Then, while the crossing guard was helping us cross the street right before we hit school property, Lilly spilled her smoothie.  On her coat.  On her fleece jacket.  On her jeans.  And on her lunchbox.  yeah.  That was fun.  But it will be fun.  It will.  We'll get there.

I also decided that it was high time that I lost this baby weight for good!  My youngest baby is 6.  And a half.  It's time.  My goal is to lose 20 pounds in 4 months.  I am going to do this not by counting calories and being a slave to fitness, but by cooking my meals and using common sense.  The family will benefit from all the healthy home cooked yumminess too!  I will be walking every morning before work and school.  On my days off I'll do a workout video until the weather gets nice, and then I'll have much more options for exercise.  I will listen to my body when it is full.  When I feel an emotional eating binge coming on strong I will pause, practice deep breathing, and treat myself in a healthy way (like buying myself an unsweet tea instead of a box of hostess cupcakes).  I will treat myself like you would a child when it comes to eating.....small portions, lots of fruits and vegetables, hardly any processed junk, and a homemade cookie once an a while.  I will work harder to keep a clean house, which will minimize couch time.  After the 4 months is up, I'll probably continue to lose a few more pounds, tighten up the muscles, and work towards my dream body.  Well not my real dream body, but my near 30 had 2 kids body.

What I ate today:

•  1 c yoplait strawberry banana smoothie (found in the freezer section)
•  4 colby jack cheese cubes
•  2 two bite everthing bagel with cream cheese leftovers from the girls
•  chicken lunch meat on wheat bread with mustard 
•  apple slices
•  1/2 bag of m&m's (nobody's perfect)
•  a slice of french bread
•  beans & rice
•  1/2 c orange juice
•  1/2 baked peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

 

Roasted Peach Crisp

adapted from Cook Yourself Thin

2 peaches halved and pitted

honey

1 large egg white

2 pinches brown sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

dash of salt

1/4 c smashed up almonds

1/3 c instant oats

Preheat oven to 425.

Place peaches face up in glass baking dish.  Drizzle honey on top.  Put a tiny bit of water in the bottom of the pan.  Cook peaches for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the other ingredients in a bowl, then spread out on a small baking dish.  Place alongside peaches for the last 10 minutes of cooking time.

Break up cobbler and place over peaches, and of course top with vanilla ice cream. 

What did you eat today?

Lock Down French Toast

Ok. So I decided to declare Sundays French Toast Day.  My boyfriend LOVES french toast (sometimes more than me), and I love him so......I dug out and dusted off my Bitchin Kitchen cookbook and found this recipe for Lock Down French Toast and it looked simple enough, so I gave it a try.  The verdict- it may just become a once a week staple in our house.

The cookbook calles for a vanilla bean.  Let me just tell you that vanilla beans are expensive, and extremely hard to find.  I ended up paying $5 for 2 beans at Hy-Vee.  Sheesh!  But vanilla beans are really fun to work with (to get the beans out cut your vanilla bean lengthwise.  Scrape seeds out with your knife.  They look like coffee grounds and are really sticky so they clump together. Mix well to distribute in your mixture) , they smell amazing, and add great flavor so it was worth it.  They also add pretty homemade like flecks to the french toast.  My heart sank a little when I threw out the first empty vanilla bean shell ( 5 bucks, are you kidding me?!), so I googled things to do with an empty vanilla bean shell and I came up with this:  Vanilla Sugar.  Who wouldn't appreciate vanilla flavored sugar?!  And it's super easy to make.  Here's what you do.........

Vanilla Sugar

1 vanilla bean

2 cups of sugar

Dry empty vanilla bean shell on windowsill overnight.  Place sugar and vanilla bean in an airtight container.  Seal up and give it a good shake.  Put sugar container in a dark cupboard for 2 weeks, shaking occasionally.  Discard vanilla bean after the 2 weeks are up and voila!  Vanilla Sugar.