Creamy Baked Ziti

This is another recipe from the Kraft Food & Family Holiday 2010 magazine. It was so yummy. It's similar to a few other recipes I have but each one is slightly different and I thought this was so good.

Ingredients:
4 cups Zita pasta, uncooked
1 jar marinara sauce (The recipe calls for 26 oz but the jar I used was only something like 16 oz and was plenty)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained (I drained mine slightly)
6 oz Cream Cheese cubed (I used the entire 8 oz brick because I didn't want to waste it)
3/4 cup Sour Cream
1 pkg (8 oz) Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 375.
Cook pasta in large saucepan as directed on package, omitting salt. Remove from pan; drain. Meanwhile, add marinara sauce, tomatoes and cream cheese to same pan; cook on medium heat 5 minutes or until cream cheese is melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently. Return pasta to pan and mix well.
Layer half the pasta mixture in 13X9 inch baking dish; cover with layers of sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella and remaining pasta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
Bake 20 minutes or until heated through.

I made my Magelbys rolls to have with this. Would also be good with salad.

Cheesy Scrambled Eggs

this is not a fancy recipe or anything. Ever since Karson was little, we knew he was going to be small in size. At four he's finally on the charts at .24 percentile. We had been told early on to calorie pack all of his food. I came up with this for scrambled eggs and he loves them. Now I need to search for the Magelby's syrup recipe and we'll have a yummy breakfast.

I mix the eggs, a little bit of milk and salt in a bowl then pour it in the pan. I cook the eggs for a bit before adding cream cheese. You can add as much or as little as you like. After the cream cheese is all melted I add regular cheese. They are super cheesy but so good. I like them with little ham pieces added in also.

Five Mexican Dip

I got this recipe from the Kraft Foods Food & Family Holiday 2010 issue. We had it for lunch today and it was super.

Ingredients
1/2 lb (8 oz) Velveeta cheese, cut into pieces
4 oz cream cheese
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tomato, chopped (I didn't have any tomatoes so I just used canned, diced tomatoes)

Directions
Combine all ingredients except tomatoes in microwaveable bowl (I actually made it on the stove)
Microwave on high 4 minutes or until Velveeta and cream cheese are melted and mixture is well blended, stirring every 2 minutes.
Stir in tomatoes. Serve warm with tortilla chips.
Tip: keep tortilla chips in a slow cooker set on low for warm chips
Also, I'm sure this could be made in a crock pot if you were to take it to a party or something.

Turtle Tassies

Another recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog. Click HERE for a link to her pictures because hers look amazing. My three favorite things are sugar cookies, chocolate and caramel so what could be better than these. Instead of bringing gifts to everyone at work, we all just bring treats through out the month of December. I saw these and wanted to bring them but I wanted to try them first. They are so good! Mine look horrible compared to hers but I could eat the whole pan. I promise you'll love these too.

Turtle Tassies
Source: Betty Crocker

1 Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix (I only had refrigerated sugar cookie dough so that's what I used. I'm sure it doesn't matter either way)
butter and egg called for on the pouch
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate instead)
2 (14 ounce) bags caramels, unwrapped (I'm thinking of trying my 6 minute microwavable caramel next time)
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I didn't have pecans but I don't like them anyway so I just left them off)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Make dough according to package directions. Make 36 (1-inch) balls. Press each ball into a the bottom of each mini muffin cup and press up the sides.

Bake 8-9 minutes or until edges just start to brown. Meanwhile in a small saucepan place unwrapped caramels and cream and heat until melted. Reduce heat to low.

Remove pans from oven. Using the back of wooden spoon press down the sides and bottom of each cup to flatten being careful not to make holes. (I accidentally skipped this step, not on purpose, maybe that's why mine look so funny.)

Bake for 2 minutes more. Remove from oven and immediately place 4-5 chocolate chips in each cup. (and oops I missed this too. Man I must have been in a hurry)

Spoon about 1 Tablespoon of caramel into each cup and immediately top with pecans and slightly press them down. Cool for five minutes then remove with narrow spatula or a knife.

Makes 36 turtle tassies.

Colorful Chicken Alfredo

This recipe came from HERE. I've always loved Alfredo sauce. Usually though I think of it with chicken and broccoli. Not green and red peppers. But, her picture, which is much better looking than mine, enticed me to try this. I loved it! I swear recipe blogs are making me lose sleep at night. I have a million things I want to try, but not enough days in the week. I have discovered a new love for cooking. Really, I love cooking. So I just copied her recipe but I added a few notes to the side of things I did differently. This took more time, and dishes, than most things I cook since I prefer simple. But, it was easy and so worth it. Karson told me the peppers were stinky. Not surprising. I dished his up with no peppers and he ate every thing I put on his plate.

Colorful Chicken Alfredo

2-3 chicken breasts, baked and then chopped into bite size pieces (I actually only used 1 large one and it was plenty)

1 quart water
1/2 pound of bowtie or farfalle noodles (or whatever else)
1 tbs salt

1/2 cup canned chicken broth
3 tbs butter
1 cup half and half (I didn't have this so I used 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup whipping cream)
1 clove garlic, minced (I used granulated garlic. I didn't measure if I had to guess maybe 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used what was left of my bag, probably closer to 1 cup)
1 tsp salt and pepper each

1 tbs butter
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1/4 cup chicken broth

Heat oven to 375 degrees. On a foil lined baking sheet, place your chicken breasts on top and bake for 35 minutes. When done baking, set aside and when cool enough to handle, chop into bite size pieces. (I also boiled my chicken instead of baking it. I've never mastered baking chicken. It always comes out way to dry so I boil instead.)

Boil bowtie noodles in a large pot with the 1 quart water and 1 tbs salt. Boil for 11 minutes (or according to their package directions) When noodles are done boiling, drain and place back in pot and cover with a lid to keep noodles from drying out until their ready to be added to sauce.

(While the noodles are boiling start on the sauce). In a small saucepan, heat the 1/2 cup chicken broth and 3 tbs butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add 1 cup half and half, 1 clove garlic and 1/2 tsp salt and pepper each. Stir to combine, then slowly whisk in the 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Let simmer on low heat and whisk occasionally.

Slice both bell peppers into small pieces. Pour 1/4 cup chicken broth and 1 tbs butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Then saute bell peppers in butter and broth for about 6-8 minutes. Add in the chopped chicken pieces. Season with salt and pepper and stir to mix well. Turn heat down to low and now add your Alfredo mixture. Stir to combine and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the noodles to sauce and mix well! Place on plates and enjoy every heavenly bite with some garlic bread (or try my recipe for Magelbys rolls) or a side salad :) YUM!!

Chocolate Dipped Oreos

Yes that is a picture of a half eaten Oreo. Beautiful, not. Don't be surprised, or disappointed, if this is what you receive from us for Christmas this year. They look horrible, but trust me they taste delightful. I was excited to find Oreo's with red cream inside. My first few batches looked pretty good, but the more I did, the worse they looked. I don't know if my chocolate got to hot or the house was to cold so they went from hot to cold to fast. Who knows but they still taste good. I was actually going to add sucker sticks and make a cute little bouquet, but I got lazy so I just threw them in a tin or a bag. I also bought different colors of chocolate pieces to drizzle on top, but again, to lazy.

Directions

I bought the baking pieces that you can find at any craft or candy store. I also used my double broiler, which was nice because it kept the chocolate melted. If you don't have a double broiler, you can just melt the pieces in the microwave. It just takes longer that way. Just cover with chocolate then let dry on wax paper.

Chicken & Rice Casserole

This isn't going to give much detail but maybe when I perfect it I'll fix it. My friend made this for me awhile ago and Karson ate a lot so I've been wanting to try it. But, she doesn't use a recipe so I got what was in it from her and guessed. I used canned chicken and now that I've been cooking a lot more than I used to I've decided I no longer like canned chicken so I won't do that again. Karson ate all his rice but he picked out the chicken. This is similar to Hawaiian haystacks, which we eat often. I think I need to tweak this a little because my friends was much better than mine, but I still liked it a lot.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream

a little bit of milk

Parmesan cheese

croutons (my friend makes her own. Maybe someday I'll try that, or not.)

salt

pepper

Directions

Cook rice. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. I mixed in some Parmesan cheese. I don't know how much I used. I also poured some on top along with the croutons. I cooked it on 350 for about 35 minutes. It's good served with cesar salad. If you can eat salad that is, because I can't :(

Candied Yams ~ Sweet Potatoes

I never liked yams until a few years ago. Kyle's sister makes the best ones with pecans on top. I hate pecans so I'm not sure why I fell in love with her Yams, but I did. Then I discovered Texas Roadhouse and I will go there and eat salad, rolls and a loaded sweet potato and I love it. I found several similar recipes online and combined them to come up with this. I used a recipe from all recipes and one from cooks.com plus guessed a little. They tasted yummy. I had to force Karson to eat just 1 and he was gagging with every bite. Funny, pretty much the only baby food he'd eat when he was a baby were sweet potatoes.

Ingredients
4 large sweet potatoes
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup butter (I used 5 tsp of butter instead of 4)
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups mini marshmallows

Directions
Boil water, add salt, white sugar, and potatoes. Boil until tender, probably about 30 minutes. I put them in before I peeled them. After cooking peel potatoes and slice into approx 2 inch slices and cover bottom of baking dish. Slice butter into small pieces and spread over the potatoes. Sprinkle brown sugar then marshmallows. I may have used to many marshmallows because they didn't brown like they should, but they tasted yummy so I'll probably use that many again.

The recipe I found said to cook for 20 minutes then add marshmallows and cook until the marshmallows are melted. I put everything on, including the marshmallows and cooked for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. I think they turned out fine this way.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits ~ Red Lobster Biscuits

Once again from The Girl Who Ate Everything blog...I think I needed more butter glaze or more butter mixed in, but these were so good. A little more time consuming than the Magelbys rolls recipe I've posted before, but these are so good.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits
by LettucePray

Biscuits:
2 1/2 cups Bisquick
4 Tbsp cold butter
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Butter Glaze:
3 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease or line one cookie sheet with parchment; set aside.

Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter (I just used 2 forks). Don't worry about mixing too thoroughly; there will be small chunks of butter in the mix about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and garlic powder. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

Drop 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto the lightly greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes in preheated oven until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.
While the biscuits are baking, melt butter is a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in garlic powder and dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Sprinkle a little kosher salt on the freshly coated biscuits. Makes one dozen.

Snikers Pie

My friend gave me this recipe, but it is from Taste of Home. This is the pie I wanted to make on Thanksgiving, but since Easton can't have peanut butter, and he wants to eat everything, I decided I better not make it. But, I have had it and it's very good.

5 Snickers candy bars (2.07 ounces each), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 pastry shell (9 inches), baked
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 C. sugar
2 eggs
1/3 C. sour cream
1/3 C. smooth peanut butter
2/3 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Place candy bar pieces in the pastry shell; set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, sour cream, and peanut butter; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

In a small heavy saucepan, melt chocolate chips with cream over low heat; stir until smooth. Spread over filling. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Coconut Cream Pie

I got this recipe from taste of home. I didn't love this pie, but it was good and super easy. I'd still probably make it again. But, I think I would prefer chocolate or banana cream pie for Thanksgiving...This was nice because it made two though and I was worried we wouldn't have enough pie. However, I took 4 pies and my sister took 4 and we both had some leftover.

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups cold milk

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened

1 cup flaked coconut, divided

1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed

2 graham cracker crusts

Directions

In a bowl, whisk the milk, extract and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese. Stir in pudding and mix well. Fold in 1/2 cup coconut and whipped topping. Spoon into the crusts. Toast the remaining coconut (I didn't know how to do this, but all you do is dump it on a pan and stick it in the oven for a few minutes, mixing it around until toasted) Sprinkle the coconut over the pies. Refrigerate until serving. I'm not sure how long you are supposed to refrigerate. I think mine were in there for a couple of hours and they seemed fine.

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

This recipe came from HERE but she got it from Allrecipes.com.

I asked Kyle what kind of pie he wanted and he said Pumpkin. Only problem is, I hate pumpkin pie so I didn't really want to make something I wouldn't eat. But, I saw this recipe and thought it sounded good because it wasn't pure pumpkin. I tried it today and besides being so incredibly fast and easy it was really good.

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup homemade whipped cream (or frozen whipped cream, thawed if you are in a crunch)

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2.In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

3.Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

4.Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Don't worry if there are a couple of cracks; when you refrigerate it they will close up. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Garnish with whipped topping before serving.

I just ate it with cool whip but I'm planning to make whipped topping for Thanksgiving. See recipe below.

1 Cup heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp of sugar (or 1/3 cup powdered sugar)
Optional: add a splash of vanilla

Put whipping cream and sugar in mixing bowl. Mix on medium for 2-3 minutes depending on speed, just until cream creates stiff peaks. Don't over whip it.

Pumpkin Blondies

Also from The Girl Who Ate Everything Blog. I haven't decided yet if I love them or if they are just OK. I keep eating them. I know strange, it's like they taste good but I don't take a bite and think they are the best thing ever so I just keep taking bites.

Pumpkin Blondies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¼ cups brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Stir together and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree. With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Fold in the white chocolate and butterscotch chips (and pecans, if using) with a rubber spatula.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs, about 35-40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting.

To serve, lift the cake from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board. Peel off the foil and using a sharp knife, cut into 24 squares.

White Chicken Chili

My friend gave me this recipe and she said it came from The Recipe Club. It's way yummy. It made a ton and I didn't like the flavor left over for some reason but the night I made it I thought it was way good. It's easy too.

16 oz. box low-sodium chicken broth
2 or 3 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 white or yellow onion, chopped (of course this was left out)
2 4-oz. cans mild diced green chilis, undrained (I only used one can)
2 14.5-oz cans great Northern beans, undrained
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (I didn't have this)

Place ingredients in slow cooker and cook on high 3-5 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, shred chicken and return to slow cooker.

Right before serving, add:
1 C. sour cream
4 oz. cream cheese

Top with shredded pepper jack cheese, avocado, Fritos, extra sour cream, sliced jalapeno peppers, cilantro, pico de gallo, etc.

Club Calzone

As a silly snake, don't laugh...

I got this recipe from my sister however the snake idea came from Jay Leno. This has been a fast and easy recipe that I've made for years.

Ingredients

1 Can (10 oz) Refrigerated Pizza Crust
1/4 C Italian Dressing

1 C Mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 C chopped green pepper

1 Pkg (9oz) variety pack lunch meat

1/3 C chopped black olives

Unroll pizza crust on lightly greased cookie sheet. Stretch to form 15X10 inch rectangle; brush with dressing & sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Layer mozzarella cheese, green pepper, olives & sliced meat down center of crust. Fold crust over meat; pinch edges to seal. Make small cuts across top to vent. Bake at 425 for 12 minutes or until browned.

For the snake I didn't put everything in the center, instead I spread it all over then rolled it up. Then I mixed a little bit of egg yolk with green food coloring and let Karson use a brush to paint on the green. Karson also put on the eyes and even olives on the tail for his rattles.

Mini Pizzas

I've seen these before and have wanted to make them and never have. My sister in law made them a while ago so I made a mental note for the next time I needed to make something fast to make these. We always have pizza sauce, cheese, rolls and pizza dough. Karson made these himself. This is for sure a good one to let the kids do. I remember my old neighbor used to have her kids make these all the time. I can see why.

1 pkg biscuits (I used Pilsbury Grands biscuits)
Pizza Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Any other toppings

Bake according to package directions. The ones pictured above were baked at 350 for about 14 minutes.

Chili Burritos

My sister makes these and said they were good so I thought I'd give them a try. They were good. Kyle loved them, Karson hated them, and of course Easton ate them. I don't love chili, so this is a good way to eat it.

1 Can Chili (more for more burritos)
Flour Tortillas (I only use the ones that you have to warm on the stove)
Cheese
Sour Cream

Cook Chili and warm tortillas. Spread Chili in tortillas (next time I will put cheese inside the tortillas too). I think my sister said she bakes them for a bit then puts cheese on top and bakes them again until the cheese is melted. I just put cheese on top and cooked them for like 10 minutes at 325.

Spaghetti Sauce With Cream Cheese

Nothing like a good old paper plate for dinner right? Truth be told we usually always eat on paper plates. I only eat on a nice plate when I want to take a picture for my blog. Well I forgot this time.

My sister in law knows I love cream cheese but that I don't love red sauce. I don't love spaghetti either. (except for my old neighbor Cathy made the best spaghetti sauce). She told me about her recipe for sauce that had cream cheese. I decided I'd try it and I really liked it so that will now be my standard when we have spaghetti. This was super fast and easy and the sauce was yummy. I'm not going to actually post exact directions, but since I refer to my blog for food ideas this will be a reminder to me. My sister in law doesn't use the spaghetti sauce in a jar but that's all I had and I thought it was fine. Also, my Magelby's rolls recipe went great with this.

1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
1/2 of a full cube of Cream Cheese
Hamburger
Spaghetti noodles

Brown hamburger, drain, add spaghetti sauce and cream cheese and stir until mixed well. In the meantime boil and rinse noodles.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Again, from The Girl Who Ate Everything Blog. I'm tired of linking to her, but her link is on the right side of my blog. I love sugar cookies. I hate how long it takes to roll the dough, cut the, cook them. This was much faster and easier, and just as yummy. It's basically the same thing I would do if I were to make Fruit Pizza, which is also a favorite of mine. I don't know why I never thought to just do this instead of cookies. Karson wanted green frosting so that's what we did.

Sugar Cookie Bars
Source: BreeAnn Fankhauser

1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp lemon zest (optional)

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined. Spread on a greased baking sheet (use a 13 x 18 pan). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean (they won't look done so do the toothpick test). Cool completely and frost.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 of an 8 oz block) softened
1 tsp vanilla (Or almond extract)
¼ tsp salt
4 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp milk
food coloring (if desired)

For frosting combine butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar in 1-2 cup increments until combined, then add milk a little at a time and mix until smooth and spreading consistency. You may not need all the milk! Spread over cooled cookie bars

Magelby's Rolls

My friend Susan gave me this recipe. Her daughter in law makes these all the time and she knows how much I love Magelby's rolls so she gave me the recipe. They are yummy! I need to make them again because I think I could make them better the second time. Also, I didn't know whether to use the shredded Parmesan cheese or the grated. I couldn't get the cheese to stick to well so I'm thinking I'll try the grated next time and see if they turn out better. If so, I'll update my recipe. I made these to go with the pasta bake that I posted below.

Frozen roll dough (I just bought Rhoades rolls that are ready in 12 minutes so they don't require thawing and rizing)
1 stick butter
1 cup Parmesan cheese (Grated)
1-2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. garlic salt

If your dough needs to be thawed then partially thaw. Melt butter in a small bowl. Mix Parmesan, parsley and garlic salt in another bowl. Roll dough in butter, then in cheese mixture. Place on greased cookie sheet and allow to raise the rest of the way (if needed). Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes or according to dough package directions and until lightly golden brown.

Red And White Mostaccioli/Pasta

I got this recipe from Good Things Utah. I don't really like spaghetti sauce but I do if it's mixed with Alfredo so when I saw this recipe I had to try it. I of course liked it or it wouldn't be on here.
by: Liz Edmonds- The Food Nanny

•1 pound uncooked mostaccioli or other tubular pasta (you could probably use any kind of pasta)
•Alfredo Sauce (I made my friend Ann's recipe which I've posted before and I will post it below but I'm sure you could use it from a jar and it would be good)
•1 (26-ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce (you could also use home made spaghetti sauce)
•3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions; drain.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the Alfredo sauce
4. Spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce in a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Layer
half the pasta, half the Alfredo sauce, half the spaghetti sauce, and
11/2 cups of the cheese. Repeat the layering with the remaining pasta,
Alfredo sauce, spaghetti sauce, and cheese.
5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake about 30 minutes or until it is hot and
bubbly.

Alfredo Sauce
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
6 tbsp butter or marg
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
pepper to taste

Cook cream cheese and butter on med-low heat and add milk slowly. Continue stirring until thoroughly blended. Add parmesan cheese, garlic and pepper

Smore's Bars

Another recipe from HERE. I'm telling you, I think if her and I met, we would be good friends. Silly, what we have in common, food, but seriously she loves the same things I do and I have not been disappointed in anything I've tried. I have a million more recipes to try and lots that I've tried that I need to post, but here's another yummy one. Of course mine looked nothing like hers but they were good anyway. They were super crumbly so maybe they needed to be mixed better.


Smores Bars
Source: Lovin In the Oven

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars (if you want a more subtle chocolate flavor use regular sized chocolate bars; enough to fit)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (7 1/2 oz jar)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

3. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. This part can be tricky. I made little disks with the dough and formed them into a sheet on some parchment paper then transferred it over. Spread it around gently.

4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Makes 16 cookie bars.

Fiesta Chicken

This one came from Here too...This is pretty much the same as my Salsa Chicken recipe but you use cream cheese instead. I don't know which one I like more, they are both super easy and super good. I haven't tried this over rice, we ate it in the tortillas that you have to warm on the stove. Those are my favorite. If you haven't tried them already, you must.

Fiesta Chicken
found on RecipeZaar

4 chicken breasts, frozen or thawed
1 (15 1/2 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
1 (15 ounce) jar of your favorite salsa
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

Take 4 frozen, yes, frozen (or thawed), boneless chicken breasts put into crock pot. Add 1 can of black beans, drained, 1 jar of salsa, 1 can of corn drained. Keep in crock pot on low for about 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked. Once it is cooked, take it out and shred it. Return shredded chicken to the crockpot.

Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top!) and let sit for about 1/2 hour. It may look at little strange at this point. Don't worry. Stir in the cream cheese.

Serve over rice or in warm flour tortillas

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Crescent Rolls

I got this recipe Here. It was a fast, easy treat. I like Karson to eat peanut butter so this was a good treat for him. Only the baby couldn't eat them and he was a little sad. I think I like the cinnamon/sugar ones I made the other day better, but these were good too.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Crescent Rolls:
Original recipe by Cathy at Noble Pig
1 tube of crescent rolls
Peanut butter
Semi sweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)
Or use marshmallows instead of chocolate chips (I saw this on another blog and thought peanut butter and marshmallow would be a fabulous combination. Heck leave the chocolate in and have peanut butter, chocolate and marshmallow. Yum)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the unrolled crescent rolls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Spread a layer of peanut butter on each triangle; top with chocolate chips.

Roll from the bottom of the triangle to the point. Place in the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve while hot. Enjoy.

Turkey Cheese Pockets

I got this recipe from another favorite source. Kraft food and family magazine. I love this magazine. It always has fast easy recipes. Of course this is another meal I shouldn't be eating but oh well.

2 oz. Cream Cheese, Softened (I used more)
1 Tbsp Miracle Whip Dressing (I will leave this out next time, it made it taste to much like the dressing)
1 tsp Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard (I didn't have any and probably wouldn't like it anyway)
4 Slices shaved smoked turkey breast finely chopped. (I used the already cubed turkey but cut it into smaller pieces)
1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese (I also probably used more than 1/4 Cup)
1 can refrigerated biscuits

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix cream cheese, dressing and mustard in small bowl until well blended. Add turkey and cheese; mix well. Set aside.

Press or roll out each biscuit to 3 1/2 inch circle. Place a heaping teaspoon of the mixture onto each biscuit.

Fold dough over filling to make small turnover shapes. Firmly press edges of dough together to seal. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10 - 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve hot.

Cinnamon Crescent Rolls

I love crescent rolls anyway so I came across this recipe and it looked so yummy. Then today we were driving home and Karson asked me if I'd make some cinnamon rolls so I thought we'd try these. Yummy. I might as well just link every thing to her blog because everything looks good to me. We like the same things.

Cinnamon Crescent Rolls

1 package of refrigerated crescent roll dough
Butter
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the cinnamon and sugar together and mix well. Place the unrolled crescent rolls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Spread a layer of butter on each triangle; top with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Roll from the bottom of the triangle to the point.

Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve while hot. Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Midnight already? It's late, I have to work in the morning, and of course I can't sleep. I actually am not feeling well. Probably because I went to bed after 2am last night. Oh that's for another post...Instead of sleeping, I'll post another yummy recipe from HERE. I've learned that besides writing, I actually really enjoy cooking to relieve stress. Ok, maybe it's the eating unhealthy treats that is my stress reliever. But whatever, these brownies were tasty.

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies
seen at RealMomKitchen

Brownie Base
1 box (1 lb 6.5 oz) Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on brownie mix box

Filling
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk

Topping
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom only of 13×9-inch pan with cooking spray or shortening. (For easier cutting, line pan with foil, then grease foil on bottom only of pan. I do this all the time when I make brownies and bars)

In medium bowl, stir brownie mix, water, oil and eggs until well blended. Spread in pan. Cook according to package directions or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

In medium bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Spread mixture evenly over brownie base.

In small microwavable bowl, microwave topping ingredients uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds; stir until smooth. Cool 10 minutes; spread over filling. Refrigerate about 30 minutes or until set. Store covered in refrigerator. (I take it out or the fridge about 15 minutes before serving. This allows the chocolate on top to soften a little)

Taco Squares

I got this recipe from Kyle's mom. I haven't made it in a long time. I made it tonight and Karson actually ate what I put on his plate.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Bisquick
1/4 Cup cold water
1/2 Cup sour cream
1/3 Cup mayonnaise
1/2 Cup cheese (I'm sure I use way more than that)
1/2 lb Hamburger
Tomato
Green Peppers

Brown hamburger and drain
Mix Bisquick and water together and spread in bottom of 13 X 9 inch dish.
Mix sour cream and mayo together and spread over Bisquick layer.
Put hamburger on top of sour cream and add cheese, tomato and peppers
Bake on 375 for 25 minutes

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

I'm a lover of recipe sites. When I can't sleep at night I browse recipes and make lists in my head of all the food I want to cook. I love trying new things. One of my favorite recipe blogs is THIS. I goth this recipe here.

I liked these, but I didn't love them. I think the frosting would be very yummy on Betty Crocker brownies. I think I'll try that next time but I imagine it would be awesome. I made a mistake of using the smaller jelly roll pan instead of a regular size. They turned out super thick and with thick frosting. Also I was at the store searching for buttermilk and realized I have no clue what it is or where to find it and I didn't find any. And I looked everywhere. I found a substitution for buttermilk on line but didn't have what I needed so I just used milk, they may have turned out better if I used what was on the recipe.

Peanut Butter Sheet Cake
by Nina Jones

Mix in pan and bring to a boil:
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter

Sift the following and add to the above mixture:
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

Mix and add to the above mixture:
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
Stir well and pour into greased or parchment lined cookie sheet pan (jellyroll pan). Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Frosting
Mix in pan and bring to a boil:
3/4 cup butter
6 Tbsp buttermilk
1/2 cup peanut butter
Take off stove and add:3 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Pour over warm cake

Pictures

I think I need to start posting pictures with my recipes again. I loved opening my blog and seeing those amazing cookies. :)

Oreo Cookies

(I used green food coloring for St. Patty's Day but other than that the frosting was the same)

I've tried another recipe similar and will post that one too, but for now here's this one. They are yummy but way rich and I can hardly eat one.

Homemade Oreos
by Paula Deen

2 boxes Devil's food cake mix
4 eggs
2/3 c. vegetable oil
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. ( 1 stick ) butter, at room temperature
3 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. (I had never used parchment paper until I made these cookies and I'm in love with it now.
In a large bowl combine the cake mix, eggs, and oil with a mixer. The batter will be very stiff. Pinch of pieces of batter and roll into 1 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets and flatten slightly with fingertips. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until a slight indentation remains when lightly touched. Remove immediately from the cookie sheets with a spatula and cool on a wire rack.
In a small glass bowl, combine the cream cheese and butter until completely blended. Gradually add in the sugar and vanilla and mix until the icing is smooth. Spread half of the cookies with icing and top with remaining cookies. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container or resealable plastic bags.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

I got this recipe from my friend Susan and it's yummy!

5-6 cooked chicken breasts
1-2 jars Alfredo sauce
2 cans chicken broth (I probably will only use 1 can next time I make it)
1 qt. half n half
1 large onion (I left this out)
1 pkg taco seasoning
Pepper (I left this out also)
Tortilla chips
Cheese

On the stove - Saute onion until soft. Add broth and seasonings. Cook over med heat. Slowly add half & half, then Alfredo sauce. Add chicken and more spices as needed. Do not boil. Serve with tortilla chips and grated cheese.

In the crock pot - This is the way I make it. I cut up the uncooked chicken, but next time I will just put in full chicken breasts and then shred it once it's cooked. Just put all the ingredients (minus the chips and cheese) into the crock pot and cook on low. I cooked it for about 7 hours.

Frosted Banana Bars

I think I've been cooking out of boredom lately. Sad, huh? To bad all I'm making is junk food...I had some old bananas and decided to try THIS recipe. Yummy! I'm completely addicted to these. I make them ALL the time. They are probably my favorite.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 (16 ounce) container cream cheese frosting (I made my own frosting and I'll add the recipe at the end)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 10X15 inch jellyroll pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt: stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 pkg (16 oz) powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
1 tsp vanilla

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com. I'm not a huge pumpkin fan, but these have to be the best pumpkin cookies I've ever had. So yummy! The dough was super sticky and I was worried how they would turn out but they turned out great.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (I don't even know what these are so they were left out)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

chocolate chips (I add these but they aren't on the original recipe)

2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and salt; set aside
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls.
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle with glaze
4. To make glaze: combine powdered sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed to achieve drizzling consistency.