Broccoli, Ham and Cheese Foldovers

I found this recipe on the Betty crocker website and I am glad I did!! 

Broccoli, Ham and Cheese Foldovers

Ingredients-

4 1/2	cups Original Bisquick® mix
1	cup boiling water
1	box (10 oz) Green Giant® frozen broccoli & cheese flavored sauce
2	cups finely diced cooked ham
1/2	cup cheese-flavored French-fried onions( I omitted these all together I didn't to spend the extra money for such a little amount and they only come in the large can)
1/2	cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)
1	egg
1	tablespoon water
1	tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese, if desired Directions 1.Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir Bisquick mix and boiling water until dough forms. Place dough on surface sprinkled with Bisquick mix; roll in Bisquick mix to coat. Knead 20 times. Divide dough into 6 balls. Return balls to bowl; cover with plastic wrap. 2.Cook broccoli & cheese sauce as directed on box; empty into medium bowl. Stir in ham, onions and Cheddar cheese; set aside. In small bowl, beat egg and water with fork or wire whisk until blended; set aside. 3.Pat or roll 1 ball of dough into 7-inch round. Spoon about 1/2 cup ham mixture onto half of the round; moisten edge of round with water. Fold other half of dough round over filling; press edge with fork to seal. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. 4.Brush tops of foldovers with egg mixture; sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon Parmesan cheese. Cut 3 slits in top of each for steam to escape. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Rating- 5 out of 5 Look- Nice Golden crust and very vibrant green when you bite into them Difficulty-EASY Review- This recipe is easy to follow with a great end product. There is alot of good flavor and even some veg. which adds alot to the dish. It was also not very time consuming took about 20 minutes to prep and the rest of the time was in  the oven. This will definitely be a recipe I make again and I will probably be posting some creative variations just using the crust itself :D Let me know if you try this and what you think.

St Pattys Day/ Rainbows and Leprechauns!!!

I always try to do alot of fun stuff for the kids on holidays! My motto is it is not how much I spend on my kids but about the things we do and the memories we make. So on Saint Patty's day I did a couple fun things! I made them all shirts and I actually didnt get a picture of all of them in them before we went to a bday party where they got sauce on them! But parkers had a sewn on tie and pocket and the girls had two shamrocks each. Which they all loved and looked super cute in. I also painted a bunch of rocks gold so that we could do a scavengers hunt for the leprechauns gold in the front yard. Which they have now put int there sandbox so that they can pan for gold all summer long. For breakfast we had green eggs and ham. Which is made the normal way I make eggs I just added a couple drops of blue to the eggs to make them green. And we also made a rainbow cake which I got the idea from the family fun website last year. I made the cupcakes last yr and I decided to make a cake this year.




Taste a Rainbow cake/cupcakes:
Ingredients
Boxed white cake mix
food coloring(red, blue, green and yellow)
Baking cups ( if you are making cupcakes) 
whip cream (optional) ( I used a whipped buttercream frosting)


Directions
1.Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly among six small bowls. Following the chart below, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color


Purple-9 red+6 blue drops 
blue - 12 drops
green- 12 drops
yellow- 12 drops
red -18 drops
orange-12 yellow+4 red


I used a 5 inch pan. Which I only have one of so I just made one layer of the cake at a time. It was 375 for ten minutes a piece. I let them cool for 15 minutes then flipped them out onto a cooling rack. I placed them in a gallon size bag and separated them with wax paper to keep them from sticking. I put them in the fridge over night. The only reason I did this is because it was getting late you could assemble your cake as soon as they are all cooled if you have the time. Then I layered them in rainbow order red being top and purple bottom. With a layer of frosting in between each. And then frosted like normal.


And this is how it turned out:

This cake is alot of fun :D And the kids loved eating it and it is also a great learning tool so that you can discuss all the colors and which ones are which while eating all the yummy goodness. This would also be an awesome cake for any sort of birthday party where you have a color scheme or theme because you could easily pick colors to go along with your scheme/theme and layer them accordingly :D 

Oh and my kids were high on sugar this day because we also made another sweet these totally awesome leprechaun hat cookies :D

Ingredients 

1 pkg sugar cookie mix

1 pkg lrg marshmallow

1 tub of vanilla frosting

Directions 

Bake cookies according to pkg. as soon as you remove them from the oven place a marshmallow on top of each cookie. Take your can of frosting and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then stir to check consistency. You want it to be very loose. Add thirty second more until it reaches this consistency. Add green food coloring until it is desired color. And then spoon over your marsmallow and cookies. To make the band of the hat roll out tootsie rolls and then shape around the hat. I used sweet tarts as the pendant on the betty crocker website they used gumdrops. I roll with what I have on hand. This is how they turned out. 

Parker brought these to school for his teachers who both said that they loved them :D So that is our St. Pattys day. Alittle late I know but better late then never right?

Chicken Parmesan!!

This is a family favorite and this time I made sauce from scratch it depends usually on what I need to use. If I make it from scratch or use the rest of a jar. But this time I had some roma tomatoes that were quickly taking a turn for the worse so I wanted to use them before they went bad!! I try to not let food go to waste. I dont always succeed but it is my goal. So here is my recipe for Chicken Parmesan and the homemade sauce.


Sauce: 
Ingredients
4 roma tomatoes diced
1/8 lrg.red bell pepper diced
1/2 small yellow onion diced 
3 cloves garlic minced/pressed
1T EVOO
1t. salt
1 1/2 c. water
3/4 little can tomato paste
1/2 t. dried basil
1/2 t. oregano
2T. Parmesan cheese


Sautee red bell pepper, onion and garlic in bottom of sauce pan with Evoo. Let cook until tender then add tomatoes, basil, salt and oregano. Let cook on low till very tender and most of the juice has escaped. (5-7 min). Add water stir let simmer 2 more minutes. Then gradually add in your tomato paste until the consistency that you like!! I added 3/4 of the can and it was perfect and stuck to the pasta well. I also added 2T. parmesan directly into the sauce and of course on top later :P


Chicken Parmesan:
Ingredients
2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts ( this all depends on the size of your family and the size of the breasts)
1-2 c. flour
2-4 eggs
4-8 c. crushed corn flakes
1-1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese




Place one chicken breast in a Gallon size bag and beat with a heavy frying pan or meat mallet. Repeat with as many breast as you have. Pour flour onto lrg plate and corn flakes onto a separate lrg. plate. Beat eggs in a shallow but wide bowl. Start your oil on medium heat in a deep frying pan. Dredge your chicken in the flour first, egg wash second and Corn flakes last! Make sure to coat well and get in all the little cracks and crevices. Place one chicken breast at a time into the frying pan allow chicken breast to cook completely and brown on each side. While your breasts are frying preheat your oven to 375. And also prepare you cookie sheet. I like to put my cooling rack directly on top of my cookie sheet so that the chicken stays crunchy and doesn't get soggy on the bottom. Remove breast from pan and put on cookie sheet. When all are done take your sauce and put a small amount on the top cover with as much cheese as you see fit..( I like ALOT) and then put in the oven! Turn the light on. When cheese is fully melted turn on the broiler (keep your oven door cracked this allows you to see and something about it makes them brown properly). And voila your done  Bon Appetit!! 

This is just my recipe so please let me know if you try it and what you think :D Oh and Subscribe subscribe subscribe!! Thanks :D

Slow cooker Steak and black bean chili

I made this because the picture looks great and my family and I looooove chili. Plus hello another slow cooker recipe. Oh and another thing that made me want to try this was the STEAK!! I am a very large fan of steak. I found this recipe on the betty crocker website.


Slow cooker Steak and black bean Chili-


Ingredients-

2	lb beef top round steak
1	envelope (1 oz) onion soup mix (from 2-oz package)
2	cans (15 oz each) black beans, rinsed and drained
1	can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1	can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1	can (4.5 oz) Old El Paso® chopped green chiles, undrained
3	teaspoons chili powder
1	teaspoon ground cumin Directions: 1.Trim fat from beef. Cut beef into 3/4-inch cubes. In 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker, mix beef and soup mix (dry). Stir in remaining ingredients. 2.Cover and cook on Low heat setting 8 to 10 hours Rating-5 out of 5 Look-Very rich red. Difficulty-Easy Review- This recipe was very good required no real work and was ready at dinner. I think next time I will add one or two chipotles in adobo for smokiness and a bit of spice. The picture is the one from the website and I have no idea why it is on the side I couldnt get it to cooperate. I forgot to take a picture of mine. I know I am slacking.

Slow Cooker ..... Lasagna. Yup that is right LASAGNA

Who doesnt like lasagna? I know I do! And who doesnt like prepping something in the morning or night before and having it ready when it is time to eat. Thats right I do again lol!! And hopefully you do too! Because todays recipe is a crock pot/slow cooker recipe and the next couple to come will be also. These are great for moms or people that work or both. I found this recipe on the Betty Crocker website.

Slow Cooker Lasagna


Ingredients:

1	pound bulk Italian sausage
1	medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
3	cans (15 ounces each) Italian-style tomato sauce( I used one jar of 6 cheese Ragu)
2	teaspoons dried basil leaves
1/2	teaspoon salt
2	cups shredded mozzarella cheese (8 ounces)
1	container (15 ounces) part-skim ricotta cheese
1	cup grated Parmesan cheese
15	uncooked lasagna noodles

((
Directions:


1.Cook sausage and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt.


2.Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. (Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.)


3.Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into 6-quart slow cooker; top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with 5 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with remaining 5 
noodles and remaining sausage mixture.


4.Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender.


Rating-5 out of 5
Look- Deliciously cheesy
Difficulty- This takes alittle time to prep but just basic cuting involved
Review- This was amazing. And it was a ton of food there was about half left over after my family of 5 had atleast one if not two decent sized servings. It was nice to just set it and forget it and there was a ton of great flavor.

This is definitely a recipe I will make again and again. Maybe not in the coming months with the warm weather approaching but next winter this will be on our menu as a regular. It was so good that I got the kids there food and got them sitting and eating like I normally do and by the time I dished mine and got to the table Maddie was completely done and asked for seconds.

Me and my husband LOVE tiramisu. We usually get it at our fav. restaurant Spezia!! If you have not been. Go. End of story. Lol! Anyways so I figured I would try to make it at home sometime. But I have looked up the recipe many times and never been able to find the lady fingers. Because they do not sell them at walmart. And when I am other places I just usually forget to look because it is not on the top of my head/list. So the other day when I was perusing the isles at Aldi ( my #1 favorite store if you havent shopped there I encourage you to go there also) Anyways I happened upon lady fingers :D Alas I had found the coveted lady fingers I quickly wandered over to the cheese section and picked up a tub of ricotta. And later when I was unpacking all the bags on my dining room table I realized that my mind was playing tricks on me. There is no Ricotta in Tiramisu. I was thinking of a completely different dessert. CRUD!! I looked on the back of the lady fingers pack and saw that I actually needed mascarpone cheese. :( This is another thing that they do not sell at Wal-mart. So I looked up a different recipe and this is what I found. On the Food Network Website.

Tiramisu

Ingredients

 

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar, divided
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (7-ounce) package ladyfingers
• 1 cup strong black coffee
• 1 teaspoon cocoa powder( I also grabbed a Hershey's Dark Chocolate bar and grated and did Chocolate ribbons)

Directions

Have 4 (8-ounce) wine glasses ready.( I did this all in a 8 by 8 baking dish instead of the wine glasses although it would have been a pretty presentation it would not have been very kid friendly)

In a chilled bowl combine 3/4 cup of heavy cream and 1/4 cup sugar. Whip with a hand mixer until soft peaks form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

In a large bowl combine the cream cheese, 1/4 cup heavy cream, vanilla and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. Whip with a hand mixer until light until fluffy.

Reserve 4 ladyfingers for garnish. Using1 lady finger at a time, snap or cut in half, then dip it quickly into the coffee, and drop it into the bottom of a wine glass. Repeat with the other 3 glasses. Put a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture on top of the ladyfingers in each glad. Do another layer of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, another of the cream cheese mixture, then 1 more layer of ladyfingers. Top with remaining filling and dollop with the whipped cream. Break the reserved 4 ladyfingers in half and insert 2 halves into the top of each glass.

Put the cocoa powder into a small sieve( I just sprinkled it with a spoon maybe not as pretty but it does the trick) and tap it gently over each glass to dust the tops. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Rating- 4 out of 5 

Look- very nice would have looked even nicer if I did follow the directions and put in a wine glass

Difficulty- Very easy

Review- I loved the overall taste of this dish and it was really close to the tiramisu we normally get when out. The only problem I had was with the lady fingers. They soaked up too much coffee and we actually soggy. I would recommend maybe using pound cake. Also maybe instead of dipping the pound cake in coffee put a decent amount of the coffee directly into your whip cream. Maybe a shot of really dark espresso Chilled in the freezer would be best :D

Let me know what you do with this dessert to make it better. Or anything you would like to see me make and give you my opinions on. I will be making all crock-pot recipes this week for my cousin who requested something that she can easily do as a mom of 2 with a full-time job. So stayed tuned :D

Easy Lemon Pasta with Chicken!!

I have made this recipe a couple times now! It is quick and pretty easy. And not a ton of ingredients. I found this on the food network website.


Easy Lemon Pasta with Chicken


Ingredients

• 1 pound dried penne
• 2 chicken cutlets, cut into fingers
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, until al dente.Drain well.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a large grill pan over medium high and add chicken. Grill until golden and completely cooked. Remove to a plate and slice.

Add the garlic and red pepper flakes to a saute pan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and saute until fragrant. Add the cooked pasta and turn heat off. Mix all together.

Remove pasta to a large bowl. Add chicken to the warm pasta and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in chopped parsley. Add the juice of 2 lemons and mix. Before serving top with Parmesan.

Rating-4 out of 5

Look-The parsley adds the color that it is otherwise lacking. Shove a little wedge of lemon on the plate to add some brightness and contrast

Difficulty-Very Easy 

Review-This dish is easy and does not require much cooking knowledge. It is also quick to prepare and has alot of good flavor. I think that the chicken could be seasoned with more than just salt and pepper and maybe cooked whole to keep some of the juices in. This would require more time though so I understand why they cut it. I think that anyone that likes lemon would like this dish it is light and vibrant.

This is not a picture I took I forgot. So I stole this one off the food network website :D Mine looked exactly like this though except for the fact that I used Barilla's mini Penne!!