Stuffed Zucchini

To go with our Parmesan Encrusted Chicken and Artichoke Dip, we made Stuffed Zucchini.

STUFFED ZUCCHINI
Modified from: Williams-Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook
Servings: 2
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5-7 minutes

Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients:
2 Zucchini (4-5 inches long)
Olive Oil for greasing
1 cup Ricotta
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbsp flour
dash of lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese


Instructions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add whole zucchini and reduce heat to simmer.  
2. Simmer 10-15 minutes until tender.  Drain and let cool.
3. Mix together ricotta, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, flour, and lemon.
4. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scope out the seeds.
5. Season zucchini with salt and pepper.  Add ricotta mixture in soft mounds.  Top with remaining parmesan cheese.
6. Broil 5-7 minutes until cheese starts to brown.

Enjoy!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

In addition to the Artichoke Dip, Tony and I made Parmesan Crusted Chicken and Stuffed Zucchini.  They were both yummy.  Here's the super easy recipe for the Parmesan Crusted Chicken!

PARMESAN CRUSTED CHICKEN
Servings: 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20-30 minutes

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:
2 Large Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Mayo
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
4 tsp. of Italian Bread Crumbs

Instructions:
1. Preheat over to 425
2. Mix the Mayo and Parmesan cheese in a bowl.
3. Place chicken in a baking dish and top with the mayo mixture.
4. Top with bread crumbs.
5. Bake for 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Enjoy!!

Orange Medley

I'm trying to do better with what I am eating but I have a huge sweet tooth.  This is an old family favorite, usually during the summer.  It's cool and light.

ORANGE MEDLEY

Servings: 6-8

Prep time: 10 minutes

Orange Medley

Ingredients

8 oz. Cool Whip

16 oz. Cottage Cheese

20 oz. Can of crushed Pineapple, drained

3 oz. Orange Jello

Instructions

1. Mix together Cool Whip and Orange Jello.

2. Mix in Cottage cheese and drained pineapple

*Drain the pineapple juice into a glass and enjoy it plain or in a smoothie!

Enjoy!

Artichoke Dip

Sunday night, Tony and I went all out and cooked dinner.  We started with a super easy Artichoke Dip.  Here's the recipe!

ARTICHOKE DIP
Modified from: Williams-Sonoma Bride and Groom Cookbook
Serves: 2-4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 30 minutes

Artichoke Dip

Ingredients
12 oz can/jar of artichoke hearts
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup mayo
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp cream cheese

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Drain artichoke hearts and cut into pieces.
3. Mix together artichoke hearts, lemon juice, mayo, 3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, parsley, and cream cheese.
4. Place in a baking dish and top with remaining (1/2 Tbsp) Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes
6. Serve warm with Naan, Frito-Lay Tortilla Chips, or pita.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Fajitas

Here's a super easy recipe for crock pot fajitas.  It's so quick and very yummy!

CROCK POT FAJITAS
Servings: Many!
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 8+ hours

Crock Pot Fajitas

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken (~2 breasts)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 onion
1 can Ro-tel (tomatoes and green chilies)
1 package fajita seasoning

Instructions:
1. Cut peppers and onions into slices.
2. Put chicken, peppers, onion, Ro-tel, and seasoning into a crockpot.  Stir.
3. Cook on Low for 8 hours (or until the chicken is done) *I cooked it on low for 8 hours and then it sat on warm for ~4 hours.  It was perfect!
4. Remove and shred chicken.  Return to crock pot until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Tony's parents came to visit during our pantry challenge.  When they were here, we did go out an buy a few things.  Sunday morning, we were planning eggs and sausage for breakfast.  I wanted to do something else with what I had.  Since I didn't have any fruit, chocolate chips were really the only mix in that I had.  They were quite yummy and I've made them a couple times since!

CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS (from Taste of Home)
Makes: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
Sugar crystals (optional) *my add

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients.
2. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk and oil.
3. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
4. Fold in chocolate chips. 
5. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full.  Sprinkle with sugar crystals (optional)
6. Bake at 400° for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Enjoy!!

Fruitshakes

Have you seen the Yonana's product where you take frozen fruit and turn it into ice cream? Why couldn't I turn frozen fruit, specifically bananas, into a milkshake? 

I'm very picky about when I eat bananas. If there is any brown on them, they're bad. I know that they are not really bad but I can't bring myself to eat them. 

I took my magic bullet, a frozen banana, milk, and a little Hershey's syrup and viola, a banana milk shake!

BANANA FRUITSHAKE
Serves: 1
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
Frozen Banana
Milk
Chocolate Syrup

Directions:
Blend together.
If you add a few frozen strawberries, it tastes like a banana split!

BANANA SPLIT FRUITSHAKE
Serves: 1
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
Frozen Banana
Frozen Strawberries
Milk
Chocolate Syrup

Directions:
Blend together.

Enjoy!!

Grammy's Crab Dip

One of my favorite appetizers is my grandmother's crab dip.  This is something super quick and easy.  There's two ways to serve it and they're both yummy!  If you want something more formal, layering them is the way to go.  If you want something for a larger group, kids, or to take to a party, mixing everything together is the way to go.

GRAMMY'S CRAB DIP
Serves: 2 -8
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
Bar of cream cheese
Can of Crab meat
Bottle of Cocktail Sauce

Directions:
1. Layer cream cheese, crab meat, and cocktail sauce. 
               - or - 
   Mix cream cheese, crab meat, and cocktail sauce.
2. Serve with crackers (I prefer Sociables)

Enjoy!

Pin·cesses

We've all heard about pinstrosities (http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/). A pin·stros·i·ty is 1. a pin of great and often frightening size, force, or complexity or 2. A real life result of a pin. 
What happens if a pin is a success? I call this a pin·cess. 

Here are the original pins along with their successful completions. 

Charger Clip  
In the original pin, they used a binder clip.  I used a clear Command clip so it is less noticeable.

Dish Soap Dispenser 
I love how this one turned out.

Styling Tool Holder 
A metal file folder plus a few command clips keep my hair tools contained.  Tony greatly appreciates this pin·cesses.

Ticket Shadow Box 
Mine is not as elaborate as the original pin but I still love it and it looks great on a shelf in our living room.  It has tickets from all of our Penn State games along with old movie tickets and even my ticket to Taipei 101.

Here are some pins that I have tried and they really work! I don't have my own pictures of their pin·cesses. 

Homemade Goo Gone

Lint and a toilet paper roll as a fire starter 

Sheets in a linen closet 
Folding all sheets and placing them inside one of the pillow cases keeps everything nice and tidy in the linen closet.

Wood spoon to stop water from boiling over 

What pins have you tried that work??

Chex Mix

With an impending 11 hour road trip, I started planning what snack food we would take with us.  I had the normal cheerios, raisins, almonds, and string cheese.  I wanted something salty.  I settled on chex mix.  Below are two different ways to make it.  I always make it in the oven but I am sure the microwave directions work just fine.  I left out the mixed nuts in the original recipe since Tony's allergic to peanuts.

CHEX MIX
(modified from Chex website)
Makes: 10 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Peanut-Free Chex Mix

Ingredients:
3 cups Corn Chex-type cereal 
3 cups Rice Chex-type cereal 
3 cups Wheat Chex-type cereal 
1 cup  pretzels 
6 tablespoons butter or margarine 
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt 
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder 
1/2 teaspoon onion powder 

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 250°F. 

2. In large bowl, mix cereals, and pretzels. 

3. In ungreased large roasting pan, melt butter in oven. I used my dutch oven.

4. Stir in seasonings. Gradually stir in cereal mixture until evenly coated. 

5. Bake 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. 

6. Spread on paper towels to cool, about 15 minutes. 

7. Store in airtight container. 

Quicker Instructions:
Total time: 25 minutes
1. In large microwavable bowl, mix cereals, and pretzels
2. In small microwavable bowl, microwave butter uncovered on High about 40 seconds or until melted. 
3. Stir in seasonings. 
4. Pour over cereal mixture; stir until evenly coated. 
5. Microwave uncovered on High 5 to 6 minutes, thoroughly stirring every 2 minutes. 
6. Spread on paper towels to cool. 
7. Store in airtight container.

Enjoy!

Buttermilk Biscuits

One of Tony's favorites is biscuits.  Anywhere we go, if he can get a biscuit instead of toast or an English muffin, he will.  I had leftover buttermilk from the Lemon Poppy Seed Cake so I thought I'd try biscuits.  They are super easy and came out amazing!  Here's the recipe.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, Bridal Edition 
Makes: 12 biscuits
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 14 minutes

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cream of tarter
3/4 cup of butter, cut up
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
3. Cut in butter until it resembles the photo below.

Butter cut in to the dry ingredients.

4. Make a well in the butter and flour mixture and add the buttermilk.
5. Use a fork and mix well until everything is moistened.
6. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until it sticks together.
7. Pat or roll dough until it is 3/4" thick.
8. Cut biscuits using a 2 1/2" round cutter.  Flour the cutter in between to prevent the dough from sticking to the cutter. Reform the scraps as needed. (I had to reform 3 times.)
9. Place biscuits 1" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Pre-oven biscuits

10. Bake 10 to 14 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and serve warm.

Cooling biscuits!

If you have leftover biscuits, seal them in a air tight container.  To reheat, microwave for 20 seconds.  You can also wrap the biscuit in a damp paper towel to keep the biscuit moist.

Enjoy!

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Another recipe that I have found that is easy and reheats well is a Chicken Broccoli Casserole.  For about just over $10, you have a meal that will feed 2 people for 3-4 meals.  For me, the chicken is always the most expensive thing at ~$6. 


CHICKEN BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
Makes: 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:
Approximately 4 cups of shredded chicken (1 rotisserie chicken) 
16 oz bag of frozen broccoli (cooked) 
1 can of cream of mushroom soup 
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese 
Garlic powder and pepper to taste 

Note: You can use any type of shredded chicken. Rotisserie chicken works great for this. I highly recommend shredding it when it is still warm. As it cools, it gets harder to shred.

Pre-mixing

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a baking dish.

3. Cook for 25 minutes. 

That's it! Enjoy!!

Please let me know what you think!

Easy Classic Brownies

I am always looking for ways to save money.   The grocery bill is a good place to start.   Brownies are a favorite in our house so I wanted to find an easy from scratch recipe where it was less than the pre-packaged Pillsbury and Betty Crocker boxes.   It's also nice to know exactly what is in the brownies.   I stumbled across this one:

CLASSIC BROWNIES
Servings: Makes ~12 brownies
Total Time: 30 minutes

Classic Brownies

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup veg oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup chocolate chips or nuts (I use semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Instructions:
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Grease the bottom of an 8x8 pan.
3. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly.

I pre-mix the dry ingredients in mason jars so all I have to do is add the oil, vanilla, and eggs.  In 30 minutes, you can have homemade brownies that don't have any preservatives.

Hope you enjoy trying the recipe! 

Easy No Work Chicken

With Tony and I working opposite hours, we don't get to see each other during the week let alone share a meal.  My motivation for cooking dramatically drops during the week.  It's easy to just buy lunch at work but $4 or $5 everyday for lunch really makes me mad.  I could cook a meal for both of us for a few days for about $5.  The big question is, what is good re-heated?  I went back through my recipes and I found a family favorite.  No Work Chicken.  It's simple and easy.  When we would spend a weekend on a houseboat, my mom used to prep it beforehand and bring it with us.  It was always a crowd favorite.

NO WORK CHICKEN
Makes: ~6 servings (easy to double or triple the recipe)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Marinade time: 2-24 hours (your call!)
Cook Time: 1 hr

No Work Chicken

Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breasts (3 large is about right for the marinade below)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
Optional: 1 tsp curry powder if you want a little kick

Instructions:
1. Mix everything together.  
2. Let the chicken sit in the marinade for 2-24 hours.
3. Bake at 350F for 1 hour.

If I cook it for a meal, I usually serve the chicken over white rice with some broccoli.   This week, it was used as lunch.   I cut up the chicken and mixed it with rice plus some of the extra marinade.   A couple of minutes in the microwave and violà!

Lunch - No work Chicken

If you try it, please let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Candied Walnuts

I'm trying to eat healthier but I have a natural sweet tooth.  One of my favorite salads is spinach, feta cheese, grilled chicken, and candied walnuts.  If you ever buy candied walnuts, they are expensive!  I like them a lot but don't want to shell out the $10 for them.  I decided to make them.  For just about $3, I have 3 cups of candied walnuts!  

Here's the recipe!

CANDIED WALNUTS
Makes: 1 1/2 cups
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes 


Candied Walnuts

Hints:
Check around to get the best price on walnuts.  At Wegman's, I could buy walnuts from the trail mix bar for $5.99/lb or I could but them from the nut section for $7.99/lb.

If you want more than 1 1/2 cups, make two or three batches.  The sugar cools very quickly and it will be difficult to separate the walnuts.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of walnuts
1/2 cup of sugar
pinch of salt

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350°F. Lay walnuts out on a baking sheet (I recommend one with a lip) in a single layer. Bake for 5 minutes. Test for doneness. If not quite toasted enough, toast for 1 or 2 more minutes. Be careful not to burn. Remove from oven and let cool.

2.  Pour sugar into a medium saucepan. Have the cool walnuts nearby, ready to quickly add to the pan at the right time. Cook sugar on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon as soon as the sugar begins to melt. Keep stirring until all the sugar has melted and the color is amber. As soon as sugar is melted and the color is a medium amber, add the walnuts to the pan, quickly stirring and coating each piece with the sugar mixture.

3.  When the walnuts are coated with the sugar mixture, spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use two forks to separate the walnuts from each other.  Work quickly!  Sprinkle with salt. 

4.  Cool and Enjoy!

Let me know how yours turn out!

My completed lunch!

Spinach, Chicken, Feta, Candied Walnuts,
Raspberry Vinaigrette