Caprese pasta

I was working on my meal planning skills and found this. It looked easy and yummy!! My husband likes anything with cream in it...partly so he can drink the leftover cream...

Here is the link


Ingredients

1 lb rigatoni pasta
1 tsp kosher salt
1 TB olive oil
2 cups prego spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 ounces mozzarella
1 cup grape tomatoes
3-5 fresh basil leaves
Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook pasta according to package in a large pot of water with salt. Once pasta is fully cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil.
In a large pan warm spaghetti sauce over medium heat. One the sauce is heated, add in heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Once cheese is melted pour sauce over noodles.
Cut grape tomatoes in half and mozzarella in 1/2 inch cubes. Then combine the mozzarella (save about 1/4 cup) and tomatoes with the pasta. Pour into a 9x9 baking dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Top with fresh basil. Enjoy!

Well the flavor was great! The only problem was it was too dry. I didn't add the tomatoes....not a fan of cooked tomatoes. I also did extra mozzerella. Next time I'll make extra sauce and cover it while baking.

Busy Day Lasagna Toss

I am a fan of lasagna, but hate the time it takes. So I wanted to try this one out :)

Here is the link

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1 C. green pepper, chopped
1/2 C. onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
26 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
1 2/3 C. water
1/4 C. Italian salad dressing (prepared not dry)
1/4 C. brown sugar (I used 1 Tbsp. and it was plenty sweet)
12 no boil lasagna noodles, uncooked (or use regular noodles and just break them up, then cook them in a pot of water and add to the beef mixture)
1/2 C. ricotta or cottage cheese
1 C. shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions
Brown beef in a large deep skillet over medium heat; drain.
Add pepper, onion, and garlic; saute until tender.
Stir in sauce, water, salad dressing and brown sugar. If using regular noodles, leave out the water.
Bring to a boil.
Break each noodle into 4 pieces; stir into mixture.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook, stirring occasionally until noodles are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
Remove from heat.
Stir in ricotta or cottage cheese.
Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese; cover.
Let stand for about 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Serves 6.

From getting the hamburger out of the freezer to sitting down and eating was under an hour! How great is that? This meal was also great! I loved it! I only did the TBS of brown sugar, and my green pepper was an anaheim. Next time I plan to try regular noodles and boil them while I brown the hamburger. I can't wait to make this afain! My hubbie says it's as good, if not better then lasagna :)

{Copycat} Panera Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These just looked yummy! I am a sucker for chocolate chip cookies!!

http://www.thepinningmama.com/2013/05/15/copycat-panera-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/

{Copycat} Panera Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Serves: 24 Large Cookies

Ingredients

1 c butter, softened
1/2 c shortening
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions

Mix butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.
Combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and mix together.
Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and blend well.
If the dough is crumbly, stir in water 1 teaspoon at a time until it just holds together. The dough should not be sticky.
Add in chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.
Using ¼ cup measure, scoop out dough and form into a ball. Continue until all dough is balled. Approx 24 cookies.
Place dough in the freezer for 2 hours or up to 3 months.
Place frozen cookie onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 min.
Let cool 2 minutes.

OH. MY. GOODNESS. This is my new go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies!! I love that you can just pull out a few and alway have fresh warm cookies :) I only have 2 left in my freezer....they haven't lasted an entire week!! The recipe made 24, I am sure they could have been 25 if some dough didn't 'disappear' :) I also only had regular size chips, worked great! We baked them 16 or 17 minutes. In my house we only use milk chocolate chip! I might have to make a new batch today!!

Avocado, Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Cheese

I have decided to start a dinner menu. I haven't done dinner much since the baby was born, so I thought this would help. So I started with this yummy looking sandwich! The pin I found said it would be yummy to add bacon, so we did.


http://www.navywifecook.com/2013/08/avocado-mozzarella-and-tomato-grilled.html


'Avocado, Mozzarella and Tomato Grilled Cheese'
Source: Adapted from Pinterest, but the pin led to no link...just a photo

Ingredients

Bread of choice
1 avocado, sliced
2 pieces of Mozzarella cheese slices
1 tomato, sliced
olive oil
salt
butter

Top Rated Olive Oil
Amazon.com
$26.18
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Directions

1. Heat a skillet over medium heat.

2. Butter one side of 2 slices of whatever bread you're using. Place one slice butter side down in the pan.

3. Top with sliced avocado, mozzarella cheese slices and a couple slices of tomato. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Top with remaining piece of bread, butter side up.

4. Cook until bread it golden brown (2-3 minutes), then flip and brown the other side. Serve.

I thought they were good! I would add a little garlic salt or something. My husband told me it isn't a 'dinner' food. He told me it was a girly sandwich that you could get from Zupa's. Well I love Zupa's!! haha He did like it, he would add some turkey he said. I think I will make them again with some little changes :)

Birthday Cake Cookies

I saw this on pinterest and my mouth stated to water!!! I had to make them!

http://www.angelastrand.com/2013/06/birthday-cake-cookies.html

Birthday Cake Cookies

1 (15.25 ounce) box Funfetti Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons Sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs and oil. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and sprinkles. Drop spoonfuls of dough into the powdered sugar mixture, roll it around and form into a ball. Place on the cookie sheet and bake for about 6 minutes, watching closely and removing when the edges just begin to brown.

Leave cookies on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Makes approx. 2 dozen cookies.

Yet another great one!! It was really easy as well!! I would recommend doing this one!! It made more then 3 dozen, I am sure if I hadn't eaten dough(I don't recommend eating raw or undercooked eggs) I am sure it would have made 4 dozen.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

I know that it has been a while. SORRY! I was busy my husband graduated (FINALLY), I was starting a new business and having this cute baby :)
Photo by Whitney Swapp Photography

I was really wanting some peanut butter bars, like I had in elementary. So I asked around for the recipe :) Here it is

http://triedandtriedagain.blogspot.com/2011/06/school-lunch-peanut-butter-bars.html?m=1

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

1 1/2 C Flour
1¼ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Baking Soda
¾ C Butter
¾ C Sugar
¾ C Brown Sugar
1 ½ tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split)
2 Eggs
1 ½ C Quick Oats

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)

3 ½ C Powdered Sugar

2 T Cocoa

¼ C Milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge)

1 tsp. Vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Then, stir in the oats. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

The frosting is a two step process. First, whip the remaning ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.

Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

SOOOOO GOOD!! This recipe is amazing!! I don't have a working microwave to soften my butter...so I used my wood burning stove haha. I was told to use almond butter in the crust, but I didn't have any. If you try that let me know :) This is a keeper!!! I might make them today!