Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

I LOVE THIS!

And my kids ate it!

1 Medium Spaghetti Squash

1 Can (10 3/4 ounce) campbells condensed cream of celery soup

3/4 C water

1/4 C milk

1 Cup Shredded low fat swiss cheese, shredded

2 T grated Parmesan cheese

chopped parsley on top if you like

Pierce the squash with a fork in several places then bake 350 for about 50 min.

When it's tender cut in half, scoop out seeds then scrape the flesh and separate the spaghetti strands.

Stir the soup, water and milk in a 2 quart saucepan. Heat over med heat to a boil. Stir in the Swiss cheese

Place the hot spaghetti squash in a 2 quart serving bowl and pour the soup mixture all over it, toss around then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Cheaters way- If you want you can also just cook the squash, scrape it out to the spaghetti strand and then dump a jar of Alfredo sauce over it! Still yummy

Amie's Berry Good Blueberry Muffin's

NOW, for those of you 3-ingredient recipe people- here is my philosophy, if a recipe only has three ingredients, it's going to taste like it. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for quick and easy meals. BUT NOT when it comes to blueberry muffins!! So don't freak out- just read through and it will be worth it, promise

We are using the MUFFIN METHOD of Baking

Making a Blueberry Jam:

1 C. Fresh Blueberries

1t. Sugar

Put in sml saucepan over med. heat, breaking up the blueberries a bit with the spoon, about 6 min.

Transfer Jam to a small dish a set aside to cool.

Topping: DO NOT LEAVE THIS OUT- IT'S THE SECRET

2/3 C Sugar

1/1/2 t. Grated Lemon Zest

Batter:

2 1/2 C All Purpose Flour

2 1/2 t. Baking Powder

1t. Salt

*Sift in bowl with whisk

*Add 1 C Fresh Blueberries to coat

In separate bowl:

2 Eggs- room temp

1 1/8 cup sugar (half of 1/4)

* Mix then add:

4 T Butter, unsalted, melted, cooled

4 T Veg Oil

2t Vanilla

1 C Buttermilk(you can cheat on this but try not to- add 1T white vinegar to 1 C milk, let sit 5-10 min. )

ADD the WET ingredients to the DRY then gently fold only until flour moistened. It will be lumpy.

Scoop into lined or greased muffin tins.

Add 1 tsp of your cooled jam to the center of the batter.

Swirl the batter a LITTLE with a tiny stick.

Add sugar lemon topping

Bake 425 for about 18 min rotate halfway through.

Pizza Dough

This makes one pizza, the size of a pampered chef pizza stone

I double the recipe for my family of 6

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure olive oil
3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast (can use rapid rise)

2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons olive oil
Olive oil, for the pizza crust
Corn Meal, for dusting the pizza stone

Directions:

Place the first 5 ingredients into your mixer with the paddle attachment. Let sit a min to let yeast activate.

Add one cup of flour, mix, then switch to dough hook

Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time until smooth consistency.

You can let the dough knead in the mixer or by hand. ( I prefer by hand) Watch for the window pain to check if kneading is done.

Now place dough in glass bowl, take the tsp. olive oil and rub over dough, cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for 24 hours. Then dump dough out onto table and let sit a min, covered with towel. Then roll out.

If you choose NOT to wait 24 hours keep on going- it will still be yummy.

If you have doubled the recipe split your dough, and then roll out to pan size.

Brush stone with olive oil and corn meal, place dough on stone. Roll edge for the crust then brush with olive oil.

Top your pizza

Bake 450 on lowest rack until nice a brown

Take out and slide off the stone, let sit for 5 min. before slicing.

YUMMY

Schlotzsky's Deli Turkey Melt

I LOVE sandwiches, especially in the summer months.

1/2 C Chopped pitted olives (for olive haters you can omit this)

1/2 t Chili Powder (if you want less kick only use 1/8 t)

1/2 Cumin

1/4 t Salt

1/4 C green onions

2 T sour cream

2 T Mayonnaise or salad dressing

4 Kaiser Rolls or hoagie buns

1/2 pound thinly sliced turkey

1/2 C Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 C Shredded Monterey Jack cheese (with jalapenos if you want kick)

Tomato slices

Tabasco sauce- optional of course

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl combine the olives, chili powder, cumin and salt. Add green onions, sour cream and mayo. Mix all together. Take out couple tablespoons for reserve.

Spread mixture over cut side of hoagie bottoms, place face open on cookie sheet. Top with turkey slices, sprinkle with cheeses and reserves mixture, then tomato slices.

Cover loosely with foil and bake for 15 -20 min

Makes four whole sandwiches.

Cheesy Italian Pasta Bake

(super blurry pic- sorry, had to get it quick before they ate it all!)

Just grabbed this from Mira's house- trying to take all her good recipes before she leaves!

Ingredients:

3 Cups dry penne pasta

1 T Butter

2 T Flour

1 1/4 Cup Milk

1/2 tsp Dry basil

1/4 tsp Dry Oregano

1/4 tsp Dry Thyme

1-2 Cloves garlic

8oz Tomato sauce

1 Egg

1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese

2 T Parmesan Cheese

3 T Seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

Cook Pasta in salted water till barely done. Don't overcook. Set aside. Melt Butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour, then the milk. Whisk and boil for at least 1 min. It will start to thicken up. Add the spices and garlic, stir in the tomato sauce. Remove from heat.

Add the egg to the pasta and stir around until it coats all the noodles. Stir in the sauce and mozzarella cheese. Pour in to a greased 2 1/2 QT casserole dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Cover and bake for 20 min. Uncover and bake for additional 5-10 min to crisp up the bread crumbs!

Pan grease

Trick: This is a wonderful cake pan grease. I use it instead of the cake release from wilton, which

I love, but this is cheaper! Just store in a tuba ware or your empty Crisco can.

Lemon Poppy Seed Strawberry "shortcake"

I am always looking for an excuse to eat strawberries and whip cream- what better time than early spring!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cookie

2 1/2 C All- Purpose Flour

1 t Baking powder

1/2 t Salt

1/2 C Butter, softened

2/3 C Sugar

1 egg

2 t Lemon Zest- I like more

2 T Lemon Juice

2 T Poppy Seeds

Directions:

In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside

Beat butter and sugar until smooth, beat in egg, zest, and juice until fluffy, 1 minute.

Gradually beat in flour mixture on low, just until combined.

Add in poppy seeds, stir to combine.

Divide dough in half. Flatten each into square, wrap in plastic.

Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Let stand at room temp for 15 min, before rolling out.

Heat oven to 350.

Bake 8-10 min.

Remove from pan immediately and cool on rack

Do with the strawberries and cream as you wish!!!

Roast Chicken- Crock pot

Similar recipe I use for a beef roast. We love this with chicken for Sunday dinner!

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1 pkt lipton onion soup mix
1 can cream of chicken soup (can use Cream of Mushroom instead)
1/4 cup water or chicken broth
1 onion thinly sliced
*potatoes and carrots

Place potatoes and carrots and half sliced onion in bottom of crock pot. Mix together water, soup mix, and Cream soup together. Place chicken breasts on top. Cover with soup mix and other half of onions.
Cook on low 4-6 hours

Highly Recommended Freezer Bag method:Place trimmed chicken breasts in freezer bag. Stir all ing. together except the potatoes and carrots. Add to bag. Lay bag flat to release air. Put in freezer until ready to use. I place the potatoes and carrots on the bottom of crockpot then pour the freezer bag contents on top! You can also shred chicken and serve over rice!

Balsamic Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

Fabulous low-fat crock-pot chicken, and taste amazing. This really brings in the great fall flavors! I found it on Simplify Supper, and changed it to work in the crockpot.

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
1 onion thinly sliced
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dried or fresh rosemarry
1-2 TBS butter

Put sweet potatoes in bottom of greased crock pot. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper and a few pats of butter. Now layer most of the sliced onions over poatoes, add a dash of salt and pepper. Drizzle half the balsamic vinegar over potatoes and onions.Salt and pepper both sides of chicken breasts and place in crock pot, ontop of potatoes and onions. Drizzle olive oil, the other half of the basalmic vinegar on top along with a handful of sliced onions and rosemarry. Cook on Low for 4-6 hours. Your home will smell like fall in a few hours!

Crock pot Chicken Cacciatore

We have had this too many times to count. A family favorite, the chicken is SO good, and we love it over pasta. This recipe comes from the Fiber 35 book. It is Super healthy and just plain good! Looks like alot of ingredients, but it really is super easy, and most ingredients you may already have in the pantry!

Ingredients:
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
1 tsp black pepper
4 chicken breasts, boneless skinless or thighs
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Cups Sliced mushrooms- I often use canned b/c I have it on hand
1 1/2 cups red bell pepper strips
1 1/2 cups green bell pepper strips
1 cup thin sliced onion
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp Basalmic vinegar

Mix first five ingredients. Dredge chicken in these spices, set aside, Put 1 tablepoon olive oil in bottom of Crock Pot. Add muschrooms, peppers, and onion. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, and vinegar. Add spiced chicken and any remaining spice mixture. Cook on Low 7-9 hours. Serve over pasta!

Creamy Peanut Butter Chicken- Crock-pot

This is a fabulous recipe a friend gave me. We just love it! My kids kept asking for more. This is a great recipe for the Freezer Bag method. We love it with fried rice! These are ingredients you probably always have on hand, which makes this recipe great to add to your 3 months supply list!


-Creamy Peanut Butter Chicken
4 chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/3 Cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 Tablespoons orange juice

Add all ing. except chicken and stir, it will take a minute or two for all ing. to incorporate. Pour over chicken in crock-pot. Cook on low 4 hours.6 hours was a little to long in my crock pot, just keep an eye on it. You can keep the chicken breasts whole or shred a bit. It will just fall apart, so we love to eat it in little pieces as it falls apart.

Freezer bag method
Add chicken breasts to Ziploc baggie. In bowl mix all other ingredients together. Pour into Ziploc baggie and seal tight. Freeze. When ready to cook, unthaw bag in refrigerator overnight and pour into crock pot in the morning. Cook on low 4-6 hours.

More Freezer bag cooking!

Spring is approaching and the last thing I want to be doing is slaving over a hot stove every night! Just another reason why I LOVE Freezer Bag Cooking! ITs not just for the crock pot! Here are some of my favorites for the BBQ. Just defrost and throw on your indoor or outdoor grill! Have frozen veggies, potatoes for a potato salad, fruit for a fruit salad on hand and you can have weeks of meals all ready to go!


I take one day out of the month and make about 20 freezer bag meals so my freezer is always full of ready to go dinners!

Here are some of my easy grilling favorites:
Thai Chicken- Click for great recipe
Italian Chicken- your favorite bottle of Italian dressing
BBQ chicken- Your favorite BBQ chicken
Teryaki Chicken- Add your favorite teryaki sauce to the chicken

Some of my other favorite Freezer Bag Meals:

PB chicken- Delicious! My kids just love it!
Southwest chicken
Cafe Rio Chicken
Roast Chicken
Sweet Pork
Plain Chicken Breasts- I love to fill 3-4 bags with already trimmed and pounded chicken breasts. I label the bag for the dinner I have in mind. My favorites to have chicken ready for are Chicken Caccetori, Coconut Chicken(new revised recipe) and Balsamic chicken and sweet potatoes.

I hope this will help you simplify your life, while continueing to save money and eat heathy home cooked meals! It has really helped me to do this! Buy your chicken on sale! Use this method with your own favorites! Good Luck!

Peanut Butter Muffins

These muffins use wheat flour and they are so delicious! My kids love them! I like to make some in mini muffin tins. Great for snacks and lunches! They freeze great too. They are soft and chewy, and the combo of chocolate and PB is soooo good!


1 Cup PB
1 egg
1/3C white sugar
1/3C brown sugar
1C milk
3/4C wheat flour
3/4C all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt

1/2 cup chopped chocolate chips

Combine peanut butter, egg, and sugars in mixer with whisk. Slowly add milk while whisking. In small bowl whisk together dry ingredients, then stir into wet ingredients in mixer by hand just until combined- no more. Stir in chocolate chips (giving them a rough chop makes them distribute and taste better throughout) Bake at 350 degrees about 12-13 minutes for mini muffins, 15-17 for regular- dont overcook, they will be lightly browned, and when they cool nice and chewy.

Foil Packet Tilapia

This is so easy, and the flavor is divine! You can use this method with any fish or chicken. Tilapia is so good for you, super high in protien and low in fat. You can get it frozen or fresh, and often for a great price. I threw this recipe together and LOVE it! Often a strong taste comes through with frozen talapia, but with this recipe, it was masked perfectly.

Ingredients:
2-4 Tilapia portions
Aluminum Foil
1 Bell pepper cut into thin strips
1/2 onion cut into thin strips
olive oil- to taste
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp Capers- optional, but tons of flavor
1 lemon, sliced thin, reserve some juice too



Rinse and pat Tilapia portions dry with paper towel. Salt and pepper both sides. Put Tilapia in large piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with basil, garlic powder and capers, layer on the pepper and onion strips. Top with lemon slices. Wrap up in a rectangular packet shape, place in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Fish is done when it flakes and is solid white in color. Yummy! Serve with steamed broccoli and rice!

Freezer Bag Meals!

Simplify your life by making Freezer Bag Meals!

For me, this method of freezer meals is a life saver! There are a few days out of the week that are the hardest, due to our schedule, for meals to get on the table. So, I needed something always ready to pull from the freezer and put in the crock pot. NO prep mess, EASY clean up!I take one day in the beginning of the month to do my freezer bag meals. I put together anywhere from 5-8 meals in only a few hours. Get your meat on sale, chicken or chuck roast, and save for your freezer meals.


All you do is trim meat, rinse and pat dry with paper towel, then place in a freezer bag. Add all your ingredients (except cheese, beans, corn, etc.) Anything you want cooked the full amount of time in the crockpot will do.
Place bags laying flat into the freezer. Take bag out of freezer the night before and let it defrost in the fridge. The next morning dump contents into crock pot, or place on grill, or in casserole dish for the oven! Some of these recipes you can use for grilling or baking as well. Thats the great part about it, you can use whatever method of cooking you want, or that your recipe can work for.


Here are some of my favorite recipes. Just prep your meat the way you want it to be in your crockpot or grill etc. Depending, I will sometimes cut mine up in chunks,for beef stroganoff, or Creamy italian chicken) or leave chicken the way it is for other recipes, like grilling.




Make sure you label your bags with the date and recipe, you could also add any other special cooking instructions.

Italian crock pot chicken- (Add all ingredients to bag, just dice up cream cheese and butter into cubes)-serve over rice or noodles-
Creamy Southwestern chicken -(just salsa and chicken, add black beans and corn later!) Use leftovers for tacos,burritos, tortilla chicken soup, quesadillias
Cafe Rio Chicken- (Mix together all ingredients, then pour overn chicken in the freezer bag)- Burritos, nachos, quesadillas, soups
Cheesy crock pot chicken- (Mix all ingredients together, then pour over chicken in freezer bag)Over rice or noodles
Roast chicken- Along side baked or roasted potatoes
Beef Stroganoff or Roast- (Mix all ingredients together, then pour over chicken in freezer bag)- Serve Along side mashed potatoes or over rice or noodles
BBQ Chicken- serve with rice or potatoes
Thai BBQ chicken (Mix all ingredients together, pour over chicken, I love this one for an all ready to grill chicken dinner!)

Click here for Grilling Freezer Bag meals and more recipes!