Ham Tetrazinni

I've made Chicken Tetrazinni before, and we really enjoyed it! When I'm menu planning each week, I try to incorporate different kinds of meat than just chicken and beef. I got a good deal on some hams a few weeks ago, so right now I'm really enjoying incorporating ham into our meals. Since the Chicken Tetrazinni was such a big hit, I decided that the Ham Tetrazinni will most likely go over well also. I have to admit that I'm pretty sure we love the Ham version much better than the chicken version! I found this recipe over at Allrecipes - I just love their ingredient search so I can type in what I have and it spits out all kinds of great recipes for me, which is nice when I don't want to make a run to the store just for one recipe. Anyways, here's the recipe, with my changes.

No photo available, sorry!

Ingredients

2 T dried minced onion

1 T butter

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/2 c water

1/2 c shredded mozzerella cheese

1 c diced ham

1/2 box spaghetti

1/2 t dried parsley

Directions

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain. In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, saute chopped onion in butter until tender. Stir in cream of mushroom soup, water, and shredded cheese. Heat mixture until cheese melts, stirring often. Add ham, cooked and drained pasta, chopped pimento, and chopped parsley to saucepan; stir until heated through. 

Monkey Muffins

I like to make a "special" breakfast on the days of "special" events and holidays. Birthdays, anniversaries, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day, New Years Day, Easter...you get the idea. This is something new that I've added to my list of possibilities. It is basically monkey bread in muffin form. I really like having "individual" monkey bread's to pass out because then I'm not as tempted to eat the entire pan in one sitting. And thus ruin every second of The 30 Day Shred that I've ever completed.

This recipe is a combination of two that I found - the dough portion is The Frugal Girl's recipe and the remainder of the recipe is from Pioneer Woman Cooks. You don't have to make the dough from scratch - you can buy a loaf of frozen bread or a can of refrigerated biscuits and either will work just fine for this recipe!  

Ingredients

*for dough*
2 1/4 t. active dry yeast (equals one packet)
1/4 c warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 1/4 c warm milk (110-115 degrees)
1/3 c butter, melted
1/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t salt
4 1/2 - 5 c all purpose flour

*for "glaze"*

Butter

Sugar

Ground Cinnamon

Directions

In a stand mixer, let yeast dissolve in 1/4 cup of water. Add in milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter and 3 cups of flour. Beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed for 3 minutes. Add in enough remaining flour to create a soft dough. Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes. Place dough back in bowl, cover with a wet tea towel and let rise in a warm, draft free place. Let rise for one hour, or until doubled.

Punch dough down, roll into 40 balls and set aside.

Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin. Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon. Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes and then bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

Basic Sandwich Bread

When I found this recipe over at The Frugal Girl (over a year ago) I decided to give it a shot. We liked the occaisonal loaf of homemade bread, but I never was too keen on the whole kneading thing, so I attempted it in my bread machine. It was one big.fat.flop. So I threw it away and never attempted again.

Fast forward a year and I was itchin' to try and make sandwich bread again so I could break free from the chains of having to buy bread at the store each week. I tried it just like Ms. Frugal herself and used the KitchenAid for the mixing, and then I kneaded the dough by hand. I know. Stop.the.World.

But guess what?!? It turned out FABULOUSLY! And it was EASY! And my arm muscles are getting so much more defined now that I knead our own bread! Okay, that last one may be more credit to Jillian than to the bread, but whatev.

So, we no longer purchase bread at the store. I just make a batch of this each Monday morning and we're good to go for the week. Don't be discouraged if this bread doesn't turn out 100% wonderful after your first, second or even tenth try. It takes practice. And experience. But you'll get the hang of it. The more you learn, the better it will turn out! So get kneading!

And here are some of Frugal Girl's "pointers" posts about bread baking, which have helped to improve my bread baking skills TREMENDOUSLY!!

How to Knead Bread Dough
A Lesson on Gluten
Gluten and Kneading
Troubleshooting Yeast Bread I
Troubleshooting Yeast Bread II
Does Homemade Bread Save Money?

Ingredients

5 3/4-6 1/4 c. All-Purpose Flour

2 1/4 t. (equivalent to one packet) Active Dry Yeast

2 1/4 c. Water

2 T. Sugar

1 T. Vegetable Oil

2 t. Salt

Directions

In a large standing mixer bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups of flour and yeast. In the microwave, heat water, sugar, oil, and salt to 115-120 degrees (use a candy thermometer for this). Add hot liquids to flour and yeast. Beat at low speed until combined, then beat at high speed for 3 minutes. Add enough additional flour to make a soft, but kneadable dough, and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead for 5-10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Put dough back into mixing bowl, cover with wet tea towel, and let rise in a warn, draft free place for 1 hour. Punch dough down, divide into two pieces, and roll into a rectangle, about 6″x18″. Starting from the short end, roll up jelly-roll style and place into two greased 4×8 inch loaf pans. Cover with wet tea towel and let rise in a warm, draft free place for 30-40 minutes, or until doubled. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool before slicing.

Lasagne Soup

In the cold months of fall and winter, I like to serve soup at least once per week. It's such a warm me up dish that is absolutely delicious with homemade bread or rolls. However, by mid January I was getting a little tired of the same ol', same ol' soups week in and week out. It seems that my husband is rather picky when it comes to soup and I found myself making Chili, Vegetable Beef Soup and Potato Soup most of the time. Then, Real Mom Kitchen had "Soup Week" in January, and shared the recipe for this Lasagne Soup. I had to have it. I knew it was a MUST try! We love lasagne, we love soup...what's NOT to love about this recipe? I changed her recipe from being a stovetop prep to Slow Cooker and I served this soup up with Parmesan Knots (recipe coming soon!) and it was the perfect solution to a perfectly cold day!

Ingredients

- 1 lb. ground beef

- 3 T.  dried, minced onion

- 3 T. Garlic Powder

- 1 t. Thyme

- 1 T. packed Brown Sugar

- 4 cups of Chicken Broth

- 2, (14.5 ounce) cans Diced Tomatoes

- 2, (8 ounce) cans Tomato Sauce

- 2 t. Italian Seasoning

- 1/2 t. Salt

- 2 c. uncooked shaped pasta

- 1/2 c. Grated Parmesan Cheese

In a skillet, brown ground beef, then add onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook over medium heat until onions are translucent. Drain well and put in crockpot. Stir in thyme, brown sugar, broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. In the last thirty minutes of cooking, add cooked pasta to soup and stir in Parmesan cheese.

Directions

Coffee Jell-O

This is another recipe that I found in the most recent issue of Taste of Home. We had company over for supper last weekend - company who LOOOOOOVES coffee, so I decided that the time was right to test out this recipe. It went over well - everyone said it truly tastes like coffee, BUT (there's always a "but" isn't there?), it's too "weird". They said that coffee in "jiggly" form just isn't quite right somehow - SO, whilest it was a good attempt, I probably won't be making this dish again. But if you can get over the "weird" texture of this, then I'd say it's a keeper!

Ingredients

1 envelope of unflavored gelatin

1/4 c. cold water

1 1/2 c. brewed coffee

1/4 c. sugar

Whipped Cream

Directions

In a saucepan, sprinkle packet of gelatin in 1/4 cup of water, let stand for one minute. Stir in brewed coffee and sugar. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour into serving dish of choice. Cover and refrigerate until set. Garnish with Cool Whip before serving.

Rotisserie Style Chicken - in the Crockpot!

I found some whole chickens for a very good price at Target a few weeks back, and there they have sat in my deep freeze ever since - just waiting for the perfect recipe to come and save them! That's where A Year of Slow Cooking came to the rescue (again! She is brilliant with crockpot recipes!). We LOVE us some rotisserie chicken, and I usually just purchase the marked down birds that didn't sell the day before at Fareway - only $3.99 and all I have to do is heat it up! This was was cheaper (because I got the birds on sale) and (I think) much more delicious. Probably because the labor of love was involved ;) This really couldn't get any easier (well, except for buying it hot and ready from the grocery store...but homemade wise, I mean!) and is a super delicious, moist, falling off the bone meal to make for your loved ones!

Ingredients

--1 Whole Chicken, skinned (4-5 pounds)

--2 tsp Kosher Salt (3 tsp. if you like them as salty as in the store)

--1 tsp Paprika

--1 tsp Onion Powder

--1/2 tsp Dried Thyme

--1 tsp Italian Seasoning

--1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

--1/2 tsp Black Pepper

-- Pinch of Chili Pepper

Directions

Skin the chicken and get rid of the neck and other stuff from the cavity. This takes awhile - so be prepared to spend a little time getting down and dirty with this chicken. If skin doesn't bother you - or if you'd PREFER to have it on the bird - then by all means don't skin it. Just pull the yuckies out from inside the chicken.

In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Plop the bird breast-side down into the crockpot.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours, or on low for 8. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

Be sure to check out Foodie Friday over at Designs bt Gollum!

Garlic-y Potato Rolls

I found this recipe over at The Frugal Girl. She is a baking whiz! I have started to work very hard at becoming as talented at bread baking as she is, and I must say that I'm catching on pretty quickly! I have even started to make all of our own sandwich bread, so we don't have to purchase it at the store anymore (I'll share that recipe soon!). These rolls are super great, and very easy to whip up a batch of! We like to eat these rolls with just about anything! They are very soft and flaky, and the garlic potato flakes add just the slightest hint of a garlic flavor to these rolls. You don't have to use garlic flavored potato flakes to make these rolls, any flakes will do, I just like to use the garlic variety for just a hint of flavor to the rolls. As is the case with any bread, these are best eaten fresh from the oven - but they are mighty delicious later on as well!

Ingredients
3-1/2 to 4 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 T. Sugar
2 1/4 t. active dry yeast (equal to 1 packet)
3/4 t. salt
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. instant potato flakes
2 eggs

In large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Heat water, milk, and butter until very warm (120° F). Stir in potato flakes; let soften 1 minute. Stir into dry ingredients. Stir in 1 egg and beat for several minutes. Add enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Place dough in bowl, cover, and let rise 1 hour.

Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Roll each piece to 6-inch rope. Coil each rope to make “snail” shape. Arrange 12 rolls in a circle on large greased baking sheet with sides barely touching; repeat with remaining rolls. Cover rolls and let rise 30 minutes.

Lightly beat remaining egg; brush over rolls. Bake at 375° F for 15 minutes or until done. Remove from sheet; let cool on wire rack

To see more great recipes, be sure to check out the Ultimate Recipe Swap over at Life as Mom!

Loaded Mashed Potatoes

I found the recipe for these potatoes in the most recent copy of Taste of Home that I recieved. When hubs saw it, he said that I could NEVER make my version look as good as the picture in the magazine, and that he didn't even think he'd like them anyways. Well. Jokes on him, because his mom has been making a recipe very similar to this for a long time now, and he has always really enjoyed it! So, I took it upon myself to make these potatoes for company over the weekend, and he, of course, loved them. I may or may not have made him beg for my forgiveness over his comments about the recipe ;)

No photo available, sorry!

Ingredients

- 9 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

- 1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened

- 1/2 c. sour cream

- 1/2 c. butter, cubed

- 1/4 c. milk

- 1 1/2 t. onion powder

- 1 t. salt

- 1 t. garlic powder

- 1/2 t. pepper

- 6 slices of bacon, chopped

- 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Savory Pot Roast

I feel like I've tried every pot roast recipe out there. Seriously. Okay, maybe not every pot roast recipe out there, but we've tried a lot. I just have issues with pot roast. I guess I like 'em creamy - and they all just turn out juicy. I'd prefer for the roast to soak up in gravy that I can drown my potatoes in.

I have found one recipe that I make time and time again, which calls for a can of cranberry sauce. But I was out of cranberry sauce, so I turned to A Year of Slowcooking in search of another fabulous pot roast recipe. I mostly chose this one on the basis that I had everything in my pantry and wouldn't have to venture out in the -15 degree temps (yep. that's a negative sign before the fifteen there peeps!) to the grocery store. This did turn out fabulously - not creamy like I long for - but it had excellent flavor!

Ingredients

Rump or Chuck roast

1/4 c. Brown Sugar

1/2 c. Apple Cider Vinegar

1 c. Ketchup

2 c. Chicken Broth

2 c. Baby Carrots (optional)

Directions

Put the roast into of your crockpot pot, and pour in brown sugar, vinegar, and ketchup. Toss in carrots (if using). Pour broth evenly over the top. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the meat has reached desired tenderness.

Chocolate Eclair Cake

Happy Valentines Day! Here is a perfect dessert to make for your loved ones tonight! I made it for family over the weekend and it was  HUGE hit - so delicious! But, really, who can turn down chocolately goodness like this? This would also make a great potluck pleaser as long as you have someplace cool to store it up until serving time! I made an Eclair Torte about this time last year, which was a little labor intensive, but TOTALLY worth it! This cake is not quite so much work, and still TOTALLY worth it! :) I found this recipe over at Cookie Madness - but made a few changes of my own to it :)

Ingredients

1 (3.4 oz) box of Instant Vanilla Pudding

2 c. Milk

1 (8 oz) tub Cool Whip

1/2 a box Graham Crackers or however many you need to make 4 layers

1 c. Chocolate Frosting

Directions

Beat together pudding mix and milk for about 2 minutes until pudding starts to thicken. Fold in the tub of whipped topping.

Break the graham crackers into squares and lay them across the bottom of an 8 inch baking dish. You’ll need to break some of them to cover the bottom of the dish. Spread the pudding mix across the graham crackers. Layer on more graham crackers and more pudding mix twice so that you have a total of 3 layers of graham crackers and three layers of pudding mixture. Top with a final layer of graham crackers.

Soften the frosting and pour over the top. Chill for at least four hours (preferably longer) or until ready to eat.

For more great recipes, be sure to ceck out Mouthwatering Monday!

Homemade Cornbread

I have a confession. I used to hate, I repeat, HATE, cornbread. I couldn't eat it. I just couldn't. I think it was because I used to make it from a Jiffy mix (*hangs head in shame*) and it always turned out dry, crumbly and tasteless. Not very appetizing, I know.

And then, The Frugal Girl and all of her bread baking wisdom shared her recipe for Homemade Cornbread. I told myself that I'd give it one more shot at cornbread. If it was a flop, then I'd give up on cornbread for life. Lucky for me, it was a total success and I just fell.in.love with cornbread. I mostly like it smothered in homemade syrup (recipe to come. It's ridiculously easy...). So maybe it isn't that I've come around to cornbread afterall. Maybe I've just found another carb to soak in sugary syrup. Hmmmmm....

Ingredients

1 c. All Purpose Flour

1 c. Yellow Cornmeal

2-4 T. Sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)

1 T. Baking Powder

1/2 t. Salt

2 Eggs

1 c. Milk

1/4 c. oil or butter

Directions

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl, wisk together wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently stir until just combined. Scrape into a greased 8x8 baking dish and bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

For more great recipes, be sure to check out Meatless Monday!

Thick and Hearty Chili

A few weeks ago, I was making a crockpot full of soup, and my husband asked if it was Chili that I was preparing. I told him no, but that I had chili planned for a night later in the month. He responded with "Good. I like Chili". Fast Forward to yesterday morning. I was pulling the ingredients out to make the promised pot of chili, and my husband walked over and asked what I was fixing. I told him chili, and he responded with "I don't like chili." WHAAAAAAAT??!??? I reminded him of the previous conversation, and he said "Well, I like chili. Just not yours. I prefer for there to be tomato chunks. And for it to be REALLY thick. And lots of hamburger". Okay. I can work with that. So I put away all of the ingredients for the original chili recipe I was going to use, and concocted this recipe for a thick, hearty, chunky chili. It was a hit!

Ingredients

1 (16 oz.) can Tomato Sauce

2 c. Black Beans

1 lb. Ground Beef, Browned

1 (16 oz.) can Refried Beans

2 1/2 T. Chili Seasoning

1 (16 oz) can Stewed Tomatoes, cut into chunks

Directions

Combine all ingredients into a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and let simmer on low for one hour.

Go check out more great recipes at Foodie Friday, Friday Feasts and Fun with Food Friday.

Pea Salad

Well Helloooo there! Long time, no...see(?)! Life has been pretty crazy around here!! Since I've last been around, we've had an addition to the family! So we've been buz-y! Our little mister is now 5 1/2 months old, and a little busy body! Hoo! He wears me OUT!! He was born on May 13, 2010 at 10:36 pm (after 2 days of labor!!) and he weighed 7 lb. 12 oz and was 20 3/4" long. He is also the picture of perfection! I couldn't ask for more! I quit my job as a teacher at the local daycare to be a stay at home mom, and I LOVE my job at home! There is nothing more fufilling to me than taking care of my husband, baby and household each day!

I finally decided after almost six(!!) long months that it's time to re-enter the blogging world! I was unsure at first if I wanted to, blogging can be a time drain! But, I miss it. I also miss having one go to place for my recipes!! So, I'm back! I don't promise a recipe every.single.day. I don't promise weekends. I don't promise anything. But as I have a recipe to share, I'll share. My cooking style has changed some in the past few months, but I still have lots of recipes to share with you all, and I still like to experiment! So, without further adue...a new recipe!!

I know that pea salad is a recipe that should traditionally be shared and eaten in the summer. With temps in the 40's and 50's around here, you'd think it more appropriate that I share a recipe for something more warm-you-up-inside...not for something cold and, well, summery. However, hubs loves pea salad, and since I have to pack his lunchbox each morning, I like to pack things that he likes. Plus, it's easy. Me likes easy :) Oh, and this recipe came from my Grandma's cookbook, which is a compilation of recipes from all the ladies in my (very) small hometown. We're talking a population of like 300 here. But dang! Those small town ladies sure do know what they're doing in the kitchen (how redneck did that sound?!?!?!?).

You'll only need a few simple ingredients for this recipe...

- 1 bag frozen peas

- 1/3 cup Velveeta cheese, cubed

- 2 tablespoons of sugar

- 1/2 cup Mayonnaise

The directions are pretty easy too!

Put all the ingredients in a bowl. Stir until well combined. Chill until Serving.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!! (just a side note. I've never celebrated Cinco de Mayo before. I'm not even totally sure what it's supposed to be celebrating othen than the Fifth of May. I just always take it as a good opportunity to enjoy me some ooey gooey Mexican food!)

There is nothing better than a big 'ol creamy enchilada covered in cheese and still piping hot from the oven! Got your mouth watering yet (or are your arteries clogging just thinking about it)? I'm kind of picky when it comes to my Mexican fare, I like it spicy, but not too spicy, and I like it creamy, cheesey, ooey and gooey! So when I found this recipe over at Real Mom Kitchen, I was intrigued by the title. Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas huh? It sounded pleasantly different. Then when I read the ingredients and saw that it was a creamy, cheesy, ooey and gooey enchilada recipe I didn't even hesitate about putting this on my "must try ASAP" list!

This recipe did not disappoint! It had the perfect amount of spiciness, which surprised me, considering that there is an entire tablespoon of chili powder in here! I even contemplated cutting that amount in half, but the sour cream mixture really toned the spice down I think. It also had the perfect amount of creamy and ooey gooey...except next time I may add more cheese. Because we all know there is never too much of ooey gooey cheese when it comes to a recipe like this!

Ingredients...

...6 T. honey

...5 T. lime juice ime)

...1 T. chili powder

...1/2 tsp. garlic powder

...1 lb chicken, cooked and shredded

...8-10 flour tortillas

...1 lb shredded cheese

...16 oz. green enchilada sauce

...1 c. sour cream

Directions....

In a medium sized bowl, stir honey, lime juice, chili powder, garlic powder and all but 1 cup of the shredded cheese into chicken until it is well coated. Let marinate for a half hour or longer. Meanwhile, prepare a 9x13 pan by greasing the sides and bottom and then pouring 1/2 cup of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan. Once chicken has marinated, spoon some into a tortilla, wrap up and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat until all 8-10 tortillas are filled. To the remaining chicken mixture, add sour cream and enchilada sauce and stir until smooth and well combined. Pour mixture over the enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients...

...Thinly sliced ham, chopped

...1/4 onion, chopped

...1/4 green pepper, chopped

...1/4 c. salsa

...1/4 - 1/2 c. shredded cheese

...4 eggs

...Tortilla Shells

Directions...

In a skillet over medium heat, saute ham, onion and green pepper until tender. Add eggs and stir continuously until a scrambled egg form takes place. Be sure to cook until eggs are fully done. Stir in salsa and shredded cheese and cook until everything is heated through and the cheese has melted. Serve in warm tortillas shells.

Bagel Dogs

Yet another Real Mom Kitchen recipe that I just couldn't pass up! As I've mentioned before, we are big Macaroni and Cheese fans in this house! That being said, I have more macaroni and cheese AND packages of hot dogs in my stockpile than the average person eats in their entire life. Add to that the fact that I am sick and tired of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, I knew it was time to start experimenting with new recipes to get these hot dogs used up. What I really wanted to make was Pigs in a Blanket, but I didn't have any sliced cheese on hand, and I was not about to run out to the grocery store just for sliced cheese. So I decided to give this recipe a whirl!

These are super amazingly good! A plump, warm hot dog wrapped up in a blanket of soft, chewy bagel bread just really hits the spot! Next time, I may add some cheese wrapped around the hotdog before I wrap the dough around, but otherwise, I pretty much left this recipe as is and was very happy with the results. As was hubs. Now I'm off to try and find a recipe for pretzel dogs...because this just got the ball rolling on things I can do with the umpteen meeeelion packages of hot dogs I have stored in our deep freeze (okay. not quite that many. but close.)

Ingredients...

...2 cups warm water

...4 1/2 tsp. yeast

...3 T. sugar

...3 tsp. salt

...5 1/2 c. flour 

...12 hot dogs

...2 tsp. baking soda

...1 egg yolk

...Salt for garnish 

Directions...

Pour the warm water into the bowl of your stand mixer and add the yeast. Let stand until foamy. Stir in sugar and salt and turn the mixer on low speed. Gradually add flour until a smooth, elastic dough has formed. Using the dough hook, knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Place the dough into a clean, well greased bowl and turn to make sure all sides of the dough are covered with grease. Cover and let stand in a warm, draft free place for an hour. Once the dough has risen, punch down and place onto a floured workspace. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until about 1/4" thick. Using a kitchen scissors, cut the dough into strips about 1" wide (approximately 10-12 strips). Wrap each strip around a hot dog, overlapping each layer slightly. Place on a greased baking sheet and cover. Let sit in a warm, draft free place to rise for about 45 minutes. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the dough has browned. Serve warm.

Zuppa Tuscana Soup

I have a confession to make. I have never before in my life eaten Zuppa Tuscana soup before. Apparently Olive Garden makes a pretty mean version of this stuff, but I've never tried it! When I stumbled upon the recipe over at Finding Joy in My Kitchen, I decided that it sounded really good and I'd like to give it a try!I am soooo glad that I did! This soup is phenomenal! I've been looking for a new and different soup recipe, and here it is!

Not only is this soup phenomenal tasting, but it's super easy to make! The flavors of this soup just meld together so well! Hubs told me that he felt it was a little too "leafy" so I think next time I may tone down the spinach a notch, but otherwise this was great!! A+ soup in my book!

Ingredients...

...1/2 lb. Italian sausage

...6 medium potatoes, cubed

...1 medium onion, diced

...4 garlic cloves, minced

...4 c. chicken stock

...2 c. water

...2 c. milk

...1 c. frozen spinach

...6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Directions...

In a stockpot, brown sausage with onion until no longer pink. Add in chicken broth, water and potatoes. Let simmer over medium heat until potatoes are tender. Stir in the milk and spinach and continue to let simmer. Mash potatoes slightly. Add in bacon and continue to let simmer until everything is heated through and ready to serve. In total, I let my soup simmer for about an hour from start to finish.

Blitz Bread

This is a fabulous bread recipe that is my new go to bread for Italian food night! It has an amazing garlic-y/Italian/DELICIOUS flavor to it that just makes me want to sit and eat the entire pan in one sitting! I found this recipe over at My Kitchen Cafe and was intrigued! I have seen recipes in the past that call for adding things like garlic or cheese to bread, but have never tried them before. I finally decided to give it a go with this recipe and I'm a convert! This is a great alternative to garlic bread or breadsticks on Italian night! I served this with spaghetti (I made the sauce from scratch, watch for the recipe in a few days!)  and it was delicious!

This is a flatter bread, slightly dense, so it wasn't your typical loaf of bread. It was more of a bar like consistency. Just try this, it's great!

Ingredients...

...1 1/2 c. warm water

...3 T. olive oil

...1 1/4 tsp. salt

...3 1/2 c. flour

...1 T. yeast

...1/2 tsp. garlic salt

...3 tsp. dried herbs (I used a McCormick blend of herbs & garlic powder. It was perfect!)

...Italian Seasoning

Directions...

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the Italian Seasoning. Stir until everything is well combined. Prepare a 9x13 pan by greasing the bottom and sides, and then drizzling the 3 T. olive oil on the bottom. Scrape batter into the pan, cover and let sit in a draft free, room temperature spot for one hour. After resting for an hour, drizzle the top of the dough with a little more olive oil, and then sprinkle with Italian Seasoning. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.

Santa Fe Skillet

I love skillet dinners! They are just so easy to whip up, which makes them great for a busy night when cooking isn't your top priority...but giving your family a home cooked meal is. This recipe, which I found over at Put a Lyd on It!, (and changed quite a bit), reminded me a lot of that taco flavored Hamburger Helper. We don't eat much Hamburger Helper in this house. Only about two boxes per year, which I keep on hand for those reaallllllyyy stretched nights when I don't even have time to think. But anyways, it reminded me of that. But tastier. And homecooked.

At first I was worried that we were just going to have a fancified goulash on our hands, which worried me, because we all know about my love for goulash (eh hem). I was pleasantly surprised that this turned out nothing like better tasting than goulash. It had a great Mexican flavor to it while still being family friendly with the noodles and ground beef. I give this recipe two thumbs up...and so did hubs!

Ingredients...

...1 lb. ground meat

...1 package (6 or so oz.) pasta

...1 c. salsa

...1 T. chili powder

...1 packet taco seasoning

...1/2 tsp. salt

...1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

...2 tomatoes, diced

...1 c. shredded cheese

...1/2 c. sour cream

Directions...

Cook pasta in a large pot until tender. Drain. Meanwhile, in a skillet, brown meat until no longer pink. Add cooked pasta, taco seasoning packet, chili powder, salt and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, salsa, sour cream and shredded cheese. Simmer for 5 minutes longer and serve.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I'm not going to lie and pretend that I've had homemade spaghetti sauce before. I haven't. I'm pretty much a Ragu kind of girl. Just give me a jar of Ragu and I'm golden. I mean, the stuff can be used on anything! Pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, the list is endless! I broke my Ragu from the jar snobbery last week though and made my own spaghetti sauce...from scratch. That's right my squeezies, I made HOMEMADE spaghetti sauce. And....I liked it! Don't tell Ragu, he'll be devastated to know that I'll only be using him for pizza (and maybe lasagna) from now on.

I found this recipe over at My Kitchen Cafe and it is a recipe that she has worked on perfecting for some time now. And then I went and just messed it all up. On purpose though. I made changes that I wanted for my spaghetti sauce...changes that I was going to find incredibly tasty (and. changes that reflected the ingredients that I had on hand). I was incredibly happy with the turnout of this sauce. It was so amazing, the tomato flavor was so real and the texture was so great! Not too thin, not too chunky, not too weak of flavor...it was all just so right on. So just be aware that you will never be able to go back to jarred pasta sauce for your spaghetti again after trying this recipe. Because you might just will fall in love with this recipe!

Ingredients...

...3 T. olive oil

...1 large onion, chopped (not pictured)

...1 lb. ground meat

...1 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

... 12 oz. tomato paste

...2 tsp. salt

...1 tsp. black pepper

...3 tsp. oregano

...1 1/2 tsp. basil

...1 1/2 tsp. thyme

...56 oz. diced tomatoes

...28 oz. crushed tomatoes

...1 can mushrooms

...1 beef boullion cube dissolved in 1 c. boiling water

...2 T. brown sugar

...2 bay leaves

Directions...

In a skillet, heat up olive oil and add onions. Saute onions until they are translucent. Add ground meat and cook until it is no longer pink. Stir in garlic powder, tomato paste, thyme, oregeno, basil, pepper and salt. Let cook for about 2 minutes.  In a large (and I mean LARGE) pot stir together crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, mushrooms, boullion/water mixture and brown sugar. Add in meat mixture and stir until well combined. Toss in two bay leaves and let simmer for at least one hour and no longer than three.

To lessen the amount that needs simmered, you can freeze half of the mixture before simmering. I froze in portions equal to a jar of pasta sauce so I can easily pull them out from the freezer for spaghetti or lasagna night! This makes a HUUUGGGEE batch!