Awesome Things!

I never watch the superbowl. I Just can't seem to get into football ever. Not even if the Bears WERENT terrible every year :) But my husband insists on having the game on, so I insist on eating gameday snacks. These Oven Baked nachos that I chose to feature this week look delicious!!! And you can add and remove ingredients with no problem, which is even more fun :)

1. Jessica's Pick: Valentine's Day tree by Delineate your Dwelling
2. Ashley's Pick: Heart Earrings by Jewelry Making Journal
3. Randi's Pick: Valentine's Day Tags by Get Silvered
4. Victoria's Pick: Loaded Baked Nachos by The Everyday Mamma
5. Krystal's Pick: Valentine's Day Specimen Art by The Pin Junkie



Be Sure To Follow your hosts on this adventure ;)

 


Randi Sowders - Sowdering About in Seattle / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

 Jessica Booth - Preserving Life's Moments / Pinterest

Ashley Emmett - My Craftily Ever After / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

Victoria Schilke - My Little Birds / Facebook / Pinterest

Krystal McGarvey - My Life of Travels and Adventures / Facebook / Pinterest / Twitter

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Enchiladas

Family Circle Magazine has always been one of my favorites. Great recipes, great articles, and fun projects to do with varying age groups! My subscription showed up the other day, and on the cover I saw the most amazing looking enchiladas, and I knew I had to make them. That night. So I jammed the magazine into my purse, and headed to my local Meijer store for ingredients.

Click here for the recipe!

First step was to make shredded chicken. I always do this in the crock pot because it's easy and I can do other things while it's cooking. So I put 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot on high for 4 hours. And shredded the results.

I sprayed my casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and poured in a small layer of enchilada sauce. Then mixed the rest of the enchilada sauce into the chicken, along with the shredded cheese. 

Then the neufchatel cheese was spread on the tortillas, filled with the meat/cheese mixture, and then the tortilla was rolled up and placed in the baking dish!

Cover the enchiladas with the remaining cheese, and bake at 375 for 20 minutes, and then 400 degrees for 5 minutes.

 Garnish with whatever you want. I used jalapeno peppers because I love them!

Cut out your piece, and enjoy! 

Pinterest Win! Artichoke Spinach Cannelloni With Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

While looking for inspiration for dinners, I came across this pin.

Artichoke Spinach Cannelloni with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. 

It looked pretty easy to make so I opted to give it a try, with a few modifications, so all the ingredients were to my liking! I skipped the sauce entirely, using a favorite jarred red pepper/garlic pasta sauce from Meijer.

Ingredients:

12 fresh lasagna sheets (about 3" by 8")

10 ounces frozen spinach, squeeze all the liquid out

14 ounces cooked artichoke hearts, chopped

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

Sea salt, garlic powder, and black pepper to taste

1 cup fresh parmesan cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

 Start boiling your Lasagna noodles, since they take a little time

 Combine artichoke, spinach, parmigiano reggiano cheese, ricotta cheese, and  cream cheese. Season with sea salt, garlic powder and black pepper to taste.

I then put some of my sauce in the bottom of my casserole dish to help with sticking.

Spread spinach artichoke mixture along center of each lasagna piece.

 

Roll up to enclose filling.

 

 Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Cover with remaining sauce, and cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 40-50 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown.

Enjoy!!

Stuffed Zucchini Cups

For a party I hosted on Sunday, I decided I wanted more fancy looking appetizers than the usual! I opted to make Stuffed Zucchini Cups from Kalyn's Kitchen.

They turned out to be relatively easy to make, and they tasted delicious!

Stuffed Zucchini Cups from Kalyn's Kitchen

Ingredients:

 2 large zucchini or yellow squash, about 12 inches long
2 tsp. + 2 tsp. olive oil (may need more, depending on your pan)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 green pepper, finely chopped
2 T finely minced fresh garlic
1 lb. ground beef (10% fat or less)
12 oz. ground turkey (10% fat or less)
(use any combination of ground meat you'd like, but use low-fat ground meat for the South Beach Diet.)
1-2 tsp. Spike seasoning (optional but recommended)
2 C flavorful tomato-basil pasta sauce
2 cups low-fat mozzarella or other mild white cheese (I used low-fat blend of six cheeses called Italian blend.)

 

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Chop onion and green pepper. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a non-stick pan, then saute onion and pepper for 3-4 minutes, until just starting to soften. Add minced garlic and saute about 1 minute more, being careful not to brown the garlic. Remove the onion, pepper, and garlic mixture to a bowl.

Add 2 tsp. more olive oil to the pan. Crumble in the ground beef and ground turkey, season with Spike seasoning, and cook over medium heat until the meat is well browned. Tilt pan to see if there is any extra fat, and remove with a spoon if there is, then stir cooked vegetables and garlic back into the meat. Add tomato sauce and simmer until the mixture has thickened and liquid has cooked off, about 10 minutes, then turn off heat.

 While meat cools, cut zucchini into 2 inch thick slices, discarding ends. Use a sharp spoon or melon baller to hollow out a cup in each zucchini slice, leaving just over 1/4 inch of zucchini flesh. Be careful not to get too close to the skin or the cups will leak liquid when they cook.

 

 Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray and stand up zucchini cups, open end up. Stir 1 1/2 cups grated cheese into the cooled meat mixture (it doesn't need to be completely cool), then spoon the meat-cheese mixture into zucchini cups, pressing down with the spoon and mounding it up a little over the top of the zucchini.

Bake zucchini cups for 20 minutes, then remove from oven and use remaining cheese to top each one with a generous pinch of cheese. Put back in oven and bake 10-15 minutes more, until zucchini is slightly soft when pierced with a fork and cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.

Go check out what else Kalyn is cooking!

Christmas Cookies : Part trois!

Selection #3 I had come across on Pinterest. Before I get too far into this, I must warn you. The recipe for the peanut butter cookie is DRY. So dry in fact, that the cookie tastes kind of like chalk texture wise. I would definitely recommend finding a "wetter" cookie recipe, or buying the refrigerated dough. You will not be sorry. You have been warned.

Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

From : Bakergirl

1) Gather your supplies.

2) Sort out your "parts"

Red Noses

Chocolate Pretzel antlers and green eyes

I'm going to skip posting the recipe directions, feel free to check out the recipe at Bakergirl if you wish to try with this cookie recipe.

3) Form dough into 1-inch balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until set or just beginning to brown. 

4)  Remove from oven and immediately (and gently) press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer's antlers. Press two mini brown M&Ms in for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose (or any other color... we love the rainbow)

Sometimes you may run out of the M&M colors of your preference. Or become slap happy from all the work you've just completed. This is when you wind up with :

Zombie reindeer? Bloodthirsty reindeer? DRUNK reindeer? Or if you're a Twilight nerd like me : Bad Vampire reindeer.

As well as a baby, with a contact sugar high.

Christmas Cookies : Part Deux

Continuing on in Bakefest '12! My next selection has been a staple of mine since last year. 

Paula Deen's Monster Cookies

Or as I call them "Where's the butter, y'all?"

The Goods:

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup  granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

one 12 oz jar of creamy peanut butter

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup multi-colored chocolate candies

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup raisins (optional)

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 1/2 cups quick cooking oatmeal (NOT instant)

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats. 

2)  In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. 

Or if you're a bit OCD like I am, Roll them into balls and place them 2 inches apart to make perfectly round cookies.

3)  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not over bake.

4) Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

Om nom nom.






 

25 Days of Christmas : Cookies!

Every single year my mother and I bake Christmas cookies (with the exception of last year, where I was on bedrest through the holidays, and would have undoubtedly been angry that I couldn't eat the dough anyway). I decided I wanted to bake today for an upcoming party that I am having, and that I am very excited about. 

Let's start this off with the first recipe I tackled today: 

Hershey's Candy Cane Blossoms 

(or Peppermint Kisses as I like to call them)

Step 1 is obviously to gather your ingredients. 

Ingredients:

48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Candy Cane Mint Candies

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

red or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar, powdered sugar (whichever you please! I generally stick to granulated)

Directions:

1) Preheat over to 350°. Remove wrappers from candies

2) Beat butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Feel free to take goofy pictures of yourself in the process.

3) Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4)  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies. 

This recipe came straight from Hershey's, and it's delicious.