Whoops, it’s been awhile... Between winding down the school year and kicking off summer, I have not realized that it has been since April since I have updated everyone. Well you are in for a real treat this time. This is my nationally famous Cowboy Lasagna. This recipe was actually featured in the Half and Half magazine a few months ago. I love making this recipe because it’s not your typical and traditional lasagna recipe. In fact, this recipe is versatile you can use just about any kind of pasta noodle you want or have hanging around your pantry. Now this recipe is packed with dairy products, and they are also versatile, but I can’t promise it will turn out tasting the same. To get started, get your water boiling. While you are patiently waiting, this is where you mix the cream cheese, ricotta, and sour cream together. Once the water is boiling, follow the directions on the pasta box. The recipe calls for a 16oz box, but I don’t use all of the box. I use about 12-14 lasagna strips. Make sure you get them nice a dry before layering everything! This recipe tests you multi-tasking skills! While the water is boiling you will need to brown your ground beef and add in the jar of your favorite pasta sauce. Layer the noodles on top of the butter in your baking dish. Follow that up by layering the cheese mixture and then the meat mixture. Put that on repeat with the meat mixture the last step before you layer on some cheddar cheese! Pop it on the oven and enjoy! Ingredients:
1lb of cooked and drained ground beef 1 24 oz jar of marinara or your favorite sauce 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature 1/4 cup sour cream 1 cup ricotta cheese 16 oz of cooked and dried lasagne ( I do not use the whole box- see notes above) cheddar cheese, grated for topping Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Combine cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and sour cream until smooth Combine meat and sauce Layer a few thin slices of butter into a greased 13x9 baking dish the layer your noodles, cheese mixture and meat mixture. Put that on repeat starting with thinly sliced butter and ending with the meat mixture on top. Sprinkle with as much cheddar as you’d like. Pop that into the oven and bake for 30 min! Enjoy!
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Skinny Nachos!? Yes that's right, skinny nachos!! You're probably wondering how on Earth can there be skinny nachos. Well my husband and I are trying to cut carbs our of our diet, and it has been difficult trying to manipulate my go to quick and easy recipes to make them healthier. One morning I was in the coaches office at school and my best friend and workout queen Casey was talking about these amazing low carb nachos. They were genius! So thank you Casey for this amazing idea!! First, preheat your oven to 375. Ground your meat, add in the taco sauce and follow the directions on the packet. Let simmer until all of the water is absorbed. While that is going, you need to wash, half, and deseed the peppers and then line them on a greased cookie sheet. Then you will fill the peppers with the meat, and sprinkle some cheese on the top. Pop those babies in the oven for 10 minutes. When the peppers have cooled for about 5 minutes, then you can dress them up and Enjoy! Skinny Nachos Ingredients: 1lb of lean beef or ground turkey 1 packet of low sodium taco seasoning 1 package of mini sweet peppers, halved and seeded optional ingredients ( but highly recommended) shredded cheese refried or black beans salsa shredded lettuce sour cream or Greek yogurt Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 375, and brown 1 lb of ground lean beef or turkey. Add in your taco seasoning and follow package instructions. 3. Wash, slice in half, and deseed your package of peppers 4. Fill each half of pepper with the meat mixture, and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Then sprinkle with cheese. 5. Bake them for 10 minutes. Let them cool for 5 minutes and dress them up or eat them as is! Holy Moly....my how February flew by! From basketball tournaments to going out of town, I literally have put my blog on the backburner, and I'm sorry about that! This recipe was brought over by my dear friend Jen on the night of our pre New Year's Party. When I was searching for something sweet to share with you guys, I knew it had to be these awesome morsels of goodness! It took me two times to make these yummy bars. The first time was a mishap, I had an sick baby who just wanted his mommy to snuggle him to sleep and I completely forgot about the dish in the oven. Needless to say these Blondes Have More Fun Bars turned into not so fun bars. I hope that you enjoy!! In a stand or hand held mixer mix melted butter, 1 egg, and cake mix together. The consistency will be similar to Play-doh. Here you will spread the dough in a 13x9 inch pan until it is evenly spread out. In another bowl, cream your cream cheese for about a minute, then add in your eggs, butter, and vanilla. Give that a quick mix for about 2 minutes. Then you will add half of your powdered sugar, mix, and then add the other half. Make sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl. Pour that on top of the "play doh" mixture and put it in a 350* oven for about 45 minutes. Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix 2 sticks of melted butter 3 large eggs 1 8oz block of cream cheese ( softened) 2 tsp. vanilla extract 16 oz. of powdered sugar. Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. ( glass dished work best.) 2. Using an electric mixer, mix cake mix, 1 stick of melted butter, and one egg together. This dough will be the consistency and color of yellow "play doh." Spread the dough in the bottom of your baking dish. 3. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese for about 1 minute. Then add your eggs, stick of melted butter, and vanilla and cream those together for about 2 minutes. 4. Spread on top of the "play doh." and put in the oven 5. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown and has cracks in it. The dessert will be a little jiggly. 6. Let cool completely and then dig in! I was really trying to get this recipe up before the Super Bowl, but that didn't happen, and I am sorry for all of those guests at your house that didn't get to try it! Well maybe next year...or for your next get together! This corn dip is seriously one of my most requested recipes when there is a pot luck or get together!! It is super simple and a crowd pleaser! Drain your corn and rotel, and if you need to, dry with a paper towel. Add in the cream cheese, mayo, sour cream, bacon bits, seasonings, and a dash of hot sauce. Mix together, and then add in mozzarella and Mexican blend cheeses, and mix again. Spray a small baking dish with cooking spray and top with bacon bits and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Hot Cheesy Corn Dip
Ingredients: 2 15oz. Cans of Corn 1 can of Mexican Style Rotel 3 oz. Bacon Bits ( reserve a few for the toppings.) 1 8oz. block of cream cheese softened 1/3 cup of sour cream 1/3 cup of mayo 1 cup mozzarella cheese 1 cup Mexican style cheese salt, pepper, and seasoning salt to taste optional red pepper flakes and hot sauce Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 2. Drain the corn and rotel and pat dry with a paper towel 3. transfer to a large mixing bowl, and add in cream cheese, bacon bits, sour cream, mayo and seasonings, and mix together. 4. Add in your cheeses and mix again. 5. Pour into a small baking dish, and top with cheese and bacon bits 6. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Serve with corn or tortilla chips and enjoy! Do you ever have left over candy that you just don't know what to with? I am meaning anything from chocolates to red hots to fruit flavored gummy candy? Well sometimes if I don't have enough chocolate chips, ill use some chopped up chocolate bar for chocolate chip cookies, I use left over red hots for my Red Hot Apple Pie, and for this Ooey Gooey Orange Bread, I just so happened to have some orange slices left over from a gift that I received from Christmas. This is an extremely dense bread, so it's perfect for the Holidays or even as a cute little gift. Some of you readers may be skeptical about the orange slice candy making it fruit cake-ish, but trust me on this one, it's not!! It's great served with a scoop of icing or with a cup of coffee! In a large bowl, or mixer, mix the butter, sugar, and eggs. Alternate the milk with the dry ingredients. Mix it well. The mix will be a little thicker! Add in the nuts and raisins, and give it a quick spin to incorporate it all. Then throw in your sliced orange slice candy. So these little boogers were tricky to cut. I tried my food processor, my chopper, and nothing would work. So the only real way to get these chopped up nicely is a little elbow grease and a sharp knife! Give that a quick mix! This bread can be made into many shapes and forms! This time I chose to make 3 loaves of it, but you can use a Bundt pan as well. All I did was spray cooking spray in mine, but with the Bundt pan, I would grease and flour it. I baked mine for about 1 hour and 35 minutes. The Glazed it as soon as it came out of the oven. Ingredients:
Bread: 2 c. sugar 4 eggs 1 c. melted butter 1/2 c. buttermilk 1 tsp baking soda 3 1/2 c. sifted flour 1 lb. chopped Orange Slice Candy 2 c. chopped pecans 1 8oz. package of raisins Glaze: 1 c. orange juice 2 tsp. orange zest 4 c. powdered sugar ( more if you want it thicker) Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 300* 2. Mix butter, sugar, and eggs 3. Add baking soda 4. Add in the buttermilk and alternate with flour mixture 5. Add Candy, Raisins, and Pecans 6. Pour in to a Bundt pan ( greased and floured) or 3 loaf pans 7. Bake for 1:30-2hrs 8. While the Cake is hot, pour the glaze on top, let it sit in the pan until it is cooled. It will soak up all of the glaze! Enjoy! My love for chicken spaghetti goes way back to my elementary school days. You know back when everything was homemade? My sweet grandmother worked in the cafeteria when I was going through school and I did benefit from getting the middle cinnamon roll, apple with the most sprinkles, and the roll that was in the middle of the pan. My how times have changed, but for some reason I always remembered this Chicken Tetrazzini dish that was made at school. So I guess that is what inspired me to create my White Chicken Spaghetti. It started out one day with red sauce, so it literally was chicken with tomato sauce. I began to change some things up to where I decided to make it like they did in the cafeteria with a lighter sauce. The second stage was Velveeta, rotel, chicken, and spaghetti noodles. The third stage consisted of Velveeta, a can of roasted tomatoes, chicken, alfredo sauce, cheddar cheese, and spaghetti or I like to spice it up with a variety of noodles ( basically what was in my pantry.) Now the fourth and final stage of my chicken spaghetti is where we are at today, and I don't think that I will be making any other changes to it!! It is by far the best I have made! Let's get started! At this point in the preparation, I have boiled and drained my noodles, Preheated the oven to 350*, I have added in my fire roasted rotel, alfredo sauce, white Velveeta, and cream cheese. I mix that all up, and let it get a little melty! I then added my spices. This is Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes (optional,) black pepper, and seasoning salt, and salt. Give that a good stir! Add in your white cheddar, and pepper jack. If you don't like it spicy, you may add in Monterrey Jack or even Mozzarella.Basically any other white cheese will do. Then give that a quick stir as well and make sure that it is incorporated well. Ok, so y'all know that I like to make short cuts, and I may have forgotten to put in my chicken in the crock pot yesterday morning. SO! I decided to go to the store and get a rotisserie chicken. Usually I use 3 chicken breasts, but as well all know the dark meat is packed with flavor and it certainly made a difference. If you are really crunched for time, then you can use two large cans of canned chicken. Dump a whole rotisserie chicken in there and mix it up well! Spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray, and dump everything into it. Then sprinkle the top with the rest of your white cheeses! Bake uncovered for 30 minutes and then I put it on a Hi broil for about 3-5 minutes. I watched it very closely to make sure it didn't burn! Well there you have it!
Ingredients: 1 lb. of any pasta. ( I used whole grain rotini) 1 whole Rotisserie Chicken shredded or 3 Chicken breasts cooked and shredded. 2 cans of Fire Roasted Rotel 1 15 oz. jar of alfredo sauce 2lbs Queso Blanco Velveeta 1 8oz. block of Cream Cheese 8 oz. shredded White Cheddar Cheese 8 oz. shredded Pepper Jack Cheese or Monterrey Jack for less spice 1 Tbs . Italian Seasoning 1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes ( optional.) Seasoning Salt, Pepper, and salt to taste. Directions: 1. Preheat Oven to 350* 2. Boil pasta per box directions and then drain and return them to the pot. 3. Add in the alfredo sauce, rotel, cream cheese, and Velveeta and mix well. 4. Add in the spices and mix. 5. Add in the pepper jack and cheddar and mix together, but save a little of both to add as the topping. 6. Add in the chicken and mix. Make sure that everything is melted before putting the mix into the baking dish. 7. Place mixture into the baking dish and bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Then preheat oven to Hi broil and broil for 3-5 minutes. Enjoy!! If I were the same me four, five, ten years ago, I would be getting ready to go out with my friends and sorority sisters for an epic NYE night. Now, I am snuggled up by the fire with my husband, baby, and our husky. I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. In lieu of the many traditions that many people follow today, the one that is my favorite is eating black eyed peas on NYE. My mom always made us eat them!! Today was actually our first “snow” of the year, so I knew I wanted to make something to warm our bones. I decided to make gumbo and add in my black eyed peas! Alas I give you New Year Gumbo! This was the best gumbo I have had on this side of the LA/TX border. The shrimp literally fell apart in your mouth, the broth was savory, and the veggies absorbed all that flavor. Even my husband made the comment that he was excited to eat it over the next few days! Throw a little bit of olive oil in your Dutch oven and add in your the onion, garlic, green bell pepper, celery, and spices. Cook them until they are tender. Throw everything else in bring to a rolling boil, and let it simmer until you are ready to eat it! I let it simmer for about 4 hours. Everything was luscious and tender! Ingredients:
1 Large onion chopped 3 minced garlic cloves 1 green bell pepper chopped 3 celery ribs chopped 3 cups of black eyed peas 14 okra chopped 1 14.5 oz can diced petite tomatoes 12 oz. sausage sliced( I used sausage links but you can use any kind. andouille is traditionally used.) 1 lb shrimp peeled, deveined, and tail removed 6-8 cups of chicken broth 2 Tbs of hot sauce 1 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp Italian seasoning 3 tsp gumbo file salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. On med-high heat sauté onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery, and add in your spices. 2. Add in everything else, and cover with the broth. 3. Bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer until ready to serve. 4. Serve over rice! This weeks blog is extra special! Instead of a segment on a special recipe, I am devoting this blog to an entire trip to New Orleans this past week. My husband and I try to go a few times a year! We are usually accompanied by friends, but this time around, we decided to go alone and enjoy the city at our own pace, find a few new things to do, and just enjoy some time alone before the holiday hustle. Because we go so much, people always ask us what we do and we have even inspired some friends and family to plan their own trip. A lot of people are turned off because of Bourbon Street and they don’t want to be around a crowd of drunk people, and theives. Well, New Orleans has so much more to offer and I am here to tell you there is a whole other world out there! There is so much history, phenomenal food, and shopping. To start art off your virtual tour of New Orleans, I’m taking right to the best ( in my opinion,) Po’ Boy Shop in NOLA. Located in Mid-Cities, Parkway Bakery and Tavern has a unique charm about it and everyone is friendly! This is usually our first stop, and we have found it not as busy during the afternoon. They have many different varieties, but our favorite is the “Surf and Turf.” It is a fresh baked French baguette smothered in roast beef and fried shrimp and of course the usual trimmings! This is sure to get your trip started off right! Our next stop in the Ruby Slipper! There are several of these around NOLA, but the best one is tucked away under the Pelham hotel. Located on Magazine St. in the central business district the Ruby Slipper is famous for thier eye opening cocktails and amazing eggs Benedict! I always order the bacon infused vodka Bloody Mary, and The Peacmaker. With the Peacemaker, you get to mix and match two different eggs Benedict! I always get the Eggs Cochon and Chicken St. Charles! Also featured is the strawberry cream cheese stuffed pancake! So worth every bite! We love coming to this Mid- Cities gem as well. Katie’s was introduced to us by my husbands friend who lives in NOLA. Katie’s is actually featured on a famous show on The Food Network but when you walk in, you’d never know because everyone that works there is so down to earth. The food is amazing! Every time we come here I always get the Jalapeño BlackBerry ribs, and my husband gets some sort of pizza! He usually makes his own combination, and they always look tasty. You have to get there early or they will sell out of the ribs! This happened to me last week, but the waitress came in with save by offering my the Beef short ribs with seasonal veggies and a stuffed sweet potato! I was not dissapointed!! Across the lake are some not-so-busy towns! We usually try to visit the Abita brewery when we are feeling adventurous and want to step away from the city! The Abita brewery has great staff, brewery tours, special events, food trucks, and of course amazing beer! I’m pretty sure we tried all of them this time and really enjoyed the rainy afternoon cozied up in Abita Springs. Also the 25 mi Causeway is totally worth it!! When in NOLA, you have to go to Bourbon Street! But during happy hour in the quarter!! They always offer 3 for 1 and that is the only time we go! Featured are our favorite places to go! Be sure to visit one of the oldest bars in the USA, Lafitte’s. This bar was Jean Lafitte’s pirate bar. Still built around the original floors and hearth, get the frozen purple drink! Tropical Isle is also among the few places that we enjoy! Pat O’Brien’s and Razoo is also a must! We also like to hit the side street bars, and by that time we are usually a little hungry. We love going to 801 Royal and getting these morsels of goodness. They are a mixture of hush puppies and crawfish! So good and so worth it! We also love getting a few slices at Vieux Carre pizza before making our way into Jackson Square! It is the best pizza on Bourbon! When you hear Jackson square people think about the beautiful church, Cafe du Monde, and the French Market. There is also an awesome little bar called Molly’s in the Market! I love their frozen coffee!! The last place we visit in Mid-Cities is called The Vessel. This converted church is great to have a few drinks before or after dinner. We usually go here and then walk next door to Katie’s. We love their Old Fashioneds with the ice sphere. This is the best Creole- Italian cuisine on Frenchmen Street. With its cozy dining room and the live jazz music coming from the bar on the first floor, Aldolfo’s is one of the best kept secrets NOLA has to offer! They have seasonal specials, but our favorites are the stuffed flounder with ocean sauce and the New York strip smothered in ocean sauce! The next part of NOLA we love to visit is Magazine Street! Accompanied with it’s great shopping and atmosphere, this is where you will find the best spots the locals won’t tell you about! Featured here is the Rum House with their bar full of different rums and excellent Caribbean cuisine. We also stop at La Boulangerie with their exquisite pastries, Reginellis for their superb pizza and pasta, and District Donuts for their unique combinations! La Boulangerie Reginelli’s District Donuts Don’t worry, we usually lose weight when we come to town. There is so much walking and exploring to do! So be sure to bring your comfy shoes and pants!! Enjoy and Heaux Heaux Heaux!
Seriously though....this dish is on everyone's list. Every time we are invited over to a friend's house, or when we are hosting, I always ask what do I need to bring, ( that's the polite thing to do,) or ask our guests for any special requests, ( also a poet and didn't know it.) The dish that keeps them coming back, and for us to keep being invited over has many names. Special potatoes, Mir's potatoes, THOSE potatoes, but I personally call them Twice Baked Potato Casserole. As usual, these are so easy to make, and jammed packed with lots of flavor and goodness! For this time, we were invited over to our friends house for an early Christmas get together before we all scatter to the wind for the holiday. Our friend made a beautiful and tasty pulled pork shoulder, and I brought the potatoes. Earlier that day we were in my hometown for my granny's "Thanksmas" party. So I knew that I wouldn't have a lot of time for the preparation of the casserole. Luckily my mom came in clutch and had some mashed potatoes left over that I so graciously took with me to save some time! Thank you mom!! Usually, I would peel, cut, and boil 4 large russet potatoes, and then mash them and add in my milk and butter to make smooth. Since I took a shortcut, all I added at this time was my cheese, sour cream, bacon bits, cream cheese, seasonings, and green onions. Mix it up well and pour into a greased 13x9 baking dish. Then sprinkle remaining cheese, bacon bits, and green onions on top. Bake for about 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Twice Baked Potato Casserole Ingredients: 4 russet potatoes peeled, chopped, and cooked. 1 8oz block of softened cream cheese 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese plus extra for topping 8 oz of sour cream 10 slices of cooked and chopped bacon save some for topping 1 bunch of green onions sliced save some for topping salt and pepper to taste Directions: 1. preheat oven to 350 degrees 2. mash your cooked potatoes with the cream cheese and sour cream 3. add in the cheddar cheese, bacon bits, and green onions 4. add your salt and pepper to taste 5. pour mixture into a greased 13x9 baking dish 6. sprinkle the extra cheddar, bacon bits, and green onions on top 7. Bake for 20-30 minutes - until cheese is melted and bubbly When I go to the grocery store, the aroma from bananas gets me every time. So I pick up a bunch of them and get them home. Then forget about them or only eat a few off the bunch. Then I have these random bruised bananas just hanging out. Usually, I will make some banana bread with them, but on the occasion I will make banana cake. My mom always made this growing up. Sometimes I would purposely not eat the bananas just so that we could indulge in this sweet treat! However, we never iced them, but on this occasion, I did. Since my fluke last week landed me with so much icing, I saved it, and used it to top off these little beauties. Yes, it literally was the icing on the cake! First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and then cream the eggs sugar and shortening together until it is light and fluffy. Then mix in the mashed bananas and vanilla. You will then alternate the buttermilk and dry ingredients, and mix after each drop. I never buy buttermilk because I use it one time and then I waste it. So what I do, is just put in a little bit of vinegar into the milk that you have in your fridge, and it works just as well. This is where you would add in the nuts. I forgot them when I was at the store, but my icing that I used has plenty of them in there, so it evens out right? After it is all mixed nicely.... Grease and lightly flour a 9x13 pan or any other pan of your choosing. Just a forewarning, different sizes pans will alter the cook times obviously. Pour your batter into your pan, and I baked these mini bundts for 30 minutes. Let the cake sit in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then dump them over onto a cooling pan until completely cool. You can add icing to them or leave them as is. Trust me they will be eaten either way! Banana Cake Ingredients: 3/4 c. shortening 2c. Sugar 2 eggs 3 bananas 1 tsp. vanilla 2 c. flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 c. buttermilk 1/2 c. nuts ( any of your choosing, I like pecans) Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 13x9 baking pan. 2.Cream sugar, shortening, and eggs 3. Stir in mashed bananas and vanilla 4. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk. Mix well and add nuts. 5. Bake 40 to 45 minutes No one was hurt during the making of this cake. The bananas however, have seen better days. Enjoy!!
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