Stuffed Shells

This was one of my favorite dinners growing up. It is easy to make and very delicious!

Stuffed Shells

Box of large shells
24 oz can of Pasta sauce

Stuffing
1/2 lb of sausage
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
16 oz container of cottage cheese
1-1 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
8 oz chopped spinach
1 TBS minced garlic
1 TBS garlic salt

Boil the shells according to the package directions. Cook the sausage until brown and thoroughly cooked. Pour some of the pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9X13 pan to completely cover it. In a bowl mix everything for the stuffing ingredients. Once the shells are soft drain the liquid and when they are cooled down start putting the stuffing into the shells and then put them in the pan on top of the pasta sauce. I usually stuff all the shells that aren't broken or torn first because there are always left over shells. Once you have used all the stuffing pour more pasta sauce over the shells. Use as much or as little as your family likes. Then to top it off sprinkle some shredded mozzarella cheese on top. Cook at 350 degrees until the cheese on top is melted and starting to turn brown.

This recipe is easy to omit whatever your family doesn't like. Alter the recipe to your family's likes. This is how I usually make it. You could use hamburger meat instead of sausage or change which cheese you use or how much. I halved this for Keith and I and we had plenty for dinner and lunch the next day.

Zucchini Bread

So the other day my dad gave me a zucchini from their garden. This this was huge! So I remembered a few years ago my old roommate Janelle made some Zucchini Bread. I decided that was the perfect thing to make with this huge zucchini.

I went on a search for a recipe that I liked. That took awhile. There were a few that were ok but I decided there were a lot of people into substitutions... It is not for me. At least right now. So after some Pinterest searching I decided to look at my staple website the food network. I found a recipe that I could mostly follow.

The recipe is from Paula Deen. No matter what happened in her past this woman know how to cook and cook amazingly. She has some of the best comfort food out there. There were only a few changes I made. I added 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg because it really isn't my favorite. I also added more chocolate chips and added orange extract instead of orange zest. Also I added some sugar on the top before putting the bread in the oven because I like that crispy crust it gives it.

Here is the Recipe if you don't want to go look at the website.

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon orange zest
Whipped cream, for serving
Zucchini ribbons, for serving
Directions
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.

So this makes 2 loafs of bread and I thought I had two bread pans but I only had one... The first one looked great and then I went to get it out and the bottom stuck to the pan. I knew that I should have used Crisco to grease the pan but I was being lazy and used Pam. So for the second pan I mad sure I greases it really well with Crisco. I used butter Crisco because it is just better. It worked out much better!

I feel for the first time making zucchini bread I did a pretty good job. I really liked the orange flavor that came through with this recipe. I didn't make whipped cream for it but it is good with some butter and is best when it is warm!

7 Layer dip

So seven layer dip is one of my go to for parties or just when I don't feel like using the oven. I use the salsa for so many things and it just tastes so much better than canned salsa!

Seven Layer Dip
1 can refried beans
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 Tbs. Taco seasoning
Shredded cheese
Guacamole
Salsa
Tomatoes
Olives
Lettuce
Onions

Mix the sour cream and Taco Seasoning together (I like more seasoning but you can use what your family likes). Spread refried beans into an 8X8 pan. Spread Sour cream mix. Add other topping as desired. I usually keep the Guacamole and Salsa on the side for my own personal reasons. Keep refrigerated until serving.

Salsa
2 Diced Tomatoes (vine ripe are best)
1/2 onion diced
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
Green peppers diced if desired
2 tsp. lime juice
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. garlic salt

Mix all ingredients together and serve. More garlic salt can be added for taste

Guacamole
Take some of the Salsa from above
2 avocados
1 tsp. lime or lemon juice
2 tsp. minced garlic
Garlic salt until desired taste

Take some of the salsa and add the other ingredients to a blender and blend until desired consistency. If you have more time hand mash avocados and add other ingredients. I like to add extra lime or lemon juice so the guacamole doesn't change color as fast.

Chicken Salad/ Baby food

The best Caesar Dressing Ever!

It was another night of a simple dinner. After shopping at Target and then grocery shopping we were worn out so we went for the simple direction again. This is a very simple Chicken Salad. I cubed up a chicken breast and cooked it with garlic and a Montreal Chicken seasoning from Grill Mates. Usually we use just romaine lettuce but I had a bag of a garden blend so I used that. I topped it off with Parmesan cheese, chicken, croutons and Caesar dressing (the one in the picture is the only one we will eat). It took no more than 15 min to make and it is delicious!

Cooked Chicken

I also took some time tonight to make some food for Landon. We are headed to Colorado next week to see Keith's extended family. I found these containers at Target and thought they would be good for baby food. I make all my baby food in out Ninja Blender. It is seriously one of the best things we have in our kitchen! All I do is throw some cut up fruits or vegetables in the blender and puree it. This time I did pears, nectarines and butternut squash with apples. Landon doesn't love just vegetables so we have to mix it with something or put a good amount of agave in it.

My Pantry Part 1

There are a few things that I always have to have in my pantry or it just feels weird. This is other than the typical things like flour, sugar, sour cream, cream or chicken... I am a little weird about cooking. I have very specific things I like and very specific things that I do. Every so often I will go over some of the items I just can't cook without.

This I probably the item I use most often. I just don't like mincing garlic and so I use this. I don't have a specific brand that I always buy. Whenever I am out I just get what I can find whenever I am. It is very convenient to have and so much simpler than using fresh garlic. Garlic is the one thing I use in almost every non sweet thing I make. I almost always cook my meet with it or marinate my meat with it. It is such a good flavor and goes with so many varieties of food. It is a must in my house and it is a bad day when we run out.

One of my dreams is to have a spice cabinet with all my major spices in the larger jars like the ones above. These are the spices I use most often and I would not know what to do with out them. I have tried a few different types of Garlic Salt but Lawry's is my all time favorite. I use garlic salt basically every day. It can go in so many things and I use is it as much as I can.

The Grill Mates Montreal Steak is amazing! It is the best combination of seasons for just about anything! I used it on most meats and sometimes for seasoning some vegetables. I have not found a 'favorite' taco seasoning but this is the one from Sam's Club and it does the job that I need. It is very convenient to have around when I want to throw a Mexican flair into a meal.

I absolutely love having Ranch whenever I need it. They sell this jar at Sam's Club and it is so much better and cheaper than buying the packets. I use ranch in hamburgers, meatloaf or to season vegetables. I also am a little bit of a ranch snob and I only like homemade Ranch. It is so easy to make and so worth it. Just a cup of milk a cup of may and three tablespoons of the ranch and mix it up.

When I am baking there are a few items that I love having around. First is Butter Crisco. It is a very easy replacement for butter. There are somethings that just need butter but for like cookies Butter Crisco is the way to go. My absolute favorite chocolate chip cookies only use Butter Crisco. It is nice to have in the pantry in case I run out of butter. It doesn't happen often now that I have a freezer but it does happen. 

The other thing I am kind of a snob about is my choice in chocolate chips... I will not use semi sweet chocolate chips. I just do not like the taste so I use milk chocolate chips always. I will use non Hershey chocolate chips if I have to but Hershey's Chocolate is my all time favorite. I'm not a Nestle person to me the chocolate just isn't as good. It was the best day when I was at Sam's Club and they had these big bags of Hershey's chips! I an go through a bag a month sometimes. The best part is these big bags are about $6.50 (I can't remember the exact price). The best part is I don't have to worry about Keith opening a package of chocolate chips and eating so much I don't have enough for cookies or whatever else I need it for. 

I haven't really thought about buying peanut butter chips before but these have become a new staple. They are so delicious and can go with so many different desserts. I've been experimenting with them and have found they are really good in cookies and dessert breads. I've also mixed them with the chocolate and melted them for ice cream and to put on gram crackers.

Simple Stir Fry

So tonight I went simple. All day I was thinking about what to make for dinner and just couldn't decide. Finally I decided to go simple and easy. This is Stir Fry it is really easy to make. I cooked up a chicken breast with some minced garlic and a little olive oil. When the chicken started to brown I added a stir fry mix. We get ours at Costco or Winco. Any pack that looks good or that your family will eat works. Once the vegetables were unfrozen I added some panda express mandarin sauce. You could use whatever kind you like we just really like the mandarin sauce. I  let the sauce warm up and mix with everything and then put the stir fry over rice. I just used one chicken breast for Keith and I and we both had more than enough plus some for lunch tomorrow!