Sausage and Peppers Rigatoni

Sausage and Peppers Rigatoni

1/2 pound turkey sausage, cut into 1/2 in slices (I just used ground turkey-it was on sale)
2 large green peppers, sliced
3C rigatoni, uncooked
1 jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
1C mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

(If you are using ground sausage like I did precook it with the peppers until just starting to brown) Place sausage and peppers in a 9X13 in pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until sausage is done (I baked mine for about 10 min since the sausage was already partially cooked). Meanwhile cook the pasta.

Drain pasta. Add to baking dish with spaghetti sauce and stir. Bake 15-20 minutes or until heat through. Top with cheese, bake an additional 2-3 min or until cheese is melted.

This is really good with a crusty italian bread and garlic butter. My mouth is currently watering!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!

Grilled Chicken Adobo

Grilled Chicken Adobo

1/2 C chopped onion
1/3C lime juice (fresh squeezed if you can and add the zest from the limes)
6 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
6 boneless chicken breasts (I used thighs)
3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Combine onion, lime juice, zest, and garlic in food processor. Blend until minced.
Put in ziploc bad. Add spices (except cilantro). Add chicken, turn to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes to 4 hours (the longer the better).

Grill 5-7 minutes on each side. (I put them in the oven at 450 for 20 minutes-we were out of charcoal).

Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with favorite sides.

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Cookie Pizza

Here's a GREAT way to get rid of all that left over halloween candy. Of course it didn't even put a dent in what we had.... oh well......we just may have to do this again!

It's really easy to make, here's how:


Cookie Pizza
1 tube refrigerated cookie dough (your choice)
caramel ice cream topping (if it's been in teh fridge, put some in a bowl and heat in microwave at 30 sec intervals)
random chocolate candies of your choice
marshmallows

roll out cookie to fit a pizza stone or shape of desire. Ours turned into a blob. Bake for about 10 min until almost done. top with caramel sauce and candies of choice. bake another 10 min until chocolate just starts to melt. Add marshmallows and bake until they melt. let cool and cut accordingly. this NEEDS a tall glass of ice cold milk. I won't lie, our teeth hurt when we were done. But it was ssssooooooo worth it!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!

Happy Veteran's Day!!

Busy Day El Rancho Pork

This was dinner tonight! Can I just say YUMMY!!!!! Another one to add to the comfort food list. Cream soup always scream comfort food to me (strange I know, but I am weird and I'm ok with it!).
Hope you enjoy it!!

Busy Day El Rancho Pork
1- 10 3/4oz can reduced-fat and reduced sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup (I just use what ever kind that I have)
1-10 3/4oz can reduced-fat and reduced sodium condensed cream of chicken soup (again, whatever I have)
1-10 oz can chopped tomatoes and green chili peppers, undrained
1 medium green sweet pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
12- 6 or 7 oz corn tortillas, cut into thin bite size strips (you can use flour tortillas)
3 c cooked cubed pork tenderloin (about 1 lb)
2 c shredded cheddar cheese (8 oz)

1 Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine soups, undrained tomatoes with chilies, sweet pepper, chopped onion, chili powder, and black pepper. Set aside.
2. To assemble, sprinkle about 1/3 of the tortilla strips over bottom of an ungreased 3-qt rectangular baking dish. Layer half of the pork over tortilla strips; spoon half of the soup mixture on top. Sprinkle half of the cheese and another 1/3 of the tortilla strips over the soup mixture. Layer the remaining pork, soup mixture and tortilla strips.
3. Bake, covered, about 45 minutes or until bubbly around edges and hot in center. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 3 or 4 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes. Serves 8

crock pot chicken cordon bleu

This is our dinner for tonight. My camera is acting all funky so no pictures!! Sorry! I will say that my house currently smells good. I can't wait to try this recipe. Enjoy!!


Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
4 oz sliced ham
4 oz sliced Swiss cheese
1 (8 oz) package herbed dry bread stuffing mix
¼ cup melted butter


Mix together the cream of chicken soup and milk in a small bowl. Pour enough of the soup into a slow cooker to cover the bottom. Layer chicken breasts over the sauce. Cover with slices of ham and then Swiss cheese. Pour the remaining soup over the layers, stirring a little to distribute between layers. Sprinkle the stuffing on top, and drizzle butter over stuffing. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours, or 2 to 3 hours on high.

HAPPY EATING!!!

Halloween Cookies

Have I mentioned that Halloween is my favorite holiday? Yeah it really is!!!! Tomorrow we have a pumpkin carving activity at the church and were asked to bring chips or a dessert. Well, i'm ambitious (or a glutton for punishment....who knows!) so we are bringing both. But instead of buying cookies I decided to try some decorated sugar cookies (again). I won't bore you with the long and drawn out story that is my trial with sugar cookies. I really love those iced sugar cookies but whenver I tried to make them at home they crumbled and the icing was less than stellar. So I was THRILLED when I stumbled upon this website that helped me. I also got a great cookie recipe from THE HUNGRY HOUSEWIFE . HOORAY!!!!
So here you go!!! The recipes and pictures to go with them!


Halloween Sugar Cookies

1 C real butter(NO SUBSTITUTIONS)

1 C sugar
1 egg

1 1/2 t almond extract (you could use vanilla too)

3 C flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy- about 2 minutes. Add in eggs and extract and mix to incorporate.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined.

Shape the dough into 2 flat disks and wrap in waxed paper and place in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hours.

When you're ready to roll out dough lightly sprinkle flour onto your work surface and roll out dough with a rolling pin.

Cut to your desired shape

Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes.

Remove onto cooling racks when you're done and let cool completely.

Decorate as you like.

Royal Icing
(this will cover approximately 3 dozen 3.5 inch cookies)

1 pound powdered sugar
5 TBSP meringue powder
scant 1/2 c. water
a few drops of extract (optional) - I didn't use extract this time around

Combine the meringue powder and water with a whisk attachment using an electric mixer. Beat until peaks begin to form. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) If using an extract, add it then beat for a few more seconds to incorporate.

Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.

(The most important step: sift the powdered sugar!I don't know why....it just works better!!.)

This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a little at a time until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called "flooding."

and viola you have radically decorated cookies that will thrill the people you give them too!!!

cut and cooled cookies

use the stiff icing to make your outlines

the "flooding" icing should be runny

once flooding icing is placed on cookie-use a toothpick to get into the nooks and crannies

start decorating with the finer details

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!