Recipe Review: Pinterest Baked Raviloi

Guys, this recipe is a game-changer. I first pinned it because I thought it looked yummy and would be something different. But what I didn't realize is that this recipe is 

basically lasagna, only a BILLION times easier! 

Photo's and original recipe found HERE

 

The ravioli is just like lasagna noodles, and the filling inside the ravioli is just like ricotta. Its awesome, and so much less complicated! I adapted the recipe a little bit so it has more sauce and includes some protein. 

Here's what you need:

-1 lb ground beef

-2 jars Ragu

-1 bag frozen ravioli (I used Wal-Mart brand)

-2 cups mozzarella cheese 

Here's what you do:

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees

-Cook the ground beef, I seasoned with garlic and onion powder

-Drain the beef and then add 1 jar Ragu to the pot and stir.

-Open second jar of Ragu and coat the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish with sauce. 

-Put one layer of ravioli on bottom of pan, cover with ground beef in sauce.

-Do a second layer of ravioli, pour the rest of your second Ragu jar, then cover with cheese. You might think that's a lot of sauce, but it really makes a difference when you're eating the leftovers later. (And you're going to want those leftovers!)

Bake for 30 minutes covered, then 10 minutes uncovered. 

Enjoy this great "lasagna," and keep it in mind for when you have people over or want to make a meal that provides tons of leftovers.

Toddler Veggie Muffins

Now that we have a toddler in our house, it has been a challenge getting her to eat veggies. She has big issues with things that are mushy and/or slimy and won't even bother 

picking them up to try.

I began to search pinterest for ideas and came across a lot of recipes for veggie muffins. Only problem was, most of these recipes are from scratch...seriously?! 

Repeat after me: "AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!"

This mama doesn't have time to do things like sift flower, and mix together a million ingredients. That being said, my solution was to find a reasonably healthy box mix and then just add veggies. 

I chose a Fiber One blueberry muffin mix because they're a brand a trust, and I figured the "sweetness" of the blueberry would help mask the veggies.

I added 1/2 cup fresh grated carrots, and 1/2 cup chopped steamed broccoli tops to the prepared box mix.

Looks super gross delicious right? Hey, it gets the job done! There are so many other veggies you could add if you have a preference. Zucchini or sweet potatoes would be good choices too, I just decided to start small.  

She approves! In this picture we tried giving her a whole one, and that didn't work out too well. She didn't really know what to do with it. What works really well is tearing it into bite size pieces and pinch it a little to reduce crumbs. 

I made mini muffins so they would store better and be less wasteful (you never know how much they'll eat!). They are good in the freezer for 3 months, and can thaw over night to be ready for breakfast.

Weeknight Cooking: Just Add Chicken

Guys, let me introduce you to my new best friend. 

This chicken is the best thing we could have ever discovered! About a month ago it was on sale at Sam's Club so we thought we'd give it a try. 

I was a little skeptical because in the past, chicken like this has not reheated well, and gotten pretty gross. But this stuff is amazing! What we love about it is that its not just for fajitas, and you can throw it into so many different recipes for a quick weeknight dinner.

So far these are the things we've been able to make:

-BBQ chicken pizza

-Chicken alfredo pasta

-Chicken chow mein

-Two Timin' Pasta Bake (Not as quick, but provides lots of yummy leftovers for later!)

-Chicken Caesar salad

-Chicken quesadillas
-Chicken wrap

-Fajitas

-Teriyaki chicken bowls

-Chicken tacos

Those are just a few, the possibilities are endless. Our little one also loves this chicken by itself. We just zap it in the microwave for 10 seconds, and then her dinner is ready! 

I've done a post in the past about Easy Chicken Dinners using canned chicken as well, which is great too! But sometimes you just don't want to fuss with a can opener and those recipes actually take a little more time. 

I've seen this brand of chicken also at Wal-Mart, but in a smaller bag. I'm going to stick with this kind now that I know it reheats well and gives us so many options 

for busy weeknight dinners. 

Give it a try!

Andes Mint Cookies

Ok guys. Here is the cookie recipe that should be your go-to for parties this holiday season. Close friends from back home know this recipe well because its my favorite, and the most requested treat in my arsenal. 

If you haven't noticed already, I don't do complicated or time consuming recipes. So it won't be a shock to you when I say that this recipe is easy and only has 4 ingredients. 

Here's what you need:

-1 chocolate cake mix 

(I didn't realize the one I bought had little 

chocolate chips in it...Christmas came early this year!)

-1 pack of Andes Mints or mint Hershey's Kisses if its holiday season.

(I actually prefer to use the Kisses)

-2 eggs

-1/2 cup oil

Here's what you do:

-Mix together eggs, oil, and cake mix

-Unwrap mints (Great job for little helpers) and break in half.

-Take half a mint (Or 1 Hershey's kiss) and completely cover with dough. I break the mints in half because it is easier to cover a square, rather than a rectangle. (And I prefer the kisses because it eliminates that step all together!)

-Place on cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes

Because the cookies are already brown, the best way to tell they are done is when the tops look "cracked." This recipe yields about 3 dozen cookies, depending on how generous you are with the dough.

Beware, these are addicting. I made them last night at my husband's request, and guess how many are left...7. And I only ate one because it broke when I pulled it off the pan! 

Get em while they're hot.  

Linked up to:

iheartnaptime
little inspiration 
Classy Clutter Cookie Exchange 

Crock Pot Beef Stew

Well, I finally did it. I was finally brave enough to "invent" my own recipe! By that I mean that I was totally winging it when I made beef stew yesterday.

Since the weather has cooled WAY down and fall has arrived, I've been craving stew. Every time I've made it in the past, it has tasted very bland. Thankfully today, everything turned out delicious and we'll be making this a lot more come winter. 

Here's what you need:

-1 lb stew meat

-6 medium potatoes

-2 cups water

-1 packet ranch dressing mix

-1 packet brown gravy mix

-1 packet  Italian dressing mix

-1 can cream of mushroom + 1 can of water

-assorted vegetables of your choice: baby carrots, corn, peas, etc. (We didn't have any on hand so we went without)

-1/2 cup corn starch

12/14 Update: I made this again but didn't have a brown gravy packet so I used an onion soup mix. Still tasted delicious!

Directions:

-pour corn starch in bowl and coat stew meat, place in crock pot

-Peel and slice potatoes, not too large or they'll take too long to cook, place in crock pot. 

-Add any other vegetables

-In separate bowl, combine all mixes, soup, and water. Mix well and pour into crock pot. 

Cook on high for 3-4 hours, stirring about every hour. Be sure to check if the potatoes are done, that's usually what takes the longest. 

This is a great meal for a blustery day, or even a Sunday dinner to cook 

while you're at church.

  

Linked Up To:
Classy Clutter 

Recipe Review: One Pot Spaghetti

Over the past week, I've had fun trying new recipes. So far we have had two fails (Balsamic Pot Roast and Buffalo Chicken Pasta) and now two successes! 

We tried "One Pot Spaghetti" last night and LOVED it! I have always been a Spaghetti person, and last night I converted Jason. This recipe takes it to another level in taste and simplicity. 

Here's what you need:

1 lb ground beef

1 can chicken broth (I used 8 oz from my carton)

1 jar Ragu

1/2 cup water

8 oz spaghetti noodles (about half of package)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

-In large pot, brown the meat and drain excess liquid.

-Add broth, sauce, and water to pot with the meat.

-Bring to boil, and then add pasta.

-Reduce heat, let simmer for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally, and add more water if needed.
-Once your pasta is cooked to how you like it, remove from heat, stir in cheese and serve!

After you've enjoyed this delicious dinner, you can enjoy the easy clean up of just one pot! The next time we have company, I'm pretty sure I will make this.

Recipe Review: Mongolian Beef

I LOVE it when a Pinterest recipe works out. I love it even more when its easy, and can be made with ingredients I would normally have on hand. 

 

Photo via
This recipe was easy to make, and so delicious I have ZERO pictures of my own because we gobbled it up. The original recipe can be found at Six Sisters Stuff but I'm going to share what I did, because I omitted some ingredients to make it easier. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds beef flank steak, cut into stir-fry sized strips
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar

(I left out carrots, green onions, and diced ginger.)

Directions: Coat each piece of meat with corn starch and place in crock pot. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour over meat and cook on high for 2-3 hours, or low for 4-5.

We ate ours over rice, and you could totally add your own vegetables if that's your thing. This recipe will definitely make a weekly appearance at our house.

5 Easy Chicken Recipes

About a year ago I made a glorious discovery: Canned Chicken. 

That might sound gross, but hear me out! 

I am a bit of a germaphobe (Thanks Dad) and will do anything I can to avoid dealing with raw meat. Every time I have to, I practically hose my kitchen down with Lysol afterwards. 

Also, I am the laziest cook in the world. When I see a recipe that has more than 5 ingredients or steps, the phrase "Aint nobody got time for that" comes to mind. 

So canned chicken is my new best friend!

 

The pros include: 

• Time saving: you don't have to thaw or cut!
• Peace of mind: Its already cooked so no worrying there!
• Cheap: The cans in this photo cost less than $10 at Sam's Club 

Now lets get to the good stuff:

Chicken Tacos

We make these using a YUMMY Taco Bell sauce. One can makes about 5 fairly large tacos.

White Sauce Enchiladas

We use two cans for a pan of these DELICIOUS enchiladas. Since putting the enchiladas together takes a bit of time, its nice to not worry about cooking chicken. This is also my go-to recipe to deliver to a visiting teaching sister.

Buffalo Wing Dip

This is hands down, Jason's favorite thing that I make. This uses two cans of chicken and reheats REALLY well...not that it will last long! We've also started substituting the Buffalo sauce for just plain BBQ sauce (I'm not a spicy food person) and we like it even more!

Chicken Salad Crescents

This is a new recipe I tried a few weeks ago and its quickly become a favorite. Just one can is needed, and a little goes a long way.

Chicken Pasta Bake

This recipe also uses two cans of chicken and makes the dish a lot better. I had to fiddle with it because the original recipe didn't have a protein. 

There you have it! 5 Super quick and easy recipes that are all favorites around our place. I promise you won't be disappointed.  

Chicken Salad Crescents

Pinterest has done it again! I love it when I try a new recipe that actually works. 

This was my inspiration:

Find the original recipe HERE

I did mine a little differently to make it faster and easier, 

but the ingredients are basically the same. 

Here's what you need: 

1 13oz can of chicken

1 tsp worchest. sauce

1 tsp salt

1tsp pepper

3/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup shredded cheese (we used fiesta blend)

2 cans of  crescent rolls (16 total)

Directions:

1. Drain canned chicken, pour into medium sized bow and shred.

2. Mix in all other ingredients (except crescent rolls) and stir.

3. Take a spoonful of chicken salad and roll into a crescent roll. The best way to do this is put the salad on the large end of the dough, then fold in half. Pinch together the sides and fold the little "tail" of dough around the top.

4. Sprinkle some cheese on top, then bake at 375 for 18 minutes.  

These turned out super yummy and I'll definitely make them again. (The hubby gobbled them down, I'm lucky I still got pictures!) One thing you need to know though, is that these aren't very filling by themselves. They would definitely work as party food though.    

Recipe Review: Crock Pot Chicken Teriyaki

Lately I've been wanting to try more crock pot recipes because they are great time-savers. Also, on days when its SUPER hot outside, the oven is the last thing you want to use.

 

This recipe is awesome because it doesn't have a lot of ingredients

and it takes just minutes to prepare.

Photo and Recipe via Keyingredient.com

 

Here's what you need:

-1lb chicken breast

-1 cup chicken broth

-1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Mr. Yoshida's Sweet Teriyaki sauce, 

and it was awesome. Not too salty!)

-1/2 cup brown sugar

-3 garlic cloves minced

 

I tweaked the directions a little bit so here's what I did:

 

1. Who the heck knows how much a pound of chicken is? So I just used three chicken breasts and that was enough for 2 people + a little leftovers. Put the chicken in the crock pot whole.

 

2. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well and pour over chicken. (Side note: I could have totally done without the garlic cloves, I couldn't really taste them and it wasn't worth the hassle in my opinion.)

Remember, use THIS SAUCE:

 photo via

 

3. Cook on high for about 4 hours (or low for 6). Pull out chicken and cut into thickest parts to make sure there isn't any pink. If chicken is all done,

leave it on plate and shred it using 2 forks and put back in crock pot. 

You can either turn off your crock pot at this point,

or put it on warm if you have that setting.

 

5. Make some rice to pour the chicken over!

 

We will for sure be having this again! My only regret is that I didn't make enough rice to go with the leftover chicken.





Recipe Review: Pinterest Meatloaf

So my new goal is to try one new recipe a week. I recently went through my pinterest "food board" and deleted a lot of ones that I'm never going to try.

(More than 5 steps or ingredients?! Aint nobody got time for that!)

 

So first up is one I've been dying to try: Meatloaf made with Stove Top stuffing.

I was eager to try this because I already have a killer meatloaf recipe (Thanks Mom!), but I seriously HATE having to tear up pieces of bread.

 

Verdict: DELICIOUS!!

 

Recipe:

-1 pound ground beef

-1 box Stove Top (I used chicken flavored)

-1 cup milk

-1 egg

 

Mix all the ingredients in large bowl, cook at 350 for 45 minutes.

 

Normally at this point I would write about what I didn't like or would have done differently, but seriously...this recipe was perfect. We'll definitely have it again.   

 

What We Ate: Stuffed Shell Recipe

Last night we tried a new recipe from Pinterest, and it was delicious! I love it when that happens, especially when its an easy one.

The original recipe (and photo below) comes from

 101 Cookbooks

Her recipe calls for making your own sauce, but a jar of Ragu works just fine. (Especially for us lazy cooks!)

 

Other changes I made:

 

-Added 1 lb cooked ground beef to the sauce

-We didn't have chives, so I added about a tsp of garlic powder and a tsp of basil.

-Sprinkled grated parmesan all over the top

-NEXT TIME: I'll double the filling recipe, because I ended up having a lot of leftover pasta and I didn't feel like I overstuffed the shells we ate.

 

We'll definitely be making this again and again! 

 

 

What We Ate: Two Timin' Pasta Bake

With the extra time I have on my hands now, I've been really excited to try some new recipes. I went through my food board on pinterest and copied down some simple, week night recipes.

First up, the Two Timin' Pasta Bake. 

You can find the recipe here at

Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour

The recipe is super easy, with very few ingredients...my kind of cookin!

The only change I made to the recipe was adding chicken. (What kind of dinner has no meat?!) We added two 13oz cans of chicken and it worked great.

Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly and everything turned out perfect:

And it was a crowd pleaser!

I'll be making this one again for sure.

What We Ate: Cinco de Mayo edition

In honor of Cinco de Mayo Jason and I usually go to Taco Bell. This time I had all the fixins' for our own tacos so I made some instead. 
I was trying this out for the first time and it was delicious!

(Don't you just love it when that happens?!)

All you need is:

 +

+

All I did was heat a pan with a little bit of oil, add 1 can of chicken (drained), and about a quarter of the sauce bottle.

I let the chicken and the sauce sit on low for about 5-10 minutes and then added some cheese.

Thats it! Dinner in less than 15 minutes.

We added some lettuce and a little ranch to ours and it was DELICIOUS!  

What We Ate: Chocolate Chip Edition

Before I got married, I had this awesome roommate named Alyssa. She made the best chocolate chip cookies, and oh how I have missed them.

The recipe we've been using is a sad imitation that produces flat, crunchy, sad cookies.

Today I decided to search pinterest for a cookie recipe that makes "fluffy" cookies. I found one that uses corn starch, and apparently that is the answer!

See:

I was worried that living in sucky Idaho would somehow mess with the recipe, but it didn't!

I found the recipe via Apple a Day

Ingredients:

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Click the link for detailed instructions.

These cookies will change your life!

Wednesday Wows

Happy Leap Day! I hope your week is going well. There is a blizzard going on outside, and its forcing me to skip school. 
Maybe I'll do some crafting...?

Enjoy these links that I found this past week:   

Sunshine printable via Dancing Creek Designs

Pin wheel flower via Little Livingstone

DIY Button headband via The Ribbon Retreat

via Sugar Bean Bakers

Happy crafting, or baking!

Those cupcakes look DELICIOUS!

What We Ate: White Chicken Enchiladas

A few nights ago I officially tried my first Pinterest recipe. I've written tons of them down before, but this was the first one we actually made.

It was a success!

I'm normally not a fan of enchiladas because of the red sauce. Its just not my favorite flavor. But these are made with a white, creamy sauce that is delicious!

The recipe can be found here at

Joyful Momma's Kitchen

My tips:

-Make sure you use Jack cheese and not Mozarella, (we almost did out of laziness) it makes all the difference!  

-Don't skip the last step where you brown the cheese, it made it even better! But keep an eye on it, I didn't do the full 3 minutes.

-We left out the chiles and used two 13 oz cans of chicken to speed up the process

What We Ate: Super Bowl Edition

Our weekend was pretty amazing. I was raised in a house where Super Bowl Sunday is an unofficial holiday. So we partied hard with family and friends, and it was a great day!

My mom always made the best party food and I've carried on that tradition the past two years since I've gotten married and moved away from home.

We had the usual party food: cheese sticks, bbq meatballs, onion dip, potatoe skins, etc. But this year I made a DELICIOUS discovery...

Buffalo Chicken Dip!!

I found this recipe by a display at Wal-Mart of all places. Its so easy, and it will be the hit of your next party.

Ingredients:

8oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup ranch dressing

1/2 cup Franks redhot buffalo wing sauce

2 cans (12.5-13 oz each) chicken, drained

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese or blue cheese

Directions:

Heat oven to 350. Place cream cheese into bowl and stir until smooth.

Mix in salad dressing, wing sauce, and cheese. Stir in chicken.

Put mixture into a deep baking dish and bake 20 minutes.

Serve with vegetables or tortilla chips.

(Image came from here)
 We shredded our chicken, in the picture here I guess they left it whole. 

I wish I'd taken pictures of ours, but I got caught up in everything going on. And it literally went FAST! 

Jealous...?

Try not to be jealous of my awesome Minion cake. =)

This one's my favorite:

All you need is twinkies, white smarties, and black sprinkles. =)