Saturday, March 31, 2012

Recipe #298: Mediterranean Beef Wraps

A recipe I found in a Real Simple magazine, you can also find it here. This meal would be really fast, but I made  the pita bread and hummus so it took a little longer!

You need:
1 lb ground beef
1 1/2 tsp oregano
kosher salt and pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
pita bread
hummus
mint leaves
lemon

  • Make 12 small patties with the ground beef
  • season with oregano, salt and pepper
  • cook in a fry pan until done (about 5-10 minutes)
  • spread hummus on the pita bread
  • put two patties on each pita and drizzle some olive oil and torn mint leaves.
  • Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze on top.

Recipe #297: Pita Bread

Another easy recipe from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day
that we have already used in a couple of recipes!

You need:
about a grape fruit size portion of pizza dough
a little olive oil

  • preheat oven to 500 with baking stone in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes
  • just before you are ready to bake divide the dough into four small balls
  • dust one ball with some flour and roll into a small circle
  • slide pita on to stone and bake for about 5-7 minutes. i can fit about 2 on my stone so I roll one out, put it in the oven then do the other one really quickly.
  • it should be puffy and lightly browned. 
  • I followed their greek style the first time and brushed the dough with a little olive oil and then punched it down because I wanted to use it to wrap, not really stick stuff in it.
  • let them cool wrapped in a cotton towel, on a cooling rack 
Great with Mediterranean Beef Wraps or Turkish Stuffed Pita Boats

Recipe #296: Hummus Take 2

Happy Spring Break to me! The house is clean, the fridge is stocked with groceries, and now it is time to catch up on blogging! I have several recipes to share, so we will see how far I get tonight!

So I was trying out another recipe from the fabulous Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day and decided to try their hummus recipe. I have made another one a while back but am still searching for a recipe that I like the best.

This one was pretty delicious, i think because of the lemon zest which was definitely better then just lemon juice.

You need:
1 can of chick peas, drained
juice and zest from one lemon
2 garlic coves, chopped
1/2 cup tahini paste
1/2 tsp kosher salt
paprika
olive oil

  • add chick peas, lemon juice and zest, garlic, tahini and salt to a food processor and start mixing until smooth. (if you are using a small one like me I would recommend doing it in two batches...I should have done that!) you may need to add a little water to help produce a smooth dip. 
  • spoon into a serving bowl, sprinkle paprika on top and drizzle with olive oil. 
A delicious way to enjoy your veggies or Mediterranean Beef Wraps!



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Recipe #295: Three Cheese Pizza


You need:
ricotta
mozzarella, shredded
parmesan, shredded
pizza dough
tomato sauce

  • preheat oven to 500 and allow stone to heat for 30 minutes
  • just before preheat is down, take a orange sized piece of dough
  • roll it out and top with sauce
  • dollop some ricotta on top and then add other cheeses around.
  • bake for 8-10 minutes
  • cut in squares for an interesting way to eat your pizza! :)

Recipe #294: Focaccia

A great recipe from none other than Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day! I love the fact that with one recipe you can make so many different things (be on the lookout for more delicious flatbreads!)


You need:
1 small grapefruit size of pizza dough
1/4 onion, sauteed
2 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
olive oil

  • heat oven to 450
  • spread olive oil on the bottom of a pie pan
  • roll out the dough into a circle that it the size of your pan
  • place dough in pan, flip to cover both sides with the oil.
  • indent the dough with your finger to keep it from puffing up so much.
  • add onion and rosemary 
  • let it rest for about 20 minutes
  • push down into dough so rosemary and onion doesn't slide off when baking.
  • bake for 15 minutes or until done
  • remove from pie tin and allow to cool 
  • then eat!




Saturday, March 24, 2012

Recipe #292 and #293: Spinach and Beef pizza on homemade crust

If you have been reading my blog at all you may know of how our bread eating was revolutionized by Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
We have been making that bread all year. 
I haven't eaten store bought bread in ages! :) 
We had been using the bread dough to make pizza, but finally got this book from the library:
and...
our lives are changed again! :) This made the best crust ever! And of course, it was SO easy!

This recipe makes 8 pizzas and last for 2 weeks in the fridge. You can also freeze it, but I haven't read all the details on that yet! Isn't that marvelous. This recipe can be used for many other flatbread recipes as well! I can't wait to try some different things!

You need:
3 cups lukewarm water (100 degrees or below)
1/3 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp kosher salt
7 1/2 white flour
  • mix water, oil, yeast, and salt using a dough hook on your mixer
  • add in flour and mix well
  • put into a large container and allow to rise for 2 hours.
  • at this point you can either pull some dough out to make a pizza or put in fridge
for pizza:
you need:
orange size ball of dough
pasta sauce
cooked ground beef
 6-7 spinach leaves
mozzarella
  • preheat oven as high as it will go (mine was 500) with stone inside
  • when oven is almost preheated, take dough out
  • shape dough into a small ball
  • roll out on a flour covered pizza peel
  • over with sauce, beef, spinach, and mozzarella
  • slide on to stone and bake for 8-10 minutes!
enjoy! be ready for lots of pizza/flatbread recipes in the next weeks! :)


Did I happen to mention that book found its way into my amazon shopping cart and is now in the mail! :) After looking at all the recipes I knew that there was no way I was going to get my fill in the time I had the book checked out! 

Recipe #291: Asian Beef Salad

Another Real Simple idea, except they did it with ground turkey, also some other ingredients I didn't have! :)

You need:
1 lb ground beef
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
romaine lettuce
cucumbers
matchstick carrots
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 pack browned ramen (see directions here. it was because I didn't have peanuts but wanted something crunchy)


  • brown beef, drain oil
  • add water, fish sauce, and brown sugar. stir until liquid is almost gone.
  • toss lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots with lime juice.
  • top with beef and serve!

Recipe #290: Pasta with spinach, ricotta, and zuchini

I recently went through some old Real Simple magazines to tear out the recipes I wanted to try! I love the recipes in their magazines! The recipe that mine is based off of can also be found here. It was so fresh and delicious! We had some baked sweet potato rounds on the side and that was amazing as usual! :) We had intended to grill the zucchini and sweet potatoes, but our grill was out of gas. :(


You need:
2 zucchini, cut in half then sliced long ways
a couple slices of onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
pasta (I used half a box of linguine)
couple handfuls of fresh spinach
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 spoonfuls of ricotta
crushed red pepper

  • cook pasta according to package directions
  • meanwhile, cook onion and zucchini in olive oil
  • save 1/4 cup of pasta water, drain pasta
  • add pasta to pan with zucchini, add spinach, pepper and salt, mix up.
  • serve with a spoonful of ricotta and crushed red pepper

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Recipe #289: Chicken and Rosemary Pasta

I found the recipe in an old Real Simple Magazine, but you can find it here too. I made some changes, but this was the gist of it! It was a fun way to use some parmesan straight from Italy and fresh rosemary from the garden!

You need:
2 chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
olive oil
2+ Tbsp rosemary, chopped
1 box whole wheat rotini pasta
3/4 cups fresh grated parmesan


  • heat olive oil and garlic in a pan.
  • add sprinkle of rosemary and chicken. pan fry until cooked through.
  • shred into smaller pieces
  • meanwhile cook pasta according to package directions
  • save 11/4 cup pasta water.
  • add pasta back to pot. stir in 1/2 cup parmesan, rosemary, chicken, salt and pepper
  • cook over low heat until sauce has thickened. top with remaining parmesan
Fresh and Delicious! 



Recipe #288: Cheese Toast

I ate this on bread we made, but I think it would actually be a nice appetizer to put bits of this mixture on little slices of baguettes...

you need:
cheese mixture (originally from here)

1/2 container of ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup spinach, chopped
3 Tbsp parmesan
2 tsp parsley
sliced bread


  • mix together ricotta, mozzarella, spinach, parmesan, and parsley
  • put some on top of bread and toast until cheese is melted


Friday, March 16, 2012

Recipe #287: Chocolate and Banana Chimichangas

I walked into the kitchen and this is what came out! :) It was kind of messy to eat, but pretty amazing and chocolately!


You need:
2 tortillas
creamy peanut butter
1 mashed banana
chocolate chips

  • butter the back of a tortilla
  • on the unbuttered side, spread some peanut butter in the middle
  • top with mashed banana and chocolate chips.
  • fold opposite sides into the middle
  • heat at 350 for 10 minutes, or until tortilla gets crispy
  • top with whipped cream and chocolate

Recipe #286: Spinach Enchiladas

The idea for these started from a Real Simple recipe found here, but I veered a lot from the recipe! I really liked these and it was a great meatless recipe!


You need:
1 cup of spinach, chopped
1/2 can of pinto beans, drained and washed
1/2 cup of corn
1 1/2 cups cheddar, shedded
paprika
6 tortillas
1/2 cup of sour cream
1 cup (or more) salsa

  • mix together spinach, pinto beans, corn, 1 cup cheddar in a small bowl.
  • in another bowl, mix together salsa, sour cream and 1/2 cup of cheddar
  • divide spinach mixture into 6 tortillas, roll up and put in a 9x13 dish seam side down
  • cover with salsa mixture 
  • bake at 400 for about 20 minutes

Recipe #285: Churros

My students are studying the continent of North America, and in an effort to encourage good behavior, if they were able to keep the letters in CONTINENT TREAT then I would make them something from North America. So I settled on churros, because  it seemed more fun then anything from the US or Canada. I found a recipe here and then make some adjustments based on the reviews. I tripled the recipe as well. All in all it wasn't too hard!

You need:
3 cups water
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp oil
3 cups flour
oil for frying
1 cup sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon
  • in a sauce pan combine water, sugar, salt and oil. Heat until boiling.
  • add to flour. Mix until it forms a soft ball.
  • put some of the dough in a pastry bag or ziploc (and cut a hole to pipe out)
  • heat oil in a skillet. 
  • pipe dough into the hot oil. I did about a finger length size and cut if off with a knife
  • fry about 5 at a time (depending on the size of your skillet)
  • once they are golden brown let them cool on a paper towel.
  • get the next batch in the fry pan and then take the ones that are cooling and toss them in a bag with cinnamon and sugar.
my students really enjoyed them even though they were kind of soggy on the second day! :) definitely taste better fresh! :)

Recipe #284: Cheesy Stuffed Shells

I was needing a recipe to use up the rest of the jumbo shells (the other recipe is here!) so I was looking at another one that was a little more cheesy and found one here. I made some changes, and it was pretty delicious! Unfortunately, Will had used some of the shells earlier so there wasn't as much as I thought! It just meant no leftovers! :)

You need:
8 jumbo shells
1/2 container of ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup spinach, chopped
3 Tbsp parmesan
2 tsp parsley
1 cup pasta sauce

  • cook jumbo shells according to package directions
  • meanwhile, mix up ricotta, mozzarella, spinach and 2 Tbsp parmesan 
  • drain noodles and then stuff with cheese mixture
  • depending on the amount of noodles (the cheese mixture probably would have been perfect for 12-15 noodles in an 8x8 dish) put in an appropriate dish. I used little gratin dishes.
  • mix pasta sauce and remaining Tbsp of parmesan, and spread over noodles.
  • heat in oven at 350 for about 15-20 minutes



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Recipe #283: 3 Ingredient Ice Cream

I found this a long time ago on pinterest and this recipe here caught my eye! Then tonight I was really craving ice cream but didn't want to waste the calories. Not like the whole diet/exercise thing is going that great :( but I still try. Anyways. I also decided that I should probably invest in a food processor...a big one. I only have a mini!

But in 20 minutes, I had ice cream made out of three ingredients: Bananas, peanut butter, and cocoa powder.

You need:
about 1 cup of just ripe bananas, cut in small slices and frozen
1 spoonful creamy peanut butter
1 spoonful of cocoa powder

  • in a food processor, blend the banana. this is what takes the longest. make sure they are in small pieces or it will probably be impossible! 
  • It will turn into a creamy, soft serve feel. you could stop there, but try adding in some delicious flavors!
  • once the banana is smooth add in the peanut butter and cocoa powder.
  • blend until well mixed.
  • enjoy right then as soft serve or stick in the freezer for a more ice cream firmness!
I had trouble waiting for it to harden all the way so I enjoyed it while it was still a little soft! It was great! I think if the banana is too ripe when you freeze it, the banana taste is stronger, so it did have a distinct banana flavor. I will have to have a bite of Will's later to see what it tastes like when it is more firm! ;)


Recipe #282: Grilled Soy Glazed Pork Chops

80 degree weather definitely means dinner on the grill. Plus we had sweet potatoes which is a favorite in this household!
the glaze was found here...two ingredients. Doesn't get much easier than that!

You need:
pork chops (I actually cut up a pork loin)
glaze--1/4 cup honey 2 Tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper

  • generously salt and pepper the pork chops
  • heat on grill.
  • when there is about 5-10 minutes left baste with the honey soy glaze
  • goes great with grilled veggies (zucchini, sweet potatoes, and green onions to be exact)! ;)
we were having such a good time eating I forgot to take a picture! :)

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Recipe #281: PB&J roll ups

We have officially started giving Alex peanut butter! Thank goodness he is not allergic! Will and I love it too much! :) He got first a taste accidentally, and we slowly gave him more tastes until we felt like it was okay for him to eat! We didn't have any bread so I made a PB&J wrap instead and he loved it! He also makes a complete mess because he has to unravel the wrap! :)

You need:
Peanut butter (our favorite is Natural Creamy Skippy!)
Jam (alas, we have run out of my grandma's homemade so I used grape jelly)
tortilla

  • spread peanut butter on tortilla
  • top with jam
  • roll up, cut into small pieces
  • feed to your child and steal a couple for yourself! :)

Recipe #280: Strawberries and Creme Sandwhich

I think I was mourning the lack of ice cream in the house. So a little whipped cream and strawberries had to suffice!

You need:
a couple of strawberries
spoonfuls of whipped cream
graham crackers

  • cut up strawberries
  • break up graham crackers and top with cream and strawberries. 
  • top with another graham cracker and enjoy!

Recipe #279: Spinach and Feta Egg White Omelet

This came together because I was too lazy to grate cheese...so wanted to use Feta instead and now my life has been changed because of how wonderful the omelet was! :)


You need:
3 egg whites, beaten
spoonful of feta cheese
small handful of fresh spinach, chopped
rosemary and pepper

  • pour three beaten egg whites in a small pan.
  • allow the bottom to set.
  • add in pepper, rosemary, feta and spinach to the middle
  • fold the omelet in half
  • flip once or twice to make sure both sides are evenly brown and middle is cooked through
  • add a little more pepper and rosemary to the top!
so delicious! 

Monday, March 12, 2012

Recipe #278: Spinach and Chicken Quesadilla

An easy, delicious meal!

You need:z
tortilla
rotisserie chicken
shredded cheddar
spinach
small bit of butter

  • on a tortilla add some cheese, spinach and shredded rotisserie chicken
  • fold in half and spread a little butter on both sides
  • heat in a pan until cheese is melted and tortilla is a little brown
top with sour cream and salsa!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Recipe #277: Strawberry Spinach Salad


Strawberries were on sale at Aldi and that is when I decided salad was the perfect meal for a spring day!

You need:
spinach
romaine lettuce
strawberries
part of rotisserie chicken, shredded
feta cheese
chopped walnuts
balsamic vinaigrette

  • wash and toss spinach and romaine
  • cut up strawberries into slices
  • toss together strawberries, chicken, walnuts, and feta with lettuce
  • drizzle on some vinaigrette
enjoy! tastes great with a little crusty bread and dipping oil! :)

Recipe #276: Asian Corn Salad

Will requested sloppy joes for dinner, and I made this corn salad to go with it!

You need:
sesame oil
2 cups corn
2 green onions, chopped
cilantro
crushed red pepper

  • heat a little sesame oil in a pan
  • add chopped green onions and heat until starting to brown
  • add corn and a couple shakes of red pepper
  • heat until corn is cooked.
  • add cilantro leaves

Friday, March 9, 2012

Recipe #275: Chicken Vesuvio

I started getting the Everyday with Rachel Ray Magazine thanks to a great deal, and to get some fresh ideas for recipes. Basically it is a recipe found here, I did make some changes based on what was in my kitchen! It was pretty delicious!

You need:
4 red potatoes
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 lb chicken breasts cut into chunks
whole wheat flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 small bag of frozen broccoli
olive oil

  • peel and cut potatoes into thin rounds
  • heat 1/4 cup (or less) olive oil in a pan, add potatoes, garlic and oregano. cook until browned
  • take potatoes out and put in a baking dish
  • coat chicken pieces in flour and then add to the fry pan (some left over olive oil should still be in the pan)
  • brown chicken in pan then add the chicken stock. add in broccoli
  • transfer the chicken and broccoli to the baking dish (if you have an oven proof skillet you could cook everything in there and then put that in the oven)  I did not add all the broth because I didn't want it to get soggy.
  • roast at 375 for about 10-12 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Recipe #274: Banana Split


Make a banana split at home!

You need:
bananas
favorite flavor ice cream
whipped cream
chocolate syrup
sprinkles

  • Cut banana in half then cut each piece in half ways and place in a bowl
  • top with ice cream. I used rocky road and chocolate chip cookie dough!
  • add whipped cream, chocolate syrup and sprinkles

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Recipe #273: Grilled Apples

So while you are cutting up veggies for the recipes you can find here, you need to cut up a couple of apples too for AMAZING grilled apples! It's like eating apple pie, without the crust!

You need:
3 apples
cinnamon and sugar
1/2 Tbsp butter, melted

  • cut apples into rounds.
  • put in a ziploc
  • add melted butter and cinnamon and sugar
  • grill for 10 minutes, turning at least once, or until tender
Alex wasn't quite sure about the first bite, but then he couldn't get enough!

Recipe #271 and #272: Grilled Chicken with spicy veggies

I am skipping some recipes to go to tonight's dinner. It was a perfect spring evening. 
So of course we had to grill!


You need:
2 bone in chicken legs
salt, pepper
barbecue sauce

  • pat chicken dry
  • generously add salt and pepper
  • heat grill and cook on each side for about 10 minutes
  • add barbecue sauce and heat each side for another 5-10 minutes of until done

Spicy veggies:
you need:
onion, chopped up
red potatoes, cut in rounds
spicy rub found here
paprika
cilantro
  • chop up veggies. put in separate bags
  • add a little olive oil to each bag
  •  add in spicy rub to potatoes 
  • add paprika and cilantro to onion
  • close each bag and shake up
  • grill until browning

Recipe #270: Sweet Chili Chicken Wrap

Okay, this is probably the most delicious wrap ever! Sweet Chili Sauce is my new favorite! the best part was this was completely a leftover meal!

You need:
whole wheat tortillas
rotisserie chicken
balsamic cole slaw that I made here
sweet chili sauce

  • heat up some chicken on a tortilla wrap.
  • add in a spoonful or two of cole slaw 
  • add in some sweet chili sauce, as much or little as your want!
  • happiness in your mouth!

Recipe #269: Bird Food

In February, the day before our trip up to Indy and Chicago, a bird decided to enter our house and reek havoc on our lives for 12 hours or so... First he went into an opening in a vent and we thought he had found his way out of the house. Not so. The next morning as we are packing up for our trip I start to hear things that can only mean one thing...the bird is still in the vents! We located his location and set a trap!

broken up ritz crackers and peanut butter!

Well we thought that he had disappeared again and we were going to have to leave with him hanging out in the vents under the house (not ideal!) when he reappeared in the the trash can trap, nibbling on the crackers and peanut butter. Long story short, he managed to escape in the house again, but in less then 20 minutes Will had captured him for good and he was released from our house!! YAY!

So I named this recipe in honor of the little bird who wanted to live in our house!

You need:
 ritz crackers
peanut butter
banana
  • cut banana into chunks
  • spread peanut butter over crackers 
  • top with a banana

Alex loved them too! :)


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Recipe #267: Stuffed Shells with #268 Balsamic Cole Slaw

I bought big pasta shells the other day to try out a new pasta. It was a lot of fun!

You need:
1/2 box of jumbo pasta shells
1 lb hamburger meat
1 cup mozzarella
1 cup pasta sauce
  • brown meat and drain oil
  • add a couple spoonfuls of pasta sauce and mix together.
  • boil noodles according to package directions.
  • add cheese to meat
  • add rest of pasta sauce to the bottom of an 8x8 dish
  • drain noodles and start to fill with meat mixture
  • place in dish and once it is full cover with cheese.
  • bake at 350 for about 20 minutes of until cheese is melted.

I had leftover cabbage and carrots so wanted to make a quick cole slaw. I found a balsamic version here.

You need:
1/4 head of cabbage, cut up
1 cup matchstick carrots
green onion
1 tsp garlic powder
red pepper flakes
balsamic vinegar
  • cut up cabbage and green onion
  • heat in a pan until cabbage gets limp
  • add garlic powder, red pepper, and balsamic vinegar
  • enjoy!

Recipe #266: I wish is was Spring Rolls...

Well, I am posting this recipe, because it is a recipe, but really it was a bit of a flop of a recipe for me! I definitely have some stuff to learn in the world of spring rolls and if anyone wants to teach me their amazing secret recipe i would be happy to find it out! :)

I think it came down to the fact I had the wrong type of wrapper. That is the only thing that seems to have gone wrong. I used a recipe I found here but looked at a couple of different recipes to find out some extra hints. I also mixed some stuff together and made rolls until i ran out of filling! I am going to try these again and hopefully they will turn out better the next time!

 We tried out baked, fresh, and fried...

You need:
rice vermicelli
2 cups cabbage, shredded
1 handful matchstick carrots
bean spouts
green onion
3 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
wrappers
oil for frying
  • cut up veggies
  • add veggies to pan and heat up. add fish sauce and soy sauce
  • heat vermicelli according to package directions. cut up and add to veggies
  • drain access liquid
  • put each wrapper in warm water to soften it
  • fill with veggie mixture
  • roll up and let it sit for 30 minutes.
  • fry in oil, bake in oven for 20 minutes at 400 or enjoy fresh! :)
  • Dip in Sweet Chili sauce! It is AMAZING!
they tasted good even though they didn't look right... but I will work on that! :)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Recipe #265: Ice Cream Smores


Tonight's Dessert!

You need:
2 graham crackers
2 scoops ice cream
chocolate syrup
whipped cream

  • put a scoop of ice cream on each graham cracker half
  • top with other cracker 
  • drizzle some chocolate syrup on top
  • add a dollup of whipped cream
delicious!!

Recipe #264: Bagels

When we were in Chicago my friend made bagels for breakfast one morning!
The recipe was found here. I followed it pretty closely....it still needs some work though, they didn't look quite as nice as my friends!

You need:
1 tsp yeast
1 1/4 cup warm milk (110-115)
1/4 cup butter softened
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
3 3/4 cups flour

  • dissolve yeast in milk
  • add butter, sugar, salt, and egg. mix well
  • add in flour to make a soft dough
  • put on floured surface and knead until smooth
  • put in a greased bowl and cover. Allow to sit until it doubles in size, around 1 hour
  • punch dough down and then shape into 12 balls
  • make a whole in the middle of each ball, and then flatten
  • cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes
  • add one at a time to boiling water. *The directions said until the rise to the top, but my did almost immediately! So i left them in for about 5 minutes.
  • take them out and put on a greased baking sheet 2 inches apart.
  • bake for 20 minutes at 400
  • need to work on getting the outside a little bit more even! I can't wait to try a variety of kinds too!

Recipe #263: Mac and Cheese

This is Will's mom's recipe. She has two in her recipe book: one for when she is in Italy and then her American version! :) We decided to make the Italian version!

You need:
1 box of noodles (we used rottini)
1 cup shredded cheddar
1 cup shredded mozzarella
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper
cut up ham

  • boil noodles according to package directions
  • drain and return to pot
  • add olive oil and butter
  • mix in cheese, salt and pepper
  • turn the heat on low so that the cheese will melt.
  • add in ham

Recipe #262: Roasted Veggies

I felt like we had been eating really heavy meals so last week I made a roasted veggies meal and it was the perfect flavors!


You need:
5-6 red potatoes
2 cups of baby carrots
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
rosemary, thyme, and some olive oil

  • cut the veggies into big pieces 
  • spread onto a baking sheet
  • drizzle olive oil on top.
  • sprinkle on some rosemary and thyme
  • stir up.
  • roast at 400 for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are getting crispy on the outside.
  • mix up at least once during the baking time.