Recipe #337: Personal Deep Dish Pizzas

This was kind of out of my favorite Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day book! With some changes though...

you need:
a baseball sized portion of pizza dough
cheese
pasta sauce
hamburger meat

• divide dough into 4 sections.
• preheat oven to 500
• roll each one out and place in a small, oven safe dish
• add some cheese at the bottom
• top with meat, then sauce.
• sprinkle a little bit more cheese on top.
• turn oven down to 400. 
• bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and it is bubbling up.
• let it sit for a bit to set and then serve!

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

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.

Recipe #260: Baked Taco Rice

another twist on a tacoish meal.

you need:
1lb ground beef
 rice
1 cup cheese
1 cup spaghetti sauce
lettuce, sour cream, salsa, chips for toppings

• make rice
• brown meat and add spaghetti sauce.
• mix rice and beef together in an 8x8 dish
• top with cheese
• bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted
• serve with your favorite taco toppings!

Recipe #229: Low Fat Fettuccine Alfredo

Today was one of those days. 

It was foggy, a long day at school, and Alex was testing me big time (he knows I have trouble resisting that twinkle in his eye). So when Will came home I pretty much handed dinner prep off to him saying that I wanted pasta but not with spaghetti sauce. Well, of course that is not much help. So i googled alfredo recipes that only used milk because that is all we had, and i found a decent one here for him to make. In the end it was quite delicious and Will couldn't believe how easy it was to make! (so I am hoping he is willing to make it again!)

You need:
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
pinch of nutmeg
3 cups 1% milk
parmesan
fettuccine
broccoli

• melt butter in medium sized sauce pan (will started off with one too small and it overflowed)
• add in flour and stir for one minute
• add milk, salt and nutmeg
• stir constantly until thickened, about 10 minutes add in a couple shakes of parmesan
• while that is going boil water for noodles
• cook noodles according to package directions. In last couple minutes add broccoli in to heat up.
• drain water
• add noodles and broccoli to a bowl then mix in alfredo sauce
• sprinkle on some shredded mozzarella cheese if you want! :)

It was perfect!

Recipe #223: Beef Chimichangas

I found this recipe here and of course changed it to use what I had on hand! I think without the sour cream and by using whole wheat tortillas this version is probably less calories! :)

You need:
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp taco sauce
dried oregano
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
whole wheat tortillas

• brown ground beef, and drain oil
• add taco sauce and dried oregano
• remove from heat and add cheese, mix well
• put about 1/3 cup of beef into middle of each tortilla
• fold left and right sides together, then top and bottom to enclose meat. 
• bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until tortilla is crisp. top with your favorite toppings!

Recipe #218: White and Green Stew

White thanks to the potatoes, sauce, and chicken, green due to the beans and broccoli!

You need:
white sauce recipe or box of Japanese white stew cubes! :)
chicken
potatoes
milk
broccoli
string beans
rice

• cut up chicken and brown in a pot
• add potatoes and 6 cups water
• add in sauce cubes
• allow to simmer until potatoes are soft
• add 1 1/2 cups milk
• add in frozen veggies and continue to cook until vegetables are warm
• serve over rice

Recipe #212: Tofu Stir Fry

Well, I am VERY behind in posting recipes. I made some good food, but taking the time to blog about it was not on my to do list this past week. It was a long week at school and by the end of the day coming home and chasing Alex, I was too tired to worried about it at the end of the day! Anyways, we will see how far I get on the recipes tonight!

First up...Tofu Stir Fry!

You need:
1 package of tofu
corn
1 onion
1/2 bag of broccoli
3 cups beans
rice
teriyaki sauce

• first saute onions, then remove from pan
• cut tofu into small cubes and heat up in pan with some teriyaki sauce. Add onions, and other veggies and cover.
• Allow veggies to steam lightly.
• add more teriyaki sauce
• eat with rice! 

Recipe #211: BLT Salad

Well, nothing like starting up school again to get completely behind on recipes! Not only that, but when Will is out three nights during the week with games, the motivation to cook goes way down! One of the goals of 2012 is too eat more veggies, so for dinner Wednesday night we had a BLT salad! I know, bacon and cheese are not veggies, but it is good to get more food groups in there! :)

You need:
1 heart of Romaine
8 strips bacon
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
cucumbers
tomatoes
green peppers
corn
dressing of your choice!

• fry up the bacon
• wash and cut your veggies
• layer the lettuce and different veggies, bacon and cheese to make a pretty salad, or toss together if you are in a hurry! :)

Recipe #210: Cheesy beef roll ups

This is a spin off of a chicken dish I made earlier found here. Will liked this just about as much! I wanted to make a creamy tomato sauce for it so had to play around with some stuff because I didn't have any heavy cream. anyways... I think it turned out pretty good!

You need:
1 lb ground beef
2 cans of crescent rolls
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup of spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup whole milk with 2 Tbsp Flour and 2 Tbsp melted butter (to help thicken a bit)

• brown meat
• in a small cup make a paste with melted butter and flour, add to a saucepan with milk. then add tomato sauce and 1/2 cup cheese
• add some of the cream sauce and cheddar to meat.
• grease bottom of 9x13 pan, put some of cream sauce on bottom
• unroll crescent rolls and add some of meat mixture to each one then place in the pan.
• add some more cream sauce on top and then top with remaining cheese
• bake at 375 for 25 minutes

enjoy!

Recipe #208: Baked Soft Tacos

This might look very similar to this recipe, because it is. I needed something easy, and using ground beef actually made it go a lot faster!

You need:
1 lb of ground beef
taco seasoning
salsa
5-6 tortillas cut into 2 inch strips
cheddar cheese
toppings: lettuce, tomato, and greek yogurt (in place of sour cream)

• brown beef, then add 1/4 cup taco seasoning and some water
• put down a layer of beef in a 9x13 pan
• top with tortilla strips, salsa, and cheese. repeat each with another layer
• bake at 350 for 30 minutes
• add your favorite taco toppings! 

Recipe #206: Cheesy Chicken and Tortillas

This was a pretty good and easy meal. We were going to hang out at my grandparents for the day so put the chicken in the crockpot in the morning and then it took 10 minutes to get in the oven! Easy meal with not a lot of hands on time! I found it on pinterest but is originally found here.

You need:
3 chicken breasts
1/4 cup plus taco seasoning
3 1/4 (or less if using frozen chicken breasts) water
3 chicken boullion cubes
2 Tbsp butter
2 cans cream of chicken soup
6 torillas
4 cups or so cheddar cheese

• put chicken, taco seasoning, water, and boullion cubes in crockpot. Heat on low for at least 4 hours (ours was more like 7!)
• take chicken out and shred 
• in a sauce pan melt butter then add soup and a little more taco seasoning
• stir in chicken
• in a 9x13 pan put a layer of chicken, then layer tortillas and cheese on top. repeat another layer of each. (I didn't really break apart tortillas because I didn't read original directions, it is your choice!)
• bake at 350 for about 30 minutes

Enjoy on top of rice. As we were eating we were thinking of all the great add ins you could do with this! The chicken mixture is so good and I will definitely be using it again!

Recipe #200: Pita Pizzas!

Sometime, a while ago, my family started to make little personal pizzas on Christmas Eve. I think because it was a busy evening with church and caroling at the train station and then we would head home late to open presents, pizza was a fast but fun meal for my mom to spread out and we would all put on our toppings and she would stick it in the oven.
Once Will and I got married, we have carried on that tradition, as well as opening presents Christmas Eve. My mom usually uses naan bread, but we have used a variety of crusts. this time we used pita bread!

You need:
one pack of pita bread
spaghetti sauce
bacon
shredded mozzarella cheese
any other toppings you want too!

• Spread pita on a cookie sheet. 
• spread on some spaghetti sauce, topping, then cheese
• bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes

We cut Alex's pizza into mini slices! It was really cute. :) 

Recipe #188: Cheesy Chicken Roll-ups

Thanks to pinterest I discovered this pretty amazing recipe from a blog found here. Even though I added onions Will still enjoyed it, which says something about the recipe because he does not love onions! We have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow too!
It seems a little bit involved, but don't let that scare you, it is really delicious!

You need:
2 cans of crescent rolls
1 can cream of chicken
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk (plus 2 Tbsp for later)
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 tsp garlic powder
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 small onion, chopped

• first start boiling chicken
• while it is cooking combine 1 can cream of chicken, 1/2 cup shredded cheese, and 1/2 cup milk, mix well. pour some into the bottom of a greased 9x13 dish.
• in small bowl stick cream cheese and butter in the microwave to soften
• put into a larger bowl and mix in garlic powder
• add 3/4 cup cheese, onion, 2 Tbsp milk and shredded chicken. mix well.
• unroll crescent rolls and lay out on surface
• put a heaping spoonful of chicken mixture in each crescent, and roll up and tuck sides under.
• put each one in the 9x13 pan. top with some more of the cream of chicken mixture (you don't need to use all of it)
• top with the rest of the cheese
• bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Recipe #178: Sautzels

I had to go out tonight and didn't know when I would be back so told Will to make something for dinner. I suggested that he use the Italian sausage we had in the fridge. Well on my way I thought about the meal he would want to try and sure enough, I get home and that is the meal he is making! At the pub he and his cousins go to when they are together they have this pretzel and bratwurst thing that he thought was quite delicious. So he decided to create his own using what was in the fridge of course. Thus he made a Sautzel...for lack of a better name! ;)

You need:
pretzel recipe found here
4 links Italian Sausage
Mozzarella
spicy brown or honey mustard for dipping

• Follow the recipe for the pretzels.
• While the dough is rising, fry up the sausage
• cut cooked sausage into smaller pieces
• Once pretzel is done, top with sausage and cheese, put back in oven for a couple minute or until cheese is melted.
• Enjoy with the mustard of your choice!

Recipe #176: Curried Chicken

This was a crock pot recipe that needed a little more teamwork on Will and my part...because I go to work so early 8 hrs later means 3pm which is too early for dinner and in the end, the chicken was a little bit more shredded then I would have wanted, but all in all, it had good flavoring. I found the recipe in a Real Simple magazine but you can also find it here. I changed it a bit because, although I had every intention of getting tomato paste, I ended up with tomato sauce!

You need:
3 chicken breasts (mine were a little frozen and still worked okay)

• 1 small can tomato sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbsp curry powder
• 1/2 Tbsp ginger
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt

• in crock pot mix tomato sauce, garlic, curry powder, ginger, cumin, and onion.
• top with chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces. Season with salt and pepper
• cook on low for 8 hrs. stir
• just before serving add yogurt in.
• serve with rice

Recipe #175: Baked Pasta and Sausage

hmmm...a fun way to use leftovers...create another recipe! We had a lot of broccoli and sausage leftover from the day before but not too many noodles, so this became the perfect one person meal I needed since Will was gone!

You need:
1 cup of spaghetti sauce
bowtie noodles
leftover sausage and broccoli from last night's meal
mozzarella cheese

• heat up pasta according to package directions
• mix spaghetti sauce with sausage and broccoli
• drain noodles then add to mixture. 
• pour into two small dishes 
• top with cheese
• bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until cheese has melted.

Recipe #174: Sausage and Broccoli Fettuccine

Starting to experiment with some sausage recipes...I have to admit I don't love the taste of Italian Sausage, but it is fun to taste new things! It is a spin off from a recipe I found here.

You need:
4 links of Italian Sausage
one onion
1/2 box of fettuccine
one small bag of broccoli
parmesan and mozzarella
spices: rosemary, basil, red pepper flakes, parsley

• boil pasta according to package directions
• cut sausages into smaller pieces
• in a fry pan, heat up some olive oil and saute onions
• add sausage and cook
• sprinkle in some rosemary, basil and parsley
• add in broccoli parmesan and cover to steam 
• once pasta is done cooking mix together with sausage and broccoli. 
• Top with some red pepper flakes and mozzarella

Recipe #158: I wish I could make sasami cheezu... :)

I don't know what made me think of it, but when i was in high school we used to love going to this bento shop and the lady made this obento that has rice, some sides and this fried chicken that had cheese it in...it was so fun and so cheap. "Fast" food in Japan is so much healthier then it is here! I wish for convenient stores that would have delicious obentos or onigiris that were so fast and delicious, the rows of milk coffees and teas to choose from offered nice alternatives to soft drinks, it is so nice.

Anyways, we have to Chinese guys staying with us and so i figured rice and chicken would be a safe bet and in the process decided to see if I could recreate sasami cheezu... not really. oh well. But the chicken and rice were a hit so that was good!

You need:
3 chicken breasts cut into smaller strips
oil for frying
flour
eggs beaten
panko

• heat oil in a large frying pan so that bottom 1/2 inch is covered.
• dip chicken first in flour, eggs then panko so it is thoroughly coated by each one.
• fry until golden brown on both sides.
• if you are adding cheese i tried shredded which was probably part of the problem, but after I dipped the chicken in the flour and egg I rolled it in the cheese and then the panko. That really didn't work. Will didn't even taste it, we will keep trying! 

Recipe #156: Turkey and Sweet Potato Turnover

This was another fabulous recipe from the 10 ideas for....from Real Simple. The original recipe can be found here. I made some changes because of what I had on hand!

You need:
frozen puff pastry
1 lb ground turkey
1 sweet potato
couple heads of broccoli
shredded mozzarella

• brown meat on stove.
• in microwave heat up sweet potato and broccoli
• divide each sheet of pastry into two
• spoon some ground meat, sweet potato, broccoli, and cheese onto each pastry
• fold in half and seal tight
• bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes

This was great out of the oven, but both Will and I agreed we liked it better when we ate the extras for lunch the next day!