Family Favorite...

Manicotti

Crepes:
4 eggs
1 cup water
1 cup flour

Combine above ingredients in blender and mix. Pour into large mixing bowl.

Pour a small amount, 1/3 cup, into a small frying pan. 

Spread evenly, cook 1 minute, flip crepe and cook another minute.

Layer crepes on plate with wax paper in between each crepe. 

You can make the crepes the day before.

Filling:
Ricotta cheese, egg, mozzarella, Parmesan...

Mix the above ingredients together and spread down the center of your crepe.
Fold both sides toward the middle.

Place crepe "seam side down" in a baking dish that has some sauce on the bottom.


Cover with sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan 

(sorry no picture with mozzarella!)

Bake at 350 until bubbly and your kitchen smells like Little Italy! 

Enjoy!

Italian Wedding Soup..

I don't follow any "written" recipe.

This is my version of Italian Wedding Soup.

Start by making your meatballs.

Again, use your favorite meatball recipe.

I mixed together ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt and pepper

 with a little bit of water.

Only you want to form them into tiny meatballs.

Here's what I started with this morning.

I didn't count but it's a lot!

Don't worry, they all don't go in the soup!

I like to plan ahead.

This amount will make enough tiny meatballs 

for about 4 recipes of soup.

Brown them in a little bit of oil.

Transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towel to drain.

If you're making a lot, you'll want to do this in batches. 

Fill a pot with two containers of chicken broth.

Add chopped carrots, celery and your meatballs to the broth.

I added about 20 meatballs to this recipe.  

Add some frozen spinach, about a third of the package.

BUT please don't tell my children it's spinach, okay?

They think it's just parsley.

You can also add fresh spinach but then my kids wouldn't 

believe it was parsley.  

So for now, I add frozen spinach.  

I let the soup cook for about an hour or so until the meatballs

 are cooked through and the carrots and celery are tender.

About 20 minutes before you're ready to serve the soup,

 cook some pasta to add to your soup

in a separate pot of boiling water.

When the pasta is done, drain and add to the soup.

I used these tiny little "bow ties."

In the past I've added cheese tortellini, DELICIOUS!

Here's the soup, all done.

Doesn't that look GOOD?

Top your bowl of soup with some fresh Parmesan cheese.

So...

What did I do with the rest of the meatballs?

I divided them into three different piles,

wrapped in aluminum foil, placed in a freezer bag.

Now the next time I want to make Italian Wedding Soup, 

I just go to my freezer, take a package of mini meatballs out and start the soup.

Let me know if you make the soup!

ENJOY!

Potato Soup

Last week my sister and her family came for a visit.

I made two different soups, 

Potato Soup and Italian Wedding Soup.

Both were delicious!

The complete recipe for the soup is at the end of this post.

I need to point out that I do not add the onions or the butter to the soup.

The bacon, chives and sour cream are for garnishes.  

AND I now use fat free half/half.  

Not the heavy cream or the regular half/half as in the picture. 

This makes the soup not as fattening. 

Potatoes and Chicken Broth...

Peel and dice your potatoes and add them to a nice size pot...

Cover with the chicken broth and bring to a boil...

Continue to cook until the potatoes are fork tender...

While still in the pot, mash the potatoes with a potato masher.

You don't want this soup too smooth...

Add one cup cheddar cheese and one cup half and half...

Adding the cheese...

Continue to cook until the soup is thick and your house smells like heaven.

If the soup is NOT thickening, 

you MAY need to thicken the soup with a flour/water mixture, as if

you're making a gravy.  Add the flour/water mixture to the boiling soup.

I do not use cornstarch as a thickener.  

I only need to do this when I use the fat free half/half.

  

Ready to serve with a nice topping of bacon, chives, 

cheddar cheese and sour cream!

YUM!

Potato Soup:

6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 large onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

3- 14 oz cans chicken broth
1/4 c butter
2 1/2 t salt
1 1/4 t freshly ground pepper
1 c whipping cream or half and half
1 c shredded SHARP Cheddar cheese
3 T chopped fresh chives (for garnish)
Sour cream (for garnish)
4 bacon slices cooked and crumbled (for garnish or you can add directly to the soup)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (for garnish)

1.  Combine first 6 ingredients in a 5 qt. slow cooker.
2.  Cover and cook on high 4 hours or on low 8 hours or until potatoes are tender.
3.  Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup is slightly thickened; stir in cream and cheese.   

4.  Top with sour cream and sprinkle with bacon, chives and Cheddar cheese before serving.

Apricot Chicken

Don't you get tired of making the same chicken dishes all the time? 

I found this recipe a few weeks ago and have made it about 3 times and...

IT'S DELICIOUS!

And all you need is apricot jam and orange juice.

Mix together 1 tablespoon of apricot jam with about 1/3 cup orange juice.

I am only making ONE chicken breast.  

You will need to increase the amounts for more chicken.

Nice consistency.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Brown both sides in a little bit of oil.  

Transfer chicken to a baking dish.

Pour apricot jam/orange juice on top.

Bake until done!

Now doesn't that look delicious?

The first time I made this recipe I also made a few chicken legs with a breast.  

My son LOVES chicken legs.

He took one bite from the chicken and said,

"My mouth is tingling from this delicious chicken." 

Let me know if you try it!

ENJOY!

My Favorite Way to Cook Zucchini and Potatoes...

First of all I love this tool! 

You get the perfect slices using it...

Hold the zucchini and just run it across the blade...

The zucchini falls into the container attached...

Nice thin slices.  Works great on cucumbers as well.

Place zucchini in aluminum foil in grill pan. 

I just discovered lining my grill pan with aluminum foil  

makes clean up so much easier!

If you don't have a grill pan, just wrap the zucchini up in aluminum foil,

but don't close completely.  

You'll want to stir them while they're grilling. 

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a maybe a tablespoon of butter.

You don't need much butter at all.  

Cook until zucchini is soft and tender...

Now on to the potatoes.

First boil the potatoes until they are fork tender.

Then cut them in half, or you can slice them. 

Spread some olive oil on a sheet of aluminum foil. 

Yes, I poured a little too much here.

Place potatoes on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Wrap them up, but don't completely close them.

You'll want to turn them while they're on the grill.

Potatoes all done.

So crispy!

I also grilled a hamburger to go along with my favorite vegetables. 

Looks and tastes DELICIOUS!

I'll be making these two side dishes until it's too cold to stand outside and grill. 

Enjoy!

I am linking this recipe up with
My Journey with Candida

Veggie Pizza...

I know, I know, I haven't updated this blog in AGES!

Don't worry, I've been feeding my family!

Just needed a break.  

If you want to find out what I've been up to, 

head over to my other blog Walking on Sunshine.

Here's a great recipe I made 2 weeks ago.  

It was so good, I made it again last week!

First a little explanation.  

I was making this recipe just for myself.  

My kids would NEVER eat pizza with just veggies.  

So I only used half the pizza dough.

I made the recipe as usual and after the first rise, 

I cut the dough into two pieces.

I put the unused piece in a plastic bag and froze it.

And please DON'T feel you have to make your own pizza dough!

I've used store-bought pizza dough in the past 

and even pizza dough purchased from a pizzeria.

The tomatoes I used were fresh from the garden.

Are there any other kind to eat? 

And the zucchini I used was leftover zucchini that 

I had grilled for dinner the previous night.

VEGGIE PIZZA

1 recipe Pizza Dough

1 Tomato, sliced pretty thin

Zucchini

Mozzarella Cheese

Olive Oil

Spread out your dough.  Brush the dough with the Olive Oil.

Top with the sliced tomatoes, zucchini, mozzarella cheese...

Bake at 425 until golden brown and crispy on the bottom...

This was the most delicious pizza I've had in ages!

Let me know if you try it!

Dessert!

Today's recipe comes from my college friend Kelly.

Brownie Torte

INGREDIENTS:  

Packaged brownie mix (or homemade)– baked according to directions in 9 x 13 inch pan

Small box of instant vanilla pudding

Small box of instant chocolate pudding

8 oz. tub of strawberry flavored cream cheese

2 cups of milk - separated

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Small tub of whipped topping (like Cool Whip)

8 Oreo cookies, crumbled

Sliced strawberries (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

• Bake brownies according to package directions in a 9 x 13 inch pan.  
  
• Allow brownies to cool about 30 – 45 minutes.  
  
• Mix vanilla pudding, 1 cup milk and softened strawberry cream cheese in mixing bowl.  
  
• Spread on top of brownies in original pan.  
  
• Mix chocolate pudding, 1cup milk and powdered sugar in mixing bowl.  
  
• Spread on top of vanilla pudding layer.  
  
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 15 minutes until slightly set.  
  
• Spread whipped topping over chocolate pudding layer.  
  
• Add a layer sliced strawberries (if desired) and sprinkle with crumbled Oreo cookies.  
  
• Re-cover pan and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Now doesn't that look good?

Mac and Cheese

The other day on Facebook I posted as my status that my daughter 

Olivia had mac and cheese at someone's house, 

but it was the kind from the box. 

AND she liked it.  

She hasn't liked mac and cheese in YEARS.

So I mentioned that I was going to make homemade macaroni and cheese 

from Paula Deen's cookbook "Kitchen Classics" for dinner.

Well, I received a few comments asking for the recipe that I use.  

So here it is...

Ingredients:

4 cups cooked elbow macaroni drained (about 2 cups uncooked)

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk 

1/2 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed

After the macaroni has been boiled and drained, 

add Cheddar cheese and butter while macaroni is still hot.

Combine remaining ingredients (except Ritz crackers) 

and add to macaroni mixture.  

Crush 1/2 sleeve of Ritz crackers.

Pour into casserole dish, sprinkle crushed crackers 

on top and add additional cheese if desired.

Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.

This is what we had for dinner, skirt steak on the grill, green beans 

and the mac and cheese.

Now doesn't that look DELICIOUS?