Weekly Menu 3/28-4/3

Even though March was the month that officially began Spring, I think The Great Northwest has yet to receive the memo. So maybe, April will bring us flowers instead of shower, because I'm tired of the rain and I'm eager to get busy making our yard beautiful. The birds however, are acting as if it's Spring. They've all gotten twitterpaited  on me and are chirping up a storm and running into windows. Mom says, "It's Mating Season and they see their reflection in the glass."  I guess it makes sense because I think mating and baby fever is def. in the air. It seems as though, everybody I know is pregnant or trying to get pregnant or just had a baby.  Don't be looking at me to continue this trend just yet. I'm quite content with my 2 girls. Maybe in a year or two, God will begin pressing it upon my heart to expand the brood. Until then, Josh and I are very very happy.

I hope everyone is staying well. I know viruses are still going around like crazy. So far, everyone in my house is feeling good ( KNOCK ON WOOD), except I still have my cough. But other than that, we're healthy. Which is a major blessing.

I didn't do as much baking as I had hoped to last week. We ended up getting some leftover Texas Sheet Cake from my mom, Josh picked up Sugar Cookies for the girls ( ya know, those really yummy ones with the frosting on them that you buy at the store) and then on Friday night, he brought home donuts. He said, he couldn't resist because the store was just going to throw them away. But, I'm feeling rather sugared out right about now, so for this week, I don't know if I'll make anything. I might...I just haven't decided yet.

Monday
Leftover Minestrone Soup with rolls

Tuesday

Lasagna with veggies, maybe asparagus

Wednesday

Pizza and salad

Thursday

( Awana Night)

Leftover Cheese Enchiladas from Sunday night

Friday

Crock pot Pot Taco Soup with Quesadillas 

Saturday

Sandwich Saturday- I'm not sure...It depends, I'm thinking Chicken and Pesto ;)

Sunday

A breakfast night is sounding good to me...so maybe homemade pancakes or something :)

I'm just not sure about making dessert this week. I might take the week off...We'll see. 

Amazing "Olive Garden Like" Breadsticks

I'm intimidated by yeast. Oh the ways in which you can easily get it wrong. But Oh, how I love bread. Fresh, homemade carbolisious bread!

I've attempted to make bread sticks once before and they came out...weird. Not the way I envisioned. I'm sure I  did something wrong that made them come out all stiff and crunchy like. In a perfect world, my bread sticks would always turn out like Olive Garden's Bread sticks. Now, those are amazing. Luckily for me, I'm a reader of This Chick Cooks and she was so kind to have a guest blogger, blog on how to make some amazing bread sticks that are pretty darn perfect imitations of Olive Garden's bread sticks.

I was making Minestrone Soup earlier this week ( a soup that is also the perfect imitation of Olive's Garden's Minestrone) in the crock pot and I really wanted to try my hand again, at making bread sticks.

The dinner itself was actually a pretty good replica of the Soup and Salad combo at Olive Garden, but any rendition from Olive Garden is incomplete without bread sticks, so I gathered my courage and decided to go for it.

The first thing I did was dissolve some sugar and yeast in a large mixing bowl with some warm water and then covered it for about 10 minutes. 

While the yeast was doing it's thing, I combined the flour and salt and gave it a good stir. 

When the yeast was frothy and I had everything I needed I combined the flour and salt to the yeast and poured in some melted butter and let it mix and combine with my paddle attachment on my mixer. When it was all combined, I took the dough out and I kneaded. I actually kneaded and my hands didn't get tired. ( It must be from doing exercises at the gym ;) ) I kneaded until the dough was nice and smooth. 

After I greased my baking sheet, I pulled off chunks of dough and began rolling it out like snake-like strips. I think I rolled some of my bread sticks out to thick. But at any rate, I was happy with them.

Once I had rolled out all of my dough, I covered it and let them sit for about 45 minutes.  Then I pre-heated my oven to 400 degrees. Once the oven was ready, I popped in the rolls and let them bake for 6-7 minutes. While they were baking, I melted some butter in the microwave and added garlic powder and salt to the bowl. After the first 6-7 minutes, I brushed the rolls with some of the melted butter and let them bake for an additional 6-8 minutes until they were at the doneness I preferred. 

When the rolls were done cooking, I brushed on the remainder of the butter seasoning and let them sit and absorb it for a few moments. 

This ended up being a really easy and fun recipe to play with. I think the only changes I would make would be to make my bread sticks thinner and then add less salt to the melted butter, garlic powder mixture. These bread sticks will have your family begging for more and Pssst....They heat up really well in the microwave. Stick them in there for 25 secs a piece and they taste like they just came out of the oven again ;)

Olive Garden "like" Bread Sticks

adapted from This Chick Cooks, guest blogger

1 1/2 cups warm water ( between 110-120 degrees F)

1 pkg active dry yeast

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 TB unsalted, butter, melted

2 TB Sugar

1 TB salt

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast together in warm water and allow to sit covered for about 10 minutes. The mixture should become frothy.

In another bowl ( med. sized), combine flour and salt. Add to yeast mixture. Add melted butter. Mix with paddle attachment of stand mixer or wooden spoon until completely combined. Knead dough for a few minutes until the dough becomes smooth. Don't over Knead.

Grease a baking sheet and pull of chunks of dough and roll into worm like strips. Depending on your taste, you can make them thick or thin. Whatever you like. Cover the dough and let it sit in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour. 

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. and pop in bread sticks. 

In a microwave, combine:

1 stick butter

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp salt ( I would cut that back to 1 1/4 tsp next time)

After 6-7 minutes, brush the bread sticks with half of the butter mixture. Then continue to bake. The Guest Blogger says," she wouldn't bake them any longer than 15 minutes but bakes hers for 12"...which is what I did. When Bread Sticks are done, brush the rest of the butter mixture on top and allow to cool for a few minutes, serve and enjoy :)

And trust me, you will enjoy them ;)

This Recipe is linked to:

My Sweet and Savory's Meatless Monday's

Paula Deen's Creamy Chicken Pot Pie- Ingredient Review

I've been a member of Kraft's First Taste online community for a few years now. I was approached by the website a few years back because of some reviews I had posted on the Kraft Foods Website. Kraft's First Taste is a unique website because when new products come onto the market, the site sends emails to it's members to try the products out and write reviews and fill out surveys. They send you free coupons in the mail so it doesn't cost you a dime. The website is now open to anyone and it's really a fun thing to do and I love trying out new products so it's a perfect fit for me. This will also be the beginning of a new series for me. When I get an offer from First Taste that I can use or review for Catz in the Kitchen, I will write about it here for you :)

I first heard about the Philadelphia Cooking Cream back in November when Paula Deen was on the Rachael Ray Show. She teamed up with Kraft and Philly Cream Cheese to push the product out there. In the cooking segment with Rachael, Paula made a delicious looking Chicken Pot Pie and I couldn't wait to try it. But I had to wait till the product became available; which took a few months. Lucky for me, I was able to try the product for free through the First Taste website and I made Paula Deen's Chicken Pot Pie as seen on the Rachael Ray Show.

Since using this product, I will go ahead and say I think it's pretty darn cool and I'm excited about what else I could make with it. Paula says in the video of her making this recipe on the RR Show that she ,"would love to use it in her Lasagna."

Now my earliest and probably only memory of having or eating a Chicken Pot Pie was when I was really little...I'm talking like under 7 years old and it was a frozen pot pie. I just didn't know what to expect with this recipe. The only thing I knew was that I was going to follow this recipe, except for the exception that I would make my own pie crust. Now that I know how, I will never buy a store bought pie crust again. It's easier and cheaper!

To begin the recipe, you have to have Chicken...hence the title...Chicken Pot Pie! I used 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast for my family of 4 and cut it up into bite size pieces. Once the Chicken was cut up, I began the cooking/browning process. Something I would do for next time, is add just a hint of salt and pepper to the uncooked chicken before it starts to get cooked to much. The recipe doesn't call for it, but I think it would add that little bit of flavor the chicken needed. 

When the chicken was browned to my liking, I went ahead and added my vegetables. I think a frozen vegetable medley works best. It still is healthy and holds a lot of the nutrients but saves all that time of chopping etc. 

Once I had added the vegetables to the chicken, I let it cook through for a few minutes so the veggies could start the cooking process and then finish up in the oven.

Next came the cooking creme. Now the cooking creme is just basically cream cheese...but the cool thing is it comes in flavors and it doesn't need to be allowed time to soften. You just drop it right into whatever your cooking and it does it's thing. In Paula's recipe she used the Garlic & Herb Cooking Creme, but my store was out of it, so I just grabbed the original flavor and added some garlic powder and Italian seasoning to give it flavor.

I allowed the cooking cream to warm up and become mixed through all the chicken and veggies...

and poured into a pie plate. And then I set it aside. If you aren't the baking type or your schedule isn't allowing the time for you to make a pie crust from scratch, by all means, go to the store and buy it. It's there to help us all in our time of need. Just stick the pie crust on top of the veggies and chicken and pinch it and throw it in the oven. But...if you have time, set your pie plate to the side and make your go to pie crust recipe. I'll be posting the recipe I use at the bottom of the page. 

I went ahead and made my pie crust and cut off the excess dough and covered it and pinched the sides to seal up all the yummy goodness inside the pie plate. 

If you notice from the above picture, my slits in the dough are slightly off centered ( I write off centered too :( ) and my pinching and crumping needs some serious practice, but it's not bad for my 2nd pie crust ever! So, once it was all ready to go, I placed it in the oven at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. 

I knew the crust was a little thin in a few ares so my crust cracked a little bit. But it was a perfect doneness :) YAY!

Josh was the designated Pot Pie cutter and he did a beautiful job ;)

This Chicken Pot Pie, fed our entire family perfectly. Josh helped himself to 3rds and by the time he was finished it was all gone. But don't worry, Grace and I each got a second slice while Eden ate her one slice. It was really good. But very different from my memory of a frozen pot pie, and better than a frozen one too. I like this recipe, because there wasn't a whole lot of work involved but it was still comfort food and delicious. 

If your looking for a new way to cook chicken, I suggest this, because I think you'll be surprised at how good and easy it is :)

Paula Deen's Creamy Chicken Pot Pie

As seen on the Rachael Ray Show

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

( I used 2 breasts for our family)

2 cups frozen mixed Veggies, thawed and drained

1 tub ( 10oz) Philadelphia Savory Garlic Cooking Cream ( I got the original and used garlic powder and Italian seasoning to dress up the creme)

Salt and Pepper ( for the chicken)

1 ready to use refrigerated pie crust

( Or make your own)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Cook and stir Chicken ( sprinkle with salt and pepper)  in a large non-stick skillet on medium heat for 5-6 minutes and chicken is lightly browned. Add vegetables; cook 1-2 minutes or until heated through. Stir in cooking creme. Spoon into a 9 in. pie plate. 

Cover with crust. Seal and Flute edges. Cut several slits in crust. Place pie plate on a baking sheet. 

Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Pastry for a Single-Crust Pie

adapted from The Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup shortening

4-6 Tablespoons cold water

In a mixing bowl combine flour, salt and shortening together and with a dough hook on your mixer start to knead the dough, adding a tablespoon of water at a time until the flour mixture is moistened and can be made into dough without falling apart. 

* You could also do this with a pastry blender if you don't have a mixer with dough hook. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough from center to edges into a circle, about 12 in. in diameter. 

To transfer pastry to pie plate, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry onto your pie plate without stretching the dough. 

Trim the edges, and fold under extra pastry dough and crimp edges and cut slits into the middle of dough. 

This Recipe is linked to:

Banana Bread

My youngest daughter Eden, is going through an "I Hungee" ( I'm hungry) phase. I going through crackers and fruit like it's going out of style in my house...I think she is going through a growth spurt...but it's so hard to tell because she always looks so tiny to me. Personally, I think it's her long flowing hair that makes her seem like a mini me.

Last week, I had wanted to make Banana Bread because I thought it would be a really perfect snack for Eden and Grace. I, however, got sick on Monday. I woke up sick, but I thought it was a little cold, but as Monday wore on, I just felt worse. So all my baking plans for last week were pushed back until I was feeling better. I didn't get around to actually making the bread till Friday. That was the earliest I had started to feel better. I went through a few of my cookbooks and it just killed me that I was out of some ingredients that would of really made the bread POP, so regular Banana Bread would have to do.

Since I had basic ingredients for my bread, I decided to just go with my Better Homes and Garden stand by recipe.  To start, grease a loaf pan. I own 3 different sizes of loaf pans and I've never measured any of them, but pick a loaf pan you like and just use that one. Typically, I think most loaf pans are 9x5. 

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon. nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp salt and set aside.

In another bowl, mash your bananas. 

In a mixing bowl, add eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil and mix it together. Then  Add your flour mixture to the bowl.

 Mixed it all together until it's just moistened and the batter is lumpy looking.

See, my batter looks lumpy =)

Then pour the batter into your greased loaf pan.

And pop it into the oven at 350 degrees for about 55 minutes. You'll know it's done when a toothpick comes out clean...but if it starts to brown up to much on the top, place some foil over the bread and that will prevent any further browning. 

When it's done, your house will smell like a delicious banana and you will have a gorgeous loaf of bread in front of you, and if your like me with little ones in the house, they'll be begging you to slice into it and feed them. :)

In my opinion, banana bread doesn't need to be smothered in butter or jam or anything else. It's perfectly delicious as is. 

Banana Bread

adapted from Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

2 beaten eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas ( about 5 medium)

1 cup sugar ( I add about 1/2 cup more)

1/2 cup cooking oil

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside. 

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp of salt. 

In another bowl, mash bananas.

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and combine till moistened. Batter will be lumpy. 

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 50-55 minutes. If the bread starts to brown on top, place some foil on top to prevent browning.  Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in a pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, cool completely on a wire rack.

This recipe is linked to:

 My Sweet and Savory's Let's do Brunch

Good Cheap Eat's What's on your plate

Weekly Menu 3/21-3/27

It's Spring, It's Spring, I'm so excited it's officially Spring....but someone needs to let Oregon in on this, because it's still pretty dreary out. How was every one's weekend? I had a hot date with my hubby on Saturday. It was so much fun! It had been awhile since we had a few hours away from the kids. Josh and I got coffee, shopped a little, had a wonderful Italian meal, and saw the Adjustment Bureau, which I thought was really excellent.

Sunday night, I had planned to make soup in the crockpot, but when Josh woke me up to start getting ready for church, I ignored him and went back to bed, which made me late. Josh and the girls went on without me...and since we were on worship and I wouldn't be singing anyways because of my cold I stayed behind to get ready and meet up with them when I was done. But I never got the soup going, so we decided to make a Nacho for dinner and it was so yummy. I loved it because it was super easy and but very filling. I'll have to make a note to make those more often.

Monday

Crockpot Minestrone Soup and I'm thinking I'm going to attempt to make these yummy bread sticks, inspired from Olive Garden.

Tuesday

Paula Deen's Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday

Lentil Loaf and Roasted Asparagus

Thursday

( No Awana this week)

Pot Roast with potatoes and carrots....I can't decide on how I want to make it though....I'm leaning toward the BBQ style since we haven't had it in awhile.

Friday

Split Pea Soup with rolls

Saturday

My nieces 1st Birthday party is tonight and I'm not sure if we're eating with them, but if not, a back up meal would be grilled cheese and tomato basil soup.

Sunday

I'm in the mood for Mexican...so I'm thinking my mom's Cheese Enchiladas with rice and beans sounds perfect.

I'm going to keep it simple this week and not try and out due myself with treats or desserts. I'm not really sure what I'm in the mood for, but I am going to make this cake this week if it's the last thing I do ;)

Treats/Desserts/ Etc


Homemade Croutons

Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake

I'm Sick, I'll be back soon :)

So when I wrote this week's Weekly Menu on Monday, I was sick. I had no idea I would be really sick by the end of that day. As Monday wore on, I felt worse and by Monday night I was a wreck. One big, grumpy sick, pmsing mess! Please Pity my husband, he's had to deal with a lot from me this week.

I have hardly been in the kitchen at all this week. Wednesday was the first day I attempted to cook dinner and it was a very joint effort with Josh. Thank goodness he came home from work early ( because he had a short day) because I think I would of been lost without him. Thursday, I went to the Dr. and waited to see him for 2 hours! Yes, I sat in the waiting room for 2 hours. I guess you could say when I'm sick I have patience...I have a cold/flu thing with a sinus infection, so now I'm taking the Z pack and trying to get better.

Today is the first day I have actively participated in my Kitchen duties. I went ahead and assembled dinner early ( Shepard's Pie from the menu earlier this week) and I made Banana Bread which I would of loved to of made it a bit more fancy, but I was lacking fancy ingredients...so it's just a normal banana bread, but it does taste good.

I'm so angry though. I was really excited to do something fun with Grace in the kitchen. I wanted to make a chocolate cake or cup cakes ( her choice) with green frosting. I suppose we still could...but it's not the same ya know? I hate being sick. But here's to getting better and making next week a better week in the kitchen. I wouldn't expect another post from me until probably Monday...but ya never know, I might surprise you. Either way, I wanted to update you all in case you were wondering where I've been. It's been killing me that I haven't had the time, energy, or food to cook and write about. Ugh!!!

Weekly Menu 3/14-3/20

Before I launch into the menu of the week, I just want to say, my heart and prayers are going out to the people of Japan. Such a devastating time for everyone, but especially of those in Japan. It makes everything else that is going on in our lives seem so unimportant when there are people dying every second.  There are many ways to help the people of Japan, but one of the easiest ways is to go through the Red Cross. You can visit the Red Cross website at Redcross.org or text 90999 to donate money from your phone. The Red Cross is asking for a simple donation of $10.00 which is not a lot of money, but it can do so much to help. 

Now for the Menu of the Week. I woke up with a sore throat this morning and a slight cough...which is now giving me the excuse to finally go to the Dr. and get some medicine for the Sinus Infection I've had for over a year. Yes, I said, over a year. That is how much I try and avoid the Dr.'s office.  

A couple of fun things are going on this week. Gracie starts guitar lessons on Tuesday, which she is really excited about. Unfortunately, Joel Harris who has taught everyone in Josh's family music is a very busy guy and he can only fit Grace in this month until the summer. But the two lessons she'll be having this month will determine if she is ready to start guitar, or if she would have an easier time learning piano first and then moving on to guitar, which is what a lot of kids do. Also, we have St. Patrick's Day this week...so wear green. I always say I don't need to wear anything green, because of my eyes :)

A lot of the meals, you will notice are from last week. Josh was on vacation and Grace spent some time with my parents because we did her Spring Break this week as well. So, most of the meals are ROMFLW. ( Roll over meals from last week)

Monday

Polynesian Chicken with Rice and roasted Asparagus

Tuesday

( Grace has her guitar lesson this day, so I'll be making ahead this meal)

Shepard's Pie with a fruit salad and maybe rolls

Wednesday

Crockpot Minestrone Soup and Rolls or bread sticks

Thursday

( Awana Night)

Lentil Loaf and Green Beans

Friday

Paula Deen's Chicken Pot Pie

Saturday

Date Night =)

Sunday

Split Pea Soup and maybe a simple sandwich

I had so many ideas for something fun to do with Gracie for St. Patrick's Day, but I think since the week is already kind of busy and adding to it that I have a cold...I might just simplify things a bit. Eden is going on a growth spurt kick I believe, and she is walking up to me every 15 minutes saying," I Hungee" and I would love a yummy dessert for just me. 

Desserts/Treats

Banana Bread- I think this would make a great snack for Eden and Grace

St. Patty's Day Cupcakes...out of a mix, I'm sorry to say. But I think Grace would have fun frosting the cupcakes with the green frosting I have.

Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake- it just looks amazingly delicious and light

And Josh's mom made Eclair Cake on Friday and I've been craving it since. It's the perfect amount of Chocolate to make a girl happy ;)

Are you baking anything special for St. Patty's Day?

Orzo Stuffed Peppers

I remember being a little girl, walking in the back door from school and asking my mom what's for dinner. Her reply would sometimes, but rarely be this," Stuffed Peppers." I would walk away muttering something under my breath about how I didn't like stuffed peppers ( because at the time I didn't like bell peppers) and I would go hide out in my room doing homework until I was called downstairs for dinner.

I know longer mutter about how much I despise bell peppers and when invited over to my mom's house for dinner, I jump at the chance to have some of her home cooking. Two things have changed since I've become a parent. I appreciate the foods my mom tried her best to get me to eat and I have a very deep respect for all the time and effort that goes into menu planning.

I see now, that my mom's attempts at making meals like stuffed peppers was not only a great way to get us out of the same old thing rut, but it was a way to be frugal too. A stuffed pepper meal can be as complicated or simple as you want it.

When I was coming up with my menu a few weeks ago...I needed that one last meal and I couldn't come up with anything that would break up the menu a bit. I try and have fair amounts of chicken or turkey or whatever meat I'm using, and I'm somewhat limited in a sense, because there are certain pork dishes will eat and won't eat. Josh will not eat certain kinds of pork. He will do bacon, ham, sausage, roasts...but will not touch a pork chop or pork loin with a 10ft pole. I myself am not a fan of the loin either. I made it for us once and I took one bite and felt nauseous. It was cooked properly, it was the flavor that made me feel ill, and Josh feel the same way about chops and loin. So they are off the table. I've tried convincing him to give it another try and he won't budge. So in my efforts to be frugal and creative, I decided to try and another Two Peas and their Pod recipe...this time, not a dessert or a breakfast item. But a dinner item.

To make a batch of Orzo Stuffed Peppers, you will want, Spinach leaves, garlic, Bell Peppers, onion, diced tomatoes, Orzo pasta, Vegetable broth, and Mozzarella cheese.  Imagine that the cuties in the picture are not there ;)

The first thing you'll want to do is start with your chopping half an onion and cooking it in a skillet for a couple of minutes and then adding the minced garlic. 

When you have the onion and garlic cooked you'll want to add the spinach and allow it to wilt down and then remove the pan from the heat. 

Start a pot boiling with the vegetable stock and when it comes to a strong boil, add the Orzo and cook for about 5 minutes. 

Next, you'll want to take one of your favorite bowls and pour in your can of diced tomatoes and the spinach, garlic and onion mixture and give it a stir.

When your Orzo has cooked for 5 minutes drain the pasta, but don't drain the stock. You're going to need it. 

Add the Orzo to the tomato spinach mixture and stir in the cheese, salt and pepper, and basil.

Pour the broth into a 3 qt casserole dish and slice the tops of the peppers and scoop out the ribs and seeds. Spoon the Orzo mixture into each pepper and place in the baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes. 

After the 40-45 minute mark, remove the foil and top each pepper with additional cheese and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes until the cheese has become golden. When it's done cooking, let it sit for a few minutes and then eat and enjoy :)

Josh was really dubious about this meal because it was lacking meat. But, it had such a beautiful flavor and it was very figure flattering and pretty easy, though it takes awhile to cook. The recipes says it makes 6 stuffed peppers and I made 4 and I think you could easily serve more than 6 with this. It makes a lot of food. 

So if your looking for a way to cut back on some meat and try something new and vegetarian, this a great meal to make. Your tastes buds will be amazed at how good something vegetarian can taste :)

Orzo Stuffed Peppers

Source:  Two Peas and their Pod

1 TB Olive Oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped

1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes

4 cups vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups orzo

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese ( I didn't use this)

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup, fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

6 ( or more) sweet bell peppers; red, yellow, orange

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium heat and add chopped onion and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes and stir in the spinach. Cook until Spinach is wilted. Remove from heat. 

Pour the tomatoes into a large bowl and stir in the spinach mixture. Set aside.

Bring the Vegetable broth to a boil and add in the Orzo and cook for 5 minutes. Strain the orzo pasta and reserve the broth.

Stir in the orzo to the tomato mixture. Stir in the cheese, salt and pepper, and basil.

Pour the broth into a 3 qt casserole baking dish. Slice the tops off the peppers and scoop out the ribs and seeds and fill with the orzo mixture. 

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, serve and enjoy while it's still warm :)

This recipe is linked to:

 My Sweet and Savory's Meatless Mondays

Where I've been the last few days

It would seem as if I had vanished over the last few days huh? Josh had 3 days of vacation off and we decided to do Spring Break this week instead of waiting till the end of the month.

We mainly just tried to rest and relax since we haven't really had a chance too since we moved. We cooked a lot...correction, Josh, cooked a lot. He gave me a break which was a nice change. Josh is the creative chef behind our meals. When he's in the kitchen, he kind of flies by the seat of his pants and doesn't necessarily follow a recipe, like I do. I think Josh really enjoyed his time off though these last few days. The Kitchen has become a therapeutic haven for him. As soon as music from Pandora starts playing from the living room and he starts chopping something up on the cutting board, you can see all the tension that was on his face, disappears and he's singing and in his own world. It's really fun to watch.

Grace got the opportunity this week to kind of act as Josh's Sous Chef while he made his Vodka Penne Monday night. She is so interested in what's going on in the kitchen and she loves to help any way she can.

We had hoped maybe to get a blog done while Josh was home, but it never worked out. We'll try and fit one in. Josh made delicious homemade Crepes on two different occasions this week, Sunday night for us and on Tuesday night for his siblings, Vodka Penne on Monday, French Toast, Wednesday morning and then Wednesday night, we got pizza.

 Apparently awhile back, I entered a Papa Murphy's giveaway ( I don't remember, because I enter so many things) and when we got the mail the other day, there was a $10 gift card for Papa Murphy's Take and Bake pizza.  Grace, ( who is now over her cold) is on Spring Break and we let her have a sleepover at her grandparents house and so we got Eden one of her favorite dinner's...Pizza! Which was great because it was free :)

So that's what's been going on. I may be straying from the menu for the next few days because Grace is gone and then Friday, we're having dinner with my in-laws. But I will try and post tomorrow for you all.

I hope you've enjoyed your week so far. It's been Mardi Gras week, so please let me know if you've ate any festive foods or cooked a new recipe because of this holiday. Is Mardi Gras a holiday?

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake

Saturday night, we were having my family over for dinner and to see our house. Aside from my parent's, my family had yet to see the house in person. They had seen pictures, but that's it. We had Josh's family over a few weeks earlier and served Panini Sandwiches and chips and it went so well, that we decided to make the same thing for my family.

For my birthday, my brother and sister in law, had bought me a Springform Pan ( Thanks guys, I love it) and this really neat Taste of Home dessert magazine. It mainly featured Cheesecakes, but a lot of other decadent treats as well. And my Sister in law told me when I opened my gift, that she expected me to make something really delicious the next time I baked and had them over. So I knew I had to deliver. 

I had originally planned on making this Chocolate Chip Cheesecake, but the ingredients for it were a bit on the insane side and I couldn't find the dang chocolate wafers anywhere. Sooo, I switched gears the day that we had everyone over and quickly decided to go with the Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake instead.

I had a load of blueberries frozen in my freezer from last spring when the stores were selling huge boxes and I knew it was the perfect dessert for Saturday night. My only fear was that I possibly wouldn't get it finished in time. Saturday was really busy for us...mainly me. We picked up my car from the mechanic's in the morning, I had to pick up my ring from the Jewelers because it was getting sized, I snuck in a quick 30 minute work out at the gym, and went grocery shopping. By the time I got home, it was 3:00pm and everyone was expected at 5:30pm. So I knew I had to bust a move fast!

The first thing I did was get to work on my blueberries. I placed my blueberries, some sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepan, and heated it up for about 5 minutes until the berries were softened. Then, I added some cornstarch and water to help thicken it up and come to a boil, before removing it from the heat and allowing it to cool. While the berry sauce cooled, I got started on my graham cracker crust.

I used my food processor to help me make the crumbs and I can I just say, that this is the first time that I haven't cut myself on one of the blades!!! BOOYA!!! ( I'm a klutz, with the processor blades.) I needed 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs. It's hard to guess how many graham crackers make 1 cup....so I just took one of the sealed packages that was inside the box of Graham crackers and broke them into halves or smaller pieces and added the sugar and chopped it up. That 1 package was the perfect amount! I transferred the crumbs to a bowl and poured in 2 tablespoons of melted butter and combined it and pressed it into the bottom of my greased springform pan. 

Then I baked it in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees on a cookie sheet. 

For the Cheesecake, I used my Kitchen Aide Mixer bowl and put in 3 pkgs of Nuefatchel cream cheese ( because it's healthier) and sugar and mixed it till it became smooth. Then I added the sour cream, flour, and vanilla and beat that till it was smooth. Then I added in 4 eggs, and mixed them in until they were just combined. 

I didn't get a picture of any of that part because I was in a hurry. But I did remember to take a picture after I had scraped all of the cream cheese mixture out of the bowl...for proof that I did actually make this dessert, lol!

At this point I was done except for my blueberries which had been cooling this entire time and hanging out in the blender just waiting for me to blend them up into a smooth sauce. 

I used the blender jar to drizzle the blueberry sauce over the cream cheese and then I took a knife and just cut into the batter to make some pretty swirls. 

The springform pan went back on the baking sheet and back in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. I ended up baking the cheesecake for an additional 10 minutes just because the middle of the cheesecake still seemed bit  unset. 

When the cheesecake was done baking, it went on my wire rack to cool for 10 minutes and then very carefully, I took a knife and went around the edges of the of pan to loosen it. It cooled for an additional hour and then it was ready to be eaten. 

This Cheesecake is to die for! And I think my whole family almost did. Especially my mom, she had two slices and has said that this is what she wants in place of a birthday cake for her upcoming birthday in May. And Josh gave me a high compliment and said, "I think this is the best baked goods you ever made." 

I highly recommend this dessert for anyone. If you've never made a cheesecake before this one is also really simple and I think it would be a good place to start for beginners. 

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake

adapted from Taste of Home's 

January issue of Cheesecakes & more Magazine

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries ( I used blueberries I had previously frozen)

1/4 cup sugar

1 TB lemon juice

2 tsp cornstarch

1 TB cold water

Crust: 

1 cup graham crackers, crushed ( about 16 squares)

2 TB Sugar

2 TB butter, melted

Filling:

3 pkg ( 8 oz each) cream cheese, softened ( I used Neufatchel, because it's healthier)

1 cup sugar

1 cup ( 8 oz) Sour Cream ( I used reduced fat)

2 TB all purpose flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1. In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook and stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the berries are softened. Combine Cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into blueberry mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature. Transfer to blender; cover and process until smooth. Set Aside.

2. For crust, in a small bowl, combine the crumbs and sugar; stir in the butter. Press onto the bottom of a greased 9 in. springform pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the sour cream, flour, and vanilla. Add eggs; beat on low speed just until combined. Pour filling over the crust. Drizzle with blueberry mixture; cut through the batter with a knife to swirl. 

4. Return pan to baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour. Refrigerate overnight. Refrigerate leftovers. 

This Recipe is Linked to:

My Sweet and Savory's: Let's do Brunch

Comfy in the Kitchen's Feasting in Fellowship

Sweet as Sugar Cookie's Sweets for Saturday

Moms Crazy Cookin's This Weeks Craving

Weekly Menu 3/7-3/13

How was everyone's weekend? I hope you had some good weather and got some quality time in with family and friends. We had my family over for dinner on Saturday and it was so much fun. I made a Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake and it was sooo good. I will blog it soon, I promise :)

 On Sunday, after church, I took my eldest daughter Gracie out for an afternoon date. We got drinks at Starbucks and since Old Navy was having such a great stock up sale, I got her a few Spring/Summer items that she was needing, and we picked out an outfit for Eden, and even I got a dress because I had a giftcard :) And then we went to Ross to wander around since the Mall was going to close soon and had such a blast wandering around looking at everything. She played with the Toys and found some things she might want for her birthday and I found two more Rachael Ray baking items...a longer baking sheet and a 9 in baking pan, and then I found this beautiful serving bowl ( I am always in need of serving platters because I don't have any) and I took a picture and sent it to Josh and he liked it, so I picked that up too. She and I had a blast. We came home, and Josh was about to start dinner, which was Crepes and he tried out a new recipe that was incredible! We took pictures so that is on the blog horizon too.

We're all on vacation till Wednesday. Josh goes back to work on Thursday and I think the plan is for today to go to the zoo since it's nice out. It's been so long since we've seen the sun that we want to take advantage of it.

The Menu this week...isn't really in order...when Josh is on vacation, we kind of wing it and we have plans for his brother and sisters to come over one night to finish the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So, we might stray away from a meal that night and fix something else. It just depends. Also...Josh and I have decided to dub our Saturday nights as Sandwich Saturdays. It's a quick, delicious, and creative way to make a meal and with sandwiches, the ideas are endless.

Monday

Josh's Vodka Penne...sooo good!

Tuesday

Polynesian Chicken with Roasted Asparagus and rice

Wednesday

Shepard's Pie with a salad and Garlic Bread

Thursday

Lentil Loaf- ROFLW ( Roll over from Last week) with green beans

Friday

Crockpot Minestrone Soup and I'm going to attempt to make homemade rolls in my mixer. 

Saturday

Monte Cristo Sandwiches and Chips

Sunday

Paula Deen's Easy Chicken Pot Pie

I'll be making my own pie crust tho.

I know last week, I had said I was going to make the Chocolate Chip Cheesecake. But Chocolate Wafers are hard to find and the Blueberry Cheesecake I made just ended up working out better. I had everything already on hand except for the cream cheese.  This week, I don't have much on the list. I might make cookies, but I haven't decided which ones yet...

Desserts and Treats

Maybe my Grandmother's Molasses cookies??

Orange Yogurt Loaf Cake

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

I feel as though I can't lose with any of the recipes that Two Peas and their Pod come up with. I admire and bow down to their geniusness. I'm coming at you this time with another brilliant muffin creation that was an excellent way to use up my leftover canned pumpkin from when I made the Amish Pumpkin Pancakes a few weeks back.

End of February Grocery Summery

I'm pretty impressed grocery wise how we did this month. Though we were still settling in and we did fast food quite a bit, we made a lot of delicious meals too and we made it work. I'm hoping that now were full on into March, things will have more balance to it. That's what I'm hoping for anyways.

Our monthly budget for Groceries is $300.00

We spent $302.92

For a difference of $2.92
not bad...

and saved in coupons $47.82

That's a few dollars better than we did last week, but I still hate being over and I hate when I can't break at least $50.00 in coupons. However, our first grocery shopping trip will be today and I'm hoping that it will be a great month. =)

Baked Potato Soup

My mom is known for some really well made cooking creations. Her Sandwiches. Though, she would say they are nothing special...I've always loved them. Her Scalloped potato recipe ( which she won't give out to anyone) is amazing. The delicious 7 minute frosting recipe she uses on Cakes. I'm a huge fan of it, but my brothers aren't ( silly boys), and her soups. Her soups are probably her specialty. She has this gift of knowing what ingredients to throw together and to make a delicious pot of soup. It's a gift, honestly it is. 

I have these memories of being a kid and coming home from school and seeing a pot on the stove and the house smelling amazing. The flavors that danced in the air above my head was so enticing that I couldn't wait till dinner and I would forgo my usual after school snack of either Popcorn or Cheeto's (healthy, I know) so that I would be really hungry for soup.  One of the soups she made on occasion was a baked potato soup. What I always liked about soup nights was we got to use these really cool soup spoons.

They made eating our delicious soup kind of special because it was the only time, we ever brought them out of the drawer...which makes since because it may be kind of weird to eat cereal out of them, lol. 

Sunday night, the weather was crazy. The wind howled and rocked the house all night long and into the morning. I hardly slept at all. I was cold and tired and since it was now Monday, Josh had to go back to work and I wanted something comforting. So I decided to move up our soup night to Monday night. Now Josh, is not a soup person, without a few exceptions. He doesn't mind soup and I think once he starts eating it he's actually happy it's in front of his face...but it's not a meal he gets excited about. I'm still working on changing that. So when I informed Josh that we would have soup instead of the stuffed peppers, he was like," Oh, okay." 

But I was determined to get him loving this dish. So when he called me on his way home from work, I knew it was time to get cooking...because now he has an hour long commute. 

I used a recipe for Baked Potato Soup from Our Best Bites. The ingredients seems to be the closest thing I could remember from my mom's soup...which has been ages since I've had it. I was going off of memory only.  Their recipe only called for 4 potatoes. But my potatoes were kind of on the smaller side and I wanted to use up the bag since these were the older potatoes in my potato bin,  so I used 7 smallish to medium sized potatoes.  I scrubbed them all really good to begin with and then I pierced them on all sides and through them in the oven for 60 minutes at 375.  I could of taken the easy way out and just microwaved them, but I like the flavor of cooking them in the oven more. 

When the potatoes were nearly done baking, that's when I got started on the soup making process. I minced up 3 cloves of garlic. It calls for 2-3 cloves, but because I'm obsessed with Garlic, I always do the highest amount recommended. 

When the garlic was minced, I melted some butter at the bottom of my soup pot.

And added the garlic to the melted butter and I let it cook together for about 45 secs. In that amount of time, I was waifed in a delicious garlicky aroma that was IN-CREDIBLE!

So, once I retreated my from Garlic haze, I added flour to the pot and slowly poured in some milk, whisking the whole time so I wouldn'y get clumps of flour floating on top of my milk. I whisked it until it was perfectly smooth and added in my can of chicken broth. I brought my soup to a simmer and allowed it to heat up so it would become thick and gorgeous. 

At this point my potatoes were done baking and cooling off on the cutting board and I sliced them all in half length-wise. Once my soup had thickened up, I scooped out the inside of the potatoes and began plopping them into the soup. I quickly found out that scooping with a spoon took to much of my time and that the skin almost peeled off the potatoes and it was faster and I think I got a lot more of the potato this way. 

In the background, I had bacon cooking. I used 5 slices of bacon, but should of used 1 more slice. But oh well. Now, I have never cooked bacon before. I know, can you believe it? With all the cooking I've done, I have never ever cooked bacon. Josh is the bacon cooker in our household and though he was home at this point, he was upstairs and I was downstairs and so I decided to just give it a try on my own. I will say this, one side was really well done and the other side, was pretty perfect. But, it didn't really matter to much because it was going to be crumbled anyways. So....

After I put all the inside of the potatoes into my pot, I used my potato masher to break up clumps a little bit. I added in the cheese, salt and pepper and stirred it until the cheese had melted. 

At this point, the soup was basically done. So I took it off of the burner and stirred in my sour cream...I actually thought I had more than I did, and I only had about 3/4 cup of it, and my soup turned out just fine and probably a tad healthier, lol. I crumbled my bacon and stirred that in as well. And I was done and so was Josh. He came downstairs in the nick of time to get Eden in her high chair and Grace was setting the tables. I ladled our bowls up with soup and topped it with additional cheese and bacon crumbles and that was it. 

Our Best Bites used sliced Green Onions and additional Sour Cream to top the soup off, but I don't like green onions and I was out of sour cream...and since this is already a very rich and indulgent soup...I think more sour cream would of been to much.

Gracie loved the soup so much. She declared," It's the best soup you've ever made Mommy." But she says that about all of my soups, lol. And Josh helped himself to 2 bowls. Eden didn't eat much of it and I was barely able to finish my bowl because of the richness, but it was so so good and I will make this again in the future. 

Baked Potato Soup

Source: Our Best Bites

2 TB Butter

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup flour

4 1/2 cups low-fat or skim milk

1 14oz can chicken broth

4 medium potatoes or 6-7 smallish ones

2 cups grated cheddar cheese, divided

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cup light sour cream

1/2 cup chopped green onions, divided ( I didn't use these)

8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled and divided. ( I used 5 slices, but 6-7 would of worked too)

Melt butter in soup pot over medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 30-60 secs until fragrant. Add flour to pan. Slowly, add milk a little at a time, while whisking constantly to eliminate clumps.  Whisk until smooth and then add chicken broth. Bring soup to a simmer and heat until thickened, stirring often, about 5 minutes. 

Once soup is thickened, turn heat down to medium-low. Cut potatoes in half length-wise and scoop out the middle. Use a wooden spoon or masher to break up the large clumps. Add 1 1/2 cups grated cheese and salt and pepper and stir till cheese is melted. Remove from heat and stir in 3/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup green onions, and 4 strips of crumbled bacon. Add additional salt & pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with each serving with the remaining sour cream, onions, cheese, and bacon.