Pepperoni Pizza Chicken over Garlic Penne

Dip in egg, then bread crumbs, then bake!

Pizza sauce

After it is baked add sauce, and cheese.....

Then, of course pepperonis!

Pizza Chicken

Ingredients:

4 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast

1 egg, beaten in a bowl

1 cup bread crumbs in a bowl (Italian style)

1 can tomato sauce

1 tsp basil

½ tsp oregano

¼ tsp black ground pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

1 cup shredded mozzarella, divided in to ¼ cups

Pepperonis (about 10)

For Pasta:

2 cups whole grain penne pasta, boiled

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp minced

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Press your boneless skinless chicken breast down and try to flatten them as much as you can. Grease a baking sheet. Dip your chicken in to beaten egg, then in to the bread crumbs making sure to cover both sides with bread crumbs.  Place on baking sheet and bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes.  While it is baking heat your tomato sauce in a pot and add basil, oregano, pepper, garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes.  Boil your penne as well, drain, and then mix in garlic and olive oil.

When your chicken is done baking, top with enough sauce to cover the breast, ¼ cup mozzarella and 2-3 pepperonis, bake again until the cheese is melted.  You can add leftover sauce on top of your pasta if you like, but it is a good plain.

Pepperoni Pizza Chicken is about 315 calories, ½ cup of the cooked penne is 210 calories. Together it should be about 525 calories.

You'll end up with this delish treat.

ENJOY!

Hungarian Ghoulash

 This is a really great new recipe. I suggest doing it in the slow cooker for sure. It makes the meat tender and flavors mix well together. You can also tell a difference in the color of cooking it in the pan and simmering versus slow cooker. I will show you a picture of the slow cooker version.

Hungarian Goulash

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 ½ lbs boneless beef chuck, tip, or round roast, or boneless pork shoulder, cut into ¾ inch cubes

½ cup water with beef bouillon cube OR ½ cup beef broth

3 tablespoons paprika

1 ½ teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon caraway seed

¼ teaspoon pepper

3 large onions, chopped (3 cups)

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or used the minced garlic squeeze bottle)

1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained

1/4 cup cold water

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Egg Noodles or Brown rice to serve 

 

Directions: In a large skillet, cook beef in oil just until brown. Spray slow cooker with cooking spray. In the slow cooker, mix the beef and all the remaining ingredients EXCEPT water, flour, and noodles/rice. Cover and cook on Low heat setting for 8 to 9 hours. (Or until beef is tender) In a tightly covered container shake the 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour and ¼ cup cold water until well mixed. Stir in to the beef mixture, put the heat setting on high and cover. Cook an additional 10-20 minutes on high heat or until sauce has thickened. Serve over egg noodles or rice. 

Quick and Easy Chili Shells and Cheese

Since I've been feeling so bad lately, my meals have been quick and easy. I basically ignored most of my meal planning and made things that wouldn't take long and that I could whip up easily. Somehow I whipped this up one night, and now it is a hubby favorite! Go figure anything that is easy, processed, and generally high in calories he will like. That is besides the point though, because it was easy, delicious, and A LOT better than the Hamburger Helper Chili Cheese Macaroni or whatever it is that they call it. We've always been Velveeta Shells and Cheese people, and it is something I make as a side dish for dinner.

So here it is:
1 box Velveeta Shells and Cheese (You can also use the whole grain spiral too by them.)
1lb ground meat
Splash of milk 

Then:
DIY Salt-Free Taco Seasoning
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
5 teaspoons ground cumin
5 teaspoons paprika
2 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

4 tablespoons of this mix equals the same as a 1 ounce package of taco seasoning mix! :) You don't have to add the full amount if you have younger kids.. just 1-2 tablespoons of the mixture mixed in to the pasta will suffice. :)

Directions should be easy enough to figure out. Make your Velveeta Shells and Cheese according to package directions, brown your ground meat in a large pan, drain grease and fat, mix in seasoning in to the meat, then mix in shells and cheese. Serve with a veggie and dinner is served. I would make this tonight if I had a box of shells and cheese.

It has BEGUN!

The cold/flu sickness season has finally struck us. It just so happens that we hardly ever get sick. Like REALLY sick. If anything we are known to get a 24 hour bug. Otherwise, we hardly ever get colds and such. And you know what, we all decide to get sick during the one week I decide to visit my mom upstate.

Just my luck. We get to my moms house and Blake is the first to get sick with a fever and puking. I don't know what that was all about. Then Liam gets sick with a bad cough and congestion the day I decide to leave my moms to spend some quality time with my hubs. The next morning after I had been home for one night my mom calls me at like 6:30 am and left a voice mail letting me know she thinks we need to take Liam to the doctor. So I drive back upstate and we spend the whole afternoon and most of the night in urgent care and trying to get his prescription filled. That was Saturday, today it is Wednesday night.  He still has a cough and runny nose, I think it is getting slightly better. I just hate seeing him cough so badly. :(

So, basically, we spent a week at my moms not doing any of the fun things we had planned but laying in bed with the sickies. Which is A-okay because we still had fun. I got to catch up on a lot of movies! lol 

Tuesday we woke up early. I drove myself and the boys all the way back home. Tuesday night Travis took me to see West Side Story as my (early) Christmas present. I thought he would hate it. He is a very manly man! I kept asking him if he liked it, or was bored. He said he did. (Perhaps I can talk him into seeing Les Miserables in February.) I know he wants to see the movie. Needless to say though, we had a great time. It was a really great show. I've seen the musical on DVD years ago, its so much better live though.

I should probably share a recipe that my husband is absolutely in love with. I think he wanted me home so bad from my moms because he wanted me to make this again. Happy creativity in the kitchen makes me, well, HAPPY! I love when I come up with something on my own and my husband LOVES it and practically begs me to make it again. It doesn't hurt that the kids gobbled it up as well. This is one of my new mom dinners.

Smokehouse Maple Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders 

Ingredients:
1lb chicken tenderloins
Apple wood smoked bacon (1 piece of bacon per chicken tender)
McCormick Smokehouse Maple seasoning
Paprika
Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
 *See Note
 

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Sprinkle each side of each chicken tenderloin with paprika, garlic salt, and pepper. Wrap each piece of chicken with bacon making sure that you place the finished wrapped chicken tender with the end/s of the bacon on the pan. Once you've wrapped all the chicken with bacon, sprinkle generously with the smokehouse maple seasoning. Bake until bacon is brown and crispy.

 

Note- If you can't find Smokehouse Maple seasoning, just use brown sugar. If you can't find apple wood smoked bacon just use a thick sliced bacon. 

 

Falalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala Christmas Shopping!

 Life Post

Is there anything better than feeling complete and ahead of schedule when it comes to Christmas shopping? Travis and I had a great day shopping for the boys and family. Travis's mom watched the boys for us so that we could go without the kids. Everybody is done except for my parents and Travis's grandpa. We got mostly everything on our lists. There is a few things we didn't get but that's mainly because we know our parents need to get the boys something as well so we leave a few things. This will be the smallest Christmas for the boys. But they simply do not need any toys. Liam doesn't need clothes. Blake needs some pajamas and long sleeve shirts. What little 3 (almost 4) year old wants to open nothing but clothes on Christmas morning? I'll have to make a list of all the different things we got them. Overall I think they'll like everything. Eventually I need to incorporate what the TRUE meaning of Christmas is for them but Blake can't grasp anything beyond Santa, Hermy, and presents right now. That is pretty sad as of right now. I'm working on it! I know gifts aren't what it is all about. I just have a hard time trying to explain it in away a toddler will understand.I've pinned a few things for different ways people explain it I just haven't read any of them yet.

I just really cannot express how excited I am and happy I am for Christmas. This year has been amazing! 

Food Post

Now on to what I call a happy accident. I really like Alfredo sauce, I really like lasagna. My husband likes Alfredo sauce, detests fettuccine and spaghetti noodles, and doesn't care too much for tomato sauce. Whats a girl to do? Well.... a girl thinks of this genius thing to do Alfredo lasagna roll ups. Then like 2 days later someone is pinning something similar on pinterest. Then my heart broke. So instead I came up with a White Lasagna recipe alfredo sauce, chicken, and lasagna noodles. It is perfect for our family and it really is a nice twist on your average lasagna. I pretty much love whipping up new things in the kitchen without an idea of how it is going to turn out. This was delicious.

White Lasagna 

1 small box lasagna noodles, cooked

1 1/2 jars of alfreo sauce 

1 small bag of Parmesan shredded blend 

1 cup cheddar cheese 

1 frozen bag of chicken breast, cooked and shredded/cubed 

1 1/2 tsp sicilian seasoning (or italian) 

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp garlic 

2 oz cream cheese. 

1 yellow onion 

First things first, you need to cook your chicken and let it cool.  Once that is done dice it (or pick it from the bones) in to a bowl. Then, start boiling your lasagna noodles in a pot with salt water. Grease a baking dish that is large enough that your lasagna noodle can go to each end with no room leftover. Shred your chicken in a bowl and mix in 2 oz of cream cheese, all seasonings, diced onion, and 1 cup cheddar cheese. Spread enough Alfredo sauce on the bottom to barely cover it, 2 -3 tablespoons should do. Next, line up your noodles on the bottom and then spread out a little bit of your chicken mixture on top of the noodles. enough to cover. Pour a little sauce over it, around 1/2 a cup worth although I just eyeballed it. Repeat layers until you're out of chicken mixture ending with noodles. Top with parsley then sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top evenly.

On the Band Wagon Again.

I admit it has been a long time since I have posted something new in my blog. Let me explain my crazy life.

We were fairly busy remodeling our new house, moving in, and unpacking. Adjusting has been a wee difficult but not much. I am so happy we have our own house again and a nice big open yard. We have adopted 2 new furbabies!

This is our new kitty. I'll have to post a picture later of our new pup.

School has been crazy I just finished my first clinical rotation and medical coding and billing really kicked my butt. During my little week off I have been trying to get myself adjusted to dieting again and exercising.  I really only worked out twice last week because I busted my butt unpacking and cleaning my house really good. I unpacked little by little but since I was still in the middle of school it was hard to devote so much time to organizing stuff.

My den was the worst since we still had boxes, leftover flooring, tools, and a spare entertainment center just hanging around. So one day I completely cleaned and organized the den carrying heavy boxes outisde. Our room has been fairly clean but the closet still had a few boxes of clothes to go through so I did that and took stuff out the closet, I have one of those plastic bin drawers for storage I completely organized that I turned it in to a place to keep my socks and under garmets! Rather proud of myself!:)

As I said last week I am really trying to get back on the losing weight band wagon. I lost 3.1 pounds!!!!  That was after having a really bad Saturday of eating. But for the most part I did a lot last week and ate rather well.

Here are somethings I whipped up last week:

Cheesy Oven Fried Green Tomatoes

Egg

Panko

Cheese

Bake

So yumms!

 Some pasta sauce!

Open faced tuna melt with cucumbers sprinkled with malt vinegar and sea salt.

Travis's mom took the boys and I to their very first movie. We went and saw the movie Brave. So very very cute. I was so worried that Liam would act up but he did great. He got squirmy at the end but mostly because he was tired. Blake did really good, he just needs to grasp the concept of whispering. lol

I took my big camera and everything but I didn't want to whip it out since the theater was a bit crouded. I wasn't expeting it to be.





As I mentioned we have a nice big yard. I have failed to grow herbs as of late but I am not giving up in that aspect. However, I did managed to grow some Cosmos. And they are just  now starting to bloom. I'm so proud, because growing stuff from seeds is kind of hard. lol

That is about all I have to update on today! :)

Shrimp Stuffed Shells

Shallots, have you ever heard of them before? If you have well, this recipe was the first time I used them. I have to say that I love garlic and I love onions. Shallots are like a garlicky onion, basically my one true food love. Absolutely delicious! Trying to find a shallot was kind of difficult for me the grocery store I went to didn’t carry them. I had never bought or used them before so I wasn’t sure what they looked like. I took a guess and said they were a root vegetable. Lucky! Oh by the way, Wal-Mart carries shallots, but the grocery store didn’t, how strange is that?

I have been trying to stay away from bread, rice, and pasta lately but sometimes you just need a little yummy pasta goodness to make you feel alive! J This was actually rather low in calories; you could have 4 stuffed shells for 496 calories. A few tips though before making this:

1.      Do all of your prep work AHEAD of time, get everything chopped and measured out before beginning because this preparation goes quick!

2.      Boil a few extra shells just in case a few rip during the process.

So here it is, my version of shrimp-stuffed shells!

Ingredients

·         20 uncooked jumbo pasta shells

·         1 ½ tablespoons of olive oil

·         ½ cups shallots

·         2 tablespoons bottled minced garlic

·         ½ cups 1/3 less fat cream cheese

·         ¼ cup 2% reduced fat milk

·         ¼ teaspoon white pepper

·         1/3 cup chopped basil

·         1 lb medium or jumbo shrimp peeled, deveined, and chopped

·         1 tablespoons corn starch

·         Cooking spray

·         3 cups low sodium marinara sauce, divided

·         1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese blend

This is after sauteing the shallots and garlic, adding the milk and cream cheese.

After the cheese mixture is done, stuff the shells and add them to the dish.

Then add 2 cups more sauce and sprinkle cheese on top.

Doesn't that look yummy?

Then bake!

Helloooooo yummy goodness!

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Cook pasta 7 minutes or until almost done. Drain.

3. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots; cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add cream cheese, milk, and pepper; cook until cheese melts, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in basil. Place shrimp in a bowl. Sprinkle with corn starch; toss with your fingers to coat well. Add cream cheese mixture to shrimp; stir well.

4. Divide shrimp mixture evenly among pasta shells. Coat a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray making sure to get the sides good, spread 1 cup marinara over bottom of dish. Arrange shells in prepared dish; top with remaining 2 cups marinara. Sprinkle shells evenly with cheese. Bake at 400° for 30 – 35 minutes or until shrimp is done.

I

King Ranch Chicken Mac and Cheese

This is a recipe I found but revised a little to attempt making it lighter, but to be honest I have no clue how many calories are in. I let myself have 1 cup though (for you dieters out there). One day I will maybe sit down and calculate it all but I am procrastinating as it is by updating this twice in one day.

Ingredients

• 1/2 (16-oz.) package rotini pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 (10-oz.) can diced tomatoes and green chiles (mild for those with kids)
• 1 (8-oz.) package 1/3 fat cream cheese
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large pan. Add onion and bell pepper, and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomatoes and green chiles and prepared cheese product; cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Stir in chicken, next 4 ingredients, and hot cooked pasta until blended. Spray a 11- x 7-inch baking dish with cooking spray and add mixture. Sprinkle the top with shredded Cheddar cheese.
3. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly.