Creamy Parmesan One Pot Chicken and Rice

We love chicken and rice and this is by far my favorite chicken and rice recipe.  It’s very easy to make and it all goes into one pot (I used my iron skillet).  

This went over really well with the kids, they ate huge portions and are already talking about who is going to get the last scoop for lunch tomorrow! 

Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed! 

Click here for the recipe!

 

Creamy Parmesan One Pot Chicken and Rice

Chili Mac

Need a quick, cheap and hearty comfort food that fills you up and tastes great? Well, this Chili Mac receipe might be your new best friend! 

I literally threw this together on a whim and the kids couldn’t get enough it! 

The stuff you need: 

1 lb ground chucked, browned and drained 

1 16 oz bag of rigatoni, cooked 

10 oz of canned chili w/no beans (I used Wolff) 

1/2 of a 32 oz block of velvetta cheese, cubed 

3/4 cup of milk (May add more depending on consistency) 

Seasonings of your liking to season the beef 

What to do: 

 Brown the ground chuck and season to your liking (I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and chili powder). Drain.  At the same time boil your rigatoni.  After you drain your beef add about 10 oz of canned chili.  (I used 1/2 of a 19 oz can of Wolff chili with no beans).  Let that start simmering.  Start cubing your velvetta cheese and add it to your beef and chili mixture.  Stir occasionally until cheese is melted.  Drain your noodles once they are done.  Add your cheesy beef and chili mixture to your noodles and stir.  Easy, right? Enjoy! 

Now, off to hockey practice! 

Chili Mac

Raspberry Santa Hats

So once again it was time for our family to provide snack to 35 little munchkins at Jaxon's pre-school. Since it was December I decided to make a basic chex mix with rice cereal, goldfish, pretzels and M&M's along with some precious little raspberry Santa hats! Strawberries would work beautifully, but in December in Wyoming those are impossible to find.

To make these cute little hats I pipped a small amount of Pillsbury peppermint icing into the bottom of mini silver cupcake papers, placed a fresh red raspberry on the top of the icing and then pipped a small ball on the top to the raspberry to finish off the hat. I placed them in the refrigerator over night so the icing would firm up a bit and to keep the raspberries cold and fresh.

Raspberry Santa Hats

Squash Chips

School has started, football season is in full swing, office has switched to winter hours, and Fall is swiftly approaching. Routine, hoodies, baking and cheering for our favorite football teams...this is my favorite time of the year.

During our long weekend we have been Fall cleaning, reorganizing and enjoying this beautiful Wyoming weather. As for me, I am focusing on getting back into the routine of baking, meal planning and blogging!

Today I made Squash Chips. Healthy, tasty and due to the simple fact that they are chips, the kids of course love them.

Making the chips:
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. Slice one large squash into thin slices and place on a baking sheet. Salt. Bake for one hour and then flip over chips. Bake for an additional hour or until crisp. Serve with your favorite dip.

Squash Chips

Double Oat Breakfast Cookies

Thumbing through recipe cards last weekend while looking for my chocolate chip muffin recipe, I came across a recipe card that a dear friend of mine from Texas gave me about a year ago.  I used to babysit her two little munchkins and most mornings they would arrive at my house with these delicious looking cookie bars.  I finally gave in and asked her what she was sending with them and if I could have the recipe because they looked amazingly delicious.  A few mornings later she arrived with the kids and the recipe for the breakfast cookies and I stuck it in a recipe book, completely forgetting about it.  I was so excited to come across this forgotten card of yumminess and decided to make the cookies instead of the planned muffins that morning for breakfast.  Just picture the surprised looks on my boys' faces when I called them to the table for breakfast and served cookies to them on their plates.  I can proudly say I got the mom award that day.

These cookies taste incredible, they are filling and best of all...freezable!  After we were done with breakfast I put the remaining cookies in a zip lock freezer bag and put them in the freezer.  These are wonderful to eat straight out of the freezer with a hot cup of coffee or cold glass of milk.

My favorite recipes are the handwritten ones given to me from friends....

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What you need:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

1 egg

1 tbsp vanilla

1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup oats

1 cup chocolate chips  (or your favorite chip, white chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc.)

3 cups cheerios 

*the cookies pictured above were made with 1/2 cup peanut butter chips and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips)

How to make them:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  In a large mixing bowl combine butter and peanut butter with electric mixer for 30 seconds.  Add sugar, baking soda and salt.  Beat until combined.  Beat in water, egg and vanilla for one minute.  Beat in flour, followed by the oatmeal until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips and cheerios.  Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.  Let cool on pan for 3 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.  

A few substitution suggestions:

*3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup splenda 

*1 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat 

Double Oat Breakfast Cookies

Caramel Apple Bites

Since the hubby and I are going out to dinner and a movie tonight, I thought I would do a little dessert for the boys to have after their dinner of baked pork chops, roasted asparagus and steamed carrots. Now that I realize how delish their dinner sounds I may be second guessing going out to dinner...roasted asparagus, yum! I had an apple that looked a little bruised, so after slicing it I dipped each piece into some melted caramel and made my sweet darlings some Caramel Apple Bites! Cute, easier to eat and a lot less messy than an entire Caramel Apple!

Caramel Apple Bites

Homemade Applesauce ~ in the CrockPot!

I had several apples that needed to be used and after making and having such success with the Apple Butter last year, (which is something I find myself cooking every month now) I decided to try making applesauce....in the CrockPot!  Yummo!  A few weeks ago I ran across a delicious looking applesauce recipe posted by Gina's Skinny Recipes, so after tweaking it a bit and making a batch of this sauce, I don't think I will ever buy applesauce from the store again.  My kids are in love with it and I love the fact that I made it for them.  Plus, you home is filled with very delightful aromas for the six hours that the apples are cooking.  Awww...I love apples!

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You will need:

8 medium apples 

1 strip of orange peel (a vegetable peeler is the easiest way to do this)

2 tsp of fresh squeezed orange juice

3 inch cinnamon stick

6 tsp light brown sugar

Making the Applesauce:

1.  Peel, core and slice the apples.

2.  Place the apples in the slow cooker.  Add the orange peel, cinnamon stick and brown sugar.

3.  Turn the CrockPot setting to low and cook for 6 hours.  Stir the apples occasionally.  After the apples have finished cooking, remove the cinnamon stick and orange peel and use a food processor to blend until smooth. 

4.  Let cool completely, place in a jar or air tight container and keep in the refrigerator.

Makes 3 cups.

Homemade Applesauce ~ in the CrockPot!

Crescent Dogs

EXHAUSTED!  The hubby has been out of town off and on for two weeks and between that and the working thing, the kid thing, the working out on my lunch break thing, soccer, football, school meetings, closing on our house (yay), and every kid of mine packing around a fundraiser kit, I think it is fair to say I feel like I am LOSING MY MIND!!  Ridiculously Delicious has been getting ridiculously ignored and so while I am finally sitting down to watch the redbox movie I rented two nights ago I am going to share a quick kid-friendly food on here that I fixed this week for my kiddos.  Hot dogs, cheese and crescent rolls...yep it was a hit!

CLICK HERE AND ORDER FROM E's SCHOOL FUNDRAISER AND SAVE ME FROM HAVING TO SPEND $50+ DOLLARS BUYING COOKIE DOUGH SO HE CAN GET A DIME SIZED BOUNCY BALL!!  (I'm being serious, btw). ;)

okay, to the dogs...

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what you need:
8 beef hot dogs
4 slices of cheese cut into 6 strips
1 can of crescent rolls (8 oz)


what to do:
1.  Heat over to 375 degrees F.  Slit hot dogs to within 1/2 inch of ends; insert 3 strips of cheese into each slit. 
2.  Separate dough into triangles. Wrap dough triangle around each hot dog. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, cheese side up.

3.  Bake at 375°F. for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

thanks pillsbury.com for some great food.

I was feeling EXTREMELY lazy and absent-minded when I made these and didn't cut the slits in the dogs. Instead i just laid half a slice of cheese on the crescent roll and wrapped it along with the hot dog.  I don't think the kids noticed and they still tasted great. 

Crescent Dogs

Cheesy Cheeseburger Macaroni

Goes great with a side salad and garlic bread

 This turned out really great and I think my husband ate at least 4 servings.  The kids were wanting Mac and Cheese for dinner and so I used products I had on hand and boy did this turn out DELISH!  It is easy, a very quick meal and I promise the kiddos (and spouses) will eat it up.

PRINTABLE VERSION
the yummy stuff:
16 oz box of Elbow pasta, cooked and drained
1 lb Ground Chuck
32 oz box Velvetta (yes, I used the entire box)
3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced (optional)
1 TBsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

what i did:
Saute onion, garlic and parsley in the skillet for a couple of minutes and then add the ground beef, cooking until thoroughly done.  Drain fat.

**While you are browning your ground beef go ahead and boil your elbow pasta.

I melted the cheese over the stove, but this can also be done in the microwave.  Cut up the cheese into squares and add the whipping cream.  Heat until completely melted.  If cooking on the stove be sure to stir frequently so that the cheese does not burn.  If cooking in the microwave I would heat in 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30 seconds.

Drain your pasta once it is done and then add your browned ground beef to the pasta and stir in your melted cheese.  This is deliciously cheesy and goes well with a side salad and garlic bread.

Cheesy Cheeseburger Macaroni

Mini Tortilla Pizzas

i first off want to apologize for the sloppiness of these pizzas.  I was in a hurry when making these and just threw them together one night for the kids before heading out to a birthday dinner for a friend.  the kids didn't seem to mind that they were so messily put together, because they said they tasted great! Gotta love non-picky kids!

These pizzas are just a little invention of mine that I tried one night with some left over ingredients I had in my fridge.  They are perfect for a quick meal for the kids or an after school snack.

What you need:
Tortillas
Spaghetti or pizza sauce
Favorite pizza topping
Shredded cheese

Place your tortillas on a baking pan, add some sauce, pepperoni, ham or any other desired topping, finish it off with some shredded cheese and pop into a 350 degree pre-heated oven and bake until cheese is melted.

I almost always have these ingredients in my fridge and love that I can whip these up in just a few minutes.

Mini Tortilla Pizzas

Cheesy BBQ Sloppy Joes

Kids love these, and sometimes that's all that matters!!  This is a great twist to the classic sloppy joe that whole family is sure to enjoy!

the slop you need:
1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup bottled barbecue sauce
1 TBsp. Worcestershire suace
2 TBsp. chopped pickled jalapeno peppers (optional)
1 (11.25 oz) package frozen garlic Texas toast (or french bread if you have that on hand)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

how to make them:
1.  Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 8-10 minutes or until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain well.  Return to skillet. Stir in tomatoes, next 3 ingredients, and, if desired, jalapeno peppers.  Cover and cook 10 minutes.
2.  Meanwhile, prepare Texas toast according to package directions.  Serve beef mixture over Texas toast; sprinkle with cheese.

Quick, easy and basic ingredients make this sloppy joe a lunchtime favorite in our home!

Enjoy! 

Cheesy BBQ Sloppy Joes