Recipe
Fresh Vegetable & Pasta Soup
Recently I put together a soup with some items I had already in the refrigerator. We were going out of town and I needed to use up some of the fresh vegetables already in the fridge. This was super easy and everyone enjoyed it.
Fresh Vegetable & Pasta Soup
- 1 carton Tomato Juice
- 1 small Zucchini
- 1 small Summer Squash
- 2 medium Carrots
- 1 cup sliced Mushrooms
- 2 cups Elbow Noodles
Add all the items to the crockpot. Stir until it is mixed together and put the crockpot on low for 6 hours.
Chicken Pasta Bake
The other day I had leftover items that I needed to use up so I came up with this Chicken Pasta Bake. I don’t like letting leftovers go to waste and this casserole turned out really well. You can play around with this recipe and add various ingredients depending what you have in the refrigerator that needs to be used up.
Chicken Pasta Bake
- 1 lb sliced, cooked, and season Chicken Breasts
- 16 oz Noodles (any type, I used Rotini)
- 2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Mushrooms (optional)
- 1 cup Pasta Sauce (optional)
Grease an 9×13 pyrex dish. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If your pasta has not already been cooked, go ahead and make it according to the directions on the box. While the pasta is cooking if your chicken is not already sliced and cooked go ahead and slice your chicken and cook it in a skillet, bake or fry it (add whatever seasoning you want to it). Layer drained pasta noodles on the bottom of the pyrex then mix a cup of pasta sauce in with the noodles. Layer the chicken and mushrooms (if using mushrooms) on top of the pasta. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top and bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted completely.
Spinach & Mushroom Alfredo Pizza
Our family enjoys making homemade pizza. One of our favorite recipes is the Spinach & Mushroom Alfredo Pizza recipe. Instead of the marina sauce we use Alfredo sauce on the pizza with fresh spinach, mushrooms, black olives, and cheese. The pizza is delicious!
You can use your favorite pizza dough recipe. If you are looking for a great one here’s our favorite pizza dough recipe!
The next time you make pizza try using the white sauce and adding different toppings. You might just be pleasantly surprised by the great combination. We love it making white pies!
The girls thought it was hilarious after we had eaten the pizza the remaining pieces formed a giant T shape!
Chicken & Broccoli Casserole
I found this Chicken & Broccoli recipe at Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happy Hour. It is a great combination of chicken, vegetables, and cheese. This chicken recipe is a hit with our family. The casserole is best served over rice.
Chicken & Broccoli Casserole
- 3 Chicken Breasts, cooked & shredded
- 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
- 1 cup Mayonnaise
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 1 cup Colby & Monterrey Jack Cheese
- 1 bag frozen Broccoli pieces
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Cook chicken and shred. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish. Mix all the ingredients together. Transfer into casserole dish and cook for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
Super Easy Way to Make Hard Boiled Eggs
I am all about finding ways to help make cooking even more efficient in our household. Our refrigerator typcially has a carton with hard boiled eggs in it for making a quick egg salad sandwich, to stick in a smoothie, make deviled eggs, salad topping, or many other uses we find for it. Several years ago my husband started putting the eggs in the steamer to hard boil them. I LOVED it! It is super easy and my eggs don’t crack (once or twice an egg has cracked if it already has a weak spot or was knocked when put into the steamer)!
Steamed Hard Boiled Eggs
- Eggs
- Steamer
- Water
Stick the eggs in the steamer (we usually do between 10 to 12 eggs depending on how many we have in the carton). Fill the water level up to high. Steam for 25 minutes. Once it is done steaming remove the lid and allow eggs to cool. You can run cold water over them if you need them to cool quicker. Use hard boiled eggs or place back in the carton to use for later.
If you come to our house and open up an egg carton you may encounter something like the picture above. I make sure to mark the eggs that have been hard boiled with an “X” so anyone that wants to grab an egg whether regular or hard boiled it is easy to decipher which ones are which. This especially comes in handy with kids who like to help in the kitchen! 🙂
Phillycheese Steak Sandwich
Jake made this meal for us a little while ago. I love his Phillycheese steak sandwiches. They are delicious! This time around he did a Phillycheese steak sandwich with a side of freshly sauteed vegetables. Do I need to mention how much I love it when he cooks? 🙂
Phillycheese Steak Sandwich
- 1 pound thinly slice Beef Steak
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1/2 medium Onion (thinly sliced)
- 8 ounces Fresh Mushrooms (thinly sliced)
- 1/2 cup shredded or 4 slices Provolone Cheese
- 4 Hoagie Buns
Trim off any extra fat from the beef and cut the meat into thin slices. Set aside. Heat oil on medium-to-high in a large frying pan. Add onion and season with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally. In a few minute (about 5) once the onions have softened and started turning brown add the mushrooms to the pan and cook until they are slightly browned.
Move all the vegetables to one side of the pan and add in the meat and cook for a few minutes until it is no longer pink. Divide the meat and vegetables into 4 equal piles. Spread the cheese evenly across the 4 piles of meat and let set aside for a moment.
Slice each hoagie bun and set on a plate. Transfer a pile of meat with a spatula to each hoagie bun and serve immediately.
Red Velvet Cake Batter Dip
I made this Red Velvet Cake Batter Dip for several parties over the past few months. It is always a hit! The dip is pretty and delicious. Animal crackers, graham crackers, pretzels, cookies, or even Nilla wafers are a perfect compliment to this delicious dip.
Red Velvet Cake Batter Dip- 8 ounces softened Cream Cheese
- 1/2 cup softened Butter
- 1 1/2 cups of dry Red Velvet Cake Mix
- 2 tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 cup Mini Chocolate Chips
- Animal Crackers, Graham Crackers, Pretzels, Cookies, or Nilla Wafers
Beat cream cheese and butter until its smooth. Add in the dry red velvet cake mix, brown sugar, and powdered sugar. Blend until combined. Scoop mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and form into a ball. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Unwrap the ball and place it in a bowl or platter. Sprinkle with chocolates or sprinkles and serve with cookies or crackers.
Easy Saltine Toffee Candy
The Easy Saltine Toffee Candy is one of our favorite treats to make around the Holidays. It is delicious and super easy to make! This year we included a bag of Easy Saltine Toffee Candy in our gifts to our neighbors! After making it we placed the candy in decorative bags and put a bow. The Easy Saltine Toffee Candy is always a hit and you probably already have all the ingredients in your kitchen.
Easy Saltine Toffee Candy
- 1 sleeve salted Saltine crackers
- 1 stick butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- Sprinkles (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray jelly roll pan with non-stick spray. Place a single layer of saltine crackers on the jelly roll pan (1 sleeve).
Melt brown sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once boiling, let it boil for 3 minutes. Immediately pour over crackers and bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes (or until bubbly).
Remove from oven and spread chocolate chips over the top of the crackers. Let stand for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate. Shake some sprinkles over the top. Cool completely in the freezer for 1 hour or until the chocolate hardens.
Remove from freezer, break into small pieces, and serve . Store any leftovers in the fridge or freezer.
The sprinkles are optional. You can leave the top plain or add many other great items on it (such as nuts or a drizzle of white or red chocolate) to give it an extra special touch.
Side view of the Easy Saltine Toffee Candy
Gift Giving: Christmas Cookies in Decorative Tins
Christmas Cookies in a tin with Candy Canes on top
Our family loves baking Christmas goodies! In the past we have made large batches of goodies and delivered the items to our neighbors, family, and friends. Other years we do one or two tins whenever we are baking to give away to friends, family, or to who ever we think it may be a blessing to that week.
It is a simple gift that has been a big hit (and fun for the kids to help with too). All we have to do is bake our favorite cookie(s), put them into a decorative tin, add two candy canes on top, and deliver them. The girls love putting two candy canes on top of the tin in the shape of a heart. Making these treats bins are really easy and they always great reaction from those we have delivered the goodies to in our area.
Christmas Tins
- 1 Tin Container
- A batch of your favorite cookie(s) or candies to fill the tin (or you can do a variety of recipes)
- 2 Candy Canes
- 2 pieces of Tape
You can get any tin or plastic container in any size, shape, and color at your local dollar store this time of year. I used double-sided tape but regular tape would work too. If you are wanting to make up several tins this is a great gift to do because you can make a large batch of cookies to fill them and do an assembly line with your kids.
When we deliver items and Christmas cards to our neighbors we bundle up in our coats, put all the goodies in a big basket and walk from door to door (great exercise and fresh air for the whole family). By the time we walk door to door and spend a few minutes catching up with each neighbor an hour or two or more has gone by but we have had a blast and hopefully were a blessing to those living on our street too.
Here are some cookie recipes we have used in the past:
Peanut Butter & Candy Cane Cookie Cups
Snowman Pizza
Snowman Pizza
Cool days, Christmas approaching quickly, and pizza just seem to go together really well. During the Holidays the girls always hope for snow. I can only remember one Christmas since my time in South Carolina where it actually snowed on Christmas day so that’s a rare treat!
The nice part about snowman pizza is you don’t actually need snow to make it! We made homemade pizza and decorated it. The girls chose black olives for his mouth, a cheese wedge for his nose, pepperoni (with black olives) for the eyes, and two slices of ham for the eyebrows.
You can use your favorite pizza recipe and make any snowman variation you want. If you are looking for a pizza recipe here is one of our favorites from Money Saving Mom. You can get really creative and make three separate pizzas and put them together to make a whole snowman (instead of just the head). 🙂
Freezer-Friendly Homemade Pizza Dough
- 2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
- 2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 4 Tablespoons oil (vegetable, Canola, or olive oil)
- 5 cups flour (can use all whole-wheat, half white/half whole-wheat, or all white)
Pour the warm water into a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Stir to dissolve.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix.
Dump onto a floured surface and knead dough for two to five minutes until smooth and no longer sticky.
To freeze: Cut lump of dough in half and place each half in an airtight freezer bag. Freeze for up to 4-6 weeks.
To bake: Place frozen dough in a greased bowl and thaw at room temperature for at least 3-4 hours. Roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan.
Add pizza toppings of your choice. Bake at 500 degrees for around 10 minutes (until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned).
If you don’t want to mess with freezing the dough, take the kneaded dough and roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan. Add pizza toppings and bake as directed above.
