Showing posts with label Easy dinners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easy dinners. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Momma's Pasta bake

This is one of my favorite go to meals for when we have a busy week. I love things that I can make it and we can eat on it for a few days. It just seems to make the evenings so much easier when you are not stuck in the kitchen all night long. Plus that means less kids in the kitchen with their toys to step on!
My mother gave me this quick fix meal a few years ago and ever since then, we have been eating it for dinner quite a bit.

The ingredient list is short and simple (which is another thing I love)
1 box pasta noodles (any type of small noodle works)
2 Cans diced tomatoes
2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 c. chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
mozzarella cheese

Cook noodles according to box directions. Cook the meat with the onion and the garlic till browned. Once browned added to cooked noodles, add in tomatoes.

Mix all together and put in baking dish. Slice up the cheese and put on top.


Put in oven at 350° for about 20 min. Just long enough to melt the cheese. (I also added some fresh Parm. you can't go wrong with cheese at our house)

And then enjoy!! It is so yummy, I hope you can enjoy it too!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Weekend Part II

Last weekend we were really busy, and one thing we did was go and see my dear sweet friend Shelley and her new little baby Audrey. Shelley also has a little girl named Olivia who I believe is about to turn 2. So like us, she will have her hands full. After we had Marak, one thing that was really nice was all of the people who brought us food. It was really nice to not have to worry about cooking when we were just so desperately trying to survive with two kids and no sleep! So my friends and I got together and have been planning on making Shelley some food, we have been patiently waiting for her to have the baby. Shelley is a very remarkable lady, she was only in labor 3 hours, and didn't make it to the hospital in time to get the epidural. She had to do it all without any drugs!! She is a stronger woman than me, I don't know if I could have done it. But now her and the baby are doing fine, little Olivia seems to be liking her new sister too which is always nice.
My friends and I got together and planned out our meal for Shelley, with the help of her little sister Kelsey. Kristen made some very yummy brownies for desert, Amber made a yummy looking pasta salad, and I made calzones.
I used the Jiffy pizza crust mix because I was short on time, I usually try to make my own. With the boys being so small and needy I have been having to make some short cuts when cooking. I like the jiffy mix because it taste pretty close to being homemade. I decided to make her a supreme and a pepperoni & sausage. For the cheese I used fresh mozzarella, parmesan, asiago, provolone, & romano.




This is a trick I learned when I was selling pampered chef. If you have whole olives you can slice them quickly & easily by putting them in an egg slicer.


Here is what they look like when they are all chopped up. Doesn't that look easy? I love things that save some time. (and things you can do one handed, I am usually holding a kiddo while cooking)


This is what all of the veggies looked like when they were all chopped up and ready. I had green & red bell peppers, black olives, red onion, green onions, and garlic. I made WAY to much so for the rest of the week we used it in sandwiches, and omlets, it was SO good!


Here is all of the filling on the dough. After I made these I was watching Giada at home on the food network and she made some too, but on hers she used egg wash to seal them. I wish I would have thought of that while I was making mine, it would have made sealing them much easier, and nothing would have leaked out. Guess I will have to do it next time.


They are looking a little messy here, and not quite as cute as Giada's but they were still good.


And here they are all finished. I wrapped them in foil, and put them in a cute large bowl to take them to Shelley. Later she said that they really enjoyed their food from all of us. I know that she was probably relived that she didn't have to cook. Wouldn't it be nice if people brought you dinner every night once you had kids. That would be so much easier. But then your kiddo's would never get to experience your yummy home cooking.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Crock Pot Rotel Chicken

We had one of our favorite dinners tonight. Crock Pot Rotel Chicken. It is one of my favorite things to make because it is SO easy and you can put it on anything!! Here is how you make it:

5-6 Frozen chicken breast
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 can rotel

Mix the rotel and the taco seasoning, pour over frozen chicken (while in the crock pot) turn crock pot on low, and walk away.

My low setting is 10 hrs. so I normally set and and leave for work, then when I come home I take a fork and stir it together, then you have the best chicken fajita mixture. You can put it on chips, tortillas, pitas, or anything else you can think of. My friend Deana from work gave me this recipe about a 3 months ago and I think we have had it about 4 maybe 5 times since. My husband loves it. Tonight I had mine on a pita with pinto beans, black olives, sour cream, cheese, rotel cheese dip (because you can't have enough cheese), and mango salsa. You talk about yummy! Wes had pretty much the same thing but he put his on chips, and so did my neighbor Zoeanne. She came over to drop off the boys and smelt the yummy goodness so she had dinner with us.


Here is what it looked like in the crock pot, after I stirred it with a fork. It looks kind of icky here, but I promise it isn't.


This is everything we used to make our yummy mexi-goodness. This cheese is my favorite, it is made by Tillamook (it is actual real cheese, not the processed kind in the stores) I highly suggest the real cheese in anything you make, it makes a huge difference. The salsa is also one of my favorites, Newmans he just makes the best stuff.


And here is what my plate looked like, I poured the rotel cheese dip on top with the mango salsa. As Rachael Ray would say "yummo"

Hope you try it, if so let me know I would love to hear how you liked it.