One Pot Lo Mein!

We made this tonight and it's really easy!  I would suggest leaving the red pepper flakes out if you don't like spicy foods! We also added extra soy sauce to our bowls when we were ready to eat to give it a little more flavor! Enjoy! :)

 

Ingredients

½ lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small chunks

12 oz. whole wheat linguini or fettuccini, broken in half

4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in thin 3 inch long strips

1 medium red bell pepper, cut in thin 3 inch long strips

1 bunch green onions, white part sliced and green part cut in 3 inch long strips

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon corn starch

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

½ cup water

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

 

Process

1. Add the chicken, then the pasta, then the remaining ingredients to a large stockpot and cover.

2. Bring to a boil.

3. Stir and reduce to a simmer.

4. Cook covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Cook until most of the liquid is gone and the chicken is cooked through.

 

 

Crockpot Cheesy Chicken

We made this for Crockpot Wednesday! It was so good and still delicious for leftovers!

Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 ( 10 1/2 ounce ) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 ( 10 1/2 ounce ) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper ( optional ) 


Process
1. Place chicken breasts in the crock pot
2. Mix the undiluted soups together with the garlic powder and pour over chicken.
3. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours, until chicken is tender.
4. Serve with the delicious sauce over rice or noodles!

Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

We made these cookies tonight and they're really good!  If you're a peanut butter fan then these are perfect for you! Enjoy! :)

Ingredients
Filling:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter

Cookie:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Process
Filling
1. Mix the peanut butter and sugar together (you may need to use your hands). 2. Form into approximately 30 balls
3. Put in freezer on a baking sheet.

Cookie (While they're chilling, make the cookie dough)
1. Beat the butter, sugars and peanut butter together until mixed.
2. Add in the vanilla and egg and beat to combine.
3. Gradually add in the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda until blended.
4. Remove the peanut butter centers from the freezer, and shape the cookie dough around the ball until completely covered.
5. Flatten the cookies with a sugar-dipped glass.
6. Bake on 375 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes, until tops of cookies just begin to crack.

It's finally December!

Hi everybody!
It's been quite awhile since I've made a post but I've been busy with school and then went back to Iowa for Thanksgiving break and to work at Younkers for Black Friday!  Nothing too exciting has happened around here lately, but we did decorate our Christmas tree and have a few decorations now!  We also have lights outside on our porch, but it's snowing right now so getting a picture will just be too cold!  I hope everybody is having a great week!

Meatball Bubble Biscuits

Ta Da! Another recipe! I am taking a homework break and was cleaning out one of the drawers in the kitchen that keeps accumulating random stuff and found this recipe from a couple week ago!  I'll give you the actual recipe that I found in the drawer because I'm not sure if Katelyn made any changes to it when she made these while I was in class one night.  Enjoy! :)

Ingredients
1 can (12oz) Pillsbury Golden Layers refrigerated flaky biscuits
10 frozen cooked Italian-style meatballs (5oz each), thawed, each cut in half
2 sticks string cheese, each cut into 10 pieces
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup marinara sauce, heated

Process
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Separate each biscuit into 2 layers.  Press each biscuit layer into 3-inch round.
2. Place 1 meatball half, cut side up, and 1 string cheese piece in center of each dough round.  Wrap dough around meatball and cheese, pressing edges to seal.  In ungreased 8- or 9- inch round cake pan, place seam side down in single layer.
3. Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning and garlic powder.
4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown and biscuits are no longer doughy in center.  Serve warm biscuits with warm marinara sauce for dipping.

Ham Ball Recipe

We made these on Thursday and they're really good! Katelyn got the recipe from her mom and she said that you can freeze any left overs and they'll taste just as good as they did when you first made them! Just a helpful hint about the ham loaf: it's actually ground ham, but if you get it at Fareway it's called ham loaf and you can get it at the meat counter!  We went on a scavenger hunt around Brookings looking for ham loaf and got a lot of weird looks.  If the Fareway in South Dakota wasn't an hour away we probably would have gone there to get it, but oh well! Enjoy this recipe, it's a good one! :)

Ingredients
2 lb ham loaf or ground ham
1 lb ground beef
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
BBQ sauce

Process
1. Mix all ingredients together in that order
2. Form the mixture into balls (we used a medium size ice cream scoop)
3. Put in a 9x13 pan (we had 2 full pans)
4. Pour BBQ sauce over top (we brushed them with it and made sure they were covered)
5. Put in oven for 1 hour at 325 degrees

Here's a picture of what they should look like!  This isn't an actual picture of ours, but they should look like this except a little browner since there's a lot of BBQ sauce on ours!

Golden Graham S'mores Bars

We made these this afternoon because we had a box of Golden Grahams cereal that we wanted to use before we left next week for Thanksgiving break!  They're just like Rice Krispie bars, but they have chocolate! Enjoy! :)

Ingredients
1 12-oz bag milk chocolate chips
4 Tablespoons butter
1 10.5-oz bag mini marshmallows
1 12-oz box Golden Grahams cereal

Process
1. Place the bag of chocolate chips in the freezer until needed.
2. Place butter in a large microwavable bowl and microwave until butter is melted.
3. Set aside 1 cup of marshmallows, and add the remaining marshmallows to the butter, toss to coat, and microwave for another 1 1/2 minutes. Stir with a rubber spatula until smooth.
4. Add cereal and stir until evenly coated.
5. Add chocolate chips and reserved marshmallows.
6. Scoop cereal mixture into a baking pan, we used a 9×13″ pan, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Press mixture firmly into pan and allow to cool and set before cutting.

Puzzle Update!

Hi everybody!

I've been really busy this past week, but I wanted to share with everybody our finished puzzle wall art!  We actually finished this one 2 weeks ago, but we've been so busy that we are just now getting it hung up on the wall!  It was a super hard puzzle, but we finished it in just 3 days (we spent all of our free time doing it)! 

 

 

We also did this puzzle right after we finished the cupcake puzzle!  This one was a bit more difficult, but we finished this one in 2 days! We are officially addicted to puzzles and have started buying the $1 puzzles at the Dollar Tree here in Brookings.  I feel like some people might think we're actually 80 years old rather than 20, but working on puzzles is supposed to keep your brain healthy so we really don't care what other people think.  Since we are getting a nice puzzle collection, we decided that the puzzles that we get at the Dollar Tree will be donated to the Goodwill here in Brookings so other people can enjoy them!  I hope everybody is having a great week! :)

 

 

Taco Stroganoff

Here is what we had for supper tonight! We didn't put onion in ours, and we used regular flavored cream cheese, but I thought I would show you the regular recipe that we got ours from!

Ingredients
1 small onion, chopped

1 lb ground beef

1 envelope taco seasoning mix

1/2 cup water                                                              

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (chive and onion flavor)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

8 ounces egg noodles, cooked and drained

 

Process

1. Cook onions and ground beef in large saute pan until beef is browned. Drain fat. Add taco seasoning. Add water to beef and seasoning mixture in pan; cook 1-2 minutes.

2. Add cream cheese and cheddar; cook until it heated through and cheese melts.

3. Serve over noodles or toss with noodles.

 

 

Now Taking Donations!

I am now taking donations for a new car! Haha just kidding, but I thought I would share with everybody this milestone that happened last week... 225,000 miles are now put on my car!  I remember when it turned 200,000 like it was yesterday, even though it was really in March 2011.  It would be great to have a newer car in the future, and trust me I've been looking, but this one will due for now!  Hope everybody is having a great week! :)

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels!

Just a quick post tonight!  We made these tonight and love them!  They are really quick and easy and made our apartment smell delicious!

Ingredients
1 (16 oz) bag pretzel twists (we only had circle kind and those worked fine!)
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Process
1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Pour pretzels into a roasting pan.
3. Mix together oil, cinnamon and sugar.
4. Pour mixture on pretzels, stir to coat.
5. Bake 30 mins, stirring twice during baking time.
6. Enjoy the smell and taste! :)

Grilled Cheese Pull Apart Rolls

Here's what we made for supper tonight!  It was super spur of the moment and was super easy.  These would have been really good with tomato soup, but we didn't have any here!  Enjoy! :)

Ingredients
1-7.5 oz. Container of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits (10 ct.)
1/2 cup melted butter (you could leave this out, but the Butter is what makes them taste just like Grilled Cheese!)
Velveeta Cheese (approx. 3/4 of an entire box)
A 9″ round cake pan

Process
1. Melt the Butter and pour about half of it into the cake pan…
2. Cut the Velveeta into approx. 1-2″ cubes, making sure to cut enough for each roll
3. Pop open the Biscuits and stuff each one with a cube or 2 of the Cheese
 

4. Place the stuffed dough balls into the buttered cake pan, arranging them evenly.  Pour the rest of the Butter all over the top!
5. Bake them at 350 degrees, uncovered for 12 minutes, don’t let them burn.  If they get too dark before 12 minutes, cover them with foil!
6. Definitely cover them with some foil now, and continue baking them for another 12 to15-ish minutes or longer, until they’re golden, puffed and firm all the way through.  The inner rolls take longer to firm up so be patient, as long as you have them covered they will be fine. 

Baked Ravioli

We made this recipe a while ago, but it's super easy so I thought I would share it! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Bag of frozen ravioli
1 jar of marinara sauce
2 cups of mozzarella cheese
small amount of parmesan cheese


Process:
Heat oven to 400°F. Spray bottom and sides of a 9x13 rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.

Spread 3/4 cup of the pasta sauce in baking dish. Arrange half of the frozen ravioli in single layer over sauce; top with half of the remaining pasta sauce and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers once, starting with ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered 10 to 15 minutes longer or until bubbly and hot in center. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Here's the final product!

First Real Snow!

This post is kind of late, but I wanted to share a picture from our first real snow!  I'm calling it the first real snow because it snowed a few weeks ago, but it didn't last long.  This picture is from the 6th of November (when I was on my way to school), but the actual snow happened on the 5th.  Hope you all are having a great start to the weekend! :)

Making our home homey!

Hi everybody!

I thought I would show everybody what we've been up to these past couple days!  As you all know we live in an apartment, it's a great apartment, but the walls are so bland and white!  We decided to start making the living room and kitchen more homey because we've officially been living here for 2.5 months now and it still looks like we just moved in!

The first part of decorating that we did was making (Katelyn actually made them!) these cork and fabric wall decorations!  She said that they were pretty easy to make and they are really thin so they stay up on the wall really well with the help of that sticky tack stuff!  Plus they add some color to our walls, finally!

Next, we decided to get one of those wall decals to put on the wall above the TV.  We found this one at Walmart!  It wasn't too difficult to put on the wall, but it took us a while to piece it together before we put it on the actual wall (it came in 50ish pieces that weren't in any certain order)!

 

 

Lastly, we decided one night this week that the wall above our kitchen table is really plain and boring, so we went to Walmart and bought a colorful 1000 piece puzzle to put together, glue, and hang on the wall!  It's going to look pretty cool when we get it done!  Here's a picture of our progress (we started Wednesday night)!

 

 

 

That's what we've been up to this week! It's a long weekend this weekend because of Veterans Day, so I'm probably going to just be doing homework and working on the puzzle!  There's also the last home SDSU football game this Saturday, so I'll either go to the game or just watch it on TV where it's nice and warm!  Have a great weekend everybody! :)

Macaroni Goulash

So we made this recipe the other day for supper!  It was super good, easy, and really good as leftovers for the weekend while I was here alone again!  We cut the recipe in half, but it still made enough to feed the three of us and leave a container full of leftovers!

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef, extra lean
1 medium onion, diced 
1/2 medium green pepper, diced
2- 14.5 oz can(s) tomatoes, diced
1 8oz. can(s) tomato sauce
1/4 c ketchup
1 c water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 c elbow macaroni, uncooked

Process
Add onion, green pepper and ground beef to dutch oven on med/high until beef is browned. Add all of remaining ingredients. Simmer on med/low 15-20 minutes.

Spaghetti Bread!

This recipe is one of my favorites that we've made since we've lived here!  It takes some planning ahead, but it is definitely worth it.  Plus, it's delicious as leftovers too!

Ingredients

1 Loaf Rhodes Bread Dough, thawed to room temperature

6 ounces spaghetti, cooked

1 cup thick spaghetti sauce

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I think we just use shredded cheese)

1 egg white, beaten

Parmesan cheese

parsley flakes

Process

1. Spray counter lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Roll loaf or combined dinner rolls into a 12x16-inch rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 10-15 minutes.

2. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and let cool slightly. 3. Remove wrap from dough.

4. Place spaghetti lengthwise in a 4-inch strip down center of dough. Top with sauce and cheese cubes.

5. Make cuts 1 1/2-inches apart on long sides of dough to within 1/2-inch of filling. Begin braid by folding top and bottom strips toward filling.

6. Then braid strips left over right, right over left.

7. Finish by pulling last strip over and tucking under braid.

8. Lift braid with both hands and place on a large, sprayed baking sheet.

9. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

10. Bake at 350°F 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

11. Cool slightly and slice to serve.

 

 

Pattern Turkeys and Weekend Happenings!

Hi everybody!

It's been a busy weekend, but I have a few minutes to make a post today!  I've been really busy working on my Teacher Application and getting my online portfolio updated.  I've also been nervously waiting to register for my Spring and Summer classes (I register tomorrow at 9am, finally!).  I'm also getting ready for a math lesson that I'm teaching on Wednesday.  It's about AABB patterns and the craft to go with it is super cute! 
That's really all that has been going on other than mom and Quentin and coming up for a college visit!  It was great seeing them and having them stay with me for a little bit! 
Well, I guess that's all I have to say right now!  I'll be posting some more recipes this week because we've been making some super good food lately!  Have a great week everybody! :)

Here's a picture of what I did Saturday night... pretty crazy night huh?

Pumpkin Time!

Hi everybody!

It's a very busy week this week for me with lesson planning, projects, studying for the proficiency exam, and applying for the college of education round 2!  Even though it's a busy week we still found time to get more into the Halloween spirit last night!  Katelyn and I decided to carve some giant pumpkins to go with our Halloween lights that are wrapped around our porch!  It was super fun, but I still found that I hate touching the insides of the pumpkin!  I made a cat pumpkin and Katelyn made the Boo pumpkin (if you look close hers looks like a face)!  We're hoping that it stops raining by tomorrow so that we can maybe get some trick-or-treaters to our apartment (the candy bowl is filled and by the door already)!
I've been really busy this week working on a lesson plan that I will be teaching in a Kindergarten classroom next Wednesday.  AABB patterns are the topic and I am super nervous for it!  I also have the proficiency exam next Thursday morning.  This test is basically a glorified version of the ACTs, it shouldn't be too bad, but it is a 4 hour test so that's a little crappy!
I better get back to doing my homework this morning before my class at 10:30! 
Have a great day! :)

Crockpot Rigatoni for Crockpot Wednesday!

On Wednesdays Danielle and I have class all day, so we decided that Wednesday is 'Crockpot Wednesday'!  We have a pretty small crockpot, but it still holds enough for each of us to eat and still have leftovers for lunch the next day! We made this recipe a couple weeks ago and it is really good and easy to make!

Ingredients
28 oz jar spaghetti sauce (you can add more if you like saucier noodles)
12 oz rigatoni cooked
1- 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef - cooked
3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 lb pepperoni slices

Process
1. In a 4 quart crockpot, layer half of each ingredient in order listed in the ingredients section then repeat again.
2. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Salted Peanut Butter Pretzel M&M’S Cookies

These cookies are delicious! I made these on a Friday morning a couple weeks ago and I think they are one of my favorites now!  Some of the work is a tedious, but it is definitely worth it!

 Ingredients
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup pretzel pieces (break small pretzel rods into 1/4″ pieces)
1/4 cup M&M’S® MINIS
3/4 cup M&M’S®  Peanut Butter, roughly chopped in half
sea salt or kosher salt for sprinkling

Process
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. 
3. Add vanilla and egg and beat until combined. 
4. Mix dry ingredients together and then add to dough. 
5. When combined, add pretzels and Mini M&M’s and mix until incorporated.  Add Peanut Butter M&M’s and gently mix by hand until distributed through dough.
7. Scoop into 1 1/2″ balls onto parchment lined baking sheets. 
8. Cook for 7-9 minutes (I baked mine for 10-11 minutes because our oven is funny), until set on edges and lightly golden on the outside edge.  
9. While the cookies are still hot, lightly sprinkle with salt.  
10. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Original recipe from: http://www.ourbestbites.com/2013/08/salted-peanut-butter-pretzel-mm-cookies/

Super Soft Monster Cookies

This is a super good recipe for Monster Cookies!  This is also the first recipe that I was able to use my new Kitchen Aid hand mixer (on sale from Younkers, of course!).  I hope you like this recipe as much as we do!

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter (at room temperature)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cup m&ms (I used mini ones)

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 peanut butter chips 

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  

2. Start by combining the butter, brown and white sugars in a large bowl using a hand/stand mixer or your own brute strength.  Add the peanut butter, stir again.  Add the egg, stir, vanilla stir.  

3. Measure in the baking soda and flour and stir just until combined.  Stir in the oats, m&ms, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.  

4. Scoop using a cookie scoop or two teaspoons measuring about 2 tablespoons onto a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray (just in case).  Press down gently as they do not spread on their own.  

5. Bake for 9-10 minutes, I baked them for 11.5 minutes because our oven is kind of picky about whether it's going to work really good or not.  You want these to stay soft.  Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes then move to a cooling rack.  

6. Enjoy with a big glass of milk! 

 

 

 

Good Morning!

I've started to become more of a morning person and have been getting up between 5:45 and 6 am every morning!  I love it because I seem to have way more energy and I'm a lot more productive all day when I get an early start!  On my drive to Walmart this morning (yes I drove even though it is right across the street, it was only 28 degrees at 7!) I got to watch the sunrise.  Of course I took some pictures, so I thought I would share them with you! Have a great Sunday! :)

Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps!

We made these on Thursday night.  They're super easy, so I thought I would share this recipe first!

 

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup (we used a little more)

1 teaspoon dried minced onion

pepper and salt to taste

5 flour tortillas (the larger ones)

shredded cheddar cheese

sliced tomatoes (we didn't use these, but you can if you want!)

1 tablespoon yellow mustard (we used a little more)

Process
1. Brown ground beef in large skillet and drain.
2. Add Worcestershire sauce, ketchup,  mustard, dried onion, and salt and pepper to the beef and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle shredded cheese down center of each tortilla. Add a few heaping tablespoons of the beef mixture on top of the cheese. Add some slices of tomato on top of the beef. 
4. Roll up tortilla burrito-style and place wraps on preheated indoor grill (We used a George Foreman, but you could also put them in a pan and cook like a grilled cheese sandwich).  Grill wraps for about 5 minutes until cheese is melted.
5. Cut on a diagonal and serve immediately.

 

 

Oreo Balls and Weekend Plans

I'm alone at the apartment all weekend, so today I made Oreo balls!  I love Oreo balls, especially during the holiday season, but today I decided to make them Fall themed!  I did a different process than I normally do, they still taste the same but they were much easier to make!  Here's the recipe and process!

Ingredients:
1 package Oreos (I used double stuffed Walmart brand)
1 package Cream Cheese (room temperature)
1 package Vanilla Almond Bark
Sprinkles for decorations

Process:
1. Use a knife to separate the cream from the cookies, put the cream to the side for later
2. Put the cookies in a bag and use a rolling pin to crush the cookies into fine pieces
3. Mix the cookies and cream cheese in a bowl until well mixed (I used my hands), then add the Oreo cream that you put aside earlier.  Mix until it is all mixed together.
4. Put the Oreo mixture into the refrigerator until it is chilled, while you are waiting for the Oreo mixture to chill start melting the almond bark (I use a BabyCakes melting pot)
5. Once the Oreo mixture is chilled, start rolling it into balls.  It doesn't really matter what size you make, but smaller ones are easier to eat and you get more which is nice if you're making them for an event.
6. Now that they're in balls, put them back in the refrigerator so they are chilled (You can put them in the freezer if you're in a hurry)
7. Once they're chilled, dip them in the almond bark, and sprinkle the sprinkles on the top.  Keep them in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve them.. or eat them! :)

Here's a picture of mine!

 

 

Now that these are done, I'm watching the SDSU vs UNI game on TV and writing math lesson plans!  Not a very exciting weekend, but the Jackrabbits are doing a good job against the Panthers!

Have a great weekend everybody! :) 

First Post

Hi everybody!  This is my first time ever making a blog so please bear with me!  I'm still trying to decide what to share with everybody, but I know I will posting all of the recipes that we make every night in our apartment for supper and any new baking recipes that we make!  Lastly I will be posting any fun things that we do here! This should be fun once I get the hang of it! :)

Have a great day everybody! :)