This is the perfect dish for your next gathering or pot luck.  It makes a lot, is served cold, and is delicious!  The bacon is awesome in it and even my brother-in-law went back for thirds.

All three of my boys are playing sports this season and we have 4 games a week, plus practices.  To say it is a bit nuts is an understatement  but others who have gone before me have told me this is just the beginning and to get use to it!  Ha!  Anyway, on the weeknight games and practices I am always looking for quick and easy meals to feed the family so we can run quickly to our events without leaving a ton of clean up.

This meal does that. I made it earlier in the day and let it chill for a couple hours so the dressing could be absorbed and soften the broccoli.  All I had to do was pull it out, serve it on some paper plates with a side of fruit, and we were out the door.

I didn’t add the pecans in mine, simply because I didn’t have them on hand.  I wish I had though!  I bet they would be yummy!  I also stayed away from the salt.  Its a new kick I am on.  I try not to cook with salt at all, but after a dish is done I might add a little to taste at the table if I feel it needs it.  Most of the time though, I don’t need it or miss it at all.

 

 

I’ve been wanting to practice some delicious new cupcakes for my almost 2 year old’s (seriously WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE??) birthday.  Everyone notices how delish the icing is and could often care less about the taste of the cake, sad but true.  Also, today my husband wanted a cheat day from his strict Paleo diet.  Why not practice?  So, I did practice and I ate lots!  I got the icing recipe here.

This icing is SO easy and so much better than any store bought.  I want to do these and a buttercream for Anna’s 2nd birthday and put some Minnie Mouse decorative sticks in them.  Remember, people eat with their eyes and barely anyone passes up peanut butter with chocolate!

In case you’re wondering, I used this cake tip by Wilton.

Happy Cupcake Making!!!

Related posts:

Awesome 3rd Birthday Cake
Ella’s 3rd Pancake and Pajama Birthday Party
1st Birthday Party Ideas
Cupcake Cake Idea
Lion Birthday Party
Super Hero Birthday Party 

New Year’s resolutions here I come!  The story of my life right!  It’s not like I don’t want to eat healthy, because I do… Its just that when I cook something healthy I really want it to taste like fried chicken!  Too much to ask?!?!?!

We are all trying to lead healthy more active lives this year as one of our family goals.  We are off to a good start as we have our first Rad Run Race in a week and a half.  I am teetering on whether or not to let my 5 year old run it with us.  It is 3 miles so I am a bit worried it would be too much for him this time.  What do you think?  My 7 year old is all ready for it.  He has been practicing for months now and is so excited about his first race!

So here is a yummy lasagna recipe I made for the family this week.  I was so excited to find it on skinnytaste.com.  This recipe uses strips of zucchini instead of lasagna noodles!  So yummy, and saves you hundreds of calories!  My sister made a pan of regular lasagna and I made this zucchini lasagna the same night.  I wasn’t sure what we could get the kids to eat.  So guess which one was gone first???  Mine of course!

 

 

ZUCCHINI LASAGNA
1 lb lean ground beef (I used 93% lean)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion
1 Tb olive oil
salt and pepper
28oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 Tb chopped fresh basil
4 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8inch thick
15oz part skim ricotta cheese
16oz part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg

***Brown the meat and season with salt.  Drain the meat in strainer or colander to get all the excess grease out.  There wont be much if you use the extra lean beef.  Heat oil then saute onions and garlic for a couple minutes.  Add the beef, tomatoes, basil, and salt and pepper.  Simmer on low for 30 minutes.  The trick is to get  your sauce thick and not watery.

I actually added tomato paste to mine since I also used fresh tomatoes from my garden (lightly blended) instead of canned.  Really you could use any recipe you wanted for the sauce.  I wanted to add green peppers, but the one in the fridge wasn’t fresh enough.  Sliced carrots would be a great addition to the sauce as well!

Salt your sliced zucchini and let it sit for 10 minutes or so.  Then use a paper towel to dab all the excess water from the zucchini.  Zucchini adds a lot of water when cooked and salting it helps take some of it out.  Now, grill the zucchini on a grill or grill pan.

I admit, my grill is out of gas and the grill pan is still in storage while the house is being built so I just baked mine in the oven at 35o for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix the ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and egg together in a small bowl.

In a 9 x 12 casserole dish spread the tomato sauce down on the bottom.  Then layer with strips of sliced zucchini.  Spread the ricotta mixture next, then the mozzarella cheese. Now repeat until you are out of zucchini.  End with zucchini, sauce, and mozzarella cheese.  I also sprinkled the left over shredded parmesan cheese on with the mozzarella.  I might have cut my zucchini a little too thick because I had only enough to fill a smaller 9 x 9 pan.

Cover dish and bake for 45 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.  I actually did 30 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered and hardly waited at all to cut into it… we were hungry and impatient!  Ha!  It didn’t matter though it was perfectly delish!

 

Here are some other LOW CARB  options:

Meatza
The Best Chicken Tortilla Soup
Steak and Cheese Stuffed Peppers
No Potato Salad
Butter Chicken- Paleo Style
Healthy Avocado and Tomato Salad
Crock pot Mexican Style Lettuce Wraps
Avocado Hummus

 

Last week husband was gone for 6 days on a business trip.  He came back feeling awful and needed a little detox from all the eating out and high carb meals.  So, now he’s trying to really limit his carbs.  Tonight I made him some meatza.  It’s like pizza, but without the crust and instead uses ground beef.  It actually is really good and a great low carb meal.

 

Here is what you need:

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (I actually used 2 lbs because my meat comes in 1 lb packages)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed (fresh or from a jar)
1 tsp. dried oregano or Italian seasoning
8 oz. sugar free pizza sauce (Hunts Garlic and Herb in can)
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
Toppings (peppers, mushrooms, olives, whatever you like)

Here’s what the garlic and herb sauce looks like (It’s the one we’ve found with the lowest amount of sugar)

All you do is:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine the meat with the onion, garlic and
oregano or Italian seasonings.
3. Pat the mixture out in an even layer in a 9×12 baking pan. Bake
for 20 minutes.
4. When the meat comes out, it will have shrunk a fair amount. Pour
off the grease and spread the pizza sauce over the meat. Sprinkle on
the cheese.
5. Add toppings.
6. Put the Meatza 4 inches below a broiler set on high. Broil for
about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.
(Can also place in regular oven and bake until cheese is melted)

We let the girls make their own pizzas but using whole wheat toasted sandwich rounds.  I will miss one day how excited these girls get to make pizza!

Last week I posted how I lost my pregnancy weight.  I definitely made this a lot then!

 

Some other good healthy eating recipes!

Whole Grain Lasagna

Broccoli Salad

No Potato Salad

Chicken Salad

Coconut Milk Tropical Smoothie

What is with this icky flu stuff going around?  It seems like everyone I know has had it… including everyone in my family.  It has been pretty awful really!  After nursing myself, hubby, and kids for the last two weeks through this nasty virus, I was ready for some real comfort food.

Pasta is always comfort food for me!

This has always been one of my favorite things to eat!  Ever since I worked as a waitress at Macaroni Grill in college, I have loved eating Penne Rustica.

Someone introduced me to this awesome cookbook that replicates restaurant recipes.  This is where I found my beloved Penne Rustica recipe!  So yummy!  I have made it for big crowds as well as small family dinners… doesn’t matter, it is always a hit!

Seriously, doesn’t it look so yummy?!  I love this stuff!  It always impresses!  This meal will go very fast at your next get together or pot luck!

Penne Rustica (Tastes just like Macaroni Grills version)
From Todd Wilbur’s Top Secret Recipes

Ingredients
1 lb penne rigate pasta
12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 skinless chicken breasts
½ cup thick-sliced smoked prosciutto, chopped

SAUCE

3 Tb butter
2 Tb minced garlic
3 Tb Marsala wine
2 Cups heavy cream
1 Cup grated parmesan cheese
½ Cup milk
½ Cup chicken broth
1 Tb cornstarch
1 Tb Grey Poupon Dijon mustard
2 tsp. Minced fresh rosemary (I used dried and it works just as well)
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. fresh thyme (I used dried)
¼ tsp. ground cayenne pepper

TOPPING
3 Tb grated parmesan cheese
1 ½ tsp paprika

***Garnish with rosemary sprigs if desired

Directions

1.Preheat grill to high.

2. Prepare sauce by melting butter over medium/low heat in a medium saucepan.  Add garlic and let it sweat for 5 minutes (Do not brown garlic!  If it browns throw it out and start over).  Add the wine and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and whisk until smooth.  Simmer for 10minutes.  Cover and remove from heat.

3. Cook Pasta al dente (a little tender, but not mushy) and drain.

4. Rub chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Stick the shrimp on skewers, rub them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

5. Grill chicken for 5 to 6 minutes per side and grill the shrimp for 2 minutes per side.  Slice chicken into strips when finished.

6.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Use a large glass or ceramic baking dish.  Add pasta, chicken and shrimp to the baking dish, spoon sauce over the top and toss to coat.

7.  For the topping, mix the parm. cheese with the paprika.  Sprinkle over the top of the pasta.    Bake for 10-12 minutes or until topping browns.

Happy {late} New Year!  I think this is the first New Year’s in about 4 years that I’ve made it til midnight.  We had some of my friends over and it helped that we both have a one and three year olds to run around the house until they crashed at around 11:30.  The three year olds thought it was so.dang.cool to share a bed.  So, I guess when you have people over, you HAVE to make some delicious food and since they came over a little later, I decided to do heavy apps.  I made these delicious looking cucumber sandwiches, three dips and a salami (don’t judge, I’ve been craving salami EVERY SINGLE DAY since I found out I was pregnant) and cheese platter.  I got this recipe here.

Don’t they look delish?!  Here’s what you need:

 

Happy New Year!

We had the yummiest Christmas dinner this year!  In the past we have always done a huge prime rib, but this year we changed it up just a tiny bit and decided to do a whole filet mignon tenderloin.

I am the honorary roaster for Christmas dinner so I set off to find a recipe that would work for us.  I found this yummy Bourbon marinade from Paule Deen on food network, but used this other recipe here to roast the meet since I wasn’t interested in standing in the snow to grill.

First of all, I did learn that you need to trim up the tenderloin.  I found this youtube video to be perfect in explaining how to trim the meat.  I roasted to meat whole rather than slicing it up though as he does in the video.

Ingredients

• 1 cup bourbon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cups water
• 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves chopped
• 1 (5-pound) beef tenderloin, silver connective tissue removed
• Oil, to brush on before searing

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Season the meat with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 2 teaspoons of the oil over medium-high heat until good and hot, then add the meat and sear until well browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total.

Transfer the meat to a rack set on a baking sheet. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 140 degrees F for medium-rare, about 30 minutes, or to your desired degree of doneness. Remove it from the oven, cover with aluminum foil, and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing to allow the juices to redistribute.  I used a tenderloin just over 7lbs and it took 45 minutes to get to 140 degrees.

 

Merry Christmas!!!!  I love this time of year!  So many yummy goodies and happiness all around!

I love to see so people around the world united in celebrating the birth of the Savior.  It is so magical.  People collecting gifts and food and giving to others.  The happiness this season spreads such feelings of peace during difficult times.

It always amazes me!

This year we drove from Florida to Northern Virginia to celebrate Christmas.  We have been busy meeting up with good friends and family.  I made these yummy Christmas tree brownies to bring to dinner at a friends house.

Just make your favorite brownies and cut them into triangles using a pizza cutter.  Have fun decorating them with your kiddos!

We had such a good time making them even though we left them sitting on the counter when we left for our friends. Ha!  Doesn’t the thought count more than actually remembering to bring the goodies along???  My mom got to take them to work to pass out to her coworkers instead!

 

 

 

 

 

I have been going through a serious soup phase lately!  I don’t know if its the cold weather, the holiday season, or what, but I have been loving it!

I had to bring a crock pot of soup to a Christmas party last weekend and made this AWESOME Broccoli Cheese Soup.  There were close to 100 guests and probably 15 or so crock pots of soup brought.  My soup was the first one gone!!!

I used a combination of two different recipes because I really liked the addition of carrots in one, but I didn’t want to use half and half creamer in the sauce.  Here and Here.

I doubled the recipe to fill my crock pot.  It was filled all the way to the brim!  The only thing I would do differently if I cooked this again would be to grate the carrot as the original recipe calls for.  I was being lazy and just dumped a bag of thin carrot straws in it.

I would also just dump everything together in a crock pot to cook for a few hours (Do not add the butter/flour/milk part until after it has already thickened in a saucepan first).  I was short on time and cooked it in a pot over the stove then moved it to a crock pot to stay warm during the party.

INGREDIENTS
 1 3/4 cup of chicken stock
1 small onion finely diced
1/3 cup flour
4 TB butter
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups warmed milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup swiss cheese
1 cup grated carrot
3 cups of chopped broccoli, lightly steamed

***Cook chopped onions in chicken broth in a covered sauce pan for 15 minutes. Heat milk in the microwave for one minute.  Melt butter in a separate large pot.  Add flour, salt, and pepper to the butter and stir constantly for a minute or two. Then add the milk and whisk until the soup begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.  Add the chicken broth/onion mixture and stir until combined.

Add the cheddar and swiss cheeses and stir until completely melted. Stir in brocoli and grated carrot.  Ready to eat!

This was soooooo good that just writing this post and looking at the pics is giving me cravings for it again!  I think I will go through a batch into my crock pot right now!  Happy Cooking!

My husband had these at a friends house a few weeks ago and insisted that I make them for him… great idea!  They were awesome and really made it feel like Christmas around here!  I should tell you that this recipe seriously makes a gazillion PB balls so if you do not have a lot of mouths to eat them I would make half of this recipe.

They taste like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!  So good!  We roasted marshmallows at my sisters in her fire pit the night I made these with the kids and my husband loved putting it in his S’more.  He called it S’mreeses.

Anyway, these were great and easy enough for the kids to help with.  They loved rolling the dough into balls.

 

 

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Balls
Recipe from Witandwhistle.com

3lbs powdered sugar
4 cups of peanut butter
1lb of butter
3 bags of chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)
1/3 cake paraffin wax (I used shortening instead)

***Combine the peanut butter, sugar, and butter together.  I had to use my hands to mix well.  Roll into balls and refrigerate.  Melt chocolate and wax in a double boiler.  I don’t have a double boiler so I just microwaved them in a microwave bowl for 30 seconds, then stirred. Microwaved another 30 seconds and stirred, then 20 seconds and stirred, etc… only use small time increments as it is very easy to burn.  Once melted I used a toothpick to dip the balls into the chocolate.  If the chocolate got too thick I just heated it up for another 15-20 seconds.  Cool on wax paper and refrigerate.