Monday's Menu: Spring Ravioli with Pesto Cream

Spring Ravioli with Pesto Cream

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil

8 ounces green beans, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 medium yellow bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1/2 cup)

3 roma (plum) tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 cup)

1/2 teaspoon salt

16 ounces frozen cheese-filled ravioli (from 24-ounce bag)

1/2 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons basil pesto

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

Directions:

Heat oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook green beans and bell pepper in oil about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender. Stir in tomatoes and salt. Cook 3 minutes.

While vegetables are cooking, cook and drain ravioli as directed on package. Mix sour cream, pesto and lemon peel in small bowl.

Toss hot cooked ravioli with vegetable mixture and sour cream mixture.

Enjoy!

Monday's Menu: Oven Eggs with Spinach and Ham

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter yesterday!

Today's recipe is inspired by the wonderful brunch I shared with my family yesterday.

Oven Eggs with Spinach and Ham

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 bag of spinach
• 6 eggs
• 6 egg whites
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 1/2 cups cooked, diced ham (about 7 ounces)
• 2 1/2 cups grated reduced-fat Swiss or sharp Cheddar

 

Instructions

• In a medium-size skillet, sauté the onions in olive oil until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, about 1 minute. Let cool.
• In a bowl, beat together the eggs and egg whites. Stir in the sour cream, parsley, ham, spinach mixture and 2 cups of the cheese.
• Pour the mixture into a greased 9- by 13-inch baking dish. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or bake it (uncovered) immediately.
• Heat the oven to 375°. If the casserole was refrigerated overnight, let it sit for 15 minutes at room temperature. Bake until it has set, about 35 to 40 minutes.
• Sprinkle the casserole with the remaining cheese and bake until the cheese melts, about 3 minutes. Serves 12.

Monday's Menu: Crispy Onion Chicken

This is one of my daughter’s favorite dinners, in fact she calls it Favorite Chicken! It is a simple and easy recipe. I serve it with green beans and mashed red potatoes. Enjoy!

French's Crispy Onion Chicken

Ingredients:

·  2 cups (4 oz.) FRENCH'S® Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions

·  2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

·  4 (5 oz.) boneless skinless chicken breasts

·  1 egg, beaten

Directions:

·   Place French Fried Onions and flour into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or with rolling pin. Transfer to pie plate or waxed paper.

·    Dip chicken into egg; then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet.

·    Bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until no longer pink in center.

Monday's Menu: Cinnamon Chip Coffee Cake

I recently bought Hershey's Cinnamon Chips with the intention of using them in the 2 Ingredient Fudge that I have become obsessed with. But then I thought it might be interesting to see what else I could use them for. When browing through the Hershey's website I came across this recipe for coffee cake.
I really haven't come across a coffee cake that I love....until now. I can honestly say that I love this cake. I made the 13x9 version simply because I did not have time to bake a bundt cake. Also, as you can see in the picture below I did not make the glaze. The cake was truly delicious by itself. For best results have a slice that has been slightly warmed, for about 15 seconds in the microwave, with a cup of strong coffee in the morning before the kids wake up.  

Cinnamon Chip Coffee Cake

Ingredients

·         1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened

·         1 cup granulated sugar

·         2 eggs

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         3/4 cup applesauce

·         2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Cinnamon Chips

·         1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

·         EASY GLAZE (recipe follows) or powdered sugar

Directions

1.       Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2.       Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl on medium speed of mixer until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in applesauce. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in cinnamon chips and pecans, if desired. Spread in prepared pan.

3.       Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Drizzle with glaze or sprinkle with powdered sugar. 12 to 15 servings.

EASY GLAZE: Stir together 3/4 cup powdered sugar and 1 to 2 tablespoons warm water.

VARIATIONS:

FLUTED CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Prepare batter as directed; pour into prepared pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in thickest part comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes; invert onto wire rack. Cool completely.

CUPCAKES: Paper-line 24 muffin cups (2-1/2-inches in diameter) Prepare batter as directed; spoon into prepared cups. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Monday's Menu: Turkey Chili

It's no secret that I like recipes that are fast and easy. We all have busy lives with our families and businesses so the more time saved the better! That's the reason why I like this recipe so much!

 

Easy Turkey Chili

 

Ingredients:

·         1 tbsp cooking oil

·         ½ medium onion, diced

·         2 cloves of garlic, diced

·         1 lb ground turkey

·         1 taco seasoning packet

·         12 oz Mexican lager style beer

·         1 14.5 oz can of whole tomatoes

·         1 14.5 oz can of red kidney beans

Garnish suggestions: sour cream, shredded sharp cheese, diced red onions, chopped green onions, fresh cilantro, diced avocado or crushed corn or tortilla chips.

Directions:

In a large sauce pan heat oil, add onions and garlic until fragrant (about 3-4 minutes). Add turkey and cook until no longer pink breaking up the turkey as it cooks. Once cooked through add taco seasoning and coat turkey.

Add beer and simmer on medium-high until it is reduced by half, about 8-10 minutes. Add whole tomatoes with juice, crushing the tomatoes in your hand before putting into the pot. HINT: Crush the tomatoes slowly as they will explode if you do it too fast.

Add beans and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium for about 10 minutes uncovered to let the chili thicken. Serve with a garnish buffet so that your family can create their own unique style of chili!

 

Enjoy!

Feature Yourself Friday Link Party # 35!

Welcome, Welcome!!!

Lots of great links last week! Thanks so much for joining in and helping make this party fun...don't forget to spread the word!!  :D

Our most-viewed link last week was...

Cherry Cream Cheese Pie Recipe from Make it Cozee!  YUM!!!

If you've been featured you can add our button (found on the sidebar!) to your blog or site!

Feature Yourself Friday is a place to highlight what YOU do!  You can link up a blog post, tutorial or an item from your shop!  We want to see what YOU'VE been doing!

Rules:
1. Please become a follower of our blog!
2. Make sure you visit a couple of the other links each week, and show them some love by favoriting an item or leaving a nice comment!

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OF THE TEAM TO LINK UP!!!

(You can also add our button to your site or blog and help us spread the word! It's over on the sidebar!)

~ Sarah from Sarahndipities

Let's see what's new this week!!

Monday's Menu: Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

This recipe is so delicious, it tastes like little pockets of lasagna. It is much easier to make than my usual manicotti or lasagna recipe because it is quick and easy to fill the shells. The only change I make is adding minced garlic to the filling because my family is crazy about garlic! 

 

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Ingredients

• 24 jumbo pasta shells
• 1 15-oz. container ricotta
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
• 1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1 26-oz. jar spaghetti sauce

Preparation

• 1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Mist a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Cook pasta shells according to package label directions; drain and set aside to cool. While pasta cooks, in a large bowl, stir together ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan, spinach, egg, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and nutmeg.
• 2. Spread 3/4 cup spaghetti sauce over bottom of baking dish. Stuff shells with cheese-and-spinach mixture and place in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella.
• 3. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 10 minutes longer, until bubbly and cheese begins to brown.

Enjoy!

Monday's Menu: Spaghetti with Spinach and Tomatoes

At the beginning of the week I cook about 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot for 6 hours on low in 1 cup of chicken broth. After it's cooked I store it in the fridge, in the broth, and use it in meals during the week. It saves me a ton of time when I am cooking dinner. 

This is one of my family's favorite meals. It's simple, but delicious! My kids are allergic to dairy so we don't add cheese, but I know that some shredded Parmesan or chunks of mozzarella would be a nice addition on top.

Spaghetti with Spinach and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Spaghetti
• 1 lb cooked chicken, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• pepper
• 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 bag of spinach (12 or 16oz )

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put tomatoes in an 8x8 baking dish with garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with pepper. Cook for 10 minutes.
2. While the tomatoes are cooking, cook pasta according to the box instructions. When the tomatoes are done, pour the bread crumbs over them and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Set aside when done.
3. Heat chicken broth in a large saute pan and add spinach. Cook spinach in broth over medium-high until all the leaves are wilted. Turn down heat to low and add tomato mixture.
4. Gently stir in the tomatoes being sure not to smash them. Add chicken and heat through for a few minutes.
5. Serve over noodles.

Enjoy!

Tutorial Tuesdays

Yesterday I was going through my recipe book that holds all the magazine pages that I have torn out or recipes on the back of food labels that I save and I found one that I had never tried, Sausage Ratatouille. It was fantastic!

Sausage Ratatouille

The classic French ratatouille is made by simmering eggplant with other vegetables and herbs. It's often served as a side or appetizer with bread, but our addition of Italian sausage turns it into a hearty meal for cooler months.

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 links (about 3/4 pound) Italian sausage
• 4 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium-size eggplant, peeled and cut into a 3/4-inch dice
• 2 small zucchini, halved and sliced
• 1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 1 medium-size green bell pepper, halved, seeded, and sliced

• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups canned diced tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Instructions

1. Bring a medium-size pot of water to a boil. Puncture the sausage links in several places, then cook them at a low boil until they're no longer pink in the center, about 14 minutes. Transfer the links to a plate to cool, then slice them into 1/4-inch-thick rounds.
2. Over medium-high heat, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add the eggplant and zucchini and sauté them, stirring often, until they are lightly browned but not soft, about 7 minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a plate.
3. In the same skillet over medium heat, warm the remaining olive oil. Add the onion and bell pepper and sauté them for 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and sliced sausage and sauté, stirring often, for 3 minutes more. Stir in the tomatoes, eggplant, and zucchini.
4. Partially cover the skillet and gently simmer the ratatouille for 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, along with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer 5 minutes more. Stir in the parsley and half of the basil. Serve hot, sprinkled with the remaining basil. Serves 6.

This recipe is from Family Fun magazine.

Monika, My Lovebug Baby

Tutorial Tuesdays

Wow, I'm late posting today. With the holiday weekend I almost forgot it was Tuesday instead of Monday!! Today's tutorial comes from Cori at Peace, Baby! Batiks.

Carrot Muffin with Cream Cheese Frosting:

So, when the week started, I had grand plans to roast the carrots from our farm share with beets, squash, and onions.
And then one friend said, “Carrot cake,” and another said, “Carrot muffins,” and I started thinking about cream cheese frosting.
Needless to say, the carrots didn’t get roasted. Instead, I poked around my cookbooks and compromised: healthy carrot muffins from The Whole Soy Cookbook with cream cheese frosting using light cream cheese. Even my kid, who won’t touch carrots with a 10-foot pole, liked the muffins, though he’s really after the frosting.

They’re dense but tasty. Next time I’ll do the variation of adding raisins and 1t of cinnamon.

Carrot Soy Muffins
Yield: 12
2c whole wheat pastry flour (I used plain whole wheat flour)
1/2t salt
2t baking powder
1c finely grated carrots
1/3c vegetable oil
1/2c honey
1/2c soy milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the carrots. In a medium bowl, combine the oil, honey and soy milk. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. (It’s even better if you’ve got a cute kid to help you with this step!)

Fill the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly brown and firm to the touch.
Once the muffins were cool, I frosted them.

Cream Cheese Frosting
I modified this receipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I didn’t have vegan cream cheese, but I did have light cream cheese (Neufchatel cheese).
1/4c margarine, softened
1/4c cream cheese, softened
2c confectioner’s sugar
1t vanilla
Cream together margarine and cream cheese. Add sugar 1/2c at a time, and mix until smooth and creamy. Mix in vanilla. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
My son helped me decorate the tops with sugar that I colored orange with food coloring.
 
Originally posted HERE.
 
These sure look tasty! I can't wait to try the recipe myself. Thanks Cori! And thanks to you for stopping by the blog today. Hope you all have a great week!
 
Monika, My Lovebug Baby

Tuesday Tutorials

This week's tutorial comes to us from Tricia at Sweeter Than Sweets. Enjoy!

Cooking Kale for Kids- Tutorial:

Having a baby changes the way you look at things. For me, this meant I wanted to make my own baby food.

Kale is one of those foods that I had never cooked before Little Sweets came along. I didn't know how to buy it or what to do with it. But with the help of the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron (see my post with a fruity recipe from the book here), I learned about the health benefits of kale and what to do with it.

{A disclaimer if you're a first-time visitor to my blog: I have never dedicated a whole post to a leafy green vegetable before. Also, I apologize in advance for the pictures that I take in my kitchen. I have one tiny window and not enough natural light to work with.}

So why kale? It is one of the healthiest vegetables you or your baby can eat. Check out the Vitamins section of this chart. Each cup of kale provides you with tons of Vitamin K, Vitamin C and Vitamin A. (Here's another resource with charts that might sell you on kale.)

Kale Onesie by swordfishscreenprint

You can steam, puree and freeze kale into ice cube trays and then sneak those frozen cubes into oatmeal, soups, pasta sauces or whatever else you can get away with.

**Babies need to be at least 9 months old before you feed them kale.**

What you need to cook, puree and freeze kale:

kale

food processor (please use a bigger one than this if you're doing a large batch)

pot with steamer basket/insert

ice cube trays

heavy-duty freezer zip-top bags

I bought a 2-pound bag of kale. The bagged kale is prewashed, trimmed and cut already, which saves a lot of time. If you buy loose kale instead (which is recommended in Super Baby Food), swish the leaves around in a sink full of water several times to make sure all the sand has been freed. Then trim it by pulling the leaves off the stems (throw stems away). Then chop it into small pieces. Or you could buy the bagged prewashed, pretrimmed, precut kale.

It took me 1 hour to do this entire process (would've been faster with a bigger food processor). I got 28 ice cubes from this 2-pound bag of kale, which was 28 cups of kale. So when I cook with it, I know that 1 ice cube = 1 cup of raw kale.

Put an inch or so of water into your pot and bring to a boil. Then fill the basket up with kale and cover; cook for 3-5 minutes. I fit about 1/2 pound of the kale at a time in my steamer basket.

Here's what it looked like when it was done cooking. The kale will reduce in size by about half when cooked:

Put some of your cooked kale into your food processor and squeeze out some excess water by pressing down on it with a few paper towels. Then process until the kale is pureed into what looks like tiny flakes. You want the flakes to be pretty small so they're less noticeable when you mix the kale into your food:

Using my tiny 3-cup food processor, I had to do 7 rounds of pureeing for this 2-pound bag of kale. Immediately after I finished cooking the kale for this tutorial, I bought a new 12-cup food processor. It will be much easier/faster next time!
Now squeeze your kale flakes into the ice cube trays. Pack it in tightly so it will stick together when you pop the ice cubes out. I soaked up a bit more water by pushing down on each cube with another paper towel.

Repeat the cook/puree/squeeze process with the rest of the kale. Like I said, I ended up with 28 ice cube-sized portions of kale. The 2-pound bag held 28 cups of kale, so 1 ice cube = 1 cup of raw kale. Somehow it ended up perfectly proportioned, but this is not a science so you may end up with more or less than I did.

Put your trays into a freezer-safe zip-top bag and freeze for a day or so. Then pop the "kale cubes" out and put them back into the freezer bag.

Frozen kale cubes will last in your freezer for awhile. Super Baby Food says they'll keep 2 months but this website says they'll last 10-12 months. Would you think I'm a bad mom if I told you I've been feeding Little Sweets frozen kale from 11 months ago? She hasn't gotten sick, but maybe some of the health benefits have deteriorated a bit.

Stay tuned to see my recipe for Little Sweets' Favorite Oatmeal with Kale... but don't tell her what those green flecks are.

Tutorial Tuesday - Cranberry Orange Muffins

This week's tutorial is a delicious muffin recipe from Honey Bee Holistics . I would love to get these as breakfast in bed for Mother's Day!

How about some Sunny Cranberry Orange muffins to warm you up!

So yesterday was an event filled day! After months with only a few spits of snow, we got over 12" in ONE DAY! Since we live in the Mountain Valley, we are sure to get snow when it blows through. It started out with huge flakes yesterday morning and then continued all day & night!

So it inspired me to fix something warm in the oven....Nothing like the warm smell of muffins baking in the oven to start the morning off right. I have made my family's new favorite...Organic Cranberry Orange Muffins!

It is lightly sweet with loads of sweet mandarin oranges & sweet cranberries. It is 90% organic as I couldn't find organic mandarin oranges & organic cranberries, but anyway still just as good:)
Here is my recipe if you want to make some up for yourself, Snow or not:)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and get out a large mixing bowl.

You will need the following:
2 cups Organic All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Organic Orange Juice (pulp -or- pulp free/I used pulp free)
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil, but you can use any other oil alternately)
1 Organic Free-Range egg
1/3 cup Organic Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Organic Cane Sugar
3 tsp. Aluminum Free Baking Powder ( I used Rumford's)
1/2 tsp. sea salt (I used fine ground)
1/2 tsp. Organic Cinnamon
1-(10oz.)jar or can of Mandarin Oranges;drained

1 1/3 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen;I finished off my frozen pkg)

Now just dump all the ingredients in the mixing bowl EXCEPT for the Mandarins and cranberries. Don't worry about mixing dry & wet etc. It should look like this

Then mix by hand with a wooden spoon. This makes a difference as the wood doesn't cause a reaction with the acid of the orange juice as some metals can. Anyway, it is more old-fashioned and fun! Also, don't worry about mixing all of the lumps out, just a good incorporation will work.<

Now fold in the cranberries & mandarin oranges.

It should look like this!

This will make 12 regular muffins, or 6 jumbo muffins. I have used my cast iron jumbo muffin tin here. Cast iron helps them have a light crispy crust with a fluffy inside!

I also use an ice-cream scoop to put the batter in the wells. It is easier to do than scrape off a spoon with my finger, and it is easier to portion evenly.

Then before putting them in the oven, I sprinkled them with my own cinnamon sugar sprinkle. Of course this step is optional, but gives it a nice crispy top!

Bake 15-20 minutes until toothpick tested comes clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove to cool the rest of the way.

As soon as they are ready from the pan, I cut it open and take a warm bite! MMMMMMMMM yummy!!

Originally posted by Honey Bee Holistics.

Thank you for stopping by this week for the Cranberry Orange Muffin tutorial and I hope to see you next week!

Monika, My Lovebug Baby

***One of our Treasure Hunt winners has not claimed her prize! We have chosen another winner! It is Sarah D! Please claim your prize either here in the comments or as a comment to the facebook post and email sahm.etsy@gmail.com with your paypal email address so I can send you an invoice for the shipping! Thanks!***

Recipe: Spinach Artichoke Chicken Quesadillas

Spinach Artichoke Chicken Quesadillas

Here's what you need:

1. Tyson Grilled Ready-to-Eat Chicken Breasts

2. Spinach Dip: I get mine from the deli section at HEB

3. Steamable frozen Artichoke hearts

4. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

5. Large Flour Tortillas

6. Butter

Supplies:

Mixing Bowl

Wooden spoon

Skillet big enough to accommodate tortilla size you chose

Spatula

Ok, so I have to warn you this is one of those recipes that I make just by sort of looking at the way things are turning out. I have no idea how much of each thing I use, but I like my filling substantial with plenty of chicken to keep it meaty! So just watch how things are coming out and add or take away as needed. :)

Warm an empty skillet on the stove on Medium heat. While it's heating, steam the artichokes in the microwave according to package instructions. Then, warm your chicken in the microwave according to the package instructions. Chop chicken and artichokes into small pieces so everything blends well. Add to mixing bowl. Add a couple of spoons of the spinach dip to your chicken and artichokes and stir until it looks like the portions are pretty equal. Add shredded cheese to mix until you are pleased with the cheesiness of the mix. :)

Butter one side of 2 tortillas. Place your first tortilla butter side down in the skillet. Spoon mixture onto tortilla and top with unbuttered side of 2nd tortilla. Flip when bottom is brown and toasty and remove from skillet when 2nd tortilla is also brown a toasty. Mix inside should be melty and bubbly. Cut into slices and serve! Repeat it necessary... and it's usually necessary!!

...

I hope you all get a chance to try out this dish and come tell me how you liked it. It's one of my favorite easy dinner ideas!!

Oh yeah, and please think happy thoughts for my internet!! Without it, I feel like I'm missing an arm!!

XOXO