Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken and Roasted Potatoes

This wonderful and easy dish I made for dinner tonight thanks to Pinterest. :) I served with steamed broccoli to balance out this meal. It will be a recipe I will be repeating. The chicken was tasty and the potatoes were scrumptious. Hope you try it. You won't be disappointed!


Chicken-
Ingredients:
6 chicken breasts
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 package of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1/2 tsp of garlic powder

Directions:
1. Preheat over 400*.
2. Mix cheese, dressing, and garlic powder.
3. Moisten chicken breasts with water; coat with cheese mixture. Place in a shallow baking dish.
4. Back 20-25 minutes until chicken is no longer pink in the center.

Recipe courtesy of momswhothink.com via Pinterest.


Potatoes:
Ingredients:
baked potatoes
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
Parmesan cheese
butter

Directions:
1. Cook a pierced potato in the microwave until it's soft all the way through...about 6-7 minutes, flipping over every 2 minutes.
2. Cut the potato in half. Then cut the half into squares. Don't cut all the way through, just down to the skin.
3. Season with butter, parmesan cheese, and Lawry's seasoned salt.
4. Broil for 10-15 minutes in oven on the middle rack.

Recipe courtesy of iowagirleats.com via Pinterest

Mini Sheperd's Pies

I'm addicted to Pinterest! It has brought me to so many new recipes to try (in addition to ideas for classroom, decorating, entertaining, etc!) This dish I found on Pinterest that was pinned from tasteofhome.com. What's great about this dish is that not only is it very tasty, you can freeze half the batch too!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 3 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/3 cup chili sauce or ketchup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/4 cups water
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1-1/4 cups mashed potato flakes
• 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
• 1 tube (12 ounces) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
• 1/2 cup crushed potato chips
• Paprika, optional

Directions:

• In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until tender; drain. Stir in the chili sauce, vinegar and salt; set aside.
• In a small saucepan, bring water and butter to a boil. Pour into a small bowl. Whisk in potato flakes until blended. Beat in cream cheese until smooth.
• Press 1 biscuit dough onto the bottom and up the sides of each of 10 greased muffin cups. Fill with beef mixture. Spread potato mixture over beef. Sprinkle with potato chips; press down lightly.
• Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with paprika if desired. Serve immediately, or cool before placing in a single layer in a freezer container. Cover and freeze for up to 2 months.
• To use frozen pies: Thaw in the refrigerator for 8 hours. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 15-18 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 5 servings.

Recipe courtesy of www.tasteofhome.com via Pinterest

Parmesan Bowtie Skillet

I'm not exactly sure where I got this recipe from. I found the recipe on the back of some scrap paper that I copied down from somewhere. I found it with all my cook books this weekend while packing. I thought I'd try this dish and add some hot Italian sausage to spice it up. ;) Brian, my food critic, said it was definitely a repeater.

Ingredients:
3 cups of bow tie (farfalle) pasta, cooked and drained
1 14oz jar of spaghetti sauce
1/2 c ricotta
1/2 c mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 package ground Italian sausage (I used hot)

Directions:
1. While I cooked the pasta, I browned the sausage. Drain and set aside.
2. Combine cooked pasta, spaghetti sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese in a skillet. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and add sausage.
3. Cook ten minutes.
4. Remove from heat. You can sprinkle with extra mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese depending on your liking.

Serving suggestion: Garlic bread and/or a side salad

Makes enough for leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Italian Sausage Soup

This dish is a perfect meal for these cooler months that are approaching. It made a lot so there were plenty of leftovers. My friend Tracey got this recipe from her friend Kelly. Thanks for passing it along to me! It was a big hit in our house. The recipe calls for mild Italian sausage, which I used. I think next time I make it, I'll try hot sausage. We like the kick the "hot" give us. :)

Ingredients
1 lb of mild (or hot) Italian sausage
1 medium onion chopped
1 medium green pepper chopped
28 oz can of crushed tomato
2- 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
2- 8 oz cans of water
3 chicken bullion cubes
3/4 tsp of garlic salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1 TBSP parsley
3/4 cup of macaroni noodles
shredded mozzarella cheese


Directions:
1. Brown sausage, pepper and onion. Drain.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients except the noodles. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add macaroni. Cover and simmer 10 more minutes.
4. Serve and top with cheese. YUM!!!!

Auntie Sherry's Spaghetti Sauce

This great Italian dish was created by my Aunt Sherry. She would always make this for our family when we were on vacation together. Julie and I called it "Auntie Sherry's Restaurant" when we were little. It just became a tradition to always have it one night for dinner. This year, it was fitting to make it for my mom's birthday since Sherry isn't here with us today. It was up to my sister and me to figure out how to make it. Since the directions below don't have "exact" amounts. Sherry would just add the spices and taste. It turned out delicious!!!!!!! I hope you enjoy it and think of Auntie Sherry when you make it!!!!


Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb ground chuck
• 1/2 onion
• 1 large jar of Ragu original spaghetti sauce (30 oz)
• 1 can stewed tomatoes (15 oz)
• 1/2 can of tomato paste
• 1 tbsp sugar
• oregano
• garlic powder
• basil
• salt
• pepper

Directions:
Saute chopped onion and ground chuck in a large skillet with salt & pepper until meat is brown. Drain. Add jar of Ragu, stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and "lots" of oregano, garlic powder, and basil. Simmer for about 1/2 hour to 1 hour.


Recipe courtesy of Aunt Sherry

Chex Mix

This is a great dish to bring to parties, to Friday morning treats at work ;), or if you're going to the lake and going to be on a boat! Well, that's what I do with this Chex Mix! Ha!!!!

2 c each corn, wheat and rice chex
2 c pretzel stix
2 c pecan halves

mix together in pan (I used an aluminum roasting pan) and set aside.


Melt 1 stick of butter in sauce pan on low heat
add the following:

4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
4 dashes of Tabasco
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Stir and turn off heat.

Pour mixture over dry ingredients.

Stir to thoroughly coat.

Bake at 250 degress for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Kris Linde

Morning Glory Muffins

This tasty muffin is full of carrots and apples! It's a "sneaky" treat that your child might enjoy! Jack and his friends, Ben and Lili, gobbled them up today at our play date! As you will see, I omitted some ingredients. I didn't have and couldn't find unsweetened coconut. I also did 1/2 c oil and 1/2 cup applesauce instead of 1 c oil. I made these for Jack and his friends and they are still at the age that they shouldn't have nuts. If I were making them for myself or adults, I would have put the nuts. I had my first Morning Glory muffin at a friend's house and loved the nuts.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
• 1 apple - peeled, cored and shredded
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrot, raisins, nuts, coconut, and apple. (I omitted nuts and coconut)
   
3. In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, oil (I did 1/2 c oil and 1/2 c applesauce), and vanilla. Stir egg mixture into the carrot/flour mixture, just until moistened. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

Recipe courtesy of www.allrecipes.com