Happy Anniversary!

Every year for our Anniversary I make lasagna. Of course I make it quite frequently throughout the year too – but its Hubby’s favorite meal, so he always gets it on our Anniversary!

Ingredients:
1 box of lasagna noodles
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesean cheese
1 egg
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 pound of Italian turkey sausage
about 4-5 cups of spaghetti sauce***

Directions:
Mix ricotta, parmesean and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese with the egg and seasoning in a large bowl.

Crumble turkey sausage and brown – add about 1 cup of sauce and simmer.

Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray, pour about 1/2 cup sauce in the bottom.  Place hard lasagna noodles to cover the bottom of the pan.

Spread cheese mix over the noodles and then add another layer of noodles.  Spread turkey sausage over noodles, add another layer of noodles.

Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the lasagna and sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese on top. 
Cover with foil and REFRIGERATE OVERNIGHT!!!  This is essential if you don’t want hard noodles, remember we didn’t cook them.   You can also throw it in the freezer just as is and take it out the night before you plan to cook it.

When you’re ready to cook, preheat oven to 400 degrees and cook about 45 minutes, remove foil and brown the top.  Remove and let sit about 15 minutes before serving.

I usually serve this with the garlic bread knots! YUM!
***I make my own sauce, which I will post a recipe later, feel free to use any sauce you make or buy from the store.

7 Layer salad

This is Karis’ favorite dish – every time I ask if they want salad, Karis pipes in with ‘is it 7 layer salad?’

7 Layer Salad (serves 6-8)
1 head lettuce, washed and chopped
2 cups of Miracle whip
4 tsp sugar
1 small bag of frozen peas
5 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1.5 cups grated cheddar cheese
6 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
3-4 small green onions chopped
Layer the salad in the following order: Lettuce, Miracle whip mixed with sugar, frozen peas, hardboiled eggs, cheese, bacon, and green onions. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Serve in a glass bowl so everyone can see the layers.

Apple Dump cake

Apple Dump Cake (serves 10-12)
3 cans apple pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
½ cup butter
Preheat oven to 350
Dump pie filling into a 9x13 dish
Evenly spread cake mix on top
Melt butter and drizzle across the top of the cake mix
Bake for 30-40 minutes until done

Meatballs

Now, my husband refuses to eat meatloaf.  Will.not.eat.it.  But for some reason he’ll gobble these meatballs up  ;)  And the girls love them when I bake them in a 12 muffin tin and make “Jumbo Meatballs” for dinner.

Meatballs (Makes 20 small – serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
1 pound of ground beef
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 Tbl onion powder
1 egg
about 1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbl parmesean cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Mix ingredients by hand until well mixed and meat really sticks together.
3. Make meatballs by rolling meat mixture between your hands and place in a mini muffin pan. Should make approximately 20 meatballs.
4. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked through.
5. Toss with spaghetti sauce and serve over noodles.

Chicken Enchiladas

(serves 8)
3-4 Chicken breasts
1 package Taco Seasoning (¼ cup water)
1 small container of Sour Cream
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 small (4oz) can of Green Chilis
2 cups shredded Mexican or Cheddar cheese
8 tortillas
1. EITHER Boil and shred chicken, add taco seasoning and ¼ cup water, reduce heat to low and simmer. OR Place chicken, and taco seasoning (no water) in a crockpot and cook on low 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
2. When chicken is ready, get out the rest of the ingredients. Combine sour cream, cream of chicken soup, and green chilis in a saucepan and heat until warmed through.
3. Spray a 9x13 inch pan with Pam, place ½ cup sauce in bottom of pan.
4. Put chicken and cheese in center of tortilla and roll up like a burrito, place in pan, repeat until tortillas and chicken are gone.
5. Cover enchiladas with the rest of the sauce and cheese.
6. Bake in an oven at 350 F for about 30 minutes, until sauce is bubbly.
****This recipe can be put in several foil pans (if you won’t eat 8 enchiladas) and frozen for later use, just thaw and cook until heated through and sauce is bubbly.*****

Chicken and Corn soup

My mom makes an AWESOME Chicken and Corn chowder that my kiddos love.  But I’m trying to be healthier so I just can’t have cream and mashed potatoes in my soup(sorry mom) !  So this is what I came up with – its easy peasy and very yummy!!!

Ingredients:
4 Tbl butter
1/2 onion, chopped (or ground to a paste so your kids don’t complain that there’s onion in the soup!!!) hehehe
1 can corn kernels with juice
1 can creamed corn
6 cubes of chicken bouillon
4 cups of water
5 pieces of bacon (I used turkey bacon) cooked and crumbled
2 cups of cooked, chopped chicken ( I used a breast and thigh from a leftover rotisserie chicken)
salt to taste
Directions:
1.  Melt the butter in a dutch oven, add chopped onions and cook until translucent.
2.  Add both cans of corn with all the juice.  Dissolve 6 cubes of bouillon into 4 cups of hot water.  Add to soup.
3.  Add crumbled bacon and chicken.  Simmer until warmed through.  Salt to taste. Serves about 6

Cheesy Garlic Bread Knots

Most my recipes are found online or given to me from someone else.  However, I can NEVER leave things alone!! I tweak or substitute, sometimes to meet the needs of my family, sometimes because I don’t have a specific ingredient.  However, THESE BABIES ARE PERFECT JUST THE WAY THEY ARE (I do leave out the dill though)!  Here is the link to the original recipe http://www.diaperswappers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=912708

These are so so yummy – and so versatile.  I usually make a bunch and freeze so that we can reheat later.  Sometimes I leave out the cheese, sometimes I leave out the parsley (my kids and hubby have an aversion to most things green!)  But no matter how I make them, they are usually gone quickly!
And just in case you have problems accessing the recipe– here is how I make them!

Ingredients:
3-4 cups flour
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp instant yeast
1 cup water
1 Tbsp oil
1 egg
1/4 cup butter
parsley
garlic salt
cheese (optional)

Directions:
Mix together 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast.  Add water, oil and egg and mix. Add the rest of the flour until the dough is able to knead easily.  Knead 8 minutes and then cover and let rest for about 10 minutes.
Roll out dough into a thin rectangle.  Spread butter on it.  Sprinkle with parsley and garlic salt to taste.  Add cheese if desired.
Fold the top down to the middle and the bottom up to meet.  Cut vertically into 1 inch strips.  Twist and tie into a knot and place on baking sheet or stone.  Cover and let rise about 25 minutes. 
Bake at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes.  Serve warm or freeze to warm up later.