Brushetta Topped Chicken

Holy amazing.  Yes, that is all I have to say.  Oh, and Mom, this is the recipe you said you wanted to try.  Okay, now I'm done.

Ingredients:
2-4 Chicken breasts
1/4 Cup balsamic vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette
1/4 Cup olive oil
Mozzarella cheese slices (2 per chicken)

Brushetta Toppings:
3-4 Roma tomatoes
8 Fresh basil leaves (I got mine at sprouts)
4-5 dash's garlic powder
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or vinaigrette
Black olives, diced, OPTIONAL

Directions:
*Dice your tomatoes up into small bite sized pieces.  Throw all the inner junk out (seeds and slimy parts).

*Roll all of your basil into a roll, then cut it into small pieces.  Works amazing... (picture is before I picked the leaves off the stalk and before I diced them up...oops)

*Add your garlic powder, salt, and balsamic.  Put it in a bowl and throw it in your fridge.  We like ours cold so I make this hours ahead of time.  You can make it a minute or two before serving though.

*Cook your chicken breasts on the grill outside, indoor grill, or on the stovetop.  Just cook them however you want...

*Once the chicken is done, put the mozzarella slices on top of the chicken and continue to cook until they melt.

*Remove your chicken and put them on your plates.

*Spoon the brushetta topping on top.

*I added black olives to mine, Nick did not.  It was delicious...and we don't like tomatoes!

Sausage and Spinach Pizza

Holy amazing.  Totally made this recipe up on my own.  Will be making again very soon!

Ingredients:
1 Can pizza dough (I used pillsbury)
1-1 1/2 Cups alfredo sauce
1 Bag frozen spinach, thawed and well drained
1 lb mild italian sausage
2 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
*Pre-heat your oven to 400*F.  (Use the temperature your can says to use...mine was 400*F).

*On a baking sheet sprayed with baking spray, unroll your pizza dough.  Stretch it out to the size you want.  If you want to pinch the edges for a crust, do that now also.

*Pour your alfredo sauce onto the dough, not going all the way to the edges though...You need to have the edges without sauce to help pick your slices up with once cooked.

*Spread the sauce out.

*Cook your sausage in a skillet on the stove until cooked.

*Once cooked, add the spinach and cook until heated through.  Be careful to stir constantly because the spinach can easily burn.

*Pour your meat and spinach mixture onto the alfredo sauce.

*Top with shredded cheese.

*Put your pizza into the oven and bake for the amount of time that your pizza container told you to.  Mine was for about 18 minutes.  This is so so so good!

Pumpkin Pie

Here is our favorite pumpkin pie: Libby's with a slight spice change.  There are 2 kinds of pumpkin pie's: those that use molasses in them, and those that don't.  This one doesn't.  Nick mentioned to me a couple years back that he didn't like pumpkin pies with molasses because they taste burnt.  And I totally agree!  There was always some pumpkin pie's that I loved, and some that I could never finish the piece.  He figured it out for me!  (I am willing to try new kinds though if you have recipes for them!)

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
dash of cinnamon
dash of allspice
2 Large eggs
1 Can pumpkin (small can)
1 12 oz Can evaporated milk
1 frozen, uncooked pie crust (Deep dish)

Directions:
*In a mixer, mix the sugar, salt, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and allspice.

*Add the pumpkin to the spice mixture and mix well.

*While mixing the spices and pumpkin, add the eggs and mix well.

*Now, mix in the evaporated milk slowly while the mixer is going...

*Pre-heat your oven to 425*F.

*Take your frozen pie crust out of the freezer and put it on a baking sheet that has been lined with tinfoil.

*Pour your pumpkin mixture into the pie crust.  YES, it is supposed to be super liquidy.  Weird, I know.

*Very carefully put your pie into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

*After 15 minutes, change the temperature of your oven from 425 down to 350*F.  Leave your pie in  the oven the whole time, even through this change in temperature.

*Bake for 50-55 minutes.  You want the top to brown slightly.

*After cooking, place pie on a cooling rack for 2 hours.  Yes, 2 hours.  After the 2 hours you can have a slice, or put it directly into the fridge, covered.  If you have a piece after the 2 hours it will be a soft pumpkin pie.  If you put it into the fridge and have a piece later, it will be a more solid pie.  YUM!

Spinach and Sausage Pasta

I took a few items out for dinner tonight, only to realize some of the ingredients I needed for the dish I planned on making were not in my pantry.  Sigh.  So, here's a recipe I came up with off the top of my head and boy was it good!  Nick has been asking if I wrote the recipe down yet because he really liked it!  (Sorry about the terrible pictures, I couldn't get the silly flash to work...again.)

Ingredients:
1/2-1 lb of italian sausage (I think we used sweet)
1 Bag of frozen spinach, thawed and fully drained
3/4 Box of ziti noodles
1 Container cooking creme, Italian herb blend
1 Cup alfredo sauce

Directions:
*Boil water for pasta.

*Cook meat in a skillet, drain fat.

*Pour the spinach into the meat once the meat is cooked.

*Add the cooking creme and alfredo sauce.

*Stir the meat mixture until well blended and warm.

*Pour the noodles into the sauce mixture and mix well.

Pumpkin Fudge

Fall season is finally here.  Living in Texas doesn't mean its fall weather, but the season itself is here.  We are still wearing tank tops and shorts because of how hot it is!  Yikes!  Anyways, back to the fall season.  YUM.  It is the only season pretty well based on good food: apples, cinnamon, vanilla, pumpkin, squash's...oh man...there goes my pants fitting!  Here is my first attempt at pumpkin fudge.  It turned out SO good that I highly doubt I will try any other one!  Yup, another winning recipe.

Ingredients:
2 Cups granulated sugar
1 Cup packed brown sugar
3/4 Cup butter or margarine
1/2 Cup canned pumpkin
1 Small (5 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
2 tsp's pumpkin pie spice
1 Pkg WHITE chocolate chips (12 ounces, or 2 cups)
1 Jar (7 ounces) Marshmallow Creme (see picture below)
1 Cup chopped pecans (I used 1/4 cup chopped walnuts...can omit if you want)
1 1/2 tsp's vanilla extract

Directions:
*Before we start, here is a picture of what marshmallow creme looks like: (find it in the baking aisle)

*Line a 9x13 glass dish with tin foil.  Don't spray it down...it won't stick; I promise!

*Combine the white sugar, brown sugar, butter (if its cold, cut it into pieces), pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and evaporated milk into a large skillet/saucepan.

*Turn the stove onto medium and stir the mixture constantly until it comes to a rolling boil.

*Now that its boiling, continue to stir constantly for 11-12 minutes.  Yes, your hands will be tired.  I set the timer on my microwave (which is directly above my stove) so I knew when the time was up so I could finally stop stirring!  It will start to get thick towards the end of the 11-12 minutes.  (The directions from the website I got this recipe at said to check your temperature to make sure it was between 234 and 240*.  I don't have a candy thermometer and my fudge still turned out amazing!)

*Quickly stir in the bag of white chocolate chips, the entire container of marshmallow creme, the nuts, and the vanilla extract.  Stir really hard for a full minute, until everything is mixed and the chocolate pieces are dissolved.

*Immediately pour this mixture into the dish lined with tin foil.

*Let the dish sit on a wire rack for at least 2 hours to completely cool down.

*Once it has cooled down, pull the tin foil out.  The whole piece of tin foil will peel off the bottom of the fudge.  Now cut your fudge into 1 inch pieces.

*Store your fudge in a tightly sealed container in the fridge!  It has to be kept cold!

(I got this recipe from verybestbaking.com)

Baked Spaghetti

This is a popular Southern dish that I had never made before.  SUPER GOOD.  We all loved it.  YUM!

Ingredients:
8 Ounces uncooked spaghetti noodles
1 lb ground beef
1 Jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 Cup diced onion
1/2 Cup diced pepper/peppers (I used green and red)
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 Pkg cream cheese
2 Tbsp's milk
Paremesean cheese
1 Small container French's fried onions

Directions:
*Cook the pasta.

*Cook the ground beef in a skillet on the stove.  Drain out any fat once cooked.

*Add the spaghetti sauce to the ground beef.  He it through.

*Put the peppers, onions, and butter into a glass baking dish and cover it.  Put it in the microwave and cook it for 3-4 minutes (weird, but it works).

*Take the pepper mixture out and add the milk and cream cheese to it.  Mix it all up.

*Spray down a square baking dish with cooking spray.

*Pre-heat oven to 350*F.

*Put a couple tablespoons of spaghetti/meat sauce onto the bottom of the glass dish.  Spread it around.

*Drain all of the pasta.

*Empty the pasta into the baking dish.

*Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the pasta.

*Pour the spaghetti sauce onto the top of the cream cheese mixture.

*Put some Parmesan cheese over top of the sauce mixture (use as much as you would like).

*Put the dish into the oven and bake for 23-25 minutes.

*Take the pasta dish out and pour the fried onions on top.

*Continue to bake for 3-5 minutes (careful not to burn them!)

Hope you like this dish!

Buttercream Icing

I needed something to go on top of my pumpkin muffins, so I looked up how to make buttercream icing.  This is the recipe from Wilton (yes, that Wilton...the cake/cupcake/cookie company).  The icing was so good...but you guys know me...I had to change it up!  So I added 1 Tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice to the finished buttercream and it turned out SO GOOD!  I had a couple spoonfuls of it by itself!  YUMMY!

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup vegetable shortening
1/2 Cup butter (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 Cups confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
2 Tbsp's milk

Directions:
* In a large bowl, mix the shortening and butter with a mixer.

*Mix in the vanilla extract.

*SLOWLY add one cup of powdered sugar at a time.  Mix on medium speed until all sugar has been mixed in.  Your mixture will be dry and crumbly.

*Add the 2 tablespoons of milk and mix on medium speed until creamy and mixed well.

*If you aren't using it right away, cover it with a damp cloth over the bowl until you are ready to use.

*I wanted my buttercream to go on top of my pumpkin muffins, so I added 1 Tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice to my icing and mixed it well.  It turned out beyond delicious...oh heavens....

(NOTE:  The icing can be kept in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.  Just re-mix it before using.)

(NOTE: If you want it to be easier to spread (since its thick), you can add any of these to the mixture: 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup, water, or milk.)

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

Did you read the title right???  There's no way...  Yes, there is "way" and you did in fact read it right.  These muffins are made up of 2 ingredients, and they take about 2 minutes to prepare.  You are probably wondering how they taste, right?  Well, you will be pleasantly surprised with how incredibly yummy these are!  They are so moist too!  I absolutely, most definitely will be making these again.  Oh, and my next recipe is for the pumpkin spiced butter-cream frosting I made/kind of invented.  AMAZING!

Ingredients:
1 Pkg yellow cake mix
1 Can pumpkin

Directions:
*Mix the 2 ingredients together.

*Put muffin liners in your muffin pans.

*Drop dough by large spoonfuls into muffin liners (they don't expand as much as normal cupcakes/muffins do).

*Set your oven to 350*F.

*Bake for 22-25 minutes.

*Put icing on them once they are dry if you want too.  My above recipe is delicious for the tops of these (Buttercream Icing)!

Lasagna Skillet

Have you seen those new "cooking creme's" by Philadelphia Creme Cheese???  It's the neatest little tub of "creamy flavorings" that you add to whatever dish you are making.  I got mine at Target and it was located in the milk, eggs, velveeta cheese section.  Anyways, the container looks like this:

and you have got to go get one.  There are tons of different flavors, but I picked the tomato and basil one.  So, here we go...

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 Cup green pepper, diced
1/2 Cup red pepper diced (or just dice 1 cup of any colored pepper you like)
1 Jar spaghetti sauce
2 1/2 Cups water
12 Lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
1 Tub tomato and basil cooking creme

Directions:
*In a skillet, cook your meat and peppers.

*Add your water and jar of spaghetti sauce to your meat and pepper mixture (make sure to drain any liquid from the meat before you do this...)

*Bring this to a boil.

*Crumble your noodles into bite sized pieces (you don't want them too small...you want to be able to pick them up with a fork once they are cooked).

*Pour your crumbled noodles into the meat mixture/spaghetti sauce mixture.  Cover.  Cook over medium low heat for 20-25 minutes.  Stir occasionally.

*Once the noodles are tender, turn off the stove and empty the tub of cooking creme into the noodle mixture. Stir with a spoon and let sit for 3 minutes.

I've got to say, I was impressed.  It was really easy to make and tasted really good!  I'll be buying some other flavors soon too to try out.  If you go to this website, it has tons of recipes for different flavors (on the back of each tub of creme is one recipe for that creme, but this website has lots of different ones)
http://w3.kraftbrands.com/philly/recipes/cooking-creme/Pages/all-flavors.aspx