Manicotti

Dennis made this dish during our freezer cooking day and it turned out really well. We just got the recipe online from allrecipes.com. I was surprised to find out you don't cook the noodles. It made sense because stuffing these shells would be super hard once cooked!!
One thing we changed in this recipe was we did not add water to the sauce and added a can of petite diced tomatoes with juices instead.

To cook from frozen:
Pop in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about an hour and a half. Our's got just slightly over cooked on the top, next time I might cover with foil the last 15 minutes or so.

We also divided this recipe into two smaller freezer containers and it was perfect because we still have enough left for about 3-4 more servings even in the smaller pan. (NOT ONE KID EVEN TOUCHED THIS!!! Seriously, I think the food I provide is quite tasty and they just are not interested. Is this normal??)

Side note:
One thing I have found with freezer cooking is you need a bit longer cook time. So you save time in prep., but you do need to be home to put it in the oven.

On the Menu 3/22-3/29

This week I am embarrassed to admit I have spent most of our grocery money!! We will have to be frugal with our eating out (I have been taking the kids to Burger King A LOT for lunch, I know I am so LAZY!) as well as with my couponing and grocery spending. Luckily we have a ton of freezer food left and a good stock of pantry food, so that will be determining much of my menu this week and next. Here it is for now:

Monday: Manicotti (frozen)

Tuesday: Tacos

Wednesday: P90X Porkchops (frozen)

Thursday: Freezer Sandwiches

Friday: Breakfast

Saturday: Spaghetti

Desserts:

Brownies (from a box, I don't do Brownies from scratch)

Freezer cookies

Any one have a great recipe from pantry ingredients for my next week menu??

Not Scotchies, How about Deluxe Rice Krispy Treats?

My friend Krista made these for me what seems like a million years ago on Guam and they were super tasty. I had never had anything but the marshmallow version and these are definitely no marshmallow treat! These are a peanutty chocolate delight! YUM!

Deluxe Rice Krispies or Peanut butter Rice Krispy treats

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Karo syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cups Rice Krispies

12 oz. chocolate chips

6 oz. butterscotch chips

DIRECTIONS:

Bring Karo syrup and sugar to boil. Cook until sugar is dissolved (happens pretty fast). Take off heat and add peanut butter. Mix well. Add Rice Krispies. Press into greased 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate chips and butterscotch chips on LOW heat stirring continuously. Pour and spread over Krispies. Let cool before cutting and serving.

Problem:

One issue I did have was my butterscotch chips did not melt as easy as my chocolate chips did. Any suggestions?

Handy tip for the day:

One thing my grandma taught me was to get out all of your ingredients before starting to prepare your recipe. It ensures you have everything before you start (It would not be fun to get started and realize you forgot to buy the Rice Krispies!). This is also handy for a recipe like this. The ingredients cook quickly and it makes it easier to having everything out and ready and even measured before you start. That way nothing burns and makes the recipe go smoother and stress free.

Breakfast for Dinner: Pancakes!

Very often we have a breakfast style dinner. Breakfast is just so yummy and there are lots of fast and easy breakfast meals so that fits perfect with my schedule and way of cooking. Last night we had our breakfast dinner and made pancakes. I use a buttermilk pancake recipe from my trusty 12th Edition Better Homes and Gardens cook book. The one thing I change is that I mix my regular flour with wheat flour. I find especially with pancakes it makes them taste a little bit more hearty and I feel like I am being a little more healthy as well. Here is the recipe I use:

(by the way this only makes about 10 pancakes, my kids actually eat these so I usually make a double batch)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

2 Tablespoon cooking oil

Combine dry ingredients and make a well in the center, set aside. Combine eggs, buttermilk and oil in small bowl. Add egg mixture to flour mixture. Stir until moistened.

Pour 1/4 cup batter onto greased, heated griddle pan.

** If you don't have buttermilk, add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice to milk and let curdle while you combine other ingredients. The rule is 1 Tablespoon lemon juice per 1 cup milk.

Alfredo Sauce

So, I had planned to do spinach fettuchini Alfredo in honor of St. Patty's day, but I could not find spinach fettuchini at the commissary. SO, I went with tri-color rotini to get a little green in there. I had also considered making my own rolls and adding food coloring to make them green, but forgot and ended up using Pillsbury french bread loaf. So much for festivity, but at least we ate a nice meal!!

I used a recipe for the Alfredo from cooks.com it turned out surprisingly tasty. I didn't want to make a real fatty dinner so I thought I would see if I could make it with milk rather than heavy cream. I found this little recipe and at first I thought it would be too runny, but I let it bubble and then sit for a few minutes and it thickened right up.

I also used the dry Parmesan cheese rather than the fresh which did make it a little grainy. Next time, I want to try it with fresh Parmesan and see how that works. Really though, I thought it tasted way yummy and ate the kids left overs minus Cadey's who ate hers and minus Will's who just ate his with butter and Parmesan.

On the Menu 3/15-3/21

This week we are eating all of our left overs!!! We have so many I don't know what to do! I know if my kids actually ate, I would complain that we didn't have enough to eat. Still, I would rather them eat than not eat, I don't know how they are growing!! Anyway, nothing too new or exciting this week but if your curious here is our menu!

Monday: Lasagna
Tuesday: Chicken Turmeric
Wednesday: Happy St. Patty's Day: Spinach Fettuchini Alfredo
Thursday: Pork Salad
Friday: Pizza (frozen)
Saturday: Breakfast

Desserts: Cookies, left over bday ice-cream (cake is already gone!!) and scotchies!!

Barbie Princess Cake

For Cadey's birthday I decided to make a Barbie Princess Cake. It turned out really well and I was very happy. Cadey really could have cared less, but I think most people were pretty impressed with my skills. What's funny is that it was super easy, really anyone could do it. I went online and found a YouTube video of how to do this. I knew I was going to use my Pampered Chef large batter bowl but that was the extent of my knowledge. This video was awesome, I would have just jammed the Barbie down the center of the cake and it would have most likely turned out a mess! Luckily, I found out a few helpful hints and the cake turned out great!

I used two Pillsbury cake mixes and bought cake decorating frosting and those were big time savers and helped out a lot. I don't think I would attempt this cake again without the decorator frosting it was a lot easier to work with than my usual cream cheese version. I also bought the sugar flowers already made and that added a fun touch I thought.

For the rest of my how to's to make this cake, really just watch the video it is pretty much exactly what I did. And really, anyone can do this!!!