Week 7 - EASY Baked Ravioli

This is definitely one of my new favorite recipes! Not only is it easy, but DELICIOUS too!!

I actually made the recipe harder than it was supposed to be. I cooked the ravioli first instead of using them frozen. It really only added a few extra minutes to the process though so either way I would consider easy to do.

Link to recipe - http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/baked-ravioli/

Ingredients: 

• 1 bag (25 Oz. Bag) Frozen Ravioli
• 1 jar (26 Oz. Jar) Marinara Sauce
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese, For Sprinkling

Preparation Instructions

Heat oven to 400°F. Spray bottom and sides of a 9×13 rectangular baking dish with cooking spray.

Spread 3/4 cup of the pasta sauce in baking dish. Arrange half of the frozen/unfrozen ravioli in a single layer over the sauce; top with half of the remaining pasta sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers once, starting with ravioli. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes longer or until bubbly and hot in the center. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. (Definitely do this because it makes it easier to serve) ** I baked for half the time noted here since ravioli was already cooked through. 

ENJOY!! We did!! :)

Week 5 and 6 Crockpot Mac & Cheese AND Taco Casserole

Since life has been pretty busy I combined 2 recipes into this week since I missed last week's blog

Crockpot Mac&Cheese - http://www.cupcakediariesblog.com/2013/08/crock-pot-mac-and-cheese-as-seen-on-mom.html

Ingredients:

• 1 box pasta 
• 2 cup milk 
• 1 Can (14 oz) evaporated milk 
• 1/4 cup butter ( melted and cooled to room temperature ) 
• 3 eggs 
• 3 cups cheddar cheese 
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 
• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs, plain 

Cook pasta for 5 minutes

Combine both milk, eggs and butter and whisk until smooth. 

Place mixture into the crockpot and add cheddar cheese and pasta. 

Sprinkle parmesan cheese. Cook on low 2.5 hours.

Enjoy!

Taco Casserole - http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/14292036/taco-casserole/

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 cups broken tortilla chips
• 4 medium peppers chopped
• 3 tomates chopped
• 1 cup cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350°F. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked; drain.

Stir in 1 cup salsa. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. In ungreased 2-quart casserole, place broken tortilla chips. 

Top with beef mixture. Sprinkle with peppers, tomato and cheese.

Bake uncovered 20 to 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. 

I hope you enjoy our 2 recipes - we enjoyed eating both of these dishes very much!! Until next time....

Week 4 - Cupcake Pizza PLUS Turkey Meat Haystack

Week 4 of football season already and I haven't watched ANY football!! Life is just to busy, but I've found time to make some goodies for Ben's birthday Sunday Funday addition.

Both of these recipes were a hit with Ben and my parents, so enjoy!!!

Cupcake Pizza - http://reallyfrompinterest.blogspot.com/2012/04/cupcake-mold-pizzas.html

What you Need:

• Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Dough (I used 1 can)
• Pizza Sauce (tomato sauce is fine)
• Shredded Cheese
• Your favorite toppings
• Muffin Tin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (as the package directed) and grease the cupcake pan.
I separated the dough into 6 equal parts (I probably could have separated the dough into smaller parts to make more, but this way the cupcakes were big and filling). Push the dough into the molds; try to make the dough cover the sides.

Cover dough with pizza sauce, cheese and topping.

Bake for 15 minutes or until fully cooked through. Let them cool before removing with a knife. Serve and ENJOY!

These were awesome and super easy! Great for entertaining!!!

I stumbled across this other recipe when looking for turkey meat recipes and the picture looked so good - http://asugarhigh.blogspot.com/2010/07/easy-haystack-dinner.html  

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 2 cups rice
• 2 lbs. ground turkey, or beef
• 1 - 10¾ oz. can cream of mushroom soup 
• 1 - 10¾ oz. can cream of celery soup
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 2 cups (16 oz) cooked peas/veggie of choice
• Shredded cheese for topping

Cook rice according to package. 

Meanwhile, cook turkey in a large saucepan until thoroughly browned. Add both cans of soup and milk; stir until well combined and creamy. Cook until warm.

To serve Haystacks put some rice on a serving dish, top with meat mixture, then top with peas/veggies of choice and finally top with shredded cheese. If your peas are warmed the cheese should melt over them, if not you can stick the plate in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

This was another yummy and easy dish to make!!!

Stay tuned for Crock Pot Mac and Cheese next week!!!!!!!!!

Week 3 - Easy Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup PLUS Ranch BLT Pasta Salad

This has been a very busy week and I needed to pick recipes that would be EASY. I've been wanting to try soup in the Crockpot for awhile and I thought the weather was perfect for that. I found both recipes on Pinterest, of course!

Super Easy Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup - http://pinchofyum.com/super-easycrockpot-broccoli-cheese-soup

Ingredients:

• 2-3 large heads of broccoli (I used 2)
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 can milk (just refill the empty soup can)
• 2 cans evaporated milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• cheddar cheese for topping

Chop broccoli into bite-sized florets.

Place soup, milk, evaporated milk, and broccoli in a slow cooker.

 

Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8.
Blend 3-4 cups of soup until broccoli has broken into small pieces, about 10 seconds. Add back to the pot and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and top with shredded cheese. **I kept worrying that the soup wouldn't thicken, so I unplugged the Crockpot once it was done cooking. I'm not sure if that helped, but when I scooped the soup out it was nice and thick.**

I wanted something to have with the soup so I found this pasta salad - http://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/ranch-blt-pasta-salad/

• 8 ounces radiatore pasta (or another type of medium-sized pasta)
• 1 bottle Hidden Valley® Original Ranch® Salad Dressing
• 1 + 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, seeds removed
• 1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
• 1 pound bacon, cooked crispy and chopped
• 2 cups finely chopped romaine or iceberg lettuce

Cook the pasta according to package directions to al dente in plenty of salted water.
Drain pasta, toss with dressing to lightly coat so they don’t stick together and refrigerate until cold.

In a large bowl toss the cold pasta with the tomatoes, cheese, bacon and lettuce.
Add enough dressing to generously coat everything. Stir well and enjoy!

For an easy night of recipes, we definitely ate well and enjoyed both dishes very much!! 

Stay tuned for Ben's birthday Sunday Funday next weekend! 

Week 2 - Oven Tacos + Breakfast!!!!!

Week 2 of Football and the Fairclough's have been very busy!!! For this week I will be sharing 2 recipes - Oven Tacos PLUS Bacon and Cheese Pull Apart Biscuits

I found both recipes on pinterest, of course!! They really have some great recipes and I'll be using a bunch this football season.

Oven Tacos 

The actual recipe can be found here - http://mommyimhungry.blogspot.com/2012/11/oven-tacos.html

Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground beef (or turkey/chicken)
• 1/2 packet taco seasoning
• Enough tomato sauce to cover the meat  
• Shredded cheddar cheese 
• 10 hard taco shells 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  
In a large skillet brown ground beef over medium-high heat. Drain off any excess liquid. Return to pan, add tomato sauce, and taco seasoning. Mix well and cook for a few minutes if mixture seems runny. 

Spoon the taco meat mixture into the taco shells and place into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish standing up. Sprinkle cheese over the top of the taco meat in each shell. Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tacos are heated through. 

Remove from the oven and top with any optional condiments for serving.  We used lettuce.

Making the tacos this way helped so that the ingredients didn't fall out of the tacos - we always have this problem, so that is definitely helpful and they were YUMMY!

Bacon, Cheese Biscuits - http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/bacon-cheese-pull-aparts-recipe/

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 16.3 oz Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layers Refrigerated Original Biscuits
• 1 pkg precooked bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3/4 c shredded cheddar cheese

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 11x7- or 12x8-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In large bowl, beat egg and milk with wire whisk until smooth. 

• Separate dough into 8 biscuits; cut each into quarters. Gently stir biscuit pieces into egg mixture to coat evenly. Fold in bacon, cheese and onions. Spoon mixture into sprayed dish; arrange biscuit pieces in single layer.

• Bake at 350°F. for 23 to 28 minutes or until golden brown. Cut into squares. 

Serve and Enjoy! We had company for this dish and they really enjoyed it!! 

Another good week of recipes!!! Stay tuned for next week!!!

• 
  
• 
  

Week 1 - Crockpot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches and Corn Pudding!!

Happy Sunday Funday! I can't believe another year has gone by! Here is an updated picture of our favorite Giants fan! Can't believe she is 13 months old already!!!

For today's first blog entry I made Crockpot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches and Corn Pudding! Both were delicious!

I love pinterest for recipes! I found the Chicken Caesar Sandwiches there - here is the link http://www.cupcakediariesblog.com/2011/09/crockpot-chicken-caesar-sandwiches.html. I changed the recipe slightly so below is what I did.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts - I used four of them for 4 people
• 1 bottle of your favorite caesar dressing 
• 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
• 2 c. shredded romaine lettuce
• Hamburger buns, or whatever bun you prefer
• tomato slices

Directions
Place chicken in your crockpot and cook covered on low for 6-7 hours or on high 4-5 hours.  When the chicken is done, remove it from the crockpot and place on a cutting board. Use two forks to shred the chicken.

Place the chicken back in the crockpot and pour the dressing over it. Also add the Parmesan cheese. You can use as much or as little dressing as you'd like. If the whole bottle looks like it's going to be too much then you can add less (I used 3/4 of the bottle of dressing).

Cover and cook on high for another 30 minutes to get everything nice and hot. 

To serve, spoon about 1/4 c. of chicken onto each bun and put some lettuce and tomato on the top. Cover with the other side of the bun and dig in!

To go with the sandwiches I made my mom's recipe for corn pudding. This recipe is from the Cookbook "The Four Ingredient Cookbooks....As Easy as 1234"

Ingredients:

• 2 (16 oz) cans creamed corn
• 1 (6 oz) package corn muffin mix
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup margarine, melted

Directions:

 Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 2-quart casserole dish.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees

Serve and ENJOY!!!

Stay tuned for Week 2 which will include a breakfast and dinner dish!

2013 Sunday Funday to begin this weekend!!!

Hello Sports Fans!!! Our 3rd season of Sunday Funday is set to begin this Sunday. The one difference this year from the last 2 is that we will be in NEW JERSEY!!!!  We are looking forward to watching the Giants so close to the Stadium!!

Tomorrow's first entry will include a recipe for Crockpot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches. I've made this before and they are delicious, so I wanted to share the recipe. Here are some other recipes that will be included this season:

Baked Ravioli
Oven Tacos
Bacon, Egg and Cheese biscuit pull apart casserole
Cupcake Pizza
Crockpot mac & cheese
plus desserts and much more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay tuned to Sunday Funday with the Faircloughs for lots of yummy recipes. Please feel free to share your favorite recipes for us to try as well.