Slow Cooker Lasagna

We've had a great day today! It was really nice not having football to watch for a change!!

 

I've been wanting to try Lasagna in the slow cooker for awhile so I figured this weekend would be a good weekend to try it. I used the following recipe as a guide, but changed it a bit - http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-lasagna/23546794-7262-47be-9ca4-e12c900399a1?WT.mc_id=taf_recipe_BC

Ingredients:

• Tomato Sauce
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 12 uncooked lasagna noodles

Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. (Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.

Spoon sauce into bottom of slow cooker; top with 4 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. 

Spread with half of the cheese mixture and sauce. 

Top with 4 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and more sauce. Top with remaining 4 noodles and remaining sauce.

• Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender.
• Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into pieces.

This was super easy and super delicious! I will definitely make this again. Ben really liked it!

Stay tuned for Super Bowl next weekend. I will be making some of my favorite recipes and adding some new ones as well!

Baked Spaghetti PLUS YUMMY dessert!

Sorry for the delay on the post. Things have been a bit busy here!

I had some ricotta cheese in the house I needed to use so I decided to do a different twist on lasagna since it is kind of a pain to make!  I found this recipe for Baked Spaghetti - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-spaghetti-2/

Ingredients:

• 1 box of spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 carton ricotta cheese (use your judgement on this, I did not use as much as recipe stated)
• 1 pound ground beef (I made mine without meat)
• 1 jar tomato sauce
• 1 package shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray baking pan with non stick cooking spray. Combine hot cooked spaghetti with butter; stir until butter melts and coats spaghetti. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese; stir to coat. 

Arrange spaghetti in an even layer in pan. Spread ricotta cheese over spaghetti. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. 

Add pasta sauce and heat until bubbly. Spoon over cheeses. Top with mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese.

Cover with non-stick foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil cover and continue baking 15 minutes or until cheese is lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I've been saving this dessert recipe for something special. I thought I was going to make it for Christmas and didn't, but since I had all of the ingredients I decided to make it this weekend since we were having some company. I found the recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert Recipe on Pinterest -
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Peanut-Butter-Chocolate-Dessert

Ingredients:

• 20 chocolate cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
• 1 carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
• 15 miniature peanut butter cups, chopped (I used my food processor)
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate fudge pudding mix

Crush 16 cookies; toss with the butter. Press into an ungreased 9-in. square dish; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over crust. Sprinkle with peanut butter cups.

In another large bowl, beat the milk, pudding mix and remaining confectioners' sugar on low speed for 2 minutes Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set (I didn't mix this long enough so the topping was not right.  It came out fine after setting in fridge, but next time I will mix longer). Fold in remaining whipped topping.

Spread over peanut butter cups. Crush remaining cookies; sprinkle over the top. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Both recipes came out really good! The dessert took a bit more time than I expected but was definitely worth it! Ben said this dessert was one of his favorites!!!

Stay tuned for Super Bowl Sunday! I will be making some of my favorite recipes from this season and may be adding 1-2 new recipes as well!

Crispy Cheddar Chicken YUMMY

I decided to try a chicken recipe this week that I found for Crispy Cheddar Chicken- http://jamiecooksitup.net/2011/10/crispy-cheddar-chicken/

Ingredients:

Chicken:

• 4 large chicken breasts (I used 3)
• 2 sleeves Ritz crackers (I used 1)
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/8 t pepper
• 1/2 C milk
• 3 C cheddar cheese, grated

Sauce:

• 1  10 ounce can cream of chicken soup
• 2 T sour cream
• 2 T butter

 Cut each piece of chicken into 3 large chunks. In a small food processor, grind up the ritz crackers.

 Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small bowls. Toss the 1/4 t salt and 1/8 t pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine.  Dip each piece of chicken into the milk, then the cheese. Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers. Some of it will fall off when you add it to the cracker crumbs, don’t worry about it. 

Press the cheesy chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in. By the time you are coating the last piece of chicken, the dish you are using for the crumbs will be full of cheese.

 

 Once the cheese melts in the oven it will adhere nicely to the crumbs and the crackers. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan. 

 
Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.

Into a medium sized sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot.

  Serve over the chicken. I even used the sauce to put over my baked potato and it was delicious!

This was definitely a hit! I will make again for sure! ENJOY

BONUS RECIPES! Breakfast and dinner

I've been very busy trying new recipes so I wanted to share two great dishes that I made today.

We started off our day with Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups. I found this on Pinterest but the actual recipe link can be found here - http://littlebirdiebaby.blogspot.com/2011/10/tutorial-tuesday-linky-party-trio-of.html

Ingredients:

• 1 24 oz. bag of shredded hash browns
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbs oil (I use olive oil)
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar
• Bacon bits or 8=10 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled
• Eggs
• Extra shredded cheddar
• Muffin tin

Take your bag of hash browns and mix in the salt, pepper, oil and 1/3 cup shredded cheese.

 Divide among the cups in your muffin tin, making sure to grease tin beforehand.

Bake hash browns at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until toasty.

Once they're finished, take them out and lower the temp of the oven to 350 degrees. Crack an egg into each of the cups. Top with bacon and a sprinkle of extra cheese

Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes (or until the eggs are as firm as you like them). Slide a knife along the edges to remove from pan when cooled.  Serve with ketchup and enjoy! These came out awesome! These would be a great breakfast/brunch dish for company too!

The second dish I made was for Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli. I found this recipe on my friend's website food blog here - http://flavorsbyfour.blogspot.com/2013/01/slow-cooker-beef-and-broccoli.html

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Beef Chuck Roast Cubes - Sliced into Strips
• 1 Cup Low Sodium Beef Broth
• 1/2 Cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Sesame Oil
• 2 Tbsp Corn Starch
• 3 Cups Fresh Broccoli Florets (I decided to use green peppers instead of broccoli)
• Sesame Seeds for Garnish if Desired
• Cooked Rice (White, Jasmine or Brown)

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the beef broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar and garlic.

 Place your beef slices in the sauce and toss to coat. Pour the entire bowl into the slow cooker and turn it on low, cover and cook for 4 hours and 30 minutes. The last 30 minutes of cooking you will be adding the vegetable and the corn starch to thicken up the sauce. You want to be careful not to over cook the meat because then it will begin to shred.

When the beef has cooked for 4 hours take a few Tbsp of the sauce from the slow cooker in place them in a small bowl. Whisk the corn starch into the sauce. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker and stir to combine.  Toss the vegetable of choice into the slow cooker on top of the beef, give it a few good stirs so it has some of the sauce on it. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes. While you are waiting for the broccoli to cook and the sauce to thicken you can prepare your rice.

Spoon rice into bowls, ladle beef and vegetable with some additional sauce on top of the rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you want to. 

This was just as good as the beef and peppers we get from the chinese restaurant and very easy and cheap to make!!!  This portion made enough for 2 of us plus extra leftovers too!

Another good recipe to make again!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Sunday Funday Addition with another new recipe!

Playoffs!

Happy Sunday everyone! Although my team isn't in the playoffs, I will still be continuing Sunday Funday for the rest of the season. I'm really enjoying finding new recipes, so this is a good excuse to make them!

I had ground beef that I needed to cook and wanted something easy because I didn't have a lot of time or energy. I've been finding a lot of recipes on http://pinterest.com/  so I decided to do a search for ground beef. On that page I found a pin for 22 Quick Fixes with Ground Beef which I thought could have something simple to make for dinner. On that site I found a recipe for Cheesy BBQ Sloppy Joe's that sounded perfect - http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cheesy-bbq-sloppy-joes-10000001975727/

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds ground beef (or whatever size package you have for dinner)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup bbq sauce
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• kaiser rolls

Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 8 to 10 minutes or until beef crumbles and is no longer pink; drain well. Return to skillet. Stir in tomatoes,ketchup and bbq sauce, and, if desired, jalapeño peppers. Cover and cook 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare rolls (the actual recipe used texas toast but since I didn't have any I made my own garlic bread - spread butter on bread and sprinkle with oregano). Put in broiler until warm. 

Serve beef mixture over Texas toast/rolls; sprinkle with cheese.

This was delicious! We had fries as a side dish. I will definitely make this again!!

I hope everyone has a good week! Until next time....

Week 17 - Marinated Ranch Chicken plus a bonus appetizer!

This week we are vacationing in New Jersey and I've been able to make a few fun dishes. The first dish is for Marinated Ranch Chicken - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/marinated-ranch-broiled-chicken/

Ingredients: (I doubled the recipe)

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 packets of dry ranch style dressing mix
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

I did this a little different than the recipe stated:

Combine the dressing mix, oil and vinegar in a bowl and mix together. 

Place the chicken on a baking sheet and coat evenly with the mixture.

Refrigerate to marinate for at least 1 hour (overnight if possible). Preheat oven to Broil/Grill.  Broil for 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through and no longer pink inside.

This chicken had a really nice taste. Next time I will try to marinate it longer so the marinade can really soak into the chicken.

The second dish was a ringer for Ben! It is for Bacon Cheese Puffs - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bacon-cheese-puffs/

Ingredients:

• 1 pound bacon (I used the already cooked bacon)
• 2.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup mayo
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard
• 1 pound party rye bread

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.

Preheat oven to broil.

In a medium bowl combine the bacon, cheese, mustard and mayonnaise. Stir well.

 Arrange party bread on a cookie sheet. Spoon mixture onto each slice of bread.

Broil for 5 minutes, or until bubbly. ***When I broiled this it actually burned because the oven was too hot. It was better just toasting it in the toaster oven and keeping a close eye on it. This was definitely a tasty hit!

Christmas Addition!!!

Merry Christmas!!! What an exciting Holiday for the Faircloughs - Ellie's 1st!!!  We had a lot of company this weekend and I was very busy cooking. I'm excited to share all of the special dishes I made this holiday.

The first recipe was from Pinterest for a shrimp dish - I used this for an appetizer.

Ingredients:

• bag of shrimp
• 1 lemon
• 1 packet of Italian seasoning
• 1 stick of butter

I'm not sure how to share the link but here is the recipe:

Melt a stick of butter in the pan. Slice one lemon and layer it on top of the butter. Put down fresh shrimp, then sprinkle one pack of dried Italian seasoning. 

Put in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 min. Best Shrimp you will EVER taste:) and it really was!!!

The second dish was for Crack Potatoes - another Pinterest recipe - http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/01/crack-potatoes.html

Ingredients:

• 2 (16oz) containers sour cream
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2 (3oz) bags real bacon bits
• 2 packages Ranch Dip mix
• 1 large (28 - 30oz) bag frozen hash brown potatoes - shredded kind (it is easier to do this if the potatoes are thawed out a bit otherwise you can't mix all ingredients together)

Combine first 4 ingredients, mix in hash browns.  Spread into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes.

These were also a very big hit!! And very easy to make as you can see!

The last recipe was our breakfast on Christmas Eve morning. I needed to find something easy to make for 6 people and found a recipe for Crustless Bacon and Cheese Quiche - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Crustless-Bacon-and-Cheese-Quiche/Detail.aspx?prop24=RD_RelatedRecipes

Ingredients: (what I actually used)

• 3 green peppers chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 12 slices of bacon
• 12 eggs
• 1/3 cup of sour cream
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 325 degrees F.

Reserve 2 tablespoons each peppers and tomatoes. Cook bacon (mine was already chopped up) in large skillet until crisp. 

Add peppers and tomatoes; mix well.

Beat eggs and sour cream with whisk until well blended. 

Pour into greased 13x9-inch baking dish; top with bacon mixture and cheeses.

Bake 30 minutes or until center is set. Sprinkle with reserved onions and tomatoes. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting to serve.

All of my holiday recipes were a bit hit this year!! I will definitely use these recipes again since they were all so easy to make!

I have one more entry before the end of the year! I will be making spaghetti burgers, so stay tuned until then!