taco soup.

Taco Soup.


Ingredients:
1. 1 lb. ground beef, browned
2. 16 oz. can chili beans, with liquid
3. 15 oz. can kidney beans with liquid
4. 15 oz. can whole kernel corn, with liquid
5. 8 oz. can tomato sauce
6. 2 cups water
7. 14.5 oz. can chili ready diced tomatoes
8. 14.5 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes

9. 4 oz. can diced green chile peppers
10. 1 tbsp. chili powder

11. 1/4 tsp garlic powder

12. 1/4 tsp. onion powder

13. 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

14. 1/4 tsp. paprika

15. 1/4 tsp. oregano

16. 1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Recipe:

1. Combine all ingredients in a crock-pot. Cook on the low setting for about 8 hours.

pizza braid.

Pizza Braid.


Ingredients:
1. Rhoades bake n serve white bread loaf (frozen bread department)
2. pizza sauce
3. cheese (I used shredded mozzarella and a fiesta blend)
4. toppings (I used green pepper, ground beef, and pepperonis)


Recipe:
1. The dough takes a few hours to rise, so take it out at least 4-6 hours before you want to bake it. Wrap with plastic wrap.   
2. On a coated cookie sheet, press out the dough into a large rectangle. Then spread some pizza sauce. Add toppings and cheese. Keep everything close to the middle to leave room for the braiding.
3. Then cut about 1 in. thick strips down the whole rectangle. Keep the strips equal of both sides. Take the first strip and pull it down to the second strip on the other side. Then take the first strip on the other side and do the same. Keep braiding all the way down and make sure to tuck in the ends. (it will rise more during baking, causing it to come undone if not tight) 
4. Spray the top once braided and bake at 350 for about 20-30 mins. until golden brown.


Credit to idea: busy-mommy.com

january wedding.

This past Friday I had the privilege to witness two of my good friends marry each other. I could truly feel their love and happiness as I watched them take their vows. It was amazing. And beautiful.

As I sit back and try to think of more things to put on here, I'm at a loss. I haven't been doing any crafts lately, something that really needs to be fixed. I am working more and more since Mike has lost his job and we have switched roles, hence less and less new recipes. And little man is more and more difficult, pretty much at the peak of his terrible twos (hoping for the demise soon).

With that said I am going to be trying harder and harder to make time to do those crafts I've been thinking about.  Or that yummy dinner I saw in a magazine months ago, that I want to try and tweak.

homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

Homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs.


Ingredients:
Meatballs:
1. 1 lb. ground beef
2. 1/2 cup bread crumbs
3. 1 tbsp. water
4. 1 egg
5. 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
6. 1/2 tsp. italian seasonings


Sauce:
1. 3/4 cup chopped onion
2. 5 cloves garlic, minced
3. 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
4. 2 (14 1/2 oz.) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
5. 2 teaspoons salt
6. 3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
7. 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

Recipe:
Meatballs:
1. In large bowl combine egg, water, bread crumbs, and seasonings. Add ground beef, broken into chunks, and mush with your hands to combine. 
2. Form into meatballs about 1" in diameter and place on a broiler pan. 
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until meatballs are no longer pink in center. 


Sauce:
1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. 
2. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 90 minutes. Add meatballs and simmer 30 minutes more. Serve with your choice of pasta.

one pot chili.

One Pot Chili.


Ingredients:
1. 1 lb ground turkey
2. 1 small onion, chopped
3. 1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
4. 1 tsp olive oil
5. 2 cups water
6. 1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, drained and rinsed
7. 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) beef broth
8. 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomato and green chilies, undrained
9. 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
10. 2 tsps. chili powder
11. 1 tsp. ground cumin
12. 1/2 tsp. oregano
13. 2 cups dried penne pasta
14. sour cream
15. cilantro


Recipe:
1. In a large saucepan, cook the ground turkey, onion and green pepper in the oil over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
2. Stir in the water, beans, broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin and oregano. Bring to a boil. Add pasta; cook for 15-20 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Combine sour cream and cilantro. About 1 tsp. cilantro to every cup of sour cream. 
4. Top chili with sour cream mixture.

homemade nutella.

Homemade Nutella.


Ingredients:
1. 3 oz raw hazelnuts
2. 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
3. 3 oz. unsweetened baker's chocolate
4. 3 tbsp agave nectar


Recipe:
1. Place raw hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and roast for about 10-15 mins on 350.  Once done let completely cool before removing the nut's shell. Add cooled hazelnuts to food processor. Turn the food processor on, after a minute or two you'll be left with very finely ground hazelnuts. After about 2-5 minutes, your hazelnuts should be processed into a liquid. Scrape down the sides and the blade and process until there are no lumps remaining. Set aside.
2. Heat chocolate, condensed milk, and agave nectar on the stove top. Stirring frequently until smooth.
3. Add warm chocolate mix into the food processor with the liquid hazelnut. Process for a minute, until it smooths out. Be sure not to over process.

christmas.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did! Dantae loved his Chuggington train set. And I loved my digital picture frame and VS pjs.

More to come soon I promise..

peanut butter bread.

Peanut Butter Bread.


Ingredients:
1. 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 cup quick-cooking oats
3. 1 cup sugar
4. 1 tablespoon baking powder
5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
6. 1 cup creamy peanut butter
7. 1 egg
8. 1 cup milk
9. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Recipe:
1. Combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the peanut butter until crumbly. Combine the egg, milk and vanilla; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2. Transfer to a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack.

friend photography.

I have a friend, Ashley, who has a up-and-coming photography business.  She took pictures of little man last year that I used as Christmas present for the family. Considering my son looks the other way when cameras are pointed at him and the fact that the particular day we went to have pictures done, he decided to cry pretty much the whole time; the pictures came out amazing.

ashleyerinphotography.com

On her blog, ashleyerinphotography.wordpress.com, she was doing a 365 day projects (trying to anyway) where she took photos of someone of importance in her life, one a day for 365 days. I was day 19. I absolutely love the pictures she took of me.

baked lemon chicken pasta.

Baked Lemon Chicken Pasta.

Ingredients:
1. 1 lb. of chicken tenders
2. 3 lemons
3. garlic
4. parsley
5. thyme
6. butter
7. salt and pepper
8. sour cream
9. shredded parmesean cheese
10. olive oil
11. 1 lb. linguine pasta

Recipe:
1. Whisk the juice from one lemon, 2 tsp. dried thyme, 1 tsp. minced garlic, and 1 tsp. sea salt to make a marinade for the chicken. Let chicken marinade in lemon mixture for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 375. Cook linguine according to directions.
3. In a skillet, melt 4 tbsp. butter with 2 tbsp. olive oil over low heat. When butter is melted, add 2 cloves garlic, minced. Squeeze juice from one lemon into the pan. Turn off heat.
4. Add 2 cups sour cream and stir mixture together. Add zest from one lemon and 1 tsp. sea salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish. Meanwhile place marinaded chicken into another oven safe dish.
5. Bake both covered for 15 mins. Uncover, check and bake additional mins if needed uncovered.
6. Once done, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end. Serve with garlic or French bread.

taco stuffed shells.

Taco Stuffed Shells.

Ingredients:
1. 1 lb. ground beef
2. taco seasoning
3. 4 oz cream cheese
4. large pasta shells
5. salsa
6. taco sauce
7. shredded mexican "taco" cheeses
8. sour cream




Recipe:
1. Brown ground beef and add taco seasoning (I make my own but a package is fine); add 1/2 cup water and simmer 3 mins. Add cream cheese and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. Set aside and allow to fully cool.
2. Meanwhile cook the pasta shells.
3. Pour salsa (about a cup) in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
4. Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place the stuffed shells in the baking dish and drizzle top with taco sauce.
5. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
6. Add cheese on top. Cook for about 10 more minutes. Serve with sour cream. (I also garnished mine with black olives.)


Sorry through the rush of dinner and the fact I'm a horrible blogger; I forgot to take pictures. But it was Delicious.

Stumble Upon.

Favorite Friday.

I just love this site. 

So easy to use and provides hours (days) of entertainment.

I've come across many interesting new things. Like petite giraffe's. I stumbled upon a live video of one named Vladimir. Or cute pictures like

&

or inspirational messages to brighten my day

Sign up and start stumbling yourself.

It becomes addicting.

creamy, cheesy ham and penne.

Creamy, Cheesy Ham and Penne.


Ingredients:
1. penne pasta
2. 1/2 cup frozen peas
3. 1 can (10 oz) Ro*Tel Original Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies
4. 8 oz cream cheese
5. 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6. 3/4 cup cubed cooked lean ham


Recipe:
1. Cook pasta. Add peas to boiling pasta when there is 2-3 mins. left.
2. Combine all remaining ingredients. Cook over medium heat until cheese melts and mixture is bubbly. 
3. Stir in pasta and peas.

Found these with the tomato sauces/diced tomatoes.
 (silly me thought they'd be in the Mexican aisle with the green chilies.)

It was delicious. And ridiculously simple.

imitation uglydolls.

Heard of uglydolls?

They are so ugly its adorable. (even with a big price tag) I obviously thought it was worth it, cause I still got one for my little man. And I bought the first three "graphic novels" for myself.

look at all the characters..

Not wanting to pay another $9.99 for a small felt "doll" made me kick up my crafting abilities; deciding to make my own, this is how it came out.

Not my best work, but I still think it came out fairly nice.  Think I'll try my luck again with the extra felt.

my body wash.

 LIFESAVER TUESDAY.

www.caressskin.com/Products/scarletblossom

It just smells so good.
Red lychee and patchouli oil. 

I had always wanted a body wash like my fiance's old spice ones; where you smell it all day on yourself.   Finally, I found this alluring one. The back of the bottle says that the fragrance, "lingers on your skin long after you step out of the shower." I definitely found that to be correct but more subtle than old spice. It's not a heavy perfume that someone across the room would smell, but someone standing next to you might. I can't wait to try the other fragrance, Sheer Twilight.

www.caressskin.com/Products/sheertwilight

taco salad.

Taco Salad.


Ingredients:
1. 1 lb. ground beef
2. taco seasoning (my recipe is at the end of this post.)
3. 6 - 10 in. flour tortillas
4. 15 oz. can dark red kidney beans; drained and rinsed
5. 2 medium tomatoes; diced
6. 2 medium avocados; pitted, peeled, and diced
7. 1 medium green pepper
8. can of large black olives; halved
9. shredded cheddar
10. sour cream
11. oil based dressing


Recipe:
1. First make the tortilla bowls. Lightly brush 1 side of the tortilla with a small amount of water.  Coat 6 small oven safe bowls with nonstick cooking spray.  Press tortillas, coated side up, into bowls. Place a ball of aluminum foil into each tortilla cup.  Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 mins. Let cool.

Mine didn't come out great; but you get the idea.

2. In a medium saucepan cook ground beef, until beef is brown.  Drain off fat.  Add taco seasoning and 1/3 cup water. Let simmer 5 mins. Stir in kidney beans. Simmer 10 mins.
3. Layer your salad in the tortilla cups. Beef, then your veggies, cheese, and sour cream. Then top with your favorite dressing. I used:  Wish-Bone® Superfruit Berry Vinaigrette. 

It was so tasty.

As promised, my taco seasoning recipe; so you don't have to use a packet seasoning anymore.

Taco Seasoning:

Combine the following:

1. 1 tbsp chili powder

2. 1/4 tsp garlic powder

3. 1/4 tsp onion powder

4. 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

5. 1/4 tsp oregano

6. 1/2 tsp paprika

7. 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

8. 1 tsp sea salt

rotini and sausage casserole.

Rotini and Sausage Casserole.


Ingredients:
1.   1 lb. rotini
2.   1 lb. smoked sausage
3.   4 cups mozzarella
4.   medium red pepper, diced
5.   medium green pepper, diced
6.   medium orange pepper, diced
7.   sun dried tomatoes, diced
8.   basil 
9.   1/2 cup butter
10. 1/2 cup flour
11. 4 1/2 cups milk
12. 3 tsp minced garlic
13. sea salt
14. crushed red pepper


Recipe:
1. Cook rotini according to package. Remove the sausage from the casing and start browning it; like ground beef.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat, just until it starts to bubble. Stir in the garlic, crushed red pepper and a dash of salt. Cook and stir for a few minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the milk and cook, stirring continuously, until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and set it aside. (This creates the sauce.)
3. Spread a little sauce in the bottom of a baking dish and add a layer of pasta. Sprinkle with a generous amount of mozzarella. Add a layer of assorted bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes. Top with about half the sauce.
4. Next layer sausage, then pasta. Then another layer of the mozzarella and veggies. Topped with the last of the pasta and the rest of the sauce. Tear the basil leaves over the top.
5. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on the cheese to make sure it doesn't get too browned.

 Plus the fourth of july cupcakes..

summertime, and the livin is easy.

I just love summer.


Days at the beach.                                                         Brigantine, NJ; August 2010

                                                      Brigantine, NJ; August 2010

Being on the boardwalk.                                           Wildwood, NJ; August 2010

Eating Popsicles.                                                           June 2011 

I'm excited for this weekend.

Fourth of July.

Fireworks 

&

Campfires.

one pan penne with pancetta, tomatoes, and red peppers.

One Pan Penne with Pancetta, Tomatoes, and Red Peppers.


Ingredients:
 1.   1 lb penne (i used multi-grain)
 2.   8 oz. pancetta, diced
 3.   6 plum tomatoes, diced.
 4.   3 tsp minced garlic
 5.   1 red bell pepper, diced.
 6.   1/8 lb sun dried tomatoes, diced.
 7.   2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
 8.   1/2 cup water
 9.   6 chicken bouillon cubes (makes 6 cups) or 6 cups chicken stock
10.  fresh basil
11.  olive oil
12.  1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
13.  parmesan cheese
14.  sea salt

Recipe:
1. Prepare chicken broth as directed on package, making about 6 cups. Keep to the side and keep on a low simmer.
2. In a large saute pan, add a little olive oil and the pancetta. Fry until a little crispy. Remove from skillet, pat dry. (Like bacon)
3. To the saute pan, add garlic, red pepper, sun dried tomatoes and tomatoes. Add crushed red pepper and a dash of salt. Cook over medium heat until tomatoes are tender. (2 minutes or so) 
4. Stir in balsamic vinegar and water. Then add the pasta and stir well. Add a little broth. As the broth is absorbed, add a little more and stir. Continue this process til the pasta is almost done.  (Keep covered during this part.)
5. Tear in a few basil leaves. Add pancetta. Stir together and cook a couple more minutes.
6. Serve with parmesan cheese.

john legend.

LIFESAVER TUESDAY.

Two words. John Legend. 

Whenever I'm blue, I listen to one of his cds and it definitely helps. 

His voice is like gold....and he's not too bad on the eyes either.

Remember Each Day Gets Better.