Vegetable Tortelini Soup

This is from Our Family Treat my neighbor does this blog and it has some super yummy recipes and fun giveaways too. You can cook this in a crock pot as well just don't add the tortellini until 10 minutes before you are ready to serve the soup otherwise it will be overcooked.

1 pound Italian Sausage
1 cup onion-chopped
2 garlic cloves- minced
1 cup carrots-diced
1 cup zucchini-diced
1 green pepper- chopped
3 13 oz cans beef broth
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup dry red wine (optional)
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley flakes

Brown sausage. Set aside and cook saute onions and garlic, until translucent. Then add broth, red wine, tomatoes, carrots, and spices. I used a potato masher and mashed the whole tomatoes a little bit. Stir and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Then add pepper and zucchini. Cover and let simmer for another 20 minutes. Add tortellini for the last 10 minutes of simmering. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Baked Ziti

I made this for dinner co-op last week. It was delicious and made A TON!

1 pound dry ziti pasta

1 pound lean ground beef (I use 85/15)

2 jars spaghetti sauce -one jar of Prego Meat flavored,
one jar of Prego tomato, onion & garlic flavored

1 small tub of ricotta cheese

12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook about 10 minutes until tender then drain. In a large skillet, cook ground beef over medium heat. Drain grease. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes. Use a 9x13 inch baking pan. Layer as follows: 6 Tb of sauce mixture, thin layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 of the ziti, entire tub of ricotta cheese spread across, 1/2 remaining sauce mixture, remaining ziti, remaining sauce mixture, a thick layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is melted.

I got this from this blog

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I made these tonight for Cinco de Mayo. They were SO yummy. I would probably use this same recipe to make enchiladas the next time I do. It had such a good flavor. YUM.


1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions

2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray


Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.
You can prepare up to this step ahead of time. Just keep the mixture in the fridge. 

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or come unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.

Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges.

Then roll it up as tight as you can.

Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

Dip 'em in salsa, sour cream, guacamole.


Recipe by OurBestBites.com

Cookie Pizza

I got this recipe from Pillsbury.com. They call it Rocky Road Pizza and they add peanuts to the top, but nuts tend ruin desserts at our house so we omitted them.

2 cups of ready made cookie dough (if you buy the bigger tub you can get two pizzas out of one tub)
Chocolate Chips
Marshmallows
Caramel (like ice cream topping caramel)

Coat the pizza pan with cooking spray. Break the cookie dough into chunks and place all over the pan. Then using floured fingers push the cookie down into the pan to create the crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 min. Take out of the oven and add the chocolate chips (sprinkle to your liking) and the caramel (drizzle to your hearts content). Then put back in the oven and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove pizza again and add the marshmallows (again to your liking). Bake for another 3 minutes. Remove from oven drizzle more caramel over the marshmallows and let cool completely before serving, about an hour and a half.

**If you like the marshmallows more melty then you can add them to the top when you add the chocolate chips. We like ours more fluffly so we don't cook them as long as the other toppings.

Chicken in Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce

My neighbor made this for our dinner co-op and it was absolutely delicious!

2 cans cream of chicken soup & herbs
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pitted kalamata olives
2 tbsp drained capers
2 cloves minced garlic
1 can (14oz) artichoke hearts drained and chopped
1 cup drained chopped sun-dried tomatoes
8 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 2lbs)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (optional)

Mix soup, chicken broth, olives, capers, garlic, artichokes, and tomatoes in 3 1/2 quart slow cooker. Add chicken and turn to coat.

Cover and cook on low 7-8hrs or on high 4-5hrs, or until chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle basil, if desired, serve with rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

Pork Street Tacos

These are soooo yummy! I will take a pic tonight after dinner and add it to the post (if I remember)

1-2lb pork loin roast
1 can chicken broth
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1-2 tsp minced onion
1-2 tbsp lime juice
2 c water/2 buillion cubes

Salt and pepper both sides of pork roast. Put all ingredients into crock pot and cook 7-8hrs on low or 4-5 hrs on high. Once cooked, take meat out of crock-pot and shred into bowl. Put shredded meat into casserole dish with some of the crock pot juice. Cook at 450 for 20 min. Serve onions, cilantro and salsa.

Chicago-Style Italian Beef Sandwiches

Yummy.

3 cups water
3 beef buillon cubes
1 t. each of:  salt, pepper, oregano, basil, parsley onion powder, garlic powder
1 bay leaf
1 or 2 pkgs of Italian salad dressing seasoning (The recipe says one, reviewers say two, I had one and a half on hand so I did that ;)

Boil all together and pour over beef roast (3-5lbs) in crockpot.  Cook on low 8-10 hours.  Shred and leave meat in juices for another hour.

Optional: (but not so optional in my opinion)
Slice and add red and green peppers and onions to crockpot during last hour, but remove for serving to top sandwiches.  Mushrooms would also be fabulous.   

Serve on Kaiser rolls topped with melted provolone cheese, cooked peppers & onions, and peppecini's.

You can remove some of the juices, but as they say in Chicago "The wetter the better!"  Mmmmmm, Mmmmm.

Pumpkin Dip

Oh my goodness, this was super yummy!  The pumpkin flavor was not very strong which I thought was perfect for a dip.

1 small can of pumpkin puree
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
mix together, then fold in
1 16oz cool whip.

Serve with apples, vanilla wafers, ginger snaps, or it could even be used as a frosting on cupcakes or a cake.
I had it with apples and vanilla wafers.

Apple Fritters

Um ya, I LOVE this recipe. Made these for my mom last night and figured I would blog so all could enjoy :)

2 cups All-purpose Flour
½ cups Sugar
3 Tablespoons Sugar
2-¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
1-¼ teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
2 whole Large Eggs
¾ cups Whole Milk
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
2 whole Granny Smith Apples, Peeled And Diced
Powdered Sugar (optional, For Dusting)

GLAZE (optional)
1-½ cup Powdered Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Vanilla
¼ cups Milk

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a fork, then add milk, melted butter, and vanilla.

Gently fold dry and wet ingredients together until just combined (do not overmix.) Fold in apples. Add enough apples to make a very chunky batter. You want the apples to shine though!

Heat a couple of inches of canola oil over medium to medium-low heat. When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns quickly, turn down the heat.

Drop teaspoons of batter into the hot oil, six or eight at a time. Sometimes they’ll flip over by themselves; sometimes you have to flip them. Just watch them and make sure they don’t get too brown, but cook them long enough to make sure the batter’s cooked through, about 2 to 2 1/2 minutes total.

Remove and drain on a paper towel. Dust very generously with powdered sugar, or dip fritters in a light doughnut glaze (mix all glaze ingredients together, then dunk warm fritters).

Serve warm!

**May be heated up the next day in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.

recipe and photos from: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/03/apple-fritters/

Caramel (Turtle) Brownies

1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
6 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 pound whole pecans (can be omitted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Set aside.

Unwrap caramels and place in saucepan with 2 Tablespoons evaporated milk. Melt over medium to low heat, stirring constantly. In a large bowl, combine the remaining evaporated milk, dry cake mix, and melted butter. Stir until well blended. Spread half of this mixture in the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove brownies from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips and drizzle
melted caramels over the top. Drop remaining cake mixture by teaspoonfuls over all. Return to oven for 20 minutes. Garnish with whole pecans if you'd like.