Lasagna Soup

I thought I had blogged this, but can't find it. 

I made this very delicious soup last February. And I aim to make a soup every Sunday because well, I have time on Sundays, and it gives us leftovers for lunch for a few days. And soup is delicious. 

So here's the recipe for Lasagna Soup. It's a Paul Dean recipe. I left out the extra stick of butter. She makes it in a Dutch Oven. I do it in a stock pot and plan to do it in my new RockCrok once I get one. 

Shameless Plug - Need anything Pampered Chef related? I'm hosing a show on November 22. You can order on and have it delivered to my house or your house. You can go here and type in my name and then place your order. No pressure people. None. :-) 

Anyway, the soup. It's tasty! I'll update with a picture shortly. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground chuck
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced, plus 2 cloves smashed
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 (32 oz) box chicken broth
• 2 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups lasagna noodles, broken
• 1 (5 oz) package grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 thin French baguette
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions
In a large Dutch oven, combine ground chuck, onion, bell pepper and 3 cloves minced garlic. Cook over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until beef is browned and crumbles. Drain well.

Stir in thyme, brown sugar, broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add noodles, and simmer until noodles are tender. Stir in Parmesan cheese.

Preheat broiler. Ladle soup into 8 to 10 ovenproof bowls. Evenly sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Broil soups, 6-inches from heat, 3 to 4 minutes, until cheese is browned and bubbly. Add a garlic crostini slice on top. Serve immediately.

For the garlic crostini:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cut bread into 1/4-inch round slices. Place on baking sheet and brush each slice with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper; place in oven and bake until golden and crisp, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Rub each side with 2 smashed garlic cloves.

Way overdue!!

It's been 6 long weeks without posting. So hopefully I can start getting in one a week again or so. 

In general, things are great. Super busy, but work is going well, Liam is still thriving at Daycare, he's walking now and it's crazy! The kitchen cabinets are baby-proofed, the trashcan too. I've almost adjusted and stopped trying to yank things open without using the "key". At at work when I go to open the silverware jar, I first try to "push down" the drawer holder. 

Recipe wise, I've made a few things here and there, but mostly been sticking with what's in the freezer. I recently made Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Chili. It was amazing and I'll post that recipe this week. 

We had some family pics taken a few weeks ago. Liam didn't want to smile, we were lucky he looked at the camera at all! 

June was a busy month!

It's been around 6 weeks since I last posted! So much happened in June! Lots of traveling, a wedding, and a JOB OFFER!!! :) 

I traveled to the Lake of the Ozarks with my mom for a girls (and Liam) trip. Then Jason and I went to Rapid City, SD for a work thing. I was fortunate they let Liam and me go too! We got to kinda see Mt. Rushmore. It was a little foggy. We also stopped by Dinosaur Park. It was Liam's first time flying and he did well! 

For Father's Day weekend we headed to Lake of the Ozarks with my parents. Liam got his first boat ride! We had a great time, except for the car ride. Liam was teething during most of June. He got his two bottom teeth in and his top two are coming in soon.

During this time I also was interviewing and submitting more job applications. I think one day I submitted a dozen, and had two big interviews before leaving for vacation. I was fortunate to have my sister and sister-in-law help babysit during those! One resulted in an offer! 

Then we headed to Florida. We bit the (savings) bullet and purchased a time share week, we really lucked into finding one available. My parents and grandma own weeks 25 & 26, and we managed to get a week 26 unit. Which usually will include Fourth of July and will almost always include our wedding anniversary. Here's Liam on our lanai looking at our beach and gulf front view. Our unit is larger than most and feels a lot more open! It's wonderful! 

We also had a wedding to attend! My grandmother got married to her long time friend, Harry. Harry lost his wife about the same time grandpa died, and months later they were announcing their engagement. My brother and sister-in-law were able to fly in, and we were all together in Florida for a few days. 

Here's a picture of the Reed & Guilford's. 

On the way to wedding, I received wonderful news - a verbal offer for a new job! I accepted the offer (faxed it in on vacation) and start in the next few weeks. It's environmental consulting and a job similar to what I did at GES in Richmond, Virginia. I'm waiting on all the standard items, background check, drug test, verification I graduated high school & college.... all those normal things most companies do. Liam will be going to daycare starting July 14 and I expect to start that week or the following week. It'll be a huge change going back to work. Sometimes I am nervous, sometimes I am anxious. I know I'm ready to go back to work, but juggling the household, baby, and a new company will probably lead to a few stressful days. 

Banana Oatmeal Pancakes - Baby Food

I made Bisquick pancakes a few weeks ago and made Liam a few. He liked them, but I wasn't fond of the crap in them. I've been searching for an easier and healthier recipe for Liam. I finally found an easy Banana Oatmeal Pancake recipe. These are dairy free which is what I've been really looking for. They can be gluten free and all those other things free if you need them to be.

I doubled the recipe and froze some. I heat one pancake up for about 30 seconds, cut it into small pieces and serve with apple sauce. Liam loves this for breakfast.

Ingredients

• 2 large or 3 small bananas, mashed 
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted 
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 
• 1 tbsp sugar 
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 cup oat flour 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/2 tsp sea salt 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground 
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground 

Directions

1. Mash bananas and mix the melted butter, lemon juice, and sugar together. 
2. Add the eggs and mix. 
3. Mix together the dry ingredients and add to the wet ingredients. 
4. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. (This allows the oatmeal to absorb some liquid.) 
5. Make pancakes on griddle like normal. These take a little bit longer to cook, they are thicker. Keep the skillet/griddle on a lower heat. 

Notes:
I added a teaspoon of vanilla extract to these to enhance the flavor.
To make Oat Flour - I used my Ninja chopper to grind up (non-instant) oatmeal into a flour.

Morning Rolls (Sticky Buns)

One of my favorite treats growing up was when mom made these morning rolls. They were sweet, sticky, pull apart rolls that she would make for special occasions. She made them for me recently when she spent the weekend (um... back in October?)

I don't normally try to make my favorite mom dishes because I'm afraid I'll mess it up and it'll never be the same. I did succeed at the Carrot Casserole, but I still won't touch her lasagna! I've been craving these rolls though, and well, figured it's about time I made them myself. 

I have searched online for a similar recipe, but the ones I find don't have the pudding mix as an ingredient. Which I think it what makes these really amazing. I included her recipe below and my adjustment for a smaller batch. As much as I could eat 24 of these, I decided that making a smaller batch would be better for me and Jason's waistline. 

Mom's Morning Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 package frozen bread rolls (24 count)
• 3/4 C brown sugar
• 1/2 C margarine
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 small box Non-Instant Butterscotch Pudding Mix (Dry)
• 1/2 C chopped pecans (optional, but wouldn't skip it)
• 1/2 C raisins (optional, and very good addition!)

Directions

1. Cook sugar, margarine, and cinnamon until bubbly. 
2. Grease 9x12 pan or bundt pan. 
3. Sprinkle pecans and/or raisins in bottom of pan. 
4. Place Frozen Rolls in the pan, on top of pecans
5. Sprinkle the dry pudding mix over and between the rolls.
6. Pour hot sugar mixture evenly over the rolls. 
7. Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap. 
8. Let sit overnight. DO NOT REFRIGERATE. (The rolls won't rise.)  
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. 
10. Invert pan onto plate/platter. 

To make a 9x9 pan for two people.

Use:

• 9 frozen bread rolls
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C margarine
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 small box Non-Instant Butterscotch Pudding Mix (Dry)
• 1/4 C chopped pecans
• 1/4 C raisins

Follow the instructions above and bake for the same amount of time. 

NOTES

• I put the pudding mix in a small container and coated each roll with the pudding mixture, then dumped the box around the rolls. 
• Once cooked, I inverted these into a non-stick skillet. It made clean up a lot easier because I didn't dump any sticky sauce all over the counter, and the non-stick skillet was easy to clean. 

Homemade SpaghettiOs

I admit I love the taste of SpaghettiOs. The sweet sugary sauce, those mini noodles... but I know it's full of crap. The sugar, the sodium, the preservatives. When I stumbled across a homemade recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it. I originally made these about a year ago, but never blogged about it. (That I can find.) 

The great thing about these is you can control everything that goes into them. If you need gluten free pasta, or want to use a whole grain. You can use skim milk or low fat cheese, and can make it as spicy as you want! I added meatballs this time. It's also a fairly quick recipe, taking about 20-25 minutes from start to finish. 

This recipe is very forgiving too. You can add extra milk (on accident or on purpose), you could use a different small noodle, add more cheese, less cheese, more butter, no pepper, extra pepper, ect. Whatever you think will work. 

Homemade SpaghettiO’s

Ingredients

• 8 oz ditalini pasta (or other small pasta)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Cook the pasta, to al dente (about 10 minutes).
2. Heat the olive oil in a  large saute' pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until just fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
3. Stir in the tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, salt, pepper, sugar and butter. Heat, while stirring, until the butter is melted. 
4. Slowly stir in the milk, then turn the heat to low. Simmer at low heat for 10 minutes.
5. Stir the shredded cheese into the soup until melted. 
6. Drain the pasta and add it to the soup. OR, you can transfer it to a serving bowl and add the "soup" to the pasta. Stir to combine. 

Notes:

I added meatballs to mine. The Sam's Club meatballs are delicious and I had some leftover and needed to use them up. 

I messed up and added 1 cup of milk instead of 1/4 cup. My finished product is a little runny, but the meatballs helped absorb some of that extra fluid. 

I added 3 pinches of red pepper flakes to make it a little more spicy. It goes a long way so don't add too much!
I had leftover crushed tomatoes in my fridge to use up, so I used that instead of Tomato Sauce. Not really a huge difference.
This freezes well. You can make a double batch and freeze for later.

Twice Baked Potato Casserole

My friend Lisa brought me and my husband (and newborn baby Liam) a Twice Baked Potato Casserole. It was delicious. Super rich, loaded with cheesey potato goodness. The 9x13 dish must have weighed 3 pounds. It was amazing.

I wasn't able to find a decent recipe that mimicked what she gave us, so I thought I'd just wing it. 

Initial Notes:

Bake the potatoes the night (or two) before hand. Let them set back up in the fridge and get cold. They are easier to cut and won't fall apart in your hands. 

Cut everything before putting them together. 

Put the kiddo down for a nap - it takes a bit to assemble. Seriously, make sure he's napping. 

When cleaning up, don't drop all the pots and pans in the sink while you are washing them. No, really. It might be better to just leave the dishes for your husband. 

This recipe is not healthy. Don't eat it too often. It's loaded with CHEESE. And more CHEESE. 

If you don't like cheese, this is not for you. I'm not sure this blog is for you if you don't like cheese. We can't be friends, sorry. 

This makes two deep 9x13s. I recently purchased these foil pans (and lids) from Sam's Club. My Gladware bakeware is no longer available in 8x8s, so I went with the cheaper method of foil pans. They take up a bit more room in the freezer, require larger portions, leave more leftovers, but the cost savings is the best overall deal. 

So my recipe. 

Ingredients

• 3 pound bag of Russets potatoes (baked)
• 1 pound of bacon (cooked and crumbled)
• 1.5 pounds of Cubed velvetta cheese (is it cheese? eh..) 
• 1-2 sticks of butter - sliced very thin
• 2 bricks of cream cheese
• 16-ounce container sour cream
• Shredded cheese - pick any flavor
• green onions

Directions

1. Bake the potatoes - I clean mine really well, prick with a fork, and coat with olive oil and salt. Then bake an hour or so at 400 degrees F. I did let mine cool in the fridge (for two days). They were much easier to dice up. 
2. Cook the bacon to crispy. I prefer to cut the bacon up and then cook it.
3. Dice the baked potatoes. (While you're cooking the bacon.) 
4. Use a mixer to mix together the sour cream and cream cheese. Mix in additional spices if you want - dill dressing packet, garlic, chili powder, ect. Whatever flavor you want to go for. 
5. This is a layering dish - Put a layer of potatoes, a few pieces of butter, around 1/4 of a stick, then spread some cubed velvetta cheese and spoon fulls of the sour cream/cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle a little bacon, shredded cheese, and green onions on top. Then repeat the layer. 
6. Bake the dish at 375 degrees F for around 30-40 minutes. 

I froze the other dish, defrosted for a day, and then baked. The longer you bake, the softer the potatoes become. If you want to cheat, you can skip the potatoes and purchase the Ore Ida diced potatoes instead. Or has brown potatoes. You'll want to make sure your velvetta is diced smaller than the potatoes, you want the cheese to melt around it. 

This was a delicious dish, but I won't be making it again anytime soon. The velvetta is expensive, the dish is time consuming, and it's very high in calories. You can probably use some different ingredients to make it lower cal, but it's more so just so addicting to eat. 

Time for Dinner

My neighbor Facebook checked-in to this place a few weeks ago. I looked at their website and while not the most cost effective (for me), decided to check it out. I managed to sucker my friend Dee and my mom (with my sister as her chef) into going with me. :) 

Time for Dinner is where you can make your own freezer meals without the hassle of planning, shopping, chopping, portioning, and clean up. Each month they have a different menu with around a dozen different dishes and a dessert. The best deal is to choose 6 dishes to make for $125 (plus tax.) Each dish is 6-portions so you're getting 36 portions for around $3.50 a portion. I can cook cheaper by doing it all myself, but I also wouldn't branch out and make some of the meals they offer. It's nice to have other dishes besides Tater Tot Casseroles, Enchiladas, Stuffed Shells, Spaghetti Sauce, and red meat in the freezer. It also is a lot less time consuming, which is one of their main selling points. When I do my bulk cooking, I spend probably 4-5 hours doing 6 dishes from scratch. 

One of the moms we encountered on Saturday said her family wouldn't eat if it wasn't for this place. Time for Dinner has been open for 10 years! I was surprised since it was the first time I had been there, and only recently heard of it. They had this type of place in Richmond, Virginia that I never got a chance to check out. One of my Richmond friends said the place has since closed. 

It's really easy. You choose the date you want to attend, and then "order" the meals you plan to make. For April, I chose Crab Cakes, two Chicken Parmigiana, Jumbo Stuffed Shells, Pollo Queso Fundido, and Sunset Pork Tenderloin. I avoided choosing red meat dishes since I still have over 100 pounds of red meat in my freezer. I chose my order before making Stuffed Shells myself. For April they had a special where if you ordered 6 meals, you got a free half dish of Butterscotch Brownies. Which, you have to "cream" the butter and sugar by hand. I'm taking a hand mixer next time. May's special is you get $10 off. And they have a loyalty program - if you go 6 times/6 meals each, you get 20% off the 7th time. I was looking at their Facebook page and it looks like in June-July-August they run some of the best deals. Which makes sense because no one wants to fire up their oven in the summer months! 

When we showed up, we checked in and paid, and they gave us a quick tour. My sister and I started at the Crab Cake station. All the ingredients are laid out in front of you, and the instructions are printed (in large font) and easy to follow. They even include the obvious instructions like when to put on latex gloves or which utensil (spatula versus whisk) to use. Except for the meat, you can add extra veggies or leave out the cheese if you want. 

You make your dishes in two oblong aluminum pans, they are 12.5 inches by 6.5 inches. I like that they are already broke into two dishes, this makes it easier for one or two people to eat, instead of making a large dish. TFD has stickers to place on the pans, one in front for easy "freezer view", and another larger one on top with instructions. The sticker on front is an excellent idea - I need to do this in my own deep freeze! You can see below what my freezer looks like. I know the three large pans are stuffed shells, mostly because my two tater tot casseroles are in the other freezer. 

It took us around two hours to make our 6.5 dishes. My sister and I jumped on the Brownie station early because we figured most people would wait until last to make theirs. We were right, Dee had to wait a few extra minutes. We weren't the last to leave either, but I think one mom made around 20 dishes. I saw her making like 10 pretzel chickens. :) 

Some additional notes - 

Some of the spices are included in the dish, but don't be afraid to ask for more! I was making the Chicken Parmigiana and realized I was missing garlic and pepper. I asked and I received. 

One of my dishes was a pork tenderloin with a rub. You made the rub in a ziplock bag. I helped my sister with hers and the rub wasn't mixing well. Instead of making my rub "wet", I just wrote what I needed to add at home (water and hot sauce) to finish it out. I figure I could wisk it better than I could mix it in a ziplock bag. 

If you have kids that can help, bring them. A few moms did have their kids with them, some were helpful, some were bored. I think it's a helpful way for children to learn how to put a dish together. I know my mom started me young. I plan to start Liam young too, he needs to learn to cook! 

I look forward to doing this again. We are on a strict budget though and I need to figure out how to work it it, at least every two months or so.

I'm already thinking ahead to Florida vacation at the end of June and think I'll be taking a few frozen meals with us. That way I won't have to buy a ton of ingredients and worry about cooking a few nights. I know our Florida vacation is going to be very busy already.  

I took the time to make a list of our freezer stash to put on our upstairs fridge for meal planning purposes. Since sometimes I meal plan in bed, using my iPad, I'm including the list here for my laziness. 

5	cups of Chili	2	Mozzarella Cheese - 1 lb each
13	cups of Black Bean Soup	2	Eggos - 8 packs
3	Stuffed Shells	2	Butter Braids
2	Tater Tot Casseroles	1	Bertolli Chicken Florentine & Farfalle
1	Lasagna	7	Hamburger Buns
1	Sloppy Joe	3	Hot Dog Buns
3	Chicken Huts	1	Pork Butt
4	Spaghetti Sauce	1	Loaf of banana/blueberry bread
14	Twice Baked Potatoes	15	Chicken Sausages
4	Carmel Apple Tartlets	5	Hot Dogs
1	Garlic Bread (8 count)		Toasted Ravioli
3	Small French Loafs		Mozzarella Sticks
1	frozen DiGiorno pizza		French Fries
1	lbs of Bacon		Tater Tots
1	loafs of Bread		Meatballs
1	Tortellini
Chicken
	2lb & 5 oz package of Chicken Breasts
Time for Dinner Dishes
1	Butterscotch Brownies	2	Sunset Pork Tenderloin
4	Chicken Parmigiana	1	Pretzel Chicken
2	Crab Cakes	1	Carmel Apple French Toast
2	Jumbo Stuffed Shells	1	Venetian Mac & Cheese
2	Pollo Queso Fundido	1	Garlic & Herb Pasta - Side Dish
Red Meat
37	1-pound ground beef	5	Stew Meat - 1 lb each
15	Hamburger Patties	3	Sirloin Tip Steaks (2 packs)
3	Flat Iron Steak	2	Sirloin Steak
7	Rib Eye Steak (3-2-2 packs)	1	Beef Brisket
2	Porterhouse Steak (2 packs)	4	Chuck Steaks
5	T-Bone Steak (2-2-1 packs)	3	London Broil
1	Round Steak (3 packs)	3	Cube Steaks (3 packs)
1	Rump Roast

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

These past few days I have concentrated more on meal planning, and thinking a week ahead for dinners. This helps in using what we have in the deep freeze, especially as I make more freezer meals and fill it up!

When I make crock-pot meals, I usually don't start cooking them until around noon. I try to prep the crock-pot ingredients (chopping) the night before. It makes it easier to throw together. 

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• 6 cups of low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes (I only found this in large cans.) 
• 1 7-ounce can tomatillo salsa verde
• 3 TBSP tomato paste
• 2 (15 oz) cans black beans
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 4 small corn tortillas, torn or cut into small pieces 
• 2 small onions (approx 2 cups)
• 2 jalapenos (seeds and veins removed)
• 1 large bell pepper
• juice of a fresh lime
• 2-4 TBSP fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• pepper, to taste
• salt, to taste
• shredded Mexican cheese blend
• crunchy tortilla chips

Directions

1. Get out the big crock-pot. 
2. Add the chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, salsa verde, tomato paste, pepper and spices to the crock pot and mix together. 
3. Add the chicken, onions, peppers, and tortilla pieces. 
4. The soup will cook either 6 hours on high or 10 hours on Low. During the last hour or two, add the lime juice and cilantro. 
5. Dish into bowls and add cheese, crushed up tortilla chips, avocado, anything else you want! Serve with Sweet Corn Cakes.

Sweet Corn Cakes

When Liam was born my parents came over and made Tacos for us. The tacos were good, but mom made Corn Cakes! I love the corn cakes at Chevy's and always ask for extra. 

Mom had found a bag mix at the grocery store and you added a can of cream corn. I haven't been able to find the mix (which probably is $2-$4 anyway), but I did find a recipe to make them from "scratch". There's a lot of recipes where you use corn meal, corn flour, corn, and like 10 other ingredients. And I found an easy three "ingredient" one. Butter, Jiffy Mix, and Canned Cream Corn. While it's not the healthiest recipe, it's a good treat with a mexican dish.  

Sweet Corn Cake (Mini Muffins)

Ingredients

• One 15-ounce can Cream Corn
• One box Jiffy Corn Bread Mix
• One stick of butter - melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 F
2. Melt butter (if you missed it listed above.)
3. Mix the three ingredients together
4. Spoon mixture into mini-muffin tin. OR you can use a glass bread loaf pan.
5. Bake Mini-Muffins for 20 minutes, or the loaf pan for 25 minutes. 

Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Shells

I love Italian food. Just love it. Thanks to my mom! I add garlic to everything. Except breakfast items.

So I have been wanting to do some more bulk cooking. And I figured I'd give Stuffed Shells a try. They are time consuming so I wanted to do a bulk. Liam has been cooperating with his napping so I've been able to get more things done while he's napping.

I looked on pinterest for recipes and using some of the basics I found, here's mine.

Spinach Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Ingredients

Filling/Stuffing

• 1 15-oz. container ricotta
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (OR, 2 ounces of fresh spinach leaves chopped, and sauteed with garlic.) 
• Garlic
• Salt & Pepper

You'll also need

• A large box of jumbo pasta shells
• Additional shredded mozzarella
• Around 4 cups (20-26 ounces) of Pasta Sauce (I made my meat sauce, without the meat.) 

Instructions

1. Cook pasta shells to al dente, you want them firm enough to handle. Drain and set aside to cool.
2. While pasta cooks, in a large bowl, stir together ricotta, mozzarella, egg, spinach, and S&P, garlic to taste.
3. Preheat oven to 375ºF. (You can do this first, but my oven preheats quickly and I'm slow at stuffing shells.)
4. Spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce over bottom of a 9×13 baking dish. Stuff shells with cheese mixture and place in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella.
5. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 10 minutes longer, until bubbly and cheese begins to brown.

I made these in bulk. I did the filling times four and slowly boiled shells and stuffed them. I used two full boxes of jumbo shells. It resulted in 86 shells. I made a set of 20 in a 9x13 which we ate for dinner. Then I made four foil pans full, a 20-count, two 15-counts, and a 16 count. 

 Spinach & garlic, mixed into the ricotta cheese mixture.

Stuffing shells & adding more pasta sauce

Chicken Huts

One our favorite recipes are chicken huts. They are simple to make and very delicious. We recently had them given to us during a "Potluck Exchange" and they included a can of Cream of Chicken Soup. Which made them EVEN BETTER!!! 

They freeze well so I decided to make them in bulk. 

Chicken Huts
Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• (2) 10 oz. cans of  cooked chicken (in the grocery store by  the canned tuna)
• salt & pepper to taste
• (2) 8 oz. cans crescent rolls
• 2 T melted butter
• 2 T sesame seeds  (or bread crumbs)
• green onions (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
3. Open and drain canned chicken well. 
4. Blend cream cheese, salt & pepper, chicken and green onions (optional) and mix well. 
5. Separate each can of crescent rolls into 4 rectangles (pat severed part together). Cut each rectangular in half. (Tip - Use a pizza cutter.)
6. Put a large spoonful of chicken mixture into each or rectangle of dough. 
7. Pull 4 corners of dough to top of center of chicken mixture. Press corners together. 
8. Brush top with melted butter, sprinkle with sesame seeds (or bread crumbs). 
9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until brown and toasted on top.
10. (Optional)  Heat up a can of cream of chicken soup (do not add milk/water.) Spoon over huts. 

Notes:

Mixing together the ingredients

The originally recipe did not call for cutting the crescent rectangular into two. The picture posted shows the difference in size. The larger ones are very filling, almost too big, which is weird since you can eat two of the smaller ones. 

You don't have to use the soup. It's optional. I like it. 

To make them in bulk, I used:

Sam's Club Canned Chicken - It is a 5-pack of 13-ounce cans. 

One Schnucks brand Canned Chicken - 10 ounces

4 - 8-ounce Cream Cheese

5 Cans of 8-count Crescent rolls

Small bunch of green onions. 

I made four large ones (for dinner and leftovers tonight) and 48 small ones. Then I ate four of them. Yea, I did. I am freezing in groups of 8.

The crescent roll - cut into two. Add the chicken mixture, then pinch together the corners. 

Add caption

Unbaked and Baked comparison. They really puff up.

Here's the four "large ones". I didn't cut the crescent rolls into two squares.
This is a 9x13 pan, so you can imagine how larger they are.
We had asparagus and salad as a side. 

Just raising a baby

It's been a month since I last blogged! So much has happened! Liam is growing like a weed! Between his 5-month and 6-month checkup he shot up two inches. At his six month appointment on April 6, he weighed 17 pounds and 5 ounces and was 27.5 inches long! 

The past six months have been amazing. I've really enjoyed watching Liam grow and develop. He's rolling all the way over now, and sometimes will sleep on his stomach. He's learned who mom and dad are, he smiles when he sees Monday and Grandma. As much as I love being home, not worrying about the stress of a job and all, I do miss work. I miss adult interaction. I miss going outside the home. Sometimes I go a day or two without leaving the house. I've tried to increase my workouts to twice a week and am waiting for the warm weather so Liam and I can hit the walking trails. 

I've had a few job interviews, and most recently was the top five of 50 applicants. That made me feel good. I'm hoping the right job comes along like around September. That way I have the entire summer off. I spend a lot of time looking for jobs to apply to. Now that Liam is napping I have more quiet time to job search.

Jason and I have switched back to a cash budget, and I'm working harder at meal planning. We've been doing well with eating in and eating out of our deep freeze. I'm looking to make more freezer meals, but we have a lot of other things to go through first. 

I sometimes feel like I go go go. Even when Jason gets home from work and he can help with Liam, there's still stuff to do. Like making dinner, or folding laundry (we do around 6-7 loads a week now, instead of 2), cleaning up something, making a list for something else. Some evenings I get to just sit and do nothing, but I feel like those are few and far between. Since Jason is studying for the PE on the weekends, I'm on baby duty then too. I try to leave him be because passing is huge and I want him to pass. The easiest has been to just leave the house (with Liam.) If I go somewhere else then Jason won't hear him fussing or crying if he's protesting a nap. 

I have a new recipe to post. It's easy, I think you can figure it out by the picture and don't need instructions. But if you do, the steps are listed below. 

How to make a Baby Burrito

1) Get a baby

2) Place on blanket and start rolling

3) Roll all the way up!

Mom vs Dad - Time Differences

I stumbled across this article. Why Mom's Time Is Different From Dad's Time

It takes me 30-minutes to an hour to get Liam to sleep at night. And then sometimes 5 minutes of Dad time. Last night during bedtime Jason vacuumed. It doesn't take long to vacuum, and I really really hate doing it, but I would have rather vacuumed then nursed Liam to sleep. (And he didn't need Dad last night.) 

I find that some points of the article to be true. But not completely related to my household. While I do a lot of putting to bed (I have the boobs afterall to do it,) Jason will have helped with bathtime and/or changing him into PJs and a nighttime diapers. Then while I'm sitting in the nursery playing Candy Crush and nursing Liam, Jason will finish cleaning up the kitchen or like last night, vacuum. He's also in charge of trash so Wednesday night he'll get that ready and out the door. 

I'm on Level 425 in Candy Crush. I'm over 100 levels ahead of Jason, who used to be ahead of me (before September.) I estimate I spend over an hour a day playing Candy Crush, and another two hours or so online reading crap (really, it's crap), and looking at Facebook. I wish my FB were online as much as I am during the day. I base all these numbers on the fact that I spend around average 2.5 hours a day nursing and and 30 minutes pumping. 

I used to feel very overwhelmed because I wasn't able to accomplish anything during the day, except keeping Liam clean and fed. But now, with his longer sleep schedule and nap times, I have some time to clean up the kitchen, do laundry, and even MOP. I also have a little more time to blog and job search. 

And today's naptime was a big fail. Took an hour and a half to get him to sleep.....for an hour... and he's up. 

But he's adorable. 

Banana Blueberry Bread (Dairy Free)

I had some bananas and it took me a few tries to find a banana bread recipe that didn't have milk in it. I found this recipe and altered it. The recipe says it's very forgiving, which it is, and which is good because I made a handful of errors. The bread shouldn't have turned out at all, but it did and it's delicious! 

This makes two loaves.

Banana Blueberry Bread

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 5-6 medium bananas. mashed
• 4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2-3 cups fresh/frozen blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two loaf pans with non-stick spray. Line the pans with parchment paper (see photo). 
2. Beat sugar and oil in a bowl. Add eggs and mashed banana.
3. Sift together dry ingredients and fold into banana mixture alternately with orange juice.
4. Fold in blueberries.
5. Pour batter into loaf pans.
6. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour depending 
7. upon pan size. A toothpick inserted in the center which comes out clean is the best indicator that the loaf is fully baked.
8. Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Rump Roast

We picked up our quarter of a cow from Crooked Creek Beef a few weekends ago. We received 200 pre-processed pounds of quarter-cow, it cost us just under $600 total. That means we paid $3.00/pound for everything from ground hamburger to t-bone steaks to roasts. We wound up with 38 one-pound packages of ground beef, and the rest was everything else. (Note - After processing, it's estimated we received approximately 115 pounds of beef, which amounts to approximate $5/pound. This is still a great price for the quality of beef we receive. Have your priced beef lately? And then priced hormone free beef?)

The reason I decided to go with Crooked Creek (aside from my friend Sarah using them) is because the beef is grass fed, hormone, antibiotic free beef. It's very high quality and you know where your meat comes from. When Liam is a little older, we will visit the farm and be able to see the cows we might be eating later that year. 

I'm still wrapping up using a few things from the last quarter of cow we got. I'm doing better at figureing out how to cook things I've never made before. I made the rump roast this week. And it turned out amazing! I love prime rib, and it was very similar. The quality of meat we receive tastes amazing. 

Rump Roast

The rub below is enough to use for 2.5-3.5 lb. roast (this is a good rub for any beef cut that you will roast). Remember, the spices only penetrate about 1/4 inch of the meat as it cooks. The roast should be served rare, and cut against the grain in thin, thin slices.

Before and After

Ingredients

• 1, 2.5 - 3 lb. rump roast
• 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose black pepper
• 2 good teaspoons granulated/powdered beef bouillon
• 1.5 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 heaping teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon regular paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• With a damp paper towel, wipe all sides of the roast.
• Leave the saddle of fat on the roast. It adds moisture and taste.
• In a small bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Rub the olive oil into the roast and then coat with the dry rub.
• Place roast on a metal rack in a shallow metal pan/dish.
• Roast until it reaches an internal temperature of about 120-125 degrees. (Use a meat thermometer you can leave in the meat while cooking.) This will take anywhere from 50-70 minutes. 
• Remove from oven and allow to stand without cutting for 10-15 minutes. This allows the juices to stop flowing out and settle back into the meat.
• Cut against the grain when carving. 
• Remove roast to a cutting board and cut into thin slices. Sometimes a sharp serrated knife works best.

Meat Sauce

Another recipe from The Pioneer Woman on the Food Network. 

Here's what I did. It was DELICIOUS. I actually hope to make it again soon to keep a healthy stock in the freezer. 

Ingredients

3 pounds ground beef (I will use 2 pounds next time)

2 pounds sausage

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large yellow onions, diced (about 1.5 pounds)

3-4 bell peppers, seeded and diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup white wine or stock (your choice)

Two 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

Two 24-ounce jar good store-bought marinara sauce (or a 44-ounce jar)

Two 15-ounce cans fire roasted tomatoes, drained

One 6-ounce can tomato paste

"Spice Mixture"

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

4 bay leaves

3 tablespoons parsley flakes

Directions

In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef and sausage until totally browned. I added some Italian seasoning and garlic. Pour meat & liquid into strainer. Set meat aside.

Discard any grease in the pot, but do not clean the pot. (You can skip this step as I did below.) Drizzle in the olive oil. When it is heated, throw in the garlic, onions, and bell peppers. Stir and cook for ~5 minutes. Add the wine or stock and allow to boil/bubble and let reduce, another ~5 minutes. 

Add the crushed tomatoes, marinara sauce and tomato paste. Stir to combine, and then add the "Spice Mixture". Stir, and then add the cooked meat. Mix well. Place the lid on the pot and allow to simmer for 1 hour+, stirring occasionally. Discard the bay leaves before serving.

Notes: 

• Add a little water or some low-sodium broth if it needs more liquid.
• I was impatient on waiting for the meat to cook. Cooking five pounds of meat can take a while. The Pioneer Woman fools you during her half hour show and spending 10 minutes on the sauce. So while I started the meat I also started the rest of it in another pot. You could precook the meat the day before or hours before. 
• Prep everything before hand! I cut all the onions and peppers, and then mixed together the "Spice Mixture" in a little bowl. I had all the cans ready to go, and a paper bag ready to put the cans for recycling. 
• I like the Pioneer Woman because she does use shortcuts. I don't want to cook and crush my own tomatoes. Adding an extra jar of sauce is helpful, and cost effective!

COST

I want to take into account the cost to make this. The Pioneer Woman says she gets 12 servings from it. I got approximately 15 servings. We used some for dinner tonight, I put some in a Tupperware for dinner later this week, and then filled 3 one-gallon freezer bags full (around 3 servings each) for freezing and use later. 

The meat came from my Crooked Creek Cow and I bought some extra pork from Williams Brothers. You can get pork for around $2-4/pound. It just depends on what you purchase. I estimated the meat to be $15. I prefer name brand canned goods, you could make this cheaper by using off brands. 

The other ingredients (minus the staples you should have, like EVEO, garlic, and the Spice Mixture), total almost $15. So $30 for 15 servings, or around $6/meal. Which is pretty good. I got worried at one point with the meat and all the canned goods this would add up and not be reasonable. I think it is reasonable, and can be made cheaper. Next time I'm going to use 2 pounds of ground beef instead of 3 pounds. The sauce was almost too meaty for me. My dad would love it. He likes a little sauce with his meat.

Use what have (AKA, The Freezer Cleanout)

The next quarter of a cow from Crooked Creek Beef is ready.

Big thanks to whoever is also using them! I earned a referral bonus on my quarter and got $35 off. Since I blog about it and FB, I'm not sure who it is, but thanks!

So Saturday we pick up like 150 pounds of meat. And um.... I'm not exactly sure where it's going!

Remember, we have *two* deep freezes! In the beginning of September our stand up freezer looked like this.

<----

And four months later it looks like this ---->

We really need to have two cleaned off shelves for the meat we will receive. 

We still have a ways to go! But not really. Our (Andy's) 5 cu ft freezer is around half full. It was also full before having the baby. 

(NOTE - The rest of the post is mostly for me..... I'm going to keep an online list of what is in my freezer.) 

Our current stash includes: 

2 Tater Tot Casseroles

2 Mom's Lasagnas

2 Red Enchiladas

1 Green Enchiladas

Turkey Chili and Black Bean Soup (Those are the small containers in the door, and filling up the top drawer.)

2 lbs Bacon

5 lbs of Ground Turkey

6 lbs chicken (2-2 lbs cut for crockpot fajitas, 2 lbs cut for grilling)

Brats & Hot Dogs, Hamburger patties, and a few pounds of Ground Beef

T-Bone Steaks

Sirloin Steaks

NY Strip Steaks

Cube Steaks

Rump Roast

Shoulder Roast (defrosting actually, just had Beef Stroganoff and I want it again!)

London Broil

Chuck Steak

And a plastic container full of frozen bags of breast milk. 

In the 5-cu ft deep freeze.

2 Frozen Pizzas

2 Loafs of Bread

4-ounce salmon packs (Bag from Sams' Club)

Mozzarella Cheese & Pepperoni

Various Shredded Cheeses

Eggos

Toasted Ravioli

Fresh Ravioli (from Sam's Club)

Bertolli Meal - I dress it up with more veggies and chicken when I make it. 

5-lb bag of frozen mixed veggies (to make more Tater Tot casseroles)

16 Twice Baked Potatoes

8 Potatoes Au Gratin

Homemade Broccoli & Cheddar Quiche

Our upstairs fridge-freezer has Tater Tots, Eggos, Pizza Rolls, Meatballs, Tortillas, Egg Rolls & General Tso's Chicken;  you know, the important things! 

And I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things. Seriously. We won't be eating out for awhile!

I hope to make this Spaghetti Meat Sauce and get a bunch frozen. We would have had ravioli recently, but I have no sauce in the house! I was surprised too! 

Menu for this week includes:

Beef Stroganoff

Chinese food

Ravioli

We'll start there.

Beef Sandwiches

Have I mentioned how much I love watching The Pioneer Woman on Sunday mornings? And last Sunday was no exception! I need to start recording her show. I could go through her recipes online, but watching her show helps me better visual if I can actually make it. 

After Christmas, Jason and I went to the Lake of the Ozarks with my parents. Hell froze over and I got to control the remote control a few times! So Sunday morning, we all watched my favorite show. My mom even liked how she makes her spaghetti sauce. (I did too, I might try it sometime.) 

Searing the chuck roast in oil & butter

Since I still have meat from Crooked Creek Beef that I am trying to get through before my next cow is ready (like in a week or so...), I've been keeping my eye out for good recipes to use what I have left. 

We watched her make Drip Beef Sandwiches. They looked delicious! And since I had a chuck roast, I figured I'd give it a try! I varied it a bit to make it in the crock pot. The following instructions are Crock Pot - while she made it all in a Dutch Oven and same day. Next time I will probably just make it same day in the crock pot. 

Beef Sandwiches

Ingredients

One 3-4-pound chuck roast

Salt and black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 cups beef broth (One 14.5 ounce can)

1 cup of water

1 jar pepperoncinis, juice and all

1 yellow onion, sliced

3 tablespoons butter

garlic powder, salt & pepper, Italian seasoning

Buns of your choice (Sams Club has these 12-inch hoggies that work well.
Swiss Cheese Slices

Directions

Sprinkle the chuck roast with salt and pepper.

Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter and the canola oil in a skillet over high heat. Sear both sides of the chuck roast until very browned, about 5 minutes in all. Move chuck roast into the crock pot. Pour in the beef broth and 1 cup water. Then pour in the jar of pepperoncini with their juices. Cook until the meat is tender and falling apart, 4 to 5 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.

Note - You can eat this that night or save it for the next day. I followed TPW's lead. 

Separate the meat and pepperoncinis from the juice. Place in two separate containers. 

The Following Day

The next day, remove the solidified fat from the "juice container." Shred the meat and place the juice, meat, and pepperoncinis in a stock pot on the stove. Simmer on low for an hour. 

Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of butter. Add the onions and spices, and saute until light golden brown. Set aside.

To serve, slice bread in half and slightly toast. Heap a generous portion of meat on each roll, and then spoon some of the cooking liquid over the meat. Top with a few peppers from the pot and plenty of caramelized onions. Top with Swiss Cheese. I then placed mine in the toaster oven to melt the cheese.