Four ingredient baked Ziti

This is a super simple recipe that only uses four ingredients! 

I used Penne instead of Ziti because the grocery store was all out of Ziti. Its basically the the same thing, so it worked the same. 

All you'll need is:

 one jar of Prego (24 oz) I used Italian sausage and garlic

1.5 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

5 cups of pasta cooked and drained (Ziti or Penne)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

After the pasta is cooked add the whole jar of Prego and a cup of the mozzarella to the pan (turn the burner off)

Mix everything together really well and spoon into and un-greased  2 quart backing dish. Top it off with the remaining mozzerla and the Parmesan cheese

cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees!

Easy as that!

(Good with wine and some garlic bread)

yummy lunch sliders

These are delicious and a huge hit at out house. I will try to add a picture next time I make them!

What you will need-  ham and cheese
One package of small Hawaiian rolls
one package of ham
one package of provolone cheese (many people use swiss, but my husband and I aren't swiss fans)
1.5 T spicy mustard
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t Worcestershire sauce

preheat the oven to 350 degrees

in small bowl melt butter. Add mustard, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce to bowl.
cut each roll in half . place bottom layer of rolls in 9x13 baking dish. top the bottom layer with ham and cheese. pour about half the butter mixture evenly over the top. Add the top layer of the rolls and top with the rest of the butter mixture. cover with tin foil and cook for about 15 minutes.

What you will need- Reuben sliders
One package corned beef
one package of provolone
One can of sour kraut
thousand island dressing
1/4 cup melted butter

Same directions as previous recipe only pouring melted butter on top of buns only.

Red velvet cookies

These are a staple in our house. I pretty much make them anytime we have guests over because they are delicious and super easy!

One box of red velvet cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
about a cup of white chocolate chips

yes! that's it! no butter!!!!

mix first three ingredients together and slowly incorporate chocolate chips! place on cookie sheets sprayed with Pam, or covered in parchment paper. Bake for ten minutes at 350!

DELICIOUS Chrismas cheer hot spiced cider

once again I stole this image from google images. I made this for the Christmas party as well and the entire pot was gone way quicker than I thought it would be. I was pretty sad there wasn't any left overs. This also makes the house smell AMAZING!

one gallon Apple Cider (you can also use apple juice. I just bought apple cider from Walmart)
1/2 gallon pineapple juice (I bought the frozen pineapple juice concentrate and that made about a half a gallon)
2 cinnamon sticks
about 7 cloves
one large orange sliced thin
one tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 t nutmeg

simmer all in a large pot on the stove on low stirring occasionally for about 2-3 hours

can also be made in the crock pot

To die for home made hot chocolate

This picture isn't mine. I got it from google images because I didn't actually take any photos when I made this, but trust me it was delicious! Perfect for Christmas time! I made mine for a Christmas party and it was a hit!

1 and a half cups of heavy whipping cream
one 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
two cups of milk chocolate chips
6 cups of milk
and a teaspoon of vanilla extract

pour all into the crock pot and cook on low for about 4 hours, whipping occasionally with a whisk! Yummy with Bailey's Irish Cream :)

Carmel filled apple cider cookies

Okay I found this recipe and adapted it a bit. I couldn't just not make these. I mean seriously.... Caramel stuffed apple cider cookies. Perfection. 

What you'll need 

1 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets (use less if you don't want the cookies as "appley" i might use less next time.

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups  flour

1 bag Kraft Caramels

Preheat oven to 350° F. coat cooking sheets with cooking spray and flour. In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. With your mixer cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Refrigerate for about an hour. (I put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes because i'm impatient) . When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels.  Scoop out cookie dough ball  (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon. Put scoops on cookie sheet about and inch apart. Place unwrapped caramels in the center of each scoop. Cover the caramel with the dough around it and add a little extra if you need to completely cover it.  Bake 11-12 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove the cookies immediately from the baking sheets and place on a cooling rack. :)

yum!

Spaghetti stuffed garlic bread

This is an idea I found on Pinterest. I was really nervous about trying it because it seems pretty complicated to somehow stuff garlic bread with spaghetti without it becoming all runny, but it was surprisingly easier than I thought and charlie LOVED it! The recipe is from http://rhodesbread.com/blog/blog/braided-spaghetti-bread

. I adapted the recipe and tweaked it a little to my own liking. 

here is the recipe with my changes- 

You will need:

• 1 roll of refrigerated pizza dough ( the original recipe calls for Rhodes bread dough, but it doesn't really matter what kind of dough you use)
• 6 oz spaghetti, cooked
• 1/2 cup thick spaghetti sauce (the original recipe calls for a cup of sauce but I was worried about it being too runny, so I only used a half cup and used the rest to dip the bread in once it was cooked)
• 8 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 –inch cubes ( I used pepper jack because it was all I had, and it was actually really good)
• 1 egg white
• Parmesan cheese
• Parsley flakes

Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray and spread the dough out flat. Cook the spaghetti noodles and drain. Add the 1/2 cup sauce to the cooked spaghetti and  and mix well. Place spaghetti in the center of the dough. top with cheese . With a pizza cutter cut lines around the dough 

(picture from blog)

next wrap the strips of dough completely around the spaghetti. Brush top with egg white, garlic salt and parsley flakes. 

bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Charlie and I both decided it would taste good with sausage cooked into it next time! 

smokey corn chowder! A winter favorite!

This has been one of my favorite recipes for a long time! When I am sick or when its cold out side I crave this and its always delicious reheated, or even thawed after being frozen! 

What you need:

One onion

Two packages of little smokey's

One stick of butter

Two cans of diced potatoes (or you can use cooked potatoes)

One can of corn

One can of cream corn

Milk- about 3 cups, but add to whatever consistency you want

Salt and pepper and parsley flakes for flavor

Dice onion and chop smokey's into bite sized pieces and cook together in large pot with one stick of butter. After the onion is fully sauteed add potatoes , corn, creamed corn and milk. Add salt and pepper and parsley flakes for taste. Let simmer for about an hour on medium low stirring occasionally. 

Ghetto Shepherds Pie! Too good not to try!

This is am amazingly delicious rendition of shepherds pie that I came up with! My husband  LOVES shepherds pie so I decided to kick it up a notch. Tonight we've officially been married for one month (i know, i know) So i decided to make him something fun as a mini celebration. 

What you need: 

1 lb of ground beef

one large package of frozen tater tots

medium onion

2 cloves of garlic

one can cream of mushroom soup

4 Tbs sour cream

1/2 cup milk

half a package of frozen mixed veggies (thawed) 

1 cup cheddar cheese shredded

 Mince onion and garlic and cook until translucent in large pan. Once the onion and garlic is nice and cooked, add the ground beef and brown. In separate bowl mix the milk, sour cream, and cream of mushroom soup. remove meat mixture from heat and add the milk, sour cream, and soup mixture into the pan. mix well. add half bag of thawed frozen veggies and 1/2 cup of cheese into mixture. Grease a 13x9 pan and line bottom with half a bag of tater tots. pour mixture over top and top off with the rest of the tater tots and sprinkle with remaining cheese. bake ate 350 degrees for about 25 minutes! Enjoy! 

Chicken Marsala! One of my favorites!

This is pretty easy to make and a fairly healthy and filling dinner choice!

what you need:

Two boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup flour

about a half teaspoon of salt and of pepper

1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 Tbs butter

4 Tbs olive oil

one package of mushrooms (about a cup chopped, but the more the merrier!)

1/2 cup marsala wine

1/4 cup cooking sherry

angel hair pasta

First cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Mix flour, salt, pepper, and oregano in small bowl and coat each piece of chicken. Melt butter in large saucepan with olive oil and brown chicken on each side. Add chopped mushroom and simmer for a few minutes. Add sherry and Marsala wine and cover on medium low for about 10-15 minutes. Cooke angel hair pasta separately and serve chicken mushroom mixture over noodles! yum!

Pumpkin snickerdoodles with pumpkin spice Hersey kisses

During the fall season I am pretty much completely obsessed with anything pumpkin. I will eat anything if it comes in a pumpkin version. I have a recipe for pumpkin cookies already, so I just "snickerdoodled" that recipe and added a pumpkin spice Hershey kiss to the top to make them even MORE pumpkin-y. I bought the Hershey kisses earlier as an impulse buy, because like I said.... I just can resist a pumpkin version of anything. So I decided to put them to good use by throwing them on my cookies :) 

Pre heat oven to 400

One stick of butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

one large egg

( mix these first ingredients together first)

3 and a fourth cup flour

2tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together with the first set of ingredients and chill for about 30 minutes in the fridge. 

Meanwhile prepare the snickerdoodle part by mixing about a half cup of sugar with a tsp of cinnamon. I usually just kinda mix the two until I decide it looks good. 

Put small dough balls (about the size of a quarter) on an un-greased baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes

Immediately add the Hershey kisses after pulling them out of the oven so the bottom of the kisses can melt onto the cookie so they wont fall off

enjoy :)

Easy crock pot shredded chicken tacos

This is the easiest thing ever and it was so yummy!!!

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

one packet of taco seasoning

One can black beans

One can of corn

one can of diced tomatoes with chilies

Chopped cilantro

 taco shells and desired taco topping

throw everything in crock bot on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours! 

shred chicken with two forks and fill taco shells and top with whatever you like! I just topped mine with some extra corn,bean,tomato,and cilantro mixture and a little bit of cheese! 

To die for!

DIY dry erase boards! Cost less than $2.50

This was the cheapest and simplest DIY ever!

here is what you need:

Two 8x10 picture frames (I got mine from dollar tree)

Two pieces of scrapbook paper (On sale at Hobby Lobby . 23 cents a piece!)

A dry erase marker!

I just typed up "I love you because  on Microsoft word and choose a cute font, but there are also great printables on the web! Just google "I love you because printable" and there are TONS  of options on google images. 

Simply put the paper in the frames and hang!

The second one I left blank to just use to write down groceries and To Do's The glass on the frame works great as a dry erase surface! 

easy peasy

Smoked sausage chowder

This is pretty bad for you but SOOOOO delicious! 

three potatoes peeled and boiled  OR 3 cans of diced potatoes

4TBS butter

4 TBS flour

2 cups milk

dash of salt and pepper

1/2 lb velveeta cubed

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

paprika (optional)

package smoked sausage

first cut the smoked sausage into bite size pieces and brown in a pan. Once the sausage is browned put the cooked and diced potatoes in a casserole dish with the sausage. In a medium saucepan mix milk, salt, pepper, velveeta, butter and flour. let simmer until it has a sauce-like consistency. Pour the mixture over the potatoes and sausage in the casserole pan. Top with shredded cheese and paprika. Cook at 350 for 35 minutes!

DIY re-purposed palette coffee table

I saw a tutorial for this on Pinterest and I figured I could tweak it and make it my own. 

All you need is two palettes,sand paper (or a power sander), some nails, a power saw and stain!

step one: remove all the planks off one side of each palette (use crow bar or hammer)
step two: if the planks aren't already touching on the remaining side, remove them and re-nail them so there are no spaces between each plank. (I left one of the palettes how it was because the one on the bottom wont be used as a table surface, so it doesn't matter as much if there are spaces)
step three: use the power saw to cut off the remaining parts of the palette once the planks are positioned to be touching. make sure both palettes are the same size- cut as necessary.
step four: use the wood that was chopped off t make legs. We bolted ours to the bottom palette, but you could use whatever method you choose.
step five: place the table surface palette on top of the other one with legs! (we didn't attach ours. It sits in the living room as just one piece sitting on another. It made it easy for us to move it and there is no real point in attaching the two pieces unless you want to!
Step 6: sand and stain!

I will try to add step by step pictures later

Stuffed Jalepeno Popper Chicken

Jalapeno poppers are my all time favorite food, so when I saw this recipe I had to make it! My husbands hates cream cheese and I love It. I tried to limit the amount that went in his chicken breast. I found a similar recipe on allrecipes.com but I tweaked it a little bit and made it fit our family. 

half a package cream cheese softened1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced4 strips of bacon2  boneless chicken breast  bread crumbs for breading1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet 
2. In a big bowl stir together the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, bacon, and diced jalapenos.
3. Cut a slit in each chicken breast with a filet knife and fill with the cheese bacon jalepeno mixture. 
4. Roll the chicken breasts in bread crumbs to coat. 
5.Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook chicken breasts .
6. I threw mine in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350 just to make sure the chicken was fully cooked

DIY pallet flag

Coming from a very patriotic military family , this DIY was a must!

For this I just disassembled a free pallet and then had my husband nail it back together so that the planks were touching and it had a rectangular shape. I wanted a rustic look so I left the edges uneven. 

I sanded and stained the whole thing a dark color and then measured out the stripes to fit the actual american flag.  

For the stars I googled an image of a star and then stenciled it onto some card board. Then I cut out the star so I could use the cardboard with the star cut out like a stencil. 

After the whole thing was painted I took some sand paper and roughed it up a little more!

DIY pallet wine rack

Okay, I'm not going to lie... My husband did the majority of the work on this one since it involved sawing and nailing... We basically just chopped a pallet in half completely and then used an extra plank to make the bottom portion so the wine dint fall through. . After it was assembled I sanded it down and stained the whole thing then sprayed it with a sealer. To finish it off I used a paint pen to write "Love and Wine...Better with time" 

Simple and easy plus we always get compliments! 

Mini shepherds pies

My husbands favorite food is shepherds pie! Every food is better when it becomes bite sized :) here's a yummy and easy recipe that is sure to impress!

• 1 can biscuits
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 1/2 cups leftover mashed potatoes (I used instant mashed potatoes)
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated onion powder
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar

pre-heat 425

Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray and then put a biscuit in each cup. Shape the biscuit around each cup so that the middle is sunken just like a cup and the edges are covered.  throw the biscuits in the oven for about 6 minutes.

while the biscuits are pre-cooking, brown the beef in the oil then add the onions, salt, pepper, and garlic. When everything is nice and mixed together add in the flour. after it simmers for a few minutes add beef stock and vegetables to the mixture. 

Take the biscuits out of the oven and fill each cup half full with potatoes then top it off with the meat-veggie mixture. Finally top each with cheddar cheese and  put it back in the oven for about 12 minutes! 

Reuben egg rolls- healthy!

Aside from shepherds pie, Charlies favorite thing is Reuben sandwiches! In my attempts to switch up our meals and make them fun I tired this recipe for Reuben egg rolls! 

Its much easier than you would think. 

One package of frozen won-ton wrappers thawed

1 lb corned beef

swiss cheese (I used provolone because we aren't huge swiss fans)

One can saur-crout 

1/2 cup thousand island dressing

shred the cheese and meat in a large bowl and add in the thousand island and kraut. once everything is mixed together spoon onto won-ton wrappers and follow the directions for rolling on the package. 

placed on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes

yummy!

Garlic pesto chicken and tomato penne

Orion- dog shame!

DIY herb planter - mason jars and wood

this is a terrible picture... more to come

DIY elevated dog bowl holder from repurposed pallets

Easy DIY crock pot apple butter

This is PERFECT for fall gifts! my recipe made about four jars, so I gave the other three away to three friends :)

a dozen apples (I used red delicious)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1/2 cup water

THAT'S IT!

peel and core all the apples and chop into smaller pieces 

put apples, allspice, cinnamon and water in the crock pot. mix it up and keep it on low overnight! 

around 10 am the next day I took it out and threw it in our blender to make an apple butter consistency. 

P.S. your house will smell amazing!

Easy DIY wreath under 6$

I got all of my materials at Hobby Lobby!

TIP!- if you sign up for the Hobby Lobby e-mail alerts you get a 40% coupon for any non discounted item in the store every single week! Also if you download the Hobby Lobby app you can just show the coupon in your phone to eliminate printing or forgetting! 

The stick wreath was $3.99- with my 40% off it was $2.40

the letter "A" (for my last name) was .99

Hobby Lobby had flowers on special that week for 50% off and both flowers came on one stem. with the 50% off it was $2.49

that brings my total up to $5.88!!!!

(I already had the ribbon left over)

i just used some red paint I had laying around for the "A" and hot glued the flowers and letter A on! 

here's a cool trick.   take a stick on 3M hook and place it UPSIDE DOWN  on the inside of the door to hang!

wreaths can cost anywhere from $30- $60 at a place like Kirklands or Michaels! why not make a personalized one yourself for under 6$

Healthy energy cookies

These cookies are delicious and contain no eggs, butter, flour, or oil!

It's just three mashed bananas

 1/3 cup sugar free apple sauce

 2 cups of steel cut oats

1/4 cup almond milk

1/2 cup raisins 

1 tsp vanilla 

1 tsp cinnamon  

Bake at 350 for 15 min! Guilt free cookies!!