Black Bean Tostadas

The other day, I discovered a website called EatBetterAmerica.com . They take unhealthy recipes and create healthy alternatives. Since I'm trying to eat healthier and get in better shape, I have been spending a lot of time on that website! As I was searching for something for my husband and I to eat the other night that wasn't too expensive, I stumbled across something called Spicy Black Bean Tostadas. Both of us like spicy foods and Mexican, so I thought it would be a good experiment.

While they didn't sound like they would be the most flavorful things in the world, they turned out delicious! They were very yummy, very filling, but very healthy at the same time. I think this one is definitely going to stay  in the recipe book for awhile!

Black Bean Tostadas


Four corn tortillas
1 can black beans, drained
1 jalepeno, seeded and chopped
1 roma tomato, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp + 2 tsp  cooking oil
3/4-1 cup of your favorite cheese (I used a Mexican blend)
Fresh Cilantro

Preheat oven to 425. In the mean time, place the 2 tbsp of cooking oil (whatever kind you have on hand) on a cookie sheet, glass casserole dish, etc. and then coat the front and backs of the tortillas. Once the oven has preheated, place the cooking sheet into the oven for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, flip the tortillas and cook them for another 5 minutes, or until crispy.

In the mean time, heat 2 tsp of cooking over medium heat. After it's heated up, saute the jalepeno, tomato, onion, and garlic. After these are tender, put in the can of black beans. Cook until heated through.

Put a little bit of cheese on each tortilla, and then spoon the mixture evenly onto each tortilla. There was actually quite a bit of the mixture, so you could probably usually 2 or 3 more tortillas in this recipe. Cook in oven for about 5-6 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Sorry this picture is so nasty-sauce looking. It was on my phone. 

Spinach Potato Sausage Frittata

One of my favorite website to search out recipes is Allrecipes.com. There are thousands of different delicious recipes for every occasion. I think most of my favorites stem from that website. Last week, I saw a recipe for a yummy looking Spinach Potato Frittata. It looked simple (and cheap!) to make, so during Forrest and mine's trip to the grocery store, we got ingredients for it. I changed a bit of the ingredients around, but I think it turned out delicious! Forrest really liked it a lot, which always makes me happy. Then again, he'll eat just about anything.

Spinach Potato Sausage Frittata

3 red potatoes (medium sized)
1 cup of spinach
1 crushed garlic glove
1/4 cup chopped up onion
Salt and Pepper
Any other spices you think would taste good!
5 sausage links
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk
Shredded cheese (I think we used about 1/2-3/4 cup of Mexican blend. Use however much you want and of whatever kind you want!)

Slice the red potatoes into relatively thing slices and set aside. Cook sausage in a pan. Get rid of most of the grease from the oil, leaving just enough to lightly coat the potatoes. Place the potatoes into the pan and cook until they are tender, which should be about 8-10 minutes. Mix in spinach, garlic clove, onion and spices and cook for about 2 more minutes.

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. After these have been well beaten, pour into the potato mixture and combine everything together.  Sprinkle with the desired amount of cheese and reduce the heat slightly. Cover and cook until the eggs are cooked (about 8 minutes). After cooking on stove top, place in the oven on 350 for about 5 minutes.

And there you have it! A few notes though . . .

**The original recipe calls for olive oil. At first I was going to use canola oil, but then I thought it might be tasty to use just a little bit of the sausage grease. That sounds nasty and probably not very healthy...but it was just a small amount and was SO delicious. However, if you are trying to make it healthier, cook the sausage separately and then put it into the pan. Use olive or canola oil to cook the potatoes in.**

**The original recipe called for fresh spinach, but we couldn't find any when we were getting our groceries at Walmart (it was late on Saturday night!). I just bought frozen spinach, cooked it up, and then mixed it in with the rest of the ingredients. I thought it worked just great!**

**One trick my mom taught me about garlic is to be the already minced garlic that comes in little glass containers at the store. I've always hatted chopping up garlic, so this is th perfect solution**

Starving Student Ramen Meal

So yesterday, I was starving. I looked through my cupboards and realized I had come down to the inevietable choice of Top Ramen. Since I just couldn't fathom the thought of just eating just plain Ramen, I looked up recipes online. Someone suggested sauteeing the noodles with an egg and then adding the seasoning. Well, I did this, and then added a few random things I found in my fridge. It turned out really good, and it was wayyy easy!

Delicious Ramen

1 package of Ramen (any flavor--I used chicken)

Seasoning that is included

1 egg

Grilled chicken strips (I use the kind that you get in a big bag at the store)

Mozerella Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Lemon Pepper

Cook the Ramen until done (either in microwave or on the stove). Strain until only noodles are left. Place noodles into a pan on the stove. Crack egg, and saute until the egg is fully cooked (stir constantly while doing this). Add in chicken, Mozerella, Parmesan and Lemon pepper. Mix for awhile until chicken is cooked through (the chicken I used was pre-cooked, but frozen, so I just did it until it was warm!). Add seasoning from ramen and stir again. Serve!

Cafe Rio-esque Cilantro Dressing/Dip

While searching for a lime chicken reciep the other day, I came across a blessed recipe. The delicious Cafe Rio Lime Cilantro Dressing. It called for somethings called tomatillos, and the grocery store I go to unfortunately did not have these items. So I changed that up, and just used red tomatoes. I also couldn't find limes (yeah, i go to a lame college grocery store), so I used key limes instead.  I wasn't sure if it would work, but it did! I think it turned out to taste quite similar to dressing from Cafe Rio. It's really good on salads, nachos, or just to dip chips in. I also found a recipe for the rice and chicken from Cafe Rio, so I will definitely be trying those out soon!


Cilantro Lime Dressing

1 package of Buttermilk ranch dressing mix  (you'll need mayonaise for this)
1 medium tomato

2 key limes

1 jalepeno (take the seeds out)

8 stalks of cilantro (just the leaves)

1 clove of garlic

Mix together the buttermilk mix according to directions. Let it set up in the fridge for about 30 minutes. After this, blend together all of the above ingredients in a blender until smooth. Refridgerate until ready to serve. 

Spaghetti Chicken Bake

So every Tuesday and Wednesday, I head over to my brother to watch American Idol. We have started a tradition to always have some kind of good food. Well, after the first couple of weeks I started running out of ideas. So I started searching through blogs, and using the website Big Oven . It has tons of yummy recipes, but my favorite feature is the recipe generator. You type in three ingredients you have and it finds recipes for you. Last week I found a recipe for something Called a Spaghetti Chicken Bake. I ended up not being able to find all the right ingredients, so I changed it around and added a few ingredients..It looks kind of gross, but its absolutely delicious. My brother says its one of his new favorites! It's pretty simple to make, and is very filling..Enjoy!





Spaghetti Chicken Bake

1/2 box of Wheat Spaghetti (or white, just depends on your preference), broken into 3 inch pieces

Grilled Chicken strips (about 1.5 pounds)

1 container of Queso (Just the cheese dip you find at the store by the tortilla chips)

4 tbsp butter

1 red pepper

1/2 large red onion

5 slices of turkey bacon, cut into  small slices (you could use regular bacon as well)1

1 can tomato sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup

Mexican Blend grated cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Bring water to a boil and cook broken spaghetti until tender. Strain and rinse with cold water; set aside. Cook grilled chicken strips (I used pre-cooked ones, so I just cooked them until they were warm), and then cut into smaller pieces. In a very large pan, saute red pepper and onion. After sauted, put tomato sauce, queso, and cream of mushroom soup together in pan until smooth and hot. Add chicken and coat. After this mixture is complete, add the spaghetti noodles, and combine until everything is mixed well. Pour mixture into a 9x13 greased pan. Top with mexican blend grated cheese. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes. After this, take pan out and garnish with turkey bacon. Cook for an additional 30 minutes. Immediately upon taking out of the oven, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Delicious when served with garlic bread!

German Chocolate Cookies

Two recipes in one day? It's your lucky day!
So the other day at work, I was going through some blogs, and randomly came across one that had this delicious sounding recipe on it. It was called German Chocolate Cookies. So I immediately wrote down the recipe, and decided to make it. So I went to the store and bought the ingredients..And of course, because I wanted to be able to say it was my own recipe, I changed it up a little bit. They seemed to be a big hit. Since I'm not eating sweets this month, I was disappointed not to be able to eat the leftovers today :( They are really easy to make, and definitely delicious!



German Chocolate Cookies

1 box of German Chocolate Cake Mix
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Canola Oil
1 4 oz (I think it's really like 4.16 oz on the package..but find the package closest to 4 oz) package of andes mints
3/4 of a bag of Milk Chocolate Chips
1/2 bag of Butterscotch Chips

Beat all the ingredients together in a bowl until well mixed. Place spoonfuls of cookie dough on a well greased pan. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Enjoy!

Chicken Pesto Pizza

All credit for this goes to Kristalyn! Seriously, she made it during Christmas Break because I remembered how I absolutely loved it the one time she made it like 10 years ago. And well, 10 years has not changed my taste buds. It's so yummy! I made it last week for my brother and me and some of his roommates...Yum! Here's the recipe :) (BTW, these pictures are from when Kristalyn made it. I felt it appropriate to put them because it's her yummy recipe!)



Chicken Pesto Pizza



One box of Jiffy Pizza Crust (if you want a thicker crust, use two)
Any kind of chicken, shredded (I actually used grilled chicken strips, and just cooked them up in a pan for awhile..it was yummy!)
1 packet of pesto sauce (to make this sauce, you'll need oil--preferably olive oil--and milk)
Any kind of cheese
Diced Tomatos (optional)
Bacon (optional)

Cook up the chicken and set aside. Make the pizza crust according to directions. While it is being prebaked (I believe it's like 5 minutes), cook the pesto sauce according to directions. After the crust is done being prebaked, pour most of the sauce on the crust, and spread it around. Leave enough of the sauce to mix with the chicken. After putting the sauce on, cover the top with cheese. And then layer with the chicken, a tomatos/bacon (if you desire). Cook at 425 for about 18-20 minutes. Enjoy!

Pies, Pies, Pies!

One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is all the pies! At Enrichment meeting a few weeks ago, the wife of one of the members of the Bishopric of my ward taught us how to make homemade pie crust and apple pie! It really made me want to contribute to my family's Thanksgiving feast with pie! I asked my mom if I could make my favorite pie ever, a Carmel Apple Pie, and she said that would be great. In the end, I actually ended up making three pies, all of which turned out pretty well! I thought it was a nice assortment; there was something for everyone! I think even the pickiest eater would enjoy eating! I discovered the Carmel Apple Pie last October when I was trying to find a recipe for a ward party. It was in the Taste of Home magazine, but it called for pears. I was a little hesitant about that, so I switched it out for apples! My mom said she thought it was absolutely delicious! I also made a chocolate pie, using my mom's recipe, and a traditional pumpkin pie! We refrigerated them over night, but I'm sure they would be delicious right out of the oven as well!




CARMEL APPLE PIE

• 3 cups sliced peeled ripe pears (about 6 medium)
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)
• 3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
• 18 caramels
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, combine pears and lemon juice. In another bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add to pears; stir gently. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Pour into pastry shell. In a bowl, combine the oats, flour and remaining sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over pears. Bake at 400° for 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan over low heat, melt caramels with milk. Stir until smooth; add pecans. Drizzle over pie. Cool on a wire rack.



Chocolate Pie

1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding (small)
1 pint of vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
Pie crust (graham cracker or shortbread)

Mix in a medium size bowl vanilla ice cream and pudding until smooth. Stir in milk until everything is smooth and well blended. Pour into a pie crust. Refrigerate over night so it can set up! Enjoy!




Pumpkin Pie

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can Libby's Pumpkin
• 1 can evaporate milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
• Whipped cream (optional)

Directions:
Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
Bake in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.

Apricot Chicken

Who says that a fancy meal has to take forever to make and use a ton of ingredients! One of my very favorite meals is way simple, but it definitely could qualify as something you could order at a restaurant! I discovered this recipe about a year or so ago when I had some apricot jam in the fridge that I wanted to try and use for dinner. I came across this delicious, but simple, recipe for apricot chicken, and it has become a family favorite ever since. I made this a few weeks ago for my roommates, on the night of the Election, and they all seemed to love it! I recommend serving it with garlic bread or garlic knots

APRICOT CHICKEN

6 chicken breasts
3/4 cup Apricot Jam
1 pkg. French Onion Soup Mix
1/2 bottle French or Catalina Dressing
Linguini (or rice...I like Linguini the best though!)

Mix together jam, french onion soup mix, and dressing in a medium size bowl until well combined. Place chicken breasts in an oven safe container. Pour jam mixture over the chicken. Cook in over at 325 degrees F for about an hour. Serve over Linguini or rice. I like to put parmesan cheese on top.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Another item on the menu for the BYU versus U of U football game party was my mom's delicious Chicken Salad Sandwiches! For as long as I can remember, my mom would make these delicious sandwiches for our long road trips, and all of us always loved them! I have made them a few times while at college, and enjoy them everytime! They only take a few ingredients and are extremely simple to make! They are great to make for a bridal or baby shower, or to bring to someone for lunch or dinner when they aren't feeling well!




CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES

2 cans of canned chicken
Mayonaise
Garlic Powder
Lemon Pepper
Grapes, Apples, Celery, etc.
Croissaints (or another kind of bread to put the salad on)
Cashews

Mix together 2 cans of canned chicken and a spoonful or two of mayonaise. Just play it by ear how much you should put in; you just want enough to blend it. Put in about a teaspoon of garlic powder and lemon pepper and mix. If you desire, put in cut up apples, grapes, and/or celery. Putting cashews in is a nice touch as well! Spoon onto croissants and serve. Put in refrigerator if you won't be serving for awhile.

Mint Chocolate Brownies

A few weeks ago when I was visiting Colorado, my mom welcome my brother and me with a huge plate of the most delicious brownies I have ever had (well, they are tied with my roommate, Christie's, moms carmel brownies..I still need that recipe!). They were this delicious mint brownies. The Creamery grocery store by my apartment has similar brownies, but the recipe my mom has definitely takes the cake (or perhaps...the Brownie!! haha). I have been craving them since I have gotten back to school, and today was the perfect occasion to make them! It was the BYU versus University of Utah game, and my brother, Daniel, and I were having a little party! The Brownies turned out great! Just as a forewarning, they are extremely rich!!!!! Definitely a thicker consistency than your every day Betty Crocker mix. The recipe I have says it makes 9 brownies, but I got like 30 out of it. I guess it just depends on how big you cut them! I really recommend making this as a dessert when you want to bring something somewhat fancy and pretty looking, but rather simple to make. Enjoy!

Denise Wright’s Chocolate Mint Brownies
1. In a large bowl, cream together: 1 C sugar, 1 C packed brown sugar, 1 C butter or margarine (softened) until fluffy.
2. Beat in 4 eggs until well blended
3. Set Aside.
4. In a small bowl, microwave 4 one-ounce squares baking chocolate for one minute. Stir and continue to heat at ten-second intervals just until melted.
5. Add melted chocolate to the sugar and butter mixture
6. Add 2 tsps vanilla
7. In a separate bowl, stir together 2 C flour and ¼ tsp baking powder; add to creamed mixture and mix well.
8. Spread batter into a greased 9by13-inch baking dish.
9. Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few fudgy crumbs.
10. When brownies are cool, frost with Mint Frosting (see recipe below) and refrigerate for an hour.
11. Drizzle chocolate glaze over frosting. (see recipe below)
12. Refrigerate another hour. Makes about 15 brownies.

MINT FROSTING:

½ C butter or margarine, softened

¼ C milk

1 tsp peppermint extract

5 drops red or green food coloring

4 C powdered sugar

Mix first four ingredients. Add powdered sugar and mix well.

CHOCOLATE GLAZE

3 T butter or margarine

½ C semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Microwave butter and chocolate chips together on high power for one minute.

Add vanilla and stir.

Randomly drizzle glaze over frosted brownies

Pumpkin Cookies

With Halloween over and Thanksgiving quickly approaching, there is pumpkin ever! Whether you are disposing of old pumpkins, or stoking up on canned pumpkin, there is a plethora of delicious recipes out there. A few weekends ago I went to my sister, Cindy's, house for the weekend for my birthday. Upon arriving she pulled out freshly baked pumpkin cookies. They were so delicious! Probably some of the best I've ever had. I kept forgetting to ask her for the recipe, so today when I got the sudden urge to make some, I googled it, and lo and behold, I'm pretty sure I found the exact recipe. They turned out really good, so I thought I would share the recipe. I give credit to Cindy to this recipe; she always has the best ones! She changed a couple things from the original recipe, like adding chocolate chips, but it only made it better!

PUMPKIN COOKIES

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1 cup Libby's Pumpkin

1 Large Egg

1 Tsp. Vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees F and grease baking sheets.  Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. beat in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until edges are firm. Let Cool. 

Easy Cheesy Chicken Alfredo and Wheat Garlic Toast

>

(I am now going to be doing this blog in sync with a Communications Project for school. We basically have to make an online magazine and get as many subscribers as we can. Please subscribe at http://happinessaccordingtome.7h.com . I will be posting all the articles on this page and that one, but if you could subscribe, I'd really appreciate it! Subscribe to this if you want as well, I'm trying to widen this blog as to get more viewers!

I usually love making most of my meals from scratch, but it seems as if lately, I don't have all the time that I used to before college to devote to making lengthy, homemade meals. Because of this, I have been eating far too many microwaveable foods. Don't get me wrong, I love Lean Cuisines, but nothing beats a good home cooked meal! The past few weeks, however, I have decided to make more of an effort to making my dinners, and not just nuking it for a few minutes in the microwave. Mondays are usually a pretty tight day for me, so I prefer to go the “semi-homemade” way.

I discovered this “Cheesy Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan” sauce,

and I just had to get it! I hadn't tried it out til yesterday, when I wanted something yummy to eat, but also quick enough to be made and eaten before Family Home Evening.

This recipe is really simple and basically anyone can do it! It's super tasty and I'm sure it will satisfy just about anyone. The only downside about the sauce is that it separated a little bit after I had it simmering on the stove while the noodles cooked, but this did not affect the flavor. I added a few spices to the sauce, just to give it a little more of a zing. I didn't have any on hand when I made this, but to make it a little healthier and get your daily dose of vegetables in, you could add some onions, red peppers, or virtually any kind of veggie you like to the chicken/sauce mixture! As I do with most of my Italian recipes, I had to add some sort of garlicy

bread. Last night the choice was wheat garlic toast! It takes literally minutes to cook. However, I accidently slightly burnt it, so it doesn't look as appetizing in this picture, but trust me, it is delicious and simple, which is something I am always searching for!

Easy Cheesy Chicken Alfredo

One Jar of Cheesy Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan Sauce

1 Package of uncooked Linguini

Precooked Grilled Chicken strips (as many as you think you'll need..You could make your own chicken if you like, I think it's just easier to use the precooked!)

Garlic Powder

Italian Seasoning

Parsley

Various veggies (onions, red peppers, etc.)

Bring a pot of water to a roaring boil and cook pasta according to the directions on the package. Add salt to the water to flavor the Pasta. Put the chicken strips into a sauce pan and cook until they look tender. Pour the Ragu sauce into the pan and mix the chicken around in it until it is fully covered. Add the seasonings (just a few shakes of each) and mix the mixture around. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve the chicken sauce over the noodles.

Wheat Garlic Toast

Wheat Bread--as many pieces as you think you'd like (I use Sara Lee, but any kind will do)

Butter

Garlic Powder

Parmesan Cheese

Grated Cheese (optional)

Lay the bread onto a oven safe cooking dish. Spread a light layer of butter on each piece. Sprinkle garlic powder, then parmesan cheese, and then a little more garlic powder on top of the buttered bread. If you want a little more cheesy of a flavor, sprinkly the grated cheese on top. Cook in the oven on broil for 2-4 minutes, checking periodically because it will burn easily! Serve with any type of pasta, salad, etc.

Yummy Quesadilla!

So this is obviously a really simple recipe, but for a college student on the go, or anyone else that is in need of a quick, but yummy, meal, it's perfect! One of my roommates brought a Quesadilla maker, and needless to say, it has been a huge hit!! Last night I was craving one, so I put a little bit of a twist on a typical cheese quesadilla. I thought it was yummy, so I thought i'd share it with you all!

(I only used one tortilla, but just double it for a full quesadilla)

1 flour tortilla
1 spoonful of TOSTITOS® Creamy Southwestern Ranch Dip (SO yummy!)
1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used the mexican blend from Kraft..I think)
About 6 pieces of grilled chicken strips
Salsa

Cut flour tortilla in half. On one half, put the grilled chicken strips across it, and sprinkle cheese over chicken (more or less depending on what you like). One the other half of the tortilla, spread the spoonful of the Ranch Dip evenly. Put this part of the tortilla on top of the one with the chicken and cheese, and place carefully on Quesadilla maker (or whatever device you use to make quesadillas), and cook until nice and crunchy! Enjoy!

Cindy's Yummy Banana Bread

I love banana bread! I'd say it's one of my favorite baked goods. So when I tried Cindy's banana bread, I couldn't resist asking for the recipe! She gave us some when I came back down from visiting her and AJ once, and my roommates all LOVED it! I made some the other day, and although I don't think it was as good as when Cindy made it, but it seemed to be a hit. It was baking during ward prayer, which is done in the lobby of my building, and some of the boys from my FHE group stampeded (no exaggeration) in, to get some! Unfortunately it wasn't done so they had to wait, but it turned out yummy! I give Cindy all credit for this delicious bread :)

3 eggs
1 C. Oil (veg)
2 1\2 C. Sugar
1 TBS. vanilla (I put about 1.5 because I like lot)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1\4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon (more or less depending how much you want it to be cinnamony)
3 C. flour
3-4 bananas (they don't have to be really old, but they are easier to mix in
when they are softer)
1 1\2 cups chocolate chips if desired, that was my first time using chocolate
chips, if you don't want it to be so sugary then you can leave them out, the
bread is good without it, too!

or if you want it to be zucchini bread, shred 2-3 zucchini's and omit the
bananas

Put all ingredients in a bowl in that order, and mix with kitchen aid mixer, hand mixer
or spoon. Bake at 325 and 60-70 minutes.

Note: The batter will either fit into one regular sized bunt pan, or two bread pans.
Plan accordingly!

Enjoy!

Mom's Famous Lasagna!

By far one of my favorite meals that my mom makes his her lasagna! Honestly, it's probably the best I've ever had, and I'm totally not being biased! I made it for my friends the other day, and my friend Cortney, who doesn't ever like lasagna, loved it! I figured I'd post this on my blog so I can have it handy someday (Once I get enough recipes on here, I'm gonna turn it into a blog book recipe book!). This lasagna is the best you'll probably ever have, so I recommend making it!

Mom's Famous Lasagna

Brown together: one pound lean ground beef, one pound Italian sausage

Add dried onions or real chopped onions if desired

Drain meat if necessary

Add one can spaghetti sauce, one large can tomato sauce, one large can water

Add Italian seasoning, lemon pepper, garlic powder, seasoning salt (a couple shakes of each)

Bring to a low boil, turn down heat and simmer as long as you want, but about half an hour is right

Bring large pot to a rolling boil, add about 12 lasagna noodles, cook until tender (see box to find out how long)

When noodles are done, drain in colander and rinse in cool water.

Spray 8 1/2 by 11 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Place a layer of noodles in bottom of dish.

Sprinkle parmesan cheese over noodles

Cover noodles with a layer of sauce

Cover with grated cheese (I use a colby/mozzarella mixture)

Repeat two times

Layer two additional, shorter noodles across top

Cover with parmesan cheese, and then mozzarella cheese if you have it, combo cheese if that's all your have

Cover with alumninum foil.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Remove aluminum foil and bake 10 minutes longer

Let cool about ten or fifteen minutes.

Cut and serve. Enjoy! Yum--it sounds so good!!

Quesochunga!

Everyone loves a nice, fried, chimichanga! This recipe came from a few different sources. The base for it is from someone in my ward at Church from a cookbook that was put together. I asked daniel if he would make them, because I really hate frying things (I'm not gonna lie, sparking grease freaks me out!), so he put his own twist on them, styling them semi-after a Queso Chimichanga at Hacienda Colorado. These were absolutely delicious!! They were nice and crispy on the outside, and the insides were blended just perfectly. Daniel made half beef, half chicken, but if you want just chicken or just beef, just double the amount of the meat you wantI took some pictures of Daniel making them, so I'll put those after the recipe!

QUESOCHUNGA

1 can canned chicken

1 lb. beef, browned and drained

8 large tortillas (if you want smaller chimichangas, you would probably use about 16 tortillas, give or take)

About a cup of shredded cheese

1 jar salsa

1 jar of queso (your favorite brand works!) (warm it up)

1/2 can green chili sauce

1 pot of oil about 1 1/2 inches deep, heated.

Brown beef and cook chicken (in seperate pans). Mix in about 1 cup salsa with each meat. Add a couple spoonfuls of green chili sauce into chicken and beef. Put 1/4 cup of the queso into the beef, and about a tablespoon of queso into the chicken. Set aside. Heat oil. Warm tortillas in microwave. Put some of the mixture (chicken or beef) into center of tortilla, a spoon ful of queso and a little bit of green chili sauce, and a little bit of shredded cheese. Fold the tortilla so it is secure (use toothpick if needed). Place chimichanga fold down into the oil for about 10 seconds (or until brown), flip it, and repeat. Remove from oil and place on paper towel to drain and let cool BUT put slather top of chimichanga with queso immediately after putting on paper towel. Repeat steps until all meat mixtures are gone. Serve with sour cream and salsa! Enjoy!

Yummy Wheat Bread!

I really love to bake! Cookies, breads, anything...It's just so fun! Recently, I have started making this excellent recipe for wheat bread! My little brother, Michael, made the recipe at school last year on Colonial day, and we found the recipe a few weeks ago. This is some of the easiest bread I have ever made, and it doesn't take much time at all to make! I love eating it with raspberry jam..yummy! Definitely try this one out!

WHEAT BREAD
2 C. warm water
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 C. vegetable oil
1 1/2 C. whole wheat flour
About 4 C. white flour (I actually only end up using about 3 cups)

Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Stir in sugar until dissolved, let stand 3 minutes. Add salt and vegetable oil. Stir in wheat flour. Beat 1 cup whtie flour. Add flour 1/4 c. at a time until dough is stiff enough to knead (but not flaky). Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead a couple of times. When dough springs back after lightly touched, shape into ball and place in well greased pan to raise until about double in size (it took about 15 minutes for me!). Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Remove from pan and cool

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!

So i'm sure everyone has a cookie recipe that they think is the BEST...but well, this really is the best :-) My mom got it from an Enrichment Night at Church, and they are definitely often made in our home! I definitely can't get enough of them, which is definitely not good! he he. They are really simple, but VERY delicious!

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
1 cup butter flavor Crisco
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp. soda
1-12 oz. milk chocolate chips

Cream first 5 ingredients until light and fluffy. Add dry ingredients and mix into creamed mixture. Add milk chocolate chips. Drop from ice-cream scoop 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Baket at 345 for 11 minutes. Cool before serving.

Honey Mustard Chicken with Vegetables

This is a recipe from "Great Taste-Low Fat" cook book. There are a lot of tasty recipes in here that you wouldn't even guess were low in fat! This is one of my very favorites. I recommend serving it over rice.

HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp. olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks (the recipe calls for green peppers, but i like red better!)
1 large red onion, cut in 1-inch chunks
2 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest (i left this out cuz we didn't have it, but i'm sure it would make the dish even more delicious!
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. honey dijon mustard
1 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsps. cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp. water

Cut the chicken into 2-inch pieces. On a sheet of waxed paper, combine the flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. of the black pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil until hot but not smoking over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a plate. Add to the pan the bell pepper, onion, garlic, lemon zest, sage, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, and remaining 1/4 tsp. black pepper to the skillet, stirring to coat. Add the broth, mustard, and honey and bring to a boil. Return the chicken to the pan, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Return to boil, stir in lemon juice and the cornstarch mixture, and cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce is thickened, about one minute.