Chocolate Silk Pie

Easiest chocolate pie ever!

Ingredients:
1 Oreo pie crust
1 tub of cool whip
1 large box of Instant Chocolate Pudding
Milk (about 3 cups or so-whatever it says on the box of pudding)

Directions:
1. Mix up the instant chocolate pudding following the recipe on the box for pie filling. (I can't remember how much milk you need, but it tells you on the box.)
2. Fill up the oreo pie crust shell. (You can find these on the baking aisle at the store, if you can't find oreo, you can use graham cracker.)
3. Top with cool whip.
4. Refrigerate for an hour or so and enjoy!

Roasted Potatoes and Roasted Green Beans

Roasted Potatoes
Ingredients:
1. 4 red potatoes (more if you are cooking for more than 2 people)
2. Olive Oil
3. Garlic Pepper
4. Onion

*Preheat oven at 350.
*I have also used baking potatoes and sliced them up. Those tasted good too!

1. Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray with a little non-stick cooking spray.
2. Wash and cut potatoes. I usually cut them in half long ways. Then I cut each half about 3-4 times. It depends on the size of each one.
3. Lay on baking sheet. Cut up some onion and add to potatoes. (You don't have to use onion. I use it sometimes to add a little more flavor.)
4. Drizzle with olive oil. I always eyeball this, so I can't really say an exact amount.
5. Mix potatoes around in olive oil with your hands. Make sure all are coated.
6. Spread potatoes out and lay skin side down.
7. Sprinkle with garlic pepper.
8. Bake for about 35 minutes. Check on them occasionally when you are close to 30...you want them to become just a little golden brown. It depends on how many you are making as to how long to cook them.

Roasted Green Beans
*Preheat oven to 400.
1. Line baking sheet with foil. Spray a little non-stick cooking spray to foil.
2. Wash fresh green beans and cut off both ends.
3. Lay on baking sheet.
4. Drizzle with olive oil. Mix around.
5. Spread evenly on baking sheet.
6. Sprinkle with garlic pepper.
7. Bake 10-15 minutes. The time depends on how many you are using.

Both are really yummy!! :)

Blackberry Cobbler

I LOVE THIS COBBLER!! :)

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh blackberries
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp. melted stick butter

*Frozen blackberries work too. Make sure you read the thawing directions on the bag. I would thaw at room temp. It says you can do it in the mircowave, but I think they come out too soggy.

*I love this recipe with blackberries. I have also made it with peach, and it was yummy!

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Using Crisco, grease the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. I have also used a pie dish.
3. Place blackberries in baking dish.
4. Sprinkle lemon juice over blackberries.
5. In a medium bowl, mix egg, flour, and sugar. I like to use a fork to 'mix' the egg alone first, then I add the flour and sugar. Continue to mix with a fork until mixture resembles coarse meal.
6. Sprinkle mixture over blackberries.
7. Drizzle melted butter over topping.
8. Bake in oven for about 35 minutes or until bubbly and lightly brown.

*Serves great with a whipped topping or ice cream.

Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients:
1 can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can chicken broth
3/4 cup uncooked long grain white rice ( I love Texmati rice...it has a blue label)
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2-4 chicken breasts

*That is the base ingredients. Sometimes I like to add onion, celery, or carrots.

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Using Olive Oil, grease a baking dish (I usually use my oval corning ware dish with a lid)
3. In the baking dish, mix mushroom soup and chicken broth.
4. Next add rice and half of the paprika and pepper. Mix.
5. If you wanted to add extra ingredients like onion, celery, or carrots; chop those up and add to dish.
6. Wash off chicken breasts and lay in dish.
7. Sprinkle the rest of the paprika and black pepper on top.
8. Bake covered for about 50 minutes in oven.

*This is a recipe that I have tweaked over the years, and I have come to really like it this way. But of course, I might continue to play with it. :)
*If you have any questions just let me know!

Chicken Tip: Germs and Seasoning

So I am a bit a freak when it comes to chicken and cleanliness. Part of this I have done for awhile and then I learn something new and it has changed how I do chicken. I have always bought boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the 3 pack from the store and would take them home and separate them, as is, out before freezing them. I would wrap them individually in foil and put in them in a gallon freezer bag and be done.

Then I was introduced to a new way of doing things. Right now, I have lost my mind and can't remember who told me about this, sorry...but it is a brilliant idea I believe this person got from Rachel Ray. I still buy the same chicken I have always bought, but I have made my life easier and cleaner now that I have adopted this new way. The suggestion made on Rachel's show was to buy your chicken and season it before you put it in the freezer! So for me that meant separating the chicken like I did before, but trimming/cleaning up the gross parts of chicken and seasoning it too all before freezing. This has been so awesome, especially with a new baby.

To keep it organized and remember how I seasoned the chicken, I put 1 or 2 ckn breasts in a ziploc (whatever you would normally cook for a meal, sometimes 1 ckn breast is huge so I just do one) and write on the bag the date and what seasonings I used. It is great because the chicken is basically marinating that whole time before you cook it.

You get all the messy work done once! Before I was having to clean like crazy every time I made chicken just because I am a little weird. But it saves me time and money (for more cleaning supplies haha) and it is easy to tell Brent "hey, take some chicken out and put on the grill" if I am busy with Cole or running late after something.

Parmesan Chicken

Some kind of chicken (hehe-specific huh?) I use like 4 or so chicken strips but you could also use whole chicken breasts. Depends on how much you want to make. If you use less chicken strips since maybe its just for two of you, you could use less of all the other ingredients. You can really eyeball all of the ingredients, just as long as you have some of each it doesn't really matter.
1 stick melted butter (you could probably use egg or milk to be healthier. it just needs to make it stick.)
2 cups cracker crumbs (I put saltines in a zip lock and beat them until crushed)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup grated romano cheese (you find it in a thing like parmesan cheese but its red)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 teaspoon garlic salt
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Dip the chicken in butter then in a mixture of the remaining ingredients. (You can put all the dry stuff in a zip lock gallon bag and just rub the chicken around in there.)
Place chicken in a greased large baking pan (9 x 13 glass pan works well). I spoon all the leftover topping on the chicken since sometimes it doesn't stick that well. Bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour.

This is okay reheated...but with the butter, sometimes it is more greasy reheated, so I just usually cook as much as we will eat at the time. But I bet if you used egg it would be better reheated since it would cut down on the fat.

Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo

1 package fettuccine noodles
Chicken (either you can get one of those already cooked chickens, shred and de-bone or boil about 3 or 4 boneless breasts)
2 cups heavy cream
1 stick real butter
1 1/2 cups Parmesan Cheese
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons garlic powder
salt and pepper

Cook noodles according to package. Shred the chicken. In a saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. Add the cream and stir around until the cream gets hot too. Add all the spices. Then, GRADUALLY add the Parmesan cheese and stir constantly until it is melted. *Wait until cheese is melted before adding more. It will be clumpy and stick together if you do not.* You may add more cheese to make it thicker. Mix all together and eat!

Sopapilla Cheescake

2 cans crescent rolls
2 8oz. cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
melted butter/margarine
cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 can of crescent rolls in 9 x 13 pan, greased. Roll it out so that it covers entire bottom. Mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla smooth. Layer that on top of crescent rolls. Take the second can of rolls and spread on top of mixture. This part is a bit tricky and I have not mastered this, but you have to spread over entire top as best you can, closing up the seams. Does that make sense? Melt butter, enough to spread over the top layer. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake until golden brown about 25 minutes, but you know that every oven cooks a bit differently.

Cream Cheese Cookies

1 stick margarine, melted
3 eggs
1 box yellow cake mix
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup powered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

1. Mix melted margarine, 1 egg, and cake mix. Spread into a 9 x 13 pan, greased.

2. Mix all other ingredients, mix well. Spread this over cake mix above. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour (top will still be gooey). Sprinkle with powered sugar and cut into squares.

Simply Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (or turkey or venison)
2 1/2 cups shredded Mozzerella Cheese
1 container ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley
1 egg lightly beaten
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup water
12 uncooked lasagna noodles

1. Preheat oven to 350. Brown meat.
2. Meanwhile, mix 1 1/4 cups of mozzerella cheese, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, the container of ricotta cheese, the parsley and the egg until well blended and set aside.
3. Drain meat, return to skilet. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Fill jar with water and shake and add to sauce mixture.
4. Spread 1 cup meat/sauce mix into bottom of 13 x 9 baking dish.
5. Top with three lasagna noodles and then spread 1/3 of cheese mix over noodles and 1 cup of meat/sauce mix. Repeat this two times. (You have now used 9 noodles and all the cheese mix.)
6. Then top with the last three noodles and the rest of the meat/sauce mix.
7. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/4 cups of mozzerella cheese and 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.
8. Cover tightly with greased foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake 15 more minutes or until heated through. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Feeds 12.

Last time I made this, I accidentally put all the cheese in the cheese mixture instead of saving the part for the end, so it was just really cheesy and not as saucy. I just added more cheese on the top later. So if you like it really cheesy, you can do it that way. This is a good meal to set up and then stick in the fridge and then the next day you can pull it out and cook it. I have done this twice to take to people who have just had babies. That way it is not so much prep all at once. And like if you make it Sunday afternoon, then Monday's dinner just has to be popped in the oven. I have heard that a lot of lasagnas are hard to make because you have to cook the noodles separately but in this recipe, since you add that extra jar of water, the noodles cook in it.