Sausage and Spinach Pitas

1 lb Ground italian sausage
10 oz pkg. frozen,chopped spinach
2 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1/8 t. nutmeg
12 small pita pockets

In a large skillet,cook sausage. Add spinach and cook until spinach is thawed; DRAIN.Add cheese and nutmeg and toss.Spoon into pitas and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes. Makes 12 pitas.

This is so easy and really delicious! My family devoured it!

Fabulous Buttercream Frosting!!

Here's the recipe for my tasty frosting. You'll probably just toss all the previous frosting recipes you've ever tried! It makes quite a lot, so be prepared to frost a big cake or a lot of cupcakes (or save it for later--I'm sure it'll freeze well, too)!!

Buttercream Frosting

6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup boiling water (use less on hot days)

2 3/4 cup vegetable shortening (i.e. Crisco)
6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1. Stir together first 3 ingredients.
2. Using electric mixer, whip in water until smooth and cool.
3. Whip in shortening and butter until smooth.
4. Increase speed to medium-high and whip until light and fluffy, double in volume, and holds a "tip" (about 10 -20 minutes).

This frosting is very easy to use! It holds its form well, so it is a great decorating frosting!

YUMMY strawberry cake

So I found this reciepe on someone elses blog, and thought it sounded so yummy. I'm planning on making it, but thought I would share..

Ingredients:
1 package plain white cake mix
1 package strawberry gelatin
1 cup mashed strawberries with juice (this is one cup AFTER they are mashed)
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole milk
4 large eggs

DirectionsPreheat oven to 350 degrees.Grease and flour three 9 inch pans. Set pans aside.Place cake mix, gelatin, mashed strawberries, oil, milk and eggs in a large bowl. Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Strawberries should be well blended. Divide batter among pans. Bake until light brown, about 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for a couple hours before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
2 packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup strawberries with juice drained.
Cream the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. Gradually add the confectioner's sugar. After sugar is mixed in fold in the strawberries.

Some tips to note: *The cake I made today had 5 layers. I just divided the batter even further and baked them about 15 minutes. The cake is much more divine tasting with more layers. ** This cream cheese icing is FINALLY an icing I mastered, but I must warn you it is a very thick cream cheese taste. So, if you do not like a thick cream cheese taste you may want to use an alternate recipe.***I also place a measuring cup of about 2 cups of water under the cake pan while it is baking. This makes for a more moist cake. (i lost the blog, otherwise I would give her her props.)

Food Storage Recipes

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I wanted to share a website that I love for finding recipes that use food storage ingredients. It is everydayfoodstorage.net. I have found several recipes that I use from here, but my favorite so far is the EZ Wheat Bread. Cooking is not a talent I posses and baking bread is by far my worst subject, but I actually got this recipe to work, and this stands as a testimony to how "EZ" it actually is. Here is the link to the recipe and the videos she has posted on how to make the bread. (These were the most helpful part for me, since I own a kitchen aid mixer, but have no idea how to use it. =)

http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2009/03/11/making-homemade-bread-the-food-storage-recipe-challenge/food-storage-recipes

Also, if you visit the website before Friday you can enter a contest she is having to give away copies of her new cook book "I Can't Believe it's Food Storage".

Best Yet Whole Wheat Bread

For those of you that have tried my homemade bread recipe, I am willing to divulge the "secret" so everyone can enjoy!

Note: "Whole Wheat Flour" is found in the baking aisle, by the rest of the flour. Make sure it says "whole" on it. Otherwise, it's just regular flour. "Vital Wheat Gluten" is also found on the baking aisle. It's in a bag, by the gluten-free stuff. I know that seems wierd to put gluten by gluten-free, but, that's where it is. I've found "Bob's Red Mill" brand at King Soopers.

The Bread
1/3 c. honey
1/3 c. olive oil
2 1/2 c. warm water
1 1/2 tb. yeast
1 tb. salt
6-7 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. vital wheat gluten

1. Combine warm water, yeast, and 2 c. flour in a large mixing bowl (I have a Bosch, but a KitchenAid should be big enough). Allow to sponge for 15 minutes.

2. Add honey, oil, gluten, salt, and 4-5 c. additional flour until the dough begins to clean the sides of the bowl. Do not allow the dough to get too stiff and dry. It should be smooth and elastic.

3. Knead the bread (mixer: 5 min, hand: 7-10 min) until smooth, elastic, and small bubbles appear beneath the surface.

4. Form into 2 loaves (or roll out to make cinnamon rolls, or form into balls for dinner rolls...) and put into greased loaf pans to rise in a slightly warmed oven until double (about 30-40 min).

5. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until top and sides are golden brown and it sounds hollow when tapped on bottom.

Tomato-Spinach Tortellini Soup

This is one of my favorites!!

3 cups water

2 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes (I used stewed tomatoes with Italian seasoning)

1 10 oz package frozen spinach (you can use canned or fresh, it's all good!)

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1 teaspoon minced garlic (or you can use garlic powder)

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon basil

1 pound package of tortellini

grated or shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish

Salt to taste

In a large stock pot bring the water, tomatoes, spinach, bouillon, and seasonings to boil.
Turn heat down to a low rolling boil and add tortellini.

Cook the tortellini to manufacturer's instructions. (till desired tenderness)

Sprinkle each serving with Parmesan cheese.

I made this last night and we didn't have any spinach and it still turned out fabulous!!

Oven-Baked Caramel French Toast

Hi Everyone. So I found this recipe on All Recipes and it turned out wonderful! We usually do a big conference breakfast complete with cinnamon rolls but this might win over this year! We love breakfast for dinner so if you really want to treat your family, mix it up early Sunday morning and bake it when you get home from church! MMMMMM! Oh yeah, and I refrigerated the leftovers and warmed them up the next day and they tasted fine!

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 cup chopped pecans, divided
• 12 slices French or Italian-style bread
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Caramel Sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
2. Pour sauce into a 9x13 inch baking dish and sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans. Place 6 slices of bread on top of the sauce, sprinkle with the remaining pecans and cover with the remaining 6 slices of bread.
3. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt in a blender. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread slices, cover the baking dish, and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
4. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Remove the French toast from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until lightly brown. Drizzle sauce over the toast right before serving.
5. To make the Caramel Sauce: In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter and 1 tablespoon corn syrup. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

I made some alterations. Don't layer the bread. Just stuff as many as you can (squish them together) in the pan and then pour your egg mixture over. This way all sides of the bread are covered. Also, I put the sauce on about 1 1/2 hours before serving and it was fine. You can put the pan in the oven to keep it warm. Enjoy!

What's Your Favorite?

We're having some serious dinner crisis' at our house. I'm simply tired of cooking and need some new meal ideas. I thought if we all shared one of our family's favorite meals we could come up with a pretty good list of yummy choices. I'm going to say tacos and spaghetti don't count unless you have a killer recipe. I added a couple things that we like. Also, if you have any resources you go to for recipes please leave a comment or e-mail me and I'll add them to a sidebar. Thanks for your input, I can't wait to try something new!

Chicken Pillows

Filling:
8 0z cream cheese
3 TBSP butter
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small onion chopped or a few green onions
1 can cream of chicken soup
salt a pepper to taste
optional (olives, mushrooms, green pepper, seasoning salt, garlic powder.
1 pkg refrigerator crescent rolls or 1 batch dough

Dough:
1 TBSP yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water.
3 TBSP sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Mix filling together and set aside. Open can of rolls or roll out dough and cut into triangles. Place a couple teaspoons of filling on each piece of dough. fold dough together and seal the edges by pinching together. Bake at 375 for 15 - 20 minutes. If you have filling leftover, heat it up and pour over top of pillows before serving.

Roast Chicken Rotisserie Style

This Chicken works great for Sundays (as long as you remember to put it in the oven before you leave)

4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 onions, quartered
2 (4 pound) whole chickens

In a small bowl, mix salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with paper towel. Rub each chicken inside and out with spice mixture. Place 1 onion in cavity of each chicken. Place chickens in a resealable bag or double wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 to 6 hrs.

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Place chickens in a roasting pan. Bake uncovered for 5 hours, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F. let the chickens stand 10 minutes before carving.

This chicken has the best flavor and is really easy, you just have to plan ahead. I've cut the recipe in half and just did one chicken and it works great. If you don't like dark meat or are intimidated by a whole bird like I was, this would probably work great on split breasts or other pieces. Just reduce the cooking time.

Ricotta Berry Muffins

I made these last night and thought they were really tasty so I thought I would post them for you to try. I like that there is Ricotta in it so there is more protein in the treat. They taste almost cake like.

Ricotta Berry Muffins

Ingredients
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese room temperature
2 cups Flour
2 large Eggs room temperature
2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Baking soda
4 ounce Unsalted butter melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon Salt
2/3 cup Sugar
1 1/3 cups Blueberries
1 lime Zest finely grated (I used a lemon)

Instructions for Ricotta Berry Muffins
Butter or spray muffin tins or line with cupcake papers. Preheat oven to 400.

Whisk ricotta, eggs and vanilla together, then stir in melted and cooled butter.

Working in a large bowl and with your fingertips, rub sugar and lime zest together until sugar is moist and fragrant. Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour ricotta mixture on top of dry ingredients and, using rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough. Batter will be very thick and heavy. Stir in blueberries. (If fresh blueberries aren't in season, use frozen ones: just pour the amount you need into a strainer, run hot water over the berries, then drain and add.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups and bake 20-25 min. Cool.