Nothing in the House Baked Ziti

I didn't even have mozzarella cheese! But have no fear, this baked ziti came out cheesy and delicious anyway. I even got a "you have to make this again!" Alright, you don't have to ask me twice and maybe next time I'll have mozzarella cheese.

1/2 box farfalle, prepared as directed
1 container part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, divided
1 jar pasta sauce (or 16 oz. homemade)
1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained

Cook the ground beef and add the sauce to it to warm. Add the cooked pasta into the beef and sauce, then transfer to a 9x12 baking pan. Mix in the ricotta cheese and half the parmesan cheese until well-combined. Top with the remaining parm cheese and cook on 350 for 25 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Voila!

Apple Crisp, Still Better Than Apple Pie

And easier too! It's fall and time to bring the apple crisp back. The family loves it, guests love it, I love it... Need I say more? This is easy to make and can be doubled/tripled or whatever if you wanted to make this and take it to a party. I will be doing that for sure this holiday season. But if you find you need to make this sooner and try it out, you really should.

Easy Cheesy Chicken Divan

I've made this before but this last time I put a little twist on it... adding in artichokes. It was a great idea! It added some tang to balance out the cheese and creaminess. My husband and his friend ate it right up. Barely left enough for me for lunch today but there was and I enjoyed it again.

Cooking spray
2-3 cups broccoli, chopped into bite sized pieces
9-12 oz. chicken breasts, cut into chunks and cooked.
2 cans cream of chicken soup (low fat)
1 can artichoke hearts, quartered
3/4 cup light mayo
3/4 cup Panko (or bread crumbs)
2 tsp I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (or any other light butter)

Cut the broccoli into bite size pieces and layer the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with it. Top it with the artichokes and cooked chicken. Combine the soups and mayo in a bowl and spread it on top of the chicken and veggies. Pour the soup mixture onto the chicken and broccoli. Melt the butter on the stove. When melted add the panko and saute one minute. Spoon on top of the casserole. Bake on 350 for 30 minutes or until the panko is nicely browned.

Baked Cheesy Macaroni and Cheese

Mac & cheese while watching my favorite team the New York Giants play just makes me happy. So last Sunday I made this to go with my BBQ crockpot meatballs for the perfect game day dinner.

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk
7 oz. shredded sharp cheddar, divided
5 oz. shredded Jarlsberg light cheese
13 oz of rotini
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1/3 cup panko

Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour in a large saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick (about 8 minutes), stirring constantly. Add 5 oz of the cheddar cheese and all of the jarlsberg light cheese; cook 3 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; stir in macaroni and salt and pepper liberally.

Spoon mixture into a 2-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with the remaining extra cheddar cheese and the panko. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

My friend at Cooking This and That made this cake for few of us at a get together about a month ago and I loved it so I knew I'd be making it. Perfect opportunity came when my sister-in-law hosted a meet and greet with our family and her boyfriend's family. The cake came out great and was a bit hit with everyone. Thanks Colleen!

Pumpkin Raisin Oat Muffins

I'm baaaaccckkk!! The weather has cooled off. I'm out of my first trimester so I'm feeling good. All I want to do is cook and bake so that's what I did this weekend. After a search on allrecipes.com for muffins I found a recipe I liked but I really wanted raisin ones so I made some small changes. These include whole wheat flour for a little added health benefit. Add to that the oats and pumpkin, I think we have something good here. And if you want to eliminate the butter, sub in some yogurt. I think they'd still come out most and delicious.

• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup quick cooking oats
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup raisins

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2. Mix the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a mixing bowl until evenly blended. In a separate bowl, stir together the pumpkin, milk, egg, and butter. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, just until all ingredients are moistened. Fold in the raisins. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling to the top.
3. Bake in preheated oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes.

Penne with Pesto and Sausage

Here's a quick dinner I threw together with some pesto I had frozen a couple of weeks ago made from my very tall and growing way too fast for me to keep up basil plants. I added in 3 links of turkey sausage crumbled and whole wheat pasta to round out our meal. Another quick and well-rounded dinner for us on a weeknight.

Banana Bread - Low Fat

I had two very large ripe bananas so instead of throwing them out I made banana bread. It's finally cool enough that I can turn my oven back on and banana bread is really so easy to throw together. I like this recipe because there is no oil or butter or eggs. The only really bad thing is the cup of sugar but I can accept that and you can even sub in Splenda to make it even less calorie-laden. The bread came out moist and delicious. It's a winner in our house.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large or 3 small very ripe bananas mashed
1 cup sugar (or splenda)
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup light sour cream or low fat plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites

Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium size bowl and mix together. In a separate medium sized bowl, mash the bananas and then add the remaining ingredients. Whisk them together until well-combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (I do it in thirds) and combine with a wooden spoon until the ingredients have been incorporated but don't mix too much or it will become gluey. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out dry. Let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack before removing the bread from the pan.

Tallarene

This blog has become the "I'm pregnant and hungry so feed me something good and quick" blog. Which is fine because maybe it'll bring some fast and easy recipes to others like me. Tallarene is something I had growing up and I love it. My Mom has since stopped making it but silly her doesn't know what she is missing. So thanks for passing it on Mom, you should really start making it again!

8 oz. whole wheat noodles
1 lb. lean ground turkey or beef
1 shallot, diced
1 can corn
1 can of string beans
1 can tomato soup
1 cup of water
Salt to taste

Brown the meat and onion together in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Drain. Add in the remaining ingredients and cook over a low heat, covered, for 15 minutes or until noodles are tender.

Yes, that's it!