Chicken Spinach Orzo

This was an accidental recipe because I needed to use up what I had on hand before going to the store. It's pretty basic but really good! 

• 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or 4 thighs
• 1 1/2 cups Orzo
• 1 med. Onion chopped
• 4 cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• 4 cups Fresh Spinach 
• 1 cup Shredded Parmesan 
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Boil the chicken till done shred and set aside. Simmer orzo and onion in chicken stock for 8min. Stirring frequently to keep it from sticking (you want most of the stock to be absorbed) Turn off stove add chicken, spinach, parmesan, S&P then mix till spinach is just wilted and cheese is melted.

Enjoy!  

Aetna Healthy Food Fight

So I was asked to join Shespeaks a great site to test new products and share your thoughts on the products. Right now they are focusing on healthy eating and are partnering with Aetna to help people eat better

Aetna is one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability insurance and employee benefits. Aetna believes they can help make a better health care system.

Aetna Healthy Food Fight website is awesome! You can find great healthy recipes that are fast and easy, So there's really no excues on why you can't be healthier and make better choices.  Also you can also enter to win a Circulon® gourmet cookware set!!! Who doesn't like to win? So go check out their website, and let me know what you think. I'll be making a few recipes and posting them here with my reviews  

Healthy Food Fight

Fish Tacos

Ok so a while back I found this recipe for fish tacos that was good but not just right. This one is ALMOST perfect but was really good (and FAST) I had to share it. Betty Crocker is one of my favorite go to sites when I get in a rut and need some ideas. This one did it for me when I don't have much time to cook, feed the baby and have my oldest "help" with dinner. But he really did get to help with this and that makes it so much easier to get him to eat without messing around too much. He got to mix the ingredients and line the fish sticks up on the pan (should have taken pics :-p )

Any way here's the recipe

1 package (10 to 12 oz) breaded or battered fish fillets (6 fillets)

1 box (4.6 oz) Old El Paso® taco shells (12 shells)

1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

1 package (1 oz) Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix (any variety)

6 cups coleslaw mix (from 16-oz bag)

Old El Paso® taco sauce, if desired

1 Bake fish fillets (I used Gordons fish sticks) as directed on package. Cut each fillet into bite-size pieces.

2 Heat taco shells in oven as directed on box. (I used Ortega multigrain shells)

3 In medium bowl, mix mayonnaise and seasoning mix; stir in coleslaw mix. Let stand 5 minutes. Fill shells with fish pieces and coleslaw mixture; top with taco sauce.

YUM!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

I ran across this sweet delight on Pintrest (of course! I live on there lol) From this awesome site called Pennies on a platter and I just had to make them for a play date that's coming up tomorrow. We're going to make these babies into ice cream sandwiches! I also made regular chocolate chip but these made the cut. The only thing I didn't do was roll them in sugar, but that's because after the ice cream is added to them they will be rolled in sprinkles (more pics to come of that though)

The recipe!!

Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies

1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup granulated sugar (plus more for dipping)
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
¾ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375˚F.
Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter and 1/4 cup of the peanut butter until light and smooth. Add in the vanilla and egg, beating one at a time to combine. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Set dough aside.

To make the filling, cream together the powdered sugar and remaining 3/4 cup of peanut butter until smooth.

To assemble the cookies, spoon a generous tablespoon of chocolate cookie dough and flatten into a circle with your hands. Scoop a small amount of peanut butter filling mixture and place in the center of the chocolate dough. Wrap the chocolate dough around the peanut butter filling, pinching ends together to seal. Roll the cookie in between hands to smooth into a ball. Roll into a bowl of sugar and place on the cookie sheet.

Use the bottom of a glass to slightly flatten the cookies. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Do not over bake. Let cool on wire rack.

Again I got this recipe from Pennies on a platter Enjoy!

Jellyfish Hot dogs

Ok so we have hit a rut when it comes to lunches around here, and Cameren has been wanting to help me cook lately so I have been looking up different kid friendly recipes. I ran across this and thought it would be perfect! This is one of our first and next time we do this I'll have to come up with a better dipper than the usual ketchup. Any way this is what we did.

First I cut up the hot dogs into "Heads" (about 6 pieces per hot dog) and Cameren attached the "Tentacles"

It's a very tedious process for a 5 yr old lol And this is the end result! Cool huh? Cameren even asked for more whe we were done but sadly we had used the only 2 hotdogs in the house

Also next time I think I'll get some sinach or whole grain pasta and tell him Jellyfish come in diffrent colors ;)

Empanadas

So I made these the other day and I loved them!! I had thought of making them before but I didn't want to have to make the dough. I was shopping at Kroger the other day and found premade dough!!! So awesome! I think I'll be making all kinds of empanadas more often.

~Empanada dough (thawed)
~1 pound ground turkey
~1 pack taco sauce
~1 med. onion chopped
~1 green pepper chopped
~cheese (your choice)

Preheat oven 350
Brown turkey meat and add taco sauce. Sautee onion and pepper leave kinda crunchy. Roll dough out slightly bigger than they come. Add all ingredients including cheese to your desire. Bake for 20min. or until golden. Enjoy!!

I got this idea when one of the eggs I was trying to color with the shells on had cracked and made a really pretty vein looking thing on it so cracked them open and kept cooking them for a few min. Too cute huh. I think I'll do this again for Easter (the indoor ones)

Poorman Stew

6 cups water

5 med. potatoes cubed

1 med. bag mixed veggies

1 tube ground turkey

2 bouillon cubes

3 tbs. worstishire sauce

salt & pepper to taste

Cook meat in skillet. Boil potaoes in the water till tender, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer 20 min. You may need to add more water to your prefrence. I like mine thick.

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

Sorry I don't have a pic. for this one I will have to add it later.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb ground Italian sausage
1½ tsp crushed red peppers
1 large diced white onion
4 Tbsp bacon pieces
2 tsp garlic puree
10 cups water
5 cubes of chicken bouillon
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 lbs sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
¼ of a bunch of kale

Directions
Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic for approxiamtly 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
Mix together the chicken bouillon and water, then add it to the onions, bacon and garlic. Cook until boiling.
Add potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
Add heavy cream and cook until thoroughly heated.
Stir in the sausage.
Add kale just before serving.

Very simple. Very good.

Golden Corral Yeast rolls

Ingredients

1 envelope Active dry yeast

1/4 cup Very warm water

1/3 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Butter or margarine

1 teaspoon Salt

1 cup Scalding hot milk

1 Egg -- lightly beaten

4 1/2 cups Sifted all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons Melted butter or margarine -- for brushing rolls
Directions Sprinkle the yeast over very warm water in a large bowl (Very warmwater should feel comfortably warm when dropped on wrist.) Stir untilyeast dissolves. Add sugar, the 1/4 cup butter or margarine and saltto hot milk and stir until the sugar dissolves and butter or margarineis melted. Cool mixture to 105 to 115 degrees. Add milk mixture toyeast, then beat in egg. Beat in 4 cups of the flour, 1 cup at a time,to form a soft dough. Use some of the remaining 1/2 cup of the flour todust a pastry cloth. Knead the dough lightly for 5 minutes, working inthe remaining flour (use it for flouring the pastry cloth and yourhands). Place dough in a warm buttered bowl; turn greased side up.Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4to 1 1/2 hours. Punch dough down and knead 4 to 5 minutes on a lightlyfloured pastry cloth. Dough will be sticky, but use as little flouras possible for flouring your hands and the pastry cloth, otherwisethe rolls will not be as feathery light as they should be. Pinch offsmall chunks of dough and shape into round rolls about 1 1/2 to1 3/4 inches in diameter. Place in neat rows, not quite touching,in a well-buttered 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan. Cover rolls and let rise ina warm place until doubled in bulk, 30 to 40 minutes. Brush tops ofrolls with melted butter or margarine, then bake in a 375 degree ovenfor 18 to 20 minutes or until nicely browned. Serve warm with plentyof butter. This recipe yields about 2 dozen rolls.

Pecan Tarts

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 cup white sugar

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 cup margarine

1/2 cup corn syrup

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONSPreheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a large bowl, mix 1/2 cup margarine (NOT butter) and 1/2 cup sugar. Stir in egg yolks, almond extract, and sifted flour. Spray tiny muffin cups with non-stick spray. Press mixture evenly into tiny muffin cups. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. To make Filling: Bring to a boil 1/2 cup margarine, corn syrup, and confectioner's sugar. Stir in chopped pecans. Spoon into shells no more than 1/2 way. Top with pecan halves. Bake in a 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) oven for 5 minutes.
24

Red Velvet/Cream cheese with vanilla coating and cherry kool-aid toping

Ingredients:

Red velvet cake mix

Cream cheese icing

Vanilla almond bark

Cherry kool-aid

Also needed:

Cake pan

Large & medium bowls

2 forks

Wax paper or foil

Sandwich baggie

Take a red velvet cake mix and bake like the instructions say.

Let cool for 20min. in the fridge,

and crumble in a large bowl add cream cheese icing and stir untill well incorporated.

Take and roll about 1/4 tbs into balls.

Refrigerate for 20min. Melt all but 3 blocks of the almond bark following the directions in med. bowl (I used the microwave) roll the balls in the almond bark one at a time untill coated, use one fork to scoop the ball out and tap excess coating off (the slits in the fork help with this) use the other fork to scrape the ball off the first fork and on the the wax paper.

After you are finished take the left over coating and stir in half a packet cherry kool-aid (add more bark if needed and rewarm. I had to add all of it)

Place in sandwich baggieand cut a very small hole in one of the corners and moving very fast squeeze on topping. (It helped me to have them all very close but not touching in a line and work my way down not stopping till the end and start over at the next line)

Refirgerate untill ready to eat. ( I like them frozen or really cold they have a better texture)