Sorry its been so long, heres a yummy recipe!

Sorry its been so long since Ive posted any recipes! I'm totally going to make it up to you by posting a new recipe every other day this week. Hold me to it!

Today I offer you.......STUFFED SHELLS!!!

Which are oh..so..yummy. And really easy if you have a little time to spare. Completely worth the time!
I would tell you where I got this recipe but I honestly cannot remember, so I apologize.

What you need:
9X13 clear baking dish (I use 2 dishes)
1 box jumbo pasta shells
15 oz Ricotta cheese (if you get the small container, it is exactly 15 oz)
3 cups mozzarella cheese (separate out 1/2 cup for later)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1-2 lb ground beef (up to you)
1 jar pasta sauce (whatever kind your heart desires)
1/2 cup water


Now, what you'll see below is the recipe above, except with 2 different kinds of pasta sauce because I'm a nut and don't like the same kind Wesley does. So I split up the meat in half and use 1/2 a jar of each of the pasta sauces but everything else is the same.

When you make it, you will probably also need 2 pans unless you want to squeeze a bunch of shells into the pan like sardines. I like spreading them out, but you cant do it however you please!

What you need to do:
Preheat your oven to 350
Cook beef and add pasta sauce and 1/2 cup of water to it. Let it simmer for 10 minutes

In a big pot, bring water to a boil and add in the pasta shells. I use about 3/4 of a box for mine, because I like to really stuff the dickens out of them. Cook for 15 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, the 2.5 cups mozzarella, Parmesan, eggs, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir it all up really well. This is better done by hand than a mixer, but you can do whatever is easier for you.

Now, pour some of the meat/pasta sauce combo into the bottom of the pan. Maybe 1/3 or so of what you have just so it covers the bottom. Do this before you start stuffing shells!

By this time your pasta shells should be done, so drain them. The tricky part here is that you want to fill them while they're still hot and pliable, but you don't want to burn yourself. SO after you drain them give it about a minute, and then start filling them. I usually bring that baking dish (the one that now has the meat sauce in it now) over to the sink area so I can grab, stuff and place without really moving.

Get a spoon and scoop some of that ricotta  heaven mixture out and fill up the shells. After you stuff some of the yummy goodness in. close the shell a bit and place it in the baking dish.

I can usually get about 14-16 shells in each baking dish.

Once you're done place all the shells, grab the rest of that meat sauce and pour it all over the top of the shells.
Then take that 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese you set aside (or in my case, because I love cheese, a full cup) and sprinkle it all over the top of the meat sauce.

Bake at 350, covered with tin foil for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and make for another 10 minutes.
Pull out of the oven and serve.

Then after you serve it and everyone loves you a little more, comment and let me know!

And as always, if you have a great recipe you'd like to send me to try out and post let me know in the comments and I will absolutely do it, and give you credit!

Happy eating!

Crockpot Roast Chicken

I know, I went out of order and forgot to post the recipe to the roast chicken that had me aging 10 years in one night. You'll have to forgive me, I was somewhat scarred from the experience ;)

Here we go!

What you need:
Whole chicken (3-5 lb)
Roast Chicken Spice Mixture:
4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. thyme, ground
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. pepper

The night before:
• Wash a whole chicken (3-5 lbs.) and pat dry.  Try not to have a total panic attack about it like I did ;)

 

(Here's Wesley washing the chicken for me after I freaked out.)

•Prepare the spice mixture above in a small bowl and then rub all over the chicken, inside and out.  Try not to get too attached to your chicken, and definitely don't name it like I did mine.

 (I am aware the mixture looks like a smile. Not sure why, as I was doing anything but smiling at this particular moment.)

 

 

•Place the chicken in a pan and cover with plastic wrap.

• Put it in the refrigerator over night.

In the morning:
• Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and put it in your crockpot.
 You don't need to add any liquid, because the chicken produces its own juices as long as you don’t remove the cover while its cooking.  Trust me, there will be lots of juices by the time its done!

(Going in the pot)

•Cover and cook on low 9 hours.

(When it was done)

The chicken was falling off the bone before I even took it OUT of the crockpot. I had to lay it all out in a pan because it was completely separated! So good!

We served ours with some spicy rice and it was oh so yummy!

So there you have it. The roast chicken in the crockpot. While I'm not anxious to repeat the prep on this recipe, we'll definitely be making it again!

Chicken and stuffing!

I got this delicious recipe from my friend at Growing up Geeky. I believe someone else gave it to her, but you'd have to check her blog to find out who.
This recipe is so so easy and so so good.
Seriously, it took less than $10 and less than 3 minutes to prepare....totally my kind of dish!

What you need:
•4 boneless chicken breasts thawed. (I have a 4 qt crockpot and could only get 3 chicken breasts which was more than enough.)

•4 slices swiss cheese
•1 can cream of chicken.
•Splash of milk.
•1 box of Chicken Stove Top stuffing.
•Half stick of butter.

 What you do:
•Put chicken breasts on bottom of crockpot, (make sure it all sits along the bottom)
•Put a slice of cheese on each piece. I like to tear my pieces of cheese in half so that it's covering all of the chicken.

•Thin out the cream of chicken a bit with some milk (maybe a quarter cup) and pour that over chicken & cheese.

•Then put the dry stuffing on top.
•Cut slices of butter and put all around the top of the stuffing.

• Cook on low until the chicken is done, which will be about 4 hours.

I didnt get to take a picture of it all finished because we were too busy digging in!

We serve ours with some creamy mashed potatoes and some steamed broccoli. Yum!

It was like fear factor you guys.

So just for the record, I am probably never making the roast chicken in the crockpot recipe ever again. Those who know me well know I hate handling raw chicken meat. A whole chicken?? ::heart palpitations:: 

This was awful. I was going to make a post with just the recipe, but I realized the experience I had making it was worthy of its own post. When I set out to make this, i didnt really *think* about what id have to do. I just thought about how delicious it sounded and how much Wes wanted it. That was probably my first mistake. 

So I go to the store to get my whole chicken, and even though it's encased in thick plastic, it feels squishy and that makes me a little uncomfortable. I wrapped it in a plastic bag and put it in my cart. Right about here is where warning bells should have started going off in my head. But no. Still thinking about how yummy it's going to be. 

I come home and read the recipe again and start to panic just a little bit. I'm staring at this chicken and the whole task suddenly feels so daunting. This would be a really good form of torture for a germaphobe.  Which I'm not.

Really. 

Ok, maybe a little. 

I get my spices together and start mixing them up and realize this recipe calls for an awful lot of salt, and I think it's too much, but it's kind of too late since its already in the mixture. So I add some extras of all the others. I screw up and a lid pops off of the onion powder and way more goes in than I'd like, and I start freaking out. And I know it's because I have to deal with the damn chicken in a minute and I'm flipping the hell out inside about it. 

So the spices are done, and now comes the hard part for me. Imagine that Beethovens 5th is playing in the background. Or the Jaws theme song. Or any other song where you know something really unpleasant is coming. 

So I go to the sink and wash my hands and cut off the plastic. 

I am now holding the slippery slimy chicken. And omg, it totally looks like a chicken. Which it should, because it is, but you know what I mean right? It's got wings and legs and everything and all of a sudden, it's no longer food to me, it's a dead chicken. In my hands. 

I had to set the chicken down and give myself a minute. Or 5. 

 And is that chuckling i hear in the living room? Surely my husband is not laughing at me. 

I wash my hands again. Operating room style. Because really, salmonella y'all. 

Wesley walks into the kitchen and that's when I realize all the "omg, this is so gross...omg...dead chicken...blech..omg.." is not actually being said in my head, id been saying it out loud. 

Fortunately he walked in at exactly the right time because I flipped the chicken upside down to get out some of the water inside and OHMYGOD the freaking neck fell out. I don't think I could have handed (thrown?) Wes that chicken any faster than I did. 

I moved to the opposite counter and put my head down and just tried to breathe it out.  

Now mind you, I've had broken bones. I've seen bones protruding skin, hell..I had a Cesarean section. Nothing gets me like raw chicken meat. Especially when parts of said chicken are falling out of the inside of its body.  I simultaneously wanted to cry AND throw up. As if that wasnt bad enough, i hear a plop and Wes said "oh, look, there the liver.." ::blech:: another 5 second time out for me. 

He finishes washing the chicken for me and I wash my hands. Again. 

So then it came time to rub the spices all over the chicken. No biggie right? The hard part is over right? Yeah. Except by this time I've practically named my dead chicken and its whole little chicken life has flashed before my eyes. It was something akin to Cinderella spreading out the chicken feed for all her little chickies while singing a lovely song. Unassuming little chickens just going about their day. Although I'm sure those died too. I can't imagine they kept chickens just for fun. 

Back to Esmerelda..I mean, my whole chicken.  I was doing pretty well with rubbing the spices all over it at first. It was like giving it a chicken massage. I think I tried to make it easier by pretending I was giving it a little chicken bath. ::let's lift your little wing Esme, gotta get under there too...::

I swear, the sniffing Wes heard was because I was smelling the spice mixture and it was burning my nose. Like when you cut an onion. Only it was mostly Cayenne pepper. I wasnt crying.

Much.  

Then, the second dreaded part came. I had to put the spices IN the chicken.  I stood there for about 30 seconds trying to figure out how to get the spices in without actually reaching my hand in there. I look inside to see how I can manage it, and i see  little  Esmerelda's ribs. Time out again. I go wash my hands. Again. 

Deep breaths. 

I think at this point Wes was just openly laughing at me from the living room. I'm pretty sure I even said "are

you laughing at me?" and he just responded "Yep." Aww, my supportive husband. 

So I go back to spicing the insides. Or thinking about it at least. Can I just put the spices in there with a small spatula and try to coat the inside using the utensil? Can I just toss some spice in there and hope for the best? When I said this one out loud I heard "No Heather. You have to stick your hand in there and rub it all in. It'll be fine. Just do it." 

Oh. Goody. 

After some deep breaths, and washing my hands for the 8th time, I finally managed to get some spices in there, and tried to ignore the fact that myhand was inside of a freaking chicken. 

Have I mentioned I don't like handling raw chicken?? 

So I get it all in there and finally, IM DONE! I want to throw a ticker tape parade because it's over. Only I had no confetti, and the baby was sleeping. So I settled for washing my hands again. 

I put the plastic wrap over the dish and stuck the chicken in the fridge to sit and marinate overnight and have tried not to look at it when going into the fridge since. 

So it's safe to say that if we have this dish again, Wesley will be prepping the chicken. I did it once, and have no desire to do it again. 

I have also completely changed my mind about hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year. It's just not gonna happen. 

Hello from Miami!

I've been helping my sisters move this weekend down in Miami, and man am I exhausted. I forgot how tiring it is to move, and they barely had anything! I definitely don't have to work out for a few days, but damn if I havent gained 4 pounds in the last 28 hours. This morning the girls mom arranged breakfast for us courtesy of a friend of hers. She brought over pastries and all kinds of things. Now if you know me, you know I'm super picky. And yet somehow I managed to eat a beef empanada....for breakfast...on purpose. Seriously! Along with the usual guava and cheese pastries, there were meat empanadas as a breakfast meal. I know there's some fancy Spanish name for it, but I was too baffled by the fact that I was eating a beef pastry at 8 am.

I made the girls Haystacks for their first meal at home. They had a couple of their guy friends (who helped in the move) over for the meal as well.
The meal was served up and then there was total silence.
This is the highlight of my cooking for me! If people are silent, they are stuffing their faces, and they love it! I got compliments all around, and was told "oh I'm definitely following your blog." And that came from the guys! Haha!
I'm headed home tomorrow and though I'll miss the girls, I'm ready to be home with my boys. I need cooper snuggles!

Chicken and rice recipe

This is the go to comfort dish. Everyone loves a yummy casserole meal right? This one is the best. I quickly learned why Wes always responded to the question "what's your favorite food?" with "moms chicken and rice". It was a must learn for me. If the fastest way to a mans heart is through his stomach, then you gotta learn his favorite dish! Lucky for me it is one of the easiest flippin meals to make ever. Prep time is about 5 minutes. Cook time an hour and 10 minutes. And the oven does 99% of the work. That's my kind of meal!

What you need:
•13x9 casserole dish
•Chicken! I prefer white meat but my mother in law also puts dark meat in the dish. You choose how you like it! If you are just doing chicken breasts then you need about 3 breasts. If you're doing a combo, you can do 2 and 2.
•Lipton onion soup mix
•Can of cream of chicken
•Can of cheddar cheese soup
•Box of uncle Bens wild rice

What you do:

•Butter the whole bottom of the casserole dish. Sides too.

•Pour in the rice evenly on the bottom of the dish.

•Sprinkle the seasoning mix from the rice box over the rice.

• Cut up the chicken into smaller pieces so its all along the dish, but still big pieces.

• Add chicken.

• In a bowl,  mix together can of cream of chicken soup, cheddar cheese soup, the lipton onion packet and a can of water.

•Stir it up well. It's normal for it to have some little chunks floating around in it. You can try to blend it all enough so there's not,  but its not really necessary.

•Pour the mixture evenly over chicken.

•Cover with foil and bake at 350 for one hour.

•When timer goes off, uncover it and bake for another 10 minutes.

*All ovens cook a little  differently so if you take it out and it still looks soupy, pop it in for another 5-10 minutes until its thicker. You won't hurt the dish at all to cook it a little more.

( sorry there's no pic of it in the dish finished. Wesley dug into it too fast!)

Viola! Chicken and rice that will make you want seconds even though you're stuffed. For our little family of 2.5, there's always enough for leftovers too and that's a huge plus in this house!

*This recipe is from both Wes's aunt Vicki, and Wes's mom Robyn. Major kudos there for the awesome dish.

Chicken and rice!

Tonight I'll be making chicken and rice Mama style. Wes's favorite dish is one his mom makes (surprise surprise!) and she graciously taught me how to make it too. She told me last week that it's actually Aunt Vickis recipe, so I must give her credit too!
This dish is so so easy, and you'll have leftovers for a week with it!
Stay tuned for the recipe!

FYI: this entire dish cost less than $10, and only calls for 5 ingredients!