Pronto Pasta Italiano

I made this for my kiddos while Todd was out of town because I thought it was more of a "kid" recipe! Turns out.....I LOVED it too! The kids ate 2 helpings EACH! That is VERY unusual at my house! This is the easiest thing ever and it was truly delicious! My sister gave me this recipe and she got it from the Kraft Foods magazine! For those of you who don't know...you can go to KRAFT by clicking on the link on this blog and request a monthly cooking magazine! It's free and there are always great and easy recipes in it as well!

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (14 oz.) KRAFT Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 jar of pizza sauce
1/2 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Italian* Three Cheese Blend

Directions:
Prepare M&C as directed.
Brown & drain hamburger meat
Mix all ingredients together but sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for about 10 minutes at 350! Enjoy!

I served it with Italian bread and it was a huge hit!

Wanna WIN something????

Okay, so it's not THAT big of a deal....but I am making a recipe book full of my favorite recipes and a lot of them are on this blog....but some of them aren't! It will feature kids recipes, family friendly dinners, fun desserts and some party pleasing foods as well!

Wanna win a copy? (It's not like an official hardbound book or anything, but it will be cute and easy to use!)

Here's how you can win...

Join my "followers" list! On May 3rd (one month from today), I will randomly draw a name from all of my "blog followers" to win a copy! All that happens when you join the "followers" list is that you will get an email update when I post a new entry to the blog! Spread the word...tell your friends!

Chicken Spinach Enchiladas!

These are the best enchiladas EVER and I don't even like spinach!

My whole family LOVES LOVES LOVES them and I love to make them!

Enjoy!

ENCHILADAS:

Ingredients:
*2 cups cubed chicken (cooked) I usually use the fajita chicken that you buy pre-cooked in the package! It's around $2.50!

*1 package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed & drained)

*1 small container of Sour Cream

*1 small container of Small Cured Cottage Cheese

*1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

*1 can Rotel (drain and save the juice in seperate bowl!)

*2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

*1/2 tablespoon of garlic powder

*1/2 tablespoon salt

*1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

*12-14 Tortillas (depending on the pan size!)

Enchilada Cheese Sauce:
Ingredients:

*1 block Philidelphia Cream Cheese

*1 cup chicken broth

*Remaining juice from "Rotel"

*1/4 - 1/2 cup flour

Additional:
about 1/2 cup rotel for garnish

cilantro for garnish

Enchiladas....

Combine all ingedients into a large bowl and mix well. This can be done the night before and the flavor is EVEN better! But they are still great if you cook them right after mixing it all up!

Sauce...

Pour chicken broth into saucepan. Once hot, put in cream cheese and wisk around until melted. Add Rotel juices and then the flour to "thicken" it up a bit. Should be the consistency of queso cheese. If it gets too thick, add more chicken broth or rotel juice if available, if not, use a tiny bit of water or milk. If not thick enough, add flour and wisk.

Assembly...

Pour enough cheese sauce into bottom of baking pan (I use an aluminum disposable one so I have easy cleanup! To me, it's worth the $2.00!) Spread cheese around. Then spoon mixture into tortillas and roll up and place in pan packed tightly. Place "open end face down" so that they are "smooth" across the top. Once full of enchiladas, pour remaining cheese sauce over top and spread evenly into all creases, etc. Sprinkle with some shredded cheddar to top and then spoon a little Rotel and sprinkle some cilantro on top and bake. There are 2 options on baking. The best way is to turn the oven on to around 200 and let them bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours without foil on top. Just slowly. Then, turn them up to around 450 for about 10 minutes right before serving. Let them sit on top of the stove for 5-10 minutes before serving so they will 'firm up' a bit. If you don't have this kind of time, you can bake at 350 for about an hour and they'll be perfect as well. They are BETTER though when they cook slow. :)

Catching UP in the kitchen....

Sorry Ladies....I'd taken a bit of a break! I've been cooking a lot of the same ol' stuff for a bit but now I'm back on track! New recipes, photos, etc. coming NOW!

enjoy and get cookin!

Sharon

Homemade Hot Cocoa

This is the recipe for my FAVORITE hot cocoa! It's yummy!!!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder

1/4 cup HOT water

Dash of salt

4 Cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Optional: 1 tablespoon of vanilla ice cream

Mix sugar, cocoa & salt together with wisk. (dry mix) Add HOT water and continue to wisk.

Bring to a boil over medium/high heat.

CONTINUE stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.

Pour in milk and vanilla.

Make sure to keep stirring occassionally so not to burn the milk.

Keep on stove until hot.

Pour into cups. For children, to cool it to the perfect temperature, add 1 tablespoon of vanilla ice cream and stir until melted. Test it first, but this usually takes it to the perfect warm temp and adds to the richness! Yummy for adults, too!!!!

enjoy!

I've been falling down on the job! LOL

Sorry, girls! I know I haven't posted lately. I've been so busy with everything else that I haven't even had a chance! So, here's a new recipe for you gals! (or guys)

Taquito Pie (easy beef enchiladas!)

Ingredients:
Package of frozen Beef Steak Taquitos (not the flour kind...the corn ones.)
1 Can chili with no beans
1 Large can refried beans (traditional)

Place frozen taquitos in a casserole dish. For a fam. of 4, I use nearly all of the taquitos in a 9x13 dish. Don't stack them. Just side by side all over the dish. Some will have to go sideways to fill in.

Spread refried beans over taquitos.

Spread Chili on top of beans.

Bake on 350 for approximately 25 minutes. Sprinkle top with shredded cheddar or mexi-blend cheese. Turn up the temp to 450 and bake until cheese melts.

Serve with tortilla chips! Delicious & EASY! Tastes like beef enchiladas!

Sarah helping make muffins!

We made muffins on Tuesday morning! She helped! So sweet!

Her hair was crazy because we had just gotten up and started cooking. I love these photos because of her wild hair!

I thought these were too cute not to share!