Last night I tried a great soup from Family Fun Magazine.  It was a great lasagna soup.  It took about an hour from start to finish but it was souper easy! No pun intended.  Both Turkey Butt and Little Man loved it.  Turkey Butt’s job was putting the cheese mixture on the bottom of the bowl and then putting the mozzarella on top.  She loved it.  I had never chopped herbs before.  I had alwasy used dried herbs but I have a fantastic small processor and use it for everything.  It made quick work of both the onions and the basil.  Hope you enjoy it.

This month’s Lifestyles’ Carnival theme is picnics. I thought I would share with you my pasta salad recipe. Personally, I don’t like the taste of the boxed pasta salad mixes and this one is always well received.

You’ll need:
1 box of garden rotini noodles
1 bottle zesty Italian salad dressing
1 small can of sliced olives, drained
handful of fresh chopped mushrooms
2-3 diced roma tomatoes*
1 cucumber - peeled and chopped
chopped deli ham (optional)
shredded cheese

Fill a large pot with water and bring water to a boil. Add box of noodles. Boil about 10 minutes, until noodles become tender. Drain and allow to cool. In a large bowl, add all of the vegetables and ham and mix in salad dressing to desired taste. Cover and refrigerate. Before serving, mix in desired amount of cheese. You may need to add a little more salad dressing as well.

*I prefer to use Roma tomatoes because they don’t have as much water as other tomatoes.

Enjoy!  Let me know how it turns out.

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I’ve made this cheese spread a few times.  It goes well with crackers and is so simple to make. 

You’ll need:

8 oz cream cheese (at room temperature or softened)
2-4 tablespoons Catalina dressing

Simply mix the cream cheese and the Catalina dressing until the dressing is completely mixed into the cream cheese.  The amount of dressing you use will depend upon how tangy you like the cheese spread. 

I’ve served this at two parties and it was well received.  Thanks to my friend Darlene for the recipe.

Enjoy!

I was looking through an old Good Housekeeping magazine today and found an article about Kelly Ripa.  Each year at Christmas, she makes hundreds of spritz cookies using her grandmother’s recipe.  They are simple and easy.  I thought you might enjoy having this recipe on file.  You don’t have to wait until Christmas to make them.

Grandma Esther’s Spritz Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

1. Heat oven to 375 F degrees.
2. Combine butter and sugar, then add remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly.
3. Load into cookie press. Place dough 1/2 inch apart on cookie sheet.
4. Bake 12 minutes or until edges are brown.
5. Decorate as desired.

Enjoy!

Last night, I meant to open a can of evaporated milk, but accidentally opened a can of sweet condensed milk.  I didn’t want the sweet condensed milk to go to waste, so I asked my mom what I should make with it.  She suggested this simple and yummy cake.

You’ll need:

• Box of cake mix - You’ll also need the ingredients to make the cake, which are probably eggs, oil, and water.  Or if you’re feeling up to it, you can make a cake from scratch.
• 14 oz can of sweet condensed milk
• container of Cool Whip or whipped topping
• coconut (optional)

Make the cake according to the directions on the box and cook it in a 9×13 cake pan.  Allow the cake to cool for a bit, leave the cake in the pan, and pour the can of condensed milk over the cake.  Allow the milk to spread over the cake and drain down in the sides.  Let it sit for a few minutes and then spread all of the Cool Whip over the cake.  Top with coconut, if desired.  Refrigerate cake.  It is probably best to let this cake sit for a while before eating so that the milk can soak up inside the cake. Let me know how it turns out.

Have you made a cake like this one before?

With the rising price of groceries, we all could use some inexpensive recipes for our families. This is a slow-cooker recipe and it is great because it is easy, tasty, healthy, and inexpensive! Score!

Ingredients:

• chicken (I used 4 boneless breasts)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I used the ones with green chilies)
• green salsa (such as the kind made by Herdez)
• minced garlic
• sliced onions
• sliced bell peppers
• salt and pepper (I used Goya Adobo seasoning, which is one of our faves!)
• 14 oz can of kernel corn, drained
• 15 oz can of black beans, drained and chopped or mashed

In a crock pot, put in your chicken, tomatoes, about 3/4-1 cup of green salsa, about 1 cup of sliced onions, some sliced bell peppers (if you wish), about 3 cloves minced garlic (I used the bottled minced) and salt and pepper (or Goya Adobo seasoning). Cook the chicken for about 3-4 hours, until tender.

Take the chicken out of the crock pot and set it on a plate or cutting board to let it cool some. Drain the juice out of the vegetables, reserving some of the liquid. Put the vegetables back into the crock pot. Add the can of drained corn and drained black beans. Cut up or shred the chicken and put it back into the crock pot. Add a little more of the green salsa (about 1/4 cup) and some of the liquid from the vegetables that you drained (about 1 cup). Stir all this together and allow it to cook for another 15-20 minutes.

Use the chicken in tacos, burritos, or quesadillas. Yummy!

We had enough of this chicken to feed our family of four and then some to freeze for another meal. I also served this recipe with Spanish rice. We topped our tacos with cheese and sour cream and a bit of fresh, homemade salsa (pico-de-gallo). Sorry, I wish I had a picture to share.

Enjoy!

This is a very easy to prepare.  You can have dinner in about 30 minutes.  Since the shells are baked, this is a pretty healthy meal. 

You will need:

• boneless chicken
• refried beans
• salsa
• taco seasoning
• Azteca taco shells (usually found in the refrigerated stuff, near the eggs)
• lettuce
• tomatoes
• sour cream
• shredded cheese

Set out your Azteca taco shells so that they can begin to soften.  Wash and cut up your lettuce and tomatoes; set aside.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Form your taco shells using the forms that are included in the Azteca kit.  Bake these on 350 until they’re browned.  This should take about 8-10 minutes.

Cut your chicken into bite size pieces.  Throw it in a skillet with some salsa and about 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning.  Cook until it’s done throughout.  Yep, it really is that simple.  If you want, you can sprinkle in some garlic and cumin.  If the chicken starts to dry out while it’s cooking or waiting to be eaten, just add a tablespoon of water and stir.

Cook your refried beans in a saucepan.  I just buy the ones in a can.  I have found that they’re really, really thick though, so I usually add a  little salsa and water to them to make them thinner.

Once your shells, chicken, and beans are done, you just layer your salad.  Here’s how I usually layer mine:  shell, beans, chicken, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese, and salsa. 

If you’d like, you can also include some cooked Mexican rice or olives in your salad.

This is a very easy dinner and it won’t take you long at all to prepare it.  If you’d like to prepare a little in advance, you can already have your vegetables and chicken cut up.

I found the Azteca shells at Wal-Mart.  Some stores do not carry them.  They are a great tasting shell, as they are light and flaky.

Let me know how it turns out.  Enjoy!

My husband is not fond of pasta.  I know, it’s weird. lol  Sometimes it is hard to cook for him because there are so many dishes that have pasta in them. 

Last week I decided to concoct a pasta free lasagna.  Here’s a picture of it before I cooked it.  Sorry, I don’t have an after picture.  This pic will help you to see the layers. 

My husband said this was the best lasagna he had ever eaten.  When he had the leftovers the next day for lunch, he said again how much he enjoyed it.  That made me feel pretty good.  :)  This lasagna would also work well for someone that wants a low carb dish.

Here’s what I did . . .

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I was looking through the recipe archives this week and couldn’t believe that I haven’t given you this recipe yet.  I am making this tonight and it is so yummy!  My kids even eat it.

How you choose to cook the chicken is up to you.  I would recommend boiling it or cooking it in a skillet with a little butter.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, mix the chicken, half of the cheese, and a dash of the spices together. Spray pan(s) with cooking spray. Unroll croissants and fill with chicken mixture. Then re-roll and lay in pan. In a sauce pan, heat soup, water and milk together until hot, then pour over croissants. Top with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes.

Some tips:

Remember my cousin’s Sweet 16 party?  I thought I would share another recipe for one of the dishes we made - stuffed jalapenos. 

This recipe makes a big batch of jalapenos.  Adjust as needed.  You’ll need:

• 35-40 fresh jalapenos
• three 8 oz packages of cream cheese (at room temperature)
• approximately 3/4 of a roll of sausage
• 2 packages of bacon (pieces cut into thirds)
• toothpicks
• gloves

To start, you need to wash the jalapenos, cut them lengthwise from top to bottom, and then take out the seeds, leaving the stems attached.  I’m sorry, I had pictures of us doing all this, but they got deleted.  You will need to wear gloves while taking out the seeds!!!!  Not wearing gloves can cause you to burn your skin and possibly your eyes!

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