Manicotti Lasagna

I served mine with Cesar salad and homemade cheddar bay biscuits!!!

This recipe came from....ME! I had some manicotti noodles I wanted to use and wanted to make something with stuff I already had. It came out SOOO delicious!

What you will need:

1 lb. Ground beef

Small curd Cottage cheese

Onion

Italian seasoning

Garlic powder

Onion powder

12 Manicotti noodles

Marinara sauce

Mozzerella Cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Brown meat with seasonings (italian, onion and garlic powder) and add in chopped onion for extra flavor. Boil manicotti noodles to where they are slightly still stiff so you can stuff them easily. Drain noodles and let cool. (you may want to add some EVOO so they don't stick together). Coat bottom of baking dish with a little bit of the marinara sauce. Add in your desired amount of cottage cheese to the meat mixture. Fill each noodle with the mixture and lay in dish. Cover noodles with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 15 min. Then uncover and bake for an additional 5 min. MMM, so simple!!!

Parmesan Garlic Chicken

This was my first time making this and it was really good! I got the recipe off of the Good Seasons Italian dressing and recipe mix. Here it is!

You will need:

1/2 cup 100% grated parmesan cheese

1 envelope of Good Seasons Italian salad dressing and recipe mix

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix cheese, salad dressing, and garlic powder in small bowl.

Moisten chicken with water, and coat with cheese mixture. Place in shallow baking dish.

Bake for 20-25 min or until chicken is cooked through.

For a golden appearance, after chicken is done cooking set oven to broil. Broil for 2-4 min. or until chicken is golden brown.

Enjoy!!!

Weekly Menu Plan

My menu plans do not always start at the beginning of the week, but I do make them for a week. So here is our menu from Thursday to Wednesday!

THURS- Parmesan Garlic Chicken (first time making this..will post recipe if its good!) and salad with balsamic dressing

FRI- Shake N bake chicken, corn on the cob, and saffron yellow rice

SAT- Manicotti noodle lasagna and cesar salad (this is a creation from my own brain so again, if its good I'll post it.)

SUN- Turkey tenderlion stuffing casserole and garlic butter green beans

MON- Louisiana Chicken spaghetti

TUES- Pizza pasta and garlic crescent rolls

WED- Fajitas and mexican rice

(Ranch) Pizza Pasta and Garlic Crescent Rolls

P enjoying his pizza pasta!

This is a favorite among my family, as well as easy to throw together in a pinch, or usually in my case, forgot to defrost meat!!

YOU WILL NEED:

Ranch dressing (if desired)

Your choice of pasta noodles (we like bowtie or penne for this)

Your favorite pizza toppings

Mozzerella cheese

Marinara or spaghetti sauce (I like Newmans own Marinara)

Crescent Rolls

Butter

Garlic seasoning

Prepare noodles as box directs. Preheat oven while water is boiling. While noodles are cooking, take out your rolls and before seperating them, spread with butter and sprinkle with garlic seasoning. Then seperate and roll as normal. Cook as directed on package. When noodles are done, drain and add sauce and your favorite pizza toppings (such as onions, olives, green peppers, pepperoni, mushrooms, etc.) Put in baking dish and top with mozzarella cheese and bake for 10 min. When serving, add some ranch dressing and stir for a little twist on plain pizza pasta!

Another alternative to baking the pasta, is to use mozz cheesesticks and cut into chunks. Add to pasta and return pan to heat and stir. :)

Taco Chicken Twice Baked Potatoes

I have never made twice baked or mashed potatoes from scratch before, but I had some potatoes I needed to use so I thought I would give it a try! I wanted to make it the main course of the meal instead of a side dish so I added the chicken and super stuffed them. Here we go..

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1 potato for each person

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

sea salt

pepper

EVOO

Season all (if you choose)

taco seasoning

1/2 small onion, diced

Chicken, diced (I am a huge fan of the Tyson Grilled and ready chicken strips found in the freezer aisle!)

1 cup Shredded cheese of your choice (I used Colby jack for this)

Start by cooking your potatoes in the microwave. I like to wrap them in saran wrap and poke holes in the top, then push the "potato" button on the micro!

While that is cooking, start sauteing your chicken and onion and add in some taco seasoning too. Cut chicken to desired size and put in bowl.

Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees.

After potatoes have cooled enough to handle, cut off about 1/3 or 1/4th of the tops. Scoop out the potato filling and add to the bowl, but leave enough of the sides for the potato to stand alone. Then peel the skin of the little tops and add in that potato too.

Then add in your salt, pepper, seasoning, milk, and sour cream and mash and mix. Then add your cheese and mix. leave a bit of cheese for the top of the taters too.

Flip the potato skins over and bush with EVOO and sea salt. Place upright on a baking sheet.

Put your potato mixture in a ziplock baggie and cut a hole on the bottom corner big enough for your chicken chunks to fit thru. Zip it up and you have a nice little piping bag to fill the shells! I like doing this because it gets your filling in every crevice and also allows you to make it fluffy and overfilled without being sloppy.

Top with extra cheese and put in the oven for 15 mins. DONE! Easyyyyyyy! And good to make ahead and refrigerate until you can finish baking them at your convenience.

Menu Plan Monday

I haven't posted in awhile, since my computer was getting fixed. But I'm back and I'm going to try to be better about updating! Now if only I could find a cord for my camera so I don't have to put up cell phone pictures...

Now for this weeks menu plan.. I made some tentative lunch plans, because I use this menu plan to do my grocery shopping for the week, so I want to make sure I have lunch options. But I don't always follow it.

Monday:
L- Taquitos
D- Pasta Carrabba (will do a post on this)

Tuesday:
L- Pizza
D- Steak, baked potatoes, and corn

Wednesday:
L- Tomato soup and crackers
D- BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches- crock pot (will do a post on this too)

Thursday:
L- Quesadillas
D- Spaghetti and Garlic bread (I started using Newmans Own sauce in Marinara and Sockerooni and will NEVER go back to Ragu or Prego! Seriously, try itttt!!!)

Friday:
L-Left overs?
D- Out (will be at Imagination Movers concert with Preston!!)

Saturday:
L- Egg Salad Sandwiches and chips
D- Chicken pot pie casserole (might do a post on this one...)

Sunday:
L- Grilled cheese sandwiches
D- Burgers and Fries

That's what I have planned for this week! hope it gave you some ideas for your dinners too!