Throw together meals

Eric and I specialize in this. We're pretty good at sticking to our grocery budget, but we're not very good at planning a menu for the week. So we have become near experts at just using what we have.

Last night was a major success--we both loved the meal I threw together at 9 p.m. after Eric got home from taking a midterm. I thought I'd share, even though it's really simple. Also, we don't do well with leftovers, so we make just enough for two people, so you'll definitely need to increase the amount on the ingredients. No worries, though, because it's nothing scientific!

1 thick chicken breast
1 zucchini, sliced into small rounds
Olive oil
Dried basil, oregano, thyme, and/or any Italian-themed spices you enjoy
1 packet alfredo sauce mix (and any ingredients needed to make said mix--usually butter and milk)
Some onion

We thawed the chicken and I made Eric trim it in half for me so it was thinner--it was a large breast. Otherwise we would have used two. Preheat oven to 350. Put the chicken breast in a baking dish, and lay the zucchini on top of the chicken and throughout the pan. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the chicken and zucchini, then sprinkle your spices. Prepare alfredo sauce according to package directions (or if you're being fancy, make your own--just make enough to be able to have a good 3/4 inch or so of sauce in the bottom of your pan). Pour sauce over zucchini and chicken. Slice some onion and arrange over top of the sauce. We had a good amount of onion because Eric loves them. Pop the pan in the oven and let cook until chicken is cooked (for our small dish it took about 30-35 minutes).

We toasted some English muffins for the side and all-in-all it was a nice way to end a long day for my poor grad student--he'd had a midterm in accounting and it was rough.

Try it, you'll like it!

Baked Pasta

I love pasta. I think I would die if I couldn't eat it. So don't even ask me to give it up. I know you're all conspiring to do it, but don't. Just stop here.

Here is a recipe that I came across in Parenting magazine. It's delicious and colorful. But you MUST use fresh mozzarella. MUST. Not the stuff you get over by the Kraft cheeses. If you use Kraft, you're in trouble. Big trouble. Go over to the cool, exotic cheese section and find fresh mozzarella. It's the stuff that melts under your knife. It's awesome.

Here's the recipe.

Baked Pasta With Summer Veggies
Cooking spray
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced (or substitute summer squash, carrots, or eggplant)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 lb ziti or penne pasta
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese (fat free is fine also)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, plus 1/2 cup (I buy the fresh stuff)
pinch of nutmeg
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped (I've used fresh and dried, just use less if you substitute the dry)
1/2 lb FRESH mozzarella
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly coat a large, shallow baking dish with cooking spray. Place a large pot of water over medium-high heat.Toss onion, garlic, red pepper, and zucchini in a large bowl with olive oil; season with salt and pepper to taste. Place vegetables on a baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes.

While vegetables are roasting, add pasta to the water and boil about 2 minutes short of package directions (it should still be slightly firm). Drain.

In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan, and the nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Gently toss pasta with the ricotta mixture, vegetables, tomatoes, oregano, and mozzarella. Pour mixture into the baking dish.Sprinkle top with the remaining parmesan and break crumbs. Bake, uncovered, until lightly browned and bubbling, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

P.S. This is also very good unbaked. It makes a delicious cold salad that you can take to work and enjoy when you take a break from the craziness that is our world. :)

Cake Balls!:)

Not sure if this recipe is already on here (i didn't have enough time to to search through all of the posts). I made it last night for the first time, i have eaten it a few times, but made it last night. Those who had some said they were delicious, i can't have sugar right now, so....i couldn't tell you what my personal thoughts are.

here is the link: http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/

im not sure how to make it so you can just click on it, but im sure you all know how to copy and paste.

one problem i had with it, is that it actually made 90 balls, (mostly because of the size of melon baller/cookie scooper) so i used 2 1/2 bags of chocolate. Also by the end of the whole thing my last few didn't look so hot because there were little crumbly cake pieces in the chocolate, so i tried to drizzle some of the chocolate over the cake balls because it just wasn't sticking to it when i rolled them because of all the little bits. THAT or i just dont know what im doing:)

this was the first time ive dipped anything in chocolate so....any tips?
I also used milk choc. chips because i couldn't find any choc. bark

ENJOY!!!:)

Favorite spices

So I want everyone to share in the comments what their favorite spices are. You can share some for sweet dishes, some for savory. I'll start.

Savory:

• I am addicted to basil. I've said it. There.
• I've recently rediscovered paprika. I forgot that it is good for more than a garnish on deviled eggs. Tried it on some sweet potato fries today and it was delish (yes, I said delish--I'm bringing that one back from the 90s).
  
• Basic Mrs. Dash. So it's not just one spice...but I think it's amazing that there's so much goodness and no salt, and I never add salt when I've used Mrs. Dash, so that's got to be a good sign for someone like me who adds exorbitant amounts of salt to some of my food.

Sweet:

• Nutmeg.
• Vanilla bean.
• Butter.

Ok, so I know butter isn't a spice. But it's yummy. And I don't even blink when I make butter balls, one of my favorite cookies, that have two sticks of butter in them.

2 things

1. We need to get a title for this blog already.
2. I forgot the 2nd thing.

If you're on a diet...

Stop reading.

For all the rest of us liberated women (who know we're going to die because of the things we eat but we say we don't care as we smear butter on everything we make), here's a recipe I tried today from The Pioneer Woman's Web site. It was really, really yummy. I love strawberry shortcake, and this is like strawberry shortcake on steroids. So enjoy, and I'll see you when we're getting stints in our major arteries the same weekend.

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Yummy, easy honey nut chicken

To be honest, I didn't have any nuts, so I did mustard in the egg/honey mixture instead, but this was super moist and soooo easy. Eric and I liked it, and it was really short prep time and dinner was ready in less than an hour. I'll just post the link so you can change the serving size if you need to.

Baked Honey Nut Chicken.