Egg Nog

This is the best!!

4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
Nutmeg

Blend eggs, salt, 1/2 cup sugar in a pot on medium. Beat in milk until heated. Do not let boil or eggs will start to cook and you'll have lumpy eggnog. Add nutmeg for flavoring.

Ravioli Primavera and Meatballs

I started with the Tortellini Primavera recipe on Eating Well but changed it up a bit.

Step 1:
Turkey Meatballs:
1/2 lb lean ground turkey
Italian Bread Crumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup parm cheese
Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400
Mix everything together and form little meatballs and place on baking pan. You don't want them to be too big, I think I got about 24. Bake for about 30 mins or until done.

Step 2:
14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup Parmesan cheese (I used the one that has the Asiago mixed in)
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
16-ounce bag frozen mixed vegetables
2 bags frozen Ravioli

While meatballs are baking, bring a large pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add Ravioli and veggies. Boil 10 minutes then drain.

Meanwhile, whisk broth and flour together in a bowl. Pour EVOO in pan and let garlic simmer about 2 minutes. Add broth/flour mix and bring to boil. Let simmer until it thickens up a bit, stirring occasionally. Mix in cheese and tarragon, stirring until cheese is melted.

Drain Ravioli and put back in pot, add cheese mixture and meatballs. Mix together and serve.

BBQ Chicken Burritos

I am trying to start eating healthy again and I found this great website, eatingwell.com

Tonight I made Pico de Galo and BBQ Chicken Burritos.

Pico de Galo(optional):
4 roma tomatoes
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro chopped (you can add more for taste if wanted)
1 tsp minced garlic

Dice tomatoes and mix together. Leave in fridge at least 2 hours to marinate.

BBQ Chicken Burritos:

Step 1: Chicken
You can get a whole roasted chicken or roast your own. I had two pretty big chicken breast with bone that I roasted using below recipe.

Preheat oven to 400. Put a little water and white wine in a glass dish big enough to hold chicken. Sprinkle onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, red pepper flakes, paprkia, and cumin on the breasts. Cover with foil and bake at least 1 hr or until chicken is done. Shred (I do this using 2 forks) and put into pot.

Step 2: Add all of this to chicken in pot on low/med heat.
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup frozen corn
4 oz reduced fat sour cream

Microwave wheat tortilla for 12 seconds to soften. Put on plate and spread with advocado. Put a piece of romaine lettuce on top. Spoon chicken mixture ontop of lettuce and top with Pico de galo.

I ate mine with a fork and knife because it was so overloaded but if you have bigger tortillas you may be able to fold/wrap and eat like a real burrito. If you want to skip the wrap to make it healthier, just put chicken mix in a bowl and pico de galo

Cheesy Chicken Casserole

I had chicken, ricotta, and pasta and needed something to do with it so I came up with this.

3 chicken breast, boneless/skinless
EVOO
1 box pasta (I use the "Plus" one)
1 container ricotta cheese
1 cup milk
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
Salt, Black Pepper, Paprika, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder

Preheat oven to 375

Boil a pot of water. Add pasta.

Heat up enough EVOO to cover the bottom of a pan.

Dice up chicken breast. Season with S, BP, P, GB, OP. Add to pan with EVOO. Cover and cook, stirring as needed.

Drain pasta and put back in pot. Add ricotta and milk. Mix until cheese is melted through. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Add chicken. Mix. Put in casserole dish. Top with parmesan and mozzeralla cheese.

Bake until cheese is browning and bubbly.

**You can also add a package of drained frozen spinach when mixing everything together before putting in casserole dish**

Krafts Whipped Strawberry Sensation

We have a New York relative coming to our crawfish boil today for Good Friday so I had to do a dessert using fresh Ponchatoula strawberries. I found this in Kraft Food magazine. My changes are in parentheses.

I haven't had any of the fully prepared dessert yet but I tasted it before freezing last night and it was VERY good. Super sweet so if you aren't big on really sweet desserts, you may want to cut the condensed milk in half. If it isn't strawberry season, you could probably use frozen or maybe even raspberries or some other type of fruit.

4 cups fresh strawberries, divided

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup lemon juice(I squeezed the juice from one large fresh lemon)

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided(I used low fat)

8 OREO Cookies, finely chopped (I used 12 and put in food processor on pulse for a few seconds)

1 Tbsp. butter, melted (I used about 1.5 tbsp)

LINE 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil, with ends extending over sides of pan. Mash 2 cups berries in large bowl (I pulsed in food processor). Add condensed milk, lemon juice juice and 2 cups COOL WHIP; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.

MIX chopped cookies and butter (I combined butter in food processor by pulsing a second with oreos); spoon over COOL WHIP mixture. Gently press cookie mixture into COOL WHIP mixture. Cover with ends of foil. Freeze overnight.

INVERT dessert onto plate when ready to serve; remove pan and peel off foil. Frost dessert with remaining COOL WHIP. Slice remaining berries; arrange over dessert. (I then flash freezed mine, took out after about 40 minutes then covered) then put back in freezer until ready to serve. I took out about 20 minutes before serving so the top berries weren't frozen solid.

Dirty Rice

I am just realizing I never put this recipe on here. It is a very easy one pot dish and great for parties. Just transfer to a crock pot on warm after cooking. I don't measure and I probably do something different every time I make it. And no body knows it has brown rice :)

1.5 lb lean ground beef (I use sirloin)
Salt, black pepper, italian seasoning
1 chicken bullion cube
1 cup brown rice

Brown beef in a big pot. If needed, drain then put back in pot. Season with salt, black pepper, and italian seasoning. Add 3 cups water and chicken bullion cube. Add 1 cup dry brown rice. Cover and let simmer about 45 mins. You may need to add more water towards the end if rice absorbs all before finished.

You can add cayenne pepper too if you like spicy.

Check back over the weekend for 2 new dessert recipes I am trying. Both include oreos and whipped cream!

Finally Updating

On October 29, 2009 Isabella Rose entered our life. She is beautiful and perfect, I couldn't ask for a better daughter.

Anyway, I have a new recipe to post.

The original came from my mom and I made 2 little changes. No pictures but it is really good. And I had to cut out all red sauces due to nursing but this one seems okay with Bella. Plus its fast and easy.

2 boneless/skinless chicken breast cleaned and cut into thin strips
Salt/Black Pepper/Paprika/Garlic Powder/Onion Powder
EVOO
1/2 cup white wine
8 oz tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
Fresh parsley and basil chopped, about a hand full
1/2 bag egg noodles

Boil a pot of water and cook egg noodles

Pour a bit of EVOO in the bottom of a pan, just enough to cover bottom.
Season chicken with s, bp, p, gp, and op then add to pan. Cover and cook until done, flipping as needed.
Add wine and let simmer until reduced by about half.
Add tomato sauce and cream. Mix. Add parsley and basil.
Let heat up while stirring. Add S&P if needed.

Sprinkle with parm. cheese and serve.