Noodles and Ketchup

Yes you heard, er, saw right! Noodles and ketchup, nothing too fancy, and the only other ingredient is butter. So, yes, it's easy...I like easy, can you tell? I grew up with this, mostly eating it for lunch, and usually with a hot dog. Now most people stick their nose right up when they hear what it's called...but I LOVE it! Although this may not be one that pleases everyone. But I'm sure it'll be one the kiddos will enjoy!
 What you need:
Cooked noodles in amount desired (in whatever shape floats your boat)
Butter (amount depends on amount of noodles, enough to coat the noodles when melted)
Ketchup
What you do:
After the noodles are cooked, drain and leave them in the strainer-DO NOT RINSE-you want them hot. Put the butter in the pot to melt. Now here's where it gets good. Keep the butter cooking until it turns brown in color, this gives it a whole new flavor! When it's the right color add the noodles and stir it up. Then dish it out and add desired amount of ketchup right on top! YUM-O

Asain Wraps

Let me start out by saying that I love, love, LOVE these! And no the picture is not great...sorry, the fact that I didn't get the right lettuce doesn't help. But they are delicious! Try 'em, you'll love 'em too!
 And yes, they are easy! I can't remember where I got this recipe...but I'm pretty sure it was from one of the blogs to the left.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb lean ground meat (beef, turkey, chicken)
4 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp srirachi sauce
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
3 oz mushrooms, diced
butter lettuce leaves, washed & dried

Directions:
In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground meat (I used turkey), stirring often and reducing the heat to medium when thoroughly browned. Add diced onions; bell peppers. Stir frequently until softened. Add the garlic, soy sauce, srirachi sauce, ginger, and white pepper. Stir occassionally adding mushrooms. Cook a few more minutes until mushrooms are softened. Remove from heat. Serve hot in lettuce leaves

So while the meat was browning, I mixed the ingredients that go in after the onions and peppers in a bowl, which made things easier. Also, I left out the mushrooms, and used black pepper instead of white.

Oven Roasted Chicken Wings...35 min

These are SERIOUSLY easy AND DELICIOUS!!! I made them last night & I'm thinking of making them again for all the football games tomorrow!! ENJOY!

the goods:
3 lbs chicken drumettes
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup unsalted butter/margerine melted
ranch dressing, for dipping


Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. In a large boil, combine lemon juice, peper, garlic & onion powders and salt. Add thyme, cayenne and melted butter. Stir mixture thoroughly, then toss chicken with spice paste.

Arrange wings in one layer on baking sheet. Cook 20 minutes, then rotate sheet and flip wings. cook until wings are browned and cooked through, 10 minutes (I ended up cooking them again for another 10 minutes just so they were crispy enough). Serve with ranch for dipping.

Parmesan Crusted Chiken Burgers

I was watching Rachel Ray and this was the meal she cooked. It looked delicious, so I went to her website and printed it out. Let me just tell you...it was as good as it looked! Sorry my picture doesn't do it justice. I wasn't home so I had to use the camera on my phone. It was really simple to make as well, the most time consuming part was getting the fresh herbs prepared. Seriously though, a great dish, everyone LOVED it.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus some for drizzling
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Salt and pepper
A generous handful of sweet basil, shredded or torn
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or ground veal
2 tablespoons freshly chopped thyme for chicken or sage for veal
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
3 to 4 tablespoons sesame seeds, a handful
1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, a couple of handfuls
A small handful of flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped
1 ball or bundle of Burata or 1 cup fresh ricotta cheese
A couple of generous handfuls of baby arugula
8 slider rolls, such as brioche dinner rolls (softer roll) or ciabatta rolls (super crusty rolls), split

As you can tell, she made sliders...I made burgers, so I just used toasted hamburger buns. Also I just used  parmesan cheese, and it still tasted great. And as you can see from the picture, I didn't use the arugala either.

Directions:
In a small pot with tight fitting lid heat EVOO, a couple of turns of the pot, over medium heat, add garlic and stir 2 minutes then add tomatoes and cover pot, raise heat a bit and cook tomatoes, shaking the pot occasionally, until tomatoes burst, 8-10 minutes. Mash up sauce with wooden spoon and season tomatoes with salt and pepper. Thicken, uncovered for 2-3 minutes, then stir in basil leaves and turn off heat.


Meanwhile, season chicken with thyme, salt and pepper. In a separate dish, combine breadcrumbs with sesame seeds and parm cheese, parsley. Form the patties and coat in breadcrumbs, gently pressing patties into crumbs to make them stick. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large, shallow non-stick skillet or on a non-stick griddle plan over medium to medium-high heat. (we cooked ours on the George Forman grill) Cook patties to golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes on each side.
Place a spoonful of soft burata or ricotta on bottom bun. Drizzle cheese with a touch of EVOO and season with salt and pepper. Top soft cheese with a few leaves of arugula, then the patties, then some sauce and bun tops.

penne rustica

This is one of my FAVORITE pastas to make! It's very flavorful and just pretty much delicious! This looks like alot of ingredients but its actually pretty easy to put together!

The Goods:

3 T. butter

2 T. minced garlic

1 T. Marsala wine (I use chicken broth)

1/2 tsp. minced thyme

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground cayenne pepper

2 c. heavy cream

1 c. grated parmesan cheese

1/2 c. milk

2 tsp. minced rosemary

1/2 c. chicken broth

1 T. cornstarch

1 T. dijon mustard

1 lb. penne pasta

1/2 c. (2 oz.) thick sliced smoked prosciutto (I usually just use bacon)

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Topping:

3 T. grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 tsp. paprika

1-Start cooking noodles, then drain and set aside. Also, start cooking bacon.

2-Prepare sauce by melting 3 T. butter over medium low head. Add garlic and sweat it for about 5 minutes. Be sure the garlic doesn't brown. Add the Marsala wine (or chicken broth) and cook for another 5 min. Add the remaining ingredients for the sauce--except chicken, bacon and pasta--and whisk well until smooth. Bring mixture to s simmer and keep it there for 10 minutes or until its think.

3-Cover sauce and remove it from heat.

4-Rub chicken breasts with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill from 5-6 min each side (I usually just cook it on the George Forman) then slice into strips.

5-Preheat oven to 500 degrees. In a 3 qt casserole dish layer the cooked noodles, chicken, prosciutto (bacon) and then drizzle the sauce over top. Toss to coat!!

6-For the topping, combine the Parmesan and paprika and sprinkle evenly over top.

7-Bake at 500 for 10-12 minutes until top begins to brown.

Serve with a side salad and french bread and ENJOY!!

bbq chicken pizza

This is EASY and GOOOOD!!

1 pre-made pizza crust

2 chicken breast

1 1/3 cup BBQ (Sweet Baby Ray's is my personal favorite)

6 oz. provolone cheese

6 oz. gouda cheese

1/4 red onion sliced

1/4 cup cilantro chopped

Cook chicken then place in ziploc bag with 2/3 cup of BBQ sauce and marinate for 2-3 hours. Sprinkle half of both provolone and gouda cheese on top of crust. Add 2/3 cup of BBQ over cheese. Cover with chicken (cubed) and red onion and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake at 450 for 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle cilantro on top then ENJOY!

Meatloaf with a side of Cheesy Cauliflower

Lets start with the meatloaf. Now I have grown up eating this, and it's good, I promise! The sauce is what definitely makes it.

Ingredients:
Meat part-
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. salt
2 T. dried onion
2/3 C. evaporated milk
1/2 C. rolled oats
Sauce-
4 tsp. Worcestershire
2 tsp. vinegar
4 tsp. sugar
2/3 C. ketchup
1/4 C. onion

Directions:
Mix the meat ingredients in a bowl and press into a pan, and bake at 400 for 10 mins or till the meat is brown. While meat is baking make sauce. Take out the meat, pour on the sauce and bake for another30-35 mins.

For the side I made real yummy, cheesy cauliflower. All you need is the cauliflower and mozzarella cheese.
Take the amount of desired cauliflower and in a single layer, put them on a cookie sheet(with foil) close together. Then sprinkle on some cheese! As little or as much as you want...and we wanted a lot! Enjoy!