Pasta Love

My husband loves lasagna and so do I, but I do not love all the time it takes.  So i came up with this as an alternative sometimes and he loves it.  He named it "Pasta Love".

16 oz noodle of choice (not spaghetti)
4 c. Meat sauce of choice (I make my own meat sauce and freeze 2c/baggie..this takes 2 baggies)
1 1/2 c cheese

1. Cook the noodles while you heat up the meat sauce.
2. Put half of the noodles in a 9x13.
3. Add 2 c. sauce over the noodles and top with 1c. cheese.
4. Add remaining noodles.  Top with remaining sauce and then cheese.
5. Cook at 350 degrees until bubbly and cheese is melted good.  Everything is cooked so it doesn't really matter how long.

Saltine Toffee

I found this recipe here, and they call it Popularity Cookies since apparently they're that good.  Gotta love allrecipes!  It really was easy, except when I first tried them after sitting in the fridge overnight I thought I burn them.  I keep them in the freezer as suggested and I don't think they taste burnt.  I put some in a baggie for my husband to bring to school and I guess I gave him too much..beware they are rich!

• 35 soda crackers
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup blanched slivered almonds

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Cover a sided cookie sheet with aluminum foil and line crackers on foil.
2. Combine butter and brown sugar in a saucepan. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Pour over crackers completely.
3. Bake for 5-6 minutes, watch carefully. Remove cookie sheet from oven, place it on oven door and sprinkle chips over baked crackers. When chocolate gets soft, spread over crackers with back of a spoon. Sprinkle slivered almonds on melted chocolate. Place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Break into cookie-size pieces. This recipe freezes well.

Tuna Sandwich Filling

I don't like seafood...including tuna.  But my husband likes tuna sandwiches on occasion, so this is the recipe I use that I got from his mom.  He says its good!

2 cans tuna
1/4 c. mayo
1T. red wine vinegar (contributes to flavor, but i'll admit I left it out cause we didn't have any)
Amount to your taste:
olives
green onions (again left out since I had none)
red peppers (I only had green)
1/2t. oregano

Mix all of this together.  Toast your bread and even add some cheese if you want to turn it into a tuna melt.

Oreo Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

I saw this on multiple blogs, and finally decided to try it out for myself.  I used the recipe from here, but the original source is picky palate.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 package of regular Oreo cookies (I'm cheap and got look-alike dollar store version, both chocolate and vanilla)

In the large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is fully mixed in.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Slowly stir in flour mixture, 1/3 at a time until completely incorporated. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour (I've heard this is not necessary, but as the dough gets warmer while you combine dough and oreo I found it was harder to work with).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place 1 tablespoon of cooking dough on top of an Oreo cookie. (So much easier to have a cookie scooper and mine happens to scoop 1 T).  Place a second tablespoon underneath. You want just enough dough to cover the Oreo so that your chocolate to peanut butter cookie ratio is equal. Gently press the dough down around the Oreo, sealing the cookie dough edges together so that no Oreo shows through. Transfer the cookie to a prepared baking sheet and repeat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between each cookie.

Bake for 8-11 minutes, or until cookies have just started to brown around the edges. Do not overbake! I like mine a little on the gooey side so 8 minutes is all I cook them. Cool on baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.

Again, I opted to use fake oreos.  I preferred the vanilla cookie sandwich over the chocolate cookie sandwich.  All in all, these are a fun idea and I may make them again but kinda a lot of work and these cookies are great just by themselves.

Makes 30-36 cookies.

Pumpkin Pull Apart Monkey Bread with Maple Glaze

You'll notice this name is a bit too long...so I just call it Pumpkin Monkey Bread.  You can find it here.  It took quite a bit of time and my picture here is not as great as the one from tastykitchen.  I don't have a bundt pan, so I just used a 9x13.  I brought it to a small football party (6 people) and it was a hit.  I did, however, have enough leftover for husband and I to have as part of our breakfast the next day :)

• FOR THE DOUGH:
• ¼ cups Warm Milk
• ¼ cups Warm Water
• 1-½ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
• ¼ cups Granulated Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 whole Egg Beaten (I replaced this is 1/4c. apple sauce b/c i had no egg)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted And Cooled
• ⅔ cups Plain Pumpkin Puree
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
• 3 cups Bread Flour (give Or Take 1/2 Cup)
• FOR THE COATING:
• ¾ cups Granulated Sugar
• 1-½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• ⅓ cups Melted Butter
• FOR THE GLAZE:
• 1 cup Powdered Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
• 2 Tablespoons Half-and-half
• ⅛ teaspoons Vanilla Extract

In a large stand mixer bowl, with mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir milk, water, yeast and sugar together. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to proof the yeast. If mixture is foamy, then you can continue. (If nothing happens, then odds are your yeast is no good, or you killed it with hot water and milk! Try to get your water and milk to be warm to the touch, like baby bath water.)
Stir in salt, egg, butter, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and half of the flour and mix. With mixer on, pour in remaining flour bit by bit until dough pulls away from the sides and is sticky but when touched doesn’t really stick to your hands. (For me, that was closer to 3 cups of flour.) Once you reach this stage, turn mixer on for 4-5 minutes to knead the dough.
Then, lightly grease the dough and bowl and cover it with a tea towel and allow dough to rise for 1 hour. Stick it somewhere warm and draft-free.
Lightly grease a bundt or angel food cake pan (I used 9x13 b/c i have no bundt pan) with non stick cooking spray and set aside.
Create a coating station by placing sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and melting the butter in another bowl. Set both bowl near your work surface. Punch down dough and remove it from bowl to your work station. Cut dough into small pieces about 1 tablespoon in size. Roll in butter, coat in cinnamon sugar and place into the prepared pan. Repeat until no dough remains. If there is extra butter or sugar, pour it over the top of the dough pieces in the pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and let it rise another hour in a warm spot in your kitchen.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
When it’s finished rising, bake monkey bread for 25 minutes or until the top begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes. (I probably waited less than 5 and transferred to a dish and off to the party!)
While monkey bread is cooling, prepare glaze by mixing powdered sugar, maple syrup, half-and-half and vanilla together in a small bowl until smooth.
Remove warm pull apart pieces onto a serving dish and drizzle with glaze. Serve warm.

Easy Chicken Bake

This is on the back of the box for Kraft Stove Top stuffing mix for chicken.  I never really try the recipes on the backs of boxes, but my mother-in-law said this one was good and I'm a big stuffing fan.  I'm not a vegetable lover, but I thought this was good.  We halved it all and put it in a 8x8 dish.  Also, I used cooked chicken since I had it.

1 pkg. (6 oz) suffing mix
1 1/2 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3c. sour cream
1 bag (16oz) frozen mixed vegetable, thawed, drained

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package.
3. Mix chicken, soup, sourcream, and vegetables in 9x13 baking dish; top with stuffing.
4. Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked.