Chicken Spinach Lasagna

This recipe is one of my most requested.  I made it once for my grandparents and it spread through the family like wild fire after that.  They all call it “Lexi’s yummy spinach lasagna”  And I know it must be good, my two year old asks for seconds of this dish.  Don’t be fooled by the simple ingredients and the spinach, this is really yummy.  I take it to all of my friends after they have babies and they all thank me for delivering the recipe along with it.  Serve with a salad and some garlic bread and you have a winner!
Chicken Spinach Lasagna. (Redbook Magazine, September 2008)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees 1. 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained 2. 2 cups cooked, shredded chickedn 3. 2 cups grated cheddar cheese 4. 1/3 cup chopped onion 5. 1/2 tsp salt 6. 1/4 tsp pepper 7. 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce 8. 1 can cream of mushroom soup 9 1 cup sour cream 10. 4 oz sliced mushrooms 11. 1 Tbsp Cornstarch 12. 1/3 cup Mayonnaise (do not use miracle whip) 13. 6 cooked lasagna noodles 14. 1 cup parmesan cheese 15. 1 cup chopped pecans Mix first 12 ingredients in a large bowl. Put a layer of cooked noodles in the bottom of a greased lasagna pan. Spread half of the chicken mixture over the noodles. Place another layer of noodles on top and spread with remaining chicken mixture. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese then top with pecans and bake for 1 hour. Let cool for 15 min to set before cutting.

No Roll Sugar Cookies

Thursday I will begin counting down the 24 days to Christmas! I love this time of year when we get eat such delicious goodies, indulge in incredibly fattening rich drinks, and whip up our family favorite recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. I have a whole list of recipes just waiting to be made in the month of December. Even a few new ones to try. Here is a little teaser for you.  No Roll Sugar Cookies: found on allrecipes.com So, here’s my explanation.  Most families with little kids love to make the ever so cute roll out, cut out sugar cookies.  I like them too.  They are very cute, but also very time consuming.  And since my oldest child is only 2, she still does not get the concept.  I gave her a cookie cutter and wanted her to help me.  She proceeded to mutilate the dough and mash it together as if it were playdough.  Lesson learned.  So, to cut down on the time commitment and still get to enjoy Verity’s favorite part (the decorating), I found this really delicious No Roll Sugar Cookie. 
No Roll Sugar Cookie

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
2. Cream butter or margarine, shortening, white sugar and confectioners' sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar together. Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and blend.
4. Shape dough into walnut-sized balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Dip a glass in white sugar and press balls flat. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Now, you all know how I am a rebel and I like to do things my own way.  I do not roll the dough in to walnut sized balls, I use my favorite cookie scoop.  I also do not flatten them before baking.  I like the way they look with a slightly cracked top.  So, I bake them as a ball for 11 minutes then, immediately after I remove the pan from the oven, I press the cookie down just slightly and lightly with the bottom of a dry measuring cup.  They look so pretty this way.  Especially if you choose to serve them without frosting. 
These taste like a cross between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie.  I have made these 5 times and they always turn out and taste fabulous.  Just be sure to take them out of the oven before the edges turn crisp.  Unless, of course, you like a crisper cookie. 

The Pionner Woman Give-Away!

Alright friends!  Lets have a giveaway.  When the blog reaches 100 followers (currently at 97), I will host a giveaway of The Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  This is her newest cookbook and I absolutely love it!  The pictures make me drool and her writing is just soo funny!

So, stay tuned.  Send your friends to follow the blog and I will be listing details of how to enter the giveaway.

Happy Sunday!  Happy Eating

Impossibly Easy Apple Dumplings

Oh man oh man!  These were totally drool worthy.  SO GOOD!  Don’t be fooled by the ingredients.  The Mountain Dew does something similar to magic in the pan.
Apple Dumplings
2 apples, peeled.  I used Honey Crisp apples
2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls
2 sticks butter (1 cup)  Use real butter only
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar mix
1 cup Mountain Dew

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9X13 baking pan
2. Peel and core apples.  Cut each apple in to 8 slices.  So, 16 slices total
3. Roll each apple slice in cinnamon sugar mix.

4. Roll in a crescent roll, beginning at the wide end of the dough.


5. Place the 16 rolls in the greased 9X13 pan

6. Melt butter in the microwave.  Stir in sugar, but don’t worry about mixing it too much.  Add in the vanilla, stir and pour over the rolled apples.

*Here comes the MAGIC*
7. Pour the Mountain Dew just around the edges of the pan.  Do not pour it all over the rolls.


8. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

9. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  Serve warm with the buttery sauce over top.

Seriously, these lasted about 10 minutes.  They were so good I think I will have to make them again soon

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

This year, I am making chicken potpie and my moms delicious cranberry sauce.  I will not be spending all day in the kitchen.  I will however, be spending the day relaxing watching all three Santa Clause movies.  I will also be making and decorating cookies, winning a game of Phase 10, and taking a very long nap.
How about you all?
Any fun and exciting plans for Thanksgiving?  What are you favorite foods for this specail day?
Come back bright and early on Monday as I kick off the Holiday 2011 series.  Holiday favorites and some new ideas too.

What do you want to see?

Ok readers!  Wow, I went from 6 of you to 56 in just 2 weeks!  WoW! 
So, what kind of things would you like to see on here?  The basics? Something fancy?  Holiday classics?  Let me know and I will do my best. 
I really enjoy cooking family friendly, tried and true classics.  I don't know a whole lot about the fancy stuff but I am sure I could learn a thing or two.
Glad to see you all!

Hot Chocolate Truffles

I originally got this recipe from one of my friends.  She posted it on facebook and literally, I was out the door in 10 minutes to gather up the needed supplies from the store.  I knew I would love it as soon as I saw the words “heavy whipping cream” and “semi-sweet chocolate chips”.  I mean really, how can that be bad?!!
Here is the original recipe  I of course modified to to my taste.  I only switched the regular sugar for powdered sugar. 
Hot Chocolate Truffles
1 cup heavy whipping cream
12 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp powdered sugar
Melt together in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Do not try to speed up the process by turning it to high.  Nobody likes scalded dairy or burnt chocolate.  YUCK!
(Now, pour this goodness into a container and let it cool on the counter for about 15 min.  If you are like me and cannot wait to sample it, just scoop out 1/4 scoop and plop it into a mug.  Fill the mug with milk and heat for 2 min in the microwave. )
The instructions really tell you to then refrigerate the mix for 2-3 hours.  I made this at bedtime and let it be in the fridge over night.  Then I used my favorite ice cream scoop (1/4 cup) to scoop out rounded balls of truffle mix.  I let these freeze in a muffin tin for one our before wrapping them up with saran and storing them in a freezer bag. 
All I can say is WOW!  This is the hot chocolate your grandma used to make on the stove, now in single servings.  NO MORE POWDER for me!





You will notice in the next two pictures, the label on the bag and the light color of my hot chocolate.  I decided to get creative and modify the recipe and make a “black and white” version.  This is so good!!  It was a huge hit and my husband was trying to steal drinks of mine. 
So, here is the ingredient list for the “black and white” hot chocolate
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
*note, you do not add any extra sugar to this*
Melt in a sauce pan over MEDUIUM heat (you really don’t want to scald this or burn the chocolate)
Do the same cooling steps listed above and store them in the freezer.  I am loving my delicious treat at the end of the day.  And we have snow falling as I type.  Makes this stuff taste magical.

Chicken and Rice Soup

My husband and I love to get fresh veggies from the local hutterites here in Montana.  This week they also brought frozen chickens to sell.  I bought 4.  1 to cook and then 3 to have in the freezer for later in the winter.
My sweet friend has really been struggling with some morning sickness, so I wanted to take her a meal.  This is mellow enough for a sensitive tummy, yet tasty and filling enough for the rest of my family at home.

I simmered this bad boy for about 4 hours.  And SWEET GLORY!  My house smelled so yummy.

Chicken and Rice Soup.
*I choose to simmer on the stove top because I would be home, but if you have a monster size crock pot, you could do the first step in there as well.*
5 lb whole chicken
10 cups water
1 onion chopped
3 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
1/4 cup dried parsley flakes
5 black peppercorns
7 chicken boulion cubes
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp celery seed
pinch dried thyme
1 tsp salt
Bring to a boil, then simmer for 4 hours until the chicken begins to fall off the bone.
Strain the stock, remove chicken from the bones.  Reserve chicken and broth.
Return stock, chicken and following ingredients to large pot
2 cups sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1/4 cup minced fresh onion
1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
Boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. 
Enjoy!!

Lasagna Soup

This soup was so yummy!  As soon as it was ready, we gobbled it up so there are no pictures.  But, trust me.  You will want to add this to your list of soups for the fall. 
I found this recipe on Pinterest of course.  You can see the original recipe here.  I adapted it to cook it in my crock pot. I also changed some amounts.  I did not want 3 cups of onions and I don’t like sausage.  So I used ground beef and just one onion.  The original recipe calls for fresh basil leaves chopped, but I used dry so I changed the amount there as well.  And I didn’t want it to spicy so I just used regular diced tomatoes.  I also prefer cottage cheese over ricotta….so of course, another adaption.  So really, I just used this as a guideline and did my own thing.  But thank you pinterest for the inspiration!  I cooked it for just 4 hours on high and it was perfect.  But you can also cook it on low all day if you are out of the house all day.

Lasagna Soup
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
28 oz diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken stock
3 Tbsp dried basil leaves. 
8 oz mini fusilli pasta, cooked al dente
8 oz cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
pinch ground black pepper to taste
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, salt and black pepper in a bowl and put in fridge until ready to serve.
Brown the ground beef and onion and add to crock pot.  Add remaining ingredients except pasta and mozzarella cheese.
Cook on low  6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours.   Add the cooked noodles very last and let heat through. 
Now just wait…..you will be drooling over how good this smells, but…..IT GETS BETTER!!
Scoop a spoon full of cheese mixture into bottom of your bowl.  Top with soup, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Stir that dreamy goodness up and devour.  Garlic bread and a side salad is great to add with it. 
You can thank me after you finish gobbling up a bowl 

Best Ever Pumpkin Bread

This is just too yummy!!  I had 3 recipes for pumpkin bread that were just "ok".  So, I played around with the recipe and this is what I came up with.  And let me just say WOAH!!  So good!

Pumpkin Bread
3 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
4 cups sugar
6 eggs-beaten first
4 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Beat together pumpkin, oil, applesauce, sugar, and eggs
3. In a seperate bowl, combine dry ingredients until well mixed.  Add to pumpkin mixture and stir until well blended. 
4. Pour into 3 greased and floured 9 X 5 loaf pans.  If you only have 8X4 pans, this will make 4 loaves.
5. Bake 45 min to 60 min.

*This is great to put in the freezer as well.  Just bake, let cool completely, wrap with saran and then double wrap with foil or use a freezer bag.  Enjoy!