Cherry Limeade

This is such a easy, yummy punch. I've made it for birthday parties, bridal showers, and most recently a baby shower. Since the colors for the baby shower were pink & green, it was the perfect choice.

Sometimes I make it just to keep in a pitcher in the fridge for hot summer days!

It's an easy recipe to double or triple as well.

Cherry Limeade

1 can frozen limeade (found with the frozen juices at the grocery store)

1 (2-liter) lemon-lime soda

1 jar maraschino cherries, do not drain

sliced limes, optional

Combine all ingredients. Stir until limeade dissolves.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

4 Tbsp butter

1/4 c. flour

1 can tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1 can chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 lb. chicken, cooked & cubed

8 oz. shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

1 pkg. 6-8" flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in saucepan and stir in flour. Cook for 2-3 minutes and whisk in broth. Bring to a boil and let it thicken slightly. Add tomatoes, soup, and sour cream. Stir in cooked chicken. Spread small amount on the bottom of a 9x13 dish and top with tortillas. Spoon 1/2 of mixture over tortillas. Repeat layers ending with chicken mixture, and top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Warm Christmas Punch

I found this recipe in a magazine about 10 years ago. I love to make it for our family brunch on Christmas morning. It is so warm, comforting, such a pretty color red, and most importantly...Christmas-y!!

Just a little note -- I used to find the red hot candies at the grocery store, but the past few years I haven't found them there. These days I usually can find them at the d0llar store. Last year I used hot tamales because I couldn't find the red hots. The tamales worked fine, but the red hots dissolve much faster and have better flavor. If you can find the red hots, definitely use those over hot tamales!

 

Warm Christmas Punch

1 bottle (32 oz) cranberry juice

30 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice

1/3 cup red hots candies

1 (3-1/2 inch) cinnamon stick

In a 3 or 4 qt crock pot, combine the juices and candies. Add the cinnamon stick. Cook on LOW for 2-5 hours. Discard the cinnamon stick before serving.

Turkey Breast in Crock Pot

I have wanted to try cooking a turkey breast in the crock pot for a long time. It was SO easy and yummy!!

It tasted like it was oven roasted, but it didn't dry out at all! This is the way I will make all my turkey breasts from now on!!

I didn't thaw it first, just tossed it in frozen. It was in the crock for 8 hours and completely fell apart when I took it out.

I cooked a 7 lb turkey in my 7 qt crock pot. Once I unwrapped it, I realized that the turkey was too tall and the lid didn't fit. Crud!

To solve the problem, I used foil as a lid. I wrapped two sheets over the pot and then placed the lid on top. After a few hours, the turkey had shrunk down enough that the lid fit perfectly, so I removed the foil and placed the lid back on for the remainder of the cooking time.

Crock Pot Turkey Breast

Turkey breast (small enough to leave room on the sides of the crock); no need to thaw

Half stick of butter or margarine
salt & pepper

Liberally coat turkey with butter. Generously salt and pepper turkey.

Place breast side down in crock pot. Cook on high for 1 hour; reduce heat to Low and cook for 7-8 hours.

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

Here's another pinterest find! Yummy!! I loved this because with my diet for gestational diabetes, I was able to have pasta with lots of protein added in! Mmmmm....

This is another recipe that I doubled...one to bake that night and one to freeze. I cooked my own sauce in the crockpot all day and used it instead of jarred sauce. The recipe only calls for a 1/2 cup of sauce, so I was able to freezer the rest of the sauce for future meals!

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

8 oz uncooked spaghetti

1 lb. ground beef (I use ground turkey)

1 (26.5 oz) jar spaghetti sauce

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1/2 cup green peppers, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

8 oz cream cheese

2 Tbsp. milk

grated Parmesan cheese

 Small can of French Fried Onions

DIRECTIONS:

Cook spaghetti; drain and set aside.

Brown ground beef; drain grease. Add sauce to beef and heat.

Combine onions, peppers, and butter in microwavable bowl. Cover and microwave for 4 minutes until soft.

Add cream cheese and milk to veggies and mix well.

Assemble casserole in 10x6 dish. Place a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish. Place spaghetti on the sauce. Top spaghetti with cream cheese mixture. Add the rest of the spaghetti sauce. Top with your desired amount of Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with fried onions and bake an additional 5 minutes. Don't let them burn!

**********************

To freeze: Prepare casserole ahead of time and freeze without the fried onions.

Recipe Source

Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

With our second baby due to arrive in 9 weeks, I've been working on stocking our garage freezer with meals. I have found so many recipes through pinterest lately, and they have all been new favorites! This one is no exception. I made it last night and put another loaf in the freezer for later.

The original recipe calls for ground chicken, but we like and use ground turkey at our house.

Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

1 lb. ground turkey (or ground chicken)
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pasta sauce (either homemade or store bought)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese. To not over handle the mixture otherwise it will get tough. Place the mixture in the greased loaf pan and form into a loaf. Top meatloaf with pasta sauce.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and sprinkle the top with the remaining shredded cheese. Place the meatloaf back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted.

Remove meatloaf from oven and let it sit 5-10 minutes before slicing.

*******************

To Freeze:

Prepare meatloaf and place in loaf pan. Do not top with pasta sauce. Freeze loaf and sauce separately.

Thaw completely, top meatloaf with sauce and bake per directions above.

Recipe source

White Chicken Chili

This is a simple white chicken chili that can easily be doubled! I doubled the batch the other night and I got 3 separate meals for our family...we ate the chili that night and I froze two more batches for future meals!

White Chicken Chili

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chilies

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (more if you like it really spicy)

1 (14.5 oz) chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

3 chicken breasts (no need to thaw or cook, toss them in frozen)

3 (15 oz) cans white beans

shredded cheese

Place all ingredients in a 4-5 qt crockpot. (Use a 6 qt if you are doubling the recipe)

Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Remove chicken and shred with two forks.

Serve with cheese.

*******

NOTE: You can puree one can of beans before cooking to make the chili thicker.

Mini Pumpkin Pies

I made these mini pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving yesterday. They turned out so cute, like little tarts. I saw these on pinterest and thought they looked like a fun spin on original pie.

They're unique and the perfect serving size, but I think baking an entire pie is the easier way to go! I spent a lot of time cutting out the crusts and arranging them in the muffin tins.

I used 3 premade pie crusts & this pumpkin pie recipe.

Unroll pie crust. Using a 4" round cookie cutter or bowl, cut out 4 circles per crust. I took the scraps from the crusts and rolled them out again to cut more circles. I ended up with 20 mini pies from 3 crusts.

Preheat oven to 425*.

Generously spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Place each crust into muffin tin and press down on the bottom and sides. Using a fork, prick the bottom of each crust to keep it from bubbling while cooking.

Prepare your pumpkin pie filling of choice. (For 20 mini pies, I used a recipe for one 9" pie. I still had a little filling left over, but ran out of crust)

Pour filling into each crust, filling to the top.

Bake at 425* for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 350* and bake for additional 25-30 minutes.

Cool on wire rack. Store pies in refrigerator.

Mallow-Topped Sweet Potatoes

I got this recipe out of a Taste 0f H0me magazine many years ago. Since then, I make it every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner! It really tastes like a dessert!

One year, I crumbled oatmeal cookies over the casserole before putting the marshmallows on...YUMMY!!

I believe the original recipe called for baked sweet potatoes, I always use canned.

Mallow-Topped Sweet Potatoes

2 (29 oz) cans sweet potatoes

1 c. milk

6 Tbsp. margarine

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

marshmallows (either mini or large...your choice)

Drain potatoes. Using an electric mixer, mix all ingredients (except the marshmallows) together until smooth. Put mixture in a greased 2.5 qt. baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Top with marshmallows and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Rotel Chicken Spaghetti

I found this recipe on Pinterest. Honestly, I was hesitant at first because I'm not a big fan of velveeta cheese.

However, this was really good and very simple to prepare!

The original recipe didn't specify whether or not to drain the Rotel. I did drain most of the liquid out because I didn't want it too spicy for my 13 month old. It turned out great; just a little kick of spice. If you want it spicy, I wouldn't drain the tomatoes at all.

Rotel Chicken Spaghetti

3-4 large boneless chicken breasts

1 can (10 3/4 ounce) Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can (10 ounce) Rotel Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tablespoon Margarine or butter
1 (8 ounce) Velveeta cheese, cubed
8 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained

Cut up chicken into bite size pieces. In a large skillet, melt butter or margarine. Add cubed chicken, garlic & onion. Cook over medium-high heat until chicken is no longer pink and no liquid is left in skillet. Stir in soup, cheese and Rotel Tomatoes. Reduce heat to low, and cook until the cheese melts, stirring constantly. Stir in spaghetti and pour into a lightly greased 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through.

recipe source