Baked Ziti and Green Beans

These 2 recipes were given to me when our Amazing church family provided an abundance of scrumdiddlyumptious meals after having my 3rd c-section this past January! The ziti takes a while but is WELL worth the time, makes 2 batches at a time, and freezes/reheats great! The green beans are quick and delicious! Both have become staples in our house!!!

*Baked Ziti

1 lb lean ground beef
2 tbl onion pwd
3 tbl garlic pwd
1 jar (28 oz) meatless spag. sauce
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes undrained (I used a 10 oz can with green peppers)
1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
3/4 cut water
2 tbl parsley
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp basil
1-1/2 tsp oregano
1 lb uncooked ziti noodles
1 carton (15 oz) reduced -fat ricotta cheese
2 cups (8 oz) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup egg substitute (I used 1 large egg)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Brown beef with onions and garlic then stir in spag sauce, tomatoes, tom. paste, water, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, basil, and oregano. Cover and simmer for 3 hours stirring occasionally. Cook pasta according to box then drain. Combine cheeses, egg, salt, and pepper in a bowl. In 2 greased baking dishes, layer meat sauce, pasta, and cheese evenly until gone. (I just mixed all together in a huge bowl until evenly coated and divided evenly in the dishes. Cover 1 for freezing and refrigerate or bake the other right then) Bake 1 hr @ 350' or until heated through. Makes 2 casseroles (~6 servings each).

**Green Beans

1 large 'family size' can of green beans (your desired cut)
1 cup sugar (more or less as desired)
1 tsp Tony's original seasoning

Cook on stove top until boiling slightly while stirring or nuke in microwave until heated well then stir well.

BONUS!

My kids chow down with no fuss!

*Ziti via Melting Pot pg 65 via Ms Terri Tucker
**Green Beans via Nicole Harrod

Do you have any fav dishes you'd like to share? Comment to share or leave a link!

Share Button

Post to Twitter

Contest Blog

Who doesn't love a good contest blog? Here's a chance to Win a FREE Moby Wrap!

I have 3 babes under 3 and my smallest (5 months) could use some extra snuggle time in one of these!!!

Go check it out: http://raisinghomemakers.com/2011/win-a-free-moby-wrap/

Share Button

Post to Twitter

Awe, the memories they made

Memories...good, bad, awkward, fun, silly, painful, deep- all have a special place in God's perfect, absolute, complete, flawless plan!
This past weekend, my family and I took a trek up to Fayetteville to hang out with my parents, niece and nephew for a couple of days. After the tasking of simply (hehe) getting packed and out-of-town the adventure began! Traveling with a potty training (almost) 3-year-old, a napping 1.5-year-old and nursing 5 month old while was a task; attempting to keep everyone from melting down by stopping for 3 potty breaks, grab a snack which was then tossed with happy meal toy (that had been collecting in a bucket) to the back of the van over our bags, stroller, and stuff- 4 hours later we arrived right on time for their bed time. But we still needed to eat dinner and get in some Much needed play time with the cousins! We all met the chicken's and ducks the grandparents bought at Easter time in honor of all the grandkids. The girls played with naked barbies and chased remote control trucks. We attempted to set up camp with our three little ones who are very set in a routine. Maggie's sharing a bed with someone for the 1st time. Izzie was scared to sleep in a room with her cousin in a strange new place. Jamin passed smooth out from exhaustion never to be heard from again until 6:30 a.m. Poppie ran to get a pillow to lay with Izzie until she went to sleep. And night 1 was over.

After a long night of trying to keep everyone in their beds we woke up EARLY. The day was packed with tons more playing, grocery shopping, lunch at Chick-fil-A (AMAZING every time!) and my mom and I got ready for the party (that's what we call any gathering with food and friends).

Party'n with family was fun. Catching up, telling stories, eating steaks, mac-n-cheese, and duck booty cupcakes, snapping pictures, and laughing!

(these pics of the girls were captured by my cousin Lisa- THX!)

El Shaddai showed up this weekend- my God is all-sufficient!

Share Button

Post to Twitter

Chicken Casserole

This is more than a staple at our house! My husband would eat this at leastevery other day. As a matter of fact, when I told him I was gonna start recipe posts on thuRsdays, he said, "so...when ya make'n Chicken Casserole!?!" The original recipe comes from Katie Williamson; THANK YOU, you helped me make a happy hubby! We first made this dish together to take to a friend who had just had surgery back in ~2008.

2 cups cooked chx
1 can chx noodle soup
1 cup mayo (we use miricle whip)
1 jar pomintos (we omit)
1 cup diced celary (we omit)
1 tbs minced onion (we use pwd)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups cooked rice
1 sleeve crushed crackers (we use Ritz)

Mix all (-crackers) in a bowl or just in the casserole dish you'll bake it in the top with crackers after in cass. dish, cook ~30 min or until bubbly @ 350' then EAT!

This works great with several of these things made a head. I like to cook an entire bag of boneless skinless chx breast for ~1 hr @350'. Then I dice all of it (why dice? faster meals with preKs) and refrigerate so they're ready for up coming meals (i.e. chx cass, mex chx, crunchy garlic chx- recipes coming soon). I also use my handy-dandy chopper to crush several sleeves of crackers at once. I put 1 sleeve of crushed crackers in a plastic bag in the pantry (labeled) for later. I also make big batches of rice to store left overs in fridge and use for lots of dishes later (i.e. chx cass, stir fry, breakfast rice- recipes coming soon)

contains affiliate links
Share Button

Post to Twitter

1st Story Time

Tuesday this summer we will be going to the public library for story time with Ms Mary! We choose the early time due to Maggie and Izzie's nap schedule so we will end up going with several local daycares. There were ~100 kids 3-years-old to about 6th grade. This class is open to toddlers but already 3s were probably the youngest in this group.
Maggie and Izzie did fairly well; even through Ms Mary explaining the rules, schedule, and expectations for the entire summer. By the time the story reading actually began it had already been about 30 min of me trying to get Iz to sit down. She is usually pretty loud so I was proud that she never had a melt down even though she stood the majority of the time. Thank goodness she was only as tall as most of the kids while seated. Maggie really enjoyed her self once the story started. She tried inching her way to the front (we were sandwiched between daycares). Both girls being around so many other children and attempted to make new friends the whole time.

Intrigued!Notice the blur...not sitting very stillOur friend, Emily from church is wondering what Mags is doingCrawling, non-stop moving Izzie RuGet'n comfy

Share Button
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Post to Twitter