Banana Bread

I had always heard how easy banana bread was to make, but I was always intimidated by the bananas. I know that sounds silly, but it is the truth. I don't like bananas and the thought of turning squishy, over ripe bananas with their greasy black peels into something edible was more than I could fathom. Well, when cleaning up my kitchen table the other day, I found some of those dark nasty bananas taunting me. My husband loves bananas, but never seems to eat the whole bunch in time. I had frozen some before thinking "I'll tackle this fear later", but this time when I found them, I decided now was the time. Brian pulled up a recipe and to work I went. It was so dang easy and now I think I will make it more often. I don't have a bread loaf pan (yet), so I made 12 regular sized muffins. They turned out great!

Here is what you need:

3 to 4 bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. With a wooden spoon, mash the bananas. Then, mix the butter into the bananas. Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt in and mix. Add the flour last and mix well. Pour into a 4 x 8 inch loaf pan or a regular sized muffin tin. Bake 1 hour for loaf pan and 25-30 minutes in the muffin tin. Cool and remove from pan. Enjoy!

Whip Cream

To make whip cream, all you need is heavy whipping cream and a mixer. Pour the whipping cream in a bowl and mix until it is creamy and soft peaks form. Serve with your favorite pie. :)

Pumpkin Pie

So, this is the pie that got me into this whole pie mess. It is all made from scratch and it really helped me venture into a whole new territory with baking pies.

Ingredients:

1 pastry crust
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/4 cups fresh pumpkin puree (you can buy canned if you don't have fresh)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter melted
1 tbsp dark molasses
A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it just starts to bubble around the edges. Remove milk from heat. Beat eggs lightly in a large bowl until they are frothy. Add scalded milk, stirring constantly (I LOVED my Kitchen Aid at this point). Stir in pumpkin, butter, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Whisk until thoroughly blended. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake until center is firm (approximately 45 minutes). Allow pie to cool completely. Serve with whipped cream (to make your own, click here - it is incredibly easy!!!).

Apple Pie

Out of the four pies I made for Thanksgiving, this was the most time consuming, but also brought the most compliments. Here is what you need:

2 pie crusts
8 cups sliced, peeled baking apples - about 3 lbs. (I used granny smith, but you can also use cortland and Jonathan or mix it up between the three types)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk

In a large bowl, toss the sliced apples with lemon juice. Combine the sugars, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add apples and toss to coat them with the dry mixture. Fill a pastry lined 9 inch pie plate with the apple mixture. Dot with butter. Place the second crust over the top of the pie. Cut slits in top of crust to vent. Seal the edges of the crust with a fork. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk and milk together. Brush the mixture over the top crust. Sprinkle the top of the pie with white sugar. Bake the pie at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake 40-45 minutes more or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

If you make the pie ahead of time, you can pop the pie in the oven after the rest of Thanksgiving dinner is done cooking and heat it up with the residual warmth in the oven. Or you can just serve it room temperature. I have heard it is good with vanilla ice cream too.

Pie Crust

Here is what you need to make a simple, but yummy pie crust!

Yield: 2 9 inch pie crusts

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/2 cup ice water

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles
coarse crumbs. Stir in ice water slowly until mixture forms a ball of dough. Wrap ball in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight. Take the dough out of the fridge and unwrap. Put flour on the surface and rolling pin and roll dough out. Cut in half to form 2 pie crusts. Re-roll each portion and press into pie pan or use as top crust for fruit pie (or both - you have 2).

Who knew making a pie crust could be so easy? Make sure you make it in enough time to allow it to set in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Here is a variation on Pecan Pie. It is just as easy to make as pecan pie. I actually made my pecan pie, then put it in the oven and proceded to begin making this pie. By the time I got it all mixed and ready to go, it was perfect timing to throw it in the oven along with the regular pecan pie (they cook at the same temperature, but for different times).

1 unbaked pie crust
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup speed 6 1 min
scrape bowl
speed 4
3 squares melted unsweetened chocolate
beat 1 min
speed stir
2 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine eggs, sugar and corn syrup and mix on high speed for one minute. Scrape the side of the bowl. Add melted chocolate and beat on medium speed for one minute. Stir in pecan halves. Pour mixture in unbaked pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes until soft in the center.

Pecan Pie

I'm not a fan of pie in general (except the pizza and chocolate varieties), but somehow, I got roped into making pies for Thanksgiving this year. Well, I actually know how it happened. I wanted to make a pumpkin pie for my husband and had my mom show me how to process a pumpkin so that I had the meat of the pumpkin to use for the pie. It was a few weeks before Thanksgiving when she helped me, so she assigned me desserts. I was going to just stick with pumpkin pie and something I could stand, but then the requests came: Apple and Pecan. Well, anyway, here is the super easy recipe I used for Pecan pie.

1 unbaked pie crust (you can use store bought or make your own)
3 eggs
1 cup dark corn syrup (the dark Karo syrup has a measuring line on the bottle now. Super convenient and easy to measure this sticky stuff!)
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together eggs, corn syrup, white sugar, butter and vanilla. Dump the pecans in the bottom of the pie crust. Pour the mixture in (the pecans actually rise to the top of the gunk - it is pretty neat). Bake for an hour or until a knife inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean. Voila! Pecan pie.

For CHOCOLATE Pecan Pie, click here.

Mom's Pot Roast

If you know me then you know I am not a big meat eater and I very rarely eat red meat, but my husband LOVES pot roast so I finally broke down and made it for him a few weeks ago. My mom swears by this recipe and it is super easy!

Chuck Roast (how ever much you need for your family)
1 packet of Liptons Onion Soup mix
Carrots
Potatoes

Put the chuck roast in the crock pot and sprinkle the packet of onion soup mix over it (cooked it on low from about 8:30 till I got off work at 6 and it was ready to go.) About an hour before it was done I put in the carrots and potatoes. I made it tonight and did mashed potatoes instead. You may think it is weird not to add any water or liquid to the roast but I promise when it is done it is nice and juicy and falling apart! My co-worker also made it for dinner tonight and she just text me that it is the best pot roast she has ever had! So try it, you won't be disappointed! (I should mention that I did add cajun seasoning to the roast also for a little kick!)

Beef & Leeks stew

Ingredients:

12 cups of water
1-1/2lbs of stew beef, carefully cut and trimmed
12 large Russett potatoes, cubed
3 large leeks, thinly sliced
6 carrots, thinly sliced
6 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
12 beef bullion cubes
4oz Worchestershire sauce
6oz tomato paste
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning

Put the water, potatoes, celery, carrots, tomato paste, bullion cubes, and seasonings in a 24 qt stew pot, set to a light boil and leave covered. Stir occasionally

Put the beef and worchestershire sauce on TOP of the leeks in a pan and cook at low temp (add a little water) until browned and almost fully cooked.

Pour the contents of the pan into the pot (juice and everything) and stir thoroughly. Cover and set to low boil, stirring occasionally.

Allow contents to boil until the leeks dissolve and the potatoes are fully cooked, then serve

Cake... Well Sort Of....

A friend of mine just had a baby girl after having a girl, followed by 4 boys. My sister is throwing her a baby shower and I decided I would make her a diaper cake. I know it isn't really food, but since it is called a diaper cake, I figured I would count it. Besides, I'm still behind on my one recipe a month for this year, so this might help me when I count at the end of the year.

What you need:
63 diapers
Assorted Rubberbands
Ribbon
A Cake Plate
A stick
Hot Glue Gun

Take a diaper and roll it starting with the top end and rolling it towards the crease at the bottom of the diaper. Put a rubberband around the now rolled diaper to keep it rolled up. Repeat 62 more times. Create layers of the cake by rubberbanding the rolled up diapers together. The smallest layer will have one rolled diaper surrounded by 6 rolled up diapers. Put a big rubberband around all 7 diapers. To make the second layer, start with making a replica of the top layer and add 12 diapers to the outer edge with a rubberband. The bottom layer is made by creating the middle layer again and then adding 18 more diapers around the outer edge. Using the stick (be careful not to puncture diapers), stack the layers on top of each other. Use a ribbon to cover the rubberbands. Do not stick the ribbon to the diapers, but rather, hot glue the ribbon to itself. Decorate with whatever themed embellishments you choose and you are done. My friend is a huge fan of anything patriotic and even named her daughter Liberty, so I chose a patriotic theme for the diaper cake. For my first attempt, I don't think it looks half bad. :)

Funeral Potatoes

This recipe can be made in several different ways. I have made it twice now and both were pretty easy. One was with a crock pot and hash browns and the other was in the oven with actual potatoes. You could also make them with hash browns in the oven or with the actual potatoes in the crock pot. I guess it just depends on what you feel like doing.

Ingredients
2 cans cream of anything soup (I used potato, but chicken or anything would work)
1 small container of sour cream (I always use fat free. It still tastes great and no extra fat)
1 package of hash browns OR 6 potatoes cut up into chunks and boiled for about half an hour or until they are soft. You don't want them fall apart soft, but you don't want any of the raw cruchiness that they have.
Lots of cheese

In the crock pot, combine all ingredients except about a cup of cheese. Top with the remaining cheese and turn the crock pot on until the soupy mixture bubbles and the cheese is melted.

In the oven, combine all ingredients and pour into a 9x13 glass pan. Top with cheese and put in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the soupy mixture is bubbling and the cheese is melted.

Salt to taste.

Super easy and you can't really go wrong with cheese and potatoes. :)
Also, just for fun, I used peppercorn cheese that we had got from the Cache Valley Cheese Factory in Utah. It was pretty good, but I have mostly had these with cheddar cheese or a mexican blend cheese.

BBQ Ribs

So, I'm sure by now, it is no secret that I love my crock pot(s)! I bought some ribs at the store and was looking for an easy way to make them. Well, I found a super simple crock pot recipe. It took me longer to wash the crock pot than it took to actually make the food. I took one onion and diced it and put it in the crock pot. I unwrapped my ribs and put seasoning on them. The recipe I found said to just use salt and pepper. While I intended to do that, I ended up putting a garlic and herb spice mix on them instead. Pour in a bottle of bbq sauce and turn the crock pot on. The recipe called for cooking on low for 8 to 10 hours. I didn't get them in as early as I wanted, so I put it on high. We ended up heading to Casa Grande for Brian to work and our quick trip turned into him working and me visiting with Stephanie and then when our husbands were done with work, we all visited for a while. Anyway, that means that my ribs cooking on high for 4 to 5 hours ended up cooking on high for about 9 hours. They still turned out amazing and literally fell off the bones when I tried to take them out. I had to scoop the meat out and Brian said they were delicious. I was dealing with heartburn at the time, so I didn't actually eat any. I will probably use creole seasoning next time to give them some more kick for the hubby. While I enjoy spicy, spicy things have been wreaking havoc on my esophagus lately, so I may have to wait to try some spicy ones. We used these ribs for just eating ribs, but with how tender the meat ended up, they would be really easy to shred the meat and use it in tacos or chimichangas or enchiladas or bbq sandwiches or anything you could think of really. I will definitely make these again and again. PS - The ribs were on sale at the grocery store, so they were super cheap too!!!! :)

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

This is one of my favorite dinners and it is so easy to make! I usually make it with diced sauteed asparagus mixed in with the sauce or peas. Tonight I served it with some Italian Sausage which is good also!

Ingredients

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 cans (15 Ounce Each) Tomato Sauce
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Dash Of Sugar (more To Taste)
1 cup Heavy Cream
Grated Parmesan Or Romano Cheese, To Taste
Fresh Basil, Chopped
1-½ pound Fettuccine or whatever pasta you want

Preparation Instructions

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water (i never use this but you can keep it and mix it in with the sauce to make the sauce a little thinner.)

Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for a minute or so. Pour in tomato sauce and add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in cream. Add cheese to taste, then check seasonings. Stir in pasta and chopped basil and serve immediately. (Thin with pasta water before adding basil if needed.)

Peach Crisp

So I made this peach crisp tonight and it was a semi fail. I learned that next time I should use peaches that are a not still slightly green and not to make the peach filling the night before. The peaches tasted like celery which was totally weird but this has the potential to be really yummy. This would also be very good with berries or apples instead of the peaches.

Ingredients

5 whole To 6 Whole Fresh Peaches (best When Not Overly Ripe Or Soft but definitely not still partially green, lol)
Grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 cup Flour
½ cups Sugar
½ cups Light Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed
½ teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 stick Butter (1/2 Cup)
Grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon


Preparation Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt using a fork or pastry cutter. Cut butter into small pieces and gradually add to flour mixture until evenly mixed.

Peel and slice peaches into a bowl. Add the zest from half a lemon. Squeeze juice from lemon half and stir in with peaches and zest. Add 2 tablespoons real maple syrup to peaches, stir well.

Pour peach mixture into a small pan (8” or 9” square) and cover evenly with crumb topping. Cover with foil and bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes or until crisp and brown on top.

White Chicken Enchiladas

Ok, here is another Pioneer Woman recipe! Seriously every recipe I have made of hers has been awesome. This one took a little bit of time to make but I thought it was worth it. I didn't take a picure but we all know what enchiladas look like!

Ingredients
■2-½ cups Cooked, Shredded Chicken
■2 cups Reserved Broth From Chicken
■3 Tablespoons Canola Oil
■12 whole Corn Tortillas
■1 whole Large Onion, Diced
■3 whole 4 Oz Cans Whole Green Chilies, Diced
■1 whole Jalapeno, Seeded And Finely Diced
■1 teaspoon Paprika
■½ cups Heavy Cream
■2 Tablespoons Butter
■2 Tablespoons Flour
■1 cup Sour Cream
■2-½ cups Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
■Salt And Pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions
Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Fry tortillas for no longer than 20 seconds, just to soften (do not allow to become crisp.) Place tortillas on a large towel or stack of paper towels to drain.

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in separate skillet over medium heat. Add onions and jalapenos and saute for 1 minute, just to start the cooking process. Add chicken, half of the green chilies, and 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Stir together. Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and stir. Add cream and stir, allowing mixture to bubble and get hot. Turn off heat and set aside.

In a separate large skillet, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together and cook over medium heat for one minute. Pour in 1 1/2 cups chicken broth. Whisk together and cook for another minute or two. Stir in the other half of the chilies. Reduce heat, then stir in sour cream. Add 1 1/2 cups grated cheese and stir to melt. Add 1/2 teaspoon paprika. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

To assemble, spoon chicken mixture on top of tortillas, one by one. Top with plenty of cheese and roll up. Place seam side down in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Pour cheese mixture all over the top of the tortillas. Top with extra cheese if you’d like, then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle generously with chopped cilantro.

Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

This is really good served with mashed potatoes! And again my picture sucks because I forgot to take a picture before we ate :)


-4 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (either bake, crockpot or pressure cook chicken for easy shredding)
-1 packet dry Ranch Dressing Mix, reserve 1/2 teaspoon for topping
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/4 fresh cracked black pepper
-2 10 oz cans cream of chicken soup
-10 oz can cheddar cheese soup
-1 Cup chicken broth
-1 Cup milk
-3 15 oz cans Mixed Veggis, drained
-1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
-1 6 count can Pillsbury Homestyle Biscuits
-1/2 teaspoon Lawry’s Garlic Salt
-1/2 teaspoon reserved dry Ranch Dressing Mix
-1/2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place shredded chicken into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle in ranch mix (reserve 1/2 teaspoon for later), salt and pepper. Toss to combine seasonings.

2. In a large rimmed skillet or dutch oven, place soups, broth and milk over medium heat; whisk until combined. Stir in mixed veggis then shredded chicken. Transfer to a large 9×13 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle bacon and cheese over top.

3. Open biscuits and place onto wax paper. Cut each biscuit into 10 little triangle pieces cut biscuit in half then cut each half into fifths(Make sure you cut them in half otherwise they won't cook all the way through and it is nasty). Place little pieces of biscuit over top of chicken mixture until it’s all covered. Sprinkle biscuits with remaining ranch dressing mix, garlic salt and 1/2 Cup cheese. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown and biscuits are cooked through underneath. Cover with foil the last 25 minutes of baking to prevent too much browning. Let cool for 10 minutes then serve.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

These are so yummy and very easy to make, but a little time intensive unless you have help!

Ingredients

-4 pounds of Strawberries
-1 box of Jello No Bake Cheesecake
-melting Chocolates

*Make cheesecake filling according to directions on box, before you put in fridge to set dump it in to a ziploc baggie.

*Wash and dry strawberries and then hull out the center with vegetable peeler.

*Cut tip off of corner of ziploc bag and pipe cheese cake filling into strawberries then dip the tops in to the crushed graham crackers that came with the cheesecake.

*After all strawberries are filled dip into chocolate, you could also just swirl chocolate over them to make it a little easier and faster.

Just a little hint, don't make these that much in advanced because the strawberries tend to get a little soft.

Corn Chowder with Chilies

This is another Pioneer Woman recipe. I wish I had posted this in the fall when I first made it because now it is getting kind of warm for soups. Sorry my pictures suck, time for a new camera!!

Ingredients

* 2 slices Bacon, Cut Into 1/2-inch Pieces (or Smaller)(I used 5 slices because Joe is obsessed with bacon!)
* 2 Tablespoons Butter
* 1-½ whole Yellow Onion, Diced
* 5 ears Corn, Shucked (about 4 Cups)(I used a 16 oz bag of frozen)
* 2 whole Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce, Finely Diced
* 1 whole 4-ounce Can Diced Green Chilies (instead of the chipotle peppers I used 2 cans of green chilies)
* 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Broth
* 1-½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
* ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt (more To Taste)
* 3 Tablespoons Corn Meal OR Masa
* ¼ cups Water

Preparation Instructions

(Carefully) slice the corn kernels off the cob. Set aside.

Add bacon pieces to a pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Cook for a couple of minutes. Throw in diced onion and stir, cooking the onion for 3 to 4 minutes. Add butter and melt. Add corn. Stir and cook for one minute. Add both kinds of chilies and stir.

Pour in chicken broth and cream. Add salt. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low.

Combine cornmeal (or masa) with water. Stir to combine, then pour into the chowder. Cover and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. If chowder needs more thickening, add another tablespoon of cornmeal mixed with water. Cook for another ten minutes.

Serve with crusty sourdough bread or in a bread bowl. Absolutely yummy!


The first time I made this I used the corn meal but I wasn't to fond of the texture so ever since then I have just used flour mixed with water to thicken the soup.

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman, and it was so yummy and very fast and easy to make. The only things I changed was I sauteed a yellow onion with the meat instead of the green onions and I also added chopped olives to the noodles.

Ingredients
■1-¼ pound Ground Chuck
■1 can 15-ounces Tomato Sauce
■½ teaspoons Salt
■Freshly Ground Black Pepper
■8 ounces, weight Egg Noodles
■½ cups Sour Cream
■1-¼ cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
■½ cups Sliced Green Onions (less To Taste)
■1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown ground chuck in a large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce. 1/2 teaspoon salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.

Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add to noodles and stir. Add green onions and stir.

To assemble, add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on half the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until all cheese is melted.

Not Your Taco Bell Chalupas

For New Year's, I wanted to make one new recipe a month for the year. I know I'm a little late, but in March, I made Chicken Chalupas with my mom. It was pretty easy and can be done in the CROCK POT!!!! Here is what you need....

1 16oz containers of sour cream
about a pound of chicken, cooked and shredded or cubed
1 package of flour tortillas
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
2 cups of shredded cheese - I like the Mexican blend
1 can of olives sliced
1 can of green chiles

Mix together half of the sour cream, 1 1/2 cans of cream of chicken soup, 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese, olives, green chiles and chicken. Tear the tortillas into chunks. Put some of the mixture on the bottom of the crock pot. Top with a layer of tortillas. Repeat until the mixture and tortillas are gone. End with a layer of tortillas. Mix together the remaining sour cream and chicken soup. Pour this on the top in the crock pot. Top with the last 1/2 cup of cheese. Heat in crock pot until hot and cheese is melted. And last of all, ENJOY!

Cheesehead Balls

Not being a fan of either team in the Super Bowl this year, Brian and I decided to cheer on the Packers, aka the Cheeseheads. I found a recipe for cheesesticks that used cheese curds instead of sticks. It was pretty simple and I even managed to fry it up without injuring myself or burning anything down.

You need:
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 to 3 eggs beaten (I doubled the recipe and used 5)
2 2/3 tablespoons milk
5 oz cheese curds

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in the eggs and milk. Coat the cheese curds with the batter and fry in oil for about a minute. Serve with marinara or ranch or whatever you want and enjoy. I know we sure did!

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Stuffed Shells

For one of my New Year's Resolutions, I decided to make at least one new recipe each month. Being the procrastinator that I am, I waited until today (January 31st) to make the first one. To be honest, I almost scratched the idea completely because we were out and about until about 8 o'clock and I wanted to just eat dinner and be done with it. Anyway, this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

1 package jumbo pasta shells
2 cups cottage cheese (I used the stuff made with 0% milk fat)
2 cups ricotta cheese (the lowfat stuff again)
12 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 pinch garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 can alfredo sauce

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Then start cooking the pasta shells. I use a little bit of salt when I cook pasta to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan. While the pasta shells are cooking, mix together the cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 2 eggs (I beat them in a separate bowl and then added them), and garlic powder. To add the oregano and parsley, put the amounts in your hands and rub them together to break up the spices. I got the El Guapo brand spice packs for these. They smell so good and look so fresh. It beats the stuff in the jars hands down. Mix it all together. When the shells are done cooking, drain the water and rinse them in cold water immediately to stop them from cooking. In a glass baking pan, spread about 1/3 of the sauce along the bottom of the pan. Stuff the shells with the cheese mixture and place them close together on the pan with the opening up. I ended up fitting about 30 shells in the pan. I also ended up with about 1/2 a cup of extra cheese mixture. I mixed the rest of the cheese mixture with the remaining 2/3 of the sauce and then poured it over the top of the shells. Top the whole thing with the 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese and bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until bubbly. Let it cool for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy! I know I will.