Crunchy Strawberry and Romaine Salad

I love me some fruit on my salads.

Do you love strawberries and romaine lettuce?!

YUM!

Ingredients:

Romaine lettuce (three hearts of romaine, chopped)
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
2 cups strawberries, sliced or chopped in bite-size chunks
1 pkg. Ramen noodles (discard seasoning packet)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)

DRESSING:
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp soy sauce

Saute the Ramen and walnute/almonds in butter for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Meanwhile, chop your strawberries and onions and add to your romaine in a large salad bowl. Add the Ramen and nuts once they are ready. Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together, add to the salad and toss.

Voila!

Meatball Sandwich Casserole

Ingredients:

1 Baguette French Bread (cut into 18-24 slices, 1/4 inch thick)
Olive Oil
1 pkg. frozen Italian meatballs, bite sized {about 1 lb.}
1 pkg. frozen onion & bell pepper mix, thawed & drained
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350. Meanwhile, slice your bread.

Brush each slice with olive oil on one side. Line the bottom and the side with the bread slices...oil side up...slightly overlapping the slices on the side. You won't need to grease your dish for this recipe! (You'll need a deep casserole dish for this meal.)

Bake bread for about 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. In a separate bowl, mix meatballs, bell pepper & onion mix, & spaghetti sauce to coat. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Tomato & Basil by Classico. SOOOOO good!!!!!
Spoon the meatball mixture into the dish on top of the bread. Return to oven and bake for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated through in the center. Pull out, add the cheese on top and bake for 5-10 minutes more.

Enjoy!

Double Dressing Pasta Salad

When you see the ingredients for this, you may think it would be gross.

It's not...trust me. :)

Ingredients:

1 box penne pasta
1 brick Colby cheese, cubed
1 brick Muenster cheese, cubed
1 yellow pepper, chopped into large chunks
1 orange pepper, chopped into large chunks
Grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 bottle Ranch dressing
1/2 bottle of Italian dressing

Cut up all the veggies and cube the cheese. Add dressing to coat. Meanwhile, cook pasta.

Add pasta to veggies and dressing & toss. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until chilled. Remove from fridge and add a little more dressing to freshen things up. Serve & enjoy!

Chicken Marinade - Rosemary Lime

I made chicken breasts the other night and wanted to marinade them, so I made up a marinade with pretty much a bunch of random stuff from the fridge. Weird thing...it was SO DELICIOUS! So here it is before I forget...

All these measurements are approximate because I didn't measure anything!

Ingredients:

1 cup Vegetable Oil

2 Tblsp Mustard

1 Tblsp Lime Juice

1 Tsp Garlic Salt

1 Tsp Rosemary

Tsp(ish) fresh ground pepper

Wisk all the ingredients together and marinade your chicken in it for at least an hour.

Sorry, I didn't take a picture...it kinda just looks like chicken!

Glass Block Jello

I found this recipe HERE and made it for Christmas and LOVED IT!

It was a hit. :)

INGREDIENTS:

4 3-oz. packages assorted Jello (in whatever colors you want)
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk


Spray 4 small food storage containers (like Tupperware/Gladware/Rubbermaid) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.


Bring 5+ cups of water to a boil. Combine 1 c. boiling water with 1 package of Jello, stirring until dissolved. Place the dissolved Jello in one of the prepared containers. Repeat with the remaining packages of Jello. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferable overnight.


When the Jello has set, bring another 1 1/2 c. of water to a boil. While the water is heating, sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 c. of cold water. Allow to stand for about 4 minutes. When the water is boiling, pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over the dissolved gelatin and stir to combine. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix well. Allow to come to room temperature.

Lightly spray a 9x13" pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully cut the colored Jello into cubes and gently toss to combine in the 9x13" pan. Pour the cooled milk mixture over the colored Jello and, if necessary, rearrange some of the colored Jello to make sure it is evenly distributed and not sticking out of the white mixture too far.

Place the 9x13" pan in the refrigerator and chill overnight. Cut into squares, rectangles, or various shapes with cookie cutters and serve.

Baked Ziti

Sorry for the semi-gross picture.
I forgot to take a picture before we dug in.
Also, I used bow tie pasta because I didn't have ziti on hand.
Sara Knutson gave me this recipe a few years back and it's one of our favorites!

Ingredients:
1/2 box Ziti pasta
1 onion
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 lb. provolone cheese slices
8 oz sour cream
bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

Spray casserole dish
Cook pasta
Fry beef with onion (you can add some minced garlic and fresh mushrooms if choose). Add spaghetti sauce. Simmer
Layer:
1/2 ziti, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozz. cheese, remaining sauce, sprinkle w/ parm. cheese.

Mushroom Canopes

These can be made from beginning to end in about 10 minutes and they are AMAZING!

Ingredients:
Party Bread (pumpernickel or party rye...I used pumpernickel)
2 cans sliced mushrooms (I sauteed fresh mushrooms in olive oil)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 small container french fried onions
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Toast 15 pieces of the party bread in a 350 degree oven for approximately 5 minutes. While that is toasting, mix all of the ingredients (I used fresh mushrooms sauteed in olive oil with garlic salt and spices which will make this MUCH richer, so if you want it more light, canned mushrooms might be better). Pile a spoonful of the mixture on each piece of bread and place on a cookie sheet and broil for about 3 minutes or until they're browned on top.

This makes about 15 pieces. You could stretch it to probably 20 pieces if you put less topping.