pesto chicken stuffed shells

Dont know what to make for dinner? I DO! I DO! I made this last night for the first time, mind you im not the best cook even when I follow recipes, and it turned out DEELISH!!
I feel like there could be some sort of sauce that can be drizzled over the top but it doesn't call for one. But if you figure one out let me know!!!
Anywho, here it is:

12-16 jumbo shells
water for boiling
4oz cream cheese, softened
1C freshly grated parmesion cheese + 1/4 C for topping
3T prepared pesto
2C shredded cooked chicken
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt & Pepper to taste


In large pot boil water and prepare pasta as directed on package. Cook pasta only until al dente.


In large bowl, combine the rest of ingredients except 1/4 C of cheese for the topping. Fill pasta shells with filling and place into dish. Sprinkle cheese.


Preheat oven to 350 and bake shells uncovered for 30 minutes or until shells are bubbling and cheese melts.


Vance loved it so that's saying something! I actually doubled the recipe because I was feeding 4 adults and 2 children. This is a definit MUST TRY!

Homemade Soft Pretzels

These soft pretzels are so easy and super good. It tastes just like the store bought ones, maybe better! Heres the Ingredients:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons warm water, plus 1 1/3 cups warm water
• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 5 cups flour
• 8 cups water
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• Kosher salt

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, mix 2 tablespoons warm water with theyeast to dissolve it. Then stir in the remaining warm water and brown sugar. Place bowl on a mixer and using a dough hook, gradually add the flour and continue mixing until it forms a ball. Turn it out onto a work surface and knead the dough to make it smooth. Use enough flour on your work surface so the dough is not sticky.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

grease 2 sheet pans. Bring 2 quarts of water and the baking soda to boil in a large saucepan. Shape dough into pretzels. Drop it into the boiling water for 30 seconds then fish it out and place it on the greased sheet pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

Strawberry Pretzel Jello Dessert

You have NOT tasted real jello until you've tried this.....

• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 heaping cups sliced strawberries, fresh or frozen
• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipped topping or real cream whipped
• 1 package (6 ounce) strawberry flavor gelatin
• About 2 cups crushed pretzels
• 1C.sugar-powdered or regular

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Finely crush pretzels with a rolling pin or food processor. Combine crushed pretzels with 3 tablespoons sugar and butter. With a spatula, press pretzel mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan to form a crust. Bake 6 to 10 minutes until lightly browned. Cool completely.

Pour 2 cups bowling water over strawberry jello. Stir until melted and let cool to room temperature.

Beat cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and whipped topping until combined. Spread evenly over cooled crust.

Add strawberries to cooled jello and let thicken slightly. Spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until firm.

For our family we would double this.

I hope you like it!!! We have it every thanksgiving and finish it off by the next morning.

tortilla wraps

You can use any kind of tortilla and it will still taste fabulous!

You will need

• a lunch meat of your choice
• a cream cheese spread of your choice
• cheese of your choice
• a tortilla of your choice

I use spinich tortillas, beef lunch meat, onion and chive cream cheese, and graded mixed cheese blend.

Take your tortilla and spread your cream cheese on top. Then place or sprinkle your cheese. Take few slices, i use 4, of your lunch meat and then roll it up tight.

You can cut it into small bit size pieces which makes a PERFECT snack for kids or guests!

It's super DELISH and a fun new way of eating a sandwhich!

(I think maybe even a little more healthier than your everyday bread, mayo, and mustard)

ENJOY!!

Hot Fudge Sauce

2 c. dry milk

1 1/2 c. sugar

3/4 c. cocoa

2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. boiling water

1/2 c. butter melted

Place dry ingredients and vanilla in a blender. Boil together water and butter, pour hot mixture into blender at highest speed for 2-3 min. Store in fridge.

Super good poured on ice cream when cooled off. Hope you like it!! Its been a family special for years.

~Emma

Ice Cream Cake

This is definitely the most YUMMY cake ever!!!! You HAVE to try this.

Ingredients:

24 ice cream sandwich's

whipped cream

caramel topping

crushed candy bars (heath's are recommended)

Lay 12 ice cream sandwich's in a pan. Spread whipped cream over them, put 12 more ice cream sandwich's on the cream, and spread more whipped cream over them. Pour caramel topping over everything, then sprinkle on crushed candy bars. Freeze over night.

~Kaydee

Easter Treat

I know this isn't a quick meal recipe, but I was looking for things to do for Visiting Teaching and found this. Looks fun. These look like something tastier than jelly beans for the eggs.

Jelly Bean Nests

2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/4 cup butter
1 (6-ounce) package chow mein noodles

Jelly beans or other egg shaped candy



Combine marshmallows and butter in 2-quart saucepan; cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted (6 to 8 minutes). Stir in noodles until very well coated.

Press mixture on bottom and up sides of each buttered 12-cup muffin pan cup with buttered fingers.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until firm.Remove from cups; fill with jelly beans.

Something healthy, easy, & yummy

Soaked Oatmeal

2 C. oatmeal

2 C. water

4 T. yogurt, kefir, or buttermilk

Mix together in the evening and set pan in warm place until morning. When ready to eat breakfast add 2 more cups of water and heat only as it is already to eat and heating is the only thing needed. Just a quick as dry cereal and twice as good for you!!

We like to add a couple eggs to it while heating it to give it a porridge texture and taste. Sweeten with honey, jam, brown sugar or even ice cream if you please! If you aren't a fan of oatmeal (like me), don't sweeten at all and add a 1/2 C. to a smoothie. My favorite smoothie using oatmeal goes like this~1/2 C. oatmeal, 1 C. greek yogurt, and 3/4 C. organic juice. Sometimes I throw in an egg for added protein. It really tastes good.

Delicious No-baked Cookies (Mud Puddles)

These are delicious, chocolaty, peanut buttery no-bake cookies, there really easy to make, and perfect for anyone who's a chocolate fan. These are everybody's favorite around here and pretty much make them all the time! We call them mud puddles. But anyway, here's the ingredients:

2 sticks of butter, melted
1 1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 tbsp. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa
1 C. Peanut Butter
3 C. Oats

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Then on medium heat, stir in both the sugars. Add the milk, vanilla, and cocoa. Then on low heat, add the peanut butter. After the peanut butter is melted and its all creamy, stir in the oats. With two table-spoons, scoop out into balls on some foil. There you go! Enjoy.

~Emma

HOMEMADE OREO COOKIES

These are super easy and dang yummy. The best part is that there is only 4 ingredients!!!Here's the low down:

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
2 Eggs
2/3 C. Shortening
1 can Cream Cheese Frosting

Mix the first three ingredients together by spoon. If it becomes stiff and hard to mix, use your hands but keep in mind that this is a sticky dough. Using a 1" cookie scoop, place 30 cookie balls on a large sheet pan. Bake at 375 for 8 minutes. The cracks in the cookies should still be glistening when you take them out of the oven. DO NOT over bake you want them to stay soft. Cool completely before making the oreo sandwiches. Frost the back side of one cookie and top with another. Continue until all cookies are made. Let cookies sit out on counter for at least an hour to let the frosting set up. Store in an air tight container to maintain freshness. ENJOY!!!

TIP: to make frosting these easier, scoop your frosting into a quart sized ziplock baggie. Snip one corner of the baggie off and pipe your frosting on. Makes frosting this babies so much easier!!

Easy caramel popcorn

3/4 cup unpopped popped corn

Pop the 3/4 C. popcorn

In a saucepan combine 1 can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 C. brown sugar

1 stick butter

When melted pour over popped corn, sprinkle a bit of salt over for that sweet and salty flavor and mix up well. Our favorite!

perfectly creamy cheesecake

And I mean it's PERFECT! Your gonna love it!

Here's the break down:

Crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 Tbsp. sugar

Filling:
3 8oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 eggs, room temp.
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 can (21 oz) cherry or blueberry pie filling. (Optional)

Preheat oven to 300

Crust: Combine graham crumbs, butter and sugar until blended. Press into pan. Bake 10 minutes.

Filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar and flour at medium speed. Add eggs, mix at low speed. Stir sour cream, juice and vanilla. Pour into crust.

Bake 55-60 minutes or until center appears nearly set when shaken. Refrigerate immediately for a couple of hours or until chill.

black bean enchiladas

I LOVE this receipe! And the left overs are still just as tasty, they just may not look like it.

What you will need:

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tsp. ground cumin

1can of corn, drained

3/4 cup thick 'n chunky salsa

1 can (15oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

10 corn tortillas (6 in)

1 can (10oz) enchilada sauce (I prefer the green kind)

Top with avocado, olives, sour cream, cilantro. (whatever you want)

Heat oven to 350. Spray 11x7 inch baking dish with cooking spray. In 10 inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cumin; cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in corn, salsa, beans and 1 cup of cheese. Remove from heat.

On microwavable plate, stack tortillas and cover with paper towel; microwave on high 1 minute to soften. Place 1/4 cup of bean mixture along center of each tortilla. Roll up tightly, and place seam sides down in baking dish; spoon remaining bean mixture on top. Pour enchilada sauce over enchiladas, spreading to coat all tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.

Bake covered 25 to 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly around edges. Garnish with remaining ingredients.

As you cook this your kitchen will smell so yummy! This gooey cheesy goodness will melt in your mouth. My mouth is watering as I type!

ENJOY!

chicken breast supreme

I made this for our sunday dinner and the only thing I could have done differently is cook it A LOT less then what the receipe recommends. I baked it for the 1 1/2 hours and completely dried out my chicken! I would safely start at 30 to 45 minutes. Depending on how many chicken breasts you are cooking.


Minus the fact my chicken was extremely dry, the flavors were very DELISH! I recommend this one for sure!


Get creative with your side dishes. Mine were pretty basic, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies and dinner roles. (not a fan of making bread, cuz well, im not all that good at it so I buy the frozen kind that take 12 minutes to bake in the oven. I know, I'm a cheater.)


It's easy peasy and your family will LOVE it! Give it a try!

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 c. sour cream

1 can cream of celery soup

2 Tbsp. orange juice

swiss cheese

1 pkg. stove top stuffing

1/2 cube butter

Spray 9x13 inch pan with Pam. Lay skinned, boneless chicken breasts on bottom of pan. Cover with slices of swiss cheese. Mix soups, sour cream, and orange juice together; poor on top of chicken and cheese.


Stove top: Sprinkle crumbs on top, then seasoning packt on top of crumbs. (that is if your stove top stuffing comes with a seasong packet.) Melt and drizzle 1/2 cube butter on top of crumbs. Cover dish tightly with foil. bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours at 350.