Easy peasy but so yummy

This is a really easy dinner we like to do. We just brown some ground Italian sausage, cook up some rigatoni or penne noodles, then move the noodles into the pan we used for the sausage. We add in some sauce - this time we used Sockarooni by Newman's Own (because it was on sale). Then we put in some Italian shredded cheese and stir it together, so the cheese melts in. It's delicious! This was our first time with that particular sauce and it smelled spicy, so we were worried, but it wasn't. It was actually a perfect one to use with the sausage. Very nice combination.

We served it with French bread and green beans. 

I didn't take the picture until we'd all had at least 1 helping. Sorry.

Leftovers for lunch!

Last night we had lemon-herb chicken for dinner, and we had a couple of leftover breasts. Today for lunch I decided to make some rice, saute some mushrooms, shred a leftover breast, and mix it all together. Great lunch! And I've got a lot of leftover!

Sauteing the mushrooms with some olive oil spray

I used pre-sliced baby portobello mushrooms

Rice in the rice cooker, which I added a little extra light olive oil to while cooking

Leftover breast, about to get shredded!

And final product. Delish!

Dinner idea: lemon herb chicken

This was our dinner last night... Lemon-herb chicken, chicken stuffing with chicken gravy, and green beans. Very easy! Just coat the chicken (we used a store-bought mix), fry it up, boil the water and add it to the stuffing mix, and then steam the green beans. Mmm.

Simple snack for kids

This really isn't difficult, and you don't need pictures for it... But this is a blog, so I'm going to include pictures anyway.

My 4 year old loves this snack! It's been a great substitute for what would typically be peanut butter toast, or a peanut butter sandwich. She eats all of this - where with bread, she doesn't eat the crust. I haven't really looked to see if a tortilla is any healthier than a slice or two of bread, but I'm not really worried about it. It's easy, she loves it, and she consumes more of it than she does with bread.

Dirty rice (crock pot)

I was searching for something to make in the crock pot today. I figured if I made something in it, using the Italian sausage I had on hand, I'd be less likely to bake treats and then eat them all LOL. I found this on 365 Days of Slow Cooking, and adjusted it slightly. 

1 pound Italian sausage
3 cups water
1.5 cups uncooked medium grain rice
1.5 cups chopped onion
1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed red pepper

Brown sausage in skillet. Drain. Place in slow cooker. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours or until rice is done.

The dish was spicy. It could have used less spice. Perhaps less crushed red pepper. Or milder sausage. It was yummy, but too spicy for children, definitely. I won't even attempt to give it to my 4 year old, but I'll eat it for sure, and I'm sure my brother will appreciate it as well.

This is the Italian sausage I used - generic brand

And this is the rice I used

My helper happens to love bell pepper, and she stole a bite when I was checking the recipe

And this is everything stirred together and ready to cook

Finished product

The best chip dip!

This is the best dip ever. I seriously love it. I came up with it myself, but clearly it is NOT complicated and I KNOW I'm not the first person to ever do it. They're all no-brainer ingredients.
Please forgive the low quality cell phone pictures.

Start with an empty bowl LOL.


And an avocado.


Cut it in half, remove the pit, and scoop out the insides into the bowl.





Empty 1 can of refried beans into the bowl - they don't have to be vegetarian.


Mix the two together.


Take a can of beef chili WITH beans


And mix that in as well.


Take some shredded cheese - I like cheddar best.


Put a couple handfuls on the top of the mixture.


Microwave it as is for 2 minutes.


And you'll end up with some melty goodness.


Mix it all together and voila!


Now just take some good tortilla chips - thick ones are best.


And there ya have it!


Mmm

Funnel Cake mix

My mom knows how much I love funnel cake, so when she was out shopping and saw this (though I'm not sure where), she bought it for me. It took be a while to use it, because I'm not into frying things in oil like that (it scares me, to be honest), but I finally got around to it.

This is the mix kit she got. It took me a couple minutes to find it online, so I'm just using the first source I found for it.

It was easy to use, and it came out yummy. But if I remember correctly (it's been a bit), it gave a time estimate for how long it should take, and it took me longer. Still, I liked it and I would buy it again if I saw it - I wouldn't go out of my way for it unless it were a special occasion. I've also seen better kits while searching, and I think I would prefer to check out one of those. They're the same brand, but they come with the tongs and a little circle mold to keep the size/shape at what it should be.






As you can see, I like to top mine with cinnamon/sugar.