Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells

See this pretty little girl with the crazy hair? That's my peanut. And guess what? She is not even 23 months old and after a long week...she's potty trained! Today is day 6 since we started training and we got through the entire day with NO ACCIDENTS!

That little Peanut amazes me every day...she is so smart. I can't believe what these little people are capable of sometimes. It seems like it was just yesterday she was my little baby suckling from my breast and now she has grown into a very "spirited" little girl. I just can't wait to see what transformations this little girl is going to go through in the years to come. Where my Walnut has always been so easy going and quiet, my Peanut is always the head of the pack. If someone is doing something she is right there with her nose in the way, imitating whatever action is happening.

Oh, little girl, I love you so much and I just know you are going to take the bull by its horns and conquer the world!

Down to business now...I like to fit in a few vegetarian meals every week. I've always been boarder line vegetarian. I guess I've just never committed to it. Sometimes a big burger after a long week sounds really good, then other times I could go a full week easy with no meat. I've been watching my cholesterol and blood pressure pretty closely the last few years due to some family history so I've cut back even more on meals containing meat. This recipe is one of my favorites to serve on a weeknight when you are looking for something hearty and satisfying without the meat. Hope you enjoy!

Ricotta Stuffed Pasta Shells

1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 cup chopped broccoli
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 egg whites
2 teaspoons dried basil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 spaghetti sauce recipe (click here for recipe)
15 jumbo pasta shells, cooked and drained
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Saute onions, broccoli and garlic in oil until tender. Add in ricotta, mozzarella, egg whites, basil, salt and pepper and stir until combined. Remove from heat.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Stuff cooked pasta shells with cheese mixture and arrange in prepared dish. Top with spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until cheese is melted and dish is nice and hot!

Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Bread

Sorry about the plethora of quick breads lately, but as I said earlier, I'm baking for an upcoming graduation party. And, during the summer months when I have a lot of overnight visitors it is really nice to pull a fruit loaf out of the freezer to serve for breakfast. I like freezing the loafs before eating them too because they seem so moist after they've thawed.

Pumpkin Bread

2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9x5x3" loaf pans with a baking spray (I use Baker's Joy).

In mixer bowl, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy. Then add eggs, pumpkin and water and mix until incorporated. Then, blend in flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves.

Pour into pans and bake about 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Lemon Blueberry Muffin Bread

My Peanut's favorite snack in the whole world is a bowl full of frozen blueberries. And it is so cute watching her eat them. After each blueberry, she has to stop and examine her hands as they begin to turn bright blue. When she is done eating her bowl, she looks like a smurf. She usually has blueberry juice smeared across her entire body, along with the counter top and whatever happens to be surrounding her! The day I made this great muffin bread I think she probably ate half the bag...leaving me a little short for my recipe. But, all is well when my kids decide to dive head first into fruits or veggies instead of chips or candy!



Lemon Blueberry Muffin Bread

3 cups less 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 heaping cup plain low fat yogurt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
raw sugar

preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, vanilla, egg and yogurt until well blended. Add dry ingredients and stir just enough to incorporate the dry into the wet ingredients...about 10-15 stirs. Add 1 1/2 cups blueberries and stir as little as possible.

Spray two 8 1/2" by 4 1/2" bread pans with baking spray (I use Pam Baking Spray). Divide batter between the two tins and sprinkle tops with remaining blueberries and raw sugar.

Bake 40-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center of bread comes out clean.

Enjoy!

*If you pay close attention to the first pic you'll see that clearly I used two 9"x5" pans...however, my bread was not as tall as I usually like them so the smaller pans would definately be a plus.

Healthier Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I would file these cookies away under "Breakfast Cookie" if there is such a thing. They use only 1/2 the butter that a typical cookie recipe would call for and the other half is actually plain yogurt. With the addition of whole wheat flour and egg whites, they are even more healthy! I did a quick nutrition analysis on these babies and per cookie (I ended up with 34 cookies) they provide 98 calories, 4 grams of fat, 16 carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber and 2 grams of protein. Does that mean I can eat 4 of them and not feel any guilt? No? hmmm....I best hit the track then!

Healthier Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup fat free plain yogurt
1/4 cup egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened dark chocolate baking cocoa
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped to small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, butter, yogurt, egg and vanilla. Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet with a 1 tablespoon cookie dropper about 2 inches apart. Don't worry if they get too close, they don't spread when baking!

Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until firm. Immediately remove from cookie sheet.

I'd say these have more of a cake quality to them then cookie though...

Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Oven Fries

My kids don't always eat everything that I make for dinner. For instance, you'd never see them putting down a big plate of Steak with Melon Relish or Chicken Marsala. And you'd never ever see them wolfing down a Pesto Chicken Foccacia Sandwich! So, sometimes I make two dinners. Like for instance today I had Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps (recipe coming soon!) and the kids had this...Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Oven Fries! Oh, they smelled excellent, too. I really wish I wasn't banning carbohydrates today. The kiddos gobbled them all up anyway, so there wasn't any left for me.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

3 large chicken breasts
1 cup mozzerella cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Parsley Flakes
1 cup panko bread crumbs (or crushed Rice Chex for gluten free)

Boil chicken breasts for about 30 minutes until they are completely cooked through. When they are done, cut the breasts into large chuncks and place in a food processer. Pulse 3-4 times until chicken is broken up and slightly chunky. Then add cheese, egg, and seasonings. Pulse until all ingredients are throughly mixed and it forms a paste almost.

Place panko crumbs or cereal into a bowl with any desired seasonings.

Scoop out a heaping tablespoon and roll into a ball, then flatten ball to about 3/4" thick to form a nugget. Press both sides of nugget into the Panko/cereal and place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken is gone.

Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, turning nuggets after 15 minutes. Both sides of nuggets should be golden brown.

Oven Fries

4 potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
Freshly Cracked Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dill

Skin potatoes and cut into fries about 3/4" x 3/4". I usually get about 12 fries from each potato when I cut them. Place potatoes in a large bowl that has a lid and add oil, salt, pepper and dill. Put on lid and shake until all potatoes are coated. Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray (I've found even through potatoes are covered in oil they still stick so the cooking spray helps a lot when flipping them!) Place potatoes in a single layer on sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes, flipping potatoes over after 15 minutes for even browning. Fries are done when they are tender.

*Note that the fries and the nuggets have the exact baking temps and times so you can get it all done on one pan at the same time!

Enjoy!!

Stuffed French Toast

Wow...what could be better then Stuffed French Toast? Image your possibilities! Depending on what you happen to be craving at the moment...Nutella and bananas, cream cheese and blueberries, cream cheese and your favorite jam, or like I did this morning honey nut cream cheese. I don't like to use a large french loaf for my french toast because it seems to never soak up the egg as good as plain ol' sandwich bread. I always use a good nutty whole wheat bread though.

Stuffed French Toast

8 slices of 12 grain whole wheat sandwich bread

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Your favorite cream cheese (2-3 tablespoons per 2 slices of bread)

Your favorite fruit or jam

Butter for skillet

Heat a skillet over medium high heat and grease pan with butter.

Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

On one piece of bread, spead 2-3 tablespoons of cream cheese all the way to the edges of bread so you get a good seal when you dunk in the egg mixture. Add desired fruit or jam. Sandwich in cream cheese and fruit with another peice of bread.

Dip bread into egg mixture to throughly coat both sides of bread. Repeat for all for sandwiches.

When the butter on your skillet has slightly browned, add French Toast sandwiches to skillet and fry on each side about 2-3 minutes until each side is a nice deep golden brown.

Serve with your favorite syrup!

Enjoy!

Banana Bread

Homemade Mother's Day cards...I don't think that any part of being a mother is as satisfying as receiving one of these. A card you know your little four year old must have spent hours drawing. Look at his printing! "Mom, I love you." Oh, it melts my heart just looking at the pictures of it let alone holding the actual card in my hands. How he so carefully drew on the clothes and hair and eyes of each of us is just out of this world.

And look at these little hands. I love to hold these little hands as they fall asleep at night. They snuggle with me in the rocking chair and I always hold each of their hands until they drift off to sleep. They are still so little and precious but so big at the same time. I can't believe how the years are already slipping away from me it feels like sometimes. Walnut is on the verge of School Readiness and riding the school bus and Peanut is on the brink of potty training.

I'd like to say thank you to my mom...for raising me the way you did. For helping me become a strong, independent woman. And for always standing by me and supporting every silly thing that has ever popped into my head. I love you. And...thank you for watching my children everyday while I go to work and helping instill the same values in them as you did into me.

What feels more motherly then baking a big loaf of banana bread at 6:00 am before the troops wake up? I had been using a different recipe for my bread that uses shortening for the fat, but I lost the book somehow and had to resort to my good old Betty Crocker's Cookbook via 1972. It used to be my mom's book. She let me borrow it for an extended period of time...(mom...you didn't want this back, right?) This bread is so much more moist than my old recipe! Betty Crocker has definitely moved into the lead for now on when it comes to banana bread.

Banana Bread

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas (2 to 3 medium)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (I use Baker's Joy) a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan or two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pans. Measure all ingredients into a large mixer bowl; beat on medium 30 seconds until ingredients are just combined, scraping sides of the bowl half way through.

Pour into pans. Bake 55 to 65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool thoroughly before slicing, unless your like me and insist on eating all baked good straight from the oven!

*I used a 9x5x3 inch pan and it made one heck of a large loaf! I will definitely split the batter into two pans next time.