Stuffed Shells

What's for dinner? Stuffed Shells

I love to plan ahead and have meals ready in the freezer. This is always a good thing but with having a baby around you never quite know how the day is gonna go. I currently have 3 meals ready to go: buttermilk herb chicken, lentil shepherd's pie, and these stuffed shells.

Stuffed Shells

1# burger

1 onion, diced

1 can or 1 handful mushrooms, chopped

1 t garlic pwdr

1 pkg chopped spinach

2 c cottage cheese

1 1/2 t dried parsley

1 c parm cheese

pepper

1 box jumbo shells

1 jar spaghetti sauce

2 c mozz cheese

Cook together first 4 ingred. and drain. Mix in the rest but the sauce and pasta.

Stuff into jumbo shells and place in a 9x13, or 2 8x8. Top with sauce then mozz cheese. Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly.

My quiet time

While the four children in my house are supposed to be sleeping I will take a moment of quiet time to tell all of you what is on my 'to make' list. I wish this included the quilt I am working on or the 1 1/2 years of scrapbooking to be done. Alas...

For the cookout tomorrow strawberry Chantilly.

http://senceanddollars.blogspot.com/2010/07/cold-desserts.html

Baby food for Wren: applesauce, carrots, acorn squash

Stuffed shells, which I will divid into 2 pie pans and put one in the freezer. I am going to try a new recipe from allrecipes. I already cooked the burger yesterday so I just have to cook the pasta and put it together. I will try to post how it is.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Stuffed-Shells-IV/Detail.aspx?prop31=4

Another thing for the freezer is a once a month cooking recipe for buttermilk herb chicken. I love these type of recipes because when chicken is on sale you freeze the meat in meal sizes with the marinade so while it thaws it takes on the flavor. Then cook it when you are ready.

http://onceamonthmom.com/buttermilk-herb-chicken-breasts/

I have lots of fruit and veggies to cut, cook, whip, and clean up from so I better get to it.

Butter in the house

I have not posted in a long time and while my ladies are resting I thought I would say, "hello world."

I have not been buying a lot of butter lately because of the cost. $2.40 to $2.90 per pound is pretty pricey. We enjoyed BLT's and corn on the cob yesterday for dinner so therefore butter was a must for the corn. It was a great dinner for a hot day. Since Guy got the butter at Costco we have 4#! Today I could not help my self, there is butter in the house.... let's bake! I threw together a rhubarb custard pie and a blueberry coffee cake for mom's group on Thursday. The pie is a recipe from Granny Eva, the wonderful baker our Eva was named after.

Rhubarb Custard Pie

2 recipes of pie crust

4 c. 1/2 pieces of rhubarb

1/3 c. flour

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/4 t nutmeg

2 eggs, beaten

1 T milk

Put rhubarb in unbaked pie shell.

Mix dry, mix wet, and mix together well. Pour over rhubarb. Then dot with 1 T butter.

Seal the top with second pie crust. Bake 400 for 50-60 min.

This gets soggy if done to far ahead of time so make it fresh. Enjoy!

Jean's Pie Crust

1 c. flour

1/2 t salt

1/2 c cold butter, cut up

1 egg

1 T vinegar

6 T cold water

Cut fat into flour and salt.

Blend wet, and add one tablespoon at a time until it just holds together. Form into disc and refridge until chilled.

For 2 pie crust- double fat and flour but there is enough liquid you don't have to double.

Runza

What's for dinner, Runzas!

One of the many things the Bailey family has blessed me with is runzas. I asked a few questions but was on my own to wing it. I feel that I have really mastered the art. The pictures are from last April. Eva would not eat them at dinner but then loaded them into her Easter basket and then after a few bites gave a grin. Sweet girl who loves bread.

Rapid mix cool rise white bread, or you can use frozen bread dough

4-6 c flour

1 T & 1/2 t salt

1/4 c butter/marg, soft

2 T & 1 t sugar

3 packets (2T & 3/4t) active dry yeast

2 c warm (110 degree) water

Mix water, yeast, and sugar...let bloom. Put all other ingred in mixer with dough hook. Pour in water mixture. On speed 2 let mix/knead until sides of bowl are clean. Add 1/2 c flour at a time until bowl is clean. When you touch the dough it should be soft, smooth, and not sticky. Let rest covered 20 minutes while you make the filling. Can be made a head and left in the fridge covered.

Filling:

2# burger

1 onion, diced

1 head of cabbage, finely diced

salt/pepper

I cut the cabbage into hunks and whirl through the food processor until fine. The other way I have done it is in the blender but I had to add water to get it to whirl, then squeeze out the water. Brown the burger with the onion. When brown, drain meat and add cabbage until looks about half and half, cook until tender.

To assemble:

Divid the dough into 10 equal sized balls or 5oz each if using a scale. Flatten each ball of dough wide enough to hold 3/4 c or 4 oz of the meat mixture. Fold dough around the meat, seal the bottom, and place smooth side up on a greased cookie sheet or stone. Bake at 350 25-30 minutes until golden. I butter the tops because butter is good!

Soup X2

What's for dinner, soup x2!

It is cold and snowy... time for soup. I made 2 favorites yesterday. I divided a package of kielbasa and a 5# bag of red potatoes into them. Oh, I made some mashed potatoes as well. Mix up the golden potato and while it cooks prep white bean potato for a crock pot dinner tomorrow. The golden potato also freezes really well, I doubted that it but in deed it does!

Golden Potato Soup, adapted from allrecipes.com

2# (6 cups) red potatoes, diced

1 c onion, diced

1 c celery diced

1/2 package of kielbasa sausage, diced

2 c chicken broth or water and bouillon

1 t parsley

salt/pepper

Put all ingredients in dutch oven, cover, cook until potatoes are soft. Whisk together:

1 1/2 T flour

3 c milk or 3 c water and 1 c powdered milk

Pour into pot and bring to a boil. Remember milk burns easily. Then add:

1 1/2 c cheddar cheese

1/2 package of kielbasa sausage, diced

Stir until cheese is melted and enjoy!

White bean potato soup, adapted from allrecipes.com

1 # white bean, soaked overnight and drained

2# red potatoes, diced

1/2 package of kielbasa sausage, diced

5 cups chicken broth or water and bouillon

1 c onion, diced

2-3 T Italian seasoning

2-3 T garlic powder

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

Optional: 1 bunch of kale

Salt/pepper

This is easy prep so everything is ready to dump in the crock pot in the morning. Put beans in bowl and cover with a lot of water. Put broth, potatoes, sausage, and seasoning in crock and place in the fridge. In the morning drain the beans and put them in the crock. Place the crock in the crock pot and let sit on low all day. Add the tomatoes at the end because the acid will keep the beans from cooking. Enjoy!

Weekly Christmas Cookies and other Christmas sweets

How do the Bailey's celebrate Christmas, by making cookies while singing songs! Thinking back over the Christmas season I wanted to share with the world all the fun we had and what we made.

God sent His son as a babe to die for our sins, that is the true reason of Christmas. I want to continue traditions from my childhood and improve upon them at the same time. For the second year I choose to make one cookie a week instead of one day of feet aching torturous cookie baking extravaganza. My daughter Eva is learning to be a great baker so somethings were chosen with her abilities in mind.

Cookie #1, oatmeal and dried cranberry. The symbolism of red and white at Christmas is to remind us of the blood that was shed and how that blood can make you white as snow.

http://senceanddollars.blogspot.com/2010/07/oatmeal-and-dried-cranberry-cookies.html

Cookie #2, candy cane cookies. This cookie is a must for my family. Once again the red and white continues here but the reason candy canes were invented was to share the story of Christ. The symbolism of the blood, purity, and the shape of a 'J' one direction and a shepherd's staff the other way reflect that Jesus was truly God's son in the flesh.

Cookie #3, thumb prints. We baked with SIL Heather and used Granny Eva's recipe. I had planned to make this cookie so Eva could lend a thumb but that did not work out. The instructions say to bake a bit then press so they were too hot for Eva to help.

Week 4 was week of confections. Coating chocolate can be purchased or you can use 1/2 a package of almond bark and 1 package of chips. I used white chocolate to make chocolate dipped pretzel rods and the leftover I used Andes peppermint chips to make candy cane bark. I used regular chocolate to make cashew clusters. The big hit with a toddler was the snap turtles. Eva helped unwrap 2 bags of roles and set each Rolo on a Syndar Snap pretzel. Bake at 200 degrees until the Rolo is soft then press a pecan on top. Cool and enjoy.

The final sweet is enjoyed Christmas morning. For years I made cinnamon rolls but once the Baileys introduced me to Kringler I was hooked! This is one of the only things they use almond extract in so it makes since that I love it so.

And that folks explains my sugar high!

Warm Beverages

What is keeping me comfy, warm beverages!

I don't like tea unless it is doctored like my coffee. So I figured out that I could make a cup of tea and add chai tea mix that does not have instant tea. This has been great because as a new mom again I need to be drinking mother's milk tea.

Tea Mix

2 c instant milk

1 c French vanilla creamer

1 1/2 c sugar

2 t cinnamon and ginger

1 t cardamom and ground cloves

Mix in food processor. If you want to include the tea, which makes great gifts, add 1 1/2 c instant tea. Makes 1 qt jar

I have been enjoying some peppermint hot cocoa that my mom got at Aldi. Well, if you shop there ever you know that they don't carry the stuff you love most but once a year. So, here is the mix I made. Once again, great gift idea.

Hot Cocoa Mixes

5 c powdered milk

1 c powdered creamer

3 c powdered sugar

1 1/2 c cocoa

Add everything to the blender. Store in mason jar. To make add about 1/3 c to cup of boiling water. Enjoy!

Modification:

2 t cinnamon

or

12 smashed candy canes, reduce powdered sugar by half