Muddy Buddies

Bonus Recipe.  This recipe comes to you from the back of my Rice Chex box, and can also be found here.  My daughter wants to "cook" once a week, so this was her first pick.  She's 9.  I see a lot of snacky dessert things in our future.

Ingredients
9 cups Rice Chex®, Corn Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
1. Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. (If you're awesome, like my kid, you do a conga line around the kitchen to shake the bag.) Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator. 

Pin It

Spinach Salad with Bacon, Boiled Eggs, and Blue Cheese

Recipe #4.  Okay, so this is not so much a recipe... you could just throw some stuff together with spinach and call it done.  But this version is yummy and we all enjoy it, so I wanted to post it here so I'll remember to make it again.  Next time with mushrooms!  Tonight we had it as a side with baked salmon and roasted carrots, but it could easily be served as a larger portion for a main dish.

Ingredients
baby spinach
boiled egg
cooked bacon, crumbled
blue cheese (on the side for picky kids)
sliced fresh mushrooms, if you have them
spinach salad dressing (I like Marzetti's), heated in microwave for 1 minute

Directions
Yeah... mix it all up and enjoy!

Pin It

Roasted Asparagus

Recipe #3.  Delicious and simple side dish.  We ate this tonight with our Sprout's sundried tomato meatloaf and saffron risotto (from a box).  And, yes, I had seconds of everything.

Ingredients
asparagus, washed and dried
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Break ends off asparagus and discard.  Place asparagus on baking sheet and drizzle with a couple of Tbs olive oil.  Add a couple of shakes balsamic vinegar and swish it all together, ending with the asparagus in a single layer.  Add salt and pepper and bake for 15-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your asparagus.

Variation
When we have this side with Asian dishes, I use sesame oil rather than the olive/balsamic combo.  Then sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds after baking.

Pin It

White Mac & Cheese with Green Peas

Recipe #2.  Maybe I'm cheating a little by including this since it's basically just cooking a box of mac and cheese and adding a small can of green peas.  But it's delicious.  And fast.

Ingredients
Box of White Mac & Cheese (my favorite is Annie's)
tiny can of green peas, rinsed and drained

Directions
Cook mac & cheese according to package directions.  Stir in peas.  Make yummy noises while you eat..

Pin It

Pesto Pizza for dinner

Recipe #1.  This recipe only requires a few ingredients and it's ready in 10 minutes.  Yes, 10 minutes, people!  And everybody loves it.

Ingredients
1 pizza crust. No, not from scratch in the 10 minutes.  I usually use Mama Mary's - inexpensive and yummy.
1/4 cup pesto (Any kind of basil pesto you like.  My favorite is Alessi Pesto.)
1/2 cup ricotta cheese, lowfat.
1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
1 roma or compari tomato
3 large fresh basil leaves
fresh ground pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 450 (or whatever your pizza crust package says).
Spread pesto on crust, sprinkle with shredded cheese, then add dollups of ricotta.
Reduce heat to 425 and bake pizza for 7 minutes.
While pizza bakes, slice tomatoes and basil.
When your pizza is golden brown and bubbly, remove from the oven and add tomatoes, basil, and pepper.

Mine looked like this.  I thought it was really pretty, especially since it only took 10 minutes!

Pin It

We should eat out less.

And I should cook more.  Instead of going out to lunch.  Or dinner.  Or both - on the same day.

But that requires some preparation.  And groceries.

My goal is to post 300 recipes that I will actually cook and my family will actually eat.  And they should all be easy and/or fast.

So, 300 recipes...  Let's assume I'll make meals AND post the recipes 3 times a week (Yes, the rest of the time we'll dig through the refrigerator and pantry and hope for the best.  Or eat frozen pizzas.  Or I'll forget to take pictures for the blog.)  That's 100 weeks.  Or 25 months.  Or just over two years.  Eek!

Wish me luck.  And if I actually finish this thing?  I'll reward myself with a dinner out!

Pin It