Creamy Chicken and Tomato Pasta

Have you all seen the commercials for the new Philadelphia Cooking Cremes?

I have and after a couple of weeks of deciding whether or not I was going to give them a try I finally decided I would give it go. I am so glad that I did. I pulled this meal together in less than a half an hour and what's more important, the hubby ate two helpings and what's even better, Addison ate all of hers without sharing any with the dogs...that right there is proof it must be good!

Creamy Chicken and Tomato Pasta~

Source: Yours truly

Ingredients:

1 lb. rotini pasta, cooked

1 lb. chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces

1 10 oz. Philadelphia Cooking Creme Italian Cheese & Herb

1 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomato

salt

pepper

garlic powder

Directions:

1.) In a large pot bring water to a boil and cook pasta accordingly.

2.) In a medium size skillet on medium to high heat add two tablespoons of butter and add chicken, season generously with salt and pepper and add two to three dashes of garlic powder. Cook until no longer pink in center.

3.) To the cooked chicken add cooking creme and tomatoes and allow to simmer until pasta is cooked.

4.) Add pasta to the chicken and creme mix and simmer for another few minutes.

I served ours with green beans and Pillsbury bread sticks...quick and easy, what more could you ask for?

And on a side note, I love green beans but when you make them out of the can they are so bland. I always add a beef bouillon cube to mine along with a couple teaspoons of dried chopped onions and I boil them until there is very little liquid left. Talk about yummy!

Triple Chocolate Cake

We have some serious sweet tooth's here in our house and it's to the point I think I bake more than I cook. Since I am sick of baking chocolate chip cookies and since it takes so much time to do so I decided to whip up this Triple Chocolate Cake. I found the recipe on this blog and found the recipe itself to be very vague. Being the intelligent person that I am I just whipped it up and hoped that I did it correctly. If you think about it how can you screw up anything that involves chocolate?

Triple Chocolate Cake~

Source: Recipe Shoebox

Ingredients:

1 Chocolate Cake mix

1 3/4 cup milk or water, we both used milk

1- 4 oz. package instant chocolate pudding

1- 12 oz. bag chocolate chips

2 eggs

Directions:

1.) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) Mix together dry cake mix, instant pudding, chocolate chips, milk, and then eggs. Mix until incorporated.

3.) Prepare a 9 or 10 inch bundt pan with grease and flour.

4.) Add cake mix and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

5.) Allow to cool for five minutes and gently ease it out of bundt pan. To complete cake sprinkle top with powdered sugar.

Enjoy all of this wonderful chocolaty goodness with a big glass of ice cold milk and you're all set for a scrumptious dessert.

Dare Devil in the making!

Apparently my little Addison Grace enjoys climbing on things. What kills me is she has already taken a few tumbles and instead of learning from them she climbs right back up and usually tumbles again. It's hard to catch a thirteen month old from falling when your holding her six week old little sister. Thankfully we have not had to deal with any injuries so far...knock on wood, because the only injuries she seems to be receiving here lately are caused by her parents. Mommy accidentally tripping her, Mommy pushing her down, Daddy pulling her out of the hall closet by the straps on her jumper, her tripping over everything and anything, and not to be left out, the english bull dog of my Mom's who thinks he's a linebacker and she just happens to always seem to be in his path to the back door for his potty breaks. My poor child...please don't call children's services on us...I promise these are just accidents! The cooler has since been put up...still not sure why it was in the playroom other than the fact we're still emptying our house and moving into my Mom's. Things are everywhere right now.

Don't ask...the microwave is there temporarily until we move it to the garage. And yes the spoon wedged between the handles of the cabinet is to keep a certain little girl out. And yes I am aware they sells products to do just that.

Does she not look cute in her little jumper? And check out her $45 pair of Nike Shocks...I about died at how much a good pair of shoes cost for toddlers.

That would be Oliver the bulldog in his cage. He spends a lot of time in that cage for the safety of our entire family...the adults included. That dog has enough energy for about twelve others and I think we've all tripped over him a time or two.

And because it's funny even though it shouldn't be because now I have to break her of this little habit...Addison's new favorite word is shit. Where did she learn it you ask? Her Father that's where. And does he have a potty mouth? Oh no...he was just trying to teach her on purpose because he thought it would be funny. Well she finally learned and she's used it twice now. Both times being after she's fallen down. I guess if she's going to use it she's at least using it at the appropriate moments. Once again, please don't call children's services on us...lol.

A girl and her horsey...

This little lady sure does love her animals!

Stuffed Shells

We love Italian food in our house as some of you may already know. I'm a pasta fanatic and my mini me is following right behind me. The girl loves her some spaghetti! My Mom requested stuffed shells for dinner a couple of weeks ago and I figured how hard can it be to throw together a recipe? Throw together is exactly what I did and I was actually pretty surprised on how well the meal turned out. In the past I had never been a big stuffed pasta fan usually because it would involved some sort of meat. This time I stuck with cheese and boy was it a winner.



This recipe produces enough to make two 9x13 baking pans. This would be great for serving a crowd, freezing for later, or my favorite idea...sharing with a friend who just had a baby or someone who has a family to feed who may be sick and unable to cook. There's one pan for your family and one for theirs and you don't have double the work! I made mine tonight to celebrate Daniel's 33rd birthday with family. Happy Birthday Sweetie...the girls and I love you dearly!!!

(Sorry for the poor quality of the photo. This was taken by my phone the first time I made them. Last nights batch got a little to brown on top because we were busy playing cards and someone wasn't paying attention.)

Stuffed Shells~


Ingredients:
2 boxes jumbo shells (I only use about a box and a half of the shells)
1- 46 oz. container ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. garlic salt
3 tbsp. minced dried onion
1 tbsp. dried parsley flakes
16 oz. bag shredded cheddar cheese
16 oz. bag shredded mozzarella cheese
6 oz. bad shredded Parmesan cheese
67 oz. container Prego sauce


Directions:
1.) In a large pot bring water to a boil, salt water, add jumbo shells. Cook until soft on the outside but still hard on the inside. Drain and allow to cool enough to handle. (Have no clue why that's highlighted.)


2.) In a medium mixing bowl add ricotta cheese, pepper, garlic salt, parsley, dried onion, 4 eggs, 1 cup sauce, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Mix until well blended.


3.) In baking pan add around 1 cup of sauce to the bottom of the pan. Stuff each shell with about one tablespoon of cheese mixture. Layer shells in one layer to the pan until full.


4.) Top each pan with the remaining sauce, around three cups each.


5.) Top shells with the remaining shredded cheeses starting with the mozzarella.


6.) Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for fifty minutes or until heated through. Uncover and bake an additional ten minutes to lightly brown cheese on top.


I served this meal with a side of corn and a nice tossed garden salad topped off with a nice loaf of french bread. Of course since it's Daniel's birthday we had birthday cake for dessert.

One Month

Happy One Month Birthday Cadence Leah!

So, what are you up to? Yeah that's right, not sleeping, that's what you're up to. Oh and crying, lots of crying. Do you seriously have to cry so much?? And can we please discuss why you insist on being held ALL.OF.THE.TIME??? I know you don't really care but I do need to sleep some time and this holding you while trying to sleep just isn't working for me. It keeps me on Mommy alert on night long...must not roll over...must not roll over...DON'T MOVE FROM CURRENT POSITION. And why do you turn your built in furnace on when I am holding you? You make my arm so hot it stings! Please stop crying, start sleeping, and dear God, please start sleeping in your own bed...I'm begging you!

But please do Mommy one big favor! Please don't stop being so adorable. As crazy as you are making me right now I love watching you. I absolutely love hearing you start to talk to us and those gummy grins melt my heart each and every time! I love you baby girl and I know someday you'll let me sleep again!

I could have sworn it's March!

Well it's almost the middle of March and can you guess what it's currently doing outside? SNOWING...come on weather get with the program. We are tired of the snow and we are most definitely done with the rain. It's rained so much here lately that our back pastures are under water as well as the roads near our house. Living next to a river can be good but during heavy rains its bad. You have to drive out of your way to get home when the roads are shut down.

This Momma is ready for spring so we can get out of this house and do stuff...any stuff would work as I am spending entirely way too much time on facebook!

We were fortunate for one day this week where I was able to take Addison out for about ten minutes before the next round of rain hit. She loves being outside and she loves swinging in her new swing.

Everyone...think spring!!