Garlic Asiago Chicken and Noodle Casserole

I've been doing some sorting and organizing of my huge stack of magazines that is taking up a lot of space in our little apartment. I'm sorting into 3 boxes - one for recipes that I want to keep, one for magazines that are full of too many recipes, tips and crafts to get rip apart the whole thing, and one box that holds that magazines that are going to be donated to our local thrift store. (Hopefully I will remember them and not buy them back!)

I'm going to be trying out some of these recipes for the next few weeks so that I can weed through the pages even more, keeping the ones that we like and ditching the rest.

The first recipe to be tested was the Chocolate Coconut Bars that I baked a couple of days ago. I will be keeping this one. It's moist and delicious with a great pairing of chocolate and coconut.

Next up is tonight's dinner, Garlic Asiago Chicken and Noodle Casserole. It's my take on Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles from an April 2010 Better Homes and Garden magazine. Of course I made more of the recipe that what it said. The original recipe makes 4 servings but that's not enough for my hollow-legged son and the rest of us plus enough for leftovers for my husband's lunch.

I made some substitutions and changes to the recipes, the most obvious being the cheeses that I used. My version of this recipe is below.

Garlic Asiago Chicken and Noodle Casserole
adapted from an April 2010 Better Homes & Garden
magazine recipe

18 oz cooked egg noodles - keep warm after cooking
2 lb chicken, cut up into pieces - I cooked extra chicken
thighs and legs on July 4 so that I would have extra for
this meal
4 tbsp minced garlic
1 small can of diced mushrooms, drained
5 1/4 c. whole milk
2 c. shredded Asiago cheese
2 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese + 1 c. shredded mozzarella
1 tbsp sage
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 450*

To a large pot, add chicken, mushrooms and milk. Cook on medium heat until heated through.

Stir in Asiago cheese and 2 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese. Stir until smooth. Add noodles and stir to coat - the sauce will be thin, not a cheese sauce consistancy.

Pour the chicken and noodles into a large baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved cup of mozzarella cheese on top of the noodles.

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until the chicken and noodles start to lightly brown.

*****

My thoughts on this dish: Both of my kids liked this dish. They had no complaints about it. My husband and I thought that it was just ok. Just another noodle casserole and sort of bland at that. If you tend to like casseroles that contain a mild cheese flavor and don't contain a lot of spices, you would probably like this one. Would I make this again, probably not...at least not without add more flavor to it. At that point, it would be probably be another casserole completely. There's nothing wrong with this casserole. It just didn't excite my taste buds.

Chocolate Coconut Bars

If you love the combination of coconut and chocolate, you must try Family Circle's latest recipe for Chocolate Coconut Bars. You can find it in the July issue of Family Circle or you can access the recipes on the website by signing up for their free newsletter.

The bars are sort of a cake/brownie combination. Of course, when it comes to spices and extracts, I often add more than what's called for in a recipe because I like a denser flavor. I did this with the icing recipe for these bars. The recipe calls for 1/4 tsp. of coconut extract. This left the icing with barely a hint of coconut flavor. I added 2 more tsp. of coconut extract, plus 1/4 of powdered sugar to soak up the added liquid. This amount was perfect. It's a nice coconut flavor but not overwhelming and paired nicely with the chocolate bars.

I would imagine that you could freeze the bars with no problem - they won't last long enough in our house. I have to add an * here, though. Instead of using a 9 x 13 pan as called for in the recipe, I used a smaller 8 x 10 pan, making the bars a littler thicker. I cut the bars into 15 pieces.

Chocolate Coconut Bars
adapted from Family Circle Magazine - July 2011

Ingredients
1  cup  (2 sticks) butter
4    squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate, broken up
1 1/2  c. sugar
1 1/2  c. flour
4   eggs
1/2  tsp  baking soda
1/4  tsp  salt
1/2  tsp  coconut extract
1 c. sweetened flake coconut
1/2  c (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2  c. confectioners' sugar
2 1/4  tsp coconut extract

Heat oven to 350*.

Line a 8 x 10 baking pan with foil. (9 x 13 can be used). Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Make Bars:

Combine butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave another minute and stir. Microwave for 30 seconds more and stir until smooth.

Stir in sugar, flour, eggs, baking soda, salt and coconut extract. Pour into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake for 30 minutes. Watch carefully and check often so that you do not over bake the bars.

Remove pan and sit on a cooking rack.

Prepare Topping:

Spread coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350* for 10 minutes or until golden.

In a large bowl, combine butter and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth. Beat in coconut extract and 2 tbsp water. Stir in up to 1/4 c. extra powdered sugar to make a thick icing.

Spread over partially cooled bar and top with toasted coconut. Cover with plastic wrap or a tight fitting lid. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

Set the bars on the counter 15 - 30 minutes before serving . Cut into small squares.

Refrigerate any leftovers.

The pièce de résistance, however, was scooping up a bite of the coconut bars along with a bite of creamy, homemade chocolate ice cream. Heavenly! (chocolate ice cream recipe coming soon!)

June '11 Cookie Carnival Round Up

Time again for our monthly Cookie Carnival Round Up!

June brought us these two different cookie recipes to choose from:

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies from Smucker's

and Lemon Tea Cookies from Betty Crocker

Both recipes went over big with our bakers this month!

Check out our bakers and what they had to say about the cookies....

Lisa@Gourmified made lemon tarts from the lemon cookie recipe. She said "I decided to use my mini tart pan and make some lemon tarts instead of cookies. They very very closely resemble a lemon bar, which I love, just with a slightly thicker crust."

Juliana@horneandoalgo made the lemon tea cookies of which she said "A delicious lemon cookie, very colorful and ideal for afternoon tea."

Christine@whimsicalbakery made key lime tea cookies. She said that her cookies really turned out tangy. Be sure to check out her new redesigned blog. It's pretty!

Vivian@Letstrythese made the lemon tea cookies. She said that although the cookies are somewhat fragile, they were still tasty. She gave a great tip of baking the cookie half way and then filling it, rather than doing it prebaking.

Julie@littlebitofeverything made the chewy peanut butter cookies. Like me, she has memories of crisscrossed peanut butter cookies. She loved this new recipe and said " You'll keep reaching in the cookie jar for more!"

Donna aka my friend "Trainlady" baked along with the Cookie Carnival this month. I've known Donna for several years through FamilyCorner.com. She baked both cookies and shared them with her neighbor Dorothy. Donna said "I made both cookie recipes this month. Dorothy, who loves anything sweet especially loved the lemon filled cookies. She is my dear neighbor who just turned 92 in May. I made the peanut butter cookies, too, and froze them to take on our camping trip. They held up real well after being frozen and were so yummy!  The peanut butter cookies were MY favorite!"

Here's Donna and her peanut butter cookies!

This is the lovely Dorothy holding the lemon tea cookies.

Here are my cookies....

I baked the chewy peanut butter cookies. Even though my cookies spread out and didn't look so pretty, they tasted really good! We'll be making them again!

and rounding up this month's recipes is

Katrina@BakingandBoys made the chewy peanut butter cookies. She said "Loved these chewy peanut buttery coconutty oaty cookies!"

Thanks ladies for a GREAT round up this month! Thank you for baking along with me!

We love comments!! Please take a couple of minutes to let us know what you think of our cookies!

Want to join in on the fun? Here's what you need to know.

Cookie Carnival - Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

I grew up eating only one kind of peanut butter cookie - my mother's homemade recipe. She would make them for Christmas and Easter and any other family get-togethers we might have during the year. I remember helping her bake and scooping out the peanut butter - always JIF! I remember how she would take the time to criss cross each cookie with a fork so that the lines were just perfect - and I imagine that she still does the same thing. Mom, if you're reading this, your cookies have definitely left good memories!!  Those cookies were sort of crisp on the outside, yet sort of soft on the inside. A perfect cookie for dunking in milk or coffee. I don't make those cookies here at my house because my dh and kids really don't like plain peanut butter cookies. But I can instantly snap back and remember what they tasted like when she tells me that she just baked a batch of them.

When I found this recipe called Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies and saw that it called for coconut and oats and that it was a soft, chewy cookie, I thought that I might be able to pass this off to my family. I thought that it would be the perfect cookie to try out in the Cookie Carnival. Since it was June, I knew that many kids, including mine, would be out of school so I was hoping that it might pique their interest into getting into the kitchen!

Well, it worked. My kids helped with baking these cookies and all of us ended up really liking them. I love Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter but I didn't have any on hand so I subbed regular creamy peanut butter. I think that using the regular peanut butter instead of natural added more oil to the mix, thus making them spread more. My cookies turned out to be really thin (and not too pretty) but they tasted great!

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
adapted from Smucker's website

1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth, creamy peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups quick rolled oats
1 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350*.

Beat sugar, brown sugar, butter and peanut butter until creamy. Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix well. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda; stir in rolled oats and coconut. Add to peanut butter mixture and beat on low speed until well blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes.

I used a large ice cream scooper to drop mounds of the cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 15 - 17 minutes or until light brown around edges. Cool 2 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. If the cookies start to stick to the pan, return the pan to the oven for a minute to soften the cookies again. Remove from the pan immediately using a large, flat spatula.

Join the Cookie Carnival and bake along with me each month!

Sweet & Sour Grilled Chicken Tenders

We love to grill. It's probably the most used appliance (is a grill technically an appliance? I should be!) at our house during the hot summer months. We don't stop after the summer is gone. Nope, we grill all year long. Even when the snow is falling.

I've never been a big fan of fruit being cooked with meat but I really do enjoy the sweetness that pineapple adds to chicken, pork and shrimp and the marinade in this recipe can be used on any of them.

Sweet & Sour Grilled Chicken Tenders

1- 2.5 lb bag of frozen chicken tenders, thawed

Marinade & Sauce (make 2 separate batches):

1/2 c. crushed pineapple with juice
1/4 c. bottled sweet & sour sauce
1/4 c. bottled spicy sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp. water

Pour 1 batch of the marinade/sauce ingredients into a large Ziploc bag. Add chicken tenders and shake to coat the chicken with the marinade.

Refrigerate chicken for 2 hours or up to overnight. Grill chicken tenders for 4 minutes on each side or until the insides of the tenders are no longer pink. Discard leftover marinade that was in the bag.

Warm second batch of marinade/sauce and pour it over chicken before serving.

Delicious served over rice.

Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Has there ever come a time when you're not in the mood for a chocolate chip cookie? For me...nope, never! My family prefers soft and chewy chocolate chippers so these cookies from the Goose Berry Patch, aptly named Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, fit the bill for a quick and easy cookie recipe.

I don't own a Kindle (hopefully one day!) but I've been enjoying the free downloads on Amazon through the Kindle for PC. I found this recipe in one of those free downloads called "The Goose Berry Patch Circle of Friends Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes".

The recipe uses instant vanilla pudding to keep the cookies soft and moist. I found the batter to be a little stiff so I added 2 tbsp. of milk at the very end of mixing. This thinned the batter out a bit, making it easier for the cookies to spread out just a bit.

Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
from the Goose Berry Patch Circle of Friends
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cookbook  
Kindle for PC edition

2-1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 c. margarine
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
packed
1 t. vanilla extract
5-1/4 oz. pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix
2 tbsp milk (my addition)

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, margarine, sugars, vanilla and dry pudding mix; beat until smooth and creamy.

Beat in eggs; stir in chocolate chips.

Stir in milk and mix until creamy.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden. (I baked my cookies for 7 minutes on the middle rack and then moved the tray to the top level in the oven and continued baking for another 1 1/2 minutes.)  Let cool on wire racks.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen.

Linking up with:
Tuesday Time Out

Menu Plan - Week of June 26- July 2

Let's see if I can get back on some sort of schedule this week. With my kids out of school, we seem to lose our ways around the house. I'm hoping to start back into a routine again.

Our menu for this coming week looks like this:

Sunday - Turkey & stuffing roll-ups with mashed potatoes and corn

Monday - Baked mastacolli

Tuesday - Ginger soy pork tenderloin with garlic roasted red potatoes and glazed carrots

Wednesday - Croissant pizza

Thursday - Rosemary Thyme chicken strips, rice & gravy, salad and green beans

Friday - southwestern mac and corn bread

Saturday - taco meat loaf and Spanish rice


My goal for this week is not to go out to eat anywhere. Wish me luck!

Linking up to:
Menu Plan Monday

Secret Recipe Club: Easy Oreo Truffles

I have had such a sweet tooth lately. I decided ahead of time, before receiving my secret blog name, that I would search for something sweet to make for this round of the Secret Recipe Club.

I was totally thrilled to receive A Tale of One Foodie's Culinary Adventures as my secret name. Erin's blog is full of sweet treats with beautiful pictures accompanying her recipes. In fact, her pictures of the Easy Oreo Truffles is what drew me in to my recipe of choice to begin with!

With just 3 ingredients, you can't go wrong making these. It does take a little time if you want them to turn out as beautiful as Erin's did. Mine didn't look quite as nice but they are still pretty. One thing is for sure...these little gems are rich and chocolaty and absolutely delicious. I have 4 more recipes from Erin's blog bookmarked for me to add to my menus this summer!

Easy Oreo Truffles
original recipe from Kraft 
my version adapted from A Tale of One Foodie's Culinary Adventures

1 regular-sized pkg of Oreos
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
toppings: sprinkles, nuts or crushed Oreos

Add entire package of Oreos to a large food processor. Chop until the Oreos turn into coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/3 cup of crumbs for the topping on the truffles.

Add cream cheese to the cookie crumbs. Process until the crumbs and cream cheese are blended together.

Roll the mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Once the baking sheet if full, stick it into the freezer for 5-8 minutes (or you could stick the tray into the frig for a while longer). This step makes dipping the truffles so much easier. I tried dipping them without freezing them and the balls fell apart in the chocolate.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler on the stove or by melting it in the microwave. Dip each truffle one by one, laying each one back onto the wax paper lined tray. Immediately sprinkle the candies or crushed Oreos on top of the truffles.

Refrigerate the truffles on the tray for at least 1 hour. Store in a tightly sealed container. For maximum flavor, refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

MMM! A prefect choice for those sweet tooth cravings.

I've enjoyed another month in the Secret Recipe Club. If you would like to join us, here's what you need to know.

Bow Tie Pasta Salad

Happy Memorial Day!

**My family and I would like to say THANK YOU to our military men & woman, past and present, for serving and protecting us!**

We had this Bow Tie Pasta Salad at our little family picnic today. It was 95 and very humid here so we ate inside in the AC. ;)  We had a simple picnic of hot dogs, pasta salad, cake w/strawberries and iced tea.

Bring on summer!

  
Bow Tie Pasta Salad

2 -12oz boxes of bow tie pasta, cooked
2 medium tomatoes, diced into small pieces
1 large cucumber, diced into small pieces
1 can of black olives, drained and diced into small rings or pieces
12 oz Kraft Greek Vinaigrette salad dressing
6 oz Kraft Italian salad dressing
1/3 c. Salad Supreme

Cook pasta. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again.

Stir in tomatoes, cucumber, and black olives.

Pour salad dressings and Salad Supreme over pasta. Stir to mix well.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve cold.

Lemon Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Cookie Bites

If you're looking for a cookie that will travel and hold up well for summer picnics, my Lemon Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Cookie Bites will work perfectly.

The tartness of the lemon cake mix balances well with the sweetness of the semi sweet chocolate chips. I used a mini cookie scoop so that you would end with just a bite or two of each cookie, making them easier to handle. These cookies are topped with a simple lemon glaze but they taste great leaving them unglazed, too. I loved the extra tang from the lemon in the glaze but my kids loved the cookies without the glaze.

I love how quickly cake mix cookies come together. I chose to use semi sweet chocolate chips this time but you could easily sub sprinkles, white chocolate chips, walnuts, macadamia nuts or even sunflower seeds would create a nice texture and taste. If you choose to let the cookies plain, roll the cookie balls into sugar before baking for a pretty crinkled look. You could also drizzle melted chocolate over top of the baked cookies. Versatility...another reason that I love cake mix cookies!

Lemon Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Cookie Bites 
adapted from Duncan Hines

Cookies:

1 Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake mix
1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. lemon juice (original calls for fresh lemon but I used bottled)
3/4 c. semi sweet chocolate chips

Glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice (original calls for fresh lemon but I used bottled and omitted the zest)

Preheat oven to 350*

Mix together cake mix, oil, eggs and lemon juice. The batter will be stiff.

Using a mini cookie scoop or a teaspoon, drop cookie batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the cookies start to turn brown around the edges. Remove from oven and cool cookies on the sheet for 1-2 minutes. Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet to cooling racks to cool completely. If you are going to glaze the cookies with lemon glaze, do so while the cookies are still slightly warm.

To make glaze: 

Stir together powdered sugar and lemon juice. Set aside for 5 minutes. Spoon glaze over warm cookies.

Tuscany Pasta

I haven't been inspired to try much of anything new lately but with all of the veggies and fruits coming into season right now, I don't want to miss out on them, either. My recipe for Tuscany Pasta came together rather quickly with some fresh ingredients that I had on hand. It's a light dish full packed full of flavor.

Tuscany Pasta

1 lb of shell pasta, cooked
2 cans of diced tomatoes with basil and oregano
3 tbsp Italian seasonings
 olive oil for cooking vegetables
1 16 oz container of button mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp minced garlic in olive oil
1 bag of fresh spinach
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for topping (optional)

Cook pasta, drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, pour the two cans of tomatoes into a large sauce pot. (big enough to hold cooked pasta). Stir in Italian seasoning and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a large frying pan, drizzle two tbsp. of olive oil. Add mushrooms to the pan, along with the garlic and saute until the mushrooms start to soften. Remove the mushrooms to a bowl and keep warm.

In the same frying pan, drizzle in one more tbsp. of olive oil. Add entire bag of spinach to the pan. Toss the spinach to coat it with the olive oil. Cook over medium heat until the spinach just starts to wilt. This will happen very quickly so do not stop tossing the spinach while it is cooking. Spoon the spinach into the bowl with the mushrooms.

Once the tomatoes have cooked for 20 minutes, add the mushrooms and spinach to the sauce. Stir to mix well. Continue simmering for 5-10 minutes.

Pour the cooked shells into the pot of tomato sauce. Toss well to evenly coat the pasta.

To serve, spoon into bowls and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Buon Appetito!

Happy 8th Birthday Alexis!

My daughter and I celebrate our birthdays during the same week in May - her's on the 24th and mine on the 26th. I'm still finding it hard to believe that she turned 8 yrs. old yesterday. We took her on a shopping trip so that she could pick out some of her gifts - mostly clothes and shoes! She is a shoe fiend! The girl is madly obsessed with shoes!! She is at the point where she can wear girl's shoes or small sizes in ladies' shoes - lookout a whole new arena now. She has a great, quirky sense for fashion and needs little help when it comes to pulling whole outfits together. Plus, she is already loves searching for good sales, yard sales and thrift stores! Yay! Chalk one up for Mom for showing her the way!

She is growing up so quickly and becoming quite a little lady (and still partly tomboy, too). She cracks me up when she goes out the door wearing a dress and pretty shoes and is adorned from head to toe with earrings, a necklace, bracelets and a watch but then comes home with her hair pulled into a ponytail and her jewelry in her book bag. If you ask her why, she'll tell you that you can't play football the right way with the boys when you are wearing jewelry. Did you know that you can't beat the boys in relay races if you are wearing flip flops? That's why she will sneak out of her teacher's sight to kick them off to run in her bare feet so that she can win the races. ~ Ugh. ~ At least she is listening to part of what I've been telling her - absolutely no running around in flip flops because you will get hurt. I chose to ignore the latter part of her running around in bare feet. I know, bad Mom. But at that moment, I was ok with it.

She is loving and kind, lovable, stubborn, sometimes mouthy, rough yet gentle, smart, independent and already a leader. She is doing very well in school. She says that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. I think that children would greatly benefit from a teacher like her. She's a sports fanatic - she loves playing soccer, football, basketball and golf. Boys, watch out...she doesn't back down to challenges. She's also a die-hard Steelers fan!! (like her Mom - not like her Dad - he's a Jet's fan).

It took so long to bring her into this world and even though she drives us batty at times, we love each and every minute with her. We wouldn't change a thing.

Happy 8th Birthday Alexis! 

We love you!!

Singing 'Happy Birthday' in the dark

Alexis' cupcake request - homemade Funfetti Cupcakes topped with Nerds

May all of your troubles.....

Go Up....

In Bubbles!

Pastitsio

Pastitsio or "Greek lasagna" contains layers of pasta, meat sauce and bechamel sauce. Derived from the Italian word "pasticcio", it means mess or hodgepodge. There are many recipes out there for Pastitsio. Some of the recipes call for literally making everything from scratch. Since I don't usually have that kind of time, I opted to take some shortcuts to make this dish somewhat quicker and easier.

Once again I've used a recipe from Kraft as a base for my recipe. I added some spices and extra cheese into my recipe.  It was also another opportunity for me to use some of my flourishing cinnamon basil.

Pastitsio
adapted from Kraft

1 1/2 lbs  elbow macaroni, cooked al dente & drained well- (measured before cooking - I eyeballed pouring 1/2 a 3 lb box into a large pot of water. I used all but about 1 cup of the cooked mac in this recipe.)

Meat Sauce
1 1/2 lb ground beef
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
24 oz spaghetti sauce (I used jarred sauce)

Bechamel Sauce
4 tbsp butter
2 1/2 c milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
16 oz  Greek nonfat yogurt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 + 1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. cinnamon basil, chopped

Directions:

Cook elbow macaroni. Drain well and set aside.

For meat sauce:

Brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain excess grease. Return ground beef to the skillet and stir in spices and spaghetti sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes on low heat. Stir occasionally. Stir in cinnamon basil. Remove from heat.

For Bechamel Sauce:

In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Stirring constantly, pour in milk and nutmeg, stirring to blend. Bring mixture to a boil and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 - 7 minutes or until mixture starts to thicken. Stir in 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese. Stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt.

Add macaroni and stir until it is well coated.

Preheat oven to 350*

To assemble:

Pour ground beef mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish. Spread the macaroni over the beef. Top with 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until warmed through and the top has browned lightly. Cool in pan for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

~*~* My thoughts *~

The dish was very tasty. All of the herbs and spices came shining through, especially the cinnamon basil and the nutmeg. If you don't like a heavy spice taste in your food, I would suggest cutting back on the spices or even leaving out the cinnamon basil.

This is a traditional Pastitsio by any means. As you can see in the pictures, it did not hold together in layers but it did hold true to the definition of it's name. All the same, it was really good.

If I were to make this recipe again, I would use penne pasta instead of the elbow macaroni. I would also add another layer of pasta to the bottom of the pan, and then add the beef in the middle and top with more pasta.

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Shrimp and Rice Bowls

I've been searching the Internet for recipe ideas that would be outside our normal everyday meals. I found a recipe on Kraft.com for Pineapple Shrimp Kabobs. Instead of making this a kabob meal, I made it a "stir fry" of sorts. It turned out to be a quick 30 minute meal with tons of flavor.

I made some changes to the recipe and in the end I was very pleased at how it turned out. My happiest moments came as my kids took their first bites and both surprisingly said "I really like this!" You had to be here while I was preparing the meal. My daughter kept insisting that she hated shrimp and that she wasn't going to eat dinner ...and, of course, she said that I was going to starve her on purpose. She ended up eating more shrimp than anyone else. My son admitted that he thought that he would hate but that he really liked it.

What more could I ask for?  :)

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Shrimp and Rice Bowls
adapted from Kraft.com

4 cups of cooked rice of your choice, kept warm
3/4 c. zesty Italian dressing
2 tbsp + 2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp minced garlic
3 - 4 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1/4 c. unsweetened pineapple juice
2 bags large size frozen shrimp, tails removed and thawed
3/4 can of unsweetened pineapple chunks
1/3 c. fresh basil, chopped

Prepare rice and keep it warm until ready to eat.

In a medium-sized frying pan, stir together Italian dressing, brown sugar, garlic, chili sauce and pineapple juice. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and starts to thicken just a bit.

Stir in shrimp. Cook for 5- 6 minutes.

Add pineapple and basil. Continue cooking for 2 more minutes.

To Serve:

Scoop rice into individual bowls.

Spoon the pineapple shrimp sauce over the rice.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Linking to:

Tempt My Tummy

Tuesdays at the Table 

Tasty Tuesdays

May Secret Recipe Club: Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream

It's strawberry time here in NC. When I decided to participate in this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was hoping that my secret blogging buddy would have a strawberry recipe on her/his blog that would draw me in and convince me to make it.

I was in luck! I was matched up with Ruchi @ Ruchi's Simply Food. She has a delicious recipe for Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream that I just had to try. Her ice cream recipe has just a handful of ingredients and she made it into a no churn recipe.

I made a few changes to the recipe, plus I used my ice cream maker to make it smooth and cold. I did need to convert her recipe amounts. Once I converted the amounts, I rounded everything up for ease and also so that I didn't have bits of everything left over. The results were delicious. A thick and creamy strawberry ice cream that my whole family loved. Excellent in a dish or a cone!

You can view her original recipe here.

Here's my version:

Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream

14 ounces strawberry, diced into small chunks
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
8 ounces homemade mascarpone cheese* - recipe below
8 ounces heavy cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar - I added this to make the cream a bit sweeter

Mix chopped berries, powdered sugar and lemon juice together and set aside.

Using a hand mixer, mix together Mascarpone cheese* and heavy cream.

Mix in extra 1/2 c. of powdered sugar.

Mix in strawberries.

Pour mixture into the frozen bowl of an ice cream maker.

Process according to manufacture's directions until ice cream is thick and creamy.

Serve in bowls or ice cream cones or freeze until ready to eat.The consistency will change from smooth and creamy to a hard ice cream texture if frozen. It is delicious either way.

To make homemade Mascarpone Cheese:

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 c. heavy cream
2 1/2 tbsp. sour cream

Mix together until smooth and creamy

If you would like to join us in the Secret Recipe Club, here's what you need to know.

Enjoy our blog hop! Comments are welcomed!

Linking to:

It's Berry Season! Gooseberry Patch