Shells and Gorgonzola

During Anna's school bookfair, I bought a cookbook called Cheesy, Cheesy quick & easy and this is the first recipe I have tried from it. All of the recipes in the book are pretty much a different take on macarroni and cheese, but my kids love mac-n-cheese so I thought it would be worth a shot.
I wasn't sure what to think when I saw the title of this recipe, but decided to try it anyways. The girls were not sure what to think of either because of the orange-looking sauce and the crubles of cheese. To add insult to injury, I sauted SPINACH I had picked from our garden and added it to the pasta. How would they react!?!?
For the most part, the girls liked the dinner. They finished the pasta that was on their plate farely quickly, but did not want any seconds. Not sure if it was the strong taste from the Gorgonzola or not, but I didn't like the dinner enough to have seconds either.

Grade: B-

Ingredients:
1 package (16 oz) uncooked medium shell pasta
1 jar (24 oz) vodka sauce
1 package (4 oz) crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
3/4 oz fresh spinach, sauted

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain well; cover and keep warm.
2. Heat sauce in medium saucepan over medium heat.
3. Toss pasta with sauce until well blended. Stir in cheese and spinach just before serving.

Emily was a little timid at first.

Sarah loved everything (even the brocolli).

Anna, looking like she is singing a song into her shell microphone.

Lucy, surprisingly happy!

Crunchy Party Mix

This is a quick and easy mix to make. The girls, like most kids, love to munch on mixes like these (except for the nuts). I need to remind myself to make a bigger batch and freeze half of it because it can be frozen for up to 4 months.
Grade: B

Ingredients:
5 cups pretzel sticks
4 cups round toasted oat cereal (Cheerios)
4 cups wheat chex
4 cups corn chex
3 cups mixed nuts
1 cup butter
3 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. In a roasting pan, combine pretzels, oat cereal, wheat cereal, corn cereal, and mixed nuts; set aside.
2. In a small saucepan heat and stir butter, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder until butter melts. Drizzle butter mixture over cereal mixture; stir gently to coat.
3. Bake at 300 degree oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on a large piece of foil to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Lucy enjoying the mix.

Emily digging in on the pretzel sticks.

Lemony Fettuccine Alfredo with Asparagus

The picture looks a little dark because somebody did not have the flash up.

This meal was easy to make and extremely delicious. I did not realize how easy it was to make Alfredo sauce. If I had known, I would have never bought the premade Alfredo from a jar. Also, this was under 300 calories per serving, so the sauce was a little healthier than the premade.

We made the girls try a piece of asparagus and they all did. Anna, kept asking for more, Emily and Sarah both ate a couple of pieces, but then there is Lucy. She was refusing to eat her piece,  but when the brownies came out for dessert, and she was not getting hers, she reluctantly ate her piece.

The sauce was a little thick and when I make this again, and reheat it tomorrow, I are going to add some milk to it.

Grade:  A+

  

Ingredients:

1 cup half & half

12 oz fettuccine

1.5 cups grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup fresh asparagus

1 tsp lemon peel

  1.  Allow half-and-half and butter to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.


2.   Meanwhile, cook fettuccine according to package directions. Add the asparagus the final five minutes. Drain. Return fettuccine and asparagus to saucepan; add half-and-half, butter, lemon zest, and Parmesan cheese. Stir gently until fettuccine is well coated. Transfer to a warm serving dish. Sprinkle with pepper. Serve immediately. 

Emily loves her Alfredo sauce!

Anna showing you that she can still slurp the Fettuccine

Don't worry, Lucy always has the look on her face lately.
I call it her sourpuss face

Sarah, eating very lady-like!

Lightened Up Beef & Vegetable Stir-Fry

Dinner tonight could have been better if it wasn't for the tough beef. I am not sure if the problem with the beef was that it may have been a lower quality of beef, or that I over cooked it. Whatever the reason it was TOUGH! We made Anna chew it for a good five minutes before she could swallow it. Granted it was Anna and she tends to over exagerate if it is something she doesn't want to do.
Besides the tough beef, this was a good dish. The broccoli, onions, and mushrooms were all very good and the cream of mushroom soup added a lot of flavor and the sauce that was left behind tried to help out the dried out tough meat. Sarah liked the beef and kept on asking for more, but the rest of us had one piece and that was enough!

Grade:
If the meat would have been tender: B+
As it was: D+
Ingredients: (Recipe from Campbell's)
Vegetable cooking spray
1 boneless beef sirloin steak, 3/4-inch thick (about 1 pound), sliced into very thin strips
2 cups broccoli florets
6 ounces sliced mushrooms (about 2 cups)
2 medium onions, cut into wedges
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Healthy Request® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup regular long-grain white rice, cooked according to package directions without salt (about 3 cups)

Directions
1.Spray a 12-inch skillet with the cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the beef and cook until it's well browned, stirring often. Remove the beef from the skillet and set aside.

2.Remove the skillet from the heat and spray with the cooking spray. Add the broccoli, mushrooms, onion and garlic powder and cook until the vegetables are tender-crisp, stirring often.

3.Stir the soup, water and soy sauce in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the beef to the skillet and cook until it's cooked through. Serve the beef mixture over the rice.


If you can't tell by Sarah's face, TOUGH!



Not sure what Emily is eating, but she didn't eat much.

Anna "forcing" rice into her mouth.

Looks like Lucy's mugshot.

Garlic Pork Tenderloin with Barbecue Sauce

What an amazing success with dinner tonight!!!! I wasn't sure how the girls were going to like pork tenderloin because it is hit or miss (usually a miss) with meat, but I wanted to make it. I looked easy to make and something quick I could put together without much prep. When the tenderloin was in the oven I let the girls try a little bit of the rub that was on the tenderloin and they liked it. I made some peas (which I know they love) and gave them a little bit of the pork. They could stop eating it! I had to make them eat their peas just to slow them down. We could have easily eaten the full pound of tenderloin just the four girls and myself. So if you are looking for something that has a lot of flavor and picky eaters might like, I recommend this recipe!!

Grade: A+

What You Need:
1 lb. pork tenderloin

1 Tbsp. GOOD SEASONS Garlic & Herb Dressing Mix
1/2 tsp. each paprika, dried thyme leaves and dried sage leaves
1/2 cup BULL'S-EYE Original Barbecue Sauce

Make It:
HEAT oven to 425°F.
PLACE meat in foil-lined shallow baking pan. Mix dressing mix and seasonings until blended; rub evenly over meat.
BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until done (160°F).
CUT into slices. Serve with barbecue sauce.

Sarah likes big bites!!!

Anna ate her first portion before I
could get the camera!

Lucy with her first of many bites!

Emily mid-bite.

Tuna & Pasta Cheddar Melt

This was a good, fast, an hearty meal. The best part may be that there was very little dishes to clean up. If I made this again, I would mix the peas and carrots into the tuna/pasta dish instead of having it on the side. The girls all ate it, except for Anna. She thought it tasted bad (I don't think she actually tried it). Grade: B+ 1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Chicken Broth

1 soup can water

3 cups uncooked corkscrew-shaped pasta (rotini)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)

1 cup milk

1 can (about 6 ounces) tuna, drained and flaked

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)

2 tablespoons Italian-seasoned dry bread crumbs

2 teaspoons butter, melted

1. Heat the broth and water in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat to a boil.  Stir in the pasta.  Reduce the heat to medium.  Cook until the pasta is tender, stirring often.  Do not drain. 2. Stir the soup, milk and tuna in the skillet.  Top with the cheese. Stir the bread crumbs and butter in a small bowl.  Sprinkle over the tuna mixture.  Cook until the cheese is melted.

Lucyliked her tuna pasta.

Emily ate all of hers.

Like pulling teeth with Anna!

Sarah doing her best "Emily" face.

Beef and Chipotle Burrito

This slow cooker meal was great for the adults, not so much for the girls however. It was a little spicy for the girls under six needed a lot of sour cream to dip their burritos in order to eat it. Anna and Emily did their best to finish it. The adults enjoyed it greatly. Hindsight, I would have only put half of the chipotle peppers in. Jen did teach me how to properly fold a burritos so the insides, remain inside.

Grade:

Adults: A-

Kids: D

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds boneless beef round steak, cut ¾ inch thick

1/3 cup chopped onion (1 small)

1 14 ½ ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 to 2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano, crushed

¼ tsp ground cumin

1 clove garlic, minced

6 9-10 inch tortillas, warmed

¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1.       Trim fat from meat. Cut meat into 6 pieces. In a 3 ½ or 4-quart crockery cooker place meat, undrained tomatoes, onion, chipotle peppers, oregano, cumin, and garlic.

2.       Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. Remove meat from cooker. Using 2 forks, pull meat apart into shreds. Place meat in a large bowl. Stir in cooking liquid to reach desired consistency. Divide meat among warm tortilla, spooning it just below the center. Top with cheese.

Anna ate all of the spicy burrito!

Emily gave it a good try.

You can tell by the look on Lucy's face, she's not liking it.

Sarah started out on "fire" by did not finish.