Creamy Vegetable Penne with Chicken

As promised, here is a healthy recipe that I whipped up for dinner last night. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

1 8 oz. package penne
1/2 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce, or 1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings plus 1 tsp. Italian seasoning (dried)
2 - 4 Tb. sun dried tomato Italian dressing (if you don't have this, you can substitute light zesty Italian dressing)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup fresh mushrooms
2 oz. cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat variety)
1 roma tomato, diced
1 lb. chicken, cooked and cubed
1/4 cup Parmesan or mozzarella cheese, shredded

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, heat Italian dressing in large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, pepper, and onion. Saute 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook 3 more minutes. Add spaghetti sauce or tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Cook 5 minutes. Stir in cream cheese and cook until completely melted and blended.
3. Serve pasta covered with sauce. Sprinkle chicken, tomato, and Parmesan cheese over top. Serve with garlic bread and fresh asparagus.

Eclairs

Ok. Seriously. This has got to be the last baking post for the next little bit or I'll weigh exactly 8,932 pounds by the end of the month. The next post will be something healthy, I promise.

However, since we're on this post...these are delicious and quite easy to make. The hardest part is filling them. It's much easier to just cut the tops off and spoon the filling in, but they look prettier if you pipe them in with a cake decorator. The only problem with that is the filling is thick so it's hard to get it out of the tiny little tip. You can fill these with any flavor filling you want. Chocolate cheesecake is great, and I think fresh raspberries and whipped cream would be good too. This time I stuck with the classic vanilla filling.

Eclairs (makes 20 - 24 mini eclairs)

Pastry
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup water
dash salt
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs

Filling
1 small package french vanilla instant pudding
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tb. powdered sugar

Chocolate Frosting
4 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate (you can use milk chocolate if you want it sweeter)
2 Tb. whipping cream
2 Tb. powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In medium pot boil water, butter, and salt until mixture reaches a rolling boil. Add flour and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat.
3. Immediately add eggs and beat with electric mixer until mixture is well combined and smooth.
4. Spoon mixture into a quart size ziploc bag. Cut off one of the corners of the bag and squeeze dough into 2" long pieces on ungreased baking sheet, leaving 2" between each eclair.
5. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool 3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack and cool completely.
6. Meanwhile, prepare filling by mixing one cup whipping cream, vanilla, and 3 Tb. powdered sugar in large mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. In small bowl combine pudding and millk and mix until well blended and no longer lumpy. Fold into whipped cream.
7. Pipe or spoon filling into completely cooled eclairs, making sure to fill the eclairs completely (they should bulge just a little so you know they are full).
8. Heat chocolate and 2 Tb. whipping cream in microwave on high for 30 - 45 seconds or until cream boils. Stir until chocolate is melted (do not put back in the microwave as chocolate will burn). Add powdered sugar. If needed, add water until frosting reaches desired consistency. Put frosting into sandwich sized ziploc bag, cut off corner, and pipe over eclairs.
9. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 2 days.

Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip Cupcakes

These cupcakes are so moist and delicious, and they smell just like pumpkin pie when they are baking. Also, they make a great breakfast? How was I to resist?

Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip Cupcakes
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
4 eggs
1 small pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix (dry)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cloves
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. ginger (depending on how spicy you like it. I used closer to 1/2 tsp.)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 - 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional, but I recommend them if you want an extra- special treat. The cupcakes are still great without them, but they're over-the-top wonderful with them. You could also use cinnamon chips, white chocolate chips, or caramel bites if you prefer).

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 - 30 muffin cups with papers or spray well with cooking spray.
2. Beat pumpkin, butter, sour cream, and sugars with electric mixer until well blended and creamy. Add eggs and mix well.
3. Add dry ingredients, except chocolate chips. Mix 2 minutes. Fold in chocolate chips (if desired).
4. Pour into prepared muffin cups (you should use 1/4 - 1/3 cup batter in each muffin cup), until muffin cups are 2/3 full. Make sure not to overfill or it will create a mess!
5. Bake 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
6. Cool completely and frost with your favorite frosting (I used cream cheese frosting and it was great) or drizzle with melted caramel.

Rocky Road Cookies

I saw some delicious looking cookies on a new blog I found yesterday, Priscilla's Baking Adventures. They looked so beautiful and so tasty that I just had to come home and make them. The cookies are a simple cake mix cookie filled with orange frosting. I made some of those, but then decided to be creative and make some rocky road cookies, too...and those turned out amazing! They are very moist and super easy. For the original recipe, see Priscilla's post here

Rocky Road Cookies
1 box chocolate cake mix (I used devil's food)
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs

1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
1/4 cup slivered almonds
20 caramels, unwrapped (optional)
1/4 cup milk (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix oil and eggs. Stir in cake mix (mixture will be very thick).
3. Form dough into small balls (I used an ice cream scoop for this). Press 3 or 4 mini marshmallows into the center of each ball, making sure that marshmallows are completely enclosed in dough. Flatten slightly between hands. Sprinkle with almonds (or put almonds in a small bowl and press the top of the cookie into the almonds).
4. Bake for 8 minutes, cool for a 3 minutes on the pan, move to a cooling rack, and cool for 5 more minutes.
5. For caramel drizzle, if desired: Heat caramels and milk in a small saucepan until melted, stirring well so mixture does not burn. Cool 3 minutes and drizzle over cookies.


Make sure to check out Priscilla's blog! I'm so impressed with a sixteen year old girl that has her own food blog with such delicious looking food!


Here's a picture of the cookies filled with orange cream-cheese frosting like Priscilla made. Yum! Corey loved them!

Mother's Meatloaf

This is my favorite comfort food. It makes me feel all safe and warm and cuddly. Read all about my feelings on the subject here.

Mother's Oatmeal Meatloaf:

Ingredients-
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 cup tomato sauce
2/3 cup oats, uncooked
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions-
1- Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl (I also like to add a little minced garlic) until evenly mixed.
2- In a loaf pan, form the mixture into a loaf shape. (optionally top with some more tomato sauce)
3- Put into a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.
4- Take out, let stand for 5 minutes.

My personal preference is to top it with a combination of cocktail sauce and ketchup. But that's not for everyone.

Turtle Cheesecake Layer Cake

Not that I'm obsessed with cakes lately or anything...but here's another one! For my sister-in-law Rana's birthday I wanted to make a cake based on her favorite pie, Village Inn's Caramel Pecan Silk Supreme Pie. I came up with this: a moist chocolate cake (the same one I used for the four layer chocolate cake last week) with cheesecake filling topped with caramel and pecans. It's super rich, so a little piece goes a long way. It's great served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Cake

1 chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker chocolate fudge)
1/3 cup sour cream

3 eggs

1 cup water

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 pkg. (4 serving size) chocolate pudding

Filling
1 no-bake Jell-o cheesecake mix
3/4 cup regular milk
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups fresh, sweetened whipped cream or cool whip

Topping
30 caramels, unwrapped
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup pecan halves or pieces
Fresh whipped cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9" round cake pans.

2. Mix all cake ingredients in large mixing bowl for 3 minutes. Divide into prepared cake pans. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Invert cakes onto cooling racks and cool completely. Cut each layer horizontally in half to make four cake layers.
3. Mix cheesecake filling mix, milk, and evaporated milk with electric mixer for 3 minutes (reserve graham cracker crust for another time). Fold in whipped cream.
4. Meanwhile, melt caramels and 1/2 cup evaporated milk in small saucepan.
5. Place one cake layer, bottom side down, on serving plate. Top with a third of the cheesecake filling. Repeat layers, ending with cake layer, top side up. Slowly pour most of the caramel topping onto the top of the cake, allowing caramel to drizzle down sides of cake. Sprinkle with pecans and drizzle caramel over top of nuts. Let sit until caramel is completely cooled, then sprinkle with chocolate shavings, if desired. Serve with a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

Kevin's Cake

In honor of Krista's Birthday, Kevin's Cake

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup veg. oil
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg (personally I don't like nutmeg)
1 tsp cinn.
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups applesauce
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup semi-sweet choc.chips

Mix sugar and oil. Add clocves, nutmeg, cinn. and salt. heat applesauce with baking soda in it. Add alternately with flour. Add chocolate chips. Bake in well greased and floured bunt pan.
350 degrees for 40 to 45 min.

Make a glaze with powdered sugar, milk butter and vanilla. Frost while cake is hot so that it melts.