Manicotti Cordon Bleu

I haven't tried this yet, but I plan to soon. I actually found it on a coupon my milk man left for me and thought it looked interesting. If you try it too, leave a comment and let me know how you liked it!

ingredients:

1 pkg (12 oz.) string cheese snacks

12 slices deli ham or turkey

12 manicotti shells, uncooked

1 jar (26 oz.) pasta sauce

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup Artisan Blends Parmesan Cheese

directions:

1. Unwrap string cheese; place over each meat slice and roll up. Slide rolled cheese into pasta shell.

2. Combine pasta sauce and water; mix well. Spread 3/4 cup sauce mixture over 9x13-inch baking dish. Arrange filled manicotti shells in dish; spread remaining sauce over mixture evenly over shells.

3. Cover with foil; bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 50 minutes or until pasta is tender. Top with parmesan cheese.

Note from Sara: Make sure you cook this with foil on until the noodles are soft. You may even want to buy the "ready to bake" manacotti noodles, or boil regular Manacotti noodles for a couple of minutes to get them started! Good luck!

Read More

Mom's Parmesan Chicken

This recipe was given to me by Kristen Johnson...a friend in my ward. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds very tasty and not too complicated! If you try it, leave a comment and let me know how you like it! Thanks Kristen!

ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
garlic salt
1 c. of Ritz crackers
½ c. parmesan cheese
½-1 c. sour cream or plain yogurt
¼ c. butter (optional)

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Pat chicken breasts dry, sprinkle chicken with garlic salt, let sit.
3. Crumble about a cup of Ritz crackers. Combine with parmesan cheese.
4. Dip chicken in sour cream or plain yogurt and cover with dry cracker mixture. Optional: drizzle with melted butter.
5. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Read More

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

On several occasions, I've had people's chocolate chip cookies and thought "Why don't mine ever turn out that way?" Well, last night I attended a baby shower and I found myself thinking this again. Our hostess directed me to the recipe...which happened to be from Allrecipes.com--my favorite on-line site for recipes. I thought I'd share the recipe with you too. It was rather yummy. Not too mushy, and not too crisp. Just right!

ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. hot water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to the batter along with salt.
3. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfulls onto ungreased pans.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

*The lady that made these last night said she baked them for EXACTLY 10 minutes. When she took them out they were still soft in the center, but when they cooled, they were just right and didn't taste under-done.

Read More

Beef Taco Skillet

I made this for dinner tonight and it was so yummy I had to run and put it on my blog to share with all of you. It really took maybe 5 minutes to prepare it and it was complete in less than 20! So so easy. It is a Campbell's recipe. Chances are...you'll have the ingredients on hand. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as my family did!

ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup (regular or 25% less sodium)
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup water
6 flour tortillas (6"), cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

directions:
1. Cook beef in 10" skillet until well browned, stirring to break up meat. Pour off fat.
2. Stir in soup, salsa, water, tortillas. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for 5 min. Stir. Top with cheese.

Makes 4 servings.

Read More

BLT Ranch Salad Pizza

I received this recipe from a friend that is a Pampered Chef Consultant. It was just what I was looking for--something new and delicious for dinner. Though the prep time was a little more than most of my meals, it wasn't too complicated at all. It is really easy to make it --less-fattening-- too...just substitute some of the ingredients for lower-fat options. The results were fabulous...my family LOVED it!

ingredients:

1 pkg refrigerated pizza crust (or make your own)

2 cups thinly sliced lettuce

2 plum tomatoes

1 pkg, 8 oz., cream cheese, softened (I used the low-fat version)

1/2 cup ranch salad dressing, divided

1 garlic clove, pressed

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup pitted ripe olives, sliced

1/4 cup chopped red onion

6 slices bacon, crisply cooked, drained and crumbled (or use turkey bacon)

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Unroll pizza crust to within 1 inch of edge of lightly floured rectangle stone. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; cool completely.

2. On cutting board, thinly slice lettuce. Seed and dice tomatoes.

3. In medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup of the salad dressing and garlic; mix well and spread evenly over crust.

4. Top Pizza with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, olives, onion and bacon.

5. Drizzle with remaining dressing. Cut into squares; serve immediately.

Read More