Ham Noodle Casserole

Ham Noodle Casserole

Ingredients:

1 box of your favorite noodles

1 stick of butter

1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

16 oz sour cream

2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

pepper, to taste

Ham steak, diced
Crushed red peppers, to taste
(Optional: broccoli, peppers, onions)

Directions:

Cook the noodles according to the box, drain.

Meanwhile, melt the butter.

Stir the melted butter, sour cream, some pepper, and both cheeses together.

Add ham steak pieces and noodles, mix well.

Cook in preheated oven at 350 for 15 minutes, or until bubbly.

(This can also be cooked in the microwave!  Since all the ingredients are all ready cooked, you just need to melt the cheese.)

*Optional: Add steamed broccoli and/or sauteed peppers and onions

**Adapted from original Recipe from Kristin Z.

Blackened Chicken with Garlic Alredo

Little man loves pasta, so we have it often. Browsing Pinterest I came across this recipe for Blackened Chicken with Garlic Alfredo, it looked good, so we gave it a try.  The original recipe calls for a Creole seasoning from Pampered Chef, but I don't have that so I made a few changes. 

Blackened Chicken with Garlic Alfredo

Ingredients:

Bow Tie Pasta (or your favorite)

Tony Chachers Creole Seasoning

salt & pepper

Garlic Alfredo Sauce

olive oil

chicken Breast

broccoli (optional)

Directions:

1. Pound chicken breast to an even thickness.  Drizzle olive oil over chicken breast to lightly coat.  Sprinkle creole seasoning over both sides of the chicken.
2. Heat skillet on medium-high and add chicken.  Cook 3 minutes on each side
3. While chicken is cooking, cook pasta.  Add broccoli during the last 2 minutes.  Drain and toss with Alfredo sauce, heat over low heat.
4. Place chicken on top of pasta.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Final Product

Foil Packets

This might be one of my new favorites!  Easy prep, easy cook, easy cleanup...what's not to like!

Foil Packets

Ingredients:

Your favorite veggies (I used green peppers, zucchini, broccoli, onions, carrots, and potatoes)

Kilbasa (or chicken, steak, pork chops)

olive oil

salt & pepper

garlic powder

foil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  While the oven is preheating, start chopping those veggies. Slice meat.
2. If using chicken, steak, or pork cook meat over medium heat for 5 minutes in olive oil and garlic.  Just long enough to get the pink out.
3. Add all ingredients to Freezer bag and mix well.  Make sure everything is covered with the oil.
4. Dump bag into foil packet and place on cookie sheet.  Bake for 40 minutes.

Note: I was out of foil so I used an aluminum pan, covered with another aluminum pan.  

Irish Cream Bundt Cake

My husband loves St. Patrick's Day and all that comes with it.  Corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, Shepherd's Pie, you name it, he loves it!  A few years ago we started having a few friends over for an Irish feast and I needed a dessert.  I came across a recipe for an Irish Cream Bundt cake and everyone fell in love with it.  They all request the "Butt Cake" that I make on St. Patrick's day year round.  (Boys have no clue what a Bundt cake is, so Butt cake it is...)

Irish Cream Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans (optional, but highly recommended!)

1 (18.25 oz) package yellow cake mix

1 (.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

4 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1/4 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup Irish Cream liqueur

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.  Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix.  Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur.  Beat for 5 minutes at high speed.   Pour batter over nuts in pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.  cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish.  Prick top and sides of cake.  Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake, Allow to absorb glaze and repeat until all glaze is used up.
4. To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar.  Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream.

the finished product (before the glaze)

What is your favorite Irish Dessert?

"Nesting"

I guess you could say the nesting has begun! I need to constantly be cleaning, organizing, or doing something "productive" or I go crazy. Tonight, I chose to be crafty.

As Brett was growing up his mom would chart their growth on their kitchen wall. You know, stand tall, mom places the ruler on your head and marks the wall with your initials and the date. Such a neat thing to look back on. However, the house is now up for Sale and unfortunately we can't take the kitchen wall with us. With baby #1 on the way I wanted to come up with a way to measure his growth, that we could take with us.

I came across this on Pinterest and thought with a little work, I could make this kid friendly. The final product...

I started with a plain 4 foot piece of shelving board, purchased at Lowe's.

Then I painted it, with an 89 cent bottle of craft paint, and added my measurements.

Lastly, I hot glued the soccer ball, football, basketball, and baseball on!

So easy! I love the way it turned out and I can't wait to hang it in his room!

Any one else want one, I still have at least 6 weeks before baby comes, I could make a lot of these!

Strawberry Valentine Oreo Cookies

These bad boys just came out of the oven...Mmmm

I LOVE Strawberry cake mix, it is my absolute favorite! So when I found this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I would have to make them. The last 8 minutes have been the longest 8 minutes of my life. Want your own Valentine Oreo? Here's How! Only 4 ingredients if you cheat like I did.

Strawberry Valentine Oreo Cookies

Ingredients:

1 pkg of strawberry cake mix

2 eggs

3/4 cups shortening

Frosting (I used Butter Cream flavor)

Directions:

-Mix cake mix, eggs, and shortening until well blended. The dough will end up really thick!

- Roll into balls (make sure they are close in size so that your cookies will be easier to assemble). I used a cookie dough scoop!

-Place dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

-Immediately transfer cookies to cooling rack.

-Once cookies are completely cooled spread frosting between two cookies, smoosh together and enjoy!

If you would like to make your own cream filling. Here's how:

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 stick of butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

-Mix all ingredients until smooth until smooth.

I chose to use store bought frosting because, well let's be honest I'm pregnant, I forgot my sticky note that said "Barbee get cream cheese" and well, that's a main ingredient, and I had store bought in the cabinet:) They taste just fine, but I'm sure the home made would be delicious too!

Why are you still reading my boring blog...GO...go make cookies!!

The Bump

I've tried so hard to get a "bump" picture each week. I've only missed a few, so crazy to watch and see the difference from week to week.

Week 6-the week we found out we were expecting!

Week 7, I only took a pic with my shirt pulled up, no need to see my bare tummy online!

Week 8-This was the week we told the news

Ellen, Grandma, and Sarah's reactions! (Sarah please don't kill me for your blurry beautiful pic)

Butter Bean's first picture. The family decided he looked like a bean.

Week 9

Week 10 or 11 both me and Brett!

Week 12-starting to show

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16- mom and dad to be

Week 17

Week 18, I decided it would be cool to get the stomach bug. No pictures were taken during this time. I might have forgotten during week 19, and 20 too.. oops. What's it called pregger brain??

More to come!