Artichoke Stuffed Chicken with Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup chopped canned artichoke hearts
1 Tbsp. basil
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 chicken breasts pounded

Pound out the chicken by placing the breast between two pieces of plastic wrap.  Then make a meat tenderizer and go at it.  Its great when you feel frustrated to let it out on a piece of chicken!

Combine cheese, artichoke hearts, basil, oregano, garlic, and salt. 

Spread cheese mixture in the middle of the chicken breast.  Not too much, about 2 tbsp. depending on the size of the chicken breast. 

Roll up the chicken breast with filling at center.  Roll up into plastic wrap and store in the fridge for 30 minutes or until ready to grill. 

Cook for 10 minutes on each side on grill or in a saucepan.  If on the grill turn down the temperature at the end and close the lid and cook for another 10 minutes.  I did mine on a saucepan because our grill ran out of propane and I put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees to make sure it was done in the middle. 

The internal temperature needs to be 170 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Serve with marinara sauce.  Delish!

Spaghetti Primavera

Spaghetti Primavera

Adapted from Rachel Ray

Ingredients:
5 cups chicken broth and another 1/2 cup for later
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. minced garlic
1 pound spaghetti (I broke the spaghetti sticks in half because they would not fit in my skillet otherwise.)
1 onion thinly sliced
1 zucchini chopped into thin sticks
1/2 cup carrots cut into thin sticks
(It would be better to error on more veggies than less in my book.)
2 tsp. thyme (I used crushed because its what I had, fresh would of course be best.)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup parmigan cheese (fresh is best)
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley chopped

Directions:

In a saucepan simmer the broth over medium heat.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat the olive oil with the butter over medium-high heat.  Stir in the garlic and the spaghetti and toast lightly for about two minutes.  Add the onion, carrots, zucchini, and thyme.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until the veggies soften a little, but are still firm.   (About five minutes.)  Add the 1/2 cup broth and cook until completely absorbed. 

Cook like you're making a risotto and add broth a little at a time until absorbed and spaghetti is al dente.  This takes about 12 minutes. 

Stir in the cream, parsley, and the cheese and stir until combined.  Serve.

Alphabet Vegetable Soup

I've been wanting to make my own Alphabet Vegetable Soup so I kind of made one up the other night and I thought it turned out really well.

Alphabet Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

1 onion chopped

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. minced garlic

2 cups Vegetable Cocktail juice (V8 or whatever)

2 cups beef broth

1 package frozen mixed vegetables

1 1/2 tsp. parsley (I used fresh)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp. dried basil

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/2 cup alphabet noodles or pasta of choice

    Saute Onion and carrots in olive oil until tender.  Then add broth and vegetable juice.  Bring to a boil.  Add the frozen vegetables and spices.  Depending on cooking time on vegetables and pasta add them so they will all finish at the same time.  My vegetables cooked in about five minutes and the pasta took one.  They were very small noodles.

Serve immediately and enjoy the amount of vegetables you get from it.

Other ideas for vegetables:  spinach, cabbage, etc. 

Tie Onesie

When I had my first son we found a tie onsie at a store and I loved him in it.  Then when I had my most recent son my sister made me a bunch more.  They are really easy to make. 

I used old stained clothes for the tie material.

Made a pattern for the tie or bow tie.

Cut it out and used my thickest stitch setting to sew it on.  You could even use fusible interfacing to make it easier.

Bread Recipe

I've been searching for an awesome bread recipe and I found one.  You have to use bread flour, but its worth it and since you have all been making the bagels in the previous post then you have some on hand...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/simple-whole-wheat-bread/Detail.aspx

Bagels

My sister made bagels a few weeks ago and challenged me to make some and I'm so glad she did because they are amazing.  Seriously I don't know if I'll be able to buy bagels from the store now because I realize what a rip off they are!

Here is where we got the recipe.

My only change is that I don't really like plain bagels so I tried putting things in them...

So after you have made the dough and let it rise for 1 1/2.  Separate the dough into 8 pieces or 16 if you doubled the recipe like I did.  (I used a pastry cutter to do this and it was SO easy!)

 Then get yourself a helper and add some more ingredients.

We added chocolate chips, blueberries, raisins and cinnamon... the possibilities are endless.

Just make a little well in the dough, put whatever you want inside, and then knead it in.  Simple, easy, yummy...

 Then roll them into balls and follow the rest of the instructions... rise...

 Punch holes in, boil, bake...

 I have to say that after doing this you should use fresh blueberries instead of frozen because they are just too juicy.  I thawed mine and drained them, but they didn't turn out great.  The chocolate chip ones were fabulous though!

Muffins

My husband was in charge of coffee hour at school last week and we decided to make tons of muffins.  Here are our favorite recipes from the event:  (All from one of my favorite blogs Get off Your Butt and Bake.)

Buttermilk Bran Muffins

Brown Sugar Crumble Banana Muffins

BLUEBERRY COFFEE CAKE MUFFINS

MINI MONKEY BREAD

Definitely try her idea of adding orange rind to the butter to make orangey monkey bread.  It was so good!  I used my recipe for monkey bread dough though:

Monkey Bread 
First boil together:

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup water

When butter is melted take off the heat and place in the bowl you will be using to mix for it to cool completely.

Meanwhile dissolve 2 Tbsp. yeast into a cup of warm water. Let that sit for 10 minutes.

When the butter mixture is cool add the yeast, 2 beaten eggs, and six cups of flour.

Beat together until it is a uniform ball and place in the fridge for four hours.