Recipe: Penne Meatball Casserole

Another casserole recipe that I found on Pinterest!  It was good, but I would tweak if I make it again. 

More sauce and more cheese.  

Ingredients:

1 Pound Frozen Mini Meatballs, Thawed 

1 Box of Penne Pasta

1 cup Marinara Sauce 

1 cup Ricotta 

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese 

Salt and Pepper 

Basil 

Directions: 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Cook the pasta, then drain. 

Combine the meatballs and the marinara sauce. Season with salt an pepper to taste. 

Toss the mix with the pasta and then transfer it all to a casserole dish. 

Top with dollops of ricotta and then cover with tin foil. 

Bake for 30 minutes. 

Uncover, top with parmesan cheese, and bake for another 10 minutes. 

Garnish with basil. 

Enjoy! 

xx 

 Notes:

 I would personally add more sauce. Maybe two cups. I used the whole 14 oz jar and it still want enough. 

I'm also not the biggest fan of ricotta so I used it sparingly. 

If you cant find mini meatballs get regular ones, like I did, but maybe cut them in half or in quarters.  It might be a little easier to serve. 

Recipe: Apple Brownies

This is another recipe that I found on Pinterest, and they call it brownies, I call it Apple Crisp-ish Brownies.  It's really good, and really easy to make.  It was eaten within two days of being made, and if that doesn't say a lot, then I don't know what would.  It was great.  I loved it.  It's best warm and you can even top it off with some vanilla ice-cream with caramel sauce.  

Ingredients: 

½ cup Butter, melted 

1 cup White Sugar

1 Egg 

3 Medium Apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

½ cup Chopped Walnuts

1 cup All Purpose Flour

¼ tsp Salt 

½ tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon 

Directions:

Pre-heat your over to 350 degrees and grease a 9x9 inch pan.

Beat together the melted butter, sugar, and egg, until fluffy.

Fold in the apples and walnuts.

In a seperate bowl sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.

Mix the flour mix and the apple mix together and then place in the greased pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Enjoy! 

xx 

** I didn't add the walnuts because my sister doesn't like nuts. 

Recipe: Ranch Pesto Rigatoni Bake

Ingredients:

1 box Rigatoni 

½ cup of Ranch Dressing

¼ cup of Prepared Pesto

28oz can Diced Tomatoes

2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, Divided

Parsley

Directions:  

Cook and Drain the rigatoni.

Drain and slightly rinse the tomoatoes. (I cut my tomatoes in half because my sister doesn’t like tomatos.) 

Stir in the ranch Dressing, Prepared Pesto, Tomatoes, and 1 cup of the Shredded Mozzarella.

Transfer the pasta mix to a baking dish and top with the remaining cheese and parsley.  ( I personally didn’t feel as if there was enough cheese so I added more.)

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Remove the cover, bake for another five minutes and serve!

This was so good!  I loved it so much that I plan on making it a lot more.  Let me know what you think!

xx

I found this recipe on Pinterest, follow me there!

Recipe: Lemon Chicken Pasta

If you have been following my blog for a while, then you’ll know that when I post a recipe it’s either an alcoholic drink recipe or it’s a dessert recipe.  This week I’ve decided to try something different and go for a dinner recipe.  (Or lunch, It’s pretty versatile.)  

I’m not much of a cook.  I used to cook more when  I was younger, but then I stopped and I’m now out of practice.  Also, I’m not a big fan of touching raw food.  Which is why for this recipe I used and already cooked chicken.
Anyways, enjoy!

Also, for the picture of all the ingredients, I forgot the Lemons, and my parsley is a plant outside, so I couldn’t really include that one.  (Sorry.)

3 cups (1 ½ dry)  Farfalle Pasta

1/3 cup (5 Tbsp) Butter

2 Tbsp Lemon Juice 

2 Tbsp Fresh Parsley 

¼ tsp Garlic Powder 

¼ tsp Marjoram 

1 ½ cup Grilled Chicken

Directions:

Cook Pasta and then add the butter. 

Grill the Chicken. (Or in my case heat it up a little bit.)

Toss the pasta will all of the ingredients above.

Enjoy!

For my tastes personally, I think that there was a little bit too much lemon.  Nut everything else was fine.   Just a side note just in case you’re not a big lemon person.

xx

Recipe: Cheddar Cheese Puff

I was going to make cookies for this post, but unfortunately I needed unsalted butter and all I have is salted butter.  So, in a small panic,  I started searching all over the internet, and I stumbled upon Cheddar Cheese Puffs.  I had all of the ingredients needed, so I decided to try to make them. 

Ingredients:

1 stick of Butter 

1 cup of Water 

½ tsp salt

1 cup of All-Purpose Flour 

4 Large Eggs 

1 cup Cheddar Cheese

2 tsp fresh Thyme or Rosemary

Fresh Pepper

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, add the cup of water, the stick of butter, and the ½ tsp of salt, and bring it to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium and add in the flour.  Using a wooden, spoon stir rapidly.  The mix will become a dough ball.  Continue stirring for a few minutes. 

Remove the pan from the heat and let the dough cool enough so that the eggs won’t cook as soon as you add them.  Then add in the eggs one by one, folding them in.   The dough should now be creamy. 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Add in the cheese, rosemary/thyme, and pepper. 

Spoon out a small tablespoon amount into the parchment paper.  (I’m never good at this part…)

Cook them for 10 minutes, and then lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. 

They kind of look the same as the raw ones, but don't worry, I actually put them back into the oven after this pic, because I tried one, and it was still raw. 

They should come out with a lightly golden brown top.

Enjoy!

I think they're really yummy!  They have more of an eggy texture than I was expecting, but I love eggs, so that's okay.  I think I'll enjoy them for breakfast rather than an appetizer snack food. 

xx 

Recipe: Mexican Wedding Cakes:

Monday was Cinco De Mayo, and in celebration, I made Mexican Wedding Cakes.  They were my favorite cookie growing up, and they were very rare around my house.  This was my first time making them by myself, and I think they turned out pretty well! 

Ingredients:

1 cup (two sticks)  Room Temperature Butter

½ cup Powdered Sugar 

¾ cup  Powdered Sugar (For after the cookies are baked)  

¼  teaspoon  Salt 

1 ¾ cup Flour 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 pinch ground nutmeg 

1 cup pecans**

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine the butter, ½ cup powdered sugar, salt, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pecans to a bowl and mix until all of the ingredients are combined.

Pinch out some of the dough and roll into one inch balls. (I typically make them bigger, just because I’m bad at judging an inch.)

Place on a cookie sheet and pop them into the oven, and bake for 10 minutes. (Or until the bottom of the cookies are golden brown.)

Let the cookies cool for a few minutes, but make sure you don’t wait too long because they need to be warm for the sugar to stick. 

Roll the cookie in the ¾ cup of powdered sugar and then place on a plate. 

And there you have it! 

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I do! 

xx

**Note: I used 1/2 cup of pecans because of my personal tastes. 

Recipe: Fruit Parfait

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then you would know that every Thursday I wrote a small list containing things that I wanted to have, last week I took all of the lists and I went through them and found things that were within my control.  (You can find the full list here)

So, that being said, this week’s recipe is fruit Parfait!  This recipe is really loose and up to you. 

What you need:

Yogurt 

Fruit 

Granola

Whipped Cream (Optional)

Make sure you wash your berries, and then what i did was cut up the strawberries first into slivers, then I cut them in half.  Then get a cup or a bowl, and you're ready to start. 

I used vanilla yogurt, strawberries and blueberries, and chocolate granola.  I layered yogurt, granola, fruit, and then yogurt again.  In the cup I used it was about two scoops of yogurt, a handful of granola, a few scoops of fruit, and then two scoops of yogurt again. 

The measurements are all up to you really. 

I did make a different cup that I didn’t picture that had yogurt, granola, fruit, and then whipped cream that I had made.  (My mom accidentally bought whipping cream instead of half& half.) I didn’t picture it, because it was a little messier looking. 

If you would like to make your own whipped cream all you need to do is buy whipping cream, it comes in a little carton that looks just like milk, add some vanilla and sugar (to taste) and whip it on high for about 2 minutes.  It’s very simple, and you can flavor it however you like.  ( You don’t even have to flavor it, but I suggest that you do.)

What are your favorite fruits to put into parfaits?  Do you always use vanilla yogurt? Or do you like to change it up? 

Let me know!

xx 

Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival:

On Saturday I took the metro into D.C. and went to the annual Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival.  I’ve been going for the past four or five years to just this festival, but this year we decided to also go to the actually cherry blossoms.

The cherry blossoms trees were a gift in 1912.  The Japanese mayor, Yukio Ozaki, gifted 3,000 trees to the U.S. to celebrate friendship.  There are now 3,750 trees with 16 different variations. 

You can visit the cherry blossom trees any time in April.  The National Park Service try to have the trees bloom around April 4^th, but sometimes the weather doesn’t allow that.  The street festival is planned around when the trees are mostly in bloom so that you can make a day of it all. 

Waiting in line for some food

My sister's chicken teriyaki chicken.  (So yummy)

My Thai tea.  (So delicious) 

The street festival this year was on Saturday, and luckily this year the weather was perfect.  I’ve been when the humidity was super high, and I’ve been when it was raining.  Saturday was perfect with a high of 77 and breezy.  While there, I got my usual chicken on a stick and Thai tea.  If you get the chicken freshly off of the grill, it’s perfect and the tea is so delicious, perfect amount of sweet and tea.  I actually have a recipe for Thai tea that I’m hoping is exactly what I get at the festival, so I can have it more than once a year.
Since I go every year, I know exactly what every table has (except for jewelry tables…) and I typically don’t buy anything.  My sister bought a new cell phone charm and a  Kimmidoll, and my mom bought a necklace and earrings set.

After we were all done looking we decided to get onto the metro an go to the actual trees.  We walked past the Washington Monument, (which was damaged by an earthquake we had a few years ago) and we walked all the way to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  I didn’t actually go into the monument, because I had been more recently than my mom and sister, but they went all the way up and in.

Jefferson Memorial  

Washington Monument

We then went back to the metro and went home. 

It was a long, but beautiful day and I’m hoping to soon go back.  I live just a metro trip away from so much, so much free stuff, that I need to start taking advantage. 

xx