Easy Pasta Bake

I got this recipe off of Real Mom Kitchen. You can find the actual recipe & photo here . It only has 4 ingredients so I thought what can go wrong? It came out amazing. The recipe makes a LOT though. I made it in a 12 cup muffin tin so they are individual sized and it filled all 12 cups and also the bottom of a small casserole dish. Thats ok, I put some of the muffin size ones in the freezer for quick lunch sometime. They were really good!

Fruit Salad

I was asked to make a fruit salad for monday when we had a "mini" reunion with my husbands grandparents. I dont usually get too fancy with fruit salads, but I wanted to try something different this time so I searched allrecipes.com until I found several different recipes that i liked and combined them. Here is the ending result:

2 Green Apples (granny smith), sliced and cut into bite size chunks
1 pint Strawberries, sliced
1 small cluster of grapes (your choice), I sliced them in half but you dont have to
1 pint Blueberries
2 Kiwi, peeled, sliced & cut into bite size pieces
1 Can pineapple chunks (or fresh pineapple cut into chunks if you want)
1 Can Peach Pie filling

Mix all together in a bowl and pour peach pie filling over it all. I added about 1/4 cup pineapple juice from the pineapple chunk can but I wouldnt do it again. I think it made it a little watery.
Stir it together well and chill for a few hours before serving.

This recipe is so easy and you can change the fruit out to suit your taste or what fruit is in season. I used up the last of the salad this morning to make a fruit smoothie but now I pitched what was left. It was getting pretty soggy. So I would say the salad lasted 3 days pretty well.

Grilled dinner

Tonight supper is all on the grill!! We are having Fish, Sweet potatoes & zucchini. We havent made it yet so Ill have to post later if it was good or not.
For the fish- Rub with butter and sprinkle with dill weed & I used Citrus & basil rub from Pampered chef but you can use lemon pepper seasoning instead. I went ahead and put the seasoning on the fish now and its sitting in the fridge. We will see if its any better since it will sit for a bit before grilling.
For the Sweet potatoes- Peel sweet potatoes & slice it so they are little circles or you can slice it down the middle and make it more like wedges. Brush olive oil on it and sprinkle with salt & pepper.
For the Zucchini- Peel zucchini & you can slice it into circles or you can slice it lengthwise in thin slices and grill it like that. Either way. Spray some pam spray on each side and sprinkle with seasoning salt (Lawrys).

***Ok the Fish I would add more butter to it next time, it was good but needed some liquid to it.
The Sweet potatoes werent that great. This is the 2nd time i have tried them on the grill and the outside burns before the inside gets done so its crunchy in the center and not very good.
The zucchini were amazing!!!

Granola Bars

This recipe I found on allrecipes.com. They are really good! The first batch I made I didnt add enough butter so it didnt stick together like bars. It was more like chunky granola cereal. Which it tasted good but just wasnt in a bar form. So this time I made sure to add the exact amount of butter the recipe calls for. They turned out great!!

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the 2 cups assorted chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc. Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

I added regular chocolate chips instead of mini because I didnt have any mini and they worked just fine. I also added sliced almonds to it. They are really yummy!

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Sweet and Sour Chicken
Recipe from My Kitchen Cafe
This was really good. I sauted some veggies to go with it and made some white rice. My Dear husband just ate the leftovers and said its almost better reheated then it was the first time!

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stovetop. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

Bisquick Shake and Pour

Ok, this is a quick "sales pitch" for Bisquick Shake and Pour pancake mix. Now I hormally make homemade pancake mix when I make pancakes at home but over the weekend we went camping and convenince reigns over "homemade" when your camping. I bought a bottle of this stuff and all I had to do was add water and shake. SOOO easy, and no dirty containers either, just throw the bottle away when your done. The pancakes were really yummy too, I couldnt tell much difference between my homemade pancakes and these.
That was my product recommendation for the day for all you busy moms!!

Cube steak & Dill Carrots

(Photo from ALL RECIPES)

Comforting Cube Steak

4 (4 ounce) cube steaks

1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, or to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle lemon-lime

flavored carbonated beverage

2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of

mushroom soup

1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.Season the steaks on both sides with Cajun seasoning and black pepper. Place the steaks into the prepared baking dish. Pour the lemon-lime beverage over them. Combine the cream of mushroom soup and dry onion soup mix, and pour over the steaks.Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour, or until meat reaches desired doneness. Do not open the oven door during the first hour of cooking. Serve steaks with gravy spooned over.

The recipe says to use lemon lime beverage but I didnt have any in the house so I just used lemon juice and lime juice.

As a vegetable side dish tonight we are having with the cube steak:

Simmered Dill Carrots

8 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1 inch pieces 1/2 cup water 2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon dill seed

In a medium-sized heavy saucepan, combine carrots, water, butter, sugar, salt and dill seed. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer 25 to 30 minutes, or until carrots are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.

I am also making mashed potatoes to but Im sure everyone knows how to do that already!! If not then its time you learn! Seriously though on a side note- those instant potato packets you buy at walmart are pretty good in a pinch. Especially the garlic butter one. I have used them a time or two and they arent bad at all! I think they are either Lipton brand or Walmart brand.