Anthony's Pizza Pasta



Mmmmm cheesy goodness



One evening, a little over a year ago,Anthony and I were trying to figure out what to have for dinner.  He wanted pizza but I didn't have any pizza sauce or crust, but we had everything else.  So he came up with this recipe (with a little help from mom). And it turned out pretty good.  Well we made pizzas the other day and needed to use up the leftover pepperonis.  So, Pizza Pasta was the solution, and we haven't had it in quite a while.

This can either just be thrown together last minute, skipping the crock pot and just boiling your chicken instead, or you can do what I did today.  I threw 2-4 frozen chicken breast, a jar of spaghetti sauce, and a can of petite diced tomatoes in the crock pot and let it cook for 6 hrs on low.  It has a great flavor slow cooking like this if you can manage getting it in early enough for the meat to cook all the way.

About 45 minutes - 1 hour before dinner.  Cook 16oz of dry pasta, we like it with penne noodles but I make it with whatever I have on hand, make sure not to overcook the pasta your gonna put it in the oven too. 

Then take the chicken out and cut it up into bite sized pieces.  Cut about 15-20 pepperonis into quarters and stir back into the crock pot. 

Put pasta and sauce in a 9x13 pan or a large casserole dish.  This makes enough for two meals for our family so I put half in a medium casserole dish and half in an 8x8 pan to put up for later.

Add two 2.25 oz cans of sliced olives and 1 cup of cheese, stir.  The top with 1 additional cup of shredded cheese.

Place in the oven at 325 degrees for 20-25 min. 

I served with steamed broccoli and rolls.











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Anthony's Pizza Pasta

Serves 8-10  

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 jar Ragu light pasta sauce

1 can petite diced tomatoes

16oz of penne noodles

15-20 pepperonis, quartered

2 (2.25 oz) cans of sliced olives

2 cups of shredded cheese

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  Boil chicken then cut into bite size pieces.

3. Cook pasta, make sure not to overcook it will go in the oven next.

4. Mix chicken pieces, pasta sauce, petite diced tomatoes, pepperoni, olives, and pasta.

5. Stir in 1 cup of cheese, then place mixture in a 9x13 pan or large casserole dish.

6. Top with remaining 1 cup of cheese.

7. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Cornbread and Beans Pie

Nothing beats fried potatoes, beans, and cornbread on a cold winter day, except maybe fried potatoes and Cornbread and Beans Pie.  I found this recipe a few weeks ago and tried it out on the family.  It was a hit.  I made it again today and changed it up a bit.  Here my version of it. 

Now as I said in my first post, I will not be a short order cook.  I do not see how this will benefit my kids , but that being said I also will not set them up for failure either.  My philosophy is to give them at least one or two things in the meal I know they like and will eat.  Also I will not give them things that are too spicy as the girls seem to be very sensitive, tummy-wise.  I will give you the actual recipe but I am also going to tell you how I cooked this for my family. 

I buy my meat in bulk, bring it home, and split it up myself into 3/4 lb baggies.  On almost all recipes I use 3/4 lb instead of the typical 1 lb that it calls for, to stretch the dollar just a bit.  I will usually add more beans, veggies, or rice to fill up the meal in place of the meat I skip. 

I started off browning 3/4 lb of ground beef in a skillet.  Then I added an envelope of mild taco seasoning, 1 cup of canned corn (drained), half of a can of pinto beans (drained and rinsed), (I put the remaining pinto beans and canned corn aside for the girls dinner), and a can of sweet onion ranch style beans.

Transfer the bean and meat mix from the skillet to a 9.5-10in pie pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Top with 1 cup of cheese.  In a separate bowl mix I cornbread mix, 1/2 cup of milk, I know the box says 1/3 cup just trust me on this one, and one egg.  Mix well then pour over your layer of cheese.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until cornbread is golden.  Now I have not forgot about the extra beans and corn we set aside for the babies.  Here's what I did with it.  I placed a scoop of the finished pie in the bowl and mixed it all up.  So, they still ate the same thing we did but it was a bit milder for their little tummies.



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Cornbread and Beans Pie

Adapted from www.mommyhatescooking.com

Time: 30 minutes total (15 minutes cook time)    Serves: 6-8

3/4 lb ground beef

1 can ranch style beans

1/2 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed (optional)

1 cup canned or frozen corn, drained

1 envelope taco seasoning

1 cup of shredded cheese

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1.  Brown 3/4 lb of ground beef in a skillet. 

2.  Add  taco seasoning, corn, and beans to skillet. 

3.  Heat mixture then transfer to a 9.5-10 inch pie pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. 

4.  Top mixture with 1 cup of shredded cheese. 

5.  In a separate bowl mix cornbread mix, milk, and egg.  Pour over cheese layer. 

6.  Bake at 375 degree for 15-20 minutes or until cornbread is golden brown.

Cinnamon French Toast

Wednesdays are breakfast for dinner at our house.  Breakfast is easy to make, everyone eats well (who doesn't like breakfast), and there's very rarely left-overs to worry about putting away.  And on church night those are three very important things.  Cinnamon french toast, mixed frozen berries, and bacon were on the menu this time.


Now this made 16 french toast, but you can easily change the amount of this recipe if needed.

I cracked 10 eggs and added some milk (I forgot to measure this but would guess about 1/3 of a cup)

Beat the eggs then add 1 - 1 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon and beat the mix some more.

Now you can use texas toast, day old bread, or just plain sandwich bread.  I used a whole loaf of sandwich bread (cause that's what was avialable)

Cook on medium heat try to only flip them once if you can

We had an escape attempt and I burnt a few but not so bad dh, aka the garbage disposal, wouldn't eat them.

I had a little bit of extra time before Matthew got home so I stuck the french toast in the oven to keep warm and cooked up some bacon.  I also served this with some frozen fruit, I think this was the kiddos favorite part.

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Cinnamon French Toast

yields 16

10 eggs, beaten

1/3 cup of milk

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

16 slices (whole loaf) sandwich bread

Beat the eggs, milk and cinnamon together.  Dip bread (both sides) in egg mix.  Cook on griddle or skillet on medium heat.  Enjoy!  Yes it's that easy, and yummy.

Salisbury Steak

Now we can't go the first day without posting a recipe.  So, here goes.

I searched and searched for a Salisbury Steak recipe recently and couldn't find anything that really appealed to me so after looking at quite a few I compiled my own.  Now we had traded some ground deer meat for a pork roast I had (we bought a whole hog this year and I did not want to cook another roast) with a guy at Matthew's work.  I used ground deer meat in my recipe, but you really could use any ground meat you choose.  These turned out so yummy I made enough I thought we were going to have left-overs and we ended up with just a half of one left!  So these were a keeper for sure.

Now keep in mind our family does not like mushrooms, but you could easily add mushrooms to yours if you want to.  I would just add them in with the gravy when you put it on.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of onion soup
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 jar or can of beef gravy
Mushrooms (optional)

Directions

1.  Mix hamburger with 1/4-1/3 cup of the soup then add the breadcrumbs, egg, salt and pepper.  Be sure to mix thoroughly.

2.  Shape into 6-8 Salisbury steaks and place in a baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and spoon off excess grease.

3.  Now combine remaining soup and can/jar of gravy (and mushrooms if you are using them).  Pour gravy mix over steaks.

4.  Return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes.

As I said these were devoured.  I served them with mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and green beans.

My first post :)

Hello everyone!  I am excited to get started in sharing what I know as far as feeding your family (and I might add in a few other things from time to time).  I hope you find my site beneficial, fun, and exciting.  I am going to use this post to tell you a little bit more about my family and I.


I am a stay-at-home and home schooling momma to three wonderful children  Anthony (7) and twin girls Elizabeth and Isabelle (1).  I grew up with my mom being a short order cook.  I abused that through my childhood.  I remember her making things that I did not like and then making me something different also.  I was a very picky child and still have some problems with it.  I am trying my best not to pass that on to my children.  In my adulthood I have made a decision to be more open to new foods, and foods I do not care for.  I have come a long way since meeting my husband he has changed me for the better in this aspect and gotten me to try many things I never would before.  My son was a very picky eater, but finally is getting better through persistence and trial and error.  He is a bean-pole by nature and has the "eat to live" not "live to eat" mentality, I am the opposite unfortunately.  The girls are really great eaters especially for their age, but are complete opposites on what they prefer.  Isabelle loves meats (except eggs) and fruits.  She is difficult to "talk" into trying something new, though she will try new things better if it comes from Daddy or Grammy than me.  Elizabeth is a lover of all carbs and she is great with her veggies.  This girl will also try just about anything at least once.  She is so funny with textures though, I think that is part of her problem with meat.  And for the record my husband, Matthew, is wonderfully supportive of anything I cook, we lovingly call him the family garbage disposable with the iron stomach.  There are only two things I've found this man not to like (so far) and that is potato soup and mushrooms.  I am not a big fan of eating fungi myself and not a huge soup fan so these are absolutely no problem for me to avoid in my meals.  And to top it all off he is not just a good eater he is a great critic.  He is fast to applaud and cheer the meals that he eats, almost always giving rave reviews and occasionally ideas for what could make it better (but in a supportive not condemning way).