Recent Recipes

I always forget to share the good recipes I have found. And then I forget to make them again. This blog is really to benefit me and my horrible memory. 

I was reading Brittany's (she just had a baby, yesterday, I think .. but somehow he's already 3 months old?) blog post about paint colors, and found this post. I completely forgot about all of this. 

Don't worry. When Olivia helps cook, we don't serve it to guests. 

First of all - this chicken recipe. I don't have a picture, but its the best chicken ever and we make it weekly. 

5-6 chicken thighs.

Let me stop here. I HATE chicken thighs. HATE them. They are so gross and slimey and have these red and white things on them that I can't handle. BUT - boneless skinless organic chicken thighs are almost white like breasts and a million times better. I like smart chicken. I think you can use breasts, no problem, but try the thighs. Just once. 

1/2 cup dijon mustard

1/4 cup maple syrup (the real stuff, hint, she isn't an Aunt)

Foil line a pie plate, dip the thighs in the mixture, and bake at 450 for 40 minutes. Top with rosemary - maybe 1-2 teaspoons. Don't forget this. I always forget this. Makes a huge difference.

Make this chicken, it will change your life.

Second, cinnamon toast.

I have been making cinnamon toast wrong my entire life. At first, I was a little offended when the Pioneer Woman was talking about me and my cinnamon toast making process. But then I tried hers and - oh my gosh. My mom steered me wrong my entire childhood. Or kept me from being obese and eating loaves of cinnamon toast. One or the other.

Pictures cannot do this justice. Not in her blog, not my own.

Here is the recipe. And the reason I'm wrong.

Third, this Noodle Bake. 

I don't even know what a noodle bake is, but for some reason it sounds delicious. The original recipe is here, but I made quite a few adjustments to make it healthier and to use all of packages (I don't like it when you have to use 3/4 of a bag of pasta).

12 ounce bag of egg noodles

1.5 pounds ground beef

1 15 ounce can tomato sauce

1 10 oz can rotel (used original but you could use spicy)

2 6 ounce containers plain chobani

8 ounces cottage cheese

8 ounces shredded cheddar (I used an 8 oz block and shredded)

1. Cook the pasta. Once cooked, drain and add the yogurt and the cottage cheese.

2. Brown the beef. Once brown, drain, and add the tomato sauce and rotel. 

3. In a 13x9 dish, layer 1/2 pasta, 1/2 beef mix, 1/2 cheese. Rest of the pasta, rest of the beef, rest of the cheese.

4. Bake at 350 for 20 min.

This fed 8 large portions, so there's definitely leftovers around here.

Fourth, pasta salad that I didn't take a picture of.

1 12oz package tri colored penne

4 ounces italian salad dressing

2.25 ounce can of sliced black olives (so precise, but that was my can size)

3/4 package of pepperoni, sliced into quarteres

1 16 ounce can artichoke quarters - roughly chopped

4 ounce can of diced pimentos

Combine all ingredients. Well. Cook the pasta first, you goon. Then enjoy. 

Funny - we NEVER really eat pasta around here, but pasta was 50% of my recipes today. 

Lastly, we made The World's Best Ever Key Lime Pie and it was the world's best ever again.