Penny. Penne!

We have returned!  We survived coastal Alaska, Victoria, BC and each other in the group!  I'm pretty sure I have close to 2000 pictures to go through now, but hopefully a couple of them turned out well enough to have printed on Canvas to be some new art in our house. 

 

We also celebrated D becoming a Godfather for the second time this year!  Congrats BRP!  We love you so much!

 

This recipe we tried awhile ago but it definately would have been perfect for a busy post-vacation week.  This one came to us on one of those catalina things that prints out when you buy certain foods/items at the grocery store and the cashier hands it to you with your receipt.  I did not feel like there was enough of the cooking cream to place on top so I just mixed it all in with the sauce and topped it off with more Mozzarella.  Next time we make this I'll probably take two tubs of the cooking cream out so I have enough to put on top as well.  I hope you enjoy this!  This would also be a good one to make up in the morning or night before and have sitting in the fridge ready to go in the oven when you get home at night.  (Sorry no photo...as this didn't come from someone else I can't borrow theirs and the camera was still down when we made this one!)

Baked Penne


1/2 lb. Extra-Lean Ground Beef
1/2 cup EACH Chopped Onions & Green Peppers
1 (24 oz.) jar Spaghetti Sauce
1 (10 oz.) tub Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme, divided
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
3 cups Cooked Penne Pasta

Heat oven to 350*F.

Brown Meat with Vegetables in a large non-stick skillet.  Stir in Spaghetti Sauce, 3/4 cup Cooking Cream and 1/2 cup Mozzarella; cook and stir 2 -3 minutes or until Mozzarella is melted.  Add Pasta; mix lightly.

Spoon into 2-quart casserole dish.  Top with remaining Cooking Creme and Mozzarella.  Cover.

Bake 20 minutes or until heated through, uncovering after 15 minutes.

Beef! It's what's for dinner baby!

Hi Everyone!!!

I promised you a new recipe from me every Wednesday and I might be on vacation, but Blogger has this great little thing called "Schedule" that lets me set this up so that I can have this post appear to you today while I'm in the middle of the ocean or hanging out looking at mountains or whatever we are up to at this exact moment.  Wish you all could be here with us!  Enjoy this Stroganoff recipe I found over at Eat Cake For Dinner.  My mom wasn't one to make Stroganoff when we were growing up, but the neighbor did and would invite us over every once in awhile.  This reminds me a lot of Mrs. St.'s recipe.  I hope you all enjoy!

Beef Stroganoff from Scratch

1 lb. Top Sirloin or Tenderloin Steak
1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
1/4 tsp. Black Pepper
3 Tbsp. Butter, divided
8 oz. Mushrooms, chopped
1 cup Onion, diced
4 cloves Garlic, minced
2 - 2 1/2 cups Warm Water
3 Beef Bouillon Cubes
5 Tbsp. Flour
2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
3/4 cup Sour Cream

Slice Steak into strips 1/4" thick and about 2" long.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.  Melt 2 Tbsp. of the Butter in a large skillet over medium heat and then add  Mushrooms, Onion and Garlic to the pan.  Slightly increase the heat and melt 1 Tbsp. of Butter in the pan.  Add Beef and saute, stirring for 3-5 minutes or until pink is no longer visible.  While the beef is cooking, whisk water, bouillon, Flour and Worcestershire Sauce together until smooth.  Add this mixture to the beef and return the musroom mixture to the pan as well.  Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for 1-2 minutes to thicken.  Remove pan from heat and stir in Sour Cream.  Add additional salt and pepper to taste.  Serve over Egg Noodles or White Rice.

** NOTE:  I used Ground Hamburger instead of Steak and we loved it this way too!


ENJOY!  See ya' in a week!

CHRISTINE

Ole! Ole, Ole Ole!

YAY!!! We leave for our trip to the great state of Alaska in less than two days!!! I can't wait!!! I am unbelievably ready to have some time off of work, quality time with D without work or business distractions, and remember what true elevation looks like!  OH!  It also looks like there will be a chance to at least stop and say hi to Nan.  I miss her cranky, old face something fierce right now so that might be one of the parts I'm most looking forward to at this point. 

Our trip actually has us making three stops in Alaska and one in Canada.  All because of Canada we have to take our passports.  Which reminds me, I wonder what D did with those after he registered our trip.  I should probably go find those quick.

Nothing else is really new here, just packing and trying to be caught up at work before we leave.

This weeks recipe is more "South of the Border" than "North to Alaska", but when I found it and saw how easy it was going to be I knew if it turned out it would be perfect for weeks like this when we have so much going on it's nice to have supper ready when we get home at night.  It's also by those great and crazy sisters over at www.sixsistersstuff.com!  I wasn't too sure about them when I put everything in the crock pot.  It seemed like the liquid levels were off a bit, but you do want them dry and they came out perfect!  Before you put the chicken mixture on your tortilla try to squeeze out as much moisture as you can.  Trust me on this.  And trust me when I say that you HAVE to try this recipe one day.  It's even great as leftovers and that's a bonus in our house!

Thanks Six Sisters for the GREAT recipe! (And WONDERFUL
picture that made me want to try them in the first place!)

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas

4 Chicken Breasts
1 (14 oz.) can Diced Tomatoes (Rotel works as well!), undrained
1 small can Green Chilis
1 (8 oz.) package Cream Cheese
Tortillas
Monteray Jack Cheese (or your favorite kind of cheese/cheese blend)
2 Tbsp. Melted Butter (or olive oil)

Spray the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.  Place Chicken Breasts in the slow cooker.  Dump in the Diced Tomatoes, Green Chili's, and Cream Cheese.  Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 6-8 hours LOW or 3-4 hours on HIGH.  Once the chicken is cooked thoroughly, take it out and shred. Return the chicken to the slow cooker (mix it in and it will absorb some of the juices so it's not so runny).  Keep warm until ready to make quesadillas.

To make quesadilla, heat a skillet over medium heat.  Top half of each tortilla with cheese and a scoop of the chicken mixture.  If you want some heat, add some chopped jalepenos to the quesadilla.  Fold the tortilla over and press down.  Lightly brush melted butter (or olive oil) on both sides.  Cook two filled tortillas at a time (3-4 minutes each; until they are golden brown), turning once. 

Serve with your favorite salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

** We did not use the Butter or Olive Oil and instead used our pannini press to make our quesidillas.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!  I should go find those passports now and make sure they are in our carry-ons.  Here's a little Johnny Horton to help you get in the mood for our trip!

"He Man, Woman Hater!"

A much be-lated HELLO EVERYONE!!!  I apologize for such a long absence.  Many, many, many things have been going on here.  It seems like over the last couple of months the only time I've had to sit down and write to you I had the choice of writing to you or going to bed.  I have a DANG comfortable bed...Haha.

The seasons feel like they've officially changed out here on the prairie and with that a renewed promise to myself to write to you more often.  One of the things I/we have accomplished over my time away from you was to try several new recipes out. 

Yes Alfalfa!  We did get something accomplished while I was away from blog-land!  Many things actually but I'll start by sharing this one with you.

This recipe was given to me by my Grandma S. after she randomly tried it out of a cookbook that she hadn't opend in quite some time.  She had a point in the email with the recipe.  We get many new cookbooks over the years, but after you've tried everything you think you're going to like, how likely are you really to go back and relook at that cookbook and try something else?  Welp, like me she was in a cooking rut and wanted to try something new; only she opened a cookbook she hadn't in awhile. 

This Wednesday's recipe comes from the "Festival of Nations 50th Anniversary Edition Cookbook" that Grandma S. has in her kitchen. He Man Spanish Rice was a fairly quick and easy dish that did not overfill us when we ate it and we decided we'd try it again (as did the Grandparents!)!  I'm sure the boys in the He Man, Woman Hater's Club would agree with us and eat it as well!

He Man Spanish Rice

1 lb. Ground Beef or Buffalo

1/2 cup Chopped Onion

1/4 cup Chopped Green Pepper

2 or 3 Cloves Chopped Garlic

1 tsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Chili Powder

1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1 can Tomato Soup

1 can Water

1/3 cup Rice (Long Grain)

Cook the Meat, Onion, Green Pepper, Salt, Garlic and Chili Powder in a skillet until browned. 

Add remaining ingredients and cook for 30 minutes longer or until the rice is done.

Can lay shredded cheese on top and put in the oven to melt.

NOTES:  We did not have any long grain rice on hand so we used the Minute Rice we keep on hand and it turned out just fine.  We also did not put cheese on top and put in the oven; rather each person put their desired amount of cheese on top of their serving.

(Picture of my hometown borrow from

the Festival of Nations website.  It looks

to be around the early 1900's.?)

It's great when a town can get together and celebrate their heritage and where they've come from.  The Red Lodge Festival of Nations has been celebrated every year since 1950.  If you happen to be up in the area in early August this year (or any year) be sure and check it out!  It might seem kind of corny, but I can still hear old Joe Kosorok's accordian music (then again, he played that all year long...) and the festival theme song blaring out over the town speakers.  I never thought I'd miss it, but it does kind of have some nostalgic quality now. 

Anyway, I hope you find this recipe at least "O-Tay" in your book. 

Hope everyone has a "He Man" kind of Wednesday!

Christine