Spinach Artichoke Lasagna

Once you have all the ingredients for this delightful dish, it is actually very easy to throw together. It was a huge hit at my house with vegetarians and meat-lovers alike.

9-12 no-boil lasagna noodles
 2 Tbs olive oil
 1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
 1 c chopped onion
 2 Tbs minced garlic
 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of all excess water
 3 cups ricotta cheese
 4 c shredded mozzarella cheese
 1 teaspoon salt
 1 teaspoon dried oregano
 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
 2 eggs
 3 cups tomato pasta sauce (have two jars/cans on hand, amount is approximate)
 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Get out a 9X13 pan and spray with a little cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium skillet. Add garlic and onions. Once tender, add the artichoke. Cook until the liquid has evaporated.

3. In a medium sized bowl combine the ricotta, eggs, salt, oregano, basil, pepper, and the drained spinach using an electric hand mixer. Beat for about one minute. Then stir in the parmesan cheese.

4. On the bottom of your 9X13 pan, spread about 1/2 c of the pasta sauce. Then lay 3 lasagna noodles on top. Next spread 1/3 the cheese/spinach mixture over the noodles. Then layer 1/3 the onion/artichoke mixture. Sprinkle 1 c. mozzarella cheese, following 1 c. pasta sauce. Repeat layering 2 times. Top with remaining noodles, sauce, and generous amount of mozzarella cheese.

5. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for about 10 minutes or until it looks bubbly and delicious. Let sit for about 10-15 minutes before serving.

Super Easy Pizza Dough

Pizza is my favorite food besides chocolate (and cookies). My madre is the best pizza maker West of the Mississippi as far as I'm concerned, and this is her recipe. It is very quick, and very easy. Even non-cookers/bakers can do it if they put their mind to it (no rhyme intended).

No Rise Instant Pizza Dough

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 package active dry yeast (.25 ox or 1 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Stir together flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Mix in water and vegetable oil. Divide dough in half. Begin using gravity to stretch the dough. Spread it on an oiled baking sheet and use a rolling pin to roll to desired shape and size. Bake 5 min, remove and poke air bubbles with a fork. Add your favorite toppings and bake another 10-20 minutes until cheese is melted and golden.

Pizza Sauce

Per Pizza-
1 can tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp oregano

Easy Pudding Cake

This is a favorite from my growing up years. My mom used to make it all the time, and I think it was the first thing I ever learned to bake. It is very easy, and very tasty. I made it on Sunday, and probably ate the half of the cake by myself...for better or for worse... :)

Pudding Cake aka Best Chocolate Cake EVER.

Prep Time: 10 Min
Baking Time: 30 Min

1 small pkg. chocolate pudding (cook and serve)
1 cake mix (chocolate)
1 c. nuts, chopped
1 c. chocolate chips

Make pudding in medium saucepan according to package instructions. Remove from heat. Let cook for about 5 minutes. Add chocolate cake mix (dry) to pudding and mix just well enough to incorporate (small powder bits are fine). Spread quickly into greased and floured 9X13 inch pan. Sprinkle nuts and chips over the top and press into the batter with the back of a spatula. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream if you please.

Variations: Lemon cake mix with vanilla pudding and white chips, spice cake mix with butterscotch pudding and butterscotch chips.

Pumpkin Desserts To Die For!

I love pumpkin. I don’t mean the literal pumpkin guts or anything. Just processed pumpkin with tons of preservatives and chocolate added. Mmmm, nothing says autumn louder than a pumpkin dessert. Last year around this time, my good friend Jesse C. brought over a plate of these divine cookies. I can still remember the blue tinted glass plate on which the cookies sat. Everything about these cookies was perfect- from their circular shape, to the balanced chocolate-pumpkin ratio, to the slightly crispy outside and the perfectly gooey inside. I highly recommend these cookies. Thanks for saving they day yet again, Jesse.

Total Prep Time: 7 Min
Total Cook Time: 10 Min
Total Price: $0.00 They were a gift. (I challenge you to find an unsuspecting pumpkin-a-holic to make them for you too!)

Perfectly Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 can (29 oz) of 100% Pure Pumpkin (I use Libby's brand)
2 boxes spice cake mix
1 bag (11 oz) of your favorite chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix pure pumpkin and spice cake mix in a large bowl until even consistency. Mix in chocolate chips. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet (or I use parchment paper) using a spoon. Bake 10 min. However, I have found each oven may be different, so watch cookies and remove from oven after a toothpick/fork comes out clean in the middle of one of the cookies.

Another tasty yet easy pumpkin dessert is this Pumpkin Crumble. Check out the recipe here! 

I made this for my work meeting, and it was a complete success. Two thumbs up.

Tomato Basil Pasta!- All the way from Italy!

Here is a recipe shared by a friend of a friend via the friend. Aka my super cool world traveling co-worker Liz. She spent the summer in Italy, so I think we can really trust her pasta cooking skills. This dish has some solid power house ingredients that really you can’t go wrong with. Plus, who isn’t in love with basil?

Tomato Basil Pasta

Total Prep Time: 15 min
Total Price: $5, but there was a lot left over ingredients that can be used again.

pasta of any variety
olive oil
a few leaves of fresh basil
cherry tomatoes
garlic

As you wait for the water to come to a boil, cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters, dice the garlic, and slice the basil leaves into strips. Once the water is boiling, put in your pasta. As the pasta cooks, simultaneously cook the other ingredients in a small frying pan with some olive oil. When the pasta is ready, use a slotted spoon to transfer it into the frying pan. Cook the pasta and the fresh ingredients together for a few minutes, as this will allow the pasta to better retain these flavors.

You can alter your ingredients from the classic tomato-basil combination as desired to use random vegetables that you may already have. Zucchini work well in this recipe and you could also add in onions or use different spices to suit your tastes.

*Liz is very, very cool. And it’s not just because she speaks Italian and had beautiful hair. She’s one of the nicest people I know too.

Sweet Bean Burritos

*The fastest way to cook a potato is in the microwave. Wash the potato, then put it in a plastic zip-lock bag. Then stab the potato all over with a fork, puncturing it (there should be tiny holes all over its skin). Microwave for aprox. 6 min, or until soft enough. I’ve never cooked one in the oven before. Please don’t tell my mother.

This being said, a while ago a co-worker was helping me brainstorm ideas of how to spice up my diet, once again, and she pointed me towards this recipe. If you are a fan of sweet potatoes, you’ll love it. I love it. With my super scientific way to cook potatoes mentioned above, these burritos become pretty simple, easy, and not super time consuming.


Sweet Bean Burritos

Time to prepare: 20 min

Total Cost: around $3.50

1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can black beans, drained
1 medium sweet potato, cooked and mashed*
1/2 tsp. cumin
salt to taste

6 flour tortillas
cilantro, chopped
cheddar cheese, shredded
sour cream (optional)

In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and cook onion and garlic until soft. Add beans, stir in the mashed sweet potatoes, add the cumin and salt, mix well. Heat until mixture is hot.
Place desired amount of mixture in a warmed tortilla with cheese and sour cream and a little cilantro if you want. Roll into a burrito shaped burrito, and eat.

Original recipe found here!

Molten Lava Cakes of Love

I wish I could take the credit for this beautiful delight, but I can’t. However I can take the credit for loving chocolate and laziness enough to share this recipe with the world! This is super easy, and yet if you’ll notice by the picture, very official and gourmet looking. Perhaps even romantic looking. Maybe you should make these this weekend for your secret crush. You’ll win him/her over for sure with these.

Total Prep Time:10 min
Total Cook Time: 10 min
Total Cost: most people have most of these ingredients can be found in yours or your neighbors pantry except maybe the chocolate chips, which you can get for $2.50. Go love your neighbor.

Molten Lava Cakes of Love

4 tablespoons of room temperature butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz bittersweet melted chocolate (I just used most of a bag of good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a muffin tin with butter. Sprinkle sugar over the butter, coating each cup. Dump excess sugar out. The recipe usually makes about 8 cakes, so you only need to coat that many.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one well. Then add flour and salt until just combined. Melt chocolate (I usually do it in the microwave in 30 second intervals) and mix into the batter.

Place equal amounts of the batter into the sugar lined muffin tin and bake on a baking sheet for 8-10 minutes or just until the top of the cakes no longer jiggle when slightly shaken. (this is the crucial part, if you go to long you'll over cook them, they are supposed to be "molten" inside after all). Scoop into a bowl (don't worry about it staying intact when you take it out of the muffin tin-it won't.)

Serve with vanilla ice cream and berries (I like raspberries with a little sugar on them the best) and get ready for the best and easiest dessert of your life.

*This recipe was brought to you by Melissa. Another amazing co-worker with a good head on her shoulders and a good recipe book on her bookshelf. She is a saint, and also cute. If you would like information on how to contact her, or how to make her a Molten Lava Cake of love, just let me know!

10 Minute Pasta- starring Sara W.

Today's guest chef comes to us from the exotic land of Paris, France. Ok she's really from Texas, but she has been to France. Sara is a former roommate of mine, who graciously used to cook for me all the time. Those were beautiful days. She is one of the inspirations for this blog, and therefore I thought it would be expedient for her to be a guest chef. So from Sara's kitchen to yours, I bring you 10 Minute Pasta! Super easy, and simple- I wonder why I never thought of it before! All I know is that Sara's cooking is spectacular enough to attract a genius pre-med husband, so there is certainly something to learn from Sara.

10 Minute Pasta

Total Cook/Prep Time: 10 min of course.

Total Cost: $3.01

Ingredients:

1 bag of frozen raveoli

1 piece of baked chicken

1 can of tomato sauce

1/4 c. of Mozarella cheese

This recipe is as simple as it looks.  Cook the raveoli pasta for 10 minutes, while heating up the tomato sauce on the stove. Cube the baked chicken, and then mix it with the tomato sauce.  Drain the pasta, and top it with the tomato sauce and Mozarella cheese.  

*Note on the chicken: I like to use my George Foreman Grill for times like these, when I just need a little bit of chicken fast. Another idea might be to just bake a few chicken breasts at the start of every week, so you have them ready for meals and days when you're more busy. 

S'mores Treats

I have always had a thing for anything s'mores related. This being said, my co-worker Andrea was my hero last week and brought these incredible creations to our work meeting last week. These things changed my life-love at first taste bud contact. I came home from school that day, and made my own batch. I will never admit to how many I did, or did not eat from said batch. I will admit that it only took me a total of ten minutes to make, and everyone that tried them wanted to be my best friend. I was instantly the most popular girl in school- or my apartment at least.

S’more Treats

Total Prep Time: 10 min
Total Cost: $6.59

1/4 cup butter
1 (10 oz) bag regular marshmallows
1 box of Golden Graham cereal
1-2 cups Chocolate Chips

In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add marshmallows and keep stirring until the marshmallows completely melt and you get a marshmallow sauce. Make sure you don’t use a rubber spatula to stir. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made this mistake... Remove from heat.Add Golden Grahams and stir until they are all well coated, then add chocolate chips.
Grease a 9x13 pan and press S'mores mixture into it.

Cut into squares and eat! Hopefully you share with people, and don’t eat them all by yourself.

Here is where Andrea first found the recipe.

AND, here is where you can take a look at Andrea's really cool photography website. Her photo skills are very similar to her cooking skills, which have forever changed me for the better.

Dorito Chicken- with Jesse C.

What to you do when you go to grab some dinner, and all you have is half a bag of Doritos left over from the weekend football game, a few eggs, and some unidentified frozen goods?

Tuesday’s guest chef, Jesse Croskrey*, has an answer to that question. Jesse is a good friend of mine, and one of my cooking idols. Everything made by his hand is sure to be simply divine. One could say he is the Midas of the collegiate food world, every food he touches turns to gold. Jesse has graciously given me permission to post a few of his most coveted secret recipes. Today I begin with Dorito Chicken.

Dorito Chicken may sound strange, but I found it quite delicious and very easy. I had most of the ingredients on hand, I just had to buy a $2.00 bag of Doritos. If you aren’t a fan of Doritos, or are wanting perhaps to go a more lite version of the recipe, you can really use any kind of chip or cracker that you have around. My roommate uses whole wheat crackers mixed with a light salad dressing to batter the chicken instead.

Total Prep Time: 10 Min
Total Cook Time: 30 Min
Total Cost: around $3.75


Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (However many you would like)
1 bag of your favorite Dorrito's.
Egg(s)-use as many as needed, will depend on number of chicken breasts used
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg in container big enough to fit in one chicken breast. Crunch Dorrito's into small pieces, like bread crums and place in container big enough to fit one chicken breast. Batter the chicken with the egg then lightly season with salt and pepper. Place chicken on each side into the dish containing the Dorrito crumbs. Then place on baking sheet that has been lightly coated with extra virgin olive oil. Bake for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Note from Jesse: I usually serve on white rice. Maybe serve with a side of cooked broccoli with cheese or anything you are in the mood for. 


From this day forward, each Tuesday I will be spotlighting a different Chef from the community (this could be you!) Please send in your recipes for your chance to be the next big deal!


*Jesse is a college graduate with a degree in Psychology and the proud Uncle to a beautiful baby girl. Jesse enjoys holding babies, cooking, and eating in his spare time. He has also recently taken up running, which is nice. Jesse boasts a close friendship with Justin Bieber, although no one has ever confirmed this rumor. 

Ice Cream Pie that will change your life.

 

Ice cream is the most important food group. This is what I learn in college anyway. Luckily, a kitchen-savvy aunt of mine introduced me to this divine dessert which helps me get my daily dose of dairy. It was an instant favorite. I asked her for the recipe and she directed me to a magazine aimed at children ages 8-12 where she first found it. Basically it is the best deal ever- Martha Stewart taste, for elementary school effort! Plus, I honestly think it tastes like cheesecake.

Total Prep Time: 10 min
Ready In: 4.5 hrs
Total Cost: about $5.75 per pie

1 graham-cracker piecrust (10 inches/25 cm)
1 pint (.5 L) vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 package whipped topping (8 ounces/227 g), thawed

1. Fill the piecrust with ice cream or yogurt. Cover and freeze for 30 minutes.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Stir in whipped topping.
3. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the ice cream. Cover and freeze for 4 hours.
4. Cut into 8 slices and enjoy!

*Try different flavored pie crusts and ice creams for more fun! I’ve used oreo pie crust with mint chocolate chip ice cream before- so good!

Find the original recipe here!