Tortellini in Creamy Rosé Sauce

I really loved the flavor of this pasta sauce. It was very flavorful and smooth. The best part of it, though, was that I left to pick Jayna up from play practice and when I came home, Jayson was home and finishing dinner! I had to document it with a photo.

Tortellini in Creamy Rosé Sauce

Here's what you need to make it:

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce
• 1 pkg (20 oz) refrigerated tortellini
• 1 (10 oz) pkg Philadelphia Cooking Creme (I used Italian Cheese and Herb - see photo)
• 4  cups fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

 Heat oil in large saucepan on medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in broth and spaghetti sauce. Bring to a boil.
Add pasta; stir. Cover; cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally  Add cooking creme. Cook and stir 3 more minutes. Cover; cook 5 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.
Stir in Spinach; cook covered 1 minute, or until wilted. Remove from heat, top with Parmesan.

Enjoy with a large slice of French Bread! Yum!

This sauce reminded me of another sauce that I love. Here's that recipe, too!

Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream

• 
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound sausage
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

• 1 pound farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
• 1/2 cup (packed) chopped fresh basil
• Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage. Sauté until sausage is no longer pink, breaking up with back of fork, about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion is tender and sausage is browned, about 3 minutes longer. Add tomatoes and cream. Reduce heat to low and simmer until sausage mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to same pot. Add sausage mixture and toss over medium-low heat until sauce coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls if mixture is dry. Transfer pasta to serving dish. Sprinkle with basil. Serve, passing cheese separately.

Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos

I've seen this picture/recipe posted on Pinterest quite a few times, so I thought I'd give it a try. Except, instead of using my crockpot, I put all the ingredients in a pan with my precooked shredded chicken. It made up so fast! It was really good, and we finished it all off. I did add more lime juice than it asked for, and I thought it needed some salt.

Here's how I made it: (for the crockpot version, click here)

2 cups cooked shredded chicken
4 Tbs lime juice
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1(16 oz) bag of frozen corn
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

I put all the ingredients in a large saucepan and heated it on medium-low until everything was nice and hot.

When it was heated thoroughly, I served it on warm tortillas with cheese, salsa and sour cream. Jayson gave it 2 thumbs up and said it tasted a little like Chipotle w/o the rice (which, he added, wasn't missed). I don't think I would make this in a crockpot . . . but if someone does will you let me know how it turns out?

Weekly Menu

I love finding things that make life easier.

Before I go grocery shopping, I pick 7 meals for the week. This not only helps me with my shopping, it saves me money and makes it easier to decide what's for dinner. Win-Win-Win! What makes this even easier is a list of meals by season (summer vs winter). I keep a copy in my purse and one on my fridge. This makes picking meals for the week lots easier.

I find it easier to NOT assign meals to days, which gives me a little more flexibility if our schedules change. I found this cute weekly menu planner and thought I would share it. I don't know where I got it from originally, but if you want a copy I'll email you a PDF. Just let me know.

Raspberry Sorbet

Holy Cow! This was amazing!! I know that by telling you how much I absolutely loved this, that I'll be setting your expectations super high; but I think that this recipe will totally live up to it's expectations. It was so delicious!!

Forget that Lemon Sorbet recipe I gave you a while ago. It's no good. You are only going to want to make this Raspberry Sorbet every week from now until eternity! Wowza!

I made this in my ice cream maker, but if you don't have one, you could probably make this similarly to the instructions for lemon sorbet.

Makes 5 cups (ten 1/2 cup servings)

• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

Prepare a simple syrup with the water and sugar by combining both in a saucepan set on medium low heat. Cook until sugar is fully dissolved.

• pinch of salt
• 4 cups frozen raspberries, thawed

Add the raspberries and salt. 

Blend until smooth. Strain the mixture (half at a time) through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Use a spatula to help. Cover and refrigerate 2-3 hours (or overnight).

 

Pour into ice cream maker and let mix until thickened. (about 15-20 minutes). Serve!

Stuffed Blueberry French Toast

1 loaf of french bread cut into squares

8 eggs

8 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 cups milk
1/3 cup of sugar

3/4 cup of maple syrup

1 1/2 cups of blueberries

1 tsp vanilla

cinnamon

6 Tbs butter

Coat a 13 x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. 

Layer one half of the bread cubes in baking dish.  

Cream together sugar and cream cheese and drop spoonfuls over bread.  Layer blueberries over cream cheese.  Cover the blueberries with remaining bread.  Sprinkle generously with cinnamon.  Mix remaining ingredients and pour over bread.  Press bread with spatula to help soak up mixture.  

Cover and refrigerate overnight.  

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.  Servers 8.

Chicken Enchiladas!

You have to try these! They were delicious!

Here's what mine really looked like - I blame the lighting in my house. 

• 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
• 2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles. Drained.
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 8 flour tortillas
• vegetable cooking spray
• 1 8-oz container sour cream
• 1 8-oz bottle green taco sauce (I used half a bottle of La Victoria brand sauce- see pic)
• Toppings: diced tomatoes, chopped avocado, chopped green onions, sliced olives, cilantro

Make it!

Stir together first 5 ingredients. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over each tortilla, and roll up. Arrange in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Coat tortillas with vegetable cooking spray.

1. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. (Mine didn't need this long. I would cook them 20 minutes and then check on them.)
2. Stir together sour cream and taco sauce. Spoon over hot enchiladas, and sprinkle with toppings.

My Latest Time Saving Tip

Sometimes life is just way too busy. And sometimes that means that dinner is the last thing on my mind. So I found a way to still get a good meal during the week - I cook my chicken ahead of time, so it's ready to be added to dishes without much prep time.

I know. It's nothing really new or innovative. But I thought it might help you, too.

First, I put all my chicken in the crockpot. Frozen. All at once. My crockpot can hold quite a bit, so I fill it full. I turn it on to high and let it cook about 3 hours. (*crockpot cook times may vary. Mine seems to run on the hot side). Without any effort at all, I have a crockpot full of cooked chicken breasts! Yay!

Second, I take the chicken breasts, trim them of any fat and stick 2 or 3 into my mixer. Then using the paddle accessory, I turn it on for a few seconds. This easily shreds the chicken.

Don't run your mixer too long, or the chicken will get shredded into small tiny pieces. It only takes a few seconds. Don't overdo it!

Then I take my shredded chicken and put it in a tupperware and repeat with the remaining chicken. I can put it in the fridge or freeze it.

Now, I can use my shredded chicken for all kinds of recipes cutting dinner prep time in half. *(Actual time saved has not really been measured. But I feel like dinner has been lots easier.)

Some dinner ideas for your shredded chicken:

• Fajitas (just saute some onions and peppers, heat up the chicken in a skillet with seasonings, and you are ready to go south of the border in seconds!)
• Chicken Salad Sandwiches
• Southwest Chopped Chicken Salad
• Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos
• Chicken Enchilada Pasta - just heat up the sauce and cook the pasta. Add the chicken and you are ready to go!
• Chicken Noodle Soup 
• Teriyaki Chicken
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Haystacks
• These delicious Chicken Enchiladas

*also, I save the broth from the chicken and strain it and use it for homemade chicken noodle soup.  Win-win-win!