Ingredients:
3 cups cooked chicken, cut up
1 pkt. taco seasoning
1/2 cup Ranch dressing, plus extra for garnishing tacos
Taco shells, hard or soft
Lettuce
Cheese, grated

Instructions:
Heat a skillet over med-high heat. Add chicken and heat until warmed through. Sprinkle on dry taco seasoning. Do not add any water! Heat for 5-7 minuted until all heated through powder is stuck to the chicken.

Add Ranch dressing, stir and heat an additional 2-3 minutes to warm through.

Serve in taco shells with all the fixings you love. Drizzle a little more ranch on top and enjoy!

What did the family think? Hubby and I liked them. Our kids have never liked ranch dressing, so I wasn’t surprised that they weren’t too thrilled with these tacos, but if everyone in your house likes ranch dressing, then you’re probably safe.

Where did this recipe come from? Do You Smell That!!?

photo from Do You Smell That!!?

Ingredients:
12 ounces whole wheat penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
2 medium tomatoes chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 cups fresh spinach
3/4 cup marinara sauce
1/3 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt
Grated parmesan cheese, garnish
Optional add-ins: meatballs, shrimp, Italian sausage

Instructions:
Cook penne according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet with a lid, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to soften.

Add tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Add in spinach and cover skillet. Let spinach wilt for 2 minutes.

Remove lid and place skillet back over low heat. Add the penne, Greek yogurt and pasta sauce. (Add cooked meat in at this time if you are using it.) Stir until sauce is mixed well and all pasta and veggies are coated. Heat until just warmed through.

Divide into pasta bowls and serve topped with parmesan cheese.

What did the family think? As usual, 3/4 of us really liked. There was enough for leftovers today too which is always a bonus.

Did I change anything? The original recipe called for mushrooms, but I left them out since there would have been an uprising if I had put them in the sauce.

Where did this recipe come from? Back to Her Roots

photo from Back to Her Roots

Directions:
Rinse veggies and place in a mixing bowl. Add about 1 1/2 cups of the dressing of your choice to the veggies. Toss and serve or toss and let them marinate for a while before serving. Keep refrigerated until ready to be served.

See, I told you it wasn’t life changing, but it was quick and cool. It was just what we needed to go with our hamburgers and the ingredient list was pretty straight forward.

What did the family think? Hubby and I really liked it. I thought I might be able to get our oldest to eat it, but he looked at my while I was eating some cauliflower and said, “I don’t know how you eat that stuff.” Oh well. Heavy sigh. Someday maybe?

Ingredients:
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 ½ tablespoons bread crumbs

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450° F.

In a medium baking dish or on a cookie sheet, toss asparagus with the oil and arrange in an even layer.

Sprinkle with the Parmesan and bread crumbs.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until asparagus is tender.

What did the family think? 3 out of 4 isn’t bad, right?

Where did this recipe come from? I got it from Holiday Food Safety and they got it from the Produce for Better Health Foundation

photo from Confessions of a Chocoholic

Ingredients:
1 can refrigerated pizza dough (or make your own)
1 jar pizza sauce
18 mozzarella cheese slices (3 per pizza)
pizza toppings
ramekins or oven-safe bowls
cooking spray

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cut 6 circles of dough about one inch larger than ramekin or bowl.

Coat the bottom of ramekins or oven-safe bowl with cooking spray.

Arrange three mozzarella slices in the bottom and around the sides of the ramekin making sure they overlap.

Add pizza toppings as desired.

Ladle the sauce over the fillings just until the ramekin is almost full.

Spray the outside of the ramekin with cooking spray, then stretch a round of dough across the top and let hang over the edge.

Bake for 12 minutes until dough is golden. Invert each pizza onto a plate and lift off the ramekin. (or just eat it like a pot pie with the crust on the top)

What did the family think? Yummers!

Where did this recipe come from? Plain Chicken

Before Flipping

After Flipping

Note: These are not the super cute ramekins I had mentioned previously on Facebook. Those are in the dishwasher. These lovely pics are from Plain Chicken.

Ingredients:
1 (18 ounce) package polenta, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices
2 cups kale or spinach, chopped
1 lb ground Italian sausage
2 tsp garlic
1/2 (24 ounce) jar bottled marinara sauce
1/4 cup pesto
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Cooking spray

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place polenta on a cookie sheet prepared with cooking spray.

Cook polenta for about 5 minutes, turn them over and cook for another 5 minutes.

In a large skillet, saute kale, Italian sausage and garlic until Italian sausage is cooked through.

Spray a 11×7-inch casserole dish lightly with cooking spray and line it with 1/2 of the polenta.

Spread a thin layer of pesto on the polenta. Spoon half of the sauce on top of that.

Top with Italian sausage mixture.

Place the remaining polenta on top and cover with the rest of the sauce.

Bake for 25 minutes and then top with cheese and turn on the broiler until cheese is lightly browned.

What did the family think? They love anything that has cheese and pasta sauce. The kale wasn’t well received by the youngest member of our family, but there was so much else to like that it wasn’t a big deal.

Where did this recipe come from? Allrecipes

Photo from Mangia Bene Pasta

Ingredients:
5 cups old fashined rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1.5- 2 cups chopped pecans and/or sliced almonds
2 T vanilla
1/4 cup water
1 cup honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Cooking spray

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Spread granola out on a greased cookie sheet that has sides.

Bake approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from oven, cool and store in air tight containers.

What did the family think? I am the only one who has had any of this version and I love it. It’s one of my favorites.

Where did this recipe come from? Katie Did

photo from Feasts and Fotos

Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I used unsweetened soy milk)
1 cup spinach
1 banana
1 T peanut butter, no sugar added
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:
Blend together and enjoy.

What did the family think? I am the only one who’s had this, but I will tell you it’s very yummy. If you’re afraid of it tasting too spinachy, don’t worry. All you taste is the peanut butter and banana.

Where did this recipe come from? The Gracious Pantry

photo from Urban Chickpea

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken thighs bone in or out (take off skin)
1 16 oz jar salsa (no beans or corn in it, medium)
1/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2 T fresh lime juice
1 1/2 T soy sauce
Crushed peanuts, garnish

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken in CrockPot.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

Serve over rice and sprinkle with crushed peanuts.

What did the family think? Hubby and I liked it. I am not a huge fan of chicken from the CrockPot, but this was good. I would have liked it better if it had been a little spicier. Next time I might add some Rooster sauce or chili peppers to kick up the notch a little or maybe use spicier salsa.

Where did this recipe come from? I got it from Crockin’ Girls’ Facebook page.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups flour
3 T cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 sticks butter
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I just used chocolate chips.)
5 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Powdered sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Coat a 9 x 13-inch pan with cooking spray.

Whisk flour, cocoa powder salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Bring butter, brown sugar and water to simmer in a saucepan.

Off the heat, whisk in chocolate.

Let the butter/sugar/chocolate mixture cool for about ten minutes.

Whisk in eggs one at a time and then add vanilla.

Stir in the flour mixture.

Spread in the pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.

Let cool and then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

What did the family think? The family as well as the people at the event we went to all gave them a thumbs up.

Where did this recipe come from? Food Network Magazine

photo from Following God Every Day