Category Archives: Super Easy to Make

October 25, 2010 · 8:16 pm

Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

It’s been a while since I made this, but this is a staple in our house. It is perfect for a cold and rainy night like tonight.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb Italian sausage
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian diced tomatoes
1 cup red wine
2 cans chicken broth
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pound dried tortellini
1-2 cups fresh baby spinach (depending on how much you like spinach)
grated or shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish

Instructions:
In a Dutch oven, cook Italian sausage using a wooden spoon to crumble. When Italian sausage is cooked through, add tomatoes, wine, chicken broth and garlic. Bring to a simmer.

Add tortellini and cook until done.

Add spinach right before serving. Stir until wilted.

Serve and garnish with Parmesan.

Did I change anything? Sometimes I add a little chopped zucchini and/or some diced carrots.

What did the family think? We love this one. It’s definitely comfort food at our house.

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Italian, Stew/Soup, Super Easy to Make

October 17, 2010 · 5:00 pm

Sunshine Eggs

I saw this recently in a magazine…Parents or Family Fun maybe…anyways it brought a smile to the boys’ faces this morning when they sat down for breakfast. 🙂

Ingredients:
Scrambled Eggs
Toast

Instructions:
Scramble the eggs and place in the center of a plate in a circle.

Toast some bread and use a knife or a pizza cutter to make triangles. Place the triangles around the eggs to look like the sun’s rays.

What did the family think? They thought it was great…smiles all around. 🙂

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Filed under Breakfast, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

October 13, 2010 · 12:41 pm

Apple and Beet Salad

I am always trying to figure out what to do with the other half of the apple that doesn’t get used when I make the boys an apple and peanut butter sandwich or an apple and cheese quesadilla for their lunches. Well, this is what I decided to with it today after seeing it in An Apple a Day in this month’s Food Network magazine.

Ingredients:
1/2 apple, diced
2-3 T diced canned beets (not the pickled variety)
1-2 T plain yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Makes 1-2 servings.

What did the family think? I just made this for myself since I honestly don’t think anyone else in my house would eat this. It made a nice side with the sandwich I had for lunch and it’s kind of cool because the juice from the beets turns everything pink. 🙂

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Filed under Easy, Salad, Side Dish, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

October 10, 2010 · 9:37 pm

Apple Coleslaw

There was an apple fest at our grocery store today and this was one of the samples.

Ingredients:
12 oz. cole slaw mix
2 tart apples, cored and finely sliced
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
1/3 cup sunflower or vegetable oil
3 T lemon juice
3 T honey
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, honey and celery seed.

Add the cole slaw mix, apple, celery and green pepper; toss to coat.

Season with salt and pepper

Chill until serving.

We had this as a side with salmon and a baguette.

Did I change anything? I used broccoli slaw instead of traditional cole slaw mix and I didn’t add the celery seeds because I didn’t have any.

What did the family think? Hubby and I liked it. The kids picked out the apples and the carrots. I ended up breaking up my salmon and mixing it in with the apple slaw. It was really good like that. The salmon goes really well with the sweetness/tartness of the apples. It would make a really good summer salad with salmon like we did or maybe with chicken.

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Filed under Easy, Side Dish, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

October 7, 2010 · 11:20 am

Crock Pot Pork with Chutney

For the record, I am not a huge pork fan. I do have a couple of pork crock pot recipes though that we really like, so I thought I would give this one a try.

Ingredients:
3-5 lb. pork (may use smoked pork shoulder)
1 large onion, sliced
2 apples, peel & cut up in pieces
2 Tablespoons chutney or 1 cup dried fruit (mixed)
1 cup apple cider or apple juice
1/2 cup water
1 or 2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cook all ingredients together in crock pot 4 or 5 hours on high temperature.

Remove bay leaf. Slice meat and serve.

We had this with a salad, corn on the cob and a apple and banana fruit salad.

Did I change anything? I used a chutney called Farmhouse Chutney from Stonewall Kitchen instead of the dried fruit. This worked out nicely because we used the leftover chutney as a condiment and it was great. Also, the recipe called for pork shoulder which I used but it was VERY fatty. I don’t know if that’s normal, but I think next time I would choose a much leaner cut.

What did the family think? My husband, me and our oldest liked it with the chutney. Our youngest got out old faithful…the ketchup. 🙂

from momswhothink.com

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Filed under Easy, Pork, Super Easy to Make

October 3, 2010 · 9:29 pm

Candy’s Cozi Classic Chicken

My good friend, Candy, entered this recipe in a recipe contest a year or so ago and won a sizable chunk of change, so it has got to be good. Right? Right!

Ingredients:
3 – 4 lb chicken parts (8 pieces)
Olive oil
Salt
Ground black pepper

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Briefly run chicken pieces under water to rinse and pat dry with paper towels.

Drizzle olive oil on bottom of a roasting pan. Thoroughly rub chicken pieces with olive oil to coat.

Sprinkle both sides of chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Place chicken pieces with skin side up in the pan.

Cook for 30 minutes at 400°F. Lower oven temp to 350°F and cook for 15-30 minutes more or until juices run clear (not pink) when poked with a sharp knife or the internal temperature of the chicken breasts is 170°F.

Optional: To brown chicken pieces, place under broiler for 7-10 minutes of cooking.
When chicken is done, remove from oven and tent with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving

What did the family think? We all LOVED it. Yes, even our youngest who can’t stand chicken said it was good. That’s a huge compliment.

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Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make

October 2, 2010 · 8:11 am

Brownies Not From a Box

I got this recipe from my good friend, Janelle. They are as good as she said they were and they are easy. You don’t have to get a bunch of dishes dirty to make them and you probably already have everything you need to make these…I love it when that happens.

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter
3/4 c. cocoa powder
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large microwave safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave for about 1 minute. Add cocoa powder, stir and continue to microwave until butter is melted. Add both sugars to the butter/cocoa mixture. Stir. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir. Lastly add flour. Stir. Put in a greased “one size smaller than a 9×13″ pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Try not to eat them all at once.

What did the family think? My oldest had a friend over after school and both of them gave these brownies two thumbs up. Then my hubby had some and while he was walking around the kitchen eating them, he was singing about how good they are.

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Desserts, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

October 1, 2010 · 12:43 pm

Sweet Potato Fries

You can either buy whole sweet potatoes for this, or cheat and save yourself some prep time and use
pre-cut sweet potatoes.

Ingredients:
12 oz. of Pre-cut sweet potatoes or 3-4 sweet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:
If you are using whole potatoes, peel and cut them into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick sticks. If any of the “sticks” are pointy at the end, chop the pointy part off as it will cook too quickly and burn. You want them all to be uniform in thickness. If you are using pre-cut potatoes, skip this step and move on to the next step.

Next, evenly coat the sweet potatoes with olive oil by placing potatoes in a bowl and drizzling olive oil over them. Toss to coat.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss again.

Spread them out evenly on a baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. Turn potatoes over and cook for another 10 minutes or until crispy and browned. Enjoy!

What did the family think? Hubby and I could have eaten about six more servings of these. My kids don’t know a good thing when they taste it. They ate them, but they certainly didn’t like them. Weirdos. 🙂

adapted from Trader Joe’s recipe

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Filed under After School Snacks, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Side Dish, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make, Vegetarian

September 30, 2010 · 2:06 pm

Taco Slaw

I would have never of thought of putting cabbage in Mexican food like this, but it totally works and it’s a great way to get some more veggies.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey, hamburger or chicken
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 package taco seasoning
2 1/2 cups diced canned tomatoes
5 cups cabbage, shredded (I bought the pre-packaged kind that is already shredded w/carrots in it.)
5 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
5 T sour cream
10 flour tortillas

Instructions:
Brown the ground beef, onion and garlic over medium heat.

Stir in taco seasoning and diced tomatoes with their juice. Simmer 5 minutes.

Add the shredded cabbage and cook 5-8 minutes, until cabbage is tender. Stir as needed.

Serve with cheese, sour cream and tortillas.

We had this with tortillas, but you could also serve it over rice instead. Also, this recipe makes a lot of food. We probably have enough leftovers for a second dinner.

What did the family think? I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I REALLY liked it. Hubby kind of liked it and the kids were not impressed at all.

from food.com

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Filed under Easy, Mexican, Super Easy to Make

September 26, 2010 · 10:26 am

Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

This is heavenly! Really, it has cream cheese so it has to be good. 🙂

Ingredients:
4-5 boneless, skinless FROZEN chicken breasts
15 1/2 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz. jar of your favorite salsa
8 oz package cream cheese

Instructions:
Place chicken in the crock pot.

Add black beans and salsa.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours until chicken is cooked through.

When crock pot is done, put cream cheese on top of everything and let sit for 1/2 half hour.

We had this with tortillas. I shredded the chicken after it was done cooking and we used the chicken mixture as the filling and just rolled it up. You could also serve this over rice.

Did I change anything? The original recipe called for a can of corn.

What did the family think? It was a huge hit. My kids love cream cheese, so I knew they would like it.

from food.com

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Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Mexican, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make