Foodie Friday - Mexican Pasta Skillet

Hey y'all,
It's time for another Foodie Friday already!! I am actually able to post pictures this time!
The recipe is a variation of Betty Crocker's Mexican Pasta Skillet, (sort of like homemade hamburger helper). Here's the recipe~

1 lb. lean ground beef 1 jar mild salsa (16 oz)

1 cup tomato sauce (from 15 oz can)

1 1/2 cups water

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

1 cup frozen niblet corn

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Okay, so first, I salt and pepper my meat before browning in a 12-inch skillet.

Brown and drain the meat of most of the grease.

Measure one cup of tomato sauce.

Add 1 cup of tomato sauce, 16 oz. jar of salsa, and 1 1/2 cups water to cooked meat.

Heat to boiling, (smells yummy at this point).

Add in 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni and 1 cup frozen niblet corn.

Stir until incorporated.

Reduce to low heat and cover. Let simmer for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.

Okay, so while I was letting that simmer, I had my new favorite thing! Not the Chocolate Cheerios, you see in the background, although they are delicious... But Hazelnut instant coffee. My Mama fixed it for me over the weekend. Why hasn't anyone already told me about this? Heat water, add Splenda, if you desire. Stir in 4 tsp. Hazelnut instant coffee. And then "doctor it up" with some liquid Hazelnut creamer!! Yummmmmmmmmmmm!!

My favorite is the foam that forms on the top!

So now, after sipping my coffee, I checked the pasta, and it was ready.

Now, add 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese over top of pasta dish. (I like cheese so I always add more) Cover for 2 minutes so the cheese will melt.

And voila!

I took my portion to work with me, but I did have a little taste while it was hot, and it tasted yummy!!

Don't forget to head over to Designs by Gollum and check out all the other recipes for the week. Here's the link: http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. We are bracing for some snow down here in Tennessee. Oh well, until next time, be blessed! S :)

Ham and Cheese Muffins

Good morning! I am so excited to be joining up with Foodie Friday again this week.

I have tons of recipes so I should be able to post one every Friday, (we'll see how it goes). Sorry, this week I don't have any pictures to post.

Ham and Cheese Muffins

2 c. self-rising flour

1 c. milk

1/2 c. mayo

1/2 c. finely chopped ham

1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

*I always add a little extra ham and cheese (A little extra never hurt anyone). :)

First preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix milk and mayo together well. Mixture will be lumpy. Stir in ham* and cheese* well. Add in flour and mix until dough is formed. Grease muffin tins and spoon muffin mixture into tins. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops of muffins are lightly brown. Makes 12 muffins. Enjoy!

I am linking this over to Designs by Gollum, found here, http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ . Go on over and check out all the other foodie posts today.

It looks like I have a busy weekend planned. My Mom will be here in a little while, and since the house will be clean for her I will try and get some pictures to post on here. I am also hosting my Lifegroup for Sunday night, and I will be hoping that things don't go like my last dinner party did...You can read about it here --> http://suzanneconway.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-i-took-month-off.html

Have a great weekend y'all and until next time, be blessed! S :)

Facelift

Well, I decided it was about time to give the "old" blog a new look! I just loved all the layout options, but I finally made the choice! I hope y'all like it.


My banner is a picture of one of my best friends, Leslie and I. We were at a place called Sips-N-Strokes, where you can pay for a canvas and be taught how to paint something beautiful!

Who knew I was such the artist!

What did you create today? Until next time, be blessed! S :)

Great Give-away!

Good morning to you all,

It's early I know, but I am working so I'm wide awake! I was searching through my new favorite thing, blogs, and came across an awesome give-away!!

Here's the link back to Susan's blog http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. She hosts something each Monday called Metamorphosis Monday... where you take something new or old and change it for the better, in most cases. There are always lovely pictures to show exactly how the change took place.

But today, she also added a give-away. A very talented woman named, Angela has an Etsy shop called the Tassel House, and she is offering this give-away for Susan's blog. She has some of the cutest things!! Here is her link... http://www.etsy.com/shop/thetasselhouse

This one is my favorite!! Just beautiful, and I have the perfect place to put it!

So head on over and find some treasures!

Enjoy, and until next time, be blessed! S :)

So I took a month off... and a recipe!

Hey everyone,
Yes, I am still here! I just noticed that it has been a month since I posted on here, and so I decided to post something.
Since the last post, I have had my first dinner party, celebrated the holidays with family and friends, had the stomach virus, and a few disappointments along the way.
My first dinner party was one for the books. I invited my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle James, as well as my cousin Jeff, his wife Kathy, and their kids Chris and Morgan. Since the house was all decorated for Christmas, I wanted to have some company! I decided that I was going to make a recipe given to me by my future step-mom called Conchiglie Pasta. It is absolutely delicious, and I have wanted to try my hand at it for awhile. I also got a "store-bought" cheese manicotti for my aunt who is vegetarian, the makings for a Caesar salad, and I made "Red Lobster" garlic cheese biscuits. I made a pound cake for dessert.
The evening started well. Everything was running on schedule. On the stove top, I had my shallots, garlic, and butter sauteing, the pasta boiling, and the chicken already pulled off the bone and set aside. I had just washed some dishes, and I was putting some away. I reached above the stove to put away my big glass mixing bowl, and I hit the small glass mixing bowl that sits inside the big one on the top of the microwave. Well, it shattered into a million gazillion pieces. The pieces of glass went in the pasta, the saute pan, and the chicken bowl. I had cuts on both hands and was bleeding by this time. Then, the doorbell rang. Thank goodness it was my aunt who is the world's best cleaner, and she helped me clean up the glass all over the floor. We threw away the food on the stove top, and ordered pizza. At least we got to share the manicotti, which I discovered was in a meat sauce! Poor Aunt Ebie! Oh well, better luck next time!
Here's the recipe, if you want to try and make it. I still haven't made it!!

Conchiglie Pasta

1 shallot (chopped)
Garlic (3 cloves chopped)
3/4 stick butter
1/3 cup white wine
Panchetta (if you can't find this substitute smoked bacon.......it's just as good)
Artichoke hearts (1 large jar) chopped
Smoked Gouda cheese
Roasted Chicken (I buy the one already roasted in the grocery store, but you can bake or broil your own if you prefer, and I only use the white meat)
Large shell pasta (1 bag or box)
1 pint of cream

Directions: Sauté shallot & garlic in butter. Bake panchetta in foil in oven about 1/2 hour. Add wine to sautéed shallot & garlic. Cook pasta. Add artichoke hearts, panchetta (cut into bite size pieces, chicken (cut into bite size pieces), slices of cheese, and then pasta. Pour cream over top and mix together.

I am linking up with Designs by Gollum http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ for Foodie Friday! My very first time to link up with another blog. Hope I did it right!


I hope you enjoy! Until next time, be blessed! S ;)

P.S. Please remember to stop during the day and pray for those suffering in Haiti.

Christmas Decorations 2009

Well, when I started uploading pictures about 5 minutes ago, the outside temp said 39 degrees, and it now says 37!! So, it is cold here!! However, inside my house, it is warm and cozy. That is mostly due to all of the Christmas decorations. My friend Leslie helped me, and I finally got everything put up last night! It looks so good, and Leslie did most of it!! She has a good eye for decorating! Some of the decorations are older, and some I just recently bought on my trip to Asheville, North Carolina and Gatlinburg, TN. I took a few pictures so grab a cup of hot cocoa, sit back, and scroll through my winter wonderland!

The above pictures are of the sofa table that I use in my foyer. I got the nativity scene as a Christmas present from my Mom last year. It is from Lifeway. So cute!! Leslie is in the picture with me on the end. Onward to more pictures...

This was my Meme's tree, and it is so special to me. The Christmas after she passed away, my Christmas tree that I had for years was stolen out of a storage unit, and so I got Meme's as a replacement! No matter what, this tree will always go up somewhere in my house!

I think my mantle turned out great this year! I found the tall, red, belted cones at The Christmas Place in Pigeon Forge. That place is awesome! Keep checking for pictures of my trip to Gatlinburg and Asheville!

Oh, I almost forgot... I found this little guy on sale at The Christmas Place. He is keeping guard over the kitchen and making sure all the sweets are taste-tested before they leave!

Well, I hope you enjoyed looking through my decorations this year. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! Until next time, be BLESSED! And remember Jesus is the reason for the season!

Chocolate Cake for Breakfast!

I don't know if any of you have seen the 1980 something Bill Cosby comedy show, but he does a little skit in there talking about giving his kids chocolate cake one morning when his wife made him "fix" breakfast. The most memorable line from that particular scene is the song that the kids sing as they are eating their breakfast... "Dad is great. He gives us chocolate cake." I just might have chocolate cake for breakfast in the morning!!

We had our annual Sunday school Christmas party tonight, and for dessert, I made Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Icing. I got the recipe from one of the Paula Deen Christmas mags, so she gets credit for the recipe. Here are some pictures of the cake before I left home. The recipe will follow.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake

1 c. hot water

3 (1oz.) squares semi-sweet baking chocolate

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

2 1/2 c. sugar

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

3/4 c. vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

To begin, preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour 2 (10 in.) round cake pans. Place 3 chocolate squares in a bowl and pour hot water over them. Let sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally as chocolate melts. *use really hot water*

In mixing bowl, add flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. On medium-low speed, mix in buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla until blended completely. Then pour in melted chocolate and mix until blended completely.

Pour batter evenly into each cake pan. Bake for 23-27 minutes,* or until wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on wire racks. Ice bottom and top tiers with Peanut Butter Frosting. *I had to cook my cake, a lot longer than the recipe said. I think it had something to do with that chocolate/hot water thing that you pour in at the end. It made my cake really soupy, which is what I think made it take a lot longer to get done.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 1/4 c. butter, softened

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1/4 c. heavy whipping cream**

5 c. confectioner's sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Beat softened butter and peanut butter until well blended and fluffy. Add in whipping cream and mix until incorporated. With mixer still on, gradually add confectioner's sugar. Finally, add vanilla. **In following this recipe, I noticed that it was really dry and starting to clump up after a lot of the powdered sugar was added, so I had to guesstimate and add in more whipping cream, until it looked spreadable.

Hope you enjoy the recipe, and until next time, BE BLESSED! S ;)