Pasta e Fagioli

I make this for the first time last week and loved it! I am already wanting to make it again.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (about 14 ounces each) cannellini beans (white kidney beans), undrained
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces uncooked small shell pasta

*One can (about 15 ounces) Great Northern Beans, undrained, can be substituted for cannellini beans.

1. Heat oil in pot over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir 5 minutes or until onion is tender.
2. Stir tomatos with juice, broth, beans with liquid, parsley, basil and pepper into pot. bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes.
3. Add pasta to pot. Simmer, covered, 10 to 12 minutes or until pasta is just tender. Serve immediately. Garnish as desired.

Makes 8 Servings

Butter Cake

Ok, so this has to be one of my favorite desserts...soooo good, you won't be able to just eat one:) Enjoy!!

1 slightly beaten egg

1 package yellow cake mix (pudding in the mix type)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pound powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using a glass pan). Grease a 13 by 9 inch cake pan. Mix the lightly beaten egg with the dry cake mix and melted butter until you have a moist dough consistency. Press mixture evenly into pan. In a large bowl use electric mixer to beat cream cheese, remaining 3 eggs and vanilla until creamy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth (it takes a while). Pour batter over crust. Bake 35-40 minutes. Watch carefully so crust doesn't get too brown. The cheese mixture should sink into the center somewhat leaving a firmer crust around the edges. Cool & cut into squares and serve.

Crazy Cake

We found this recipe on allrecipes.com when we were craving chocolate cake one Sunday and were out of eggs. It was amazing! It was so moist and I seriously ate half the pan in one day....I would dare even say that it's the best homemade chocolate cake I've ever had. It tastes best if you make homemade frosting. We tried it again and had the storebought chocolate kind and it wasn't as good. I like to add the homemade frosting while the cake's still warm and eat it warm. Yum!

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

DIRECTIONS
Sift flour, sugar, salt, soda, and cocoa together into a 9 x 13 inch ungreased cake pan. Make three wells. Pour oil into one well, vinegar into second, and vanilla into third well. Pour cold water over all, and stir well with fork.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Frost with your favorite icing.

Brownie Trifle

1 box Brownie mix baked and cubed
8 oz softened cm cheese + ½ cup milk
1 lg chocolate pudding mixed with 1 ½ c. milk
3 heath bars crushed
1 sm. Cool whip

Mix cm cheese and milk until smooth, set aside
Mix pudding and then mix cm cheese mixture to that.

Layer in trifle dish:
Brownie, pudding, cool whip, crushed bars and then repeat 2-3 times. You will have to decide how many layers you want before so you can ration your portions to have enough.

Berry Trifle

1 white cake cubed ( I baked in large cookie sheet so cake is thin)
1 lg box vanilla pudding mixed with 1 ½ cup milk
8oz cream cheese mixed with ½ cup milk
Coconut
1 can berry pie filling (strawberry, raspberry, blackberry)
1 sm cool whip
Any fresh fruit

Mix pudding with milk set aside, then add cm cheese mixture to that
Layer:
Cake, fruit, pudding, cool whip, coconut 2-3 times

* You can do some fresh fruit. The one I have made is strawberry pie filling with fresh banana’s. Or if you can't find strawberry pie filling use danish desert and fresh strawberries. This is awesome!!!

Dutch Oven Chicken in the Crockpot

8 Potatoes peeled and cut in chunks
4 Chicken Breasts, skinless, boneless
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 bundle sliced mushrooms
1 bag mini carrots
1 large onion chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Grease Crockpot and throw all the ingredients in you don't even need to stir.
Put all the veggies on bottom of crockpot.
Add a little water if needed to get soups out of can
cook on low for 6 hours

This is a great recipe for a rainy day. Eat it soup style! It is Tasty.

Kickin Chicken

Prep time: 20 minutes Bake: 45 minutes Oven: 375 degrees Makes: 8 servings

8 chicken drumsticks
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced, or 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
2 teaspoons cooking oil
3/4 cup bottled barbecue sauce
1/4 teaspoon catsup
1/4 cup orange juice or water
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons light molasses or maple-flavored syrup
several dashes bottled hot pepper suace (optional)

1. Lightly coat a 15x10x1 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Skin chicken. Arrange chicken in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a 375 oven for 25 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, for sauce, in a medium saucepan cook garlic in hot oil over medium heat for 30 seconds. Stir in barbecue sauce, catsup, juice, brown sugar, molasses and if desired, hot pepper sauce. Heat through.

3. Carefully brush chicken with sauce. Turn chicken and brush with additional sauce. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes more or until chicken is no longer pink (180 F). Reheat any remaining sauce; drizzle some of the sauce over chicken; pass remaining sauce.

Nutrition Facts per serving: 188 cal., 5 g total fat (1 g sat. fat), 78 mg chol., 355 mg sodium, 13 g carbo, 0 g fiber, 22 g pro.

I make these all the time, they are really good. I have never used the hot pepper sauce but if you wanted to add a little spice to it that would be good.

Southwest Eggrolls

I got this recipe off of allrecipes.com (the coolest recipe site). We made them when we were snowed in and they were soooo yummy. They taste exactly like the southwest eggrolls from Chili's (I just needed the avocado ranch dip with it...yum). They were actually really easy to make--just plan ahead that they need to be refrigerated for four hours.

Southwest Eggrolls

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half
2 tablespoons minced green onion
2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
1/3 cup frozen corn kernels
1/4 cup black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons diced jalapeno peppers
1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
5 (6 inch) flour tortillas
1 quart oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS
1. Rub 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over chicken breast. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook chicken approximately 5 minutes per side, until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in green onion and red pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until tender.
3. Dice chicken and mix into the pan with onion and red pepper. Mix in corn, black beans, spinach, jalapeno peppers, parsley, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat and stir in Monterey Jack cheese so that it melts.
4. Wrap tortillas with a clean, lightly moist cloth. Microwave on high approximately 1 minute, or until hot and pliable.
5. Spoon even amounts of the mixture into each tortilla. Fold ends of tortillas, then roll tightly around mixture. Secure with toothpicks. Arrange in a medium dish, cover with plastic, and place in the freezer. Freeze at least 4 hours.
6. In a large, deep skillet, heat oil for deep frying to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Deep fry frozen, stuffed tortillas 10 minutes each, or until dark golden brown. Drain on paper towels before serving.
**I read reviews that you can just bake them for 15 minutes at 375. I'd used lowfat, lowcarb wheat tortillas and they were too soft and looked like they were coming apart. So I just put a small amount of oil in a frying pan and then kept turning them until they were crispy. They're so yummy!