Chocolate Cake with Caramel Topping

Chocolate Cake
cake mix or homemade cake batter
2 to 4 oz semi-sweet chocolate baking bar
about 1 TBSP butter

Pour cake batter into greased pan. Melt chocolate on stove top with butter. Pour chocolate onto top of batter. Swirl or spread as you please.

Bake cake as directed. Take out of oven and let cool.

Frost with favorite frosting (we used canned frosting this time, which we rarely do).

Caramel Topping
1 can sweetened condensed milk

fill large pot with water, place can in water. Place on oven and bring to simmer or low boil. Simmer/boil for 2.5 to 3 hours.

Take pot off of heat, let sit for a few minutes. Next take can out of pot and place in cool water. Let sit until cool to the touch. Next open the can and you have caramel!

Cut a slice of cake, drizzle caramel over top and enjoy!

We cooked caramel on stove for 2 hours and feel like it could have gone for 30 mins to 60 mins longer. But it was still delicious as is.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

Adapted from this recipe

1 or 2 large chicken breasts
2.5 cups crushed cornflakes corn flakes
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
2 T olive oil
1 12 oz package of Ronzoni Garden Delight noodles (we used rotini)

Sauce:
1/2 container of 10 oz Philadelphia Cooking Cream (Italian Cheese and Herb Flavor)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c chicken broth
1/4 c milk

Start the water for the noodles. Put cornflakes, flour & salt, and milk in 3 separate containers. Cut chicken in half (horizontally, to make chicken thinner). Dip chicken in the flour, then the milk, then the corn flakes. Heat olive oil in sauce pan. Place chicken in olive oil and cook for about 5 mins, until golden brown on the bottom side. Flip the chicken over, place a lid on the pan and turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 7 mins, until done all the way through. Watch it to make sure it doesn't burn. Once the chicken is done place it on a plate, put tin foil over it and place aside. In the same pan (make sure there is not very much oil left in it, just drops) that you cooked the chicken in combine cooking cream, cream of chicken, broth and milk. Whisk together and let cook until bubbling. Place noodles on plate, top with sauce and chicken. Serve some veggies on the side and ENJOY!!

Penne Florentine

We thought of this recipe while making our Chicken Pizza last week. We hope you enjoy it!

Pasta Mixture:
1 package penne noodles- cooked to al dente
1 chopped tomato
1/2 - 1 cup chopped spinach
chopped cooked chicken (however much you want)

Toss together. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sauce:
2 T butter
1 T - 2 T flour
1 c milk
1/2 c - 1 c Parmesan cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup

Melt butter in sauce pan, add flour to butter. Cook until bubbly. Add 1/2 c milk and cook again until bubbly. Turn stove off and parm cheese. Mix until smooth. Add cream of chicken soup and 1/2 milk. Mix again until smooth.

Combine sauce and pasta mix.

Put in buttered casserole dish, sprinkle cheese over top. Bake until brown and bubbly.

We didn't have extra cheese for on top, so ours isn't very brown on top, but it was really bubbly

We were lazy tonight, but normally we would serve it along side broccoli and bread sticks or garlic bread. Enjoy! It is so delicious and your kids will love it too!

Little Thomas was very happy with dinner tonight

Chicken Pockets

recipe adapted from a recipe from Robyn Stafford

Filling:
1 cooked shredded chicken breast or one can of canned chicken
1-2 cups of chopped broccoli
3 oz. cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
onion powder to taste
garlic powder to taste
handful of Parmesan cheese

Mix together in a small bowl.

Pockets:
1-2 packages Crescent rolls (depending on how many you are feeding and how full you want your pockets)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups Italian bread crumbs

Open package of rolls. Lay them out on pan and configure them into desired shape, fill with filling and pinch shut. Here are two different shapes you can make:

Dip each pocket into 1 melter butter butter then bread crumbs. Place on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Sauce:

1 can cream of chicken soup, diluted with milk, if you want thicker sauce don't add full can of milk.

Heat slowly in small sauce pan over stove or microwave.

After baking serve with sauce.

This recipe came from my fabulous mother in law and I added some of my own things to make it my own. We LOVE this meal, but our kids aren't fans yet, so we usually cut some of the chicken breast off before shredding for them and save them some broccoli and serve it with rice or just cook them up some noodles. I have served this for guests many times and always get a great response. We have put chopped spinach in the pockets instead of broccoli and served broccoli on the side also. Hope you enjoy this meal as much as we do! Feel free to make it your own as well.

Tatertot Casserole

1 bag of tatertots
1 lb ground beef
1 package of ranch dressing powder
1 can green beans
1 can corn
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup

Cook ground beef, drain and add ranch powder. In a bowl mix together the cream of mushroom + cream of chicken with 1 can of milk (just fill up one of the soap cans with the milk you have in the fridge). Mix until smooth. (I used my hand blender to make ours smooth). In separate bowl mix together the corn, beans and beef. Add 3/4 of the soup mix. Pour mixture into greased casserole dish. Next top the mixture with tatertots in whatever way you want. I like to just dump the bag out and spread them as evenly as possible, but Thomas likes to put them in perfect rows.

Pour the remaining soup over, and top with grated cheese.

Cook at 350 for about 30 mins or until tatertots are done and casserole is brown and bubbly.

Enjoy!! Your kids will LOVE this- I know ours do.

Chicken Pizza

Pizza Dough
Cheese
Cooked Chicken
Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Spinach
Garlic Ranch Sauce (recipe to follow)

Spread pizza dough on pan of choice.(we bought some pre-made mix and just had to add water). Spread garlic ranch sauce over dough,

sprinkle cheese, chicken, tomatoes and spinach and then top with a little more cheese.

Follow instructions for your pizza dough on how long to cook. Enjoy!

It is an easy and delicious meal and to make it a little healthier you can use wheat dough and use less cheese and sauce.

Garlic Ranch Sauce
Ranch
Garlic Powder

Put ranch in a bowl, add garlic powder to taste. Use on pizza :)

Taco Soup

Taco Soup
based off of a recipe from Melissa Borders, check out her blog here

1 onion
2 lbs ground beef
3 packages of ranch dressing powder
2 package taco seasoning
2 can corn- drained
1 can pinto beans
2 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomatoes with chilies

Brown hamburger. Then add onions, 2 ranch dressing powder and 1 taco seasoning. Cook until the onions are translucent.

 Put in crock pot. Add all beans, tomatoes, corn, taco seasoning packet and ranch dressing packet. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

  Serve with sour cream, cheese and homemade tortilla chips (see below for recipe). Enjoy!

Homemade Tortilla Chips

corn tortillas
vegetable cooking spray
salt (if desired)

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Cut corn tortilla chips into to desired shape (we cut ours into strips) and place on cooking sheet. Spray the top of the tortillas with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven and cook for 10-20 minutes at 425. Be sure to check often, they burn easily. Serve over taco soup.

I hope you enjoy these recipe as much as we do.