Italian Chicken & Potatoes

Yesterday when I went to the store I forgot my shopping list which was not good. I managed to remember most things but forgot a couple of things so I wasn't able to make one of the dinners I had been planning. So, I decided I was time to try and make my own dish up and it was GREAT :) What I came up with was basically the same a recipe my family LOVE but I put my own twist to it. The other recipe uses the crock put and just chicken but I didn't want to use the crock pot and I wanted to use up some of the potatoes we had. I think it turned out really well, well apart from the fact it overflowed all over my oven, whoops ;) Anyway I think this will become a family staple, now I just can't wait for Steve to get home so he can try it too, I think he's going to LOVE it, YUMMY!!!3 chicken breasts cut into strips
1 lb. butter gold potatoes, cubed (you could use any kind of potatoes, these are what I had)
1 (8 oz.) box cream cheese (I used neufchatel cheese because it's less fat)
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. milk
1 pkg. dry Italian dressing

Preheat oven to 375F. Put chicken and potatoes in a 9x13 dish chicken and potatoes. Combine all other ingredients and mix until combined well. Pour soup mixture over chicken and potatoes. Cover dish with foil and bake for around 1 1/2 hours. I had the oven set at 400F which made the soup mixture bubble too much and go everywhere. I took the foil off for the last 10 minutes but you don't really need to do that. I mainly did that so it would stop bubbling everywhere, hahaha! I served this with TONS of vegetables which I LOVE, enjoy :)

This recipe had about 1715 calories in it the way I made it which isn't too bad I don't think. It was 286 calories for 1 serving (when you divide it by 6).

Banana/Strawberry/White Chocolate Chip Bread

One of my favourite desserts is banana bread. The other day I came across this recipe so I had to try it because it looked so DELICIOUS :) The recipe called for raspberries but I didn't have any so I used strawberries instead, I think you could really use a variety of berries and it would taste great.

(This picture was taken a while after I made this bread so the strawberries were a little soggy)

1 c. flour

1 c. whole wheat flour
2/3 c. white sugar
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c. vanilla yogurt
1/4 c. canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. fresh raspberries (I used strawberries which I cut into small pieces)
3/4 c. white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray (I used 3 mini loaf pans). In a bowl combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, mix the eggs, bananas, vanilla yogurt, oil, and vanilla until well combined. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture until well blended. Fold in white chocolate chips then add most of the raspberries (I used strawberries) and fold them gently into the mixture as well. Pour the batter into the loaf pan then push the remaining raspberries (strawberries) into the top of the loaf. Bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes (It only took 45 minutes for the mini loaves) or until a tester comes out of the center clean. Let the bread cool and ENJOY :)

I think next time I make this recipe I will try another kind of berry and maybe not use the brown flour. I really like brown flour but I think my husband prefers just the white. I maybe even just use this idea with my usual banana bread recipe too and see how that turns out.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I've been meaning to make this recipe for a couple of weeks and finally got round to it tonight. It was WAY easier than I thought it was going to be as well which was nice. Even though I'm loving trying to recipes sometimes I get put off when the recipe seems like it's a lot of work. The thing that kept putting me off this recipe was making the meatballs, I don't know why. Anyway they were SOOO easy and it was fun doing something I had never done before. This is another recipe from the school cookbook, it was submitted by Shari Bruce. My kids LOVED the meatballs but really aren't fans of rice. They ate the meatballs SUPER fast but it took them a while to eat the rice but I'm a mean Mom and I make them eat everything. I thought it was REALLY yummy too but it was quite high in calories, luckily I hadn't eaten tons during the day so I had enough calories to spare. The whole meal was 2308 calories. I made 24 meatballs so I just divided the calorie amount by that and just multiplied that number by how many meatballs I ate so I guess the meal could have been less but I was hungry :) You'll have to add the rice too, I used brown rice so for 1/2 c. it was 150 calories.
1 1/2 lb. raw hamburger
1 beaten egg
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
dash of garlic salt
dash of onion salt
dash of nutmeg
2 slices of bread (I used 3 slices of whole wheat bread)

Mix ingredients together and form into balls (I made 24 meatballs, they were a good size). Bake meatballs for 20 minutes at 350F. Drain well.

1 15 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drain and reserve liquid (I used a 20 oz. can)
1/2 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 c. vinegar
1 c. reserved pineapple juice and water (I just used all the reserved juice)
2 tsp. beef bouillon granules
2 T. soy sauce

On top of stove, combine cornstarch, bouillon, vinegar, sugar, salt, soy sauce and pineapple juice. Cook until bubbly and thickened. Add green pepper and pineapple tidbits. Add meatballs to pineapple mixture and stir gently until all meatballs are coated. Simmer for 15 minutes. Serve over rice. Freezes well so you could double the recipe and freeze half for another day. To freeze put meatballs into a freezer bag and pour cooled sauce over meatballs. When ready to use thaw and simmer for 15 minutes.

Chicken/Pasta/Chicken Casserole

I have been so good at making new recipes lately but today I wasn't in the mood so I decided to make one of my old faithful recipes :) A few years back my mother in law put this recipe together and ever since then this has been one of our family favourites, it's SUPER YUMMY and very easy :)
3-4 cooked chicken breasts, cubed or shredded
1 (12 oz.) bag wide pasta ribbons (I used whole wheat pasta tonight)
1 (26 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 c. sour cream (I used fat free)
2 c. frozen mixed vegetables (you could use any or none at all)
1 c. grated cheese (as much as you like depending on how cheesy you want it. I didn't use any today)
1 box chicken stuffing, prepared

Preheat oven to 400F. Start cooking pasta (I usually have already cooked the chicken before or at the same time as cooking the pasta). Mix together soup, sour cream, vegetables and grated cheese. Once pasta is cooked add that and the chicken to the soup mixture. Place mixture into a 9x13 dish and cover with stuffing evenly (I used 2, 8x8 dishes tonight so I could freeze one for another day). Cover with foil and bake for around 40-45 minutes. Take foil off and cook for another 5-10 minutes, or until stuffing starts to brown.

For this whole recipe there was 3480 calories. That doesn't include cheese though, that would make it more. Also if you used regular pasta it would be more too but not by too much. I think this recipe makes about 12 servings or more depending on how much you eat.

Monster Cookies

Today I was in the mood to make cookies so I decided to make one of my old faithful recipes that I used to make ALL the time. These cookies are my daughters favourite cookies so I knew she would be excited when she got home. As soon as she walked through the door after school she said she could smell cookies, then she ate about 10 of them and wanted more. She's so mini but can eat TONS, I wish I could do that ;) This recipe came from a cookbook my ward put together a few years back, it was submitted by Heather Carter (thanks Heather, we LOVE this recipe). I used to use a medium size scoop to make these cookies but today used my new small one and I think it was better. I was able to make 7 dozen cookies with this recipe so I had plenty to take to neighbours which we always like to do :)1 c. light brown sugar
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 T. light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c peanut butter
1 c. mini M&M's
1 c. mini semi sweet chocolate chips
4 1/2 c. quick oats

Cream together brown sugar, sugar, eggs and margarine. Add corn syrup, vanilla, baking soda, salt and mix well. Add peanut butter (I use the measure all cup for this which I think is GREAT) and mix well again. Stir in M&M's, chocolate chips and quick oats. Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes (cook time is 4-5 minutes longer when you use the medium scoop).

You could use ANY kind of chocolate chips you have for this recipe. Maybe these will become one of your family favourites too, ENJOY :)

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

I've been meaning to make this meal for the past couple of weeks and tonight I finally got round to it. It was super easy to make which is always good. I was just a little frazzled while making it because Steve wasn't home, Austin was awake and not too happy because he had missed a nap, my other kids were all over the place and Maddie was meant to be home so she could go to volleyball but she was off with her friend cleaning out window wells for money ;) Luckily I have a WONDERFUL neighbour who went to find Maddie for me, thanks :) Anyway this meal turned out good, I wish it had been a little more cheesier, our family LOVE cheese! The good thing about this though was that it wasn't as grainy as other alfredo sauces I've made in the past. I think the next time I try and make an alfredo sauce I will just try adding more cheese to this recipe. This recipe was from the school cookbook again, it was submitted by Judy Ritter.
3/4 lb. fettuccine noodles
1/4 c. butter
2/3 c. heavy cream
2/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
2 c. cooked chicken, cubed (I just grilled chicken breasts and sliced them)
salt and pepper to taste
ground nutmeg (I didn't use this)

When pasta is almost done cooking, melt butter in a saucepan. Add cream and 1/3 c. of the parmesan cheese. Simmer over very low heat for 4-5 minutes until sauce starts to thicken. The recipe said to put the pasta in a dish, place chicken and desired vegetables on top and then pour alfredo sauce over everything. Then it says to sprinkle with remaining cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Instead I just mixed the alfredo sauce with the pasta and served it that way. Then I put the chicken and vegetables on the side. We had broccoli and corn as our vegetables, I always have LOTS of veggies and not as much of the main dish. I figured out the calories for the noodles and sauce, for the whole dish it was 2200 (then divide it by however much you have).

Layer of Love Chocolate Brownies

Before I write anything else about this dessert I want to let you know that these brownies are SUPER rich but also VERY good, hence I ate about 4 pieces, NOT GOOD!

This has been something I have wanted to make ever since I found this blog, Cupcake Diaries and I finally got round to making them for Sunday dinner. I ended up doubling the recipe because we were having a big family dinner. This recipe originally came from Very Best Baking which is now another site I really like. I think the next time I try this recipe I won't add quite as much cocoa and maybe not as much caramel either. This is one of the main things I'm loving about cooking, figuring out what I can do next time to make the recipes I try suit my family better next time or just be able to make my own recipe from the recipes I try, it's GREAT :)3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. baking cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter, cut in pieces (I used margarine)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
3 eggs, divided
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. chopped pecans (I didn't use these)
3/4 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 c. caramel ice cream topping
3/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x8 square baking pan, (I used a 9x13 dish when I doubled the recipe). Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. Add 2 eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Take aside 3/4 c. of the batter. Spread the rest of the batter into the greased baking pan. Sprinkle the nuts and white morsels over the batter in the pan. Then drizzle the caramel over the top of that. Beat remaining egg into the batter set aside until the batter is light in color. Stir in the semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spread evenly over the caramel layer. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the center is set (longer if doubling the recipe, I cooked it for a little too long though). Cool completely and cut into bars.

Russian Chicken

Does this look familiar??? As I was making this I thought , this looks a lot like the sticky chicken I made last week. I had never used Russian dressing before so I wasn't sure how this was going to taste but it sure looked the same. I didn't have to flour and brown the chicken with this recipe but I don't think you have to with the sticky chicken either. Anyway once we tried this it did actually taste different. It has more of a sweet and sour flavour which I really like. Something I'm really starting to love about cooking though is how I'm learning things I can try next time I make something like this. Maybe trying a totally different sauce to change the flavour or adding fruit and other things to make it a true sweet and sour dish. Anyway I really liked this recipe and what made it even better was that it was SOOO easy to put together, great for a Mom of 5 kids and that's something REALLY important for me.
1 bottle of Russian dressing
1 jar of apricot preserves
1 packet of Lipton onion soup mix (I used the store brand)
5-6 chicken breasts

Put chicken pieces into a 9x13 baking dish (I cut my pieces of chicken in half). Mix dressing, apricot preserves and onion soup mix together. Pour mixture over the chicken. Bake at 350F for 1 hour. Serve over rice (I've been using instant brown rice which is 150 calories for 1/2 cup). There is 3220 calories in this recipe. I divided it by 8 so each serving was 402.5 calories (most of the calories actually come from the sauce so if you don't have very much of the sauce it would be less calories). This recipe is from the school cookbook again and was provided by one of my good friends Andrae Seward.

Oatmeal Bars

Why oh why do I love to make dessert so much??? It's really not a good thing, especially since I'm still trying to lose weight. I love cooking other things too but every time I look through recipes I'm always drawn to dessert recipes, all that chocolate/sweet goodness is just sooo tempting and delicious :) I REALLY love cookies that have oatmeal in them, my biggest love is oatmeal cookies with chocolate raisins, YUMMY!!! Anyway I found this recipe in the "Patchwork of Friends" cookbook I just got. It sounded so yummy I couldn't resist. They ended up tasting pretty good, a little gooey but good. I think I might change up the chocolate part next time I make these (maybe so it's like the chocolate marshmallow filling from the S'Mores Galore recipe) but I like the idea of this dessert.

2 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter (I used margarine)
2 eggs
1 T. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. flour
3 c. oats (I used quick oats)
1 c. (12 oz.) milk chocolate chips (I used semi sweet because it's what I had)
2 T. butter (I used margarine)

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips and 2 T. butter. Press 2/3 of the mixture into a 9x13 cookie sheet. Combine and melt remaining ingredients in microwave for around 1 minute. Spread chocolate over oatmeal mixture evenly. In clumps put remaining oatmeal mixture on top of chocolate mixture. Bake at 350F for around 15-20 minutes (I baked them for about 25 minutes). Let cool and set before cutting and serving.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Besides desserts and a few other things, one of my most favourite things to eat are soups. I came across this soup a few weeks ago and have excited to try it. I think wild rice is super good so this soup combined a lot of food I like. It seemed like most of my kids liked this meal too, I did have to pick the beans out for one of my daughters but other than that it was a success :) This recipe came from one of the new blogs I found. She has a really good dessert I want to try too, I have all the ingredients to make it but haven't. I should have made it this past weekend when I was eating too much, dang it ;)

1 c. chicken or turkey (shredded or cubed)
1 T. chicken base (or 2 cubes)
2 (10.5 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup
5 2/3 c. water
1 small box Uncle Ben's long wild rice (and seasoning packet)
1 small bag frozen mixed vegetables (any kind you like or none if you would prefer)

In a large pot combine water, chicken base, and wild rice. Bring to a boil. After it starts to boil, reduce the heat and cover to cook the rice (following time recommendations on the box). Add the vegetables and cook for another 10 minutes. Add the soup and the chicken. Stir until everything is heated. This recipe has 1540 calories in it which isn't very much. It could probably serve around 8 people which makes it 210 calories per serving, not bad :)

Pumkin Pie Crunch

Tonight I had every intentions of making a new recipe but I didn't have one of the ingredients so I just made fajitas instead, super easy. Earlier I had been trying to clean the fridge out because tomorrow I'm going to the store and I needed more space. I had some pumpkin that I had used to make a dessert last week so I thought I would just make some pumpkin cookies but then I found some evaporated milk so I didn't want to waste that. My friend Leanna told me about a cookbook her Mom and friends had put together so I bought one from her. It's a pretty big cookbook so I knew there would be something in there. I found this dessert which was perfect :) I knew I loved desserts like this so I was excited. The only bad thing about making this dessert was that it made a bunch and after eating WAY too much this past weekend I wasn't going to have any. Plus it's a hard one to share with neighbours. I did take some over to my neighbour though and let them just dish some out. I did end up having a little though because Hadley didn't want any, it was YUMMY!
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 yellow cake mix
1 c. melted butter (I used margarine)
Whipped topping

Mix together pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish/pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture. Evenly drizzle melted butter/margarine over dry cake mix. Bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes or until golden brown. (The recipe I used called for 1 c. of pecans which you add 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time but I didn't think my kids would like those so I didn't add them). Coll completely and serve with whipped topping. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Recipe from "Patchwork of friends quilt club, cookbook 2010"

Sticky Chicken

We eat LOTS of chicken in our family. My husband prefers red meat I think but really he just REALLY loves meat :) Tonight I decided to try another recipe from the school cookbook. See, if you haven't got one you need too get one, there's LOTS of YUMMY recipes. This recipe came from one my really good friends, Susan Bingham who always seems to have great recipes. I LOVED this dinner but because I'm still trying to lose weight I only had a small portion. I REALLY wanted more but I had to resist. My kids and Steve both asked for seconds which is a good sign. This will definitely be something I make again, DELICIOUS!

1 c. catalina salad dressing (I used the fat free kind)
1 c. brown sugar
1 pkg. Lipton Onion soup mix (I used the store brand)
6-8 chicken breasts (I used 8)
flourPreheat oven to 325 F. Combine salad dressing, sugar and soup in a bowl. If chicken breasts are thick, cut in half lengthwise. Dip chicken in flour and brown in skillet. Put chicken in a 9x13 dish that has been lined with foil. Pour dressing mixture over chicken, cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Serve sauce from chicken over rice. This recipe was about 2265 calories altogether.

Banana Bread

So I REALLY LOVE banana bread, it's one of my favourite desserts, probably because I love bread in general. I have a recipe that I use all the time and it tastes pretty good and all the guys at Steve's office seem to love it. The last couple of times I've made it I have added a little cinnamon in there but Steve wasn't a fan, I was though. I tried a new recipe the other day, this one called for chocolate chips on the top which my kids thought was GREAT! I think they loved it just because of that. Steve thought it was ok but still preferred the other one I made. Today I thought I would try another recipe, this one is from the school cookbook and is of my friends recipe's. I made 4 small loaves and one bigger loaf. I added cinnamon to the bigger loaf and I added chocolate chips to the top of 2 of the small loaves and half of the big one. Crazy I know but I wanted to see what we liked best.
1 c. butter (once again I used margarine because I'm cheap)
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. lemon juice
4 eggs
2 c. mashed bananas (approx. 3)
1 c. sour cream
3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. nuts, optional (I didn't add these. I love nuts but Steve isn't a fan)
*I added about 1 tsp. cinnamon to about 1/3 of the mixture

Cream together butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, eggs, bananas and sour cream. Mix in flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and nuts. Pour into 3 separate greased loaf pans (I used 4 mini loaf pans and 1 bigger pan). Bake at 350F for 35-55 minutes, depending on loaf size. *Recipe provided by Angie Tamayo*

This bread is SUPER moist and REALLY delicious, I think I might have found a new banana bread recipe, YUMMY!

Ooey Gooies

So tonight for dinner I made another recipe from the school cookbook and once again it was YUMMY! Another thing I wasn't the biggest fan of when we got married was Mexican food and once again it was because I hadn't really eaten it very much or I hadn't eaten very good Mexican food. I now LOVE eating Mexican food, one of my favourite places to go eat is Cafe Rio and I always get their pork, can you say DELICIOUS :) Most of my family liked this meal tonight but I always make my kids eat everything they take or I give them. I think it's good for them to try EVERYTHING! Of course I know there are things that they don't like but I also think they need to try new things at least once. Anyway here's the recipe, this one was brought to you by Macy Sautter (hahaha, I feel like I'm on Sesame Street).

3 chicken breasts (I used 5 because we like meat at our house)
1 (10.5 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup
1 (10.5 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 c. salsa
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 c. shredded monterey jack cheese

Put frozen or non-frozen chicken breasts in a crock pot. Mix together soups, salsa, green chilies, beans and spices and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6 hours. After 6 hours shred chicken and add cheese and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve in a tortilla like a taco. This meal is about 2105 calories altogether (it was 2265 for me because I added more chicken). Then just divide that by however much you eat and ENJOY!

Instead of using tortilla's for my kids like the recipe called for I put it in a bowl and let them use fritos to scoop it out and they liked that. I used a tortilla and added salad, you could also add rice as well or anything you like. It was thinner than I thought it would be so I think just served over rice would be great too. My friend said she doubled the recipe and froze half of it for another day. We had a Relief Society meeting about freezer meals last month so I will doing that with some of these recipes and will hopefully learn as I go along and will share my tips or disasters with you as I go :)

S'Mores Galore

Since I talked about my downfall and consumption of WAY too many of these desserts I thought I would share this recipe with you all. I'm not sure when I'll make these again because they really were that good and I don't know how I'll be able to resist. This recipe is from Pampered Chef, the Delightful Desserts book, I don't think you can still get it. Anyway one of my best friends, Kristy sells Pampered Chef which has resulted in me purchasing LOTS of wonderful gadgets, cookbooks and all in all great products. She has a monthly deal via email that she does which is great, she adds recipes, along with other information on it as well. If any of you are interested in getting on her mailing list or hosting a party let me know. Anyway I remember when I ordered this cookbook, she had a copy of it at a party I was hosting and as I turned every page I couldn't believe how YUMMY everything looked. This dessert was SUPER EASY to make and was SERISOULY DELICIOUS so enjoy!

20 whole honey graham crackers, divided
6 bars (1.55 oz.) milk chocolate candy, coarsely shopped
1 package (16 oz.) miniature marshmallows, divided
6 T. butter or margarine, divided
3 T. milk

I WILL ADD A PICTURE WHEN I MAKE THESE AGAIN!

Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange a single layer of graham crackers to completely cover the bottom of a 10x15.5 bar pan breaking crackers to fit (I used the Pampered Chef large bar pan but you could use anything, I do LOVE the stoneware though). Toast in the oven for 2 minutes.

Coarsely break remaining graham crackers into a large bowl and set aside. Coarsely chop all of the chocolate bars and set aside (I used the Pampered Chef food chopper for this and it worked GREAT).

In a microwave safe bowl combine 3 cups of the marshmallows, 3 T. of the butter and the milk. Heat on high for 1 minute. Stir until smooth and then add half of the chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate is all melted. Spread mixture evenly over graham crackers in pan.

Melt remaining 3 T. butter; toss with remaining graham crackers. Add remaining marshmallows and chopped chocolate; toss lightly. Spoon mixture over the mixture in pan evenly. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly browned. Let cool and ENJOY :)

You could use even try using the strawberry or the cinnamon marshmellows you can get. I think maybe I'll try the cinnamon ones next time. This recipes makes 24 bars and each one is 200 calories. Now you can see why it was a problem that I ate about 10 of these, whoops ;)

Counting Calories!

Since around the beginning of October I have REALLY been watching what I have been eating and have been exercising 5-6 times a week. I had LOTS of lovely baby weight to lose and at first it came off pretty easily which was wonderful. My friend put 2 biggest loser competitions together which helped me TONS, I actually ended up winning both of them which I didn't think I would but it was fun. Anyway during the 2nd competition I kind of hit a rut which I had done a couple of times but this time it didn't ever go away. I talked about it on facebook which resulted in my cousin telling my about this cool website called loseit.com which I now LOVE!!! It's a website that counts your calories. I had been eating pretty well but I was eating too much of the good things, especially nuts. Since then I've been losing weight again, well until last week when I kind of went NUTS and ate SOOO much JUNK food it was unreal! It was the end of the 2nd biggest loser, then my friends birthday (I made these s'mores bars that were SOOO good, I think I ate about 10 pieces), cheese cake for my sister in laws birthday, goodies I made, English chocolate I had saved, then my nephews Tongan luncheon for his baptism and then the left over yummy pudding salad my sister in law makes, it was NOT GOOD!!! I gained about 7lbs in 1 weeks, how sad! Thankfully this week I'm back on track and have got back down to where I was, phew :)

Anyway enough of my woffling (I tend to go on and on and on, hahaha). The reason I actually wrote this post was because I wanted to say that I have been figuring out the calories to a lot of the things I have been making. I get as close as I can so when I do this I will add it to the recipes in case anyone is interested :) I don't think you should live your life eating just salad and not enjoying food. For example last night we went to Panda Express for dinner and I knew I wanted to eat their because I LOVE their food. I made sure I figured out what I was going to eat there so I would know how many calories I could eat the rest of the day. I think counting calories is a lot like using weight watchers points. Also on that website you can add when you exercise and it will give you more calories to eat, much like weight watchers as well. The website I use has LOTS of different restaurants and different brands of food so you can easily find out the calories. I also search on the internet if I can't find it on there and then I can make my own meal up and add it on loseit, it's GREAT!

Beef Noodle Bowl

As I mentioned before I LOVE cookbooks/blogs etc... Well these past few months we put together a cookbook for our kids Elementary school. I have a similar cookbook that my ward put together a few years ago and I use it all the time. The other night I went through our new Discovery Elementary cookbook and wrote down LOTS of recipes I wanted to try. Tonight I made my first recipe out of the school cookbook and it was YUMMY! Our family love pasta and vegetables and my husband LOVES meat so this was a perfect meal for us. This was a really fast meal to make and super easy, I will for sure be making this again :)

8 oz. linguine, uncooked
3 c. broccoli florets
3 med. carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tsp. veg oil
1 lb. beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
1/2 onion, cut up
1/4 c. zesty Italian dressing
1/4 c. teriyaki sauce
1 tsp. ground ginger

Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli and carrots for the last 2 minutes of the pasta cooking time. Drain mixture. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet. Add meat and onions, cooking until meat is browned on all sides. Stir in dressing, teriyaki sauce and ginger, cooking until sauce thickens. Toss pasta into the meat mixture and serve.

*You could use any vegetables you like and as much or as little meat as you want. I think next time I will change the meat to chicken (which would be WAY cheaper), pork or you could use whatever meat you like.

This recipe was submitted by Shari Bruce. If you're interested in getting a cookbook they're only $15 and are available at the school, it's full of DELICIOUS recipes.

Pumpkin Blondies

When Steve and I first got married there were LOTS of different kinds of food that I said I didn't like. There are some that I haven't changed my mind on, like mushrooms and root beer. One of the things I said I didn't like was pumpkin. That is now no longer true because I now LOVE pumpkin pie, cookies, cake, anything pumpkin :) It's funny how you can think you don't like something, hence the reason I tell my kids they have to try something before they say they don't like it. Anyway I found this SUPER YUMMY recipe on a The Girl Who Ate Everything and have made it a bunch of times already. It's really easy and fulfils my love for both chocolate and pumpkin. I did change this recipe up a little though by adding semi sweet chocolate chips instead of butterscotch chips. I have made it with those too and they're still delicious but I prefer it with the chocolate (my husband loves the butterscotch flavour), I LOVE CHOCOLATE!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature *I used margarine because I'm cheap*
1¼ cups brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips *I used semi sweet chips, you could use anything*
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional) *I left these out*

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with foil. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Stir together and set aside.

Mix together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined. Mix in the pumpkin puree. With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Fold in the chips that you decide to use (along with the pecans if using those) with a rubber spatula.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs (I found that if you use the butterscotch chips it is more moist). Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting.

And So it begins!

Even though it came at a bad time when I'm trying to lose baby weight, I have found a new love and it's cooking/baking, sadly more baking, hahaha! These past few months I have been trying new recipes almost every day and have been loving every second of it. I have always wanted to be a great cook and I feel like I'm learning more every day and getting better with every recipe I try. My new found love began when I stumbled on a recipe blog called The Girl Who Ate Everything and I got so excited and wanted to try everything! I told my husband about it and I was sooo excited, I think he thought I was crazy :) I made a HUGE list of all the things I wanted to make and haven't looked back since. Since then I have come across sooo many blogs that I LOVE and I am trying new recipes ALL the time. I have added lots of my favourite blogs on the side so if you ever feel stuck for something to make check those blogs out.

Until my skills get better I just wanted to find a home where I could post my favourite recipes that I have made and we have loved. It's so fun to make something and have your kids say that they love it and want you to make it again. I'm loving that I can make something and add my own little twist or know what I could do to make it better for my family the next time I try it. Anyway thank you all you AMAZING cooking ladies (and men I'm sure, hahaha) out there who have inspired me. I think my husband thanks you all too, well apart from all the desserts, I know my neighbour loves that though :)

For now I will start posting things I make but I will also post some things from the past and add pictures when I make them again. I'm ALL about pictures, that was always something that put me off recipes, when they didn't have a picture to go along with them. I like to see what the food looks like so I could see if looked good. I will link to any website/blog that I use so I can give credit to those that actually came up with these yummy recipes. Maybe some day I'll be able to add a bunch of my own recipes but for now THANK YOU to those that put your recipes out there for me to try, I'm LOVING IT!!!