Recipe Share: Cresent Roll Chicken Pockets

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We had a busy but fun-filled weekend. On Friday night we discovered our new favorite "date night" activity. We went to a local coffee shop and played Yahtzee while we sipped on some delicious coffee. Playing games with your love makes for an excellent night :). On Saturday, I went to a children's consignment sale with a good friend and found some great buys to include a "used once" Snuggi (a back-pack like holder for children) for $10. Saturday night, some dear friends helped me sew Judah's crib skirt and bumper. It took us from around 7pm to 2:30am, but it looks awesome! I am so thankful that they helped me with this project because it was a bit more difficult than I thought it was going to be.

I had to show you all this cute picture of the boys on the way to church. I love how children lighten the mood. How can you not smile and thank God when the laughter of children fills your home because your husband is chasing them around the house like a mad man or when these precious boys are sitting in your backseat counting to 200 in perfect harmony? They bring us so much joy!
And now the recipe....

My sister-in-law introduced me to these tasty chicken pockets! The recipe is very simple and the chicken mixture can be made in advance and refrigerated until you are ready to bake these delicious pockets.

CRESCENT ROLL CHICKEN POCKETS

• 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
  
• 4 T. milk
• 2 T. butter, softened
• 4 cups cooked diced chicken
• 2 T. minced onion
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• dash of black pepper
• 2 cans (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
  
• Optional- Italian Bread Crumbs

* I use low-fat cream cheese and crescent rolls and it still tastes great!

Preparation -
Mix the softened cream cheese, milk, and softened butter together and beat until smooth. Add the cooked diced chicken, finely chopped celery, minced onion, salt, and pepper. Mix well, then set aside. Separate each can of the crescent dough into 4 rectangles. (Do not separate it into 8 triangles as directed on the can for dinner rolls. Press the extra perforations together to seal.) Spoon about one half cup of the cream cheese/chicken mixture on to the center of each piece of dough. Fold the dough in half over the chicken. Pinch the edges of the dough together to seal. Place the filled pockets on an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter. *Optional- sprinkle with italian breadcrumbs. Bake in a preheated oven at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. This recipe makes 8 chicken pockets.

Enjoy cooking for your loved ones this week!

A Simple Meal Idea: Grilled Quesadillas

Over the past couple of weeks, I have discovered the joy of quick and healthy meals. As I begin to think about ways that I can prepare for keeping my home after the birth of our child, I have started to make a list of those things that I might begin to do in order to make this coming stage easier on us. One of the biggest areas of planning is of course, meal planning. I recently started trying some QUICK and EASY recipes, as well as some recipes that I will be able to freeze prior to giving birth. Last week, I re-discovered a super quick meal that we really enjoy and I thought some of you might appreciate to be introduced or reminded of this simple meal. It requires very few ingredients and only takes about 15 minutes to prepare from start to finish!

George Foreman Grill Quesadillas:

Ingredients

Tortillas

Shredded Cheese

Cubed Chicken or Beef

Fajita Seasoning

Optional Ingredients (For simplicity, feel free to use the bare minimum ingredients, meat and cheese.)

Cooked Peppers and Onions

Light Sour Cream

Shredded Lettuce

Salsa

Cook meat in skillet. Once meat is fully cooked, add fajita seasoning and let simmer for 3 minutes. Heat grill (or a large skillet). Spray tortillas with non-fat cooking spray (butter or olive oil). Place tortilla on grill. Add cheese, cooked meat, peppers, and onions. Top with another tortilla. Close grill and heat until cheese is melted. Cut into slices and serve with lettuce, sour cream, and salsa.

Enjoy cooking for your loved ones this week :)!

Recipe Share- Cheesy Mostaccioli

I hope you all had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend! Nathan and I fully enjoyed our long weekend. We were even able to take a short get-away trip to Nashville for a couple of days to spend some quality time together. It was very refreshing! I am so thankful we are able to do things like that! I will post a few pictures of our short trip soon.

For now, I want to share one of my favorite recipes with you all. My mother used to make this dish for us when we were growing up. This year, she purchased me a stone bowl for my birthday so that I could make this dish for my family. This dish can feed at least 8 people, if not more (I've fed at least 10 with it), which makes it a great dish to make for others. While I would suggest using a stone bowl, it isn't required.

Cheesy Mostaccioli (Pampered Chef Style)

Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package mostaccioli pasta, uncooked
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1 (11 ounce) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-1 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I use more like 4 cups of cheese)

Directions
1- Prepare the pasta according to the package directions; rinse and drain.
2- In a non-stick skillet, cook and stir the beef over medium-high heat until meat is browned; drain.
3- Add in spaghetti sauce, soup, pepper, and Italian seasoning; stir to combine.
4- In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, sauce, and 2 cups cheese.
5- Transfer mixture to a greased 4-quart baking dish.
6- Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheese over the top.
7- Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until heated through.
8- To freeze: Complete recipe through step 6. Seal with foil or place in a zip top bag. Freeze.
9- To serve: Thaw in fridge overnight. Bake as directed.

Enjoy cooking for your loved ones this week!

Prayer Request and Recipe Share (Oreo Bon-Bon's)

PRAYER REQUEST:

Please pray for my sister-in-law Natalie. On Wednesday, she broke her ankle on both sides while playing with the children at an inflatable play ground of sorts (odd, I know). Today, she is having outpatient surgery on her ankle. While it is an outpatient surgery, anesthesia is always frightening, so please pray for her peace and safety.Pray that she has a quick recovery and is able to return to her busy schedule of caring for the children and keeping the rest of us in line.

I had to include my favorite picture of us. We took this picture on our awesome ski trip in Breckenridge in Febuary of 2008. Don't we look like we are in a band?

RECIPE SHARE:

I made these tasty little treats for bible study on Wednesday and I thought you all might enjoy the recipe. They are easy to make (warning: do not attempt to make them at 6am before going to work) and they require very few ingredients. Plus, everyone seemed to like them!

Ingredients:

1 bag of oreo cookies (I saved 10 cookies from the package for another use)
2 blocks of 80z. cream cheese (I used light cream cheese)
1 to 1.5 packages of vanilla almond bark

Directions:

Use a hard spatula to whip cream cheese until smooth (I wouldn't use a mixer because you don't want it to be too mushy). Crush oreos with your hands (I also used a metal spoon) until finely crushed. Mix crushed oreos with cream cheese. Use a tablespoon to create bite-sized balls of this mixture. Set the balls on a baking sheet and place in the freezer for 20 minutes (or refrigerate for an hour). Melt almond bark according to the package. Dip the balls into the almond bark and let them dry on wax paper. Keep refrigerated until served.

Enjoy serving your loved ones this weekend :)!

Recipe Share- Whole Wheat Pizza

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a refreshing weekend. Nate and I had a great weekend! On Saturday, we spent time together beautifying our yard. We trimmed bushes, pulled weeds, and even planted a nice rose bush and several flowers in our front beds. Let the joy of yard work begin! On Sunday, we had a great time roller skating with the kids. Needless to say, my skating skills could really use some work. The kids were passing me left and right :). I think the best part of my weekend by far was simply spending time with Nathan. No TV, no Internet, just good conversation. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to learn. We both love to just sit and reminisce about how far God has brought us. He truly is an awesome God!

I thought I would share another one of my favorite simple (from scratch--or as close to scratch as I know) recipes with you all today! This pizza crust might look a bit more complex than most of my recipes, but I assure you it is very simple and delicious! Plus, making the crust from scratch is less expensive than buying the pre-made wheat crust they sell in the store. Just a side note, I usually plan to make fajitas on the same week that I make this pizza so that I can use the left over peppers, onions, and mushrooms for the fajitas.

WHOLE WHEAT PIZZA

INGREDIENTS
1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
1 cup warm water (115 degrees F)
1 pkg. Hodgson Mill Active Dry Yeast
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups naturally white flour
Toppings: pizza sauce, turkey peperoni, ground turkey, cheese, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and pineapple.

DIRECTIONS
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow to rest 5 minutes.

Stir in whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, olive oil, and 1 cup unbleached white flour.

Knead in remaining unbleached white flour by hand; about 5 minutes (the dough will be smooth and elastic).

Spray a medium-sized bowl with no-stick cooking spray. Place pizza dough in bowl and turn to coat thoroughly. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft free place 15 minutes (I use this time to prep my veggies and turkey meat).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray one 14-inch pizza pan or two 10-inch pizza pans with no-stick cooking spray. Stretch pizza crust to fit pan and flute outer edges of pizza dough to hold fillings. Top as desired. I usually add pizza sauce, 2% cheese, turkey peperoni (and sometimes ground turkey meat), green peppers, onions, mushrooms, and pineapple. Bake until cheese is melted and crust is browned (usually around 10-12 minutes).

ENJOY COOKING FOR YOUR LOVED ONES THIS WEEK!

Happy Monday- Recipe Share

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was very productive and relaxing. Nathan was out on business for the weekend, so I decided to take full advantage of this time. I was able to complete my "spring cleaning" list, read for hours, and spend some time with the kids, all of which I love. It was a very rejuvenating time.

I was talking to one of my good friends about menu planning last night and was sharing with her how I have learned several great recipes and "home-keeping" tactics from my fellow blogging friends. So, I thought I would try to share one of my favorite simple recipes with you all this morning. As you all know, I like to keep my cooking fairly healthy and simple, so this isn't an elaborate recipe.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Refrigerated pie shells (Pillsbury works, but homemade is even better!)

2 cups, cubed cooked (boiled) chicken

1/2 can of "healthy recipe" cream of chicken soup

1/2 can of "healthy recipe" cream of celery soup

1/2 cup of skim milk

1 small bag of frozen veggies (peas, carrots, corn, and green beans)
1/4 stick of butter (it tastes even better with 1/2 stick, but it isn't necessary)

1/2 tsp of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix soup, frozen vegetables, cooked chicken, milk, melted butter, and salt and pepper. (The mixture should be fairly thick). Place in pie shell. Top with second pie shell. Cover edges of pie shell with foil. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Prepare this meal ahead of time:

Cook chicken, mix with all ingredients except frozen veggies. Refrigerate overnight. When you are ready to bake the pie, add frozen veggies to the mixture and place all ingredients in the pie shell.

Enjoy cooking for your loved ones this week :)!