Pizza Casserole

So it's been a long five days since the last weekend. Every day you do the same thing. You get up too early, get ready for work, leave for work, come home, make dinner and plop yourself back into your bed. This repeats for five whole days. On the fifth day, in this household we enjoy something called PIZZA. It's quick, it's cheap and it is probably one of the best inventions out there to dazzle our taste buds!

A few weeks back I decided to ditch the traditional pizza crust and make a casserole. Did someone say noodles?!? I love noodles!

Ingredients
1 pound of pasta (your preference, it all works!)
1 lb ground pork sausage (you could get sausage links and remove casings)
1 lb cooked ham, diced
1/2 lb pepperoni slices
1 large onion, diced
1 green or red pepper, seeded and diced (if you want a sweeter pepper, choose red)
2 (26 oz) jars of pasta sauce (I used a tomato basil, and garlic and onion)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp minced garlic
6 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp italian herb seasoning

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. In a large skillet, brown sausage. Add onion, pepper, minced garlic and dried oregano. Saute until onions are translucent and juices run clear. Mix the sauce with the italian herb seasoning. In a 9"X13" baking dish add a small amount of sauce to coat the bottom. Begin layering the casserole.

1st layer: 1/3 of pasta, 1/3 of sauce, 1 1/3 cup of mozzarella cheese, 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese and sausage, onions & pepper mixture.

2nd layer: 1/3 of pasta, 1/3 of sauce, 1 1/3 cup of mozzarella cheese, 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese and diced ham.

3rd layer: You will add the remaining ingredients, pasta, sauce, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and top with pepperoni slices.

Bake for 40 minutes.

You won't be disappointed.

This casserole can feed a family of 1000. Ok, maybe not that many. 

It is definitely worth making once. Then you will want it again. Although I never said it was the healthiest for you! All good things in moderation!

Enjoy!

BBQ Pulled Pork {Slow Cooker}

This is an easy to make dish that you will crave time and time again! Whenever I see pork on sale at the grocery store, it is scooped up in anticipation for this amazing dish!

Ingredients
2 lbs or more pork loin or roast
salt and pepper
12 oz of coca cola
Bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (we use Sweet Baby Ray's Chipotle)

Directions: Place pork into slow cooker, season with salt and pepper. Pour coca cola into slow cooker and set to low. Cook for 7-8 hours. Drain out cola liquid and shred pork. Stir in BBQ sauce.

That is it! It's delicious, so please try it!

Mexican Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce

If you want to try a recipe that gives you a punch of mexican flavor, this one is a winner! My husband gave it a 10, which is hard to come by in this house!

Ingredients:
Puree
2 cans of Rotel Tomatoes with Green Chiles
1/4 cup of chopped onion
2 tsp of minced garlic
1 minced chipotle in adobo sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp of brown sugar
1/2 tsp of yellow mustard
1 tsp tomato paste
Juice of 1 lime
Salt & Black Pepper to taste

Mix
1 lb of ground pork
6 oz of ground chorizo sausage
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated onion
3 slices of bread
1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tbsp minced garlic
1-1 1/2 tbsp minced lime zest
1 minced jalapeno pepper, ribs and seeds removed
3 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp each salt & black pepper

Oil for cooking

Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Puree all sauce ingredients in blender/food processor. You may choose to leave one can of tomatoes whole, add at the end. Soak bread in milk for a few minutes. Mix all of meatball ingredients together in a separate bowl, including bread and roll into balls (about the size of a golf ball). Heat oil in a saute pan over medium. Add meatballs and brown for four minutes, turning once. Place meatballs into oven safe dish, pour sauce over the top. Place into oven and bake for 10-20 minutes until meatballs are fully cooked. Serve over rice or pasta.

Enjoy!

It's SpRiNg!

And there is snow on the ground....again.

At least there is an end near with the winter blues. When I took a walk the other day with my dogs, I did find some green sprouting through and the first flowers in our yard! This is what makes me happy.

What also makes me happy today is being able to spend time with this guy. He leaves for a work thing tomorrow in Ohio for a few days. I have to say for someone that is in the restaurant business, he sure has traveled A LOT in the past 3 years. If only it were for pleasure and not work, huh?

Today was a good day to have a nice warm meal. The kind of meal that sticks to your stomach and makes you happy. Yes, the kind of food that is referred to as comfort. The comfort of knowing you are having a hot and scrumptious meal when outside is so dreary and cold. I was planning on a salad but crispy lettuce and cold veggies didn't make my heart skip a beat, it actually made me shiver. So today is all about mashed potatoes with succulent pork and sweet caramelized onions. I have an addiction to caramelized onions, they are just that good. Oh yeah, and potatoes.

Source

There are so many ways to make mashed potatoes. Everyone thinks that they have found the best way and they might have, for them. It's all about preference and for me the perfect mashed potatoes are made with potatoes, salt & pepper, garlic, butter, sour cream and milk. The sour cream addition stems back from my childhood and a tip from my mama. It makes them extra creamy and that is exactly how I like them! I've definitely changed this up a bit, adding different cheeses and seasonings, because potatoes are very versatile. Sometimes though, the basic recipe is your best bet.

Soon you will notice a theme in tonight's meal...butter.

Sometimes when you are hit with a big blow it just takes the little things to bring it up a notch!

Dinner was an absolute hit. I have been craving perogies for the past week but instead of going out to buy more things I didn't need at the grocery store, I opted for option number two. I do have a wedding to pay for here, and at the moment things aren't looking so wonderful. But my motto for now, just gonna keep it positive.

100 days

- 2 lbs (Decided I'm going to post my daily weight gain/loss in the beginning of the post. That way it's a slap in my face every time I log on :-) We shall see!)

In 100 days I'll be getting my hair done, having my make up be all pretty and wearing the white dress. I can't explain in words how excited I am, but I can explain how nervous I am to be the "spotlight" of the day. I am not good with attention, pictures, or compliments. So for the next 100 days, I'm going to have to psych myself into accepting those three things that terrify me the most about our special day. I'm sure that I'll be so happy that day that it won't phase me, I hope.

Today is a good day. I get to spend it with my man, who I've missed terribly. His schedule has always been an issue being that he works in a restaurant, but I've only recently started to be upset about it. I think it's because I see how hard he works and how little they respect him at his job. Also, we will be starting a family sooner than later and I don't want him to miss seeing our children grow up. So, we are yet again on the job search, we'll get it right one day!

Breakfast: I was craving a breakfast sandwich today. So I took 1 egg + 2 egg whites, added a few tablespoons of shredded mozzarella, a piece of bacon and put it on two pieces of wheat toast. Of course I drizzled cholula all over it.

It was scrumptious!

Lunch: We were out and about getting errands done today so we stopped at Panera Bread. I got the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad. It was fantabulous.

Of course on our adventures I got an iced coffee. I have an addiction. Although, I do not need one every day. So, I'm good. *smile*

Dinner: Tonight I made a version of chicken marsala but with pork instead. I got the recipe idea out of my Eat what you Love cookbook. I had been eyeing it multiple times at Costco but didn't want to splurge. Being that Borders is going out of business in EVERY place I can go to, I decided to do some shopping. Maybe I'll show you what I got at the end of this post. Now back to dinner. The recipe calls for pork tenderloin, but I had some pork chops in the freezer that I needed to use up.


20 Minute Pork Marsala
Ingredients
1 lb pork tenderloin, well trimmed (like I said, I used the chops)
2 tsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste (I omitted this since I didn't have it on hand)
1 tsp flour
1/2 cup dry marsala 
1/2 cup red wine or reduced sodium beef broth (I used beef broth)
8 oz or 2 cups mushrooms
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley


~Cut the tenderloin into 3/4 inch thick slices and pound to 1/8 inch thickness. This is a great way to get your frustrations out. 
~Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add the cutlets, and brown for about 1 minute on each side. Transfer to a plate and cover to keep warm.
~Heat the oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. In a small bowl, whisk together the tomato paste, flour, marsala, and red wine or beef broth, add mushrooms and pour into pan. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender. Add butter and stir.
~Return cutlets to the pan, turn in the sauce, and heat until warm. Garnish with parsley.

The End. We changed it up a little bit by using the pork chops. We browned them in the pan and then put them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. The mushrooms were sauteed in the pan with minced garlic and olive oil before adding the wine & beef broth. We also omitted the tomato paste and then added some caramelized onions on top. I had a craving so I gave in! On the side, some green beans that are always delicious.

When you cook from a recipe, do you always follow it or change it to your liking? When I cook, I take what I like and then what I know to form a recipe that hopefully tastes good!

Now it's time to get some wedding stuff done in the last hours of the evening. My mantra for today:

It's not a new diet, it's a new way of life.