It’s that time again! Monday means, it’s time for This Week’s Cravings.

Our theme this week is Let’s Get Healthy… Healthy Meals & Snacks. More on that in a minute.

I’m proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

Have you made any Healthy Meals & Snacks and want to link up with us? Go ahead and link it up down below in the linky, just please make sure it’s a Healthy Meal and/or Snack. Also, please make sure you read the simple rules first.

Now, onto my yummy recipe.

I could seriously eat Salmon everyday. I love it so much. Salmon and Tilapia are my two favorite kinds of fish and if I could live off them only, I would. When we are looking for a quick meal, but want to make it a really healthy meal, this is my go-to recipe. It’s so easy that the kids can make it too with no help from me, which is always a plus. Of course mini-chef is almost 14 so there’s not much left she can’t do.

Anyway, you should make this for dinner. Soon. Trust me.

Garlic and Rosemary Roasted Salmon

• 2lbs of Salmon fillets
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1-2 Tbs. Chopped Rosemary Sprigs (more or less if desired)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Sea Salt

Preheat your oven to 425°.

Peel and chop the garlic or you can simply use minced garlic which we do.

Chop the rosemary. I use dried chopped rosemary, and it works just as well.

Cover a baking sheet with foil and then spread a very thin layer of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on the foil. Place the salmon fillets on the foil.  Brush more olive oil evenly over the salmon. Add a few pinches of sea salt, then the rosemary and then the garlic.

Place in oven. Roast for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the salmon is flaky.

We serve this with these roasted green beans, quinoa and a fresh salad for a healthy well rounded meal.

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Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 1/9/2012 Week # 63 COMFORT FOOD: Soups & Casseroles
• 1/16/2012 Week # 64 CHEESE LOVER DAY… YUMMY Cheese recipes
• 1/23/2012 Week # 65 Homemade Pies
• 1/30/2012 Week # 66 Recipe from Your Favorite COOKBOOK
• 2/6/2012 Week # 67 Nutella DAY (Peanut Butter, Almond Butter & More)

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING and co-hosted by the blogs listed in the top paragraph.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you! The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week. This week’s theme is:Healthy Meals and Snacks.
Please only link recipes with our theme!

Garlic and Rosemary Roasted Salmon originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on January 2, 2012.

It’s that time again! Monday means, it’s time for This Week’s Cravings.

Our theme this week is Macaroni & Cheese. More on that in a minute.

I’m proud to be co-hosting This Week’s Cravings along with Tina over at MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angie from Big Bear’s Wife  & Kristi from Veggie Converter.

Have you made any Macaroni and Cheese and want to link up with us? Go ahead and link it up down below in the linky, just please make sure it’s Macaroni & Cheese and not some other pasta dish. Also, please make sure you read the simple rules first.

Now, onto my yummy recipe and the story behind it.

First, Tina cracked me up when I saw on her list that we were doing Macaroni and Cheese. You see, I also participate in Tina’s Crazy Cooking Challenge every month, and a couple of months back we were challenged to find the BEST Macaroni & Cheese recipe. Well, I already had one that we swear by. And then I had to search out and find another that we liked even more and I found another one. But how was I going to find a third one? How easy could that be?

So here I was faced with the challenge of posting another new Macaroni & Cheese recipe that I didn’t have already posted on my blog and that we all loved as much as the other two. And I have rules about my Macaroni and Cheese, yes I do. I don’t like Baked Macaroni & Cheese. Not at all – I think it just gets too dry. My M&C has to be moist, creamy and flavorful. So stovetop is about the only way I go.

So when faced with the challenge, guess where I turned? Yep. To the Macaroni & Cheese Crazy Cooking Challenge and there had been one I had been eyeballing since the day that went live that I really wanted to try, and we did, and it was oh, so, creamy – super yummy – delicious. Honestly I liked it even better than the one I posted the day of the reveal.

I got this recipe from Lark’s Country Heart.

Three Cheese and Macaroni

16-17.5 oz. Cooked Macaroni Pasta
1/2 C. Butter
3 TBSP. Flour
1 3/4 C. Milk
1/4 C. Heavy Cream
4 oz. Cream Cheese-softened
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. Onion Powder
2 C. Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 C. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2.5 oz. pkg. of Real Bacon Pieces

Boil your pasta per package directions; drain.

While your pasta is boiling, in a sauce pan mix the butter and the flour, cooking for 1 minute. What I found fascinating is that the entire recipe begins with a Basic Roux. I really think that makes a huge difference in flavor.

Once you have the flour and butter together, add in the milk, the cream and all of the seasonings. Using your whisk, whisk until it is all smooth.

Add in the cream cheese and stir until melted. The mixture will start to thicken. Now add all the shredded cheese. Continue stirring until everything is completely melted and combined.

Drain your pasta and then transfer it to a large bowl. Pour the cheese sauce over the top and toss the sauce and pasta together.

As a final touch you can add bacon pieces in and mix.

We loved this recipe. It was so flavorful, so delicious, and just like Lark, we did only one small modification. She added Jalapeno Juice to hers, we topped ours with a sprinkling of Cajun Seasoning. At any rate, with or without the modifications, it was absolutely delicious.

The original recipe is from: Butter and Oven Mitts

<a href="http://dailydishrecipes.com/" target="_blank "><img src="http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Hudgens6/Buttons/ThisWeeksCravingsButton.jpg" /></a>

Participate in upcoming linky parties:

• 1/2/2012 Week # 62 Let’s Get Healthy… Healthy Meals & Snacks
• 1/9/2012 Week # 63 COMFORT FOOD: Soups & Casseroles
• 1/16/2012 Week # 64 CHEESE LOVER DAY… YUMMY Cheese recipes
• 1/23/2012 Week # 65 Homemade Pies
• 1/30/2012 Week # 66 Recipe from Your Favorite COOKBOOK
• 2/6/2012 Week # 67 Nutella DAY (Peanut Butter, Almond Butter & More)

This is a BLOG Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING and co-hosted by the blogs listed in the top paragraph.

If you are a regular link-up we’re excited to see what you made this week. If you are new please read and follow the simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party!

If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don’t feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you! The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week. This week’s theme is: Macaroni and Cheese.
Please only link recipes with our theme!

Super Creamy Macaroni and Cheese originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on December 26, 2011.

This is one of our favorite go to meals, when we are looking for something fairly easy but full of flavor. I’m just saying – this stuff is addicting. We eat a lot of chicken, so its imperative in my kitchen to find ways to make the chicken taste different each time and we did it with this meal. This dish is hearty, delicious and probably one of my families favorite recipes.

Zesty Roasted Chicken and Potato Dinner

• 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/3 c.  mayonnaise (I use Hellman’s)
• 3 Tbs. Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 3 tsp. garlic, minced
• 1 lb small golden yukon potatoes, cut into wedges

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Cut the Potatoes into wedges and set aside.

Line a pan with foil and spray the foil with some cooking spray. Arrange your chicken breasts on the  pan; sprinkle both sides with salt.

In large bowl, mix the  mayonnaise, the dijon mustard, the olive oil, pepper and garlic.

Brush a thick coat of mixture on each chicken breast.

Add the potatoes to the remaining Dijon mayonnaise mixture and toss to thoroughly coat.

Now arrange the coated potatoes around the chicken breasts on the pan. Bake everything uncovered for about 45 to 55 minutes. About halfway through, turn everything a bit.

Note: We sometimes add chopped green onions, other veggies, different seasonings, fresh herbs. This recipe is one of those versatile recipes you can change up a bit each time you make it. Delicious!

Zesty Roasted Chicken and Potato Dinner Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on December 21, 2011.

Southwestern Chicken Wraps

•  1 1/2 lbs. chicken
• 3/4 c. fat free ranch dressing
• 1 pkg. fajita seasoning mix
• 1/2 c. light mayo
• 1/2 c. celery, finely chopped
• 1/2 c. red pepper, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. green onion, chopped
• whole wheat tortillas, toasted
• Optional toppings: tomatoes, lettuce, avocado, sour cream, cheese

Cook chicken in cooking spray until browned. I actually used Extra Virgin Olive Oil instead of the cooking spray and I also sprinkled garlic and onion powder on it first to let it have a little more flavor. In a bowl, combine the ranch dressing, the mayo and the fajita seasoning mix.

Add chicken, celery, peppers and green onion. Toss well to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 – 2 hours. Spread generous 1/2 cup of chicken mixture over toasted tortilla. Top with additional toppings as desired.

We topped ours with chopped avocados, shredded taco cheese and sour cream. It was so good! Thanks Debbi, for a great recipe and for one that we plan to make again and again!

Southwestern Chicken Wraps originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on December 12, 2011.

I am so excited to have Jamie Rippy of  Mama, Mommy, Mom guest blogging on my blog today. Jamie is super awesome, so if you have not checked  her out, I am telling you. Go. Please? And tell her I sent you. She’s sweet, hilarious, the mom of two BEAUTIFUL children and a foodie after my own heart. Her post about S’mores Cookies made my mouth water and now they are on my to-make list. Now go, check her out.

See? I told you! Wasn’t that worth it? I hope you subscribed or bookmarked it or something along those lines, because you don’t want to miss any of her delicious food and/or recipes. Now, I’m going to let Jamie have the floor so she can tell you about this awesome Three Cheese Quinoa and Broccoli Casserole – Yum!

I have long professed my love for Quinoa.  I’ve written about it several times now.  If you’re not familiar with Quinoa, it’s a pseudo-grain.  That means it looks like a grain, acts like a grain, but it’s not a grain.  It reality, it’s a seed.  I’ve found Quinoa to be versatile, flavorful and something that even my kids love!

Another thing we love around here is casseroles.  I love that I can put them together ahead of time, then just pop them in the oven when I get home from work, giving us a nice hot meal without standing in the kitchen while I cook dinner.Pairing the two seemed fate.

I picked up some beautiful broccoli crowns at the market.  A quick chop and these were ready to take a dip in a little boiling water.  I didn’t cook them long…just enough to soften them a bit.  The Quinoa needs to be pre-cooked as well (according to package directions) and both can be going on the stove while you get the rest of your ingredients together.

All good casseroles have onions in them.  At least mine do.  I love onions, while the rest of my family… well, it’s not their favorite.  Casseroles are great for hiding things, onions included.

Why would you only use one cheese when you could use three?  Sharp Cheddar, Parmesan and Asiago cheeses add tons of flavor.

For moisture, a little low-fat mayo and some sour cream go a long way.  They also work great to help bind everything together.

Today’s post was brought to you by Jamie Rippy who blogs over at Mama, Mommy, Mom. She’s been a wife for 12 years and mom for 4.  She has two adorable kids & two toy poodles.  She fills her free time up with food, projects and her wonderful friends. Please tell her I sent you when you stop by! Also check her out on twitter at @MamaMommyMom

Guest Post: Three Cheese Quinoa and Broccoli Casserole originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on November 11, 2011.

As I’ve mentioned before, we eat a lot of chicken around our house. I am always looking for new ways to make it, or new things to add it to. So it should come as no surprise that I chose a chicken recipe for this months Secret Recipe Club post! I was super excited to find this recipe on The Jey of Cooking, my assigned blog for this month’s Secret Recipe Club. I was excited because I had everything on hand to make it right away, and I added some veggies we had leftover to make it a bit more complete. I was so worried my picky kids might not like it, however, it was DELICIOUS and has since been added to our menu planning recipes to have again and again.  This chicken could be used for so many dishes.

Spicy Honey Brushed Chicken Thighs

• 2 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp. Chili Powder
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp.  Paprika
• 1/2 tsp. Ground Red Pepper  (I used a red & black mix like Jey did)
• 8 Skinless, Boneless Chicken Thighs
• 6 Tbsp. Honey
• 2 tsp. Cider Vinegar

Directions:

Preheat your broiler.

Combine garlic powder, chili powder, salt, cumin, paprika and red pepper in a gallon sized ziploc bag. Add chicken and shake and rub to coat.

In a small bowl, combine honey and vinegar and mix well until combined.

Broil chicken for 5 minutes on each side.  Remove chicken from oven and brush with honey-vinegar mixture.

Return to oven and broil for one minute, then flip over and repeat.

I added peas, carrots, celery and potatoes I had leftover from another meal to it and added a little of the honey-vinegar mix and voila – a complete meal.

Thank you to The Jey of Cooking for a super fabulous recipe!

Spicy Honey Brushed Chicken & Veggies originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on October 17, 2011.

We’re doing the Food Outreach Hunger Challenge this week, so I’m trying to stretch our dollars to the fullest. We’re eating a lot of rice, beans and pasta. I’m probably not playing fair because I used up a bag of frozen shrimp for this recipe that we had in the freezer – mostly because I was worried it would go bad. So I guess I cheated, because it all honesty, when are those living on Food Stamps, really going to afford to be able to purchase Shrimp. That’s like a luxury item to them. At any rate, the bag of shrimp was about $10.00 when I bought it, and only had about 1/4 of the bag left. So let’s just say I was using up a leftover – which I was. Everything else was purchased for the challenge.

• 1/2 lb. Shrimp
• 8 oz. Rigatoni Noodles
• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 tsp. cajun seasoning (we use Lawry’s)
• 4 Tbs. butter
• 3 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream (I substituted with milk for 2 cups worth, due to the challenge)

In a bowl, toss in the cajun seasoning and the shrimp. Toss to coat it thoroughly.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan over med. heat until the butter stops foaming and just starts to turn a brownish color – sort of “tan”.  Now, add the seasoned shrimp and saute for 5-8  minutes until the shrimp is firm.

While you are sautéing the shrimp, boil your water and cook Rigatoni as directed on box.

Reduce heat and add the heavy cream and heat through, stirring frequently.

Pour shrimp and sauce over drained pasta and stir to coat the pasta. Sprinkle a little extra Lawry’s or Cajun Seasoning over the top of each serving, to give it the kick the desired recipient likes. You can also add a 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese to the entire pasta dish and toss in. (I didn’t do this because Parmesan wasn’t on my challenge grocery list)

Serve with garlic bread and a salad. Yum!

Notes: I actually made my cream sauce differently and separately from the shrimp, because we made up a HUGE batch of this for the challenge so we could add different ingredients throughout the week and stretch it further.

I wish I had taken a photo of the size of this pot. It’s a lot of pasta in there!

But our Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta was a hit, and the entire meal (including the extra pasta and sauce) cost me about $14.00 minus the shrimp since they were leftovers. We have enough for two more meals. Preferably with different add-ins, and one night I will add a few veggies. More on that in a different post.

Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on September 28, 2011.

We eat a lot of chicken around our house, which I’ve mentioned before. We almost always have some in the freezer and after I cook chicken breasts one night, a couple nights later, the leftovers often appear in a brand new dish. This is one of those dishes and it is SO good. We usually serve it with some steamed asparagus, garlic bread and a side salad. The kids request this  recipe often and I don’t mind making it because it’s quick, inexpensive and can use leftover chicken if you’ve got it.

Chicken Tossed Pasta Recipe

• 10 oz. uncooked spaghetti
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1/3 c. green onions, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. rubbed sage
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 c. heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 c. Parmesan Romano Cheese

Cook spaghetti noodles according to the directions on the package. While that’s cooking, in a large skillet, sauté the minced garlic in the butter for about a minute or so.

Next, add the chicken, green onions and all of the different seasonings to the pan. Cook, uncovered for about 3-5 minutes or until the juices all run clear.

Stir in the cream and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, simmer, uncovered for about 4-5 minutes. It needs to thicken a little, but you don’t want to over cook it. Trust me, it will thicken up when it gets into the pasta.

Drain the spaghetti, and then toss with the chicken mixture.

Sprinkle with the Parmesan Romano Cheese. Sprinkle with some Cayenne pepper on the top. Makes 4 servings. We double the recipe every time.

Chicken Tossed Pasta Recipe originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on September 13, 2011.

It’s Secret Recipe Club reveal day, and this month I feel honored to have been given one of the co-hosts blogs. Exciting!

My blog assignment this month was Tina’s from Mom’s Crazy Cooking

And let me just tell you, she did not disappoint! Mom’s Crazy Cooking is full of fantastic recipes, beautiful photography and sweet stories, many that accompany the food and recipes.

I had the hardest time picking just one thing to make. There were so many delicious, mouth watering recipes and so mini chef and & sat down and browsed the blog. It took us over two hours to decide. But when we were done, we had a whole meal!
Yep, that’s right – I made a WHOLE meal off Tina’s blog. All recipes and photos below:

Let’s get started with the delicious main course: Homemade Lasagna. We chose this for several reasons. One, her recipe called for lots of cheese, and well – we looooove cheese. And we had spinach that we wanted to use up. We aren’t huge fans of meat in our lasagna so we substituted with the spinach instead and we also added cottage cheese. Other than that, the recipe is pretty much the same.

Homemade Lasagna

2 Boxes of Lasagna Noodles
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce (but a jar would work just fine!)
Lots & Lots of Cheese (yellow & white)
1 small pkg. frozen spinach
2 cups cottage cheese
Parmesan Cheese

The noodles need to be boiled first. I agree with Tina, putting them in the casserole without cooking them, simply doesn’t work out that well.
Boil them.

Then just begin to layer them.

Next, in a bowl, mix together the spinach, trying to remove as much moisture as possible, mix in the cottage cheese and sprinkle some Italian seasonings in. Mix this whole thing together and put it on top of the noodles.

Next top with a layer of sauce. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of that.

Do all four things again – Noodles, Cottage Cheese Mix,  Sauce, and Cheese.

Continue this over and over until you have it as big as you want it. I didn’t use a super thick casserole pan, so I had enough ingredients to make two casseroles and I threw one in the freezer for later.

Preheat oven to 350 and cover with foil. Cook at 350 for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on oven. (Last 15 minutes take the foil off)

Tina, this was honestly the BEST Lasagna I have ever eaten. My kids all raved, my husband raved – I don’t know what made it so different, but it was SO good. I am looking forward to thawing the other Lasagna next week on a school night for dinner.

But wait – there’s more.

While the Lasagna was cooking, two children made these:

Poor Man’s Garlic Bread - Any leftover bread you have (we used hamburger buns for this one, but we also use hot dogs and whatever we have. You spread with butter, sprinkle some garlic salt or garlic powder on each one, add some Italian seasoning. We topped with mozzarella cheese to make it cheesier. Broil for 2-3 minutes. So good!

And we ended the evening with Chocolate Camping Cake, which Tina said her hubby loves for his birthday and we can see why! Very delicious. I normally make all my cakes from scratch, but this one was super quick with the boxed mix, and I had some so I used it.

Chocolate Camping Cake

1 box Deviled Food Chocolate Cake Mix
1 box of Jello COOK & SERVE Pudding (can NOT be instant; either size box is fine, I use big box)
Chocolate Chips
Walnuts (or favorite nuts)

Make the pudding according to the directions on the box.

Then add the dry cake mix to the cooked pudding and mix well. Don’t add anything else. Nope not another thing. Nothing else.

Pour it into a greased 9×13 pan, sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts (about 1/2 a bag, more if you’d like).

Bake. (approx. 30-35 minutes; I usually follow the cooking directions on the back of the cake box) 

Cut & Serve! The cake was delicious and they ate the whole thing in one night! Thank you so much Tina, for so many great new recipes!!

Homemade Lasagna + More! originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 22, 2011.

I told you yesterday about my Ham Freezer Cooking Session, and I want to share the recipes I used to make these awesome casseroles with all the ham I got. This particular recipe is for a Creamy Ham Noodle Casserole. I make this several ways when I am preparing it. I will give you the full recipe and then show you the modifications I make to it so that they don’t all taste the same. Also, this recipe is for 2-3 casseroles. I say 2-3 because I found that my glass casserole dishes seems to hold more than my stainless steel pans I bought with lids for freezing.

Creamy Ham Noodle Casserole

• 10 c. uncooked tri color spiral pasta
• 4 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 med. green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1/4 c. butter, cubed
• 3 cans of cream of cheddar cheese soup, undiluted
• 3 cups milk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 4 c. cooked ham, cubed
• 2 cans mushroom stems and pieces, drained
• 1 c. crushed butter-flavored crackers

Creamy Ham Noodle Casserole originally appeared on The Daily Dish Recipes on August 21, 2011.