Three Cheese Stuffed Shells

Two words: three. cheese.

THREE CHEESE. doesn't that sound like a dream?

This recipe has become one of my favorites! This time of year I really look for hearty warm, stick-to your-ribs kinda dishes. This is definitely one of them. The recipe makes a large batch and it heats up really well the next day.

Two for one, yes!

There are three steps in the cheese-shell process.

1. Make your filling.

See why they are called three cheese stuffed shells? Ricotta, Mozzarella, & Parmesan.

Mix those together with an egg and some fresh herbs (key word fresh.)

2. Stuff your (cooked) pasta!

Lay the shells in marinara sauce.

3. Top with more marinara and lots more cheese, and bake!

Pull them out when they are bubbly. Serve with a salad and garlic bread! I promise, everyone in your family will love these. 

Hope you are all having a great week!

XO

Full Recipe

3/4 box jumbo shell pasta

Your choice marinara (I made from scratch)

1 cup Ricotta cheese

1 1/4 cup Mozzarella (and additional for topping)

1/4 cup Parmesan

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbls fresh parsley

1 egg.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook shell pasta according to box directions until al dente.

2. Pour 1/2 marinara in bottom of baking dish.

3. Mix cheese, egg, and herbs together. Spoon cheese mixture into cooked shells (around a heaping tablespoon in each shell.)

4. Lay stuffed shells in the marinara sauce in baking dish. Top with rest of marinara sauce and Mozzarella cheese.

5. Bake covered for 30 minutes until bubbly.

Cake Batter Christmas Cookies / Saving your Christmas cookie dough

I am a Christmas obsessor. I wait all year to pull out the Christmas decorations, the lights, pick out a tree, and watch Christmas movies. My tree is (finally) up and decorated, the stockings are hung... more details on this later.

Nothing, I mean nothing, gets me more in the Christmas spirit, than Christmas cookies! Of course I have my go-to favorites that I make all year, but I love that this time of year gives me the excuse to try new ones, (and eat them too.)

These were pretty low on the difficulty scale.. Just throw in your ingredients and mix em' up! Sorta.

Cream your butter and sugars, add your dry ingredients... and your favorite additions.

Be better than me and sift your dry ingredients to avoid lumps... :)

These technically don't fall in the "Christmas" cookie category (like gingerbread or molasses)... but with red and green M&M's? Pretty damn festive if you ask me ;)

I had a bag of M&M's... and picked out all the red and green ones.....

Not a red or green in sight.

.......... Desperate times call for desperate measures :).

These turned out so rich and buttery. The cake mix really gives them an extra kick.. these will be pretty hard to beat!

My best Christmas cookie tip: what to do with all of that extra dough? I never end up using it all, most recipes yield around 60 cookies, too many in my house.

Lump your extra dough on a piece of cling-wrap. Use the cling wrap to push the dough and begin to roll into a log.

Lay the cling wrap rolled log onto a sheet of foil and roll again. Twist the ends, and voila!

Throw in the freezer and it's ready to slice and use, all year long ;) 

Great for gifts too!

I think these will make Santa very happy.

So much more holiday fun coming soon! Hope you wall had a fantastic weekend.

XO

Full Recipe

1/14 cup flour

1 1/4 cup yellow cake mix

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup of butter (1.5 stick), softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/12 tsp vanilla extract

Semi-sweet choc chips/M&Ms

1. Sift together flour, cake mix, and baking soda.

2. In a kitchen mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract.

3. Slowly add your dry ingredients one cup at a time, on low, until a smooth dough forms. Add chocolate chips and M&M's.. as much or as little as you'd like!

4. Place dough in the fridge for half an hour to chill.

5. Roll dough into 2-inch balls, bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

6. Don't forget to save some for Santa!

Taco Zucchinni Boats

Did the name of this dish get you? I am not sure what to call these... stuffed zucchini? Honestly, that's just not as much fun.

I have been searching for new recipes that I can 1. Make a large quantity to have leftovers for lunches, and 2. incorporate more veggies.

I am starting to sound like an adult. When did that happen??

This recipe is so fun and heats up so well the next day. AND, you don't have to feel guilty about it.. even though I am not a believer in feeling guilty after a meal ;)

There are so many different ways to stuff these. You can use ground sausage, ground beef, ground turkey.. you could even use no meat, and go with beans or just veggies and cheese.. so many options!

I went with ground turkey, I was in the mood for something a bit more lean.

You want several Zuchini, but however many you choose, multiply x2 because you are slicing them in half :)

Once you slice them in half, hot-dog style, you're going to take a spoon, and carve out the middle. You don't want to carve so much out that they are very thin, but you do want to create enough room for them to be stuffed.

I browned my ground turkey with an onion, and seasoned it with cumin, paprika, garlic, chili powder, salt & pepper.. I wanted it to resemble a taco filling. I then threw in a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of whole kernel sweet corn. And of course, you top it with lots and lots of cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Tip: mine turned out just a little tough, I like my Zucchini really tender. Try covering it with foil for the first 20 minutes with a table spoon of water in the bottom of your pan, and then uncovering for the last 10. This will steam the Zucchini while they cook, and make them really tender.

They turned out so good!

Apparently, Nelly liked them, too :) .....................

I think you are going to love this one! Is it just me or has this been a really long week? Like.. the week that just won't end. I am SO pumped for the hardwoods being installed in my house this weekend, and (hopefully) the cabinet reno. The updates are desperately needed and I can't wait to share before and afters!

We are so close to Friday.. I can almost taste it! 

XO

Full Recipe

1lb ground meat (sausage, turkey, ground beef, etc, but optional)

1tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flake

1 onion, minced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can whole kernel sweet corn
Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese 

4 decent-sized Zucchini - sliced in half (making 8 boats)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice your zucchini, hot dog style down the middle, in half.

3. Brown your meat in a skillet over medium to high heat, add minced onion. Add seasonings.

4. Add tomatoes and corn, cook down for four to five minutes.

5. While meat is cooking, take a spoon and carve out the inside of the zucchini, creating a deep center leaving a 1/2 inch rim.
6. Spoon meat mixture into the carved zucchini. Top with shredded cheese.
7. Bake covered for 20 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Sunday Biscuits & Gravy

I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was so busy. We are having some minor renovations done on the house while simultaneously helping my 87 year old grandmother move into an assisted living home...... you can imagine the chaos :)

Saturday night after moving all day, my mom spent the night with me and we woke up Sunday morning and made biscuits and gravy. Now I can't take all the credit here, it is really my Mom's recipe.

It is the easiest biscuits & gravy you will ever make, I can promise you that.

You start out browning your ground sausage in a pan. I used my Dutch Oven because it browns the meat really well, and leaves the crusty brown bits on the bottom of the pan - which make your gravy the best.

Once you brown your sausage, throw about two to three teaspoons of flour over the sausage, mix it up real well and let it cook down for about 30 seconds.

Pour in about two cups of milk, ad let it cook down. When it starts to bubble, be sure to stir it so it doesn't stick. Stir all of those browned bits off the bottom of the pan to incorporate into the gravy.

Sprinkle in a generous portion of salt and pepper... (heavy on the pepper) and once the gravy is nice and thick, spoon it over your favorite biscuits.

I cheated and used frozen ones :)

SO easy! Who knew all you needed for a good sausage gravy is sausage, flour, and milk?? it was great news to me.

This weekend I moved my Granny's ancient baker's rack into my kitchen, along with some of her cookbooks from the 1930s. It is absolutely magical having such an old beautiful antique piece right in my kitchen, especially with such sentimental value. I love it so much.

We have so much happening at our house this week, from hardwoods to new appliances, it's so exciting. Can't wait to share the before and afters! Also, I tried several new recipes this week.. a few of which I am so excited to per-fect and share.. Happy Tuesday!

XO

SUMMER FRUIT CRISP

I think my met favorite part about summer.. other than sunshine, the salty ocean, iced tea, iced cold cocktails... think I'm getting distracted a little here? Fresh fruit! Georgia peaches and fresh strawberries... I want to eat them on everything.

So, this weekend I decided to slice up a bunch of these beauties and bake them in a crisp!

A crisp is sort of like a crumble or a cobbler.. with an oat topping. The oats are whipped with brown sugar and butter, and spread over top the sugar-covered fruit. Then it gets nice a crunchy and crumbly, almost like a soft brown-sugar granola on top.

So many delicious adjectives to use here.

It is so easy and quick. Once you have your fruit sliced, you squeeze a little fresh lemon juice on top, and toss your fruit with sugar. You then whip your butter and brown sugar until fluffy, add your oats, and spread the topping evenly over your fruit.

I topped mine with a sprinkle of extra brown sugar and cinnamon.

You put it in the oven... and it comes out bubbly and crumbly, the perfect summer dessert!

.......Best paired with heaping amounts of vanilla ice cream.

Not pictured ......... Seconds, and thirds.

This will be perfect for Fourth of July weekend! 

Can we also take a quick second to admire how much fun my new centerpiece is? It brightens up the room so much. It makes me want to put fresh flowers in every room!

Many more summer meals to be had here. Hope you are all having a great week!

XO

Full Recipe

For the fruit

1 tbs lemon juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs corn startch

1 lb peaches (2 - 3 big peaches) peeled & sliced

1/2 lb strawberries, sliced

1/2 cup white sugar

For the topping:

6 tbs butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup old fashion oats

1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine lemon juice, vanilla extract, fruit, and sugar. Mix lightly with wooden spoon until well combined. Pour into 9" baking dish.

2. Beat your softened butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in flour, salt, and oats with spoon. 

3. Using your hands, crumble the oat mixture evenly over the top of your fruit. Sprinkle additional brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon on top.

4. Bake for 45 minutes until browned and bubbly, let cool for 15 minutes to avoid it being soupy.

5. Eat with vanilla ice cream!