The Reason I Will Gain 20 Pounds This Christmas:

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Mallow Bars

Ingredients
1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2/3 cup milk, divided
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow creme
1/2 cup salted peanuts
6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
HEAT oven to 350°F. Mix dry cake mix, butter and 1/3 cup milk until blended; press 2/3 onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Bake 12 to 14 min. or until center is almost set; cool 3 min. Meanwhile, mix peanut butter and remaining milk.
SPREAD peanut butter mixture onto crust; top with small spoonfuls of the marshmallow creme and remaining cake mixture. Sprinkle with nuts and chocolate; press gently into cake mixture.
BAKE 18 min. or just until center is set. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!

Stuffed Shells

Back from a wonderful trip to Disney and on to Christmas!! I always said that once AJ & I bought a house, the first Christmas would be at OUR HOUSE so my mom & dad are in town for the week. I'm nervous about helping with Christmas dinner but excited because I have a wonderful teacher. For Christmas Eve, we are going to have Stuffed Shells:

Ingredients
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
1 container (16 oz.) Fat Free Cottage Cheese
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
1 red pepper, chopped
1 egg white
1 env. GOOD SEASONS Italian Dressing Mix
20 jumbo macaroni shells (for stuffing), cooked, drained and cooled
1 jar (13-1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce

Directions
HEAT oven to 400°F. Mix spinach, cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella, peppers, egg white and dressing mix until well blended; spoon into shells, adding about 1 heaping Tbsp. to each shell.
SPREAD half of sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish. Arrange shells, filled-sides up, in baking dish; top with remaining sauce and mozzarella. Cover with foil.
BAKE 40 min. or until heated through, removing foil after 30 min.

I will report back with how it tastes!

EDITED: These were spectacular!! They are lowfat, hence the cottage cheese, so next time we make them we will use ricotta cheese.

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

AJ & I spent Thanksgiving in New Jersey with family. We ate dinner on Thursday with AJ's parent's, Michael, Josephine, Chris, Bobby, Tony & Janet. It was delicious! I made my annual Cranberry Salad and it was a hit! (Thank you for the fool proof receipe, Mom!)

We went to Long Island on Friday for AJ's cousin's wedding. It was so great seeing AJ's aunt & uncle and cousins... I wish we saw them more often! The wedding was absolutely beautiful and so much fun.

Congratulations to (Big) AJ and Vanessa!!

Easy Cranberry Salad

With the new job starting this week, I haven't cooked ANYTHING this week! I don't want to leave my readers (I mean reader, my mom.. haha) disappointed, here is a recipe that I inherited from my mom. :)

Ingredients:
1 large cherry Jello
1 can cranberry sauce
1 can crushed pineapple
2-3/4 cups Ginger Ale
1 cup chopped pecans
1 small can of mandarian oranges

Directions:
Bring Ginger Ale to boil then dissolve jello in hot Ginger Ale. Add cranberry sauce, pineapple, nuts, & oranges. Mix well and refridgerate.

You can also experiment by using different flavors of Jello like 1 small cherry & 1 small cranberry or 1 small raspberry... anything that you feel will taste yummy!