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.

Happiest Place on Earth...

Tomorrow we are going to DISNEY WORLD with AJ's parents, brother, sister in law, and 3 kids. We are very excited because neither of us have been in YEARS! I will definitely ride "It's A Small World" in homage to my family because I used to torture them by wanting to ride it 500 times in a day. :P

Our Current Favorite Dinner

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Ingredients

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg Stove Top stuffing for Chicken

1/2 cup water

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

1 tsp. dried basil leaves

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Heat over to 400 degrees. Mix tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic just until stuffing mix is moist.

Layer chicken, basil, cheese, and stuffing mix in 13x9 inch or 3 quart baking dish.

Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

This is one of AJ's FAVORITE to eat and my FAVORITE to make because it's sooooo easy and sooooo good! You gotta love Kraft Food & Family magazine!!

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!!

Slow-Cooker Hearty Beef Chili

Ingredients:
1-1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (15 oz.) dark red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (15 oz.) light red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1-1/2 cups mild salsa
1 can (16 oz.) no-salt added tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed, drained
1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
Brown meat; drain. Add to slow cooker with remaining ingredients except cheese; stir. Cover with lid.
Cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours (or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours).
Stir just before serving. Serve topped with the cheese.

This was my first attempt at making chili and I am pretty proud of myself! Next time I make it I think I will add a little more tomato sauce because it needed more liquid. While the corn was different, I don't think I'll add as much next time.

Hey Strangers!

I think I'm going to start posting here more often.

I got a new job in October. An 8-5 job!! Now that I have a normal schedule, I can actually get back to being domestic... cooking, baking, cleaning, etc.

I have a couple of new recipes that AJ & I have tried so keep watching!

Our First House!

Since starting my new job in November, I have been VERY BAD at my quest to become domesticated! The hours I work at very hectic so while I haven't been cooking that much, we have done something completely domestic.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

After a few weeks of looking around Roanoke, we found "the one" in SW Roanoke City. We love it and are scheduled to close on March 6th. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!