EASY TORTELLINI LASAGNA

Thanks to my cute friend, Loni, this is a delicious and easy way to make lasagna! We had it for "Sundee" birthday dinner yesterday and it was a hit! Mrs. Sam's Club and Mrs. Costco sure can make cooking a breeze! Sam's Club carries the Artisan Fresh brand of ravioli and it comes in a 2 pack.  Costco carries a different brand but they both taste the same. They are stuffed with chicken and cheese and some herbs. The two pack will make a 9x13 pan of "lasagna" but if you want a smaller amount, only use one pack and make it a 9x9 pan.  You could actually use any ravioli! A good idea for taking a quick meal to someone (especially if you forget and it's 4 o'clock)! I may or may not have done that a few times!!

1 two pack of stuffed ravioli (see above)
1 small container Ricotta cheese 
1 container shredded Parmesan cheese (or a blend)
Mozzarella cheese
Your favorite marinara sauce 

Spoon a small amount of marinara sauce in bottom of 9x13 pan.  I used a bottle of Ragu mixed with a little leftover sauce I had from spaghetti last week. Lay one of the two packs of ravioli in a single layer on top of sauce.  Spread Ricotta cheese on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  sprinkle with a layer of Mozzarella cheese.  Spread with a layer of marinara sauce.  Repeat the next layer without the Ricotta. (There is only Ricotta in the middle). 

 I actually made two of these yesterday and left Ricotta out of one of them--some in my family don't like it.  Bake at 350 for 30 min.  Serve with a nice green salad and garlic bread.

Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies

Snickerdoodles are one of my absolute favorite cookies.  Ever.  One of my friends told me about a recipe she had found on Pinterest for snickerdoodles and I knew I had to try it.  I have to admit that it was more time consuming than the recipe I usually use, but boy was it worth it! The recipe is from Ambitious Kitchen.  If you go to her blog, she has step by step instructions on how to brown the butter.

Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
• 1¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt
• For rolling mixture:
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
2. With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined.
3. Chill your dough for 3 hours or as long as possible in the refrigerator (important!), or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are super eager, although I cannot promise the same results if you do this. Fridge is always best! You want the dough VERY cold. If you desire a ‘puffy’ cookie, place them in the fridge overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Meanwhile mix 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
5. Bake the cookies 8-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Bake longer if you like crispier cookies. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES WITH COCONUT

I have been a little obsessed with Almond Butter lately--well I guess a lot obsessed! I've been eating it by the spoonful every day.  I used to eat peanut butter like that as a snack but peanut butter got kicked out of the saddle recently! I was so excited to find Sam's Club carries a large jar of MaraNatha almond butter for the same price as one half the size at the regular grocery store. There are lots of brands--just use what you like. And I'm obsessed with coconut too so I made these today and ate 10--really I did!! You could also add some slivered almonds to these.

Makes 3 dozen

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 c. almond butter

2 eggs

1 t. almond extract

3/4 c. shredded coconut

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the almond butter and mix until fully incorporated.  Add eggs and almond extract and mix together.  Mix in dry ingredients until just combined.  .  Fold in coconut.  Refrigerate dough at least one hour or up to overnight.

 When ready to bake preheat oven to 350.  Use 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and place dough on parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes, unti l cookies are puffy and golden brown around the edges.  Remove from oven and let cookies stand on baking sheet for 5 minutes.  Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool.

INSIDE OUT CARAMEL APPLE SLICES

I have had the "pleasure" of cooking for girls camp for our Church for the last 3 years with some really fun and CRAZY friends--Brooke (ring-leader), Loni, Lisa, Mary and this year we will add our friend Kelly! Each year the camp has a theme and this year it is "LOL" but not "laugh our loud"! It stands for "Love Out Loud".  With today's electronically connected youth, they tend to forget how to forge relationships that are real with others around them.  They also tend to forget how to turn off the electronics and have a relationship with their God.  This year, hopefully we will help them establish some good habits in their lives that will help them be successful in not only relationships with parents and friends, but also their Heavenly Father.

Whew--I know that was a mouth full but here is a little "something" for our camp "kick-off" get together.  I thought it quite appropriate as it is close to Valentine's.  These were definitely a hit and "somewhat" healthy! Apples, right??  These were fun and easier to eat than a huge caramel apple! Hope you like!!

Inside Out Caramel Apple Slices

 Ingredients
3 large Granny Smith or Pink Lady apples*
1 large lemon
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup (alternatively, maple syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate sauce (optional)

Directions
Cut your apples in half and use a melon baller to scoop out the insides, leaving the walls intact at about 1/2 to 1/4 inch thickness. Squeeze the juice from the lemon onto the apples and allow to set. This will keep them from turning brown right away.

In a sauce pan over high heat, combine the brown sugar, butter, heavy cream and corn syrup. Stir until the brown sugar has dissolved. Allow to boil, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 240F, about 7-10 minutes. DO NOT COOK ANY HIGHER--IT WILL TURN TO SUGAR.Remove from heat and add the vanilla, stir continually until it stops bubbling. Pour into a glass serving bowl (preferably that has a spout) and let cool for about 7-8 minutes. 

Using a paper towel, wipe your apples down, removing the lemon juice as much as possible. If the inside of your apple is too wet, the caramel wont stick. Pour the caramel into the hollowed out apples until just below the top. Add chopped nuts if desired.

Chill in the refrigerator until the caramel has set, about 20 minutes. Cut into slices** and drizzle with ***chocolate sauce if desired.

Storage: These don’t do well out of the refrigerator for very long. If you must keep them at room temperature, you might consider lying them on their sides, on a piece of parchment or wax paper. They will likely separate somewhat, but still taste good!

*Note: any firm, fairly dry baking apple will do.
** Note: I sprayed my knife with cooking spray (Pam) which helped with the slicing (if you don’t have cooking spray, wipe your knife with a bit of vegetable oil). DO NOT use a hot knife
*** For chocolate sauce,over medium heat, melt 1/2 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 4 T. butter in top of double boiler, stirring, just until melted. Spoon into a Ziplock bag and snip a small end off bottom corner of the bag.  Drizzle onto the sliced caramel apple slices and refrigerate.

Frito Casserole

Isn't it funny when you pin a recipe on Pinterest only to find that it came from one of your favorite food blogs?  That is what happened with this casserole.  I pinned it months ago thinking that it looked yummy and family-friendly.  I finally got around to making it last night and was so happy to see that it came from Sweet Treats and More!  Her recipes are great and always delicious.  Click here for the recipe and to see some way better pictures of this scrumptious dish.  My family loved it!

Another Chicken Tortilla Soup

We have some good chicken tortilla soup recipes on Becoming Betty, but I have one more to add.  We all like options, right?

I got this recipe from my good friend, Cara, who got it out of a Fry's recipe pamphlet.  It's been a little rainy here and I always want to eat soup when it's rainy, so I tried this recipe the other day and we loved it.  Add it to your soup recipe arsenal for those days when you just need something to warm you up.

1 onion, chopped
4 chicken breasts, frozen
1 can diced tomatoes
2 (4 oz.) cans green chilies
1 small can mild red enchilada sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can chicken broth
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
10 oz. frozen white corn
cilantro, chopped (as much as you like)

*In your crock-pot, layer the chopped onion, chicken breasts, diced tomatoes, green chilies, enchilada sauce, garlic, chicken broth, seasonings and bay leaf.  Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  Then mix up the soup, shred up the chicken with a fork and knife, and add corn and cilantro.  Cook for another hour or so and serve with tortilla chips, avocado, shredded cheese and sour cream, if you'd like.

*I didn't write down all the can sizes as she was reading this to me over the phone, but they are all just regular sized cans, around 15 oz.  I actually made this on the stove, using already cooked, shredded chicken.  I let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes.

Better Than Everything Cake

So here's the thing about the lions.

I made this cake on Monday night for dessert.  There was some leftover.  The next day was our Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet and each cub scout had to bring a dessert having to do with one of their favorite scripture stories.

Well, since we already had cake and I didn't really have time to make another one, we used the leftover cake to make a lion's den.  You know, Daniel and the lion's den.

When I sat down to post this recipe, I realized that this is the only picture that I took of the cake.  So there you have it.

The moral of this story is...this cake is heavenly and you should make it.

1 chocolate cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 jar caramel ice cream topping
1 pint whipping cream
Heath Bar pieces

*Make chocolate cake in a 9x13 according to package directions.  Let cool for a few minutes, but not completely.  Poke holes all over the cake using a fork or knife.  Make sure holes go all the way to the bottom of the pan.  Pour sweetened condensed milk over the cake.  Let it soak in for a few minutes.  Pour caramel topping over the cake.  Let it soak in for a few minutes.  Whip up your whipping cream until stiff, adding a little sugar and vanilla to taste.  Spread over cake and sprinkle Heath Bar pieces on top.

You could also use Cool Whip, but you know how I feel about Cool Whip.

The salted caramel sauce from Trader Joe's is way better than Smucker's.