This was actually an easy recipe to make! The flavoring was very good! I did over cook the chicken a little bit but it didn't hurt the flavoring just made the chicken a little dry and the cheese was burnt on the bottom. I did have a hard time getting the cheese to stay in the chicken but I might try using cheese sticks next time.

Chicken Parmesan Rollatini

Recipe courtesy Food Network Magazine

Prep Time:

--

Inactive Prep Time:

--

Cook Time:

35 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup fat-free low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 14.5-ounce can crushed San Marzano or fire-roasted tomatoes 5 or 6 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 thin (1/8-inch-thick) chicken cutlets (4 ounces each)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 6 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 large egg white
• Cooking spray
• Instant polenta, for serving (optional)

Directions

Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. Cook the broth, garlic, tomatoes and basil in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper; place smooth-side down on a work surface. Sprinkle with the parsley and mozzarella. Starting at the short end, roll up to enclose the filling. Secure with a toothpick.

Mix the parmesan and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. Put the egg white in another dish and beat until foamy.

Mist a cast-iron skillet with cooking spray. Dip the chicken rolls in the egg white, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place in the skillet, seam-side down. Sprinkle with any remaining breadcrumbs and mist with cooking spray. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Serve with the tomato sauce, and polenta, if desired.

Per serving: Calories 355; Fat 14 g (Saturated 7 g); Cholesterol 105 mg; Sodium 848 mg; Carbohydrate 15 g; Fiber 2 g; Protein 44 g

Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

Italian Sausage Lasagna

My food processor completely shit the bed while I was making this and you have to puree the cottage cheese. I tried using the blender but that didn't work either. Thankfully, I still have my hand mixer around and I was able to use it with the cottage cheese. It didn't puree it but it made it smoother then it was. I had to get my husband to help me cut things up because it was taking me forever to get this dinner ready. On the plus side our 14 month old actually ate 2 toddler size helpings! I was excited to see him eat it especially with the spinach in it. I did take out the sausage from his pieces.

This recipe was very good! But next time I make it I am going to cut the sausage in half and add about 1/2 pound of ground turkey meat. We also plan on cutting the wine in half, my husband could taste it and we are not wine people. When I made it this time I left out the scallions because I didn't have any and I doubled the mozzarella cheese because we love cheese!

Sausage Lasagna

From Food Network Kitchens

Prep Time:

35 min

Inactive Prep Time:

15 min

Cook Time:

1 hr 40 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

8 servings

Notes

Only a small amount of turkey sausage was needed to give big meat flavor to this lasagna. We kept a thick fluffy cheese layer by combining part-skim ricotta with low-fat cottage cheese and a lesser amount of part-skim mozzarella cheese. Fresh basil in the sauce and cheese filling keeps this tasting light and fresh.

Directions

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1/4 cup dry red wine

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves, plus 2 whole sprigs

2 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (16-ounce) container 1 percent low-fat cottage cheese

1 (15-ounce) container part-skim ricotta cheese

1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 scallions, chopped

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

8 ounces lean sweet Italian-style turkey sausage, casings removed

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

9 sheets no-boil lasagna noodles, 5 1/2-ounces, (recommended: Barilla)

1 1/2 cups part-skim shredded mozzarella cheese, 6 ounces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small pot bring the tomatoes, wine, whole basil sprigs, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, to taste, to a simmer; cook until slightly thickened, 10 minutes; set aside.

2. Meanwhile, puree the cottage cheese in the bowl of a food processor until smooth. add the ricotta, spinach, 1/4 cup chopped basil, scallions, nutmeg, and salt and pepper and pulse until just combined; set aside.

3. Coat a large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray set over medium heat. Cook the sausage and onion, breaking it up with a wooden spoon into small pieces, until the meat is browned and the onion tender, 10 minutes.

4. Assemble the lasagna: Mist a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce on the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with 3 noodles, half the ricotta mixture, half the sausage and 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers with sauce, noodles, remaining ricotta and sausage and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Top with remaining noodles and sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until the noodles are tender and the sauce is bubbling around the edges of the pan, 1 hour.

5. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and continue to bake until melted, 10 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup basil. Serve.

Copyright 2010 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved

Nutritional analysis per serving

Calories 350; Total Fat 12.5g (Sat Fat 5g, Mono Fat 3g, Poly Fat 1.5g); Protein 29g; Carb 30g; Fiber 4g; Cholesterol 36mg; Sodium 848mg

Homemade Dog Treats

One of my furbabies was sick recently and everytime he ate his dog food he threw up. Now this is the same dog food that he was had for years so I knew something was just up with his stomach. I called my mom who was a Vet Tech. for about 20 years and she told me to take him off his food and feed him a bland diet of rice and boiled chicken in small amounts 4 times a day for a week and then slowly ease him back onto his food. During this time I decided to make his treats as well, that way I could account for everything that he consumed. These cookies were easy to make and my dogs loved them. My neighbor gave me this easy recipe, she makes her furbabies a lot of homemade treats!

Here is the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease cookie sheet.

Ingredients:
4 cups of Oatmeal (old fashioned or Quick Cooking)
1- 14 oz can of 100% Pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1/4 Tsp. Ground Cloves
2 Lg. Eggs

Directions

Dump all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Drop by rounded teaspoons full on cookie sheet, flatten with the spoon and bake for 1 hour. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and remove to cooling rack or waxed paper to finish cooling. When completely cooled, place into storage bags or tightly sealed container and keep refrigerated.

Makes appx. 6 dozen cookies

Crochet

My neighbor came over not to long ago and taught me to crochet! She showed me the basics and how to read a pattern! Then we began to make a granny square. She was doing it from one end of the yarn and me from the other. There were a few cuss words said after dropping stitches and having trouble finding the the right hole. I was incredibly slow to start but I am getting much better. I went and bought my own hooks and yarn and now I am working on a scarf! So far I am really enjoying crocheting and I can't wait to learn how to make more things!This is the granny square I worked on until I was able to go to the store and get my own hooks and yarn. I am so thankful to my neighbor, Anna, for coming over and teaching me to crochet and loaning me a hook and yarn to learn with!

What A Night

Last night my little one went to bed at his normal time 8:15. He still goes to bed with a bottle of warm milk, he is only 14 months old and I felt he was still young enough to enjoy this. I have heard of the dental affects but we brush our teeth together every morning and as soon as he is asleep me or my husband will go and take the bottle. Anyways, lately J has been waking up in the middle of the night crying. He is not having night terrors, we are able to soothe him instantly when we pick him up and he is usually awake by the time we get to his room (which takes about 30 seconds if we walk to it). Last night I had a hard time falling asleep and the last time that I looked at the clock it was 1:15 in the morning. I figured it would be ok since J doesn't get up until 8:00 am usually. Well last night he woke up at 2:20 crying, I made him a little bottle and laid him back down. I went back to lay down and then an hour later he was up again. By this point I am still groggy as hell and cranky from the not so gentle wake up calls. I get up and go in his room, kiss him and tell him to go night night. I back to my bedroom and turned to the tv on to see if he would self soothe and go back to sleep. By 4:00 he is still crying, so I get him another little bottle of milk ( he would have had about 9 ounces total if he drank this one. Not too much for him as he usually drink that before he falls asleep). Well at 4:30 he lets out a scream from hell and I figure his arm or leg is stuck through the crib again (a problem we are trying desperately to fix) and as I get in sight of his door and see him standing up in his crib, he begins to vomit. Waves of guilt wash over him and the lovely "your an ass" feeling settles itself in. So I clean him up and his room and get everything in the wash. Put new sheets on the bed and get new blankets, then I get him and we cuddle on the couch until 5:30 watching Cartoon Network. He finally fell back asleep and I was able to lay him down and get some sleep myself.

I decided that now was as good a time as any to break the milk at bed/nap time and then break the bottle all together. He vomited up what looked like cottage cheese. EWWWW!! Wish me luck as I am sure this is going to be a blast. My house will probably be overflowing with sunshine and rainbows as we take on this challenge! Next will be getting him in a toddler bed, since nothing I do keeps his limbs out of the crib slates.

My realization of the day

I am a nagger... what a thing to realize! I was talking to my husband tonight and I thought he wasn't listening so I began to talk at him instead of to him. Then it became this ridiculous nag session. The worst part is I could see my poor husbands face fall the more I nagged about stupid things. BLAH!!! I could hear a voice in my head saying SHUT UP! But this other voice, with the head shaking and finger snapping attitude kept my mouth moving! After he left for work, all I could think was CRAP!!! Thankfully, my husband loves me and apparently decided to brush this off as a part of my crazy! He usually tells me to dial back the crazy but apparently this time I was too much of a raging bitch to even warrant the normal comments that follow my nagging sessions!

Now on to more positive things and hopefully learning some serious self control with my mouth!

Pumpkin Patch Stuffed Shells

This is a very mild tasting meal. It was good but did not knock my socks off with flavor. It is however a very kid-friendly meal, and they are hard to come by in this house! I can not wait until J can help me make this one!!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• Salt and pepper
• EVOO
• 20 jumbo pasta
• 1 lb. baby spinach
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 1 large onion
• 1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
• 1 1/3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
• Parsley leaves

Directions:

1. Add 2 tsp. salt, a splash EVOO and 20 jumbo pasta shells to a large pot of boiling water. Cook according to package directions. Drain and rinse until cool. Cover with damp paper towels.

2. 1 inch water to a boil in the same pot. Add half of 1 lb. baby spinach. Let wilt before adding the rest; stir to wilt. Rinse with cold water; squeeze to get the spinach as dry as possible.

3. Place the spinach on a cutting board and chop with a bench scraper. (Or, if you don’t have a bench scraper, let an adult chop with a chef’s knife.)

4. Preheat the oven to 400°. In a skillet, melt 2 tbsp. butter. Add 1 large onion, chopped; add 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until tender, 6 to 7 minutes.

5. Add 1 lb. extra-lean ground beef; cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 3 minutes.

6. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the chopped spinach until well mixed. Stir in 1/3 cup shredded cheddar. Let cool.

7. Heat 2 cups milk in a microwave. In a medium saucepan, melt 2 tbsp. butter. Whisk in 1/4 cup flour; cook 1 minute. Whisk in 1/2 cup hot milk, then the rest. When it boils, whisk 1 minute.

8. Remove from the heat; season with 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Whisk in 3/4 cup pure pumpkin puree. Stir in 1 cup shredded cheddar. Cover to prevent a skin from forming.

9. Hold a pasta shell in one hand and stuff with a large spoonful of the beef-spinach mixture (about a 1-inch ball). Cover the stuffed shells with a damp towel as you work.

10. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Smear the bottom with 1/2 cup of the pumpkin sauce. Arrange the stuffed shells in the prepared pan with the openings face-down.

11. Spoon more sauce on top. Cover the dish with foil and bake until the sauce is bubbling hot, about 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before decorating with parsley leaves.

Other then making to much filling and some of my shells ripping before I could stuff them this meal actually was easy to make. I didn't cut any body parts or say a single cuss word!!

Autumn Lasagna courtesy of Rachel Ray

The other night I made this autumn lasagna and I was pleasantly surprised! It had the best flavor and was very filling!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups peeled, cubed butternut squash (10 oz.)
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups Creamy White Sauce
• 1 can (15 oz.) pure pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 10 egg roll wrappers (5-inch square)
• 1 3/4 cups shredded aged gouda cheese (about 8 oz.)
• 8 large basil leaves

EGG ROLL WRAPPERS: You don’t have to boil them, plus they have a naturally al dente texture that plays nicely with the tender veggies in this meat-free lasagna. (Look for the wrappers in the refrigerated produce section of your supermarket.)

Directions:

1. In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter. Add the squash and 1 cup water and simmer over medium heat; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the water is evaporated and the squash is golden and tender, about 13 minutes; set aside.

2. Position a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 400°. Meanwhile, lightly grease an 8-inch square glass baking dish and spread 1/2 cup white sauce in the bottom. In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and egg.

3. Cut half of the egg roll wrappers into 3 strips each. Fill a large bowl with hot tap water (as you work with the wrappers, dip them in the water to rinse off the starch). Use 1 whole wrapper and 3 strips to cover the bottom of the dish in a single layer (there will be overlap). Spread a generous 1/2 cup of pumpkin mixture on top and sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheese. Repeat the layering.

4. Add another layer of egg roll wrappers. Spread with 1 cup white sauce, then top with the squash, basil and 1/3 cup cheese. Add another layer of egg roll wrappers, the remaining pumpkin mixture and 1/3 cup cheese. Top with the remaining egg roll wrappers, then spread with the remaining white sauce.

5. Cover the dish snugly with foil and bake on a baking sheet in the upper third of the oven for 30 minutes. Uncover the dish, sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup cheese on top and bake until golden and bubbling, about 10 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

As the delightful amateur that I am, I of course hit a few snags along the way! I did not cut things before hand which has repeatedly gotten me into trouble and way behind the time. I usually double the prep time! My food processor decided to be funky the night that my 1 year old decided to spend the night clinging to my leg whining. My food processor is a wonderful tool that I usually love, but everything has to be put in exactly right with the bowl and blade and I must have put that stupid bowl on 100 times, slammed it on the counter 50 times and called it every dirty name I could think of. Then miraculously my insults worked and it decided to chop my shallots! Now onto the egg roll wrappers which I couldn't find so I used spring roll wrappers (I am not sure if there is even a difference). Now I started layered and realized that I was using the paper that separated the wrappers as well as the wrappers. I did double the layers because it seemed super thin. So I had to take the layers apart and they ripped due to the thinness. Good times! I bought a block of gouda cheese and shredded it myself and some of my thumb! Thankfully that was the only cut but I got this time!!

Other then those few snags the meal went off without a hitch! An hour after it was supposed to be done and buried under the sea of dirty dishes that I needed to create the meal!!

A Financial Reality Check

This is not a poor pitiful me post, as I know there are so many people worse off and we are able to pay all our necessary bills and have some extras like cable and internet. This is a little insight as to how stupid my husband and I were with our money and why I am now trying all these new things all at once!


So, recently it seems as though the only checks that are being cashed in this house are reality checks. Blah! Getting older and wiser isn't always fun and it definitely isn't the fairytale I had always imagined it would be! Before my husband and I were transferred to our current location we lived in VA living the single life. We lived together but we were not married and we had a small apartment and a cat. It was very simple to maintain and he was active duty and I had a full time teacher's assistant job. Financially we were set and life was good for our checkbooks! Emotionally we had a lot of growing up to do but that is another story. So anyways, we got to do what we wanted, when we wanted and buy anything we wanted. We went out to eat and on dates all the time, we bought new clothes and my cat was so spoiled it was unreal. Then we transferred...


We decided to buy a house because it was hard to find a place to rent with 3 pets. My husband decided to get 2 lab puppies right before we moved and our cat weighed 20 lbs at the time. So we bought a house with a large yard for the puppies.

Fast forward to last month and we are still living like we used to but with our income reduced by $1500 and our expenses increased by $900 and we are in debt. We sat down one night and actually talked (amazing little concept that one) and realized that were were in debt with credit cards and personal loans to the fabulous tune of $20,000. After we added it all up I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. We won't even include all the money we owe his parents and thankfully they aren't keeping tabs because I may just vomit. Now, I know everyone is in debt (for the most part) and it is just the reality of life in this economy but we also have the debt of the house, a car payment and then life's expenses. The only thing that we have charged to credit cards that was necessary was our cat's vet bills (he was diagnosed with cancer in his leg and it spread so quickly we couldn't save him and he had to be put down. :'( but we had several vet visits to find this out and do what was best for him... not cheap). The rest is frivolous crap that we bought for fun...

For the first time ever we made a budget and we realized that in one month we spent over $800 on gas (my husbands work commute accounts for about $500 of it) and over $600 eating out. So everything we do is budgeted, even how long we can take a freakin' shower (haha, I kid!).

The point of telling the world our financial idiocy? Well now that we are on a budget, we had to make a menu to make grocery shopping more organized and cost affective and because I have to find free/cheap ways to entertain myself and our son. I only know how to make the basics, shake and bake, box mashed potatoes, the sides that come in boxes and bags. But now that we are eating in more I am making more creative things and trying to make better dinners. I am teaching myself how to cook! I do know how to bake sweets and usually they turn out good!

Thankfully we found a great meetup group in our area. I also made a friend who has a son the same age as our son. Her and I get together weekly and scrapbook (I bought a ton of stuff pre-budget) and just hang out while the little ones get some much needed social interactions with someone their age. Along with scrapbooking, I have started making decorative bows thanks to some youtube videos and a friend of mine is teaching me to crochet. I also want to learn to quilt!

All of this leads to Newbie/amateur homemaker status for me and guinea pigs for my family and friends!

An introduction

I am 26 years old and I have always worked. My parents taught me along time ago that if there was something I really wanted then I would have to earn it. I tried to work most of my pregnancy but we had a complicated ride and I ended up on bed rest through half of it. Then after giving birth to our son I was going to go back to work at 8 weeks but I really didn't want to be away from my little guy. And day care is ridiculously expensive, especially for an infant and my paycheck would have barely covered the cost and then add in my gas and we would have been losing money. Luckily, we were able to afford for me to stay home!

So here I am trying to figure out how to be the Susie Homemaker that it seems all other stay at home moms are! It should be interesting, since I am learning how to cook, I am not very creative but I aspire to do so many crafts and I have always had a hard time making friends.

*For anyone that is super anal when it comes to grammar and spelling be warned... I suck at both!!*