Three Cheese Chicken Alfredo Bake

If you like cheese (and lots of it) then you will definitely like this recipe. Kyle loved it, but for me, there was just a little something missing. I haven't quiet figured it out yet, but once I do, then I will be making it again. Hmm..maybe it is because I am not a huge fan of jar pasta sauce. I will make my own Alfredo sauce next time.

Thanks to Life as a Lofthouse for this cheesy goodness.

This would be perfect to serve with garlic bread and a salad if you are having friends over. Too much for Kyle and I unless we wanted it for dinner and lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz.) box Penne pasta noodles

2 (10 oz) containers Alfredo sauce

1 cup Sour Cream

1 (15 oz) container Ricotta cheese

2 cloves of Garlic, minced

2 cups cooked, diced Chicken

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. dried Parsley

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

What To Do:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Cook chicken if you didn't cook ahead of time
• Boil the pasta in a large pot of water
• Drain pasta and then return it back to pot
• Add all the remaining ingredients, except for the mozzarella cheese
• Stir together to combine
• Pour mixture into a greased baking dish
• Sprinkle the top evenly with the mozzarella cheese
• Bake for 30 mintues

Glazed Pork Chops

Yum...once I saw a picture of these glazed pork chops, my mouth was watering. They had really good flavor and were extremely simple to make. 

Thanks to Budget Bytes.

 Ingredients:

4 thick cut pork chops

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. paprika

salt and pepper to taste

What To Do:

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a bowl combine the brown sugar and all the spices.

Remove the pork chops and season them by rubbing all the spices to fully cover each chop.

Heat 2 Tbsp. of olive oil in the skillet. When nice and hot, add the chops and cook for about 5 minutes on each side or until brown.

If your skillet is oven safe, place in the oven for an additional 5 minutes to finish cooking through. If your skillet is not oven safe, remove chops and place in a baking dish lined with foil.

After cooking for 5 minutes in the oven, remove the chops. Drag each side around in the glaze and serve.

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

Thanks to Plain Chicken for this simple recipe. I love spaghetti so this was definitely a good recipe to keep that throws just a little spin on regular spaghetti. I usually make my own sauce from scratch, but with this one, I just stuck to the original recipe.

Step by step pictures are below!

Ready to bake!!

Ingredients:

12 oz. spaghetti

1 (28 oz) jars prepared spaghetti sauce

1 lb. ground beef

1 tsp. Italian seasoning (I used more)

1 clove garlic, minced

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

What To Do:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Fill your pot up with water and start boiling your pasta
• In a skillet, brown the ground beef. Once cooked, drain the fat, stir in the spaghetti sauce and set aside
• When your pasta is ready, drain it and then stir in the cream cheese, garlic, & seasonings to make sure the spaghetti is coated
• Lightly grease a 9x13 pan
• Spread a small amount of the meat sauce in the bottom of your dish
• Put spaghetti on top of the sauce (I also added more seasonings on top) and then top with the remaining meat sauce
• Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top
• Bake for 30 minutes

Chicken Taco Bowls

I was looking for a simple recipe since I hadn't gone to the store yet b/c we had tons going on this past week. Thanks to Budget Bytes, I was able to throw all together.

Kyle really liked the flavor and said if I had added more tomato juice or broth, it would make for a really good soup.

I took the finished product before it was actually finished. I didn't get the picture with all the fresh cilantro and shredded cheese all on top.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts (I threw mine in frozen)

1 (16 oz) jar salsa

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained

8 oz. frozen corn (I used canned corn)

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1/2 Tbsp. cumin

1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

2 cups dry rice

8 oz. shredded cheese

1/2 bunch chopped cilantro

What To Do:

• Add everything except the rice, cheese and cilantro into your crock pot along with 1/4 cup of water
• Stir everything and make sure the chicken is covered
• Place the lid on the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours
• Before you get ready to eat, cook your rice according to the directions
• Remove the lid from the crock pot and stir with a fork to shred. Yes, it will shred with just a fork. No need to take the chicken out to shred and then put back in the crock pot.
• Build your taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, chicken mixture on top, and then top with cheese and cilantro (Again, sorry I forgot to take a picture with my cheese and cilantro on top)

Dr. Pepper & Brown Sugar BBQ Ribs

I think my MIL took a picture of the ribs for me since I was feeding my son at the time so I need to get it from her, but if not, we all know what ribs look like. Plus, the look is based on how you cook them.

Ever since we got home from visiting my sister and her family, I have been craving ribs. At the tailgate, our friend said to definitely add brown sugar to ribs to enhance any flavors. He was right...I could have eaten those all day long.

When we got home, my husband marinated the ribs all day/night with brown sugar and added in Dr. Pepper as well. These are definitely a keeper for us.

Ingredients:

1 rack of ribs

2 liter Dr. Pepper

1/4-1/2 cup brown sugar

BBQ sauce

1 Tbsp. butter, melted

What To Do:

• Rub the ribs with brown sugar and then put in a bag 
• Pour the Dr. Pepper into the bag and close it up
• Let the ribs marinate overnight and throughout the day of cooking
• Using foil, make a boat for the ribs
• Put ribs on the foil and then pour just a little bit of the marinade on them
• Start cooking them on low on the grill
• Add the bbq sauce as you start to flip the ribs
• Right before the ribs are done and you take them off the grill, pour the melted butter all over the ribs and continue to cook for another couple of minutes

Roasted Broccoli

Sorry, I have been bad about taking pictures of the food lately. I make our plates and we sit down to eat. Next thing you know my plate doesn't look too appetizing to capture a picture of.

I haven't cooked broccoli in who knows when. I am not a huge fan b/c it gets cold so fast and then I felt like it only had good flavor when soaked in butter. Since I was experimenting with my honey & herb chicken, I decided to go ahead and just add a few things to the broccoli and roast in the oven to get it a little crunchy. 

I don't ever really measure ingredients when I cook. I just go based off of the look of the amount so below is about my estimation. 

Ingredients:

1 bunch of broccoli cut into pieces

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (depending on how much broccoli you use and how spicy you want it)

salt and pepper

3 garlic cloves, minced (unless you like thicker pieces)

What To Do:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and olive oil
• Once mixed, toss in your broccoli and mix to coat all of it
• Spread the broccoli out on a foil covered cookie sheet
• Cook for about 15 minutes (this makes the broccoli soft with a little bit of crunch to it. Cook longer if you want it more soft or cook less for more of a crunch.

Honey & Herb Chicken

I was going through my seasoning cabinet to see what I could just add with some honey to make a glazed chicken. 

As I grabbed some, I also decided to throw it in the crock pot since it makes the chicken so tender. Here is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. paprika

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. chipotle seasoning

kosher salt

black pepper

1/2 cup honey

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

*Next time I am going to add in 2 Tbsp. fresh lime or lemon juice

What To Do:

• Spray crock pot with cooking spray
• In a small bowl, combine all the seasonings (not the honey or vinegar)
• Rub all on the chicken and then place chicken in bottom of crock pot
• Mix the honey and apple cider vinegar  together and then pour on top of the chicken
• Cook on low for 4 hours (if chicken is frozen, cook for 5-6 hours)