A few more have been checked off...

So after a month or so of creating yummy new dinner each week I have completed #46 & #47. Each week I have subjected Tim to eating a few new dinner recipe. At least each time he gave me his honest opinion. I believe his favorite recipes were Creamy chicken alfredo with brocoli and the Baked Ziti. Last friday Chris and Amanda came over and sampled the Baked Ziti. I found out that both of them loved it. It was quite easy to make and I have to say this recipe that I stole from another girls cooking blog online was delish. This recipe will be added to my recipes cards. Ahh the cards that I received from my bridal shower, the cards that I must write on, the cards that are sitting in my living room, with about 30 stakes of paper filled with recipes that need to converted to each card. I must get on that task.

Several weekends ago Tim and I went to see a Maryland game with his brother Steve and wife Rena. The last game that we went to Maryland lost to Virgina in an upsetting comeback victory for VA. We were very disappointed with the team. SERIOUSLY how can one team put up all those points and then blow the lead?? A good question, a question that many football fans ask every week! The last game that we will be attending is the Boston College game on November 10th. Although when Tim and I decided to purchase these tickets we knew it was going to be a good game. Although I think now we realize that this game may be another blow out. Boston College is ranked #2 in the Country. Good for the ACC, but bad for Maryland. Maryland's defensive needs to come to the game willing to play. We have a better QB this year then we have in past years and this kid wants to win. So come on boys, we need you there and we need you to WIN! Okay, there's my words of encouragement for the November 10th game! GO TERPS!

#46 & Continuing I swear...

I really am continuing my "ONE NEW RECIPE A WEEK". Although I was getting a little nervous because I almost forgot that I needed to make something new last week. The problem that occurred was that last week we didn't go grocery shopping. Well meat non-existent in our house. But by Thursday night Tim and I knew that Saturday was a day to tailgate and watch some football. And I was in charge of dessert. So I found a recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com which seemed easy enough to make the night before. I had a lot of fun making EASY APPLE CRISP! It turned out delish and I even got some raves from my father-in-law. I promise that I am going to email my friends with the recipe. Here is the recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Apple-Crisp/Detail.aspx for those of you that may be interested.

This weeks new recipe is Baked Ziti. I am excited because I love anything pasta. I'll let you know how everything turned out next week. Here is that recipe as well...

Baked Ziti
(Source: Amber's Delectable Delights)

Ingredients:1 box (16 oz) Ziti pasta1 jar spaghetti sauce1/2 lb ground beef1/2 lb pork sausageSalt, black pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes (all to taste)12 oz cottage cheese (or ricotta if you prefer)1/2 cup (4 oz) mozzarella cheese1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese8 slices provolone cheese

Directions:- Preheat oven to 350 and grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 casserole dish.- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, season water with salt, boil pasta till al dente; drain and set aside.- Meanwhile brown sausage and ground beef in skillet and season with desired amounts of salt, black pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes. Drain excess grease away from meats and return back to skillet. Add the jar of spaghetti sauce and let simmer until you are ready to assemble the dish.- Place enough sauce mixture on the bottom of the pan so the noodles won't stick. Then assemble the rest of the dish- half of the cooked noodles, all of the cottage cheese, 4 slices of provolone cheese, 1/2 of the remaining sauce, remaining noodles, half of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, remaining sauce, remaining cheese.- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Let set 10 minutes to cool before serving

#77 Fix front window

After many months of procastinating on when to send in the paper work to the HOA to fix the front window. Tim and I were cited yesterday to repair our front window trim. The letter stated that we had two weeks to reply to the letter or would be fined $50.00 each day that we didn't response. What a load of crap. Tim and I walk Josie daily around the neighborhood and have noticed a lot of people with rotting window trim. So I guess the whole neighborhood will be repairing their windows this fall. This letter is now pushing us to get to finally get it fixed. All we need is approval from the HOA and then work can begin.

#75 Introduce Josie to Jack! (Completed)

Late yesterday afternoon I received an email from Megan wanting to know if Josie, Sammi and I went to come up to the dog park and play. Usually I am the plan all girl- way in advance, but I was happy that I finally did something just out of the blue. So I called Megan and we scheduled a time to meet at REBEL dog Park. I arrived home around 4:45, let Josie and Sammi out, changed my clothes. Packed their water bottles, a bowl, and put their harness on. We arrived at the park at the same time as Jack and Jordan. Jack is a yellow lab and his new sister is Jordan, a lab mix. Josie immediately warmed to Jack. Jordan on the other hand she being the timidate girl that she is, was a little standoffish. Sammi enjoyed peeing on everything and exploring the huge park. Jordan was content by checking out the noises coming from afar. The first pictures is of Megan and Jordan. The second picture is of Sammi, Jack and Josie in the distance checking out the new dog. The new dog Caine was a three year old pittie, his daddy decided it was cooler to not pick up his pooh. Even though Signs at the park, ask that you pick up their waste and they even supply a bag for you. Seriously, if you can't pick up after your own animal you shouldn't have one. Oh sorry I just went over on a tangent there, but I seriously feel that this part dog ownership and responsiblity! The last picture is of Jack and Josie playing with one Stick. There were several sticks at the Dog Park, but no they had to play with this one! Josie loves to play TUG-A-WAR! I am sure it was a bigger challenge to play with Jack then with Sammi. Okay, sit back and imagine... Josie (70lb dog) and Sammi (10lb dog) playing TUG-A-WAR with the same rope. Who do you think is going win?? Most of the time it's Josie, but on rare occassions it's SAMMI!

#52 Have game night w/Friends (completed)

Last friday night Tim and I invited Chris and Amanda over for dinner and game night. We started off the evening with hamburgers and light conversation. Which lead us into two games. The first game was Loaded Questions, which tends to cause people to laugh their heads. Although I think this time around, Amanda and Chris knew each other a little to well and got all of their answer and ours correct, by just randomly guessing. The concept of this game is to guess what the other people wrote, there are no wrong or right answers. Although players are suppose to be honest. With that being said, I am thinking that Amanda and Chris practiced before hand. Kidding. The second game was Taboo... I suck at this game. I really do hate it. I usually over anaylze stuff, but with this game, you don't have time to analyze you just play. Haha. Again Tim and I lost. So it has been decided to have a monthly game night with a few other couples to make our friday night a little less boring!

Another yummy creation!

So this week started out like most of the others... work was sucking, no energy and the pantry was low. So on Tuesday I had Tim stop by the store to do my shopping. What a good boy! He called a few times with some questions as to the location of certain items i.e. chicken stock and shortening! On this weeks menu I thought Creamy Chicken Alfredo pasta with brocolli. So last night while Tim was outside cutting our grass I decided to start hashing out my plan for the new recipe of the week. I will say this by far the best recipe! I may have to stop going to the Olive Garden for my alfredo fixes. I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com Please check this recipe out!

Creamy Chicken With Pasta and Broccoli
PREP TIME
15 Min
COOK TIME
20 Min
READY IN
35 Min


INGREDIENTS
1 pound uncooked spaghetti
1 pound broccoli florets
1 tablespoon margarine
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup water
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, cubed and softened
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place spaghetti in the pot, and cook 4 minutes. Mix in the broccoli florets. Continue cooking 4 to 6 minutes, until spaghetti is al dente. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl.
Melt the margarine in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken and onion 5 minutes, until chicken juices run clear and onions are tender.
In a bowl, whisk together the soup, milk, water, and cream cheese until smooth. Stir into the skillet with the chicken and onion, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Toss in the bowl with the spaghetti and broccoli to serve.

Once again I emailed Heather, Rachel and my cousin Sandra with the recipe and my RAVE! The only thing that I might of done differently was start cooking the chicken before the noodles. The noodles were done way before the chicken. Also I added a tad bit more grated parm cheese. I added that to the pasta and broccoli while the sauce was thinken up.

I also found a recipe for Pumpkin cookies on allrecipes, but I have yet to make those! So maybe next week I will make that. You never know what I may try and cook!

#72 Become Redskin Fan for one day! (Completed!)

On Sunday, October 7, 2007 Tim and I spent the morning driving down to DC to do some tailgating and then watch the Redskin Game. The tickets I purchased from a guy I use to work with at the County. They were awesome seat! End Zone, Row 21, Seats 25 and 26. I decided a few days before the game to get a shirt to wear. Well we headed over to Modell's at Arundel Mills and found the PERFECT SHIRT! It was pink( to support breast cancer!) so I purchased it. I did however get a few rude comments about my shirt. I gave a few dirty looks, but most importantly enjoyed the game with my darling Hubby! Redskin won 34-3, we probably spent over $250.00 for the three and half hours of excitement but it was all worth it. Tonight I will upload the picture of the two of us at the game!

#47 Email friends with new recipes

Obviously this goal will have to continue for at least one whole month before it's complete. This week I have decided to email Heather, Rachel and my cousin Sandra with my new creations. Once they get an idea of which recipes they like, I would like to hope that they do the same thing in return. Email me new recipes that they have experimented with.

Because I slacked last week... I will be sending out one email with 4 different recipes.

#46 continued...

So after a horrible week last week, meatloaf was the hit of the week. I did not get a chance to make the chicken enchiladena's until Friday night. I spend a good hour preparing the chicken and cassarole. I personally didn't like it, but Tim said he did. Here is the chicken enchilada recipe...


Chicken Enchilada Casserole II
Submitted By: Anya
*****
Read Reviews (264) Rate/Review this recipe
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 30 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour
Yields: 12 servings "Strata of tortillas, chicken, cheese and a hot salsa-bean-sour cream mixture make a robust entree."

Photo by: MRSKJS
INGREDIENTS:
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup diced onion
1 (8 ounce) can chili beans, drained
6 (12 inch) flour tortillas, cut into strips
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cooked and shredded
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix sour cream, salsa, cream of chicken soup, onion and chili beans.
Layer the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with 1/3 tortilla strips. Top with 1/3 chicken, 1/3 sour cream mixture and 1/3 Cheddar cheese. Repeat layering with remaining ingredients.
Bake in the preheated oven 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Let stand about 10 minutes, or as long as you can stand it!!! You're done!

The hit of the week was the Meat loaf which I also found on Allrecipes.com. Here is that recipe if your interested!

Easy Meatloaf
Submitted By: Janet Caldwell
*****
Read Reviews (263) Rate/Review this recipe
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour
Ready In: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
Yields: 8 servings "No-fail meatloaf calls for ground beef, onions, egg, milk, and bread. It is topped with a mix of brown sugar, mustard, and ketchup before baking."

Photo by: SunFlower
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
1 cup milk
1 cup dried bread crumbs (I used itlian cheese bread crumbs!)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1/3 cup ketchup
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine the beef, egg, onion, milk and bread OR cracker crumbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste and place in a lightly greased 5x9 inch loaf pan, OR form into a loaf and place in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
In a separate small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard and ketchup. Mix well and pour over the meatloaf.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. (It seemed to take about and hour and half!)

I think the only thing we would change next time is the topping for the meat loaf. We didn't care for the brown sugar, mustard and ketchup topping. Next time I will probably use tomato sauce or ketchup.

For this week we have decided on one new dinner recipe and possibly a dessert item...

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers

Here is the recipe for that...

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers
1 cup bread crumbs
1 can pineapple rings, drained, 1/4 cup of juice reserved
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1 lb lean ground turkey
Teriyaki sauce for basting
Sesame or whole wheat hamburger rolls

In a bowl combine the breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup of juice from canned pineapple and the soy sauce. Crumble turkey into bowl and mix well. Shape turkey into four patties. Grill over medium heat 10-15 minutes, brushing occasionally with teriyaki sauce. Towards the end of grilling, add pineapple rings to grill and grill 1-2 minutes per side. Pineapple can also be brushed with the teriyaki sauce - it's good with and without the sauce! Place burgers on buns and top with a slice of grilled pineapple.

And the final expertiment of the week is...

Almost-like-Starbucks Pumpkin Cream cheese Muffins

Almost-Like-Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves (I omitted)
4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of cardamom (optional) (I omitted)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
8 oz package cream cheese*
Chopped nuts** (walnuts, pecans) (optional - I made some with pecans and some plain)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients together except cream cheese and nuts. Fill muffin tins (greased or paper cups) half full. Put 1-2 tsp cream cheese in the middle, pressing down. Sprinkle with 1 tsp chopped nuts. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part (do not touch the cream cheese!). Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to racks to cool completely. Do not touch the cream cheese until it cools, as it is very very hot.

Makes 24 muffins.

*The best cream cheese to use is the cheesecake flavored kind (I used plain). Put the entire tub or brick on a piece of tin foil, and shape it into a long log. Put it in the freezer while you mix and fill the pans, up to an hour. Unwrap and cut with a sharp knife. If the disks are too big around, cut thick slices and then cut them in half. This keeps the cream cheese in one big lump, and also lets you push it down into the batter.

**Starbucks uses chopped pumpkin seeds, which are very good if you can find them. I like walnuts, but any kind of nuts work well.