Spaghetti Pie

This recipe has been most loved by myself and my family growing up.  I think I used to request this dinner for my birthdays as well.  It's so easy to make and kids absolutely love it (even my picky eater son)!  One kid even said to me that it tastes like pizza!

Spaghetti Pie
Ingredients:
1/2lb vermicelli
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1lb hamburger meat
1 small cottage cheese
1 small jar of spaghetti sauce of your choice
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook vermicelli according to package.  Mix vermicelli with butter.  Cook hamburger meat until no longer pink.  Place cooked vermicelli in bottom of a sprayed pan.  Layer hamburger, cottage cheese, spaghetti sauce, mozzarella and cheddar on top.  Bake for 40 minutes.

Ranch Chicken Fingers

So i'm not sure if it was the way I fried the chicken (too high of heat possibly?) or just the lack of ingredients, but the ranch slathered chicken with Italian breadcrumb topping didn't go over very well.  It sure smelled good until I chard the crap out of the chicken strips.  Probably won't be making this chicken again.  <Sigh>

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese

So lesson learned...Do not try to make dinner before your husband comes home to watch your 1 1/2 year old.  I felt like it took forever to make this dish because I was half cooking and half playing with my son.  This was a good winter dish from Heather Christo's website.  I didn't have a few of the ingredients, but it was still a great dinner.
Here is the link to Heather's website for the recipe:
Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Gourmet Magazine-Inspired Ham Cups

For my birthday this past weekend my sister and brother-in-law got me the awesome "I Love trader Joe's Cookbook" by Cherie Mercer Twohy.  I was so excited to see that just about every recipe looked really simple and fast.  A great cookbook for weekday meals.  My first recipe I made is this Gourmet Magazine-Inspired Ham Cups.  This was so fast I may make it for a brunch sometime.

Gourmet Magazine-Inspired Ham Cups
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
6 slices of Black Forest Ham
4 ounces goat cheese
about 9 tablespoons pesto
6 eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly oil six slots in a muffin tin (I used Pam).  Fit a slice of ham in each slot forming a cup.  Put 1 1/2 (or less to fit) tablespoons of pesto in each cover as well as the same measurement of goat cheese.  Break 1 egg on top of each cup.  Bake for 20 minutes.  YUMMY!

I won, I won, I won!!!

It has been so long since I won something, but last week I entered to win a Rachel Ray Baking Dish on Heather Christo's blog (fantastic blog by the way).  I was so excited to find a box on my front porch with my new blue Rachel Ray Baking dish.  I can't wait to use it!!!

Sopranos Italian Kitchen

Happy Birthday To Me!  Last night my husband and I (kid-free) went to Sopranos Italian Kitchen for dinner before a movie.  This restaurant is fairly new so we weren't sure how the food would be.  It was sooooo good!  We started off with calamari with a Sriracha aoili and tuna tar tar with smoked avocado.  Then came my main course of lobster gnocchi.  I have never had gnocchi before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but the dish was super.  A nice light sauce to balance out the lobster and gnocchi.  Finally we ended with a chocolate caramel budino.  We were in and out in about 45 minutes and the service was great!  Very fast, even with the restaurant full of people.  Of course my mommy brain was turned on and I forgot the camera so you'll have to trust me that everything was fantastic!

Fall is here!

Just a few pictures at my attempt to be crafty this fall.  With my son at grandma's and grandpa's house this afternoon I was able to get pumpkins and supplies to create my front "fall scape".  Oh and two pictures of my dogs...could they be more different from each other?