Cilantro Lime Quinoa

I love this stuff.  I eat it all the time because I love it so much!

Ingredients:

1cup Quinoa
2 Cups chicken stock
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 TBS lime juice
salt
pepper


You can cook this just like you cook your rice. I use a rice cooker, cooking the quinoa seeds with the chicken stock. Actually, I use water and bullion because I don't ever have stock on hand.

Once quinoa is done, add salt and pepper to taste. Chop your cilantro (more or less if desired) and mix it all up with the lime juice.  Serve immediately.  SO YUMMY!

Yummy Jello Cake

I have pinned a lot of food items on to Pinterest and I finally got my nerve big enough to try one. I was shopping at the grocery store and Jello was on sale. How could I not resist to buy some. I knew I had pinned this got Oreo Jello pudding. It was good because we got invited to dinner the very next day!!!! It turned out that the family was trying a new recipe as well. Both new recipes turned out good. Click here for pinned website.

This is a cake with Jello Pudding on top. I do not know the points or calories, I just save it for my "brake" day.

Ingredients:
1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix
Ingredients to make the cake
2 - 4oz packages of Instant Oreo Pudding
4 Cups Milk
Crushed Oreo Cookies (optional)

Directions:
1. Make the cake according to the directions on the box.
2. Right before the cake is done cooking mix the pudding but make sure that the pudding does not set up. You want it to be just a little set up.
3. Poke whole in the cake with a spoon or straw.
4. Spread the Pudding on top, pushing into the holes.
5. Once the pudding has set add the Oreos on top.
6. Place in the fridge unit it is to be served.

Sit and enjoy.

Lasagna Soup

Cory loves Lasagna and sometimes it can be tedious to make. So putting it in the form of a soup fits my busy lifestyle a tad bit more. And it is fabulously delicious.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Yield: serves 8

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground pork/beef/turkey (whatever is on hand)
• 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
• 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 carton (32oz) chicken broth
• 1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (15oz) tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 8 whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into bite sized pieces
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. In a large soup pot, brown ground pork with onion, green pepper and garlic. Add chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasonings. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil 2 minutes, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, covered. Stir occasionally.
2. Add bite sized lasagna noodles to soup and cook until tender (about 15 minutes).
3. When ready to serve, mix in the grated parmesan cheese. Ladle into individual bowls and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese. We served our soup with crunchy sourdough bread crisps! ENJOY

Dinner in a Pumpkin

This is my favorite Halloween tradition. I had it every Halloween growing up and now I make it for our family.

1 small to medium pumpkin (cut off top, clean out)
2 T oil
2 t oregano
1 1/2 t salt
2-3 garlic cloves (minced)
1/2 medium onion diced
1 can of tomato sauce
1 t pepper
1 T vinegar
1 chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped stuffed green olives
1 lb ground hamburger (I use turkey burger)
1 lb of deli ham chopped

Combined all the ingredients, slightly fry. Stuff into pumpkin. Put top on, place pumpkin on pan to catch any drippings. Cook at 350 for 3-4 hours (depending on size of pumpkin if it is smaller it wont take as long to cook if larger than medium it will be longer). Pumpkin will be like a squash and you can scrape it and add it to the soup.

Ingredients yummy to add: Rice or potatoes (slightly cooked first), green beans or corn.

Taco Chicken Bowls

2 chicken breasts (frozen is fine)
1 jar of salsa
1 can of pinto or black beans
1/2 lb (8 oz) Frozen corn
1 T chili powder
1/2 T cumin
2-3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 t dried oregano
1/4 t cayenne pepper (I didnt use this because of the kids)
1/4 t salt to taste
pepper
2 cups dry rice
shredded cheese
cilantro
avocado

Add everything to the crock pot except rice, cheese, cilantro and avocado with 1/4 cup of water. Stir well, make sure chicken is covered. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-5 hours. Towards the end cook rice. Shred chicken and top rice with chicken mixture. Top with cheese, cilantro and avocado.