Tuna Pasta Salad

Easiest recipe ever!

The great thing about this salad is it tastes great with no added spices or anything, but you can always add more if you wanted.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Ingredients

1-1/4c macaroni pasta

5oz tuna

1/2c diced celery

1/2c frozen peas

3/4c mayo/salad dressing (which is basically miracle whip)

Directions

Cook and drain pasta according to package directions

Mix tuna, mayo, celery and peas.

Combine with cooked pasta

I saw this other recipe on line I think I'll try next time

I didn't have a lot of time so I just went with what I knew and what we had, but this sounds recipe on allrecipes.com sounds great

• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise or salad dressing
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
• 1/8 teaspoon dried minced onion flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1 pinch garlic powder

there's always next time!

bon appétit

 

Creamy Mushroom Chicken

Being back in school I'm trying to use everything we have and working on only buying things we really need. So this week I was looking through the food we do have...I thought maybe I could make Italian Chicken but we only had one can of Cream of Chicken.

So I decided to improvise and use our Cream of Mushroom!

Life is all about using what you've got!

Creamy Mushroom Chicken

Ingredients

4 cans cream of mushroom soup

16oz plain yogurt/cream cheese

1pckg onion soup mix (to taste, you can use more then one package too)

1 6oz can of mushrooms (optional)

4-6 chicken breast

Directions

Mix soup, yogurt/cream cheese, onion soup mix together.

Place mixture and chicken in crockpot

Cook for 6 hours on low

*Since there's only the two of us I halved this recipe, and only used 1/2 pkg of onion soup mix. Next time I'm going to use one whole package, if I do a full recipe I'll start with 1-1/2.

Have a great day!

PB and Chocolate Chip Granola

First of all can I just say I am not used to this new Blogger format At All! It changed while I was away and I feel like it's not as user friendly. Am I alone in this thinking? ...maybe I should get my act together and blog more and I'd find that it's better, haha!

So far this is my favorite granola I've made. 

Maybe that's because there's chocolate chips in it...probably. But I'm ok with that!

Here she goes!

Ingredients

2 cups oats

1/4c agave nectar

1/4c peanut butter

3T brown sugar

1/2t ground cinnamon

1/2t vanilla

1/2c chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

1/4c sliced almonds

1/4c coconut

1-1/2T ground flaxseed

Directions

Combine agave nectar, peanut butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla. Stir

Stir in oats until they are completely covered in mixture

Add chocolate chips, almonds, coconut and flaxseed. Stir

Place in fridge

You can either roll some granola up in balls and have little energy bites, or you can simply keep it how it is. Either way, it's delicious!

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

I may have to double it next time I make it...which will probably be tomorrow.

Sorry no pictures!...so boring right?

Can't believe we made it! We're on our way to getting everything in its place and...actually making meals again! So excited to start cooking AND baking! I have missed baking so much. I really look forward to making some Cannoli's and Whoopie Pies! SO GOOD. We went up to Boston for the weekend and tried out Mike's Pastries...amazing! You know they're amazing when everyone you talk to says you have to go there when suggesting fun places in Boston. It was worth the trip!

Be back soon!
YAY!

MIA

2 weeks ago we were sick for a week

I've been packing for what seems like an eternity! (kids add a lot of STUFF!!!)

We move in a week

We'll be driving across the country (hopefully that wont take a week ;)

When we get there we have 2 weeks to get everything in order before...school starts!

I've been living one week at a time for about a month now, and I have a good month to go!

There wont be much cooking going on around here, but I am so grateful I froze some meals here and there in preparation for this week! I've been able to pack my whole kitchen up (almost) because I don't have to worry about making meals. Thank heavens!

Wish us luck!

So excited!

Random thought: One key to happiness is living your own life! It's hard not to compare your situation to everyone else-especially with Facebook, blogs and pinterest EVERYWHERE!

I am so excited to be students again. We have the rest of our lives to work! It will be hard being away from family but it's only temporary so I plan on soaking it all in because it will be over before we know it! The last thing I want to do when this is all over is look back with regret that I didn't make it as enjoyable as it really can be!

Here's to living on the east coast!!!!!

Have any tips for living away from family...

What should we see in NY, Boston, Rhode Island, Maine, etc?

Everyone I talk to says it's the east and west coast are so different...and I could definitely see that when we went back looking for a place to live, and even from the few phone conversations I've had...any advice :)

image found here

 image found here

Apricot Chicken

Lack of posts much?

I have been really busy. We are moving 2,000+ miles in the next couple weeks so I have been organizing and packing a lot! I still have a lot to do too. The boxes I have already packed I just want to take right to Good Will! We have so much stuff and I don't want to cart it with us across the country! But we need it so what's a girl to do?

So between packing and spending time with family (lots and lots of time!) I don't have many recipes to share...especially since I don't want to go buy ingredients that we wont finish in the next month.

So that's why I haven't been posting much!

Needless to say, cooking and baking hasn't been my #1 priority lately.

I can't believe we are moving so soon! It has come so fast!

But like my mother-in-law says when someone brings up how fast our moving date is approaching (quoting Scarlet O'Hara)...

"Oh, I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow."

We sure are going to miss our families!

ANYWAY!!!!

If you've got some leftover Apricot Jam (or peach jam-which I prefer), or a dry onion soup mix you just don't know what to do with, try this recipe!

APRICOT CHICKEN!

 Ingredients
2+ cups of chicken
1 9oz. bottle Russian or French dressing
1c. apricot (or peach jam)
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

Directions
 Mix the dressing, jam and dry soup mix together
Pour over chicken in bakign dish
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (or until the chicken is no longer pink inside!)

TIP: I used leftover chicken...quick and easy

Ranch Chicken Tacos

I saw these puppies on Pinterest! Seriously, how much do you love Pinterest?

These are so easy it's not even fair!

ranch chicken tacos

Recipe found here

Ingredients

Cooked chicken

1 pkg taco seasoning mix

1/2 cup ranch dressing

Hard or soft tacos  

(I used the raw tortillas from Costco, they are amazing, it takes a little time since you have to cook them...but so worth it! Especially for this recipe that will take you 30 seconds to whip up!)

lettuce

cheese

tomatoes

whatev!

Directions

Heat a skillet over med-high heat

Add chicken & warm it for a few minutes

Sprinkle on the dry taco seasoning--Do not add any water!

Heat for 5-7 minuted until all heated through & powder is stuck to the chicken

Add Ranch dressing, heat an additional 2-3 minutes to warm through.

Serve with all the fixings you love...the possibilities are endless :)

TIP: I don't usually have Hidden Valley Ranch around (because I love it)! It's not the healthies stuff around, and I don't like their "low fat" version...luckily for this recipe I had a ranch seasoning mix that I made with light mayo and loved it! So if you like HVRanch but not all that fat then get their dry mix and mix it with a low fat/fat free mayo that you like. It's so good!