Simple Tomato Sauce

Whew its been a very long and for me sick week and a half.  This pregnancy has been a doozy to say the least.  Even though I am just starting the 2nd trimester, I never know each day holds.  I am sure my husband, family, and friends are tired of hearing me whine about it.  LOL.  But they love me so they deal with it.  I am still feeling like we are having a girl this time but we will know for sure the beginning of August.  I do already have a little tummy and have started wearing some maternity clothes.  I am still in regular clothes too but I feel like I just look fat in those not pregnant.  Not sure if its the way maternity clothes are made or what but I feel much more 'pregnant' in them, if that makes sense. 

The boys are doing well.  Growing and learning new things like crazy! Jonah is still loving karate.  Tucker took an early nap today so he got to go see big brother in action and he did so well.  He sat in the stroller and just stared.  I was seriously surprised and thrilled to just rest for a bit.  I still can't believe in less than 2 weeks Tucker will be 2!!!! It really is true what others say about how fast time goes with the second baby.  And now we are on the third! Sometimes I just can't believe that I will have three kids by the end of this year!  Makes me feel old but grateful for where I am. 

Since I have had many rough days lately, I have been cooking lots of simple dishes.  Tonight was a prime example of  that.  I woke up with a bad headache that make me very nauseus.  I tried pushing through it but it got worse so I ended up taking some Zofran.  I have been trying to stay away from the Zofran because it causes me to have headaches but to me usually the nausea is worse than the headache.  I did start to feel better but the headache still hasn't gone away and I am just worn out.  So I through together this simple tomato sauce and served it with bowtie pasta. 

Simple Tomato Sauce
2   8 oz cans tomato sauce
1   15 oz can stewed or diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons Kraft Philadelphia Creamy Pesto cooking cream
1 1/2 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tbsp oregano
1/4 cup of sugar
1 lb of ground beef, browned
1 box of preferred style of noodles

Cook your noodles as directed on the box.  Pour the tomato sauce and tomatoes in a medium sized pot.  If using stewed tomatoes like I did, blend them in a blender for a few seconds to chop them up.  Add the cooking cream, italian seasoning, oregano, and sugar.  Cook for a few minutes to let the spices really season the sauce and let the sugar dissolve.  Add the ground beef.  Serve over the cooked noodles.  Enjoy!

You could also put this on sub buns or regular bread and eat it like a meatball sub.  Or use it as lasagna sauce.  This would also freeze well. 

**Side note:  Philadelphia cooking cream is a great way to spice up many dishes.  I bought a few containers with coupons a few months back and froze it.  I put a few tablespoons in the sections of an ice cube maker.  When I want to use some, I just pull out as many cubes as I need to flavor the dish.**

Hopefully this week I will post a tutorial for a shirred top maxi dress I made myself last week.  It turned out great and I love it!

Italian Ranch Pasta Salad

Wow I can't believe its Thursday night already! This week has flown by so fast but in a mostly good way.  My oldest started karate this past Monday and absolutely loves it! This is the first sport like thing he has ever done and so far he is asking me everyday when its time to go back. (He goes twice a week.)  It's right during naptime for my youngest, Tucker, so my father in law comes to the house while Jonah and I go.  It's been really nice to have one on one time with Jonah and he is really doing well at it.  He is listening so well and it gives me a sense of how I hope he will do in school.

My big handsome boy in his karate uniform.

Jonah excited on his way to his first karate class.  Jeremy and I both got to take him so that made it really special!

Jonah after his karate class.  LOL He usually passes out on the way home then eats so much for dinner.  I guess it wears him out!

Summer is fully upon us and we are loving it! I am not lookingforward to the extreme heat that is coming since I am pregnant, but I really do love summer.  Once summer comes, I start wanting cool stuff to eat for lunch or dinner.  One of my favorite dishes is cold pasta salad.  I love just the plain boxed classic or italian version.  It is so vercital that you can eat it just as it is or add extra things to it like cooked chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes, small mozarella cheese balls, or feta cheese.

Tonight I was cooking, I had a good bit of leftover triple colored rigatoni pasta leftover from another dish I was making.  I decided to make some italian pasta salad but realized I only had 1/4 cup of italian dressing left.  In my pantry, I had an extra packet of ranch powdered dressing mix.  I usually keep these on hand for seasoning things and a few of my favorite recipes calls for it.  So I thought I would mix the two with some oil and see how it turned out.  It turned out excellent! Now its one of my favorites!

(I just put this together really quick so that's why the ingredients picture is empty containers.)

Here's the recipe:

Italian Ranch Pasta Salad
12 oz box of tri-colored rotini
1 packet ranch salad dressing and dip mix
1/2 cup italain dressing
1/2 cup vegetable or any oil

Cook your pasta according to the box directions.  Drain.  Rinse with cold water.  In a bowl, mix together the packet of Ranch dressing, italian dressing, and oil.  Place the rinsed cold pasta in the bowl and mix it all together.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or until ready to serve.  Store leftovers in the fridge.  Enjoy!

I'm off to clean the kitchen! Have a wonderful night!

http://tatertotsandjello.com/2012/06/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-allora-handmade-giveaway.html

Simple Crockpot Roast

Hello all! I hope you all had a very good Memorial day weekend.  We had a great busy yet relaxing weekend.  Got some sun, spent time with my brother and sister in law's family, grilled out, and just enjoyed each other.  It was wonderful!

I have been cleaning today and planned this easy roast recipe for dinner tonight.  It is super easy and super tasty! I'm not sure where I saw this recipe at or if I just happened to throw it together but its my favorite.

*Just a note about roast meat:  I like to get the London broil cut roasts that Bilo sells.  They put it buy 1 get 1 free at least once a month lately so I can get 2 good sized roasts for between $10-15.  I usually by 4 to stock up a little and I use them for other meals.  They are not quite as tender as regular roast meat but they are still really tasty and get tender in the crockpot.

I apologize in advance for the terrible cell phone pictures. My digital camera is dead most of the time so I had to use my cell phone.

First gather your ingredients.  You will need: a good sized roast, baby carrots, washed and quartered red or regular potatoes, a box of onion powdered soup mix(contains 2-3 envelopes depending on the store you use), and either water or beef broth.  You will also need a crockpot.  I usually just use the whole bag of carrots and eye ball the amount of potatoes. 

Start by placing your roast in the bottom of your crockpot.  Place the carrots and quartered potatoes on top then sprinkle 2 packs of the onion soup mix all over the top.  I usually buy the onion soup mix from Aldi so it only has 2 packs but the ones at Walmart usually have 3.  You could put the extra package in there and it would be even more flavorful.

Measure out 1 1/2 cups water or beef broth.  Pour it on top over all the powdered onion soup.  I usually just use water since I don't keep beef broth on hand.  The beef broth just adds more flavor but I don't miss it. 

Put your crockpot lid on top. I usally start mine around lunch time so I place it on high.  Usually on high it takes 4-5 hours.  If you want to start it in the morning, place it on low for 6-8 hours. 

Enjoy! This is one of my favorite and easiest meals!  It's a nice easy meal to throw together before church on Sunday morning that will have your house smelling incredibly wonderful by the time you get home. 

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your evening.

http://tatertotsandjello.com/2012/06/weekend-wrap-up-party-and-mod-podge-rocks-book-and-product-giveaway.html

Chocolate Peanut butter

Hello wonderful readers!!! I hope you all are having a lovely Thursday.  I have been busy preparing for a trip with my boys to see my family this coming week and we are so excited! Really bummed to leave our Daddy at home but someone must work. :( We will miss you so much Daddy but we hope you get lots of rest while we are gone. 

We have also been playing outside since the weather is so beautiful.  We live around some woods and the boys love playing there! Jonah is such a big helper with Tucker.  It amazed me how I don't even have to say anything to Jonah.  He just automatically looks out for Tucker! I absolutely love it and hope they stay close.  Here's them together: 

Along with it seems like every other family in the world, I am working on feeding our family better real foods by finding healthier ways cook/prepare our favorite foods.  One of the ways I am doing this is by using whole wheat flour more.  I make a good many things we eat from scratch and have been searching for a whole wheat loaf bread recipe.  Well I definitely found it! I used this recipe: http://dreawood.com/2012/02/tea-is-my-replacement/.  I have been reading her blog for awhile and just love it.  This recipe is definitely a winner! I did replace the water with milk and didn't use the lecithin or gluten. 

While this dough was baking I was thinking about what I would love to have smeared on a piece of this heavenly smelling bread  There's just something about fresh baking bread! Of course, Nutella came to mind but I was completely out and it wasn't grocery day.  So I thought why not make a chocolate peanut butter.  Definitely wouldn't taste the same as Nutella but would still be good.  I looked up a few recipes on Pinterest then just went to making my own little recipe.

Chocolate Peanut Butter
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, I used Great Value Natural.
2 Tablespoons Hershey's baking cocoa
2 Tablespoons honey
4 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Mix everything together in a small bowl until well blended.  I stored mine a recycled glass jar.  This made a little over 6 ounces.  I stored mine in the fridge because of the milk but not sure if that was necessary. 

This recipe came out a bit thicker than regular peanut butter.  If you want it thinner just add more water.  Adjust the sweetness to your taste.

I lovvvvved the taste of this on a fresh slice of bread.  It was perfect!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

I'm linking up:


http://raisinghomemakers.com/2012/homemaking-link-up-69/

Blueberry cake dessert pizza

Pin It
Hey ya'll! I hope you are enjoying your Saturday so far.  I wanted to share a recipe I came up with last night that was a major success! Friday nights at our house are pizza night and I have been trying out different dessert pizza recipes.  I have now perfected a whole wheat dough that we all love especially my four year old! Jonah eats his little homemade pizza better than he eats take-out pizza and that is quite a compliment to this Momma!

To start off with you need to make your whole wheat pizza dough.  I use my bread maker to make mine.  Easy and convenient!  My bread machine takes about an hour to make but I usually let mine rise longer.  Here's my recipe:

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 cup warm milk(110 degrees)*

1 stick softened butter or margarine**
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2  tablespoons water
4 cups whole wheat flour(or all purpose)

Place all ingredients in bread maker listed in order.  Turn on the dough cycle. Use for pizzas or rolls.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
*You can substitute warmed whey from homemade yogurt.  Water may also work.
**You can substitute olive or vegetable oil.




Blueberry Cake Dessert Pizza(personal pizza 6 inch size)

1/2 cup yellow cake mix

2 Tablespoons-1/4 cup melted margarine

handful of fresh or frozen, but thawed, blueberries

Place yellow cake mix in small bowl.  Mix in the melted butter starting out with 2 tablespoons first and adding more if needed.  The consistency needs to be a little thick but you need to be able to spread it easily.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  Take a small handful of dough and roll it out to desired thickness.  Spread the cake mix on the dough.  Keep in mind the batter will expand a bit so leave space for that. Place as many blueberries on top as you want.  I pushed mine down a bit into the cake mix.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Enjoy!!!

Ingredents: prepared yellow cake mix, blueberries, pizza dough

Before baking. 



After baking.

Sliced up and ready to enjoy!

Jonah enjoying a slice!!!

Let me know if you try it and like it! It has an awesome sweet flavor and works good as a breakfast pizza too.  :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!



I am linking up to: