Pasta's

**Both these recipes came from my cousin Alyson. We enjoyed the zuchini one better, but both were good. I do not eat much with ricotta cheese, so I need to get used to that texture. I keep wondering next time I make these, if I would try to use cottage cheese and see what happens. I'll post about it when I do it. **

Fettucine with Ricotta, tomatoes and basil

1 pkg fettucine (I didn't have fettucine, so I used something else)
3 TB butter
15oz ricotta cheese (I would use less next time)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
2 TB Basil
1 can Italian diced tomato
1 can regular diced tomato

Cook fettucine as according to pkg, drain.
Meanwhile, stir together all the rest of the ingredients and cook over medium heat. Toss with noodles. Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese before serving.


Penne with Zuchini and Ricotta

1 pkg penne
1 TB olive oil
2 garlic cloves
3 cups or so of sliced zuchini
1 cup Ricotta cheese
1 cup half n half
1/2 tsp salt
2 TB Basil
2/3 grated parmesan cheese

Cook Penne according to directions and drain.
Heat oil in skilliet over medium heat. Add garlic and zuchini. Cook about 3-4 minutes or until zuchini is tender.
In small bowl, combine ricotta, half n half, and salt. Stir well. Add to zuchini mixture. Cook and stir until hot. In a large bowl add zuchini mixture, pasta, basil, and parmesan cheese. Toss and serve.

Homemade Taquitos

* My kids LOVE homemade taquitos. I don't do them too often, but they aren't as difficult as it may seem. *

A-HAAAAA MOMENT---Today I am making an enchilada recipe. The recipe says to heat up the corn tortillas in a tortilla warmer to soften. BRILLIANT! It makes them so soft and easy to work with, you don't even need to heat the tortillas in oil to soften! So, this recipe just got better hopefully. I would just soften the tortillas in the tortilla warmer. Fill and roll, and then cook them in just a little bit of oil. It seems like this way will cut down on the fat just saturating the whole tortilla.

Taquitos

2 cans Hereford Beef chunks
* you could probably use chicken too, just make sure to save some of the juice for moisture *

12 Corn tortillas
Onion salt
oil

Heat oil. Cook each corn tortilla for just a few seconds to soften. Lay out on a paper towel to drain excess oil. In bowl open up cans of Beef chunks and drain out most liquid. You do want a little liquid just to keep the mixture moist. Add onion salt to taste. Place a spoonful of beef in the center of a corn tortilla and roll up.

When you are done, do not add any more oil to the pan, just add the tortillas seam side down to skillet, and cook tortilla, turning to cook both the top, bottom and sides.

Serve with guacamole. :) YUM

Stuffing Casserole

* This is a kid favorite! I know most people have this recipe or have made it before, but for those that want a true kid approved meal and haven't heard of this, here is the recipe. *

This is a recipe that I usually keep the ingredients on hand for food storage. The ingredients are easy to store, and on a night where you want a fast meal, the preparation is simple.

Stuffing Casserole
1 box Stove top stuffing
1 stick margarine or butter melted
1 can chicken, drained or cooked shredded chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can full of milk
1/3 cup sour cream


Melt 1 stick of butter or margarine in a medium sized bowl. Add Stovetop stuffing and stir well.
Place 1/2 of stuffing mix in an 8x8 baking dish. Lay chicken on top of stuffing. In a seperate bowl add soup, milk, and sour cream. Stir well. Pour over chicken. Put remaining stuffing mix evenly on top of soup mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Yummy, Yummy Hot Cocoa!!

Not a recipe and not even healthy, but a recommendation from me to you!

This hot cocoa is ridiculously good! It's only $1 a box at Walmart and there are often coupons for $1 off 2 boxes - that's 50 cents for 8 cups of dark chocolate fancy-doo-dah cocoa!

They also make French Vanilla which is crazy-good too.

Just thought I'd share one of my happy things as I sit, amid a few inches of fresh snow, on what I wish was a sunny, shiny spring day here in Utah. Enjoy!