Pink Lasagna

We love lasagna!  All five of the people in my house - including Paisley - just adore this dish!  After all what's not to love about a ton of cheese and pasta?!?  And instead of red sauce, my sauce is PINK!

Let me begin with a small disclaimer.  John and I are not Italian - not even the teeniest tiniest bit.  That's no surprise when it come to me but most people assume that John is at least a little bit Italian.

 I am putting this disclaimer here because this lasagna, my pink lasagna, is how we love lasagna... but it's not a very traditional lasagna.  

Did I mention the sauce is PINK! 

Your Shopping List for my Pink Lasagna:

• one package Whole Wheat Lasagna (I use no boil)
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 - 28oz can tomato puree
• 1 packet Italian Dressing Mix
• 1 - 15 oz container ricotta cheese 
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese 
• olive oil

These two ingredients are what makes this lasagna so so so easy! 

Now Let's Make the Pink Lasagna:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and oil a 9x13 casserole dish
2. In a pan, cook your ground beef in olive oil until brown and crumbly - drain and set aside to cool
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the tomato puree, ricotta cheese, Italian Dressing packet, and 2 eggs until well mixed *your sauce should look pink*
4. Mix in two cups of the mozzarella cheese and the cooled ground beef
5. Using a soup ladle, spread one spoon of sauce/cheese/beef mixture on the bottom of your casserole dish
6. Next place a layer of whole wheat lasagna sheets - I use no boil which I highly recommend
7. On top of the pasta, place another layer or the sauce/cheese/beef mixture
8. Continue alternating pasta and sauce layers, finishing with a sauce layer (mine had 3 layers with 4 sheets of pasta per layer) 
9. Top the entire casserole with remaining cup of mozzarella cheese and the cup or parmesan cheese
10. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes until the edges of the casserole are nice and brown
11. Allow lasagna to sit for 10 minutes before cutting and serving

Taco Stuffed Peppers

I love making Stuffed Peppers for dinner!  There are a few reasons why but (1) it's easy and (2) it's healthy! 

Last week, I decided I wanted to change up my Mexican Stuffed Peppers for Taco Stuffed Peppers!  They came out awesome! 

Your Shopping List for the Taco Stuffed Peppers:

• 3 large bell peppers - colors of your choosing
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 cup corn
• 1 cup shredded Mexican Cheese blend

Now Let's Make the Taco Stuffed Peppers:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
2. Cut the peppers in half length wise and remove the seeds and ribs
3. Arrange peppers cut side up in a baking dish and cook in oven for 20 minutes or until done to your liking (I like my peppers to still have bite)
4. While your peppers cook, crumble and cook ground chicken in a nonstick skillet
5. Add taco seasoning according to your specific packet's directions (I had to add water to the seasoning before adding it to the meat)
6. Once your meat is prepared taco style, stir in the cup of corn
7. Stuff the six pepper halves with the meat mixture
8. Top each pepper with a sprinkle of cheese
9. Place under the broiler until cheese is melted and browned

Crockpot Citrus Chicken With Corn Salsa

Today is September 1st!  This month will mean some big changes for our family.  John will be back to his crazy work schedule - not getting home until after the kids are in bed most nights.  Lacie also starts school - 5 mornings a week!  And in addition to Lacie having dance class one night per week, Blakely will start dance!  That means two nights each week where dinner time will be crazy!

So basically the crockpot will probably become my new best friend.  

Last week, I wanted to create a fun, summer inspired crockpot dish using chicken!  I came up with this, and it was just fantastic!  The Crockpot Citrus Chicken alone is delicious, but topping it with a simple corn salsa made it even better!  You could fix this a million different ways but I made tacos with it on the first night and then turned the leftovers into quesadillas!  Yum!

Your Shopping List for the Crockpot Citrus Chicken:

• 1 pound of chicken breast 
• zest and juice of two large oranges
• zest and juice of one lime
• zest and juice of one lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pinch of dried oregano

Your Shopping List for the Corn Salsa:

• 1 package of frozen corn
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 jalepeno , diced
• juice of 1 lime 
• salt to taste (1/2 - 1 tsp)
• cilantro 

Additional Shopping List:

• toppings of your choice - cheese, lettuce, sour cream, etc
• corn or flour tortillas 

Now Let's Make the Crockpot Citrus Chicken:

1. Place chicken in the bottom of your crockpot 
2. In a large measuring cup, add both the zest and the juice of the oranges, lime, and lemon - the liquid should equal or exceed 1 cup (if it does not add a little chicken broth or water to meet 1 cup)
3. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and oregano to the juice mixture and stir to combine
4. Pour over chicken and set your slow cooker to low for 6 hours
5. At the 5 hour mark, shred chicken and allow to continue to cook for an additional hour in the slow cooker - this allows the chicken to really absorb the juices

Now Let's Make the Corn Salsa

1. At any point during the day cook your corn about 1 minute less than the package says
2. Drain corn
3. Place corn in bowl with diced onion and diced jalepeno
4. Add lime juice, cilantro, and salt - stir to combine
5. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance - the longer it sits the more the flavors come together

Serve your Crockpot Citrus Chicken with the Corn Salsa!  Enjoy! 
On the first night, we assembled them like tacos!
We used the leftovers to make quesadillas! 

I use this 6 quart slow cooker for all of my crockpot recipes:

Taco Mac and Cheese

Last week I wanted to make a dinner that was similar to my Taco Pasta Bake...but I didn't want to turn on the oven!  So I made a stovetop version and it turned out great!

Your Shopping List for the Taco Mac and Cheese:

• 1 pound shell pasta
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 cup taco sauce
• 2 cups milk
• 1 block of cream cheese, cut into cubes
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Now Let's Make the Taco Mac and Cheese:

1. Cook your pasta according to box directions, drain, and set aside
2. In a large skillet, cook your ground beef, drain, return to skillet and add minced garlic - cook until fragrant
3. Add the taco sauce and taco seasoning to ground beef and keep warm on low heat
   
4. While you make the ground beef mixture, begin warming milk in a large pot
5. Add the cubes of cream cheese to warm milk and stir until melted
6. Add cheddar cheese to milk mixture and whisk until melted, combined, and thick
   
7. Add pasta and ground beef mixture into the cheese sauce, stir to incorporate everything
8. Remove from heat and allow to sit five minutes before serving