Kielbasa Pasta Primavera

 

INGREDIENTS

• 7 oz (1/2 box) penne
• Kielbasa (sliced)
• 5 oz (1/2 bag) of fresh spinach
• 5 cheese Italian shredded cheese
• Alfredo Sauce (I use creamy basil)
• 1 medium Red Onion (diced)
• 8 oz of fresh SLICED Mushrooms
• 6 cocktail tomatoes (sliced)
• 15 oz 1% milk

**If you want to make this meal as healthy as possible,

I recommend using TURKEY kielbasa and PROTEIN penne.

DIRECTIONS

Add your kielbasa, spinach, onion, tomatoes, and mushrooms to a LARGE skillet and cook on medium for 20 minutes. While your skillet mixture is cooking, pour the penne into a pot filled with water and cook as directed on the box.

I always giggle at how FULL a skillet looks when you first pour in spinach....

And then it shrinks up to basically nothing.... This is when I start to giggle.

Back to the directions.....

Drain the water from your pot of penne and add penne to the skillet mixture. Stir to combine. Add the shredded cheese, milk, and Alfredo sauce to the skillet mixture. Stir to combine.

MAKE LIFE EASIER TIP:

I gave you the exact amount of milk to use, but save yourself extra dishes!! Just fill the Alfredo jar up with milk and pour the milk into the skillet mixture.

Why did I just tell you to fill the Alfredo jar up with milk? Look at your Alfredo jar: There is still Alfredo in the jar that wouldn't come out when you poured, right? Now pour milk into the jar, put the lid on the jar, give it a good shake, and pour the milk into the skillet....all of the Alfredo sauce has now been put in the skillet, plus the milk needed.

I call that a win-win.

Cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. This will give the sauce and milk time to really soak into the penne and mixture to give that perfect flavor.

Leave a comment below and tell me how it turned out!

I served this dish with a Caesar Salad and breadsticks.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! I have provided a printable recipe card for you below. Simply click on the photo to print the recipe. Thanks for stopping by! Be sure and follow me on Pinterest!

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Cheesy Chicken & Rice Burritos

This recipe has a funny story behind it. Our new home is only 2 miles from my best friend, and 5 miles from my baby sister. Needless to say, we spend a lot of time together. So one night my sister and I were trying to come up with something to make for dinner. Neither of us felt like going to the grocery store. So we decided to compare our cabinets and come up with a meal with what we had.

Thus, Cheese Chicken & Rice Burritos were born!

(say this with the PowerPuff Girls theme in your head)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast or strips
• 5 minute rice
• Tortilla wraps
• 1 cup Shredded cheese (we used a variety of what we had, haha)
• 1 can Rotel
• Queso
• 1/2 cup hot sauce
• 1/2 cup ranch dressing

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Boil, then shred, your chicken. Prepare your rice as directed on the box. In a bowl, mix together the shredded chicken, rice, hot sauce, ranch dressing, shredded cheese, and 1/2 of the Rotel. Divide the mixture among the wraps, and wrap them up! Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove from oven, drizzle queso all over the top, then add remaining queso on top. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove and enjoy!

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Meal Prepping

Meal prepping is all the rage today. More than ever before, it takes both parents working, full time, to survive. We parents are exhausted! We do not want to get up crazy early to make lunches for every person in our household! We also, after a long day of work, do not want to come home and spend hours in the kitchen cooking. This is why most parents grab fast food on their way to and from school and/or work.

I feel devoting a couple of hours on a Sunday evening to meal prepping has helped me TONS!

–> Please keep in mind: SOME MEALS YOU SIMPLY CAN NOT PREP!!!! Also, it is important to keep in mind what you are prepping. Some food items should not be kept longer than a few days after preparation.

SALADS

Salads are a crazy easy meal prep recommendation from myself. You literally throw in some lettuce and the toppings you love. I purchased reusable bowls with lids (set of 8) and disposable condiment cups (set of 50) for less than $10! I make five on Sunday evening, and am good all week long!

CASSEROLES

Casseroles are such an easy meal prep! BUT, you must keep in mind what you are prepping. I never keep chicken for more than two days once prepped. You could even leave the meat OUT and add the meat IN the day you are ready to cook it…?

HAVE A SET CALENDAR

Having a set schedule for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner saves you a massive headache! I only set my dinner schedule. My kids always want the same thing for breakfast and lunch….smh….

By having a set dinner schedule, I save on groceries, time, and energy. I know exactly what I need to buy at the grocery store, which saves me from buying unnecessary items.

Allergy Free No Bake Cookies

So as you have read in my previous blog posts, I have a niece with food allergies. This recipe is one of her favorites that Aunt Jenn (me) has come up with for her.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup soy milk

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup Blue Bonnet Light

1/2 cup wow butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups quick oats

DIRECTIONS

Place your butter, sugar, milk, and cocoa in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring often until well combined. Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and allow to boil for 60 seconds (no little, no more), stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, stir in Wow Butter and vanilla extract until fully combined. Stir in oats, stirring until well combined. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto parchment paper. Cool for several hours.

TIP – If you need your no-bake cookies sooner rather than later, stick them in the freezer to harden super fast!

Allergy Free Cookie Dough Truffles

My niece is super stoked about the new recipe Aunt Jenn made for her! The sweet girl can’t even eat all of these amazing desserts on planet Earth because of her food allergies. Thank goodness for Enjoy Life brand! This amazing company has come up with TONS of allergy-free food items including baking chocolate morels! Thanks to these morsels, I was able to create my sweet Natalie cookie dough truffles, that are allergy-free!!!!!! No peanuts, No milk, No egg!!!!

Ingredients

5 tbsp softened butter

1 (10 oz) bag Enjoy Life Chocolate Morsel Chips

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

3/4 cup flour

Directions

Start by mixing your butter, brown sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir in flour. You should have a “cookie dough” consistency. If you feel it is too runny add a little more flour. Mix in 1/2 cup morsels. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (wax paper) and drop balls of mix onto paper. Freeze 30 minutes or until hard. Melt remaining morsels in 30 second intervals until totally melted. DO NOT over heat! This type of chocolate will get hard if you over heat! It took exactly 2 minutes for mine to melt. Using a fork roll your frozen balls in chocolate until totally coated and place back on parchment paper. Freeze 1 hour or until hard. Enjoy!

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Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie

INGREDIENTS

1 BAG PERDUE SHORT CUTS CHICKEN

2 CANS MIXED VEGETABLES

1 CAN CREAM OF CHICKEN

1 CAN CREAM OF CELERY

TOPPING (WILL BE MADE LATER)

1 CUP FLOUR

1 CUP MILK

1 STICK BUTTER

DIRECTIONS

TURN SLOW COOKER ON LOW SETTING. PLACE CREAM OF CHICKEN, CREAM OF CELERY, 1 CAN DRAINED MIXED VEGETABLES, 1 CAN NOT DRAINED MIXED VEGETABLES IN SLOW COOKER AND STIR. ADD CHICKEN, MIX WELL. COOK ON LOW FOR 5 HOURS. ONCE YOUR 5 HOURS IS UP IN A BOWL MELT BUTTER THEN MIX IN FLOUR AND MILK. STIR REALLY WELL MAKING SURE ALL THE LUMPS ARE GONE. POUR OVER TOP OF MIXTURE IN SLOW COOKER AND COOK ON HIGH FOR 1 1/2 HOURS. YES, THE TOPPING WILL SINK A LITTLE TO THE BOTTOM. YES, THE MIXTURE BEFORE YOU ADD THE TOPPING WILL LOOK REALLY RUNNY…IT’S OK!!!!! ONCE YOUR HOUR AND A HALF IS UP ENJOY!

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