Baked Ziti

This is one of Paula's recipes. She was going to post it a little while back, but forgot to take a picture and never posted it. It's delicious! It's a variation on lasagna (similar ingredients, different noodle). I made this the other day to bring to someone in my ward, and I almost forgot to take a picture of it, myself!


Baked Ziti
Ingredients:
12 ounces ziti (small tube pasta...I actually used penne)
2 lb. ground beef (I always use less than this...probably more like 1 1/2 lbs)
1 jar spaghetti sauce of your choice
2 eggs
1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese)
2 1/2 c. grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. parmesan cheese

**This time I decided to add a little to the recipe. I added a chopped up onion, some fresh mushrooms chopped up, a couple small cloves of garlic, minced, about 1/4 t. basil and some pepper. These additional ingredients are unnecessary, but they add to the flavor.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta. Meanwhile cook beef (I added onion and garlic right off the bat) and drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce (this is when I added basil, pepper, and mushrooms). Simmer. In a separate large bowl, combine eggs, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese. Drain pasta and add it to the cheese mixture. Toss to coat.

In a greased 9x13 baking pan, spread 1/3 of the meat sauce. Top with half of the pasta mixture. Repeat layers. Top with remaining meat sauce. Cover and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake for 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

This recipe makes A LOT. It was enough for me to bring to a couple in our ward for dinner, for Paul and me for dinner that night, and for lunch for Paul for two days. I made this when I was pregnant and put it in the freezer to have when James was born. It's a nice, easy meal. But it's a bit expensive because of all the cheese.

Golden Pork Chops

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and adapted it according to a couple of the comments that people had posted about it. Here's the recipe I made (I'll link to the original recipe at the end):

Golden Pork Chops:
Ingredients:
6 thinly sliced boneless pork chops
olive oil
Lawry's or other seasoned salt
salt
pepper
1 onion, chopped
1/2 c. fresh mushrooms, sliced (I don't like big pieces of mushrooms, so I chopped mine up pretty small)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans condensed golden mushroom soup (Campbell's)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork chops on both sides with Lawry's, salt, and pepper. Brown pork chops in the skillet for 1-2 minutes per side. Place pork chops in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. In same skillet, sautee onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add mushrooms and golden mushroom soup. Stir. Pour mixture over pork chops. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes. Serve over rice.


These pork chops were surprisingly yummy. Paul liked them a lot and said he would like this to be one of our regular recipes.

Here's the recipe on allrecipes.com: Golden Pork Chops

Country Captain Chicken

It's been so long since I made this recipe! I haven't been very successful with the slow cooker recipes like I used to be. I have a bunch of recipes I want to try though, so hopefully I bring it out again soon!

This recipe, like most slow cooker recipes, was nice because I could put it together and let it cook itself. It had a little more prep than some other recipes that I've made, but it was a really good dinner. It had a surprising flavor, and both Paul and I enjoyed it.

Country Captain Chicken
Ingredient:
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (I actually just used two boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into pieces)
2 T. flour
2 T. oil, divided
1 c. chopped green bell pepper (I just chopped up one smallish pepper)
1 large onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped (I actually forgot to put this in when I made it)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c. chicken broth
2 c. canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 c. golden raisins*
1 1/2 t. curry powder
1 t. salt
1/4 t. paprika
1/4 t. black pepper

*Paul doesn't like raisins. But I had a feeling they wouldn't seem like raisins once they were cooked for hours and hours, and I was right. They really added to the meal, so I recommend putting these in even if you are apprehensive.

Directions:
Coat chicken pieces with flour, set aside. Heat half of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, celery, and garlic. Cook and stir for about five minutes or until onion starts to get tender. Place vegetables in the bottom of your slow cooker. Heat remaining half of oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add flour-coated chicken. Brown for five minutes on each side. Chicken will not be fully cooked, but it will finish cooking in the slow cooker. Add chicken pieces to the slow cooker. Pour broth into the still-hot skillet. Cook and stir, scraping off bits of chicken or vegetables at the bottom of the skillet. Pour into slow cooker. Add tomatoes, raisins, curry powder, salt, paprika, and black pepper. Gently stir the spices into the tomatoes to disperse them into the mixture. Cover. Cook on low for 3 hours. Serve over rice.


Like I said, this recipe had a surprising flavor. It was very interesting and yummy. I highly recommend giving it a try at least once.

Grace's Fall-Off-the-Bone Ribs

It's me! I'm alive! I have a whole bunch of recipes to post because it's been so long since I last posted one. I don't know why, but I think I needed a little break. I'm ready to get caught up, though, so here we go!

This recipe is a family favorite in Paul's family. And I know why! These ribs are delicious and actually very easy to prepare.


Grace's Fall-Off-the-Bone Ribs
Ingredients:
1 rack of pork ribs
triple recipe of Ishimoto family Sweet and Sour Sauce

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Wrap rack of ribs generously in foil. I should have taken a picture to give you an idea of what it looks like, but you just wrap the foil around and cinch it at the top like a little tent. Make sure the foil is crimped shut all the way across.. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 2 1/2 hours. (Yes, you do not need to season the ribs at all first. Don't worry, they turn out delicious!) Prepare Sweet and Sour Sauce. After 2 1/2 hours, open up the foil and flatten the rack of ribs if needed. Pour on about 2/3 of your Sweet and Sour Sauce (be generous). Continue to cook (with foil still open) for 30 minutes. At this point, increase the temperature on the oven to broil, and pour the rest of your sauce on top. Broil for about two minutes. This gives the ribs a nice charcoaled scent and seals in the flavor.


We served our ribs with steamed broccoli and mashed potatoes. It was a delicious dinner! And, you may be thinking that one rack of ribs is a lot for two people. Well........


Look at those clean bones! The meat really does fall right off of them. It was so yummy.

*Note: Paul and I bought an 'extra meaty' rack of ribs (it was labeled that way at the store). I highly recommend buying that kind because I get annoyed with ribs that have hardly any meat on them.

Big Noodle Soup

This is a chicken noodle soup that Brian had growing up and they called it big noodle soup, referring to the homemade noodles. As you can tell from the picture, Brian likes more stuff in his soup than broth. I always have more broth.

This recipe is more for the noodles than for the actual soup. I don't have an amazing soup recipe. It always tastes good, but it's just basic. You boil a chicken breast until cooked and then shred it. Meanwhile boil some water and add the veggies/onion and how ever many bouillon cubes for the amount of water. Once you give the veggies a few minutes add the chicken and cook the noodles.

Noodles:

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Directions:
Measure flour into bowl; make a well in center and add eggs and salt. With hands, thoroughly mix egg into flour. Add water and mix. If you need more water, add it a little at a time. Knead until smooth and elastic...about 10 minutes. Roll dough paper thin (make sure to coat surface with flour). Cut noodles to desired thickness (a good way to do this is with a pizza cutter). Put into boiling soup and cook for 12-15 minutes.

*I've never made these noodles, Brian always does it. So, hopefully I got the directions right and it's not too hard.

Easy Breadsticks

We served it with breadsticks and they were delicious. You just let some rhodes rolls (one per breadstick) sit out until they are defrosted but still cold (you can microwave them a little if you're in a hurry). Then you roll them into skinny strips and line them up on a cookie sheet. Let them rise until doubled in size (just like you would with rolls). When they're ready to go in the oven you coat them with melted butter. Bake them for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until golden brown. When you pull them out put another coat of melted butter on them. There is a very similar recipe on the bag of rolls as well.

Navajo Tacos

I got this recipe from a girl in the ward. It was fast, easy to make, and kid approved. I forgot to take a picture of one topped with goodies, but here's one of the pieces of flat bread. This is a little size for my little eaters. They puff up a lot in the oil, so I'm going to flatten them even more for next time.

Flat bread:
3 c. flour
1 c. milk
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
Mix all ingredients together (you may have to add a little more milk if it is on the dry side). Roll into balls and then flatten. I usually get about 7 or 8. Fry in oil until a golden brown on both sides.
Top with: chili, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, olives, cheese, green onions, sour cream and salsa etc.

Creamy Italian Chicken

I am way behind on posting recipes! This is a recipe that I tried a couple weeks ago and it turned out great! It had a really good flavor and the chicken wasn't dry like I thought it might be. Plus, it's a crockpot recipe and is very easy. Basically, I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately the night that I made it we were in a hurry and forgot to take a picture of it until I had eaten half of it so it's not the best picture. So, if any of you try it, you could take a better picture of it and we could replace this one.

Also, I served it with mashed potatoes and cooked carrots on the side. The recipe tells you to serve it over noodles or rice. I think it would be good that way, but Becca likes mashed potatoes more.

Creamy Italian Chicken
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
1/3 cup water
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) cream of chicken soup
1 can (4 oz.) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

Directions:
Place chicken in crockpot. Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours (I flipped them halfway, but the recipe doesn't tell you to do that). In a bowl whisk together soup and cream cheese until blended (soften the cream cheese first). Stir in mushrooms. Pour mixture over chicken and cook for 1 to 3 hours longer or until chicken juices run clear. Serve over rice or noodles.

* When I bought a salad mix envelope I was confused because there were different sizes. It's supposed to be about 1.25 oz. Also, I put more like 1/2 cup water. I put a little extra because it didn't seem like very much water.

* Like I said, it was good with mashed potatoes. We used the yummy sauce as gravy. But just a warning, it was a pretty heavy meal that way.