What's for dinner tonight!

Marinated Steak, Alfredo, and  Roasted Asparagus

Items you'll need:

• your favorite cut of steak
• your favorite marinade for the steak (I like to use Kraft's Italian Dressing Mix)
• I used Knorr Pasta Sides alfredo to save time, adding a little extra garlic powder to it can make a world of difference
• and then a bundle of fresh asparagus tossed in olive oil and lemon juice, seasoned

Steak, alfredo, & asparagus

Instructions:

• you may prepare the steak however you prefer, I like it grilled it to medium well
• there are instructions on the package to make the Italian dressing, if its your first time making it be sure to purchase the bottle to make it in
• you can also just follow the directions on the Knorr pasta side package to prepare the pasta
• I like to roast my asparagus in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes

Wine Recommendation

Cranberry

Fantastic Fall Wine

Seven Mountains Wine Cellars


Another one of my favorites from Seven Mountains that only becomes available in the Fall.

Homemade Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

• 1 box of large shells

Sauce

• 1/2-1 pounds ground beef and/or loose Italian sausage
• your favorite red sauces (I like to use DelGrosso's sauces)

Stuffing

• 2 containers of cottage cheese (16oz)
• mozzarella cheese
• parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• garlic
• parsley
• oregano 

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef in a frying pan and drain off the grease.
2. Combine the cooked meat with the red sauce into a crock pot and cook as long as you would like, the longer it cooks the better it will taste :)
3. While the sauce is cooking you can stuff the shells, it may take awhile
4. Cook the shells per the directions on the box, be sure to add some salt so they do not stick together or break.
5.  I don't like to drain them because they stick together sometimes that way, so I use tongs to pull them out one at time and put them on wax paper
6. In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients for the stuffing and mix well. 
7. Then stuff all the shells with about two spoonfulls of the mixture 
8. Place stuffed shells in a deep baing dish and cover with the meat sauce 
9. Bake at 350 degrees, covered

Cook for 30 minutes to an hour

Serve with garlic bread and a salad

**Make it healthier by using lean ground beef (90%) and use low fat or fat free cheeses**

Homemade Stuffed Shells

Warm Up When It's Chili

Homemade Chili

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground beef, browned & drained
• package of McCormick Mild Chili Seasoning
• yellow onion finely chopped
• green pepper finely chopped
• fresh garlic clove, finely minced
• 2 can of your favorite beans, I like to use 1 can of black beans & 1 can kidney beans
• 1 can of tomatoes juice
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes (I like to smash these up so you're not biting into a big piece of tomato)
• 1 can of tomato paste

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large crock pot
2. Cook for 6-8 hours

The longer it cooks, the better it will be! :)

I like to top it with shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

What's for dinner tonight!

Family Dinner

Bacon wrapped chicken with asparagus

You will need:

• a bundle of fresh asparagus
• a piece of bonesless skinless chicken breast for each person
• about 3 strips of bacon for each piece of chicken
• some finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• red bell pepper

Instructions:

Carefully cut open chicken breasts with a long thin knife. You’ll want to butterfly them, but be careful to not cut yourself or pull the knife up or down to get an uneven cut. 
Cut pepper into long strips that lay flat. Lay into chicken with the cheddar cheese, fold chicken back up.
Carefully wrap chicken with bacon. If you are having a hard time, you can use a toothpick to keep the chicken closed and the bacon from sliding off.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, check chicken’s internal temp. When chicken is cooked thoroughly, set to broil and crisp bacon under broiler for about 2 minutes.

The Best Fall Dessert

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cheesecake Filling:

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Apples:

• 2 Honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of sugar

Topping:

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan, spray well. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
3. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.
4. In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.
5. For the topping: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients.
6. Sprinkle topping over apples. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Game Day Snack

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs

Perfect for football nights!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground chicken
• 3/4 cup of Panko plain bread crumbs
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
• 1/2 cup of chives finely diced 
• 3/4 cup of Franks Red Hot Sauce 
• Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressing (personal preferences of guests) 

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 400 degrees. 
2. Spray a large cookie sheet and set aside 
3. In a large bowl combine the ground chicken, bread crumbs, egg, onion and garlic powder and chives. Using your cleans hands combine the mixture well. Roll into 1/2 inch meatballs or use a small cookie scoop.
4. Place meatballs onto cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until you see them start to brown.
5. Place meatballs in a slow cooker on low heat, add the buffalo sauce, toss them, cover and cook for two hours.
6. Serve with your favorite dressing and enjoy!

Veggie Pizza

Things you will need:

• two packages of crescent rolls
• two 8ounce packages of cream cheese
• one packet of dry ranch dressing mix
• your favorite veggies (be sure to cut into small pieces) 
• shredded cheddar cheese
• taco sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees (or follow the direction on the package of crescent rolls)
2. Roll out the crescent roll dough onto a 9x13 inch baking sheet, and pinch together edges to form the pizza crust.
3. Bake crust for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Once finished cooking, remove crust from oven and let cool 15 minutes without removing it from the baking sheet.
4. In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, and dry Ranch dressing. I like to add a spoon full of sour cream for flavor. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust. Arrange veggies, and cheddar cheese over the cream cheese layer. Chill for one hour, slice and serve.
5. Serve with taco sauce if desired.

Wine Recommendation

The Best Wine In Central Pennsylvania

Seven Mountain Wine Cellars

The black raspberry is by far my favorite! :) It is very sweet and goes very well with desserts.

Dream Kitchen

Maybe someday...

Baked Ziti

A super simple, quick, delicious meal that people will think you spent hours making.

I like to use Barilla veggie pasta to make it a little bit healthier, for this recipe you will only need one box. My favorite sauces to use are made by Bertolli. You will need one 24 ounce jar of marinara and one 12 ounce jar of alfredo. I have found that for the marinara the organic olive oil, basil and garlic sauce give the dish the most flavor, and for the alfredo I like to use garlic alfredo. Then you will also need 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese. You may use whatever brand of cheese you wish for this. I like to use low fat cheese to make it more figure friendly.

1. Cook the pasta
2. Mix both jars of sauce and cheeses together in separate bowl
3. Drain the pasta
4. Put the pasta into a 13X9 baking dish
5. Pour sauce mixture over pasta and mix up
6. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes
7. Enjoy! :)

If you wish to make this a meatless meal you may. It is recommend that you have one meatless day per week. If not this dish goes great with grilled chicken breast or sausage. I also always serve it with a small tossed salad, and some garlic bread. Wegmans has the BEST garlic bread in their bakery if you don't feel like making your own.

Homemade Pizza

Cheap, Fun to Make Meal

A yummy, simple, cost friendly dinner that I made for my family recently was a Chef Boyardee cheese pizza kit cost about $3-4 dollars. The previous week we had Italian subs. This is perfect for getting rid of the leftover lunch meat as well. Also, if you have any veggie in your fridge like green pepper, and mushrooms you can use them as well.