Olive Garden Protein Pasta

 Serves 6-8

From Zac Coens YouTube channel:

1.5- 2 pounds chicken breasts, diced

16 oz light Olive Garden dressing

1 TBSP garlic powder

1 TBSP onion powder

1 tsp paprika 

1 tsp oregano

Salt and pepper

8 oz Cream Cheese (Greek cream cheese if you can find it) 

14.5 oz Protein Penne

5 oz baby spinach

Place chicken in crock pot. Combine spices with dressing and pour over chicken. Dice cream cheese into 8 blocks and place blocks on top of chicken and dressing. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low 4 hours. When it’s almost time to eat, boil pasta. While pasta is cooking remove lid from chicken, stir cream cheese into mixture, then pour in the spinach and let wilt and cook while pasta is cooking. Once pasta is cooked, drain and stir into crockpot. Mix thoroughly then serve. 

Sug's Turkey and Stuffing Casserole

8 oz box stuffing 2 1/2 c chopped turkey or chicken 1 c chicken broth 1/2 c chopped onion 1/2 c chopped celery 1/2 c mayo 3/4 t salt 2 eggs 1/2 c milk 1 stick butter 2 cans cr of mushroom soup Melt butter in 9x13 pan, coating the pan. Pour excess butter in bowl with all ingredients except soup, eggs, and milk. Pour mixture into 9x13 pan. Mix 1 can soup, eggs, and milk pour over casserole. Refrigerate overnight or freeze for later. Spread one can of mushroom soup over the top. Bake at 325 for 40 min. Sprinkle with cheese if you like and bake another 10 minutes. Serve with cranberry sauce.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Found this recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/3 cups pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tablespoons coconut oil 

I threw in some blueberries (yum) and chocolate chips (in separate pancakes -- almost too rich). 

These were GREAT pancakes!

Chicken Veggie Stir Fry

I am reposting this from Allrecipes.com. Every time I try to find it (again), I lose it, so I am copying it here.

I like this recipe because it has ingredients that I generally have on hand (never have broccoli -- we live without it. Never have sesame seeds, either.)

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half -

cut into thin strips

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

7 snow peas

1 cup fresh broccoli florets

1/3 cup julienned sweet red pepper

4 medium fresh mushrooms, sliced

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup cold water

3 tablespoons soy sauce

Hot cooked rice

1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted

 

In a skillet or wok, stir-fry chicken in oil for 6-8 minutes or until juices run clear. Remove chicken and set aside. In the same skillet, stir-fry peas, broccoli and red pepper for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and onion; stir-fry for 3-4 minutes. Combine cornstarch and sugar; stir in water and soy sauce until smooth. Add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Return chicken to the pan; cook until mixture is heated through and vegetables are tender. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

After posting this and linking to this, I dug through more comments and found a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent.

If I can spend less money and still get clean dishes, I'm all about it!

1/3 cup Borax
1/3 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda)
1/3 cup salt
4 envelopes lemon kool-aid, unsweetened ( or citric acid)–each envelope only costs 8 cents
Using a funnel, add the above ingredients to a 32 oz plastic bottle with a lid (I use an old white vinegar bottle). Add just enough warm water to cover ingredients, cap and shake well. Mixture will foam–release lid to let Co2 escape. Add more water, shake. Continue until bottle is full. Mixture will smell like a lemon drop. Fill dispenser with the mix; shake before each use. I use white vinegar in my rinse aid dispenser.

*(all of the above was copied and pasted. I have yet to try any of this. I do know you can buy plain citric acid in many pharmacies).

Hot Cocoa

Swiping a recipe from Deana:

Hot Cocoa

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
4 cups milk

Combine cocoa powder, sugar and 1/2 cup of the milk in a saucepan. Heat to just boiling, then add rest of milk. Heat without boiling.

Deana's editorial: "I melted some leftover candy canes in it and added a dash of my french vanilla coffee creamer. Super yum. Swiss Miss, it was nice knowin' ya."

Eclair Cake

A family favorite, SUPER easy!

In a 9x13, make a graham cracker crust.

(I crush a sleeve and a half of crax, melt 3/4 stick butter, throw in some cinnamon, mix together in 9x13 and bake at 350* for about 10-15)

Allow to cool completely.

In a separate bowl, combine 3 c. milk and 1 lg. box of instant vanilla pudding.

Stir until it begins to thicken. Then slowly fold in 1 container of Cool Whip.

Spread evenly over the crust.

Melt 1 tub of chocolate icing in microwave for about 45 seconds.

Pour slowly over pudding mixture. Spread evenly.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.