Baked Chicken Ziti

Dinner last night was a yummy crock pot whole chicken. Of course even with the 4 of us we always seem to have chicken left over. Just enough to not want to throw it away but never enough to make a full meal out of it! So today I decied to make a Baked Chicken Ziti. Simple easy meal that everyone loves, and a good way to use the leftover chicken. I basically just replaced the ground beef in my normal ziti recipe with the left over shredded chicken. Yummy :)

Ingredients:

1-2 cups of leftover chicken (shredded)
1 jar meatless sauce 
½ cupchicken broth 
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves 
1 (16 ounce) package ziti pasta, cooked and drained 
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I use double the amount of cheese)
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2 . Stir together spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, oregano, and chicken pieces. Cook until chicken is hot and tender again. Remove from heat and add in grated parmesan cheese.
3. Stir 1 cup of the sauce into the cooked ziti noodles. 
4. The layer into 13x9x2 in baking dish as directed:  

½ of the ziti noodles 
½ of the mozzarella cheese
½ of the sauce
Remaining ziti mixture
Remaining sauce. 

7. Cover and bake 20 minutes. 
8. Remove and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. 
9. Return to oven and bake uncovered for 10 minutes or until heated through.

Served with a nice fresh salad and some yummy garlic bread, makes a great meal. Enjoy :)

Kid Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

     One of my favorite Christmas traditions is baking cookies. I love making all kinds of treats, but it just wouldn’t be Christmas with out Gingerbread Cookies. The only problem is my children are not big fans of the taste for Gingerbread. After we make them a few weeks will pass and they always end up hard as a rock and then into the trash they go! So this year I tried a new recipe that looked like it was “kid friendly” and it was a success. My children ate half the batch before getting a chance to decorate them.

Kid Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter (softened to room temp)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth.
2. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover, and chill dough until firm, at least 1 hour (I leave mine over night).
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking sheets. On a * floured surface, roll dough out and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets (they spread alot).
4. Bake for 7-8 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.
5. Decorate as desired.

* make sure your suface is floured at all times...everytime you roll it out re-flour your surface or it will stick!



Meatloaf attempt!

     So I’m making meatloaf for the first time in over a year. My husband is not a big fan of meatloaf but I have always enjoyed it. I’m using an old recipe that I have never made for him so maybe he will enjoy this one…we’ll have to wait and see! I do know that the sauce on this meatloaf is sweeter than most others, so my children will love it. I’ll let you know the verdict tomorrow…

Meatloaf Ingredients: 
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
¼ cup bread crumbs or boxed stuffing mix (ground into crumbs)
1 egg
1 small sweet onion finely chopped 
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup whole milk (may need less)

Sauce 
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar packed firm (to taste) 
1/2 cup ketchup

Combine all of the ingredients for the sauce and set aside. Combine all the meatloaf ingredients together and place into loaf baking dish. Smooth out the top of the loaf. Pour the sauce on the top and sides on the meatloaf. 

Bake at 350°F about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until done.

Anyone else out there have a good meatloaf recipe I can try?