Fettuccine Alfredo with Grilled Chicken

Hey guys! Sorry it has been a while since I posted anything. Last week was horrible!! I was working on 3 contracts plus I had a client come in from out of town and everything literally fell apart. Oh well. You have to keep your head up and keep going forward. Hopefully something good will happen soon.

Now for the food...

So, last week I had a hankering for fettuccine Alfredo and I decided to make it rather than buy it frozen or order some from Pizza Hut. I will tell you that I did cheat a little, but I am not ashamed and I encourage you to cheat sometimes to. It's just easier.

Start by pounding a couple of chicken breast flat.

Season with salt, pepper and a little Cajun seasoning. You don't have to, but why not?

Throw the chicken on the grill and cook until it is done.

While the chicken is cooking, get some water going for the fettuccine noodles.

Heat up a jar of Alfredo sauce on the stove. Add some Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

Drain the noodles and mix with the sauce.

Cut the chicken in to cubes.

Top the noodles with the chicken and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Let me just go ahead and tell you that it was SO good. I had never used the sauce from a jar before, but after doctoring it up, it was pretty tasty. My recommendation is that you try it out as soon as possible. You won't be sorry.

Nanny's Squash Casserole

Happy Friday!! Did you know there is only 2 weeks of school left? This school year has flown by so fast. What is sad is that when school starts in the fall, I will still be pregnant. Oh well. I have big plans for the summer with JW. Lots of beach days, Baybears games and trips to the Explorium and museum just for starters. Hopefully there will be trips to Birmingham so we can harass the BGUP and everyone else for a couple days. Guess we will have to see...

Now for the food.

My Nanny has had a garden every year since way back when and she always loads us up with fresh veggies. One of my favorite dishes that she makes is squash casserole. The other day she came in the office and brought squash and green beans so of course I asked her to make me some squash casserole and wouldn't you know, she did. Not only did she make it for me, but she also wrote down the recipe for me. Since I had all this squash and the recipe, I decided to make it myself.

Wash your squash real good and drain.

Chop up an onion.

Cut up the squash.

Add onion and squash to a skillet with some water and let steam until for tender.

Drain and mash it up a little.

Mix together some milk, cream of mushroom soup and 3 beaten eggs.

Stir in the mashed onion and squash.

Pour half of the mixture in a small (9x9) casserole dish and top with breadcrumbs and cheddar cheese. Nanny sometimes uses crushed up crackers if she doesn't have breadcrumbs.

Add the remaining mixture and top with more breadcrumbs and cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 for 30 mins or until it has set.

I seriously could eat this stuff everyday. If you are not a squash fan, don't worry, it doesn't even taste like squash. It tastes like butter to me. Even my boys love it and they are not big veggie eaters.

I'm just glad that Nanny wrote it down for me. That means that I can pass it down to my kids when they want it. Now if I could only get Mama to write down her massed potato recipe, I would be good to go. What are your favorite family recipes?

Danish Wedding Cookies

Good Morning! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! I know I did. My boys and I spent Saturday and Sunday on Dauphin Island and we had a ball. Saturday we hit the beach for a little while then went to mom and dads to swim and eat supper. Sunday we walked on the beach early in the morning but had to cut it short when JW was stung by a jellyfish. We then spent the rest of the day floating in the pool and watching Scooby Doo. That evening we ate supper with my parents before heading home to get ready for the school and work week ahead.

Saturday morning I got up and decided to make some cookies for my Mama, Nanny, mother in law and JW's Godmother. Mama's favorite cookies are the Danish wedding cookies, so that is what I made.

Start by sifting some flour and a little bit of cinnamon.

Melt 2 1/2 sticks of butter

Chop up some pecans.

Sift some powdered sugar.

Mix everything together with a little vanilla extract.

The dough will be thick.

Form into 1 inch balls and bake at 350 for 10-12 mins.

Let cool slightly

Roll them in powdered sugar.

When they have cooled all the way, roll them again in powdered sugar.

So, as you can see I did not burn the house down trying to bake these cookies for my Mama. I am not a huge fan of baking, but I was pleased that they came out so well. My next baking adventure will be some lemon cookies I made a couple years ago, but I have to find the recipe first. What is your favorite cookie? I love snickerdoodles! If you have a great recipe for them, please share.

Grillin Time!

It is that time of year!! Time to fill up the propane tanks or break out the charcoal and get your grill going. We love to grill out. I bought Mark a very nice gas grill a few Christmases ago and it is awesome. It is a 3 burner with a griddle on the side and a large cook space. You can fit a ton of food on it so it's great for when we have people over.

Seeing that I was in the grilling mood, I decided on kabobs. Pork kabobs to be exact.

Soak some wooden skewers in some water to keep them from burning.

Cut a pork tenderloin into cubes

Place them in a bag with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, pepper and olive oil. Place in the fridge.

While the meat is marinating, cut up some potatoes into strips and place in a plastic bag.

Add some salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Spread out on a cookie sheet and pop them in a 350 oven for 10 mins, flip them over and cook for another 10 mins.

Turn the grill on. Remove the meat from the fridge and start putting it on skewers with a piece of onion in between meat cubes.

Place on the grill and cook until they are done. Only turn them one time.

Take the potatoes out when they are finished. In a sauce pan, melt some butter and add garlic, Parmesan and of course, Italian seasoning. Pour over the potatoes and serve.

I also had a pack of the steam and serve veggies that you pop in the microwave, so I fixed those as well.

When everything is done there is only one thing left to do...dig in! The meat was super tender and the onions were nice and sweet. The potatoes were out of this world and the veggies hit the spot.

I'm sure for the rest of the summer I will have many postings that involve the grill. What are your favorite things to grill? I really want to try out some grilled pizza. I'll let you know how that works out.

Did you notice a difference in the picture quality? I finally bought a new battery for my camera! I'm still learning to use it, but it is better than my phone for sure.

Monkey Bread

Saturday I woke up entirely too early so I washed some clothes and decided to cook breakfast. I have been wanting some monkey bread for a couple weeks now. It brings back memories of when my mom used to make it. What I really like about it is that it is so easy to make.

Combine some white sugar and cinnamon.

You will need 2 cans of jumbo biscuits (not flaky) and cut them into quarters.

Grease a bundt pan and pour some pecans in the bottom.

Toss the biscuits in the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Start layering the biscuit quarters and sprinkle each layer with pecans.

Melt a stick of butter in a sauce pan, add some brown sugar and bring to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Pour over the biscuits.

Bake at 350 for 30 mins.

Let cool for a few mins, then put a plate over the biscuits and flip.

You can either pull it apart or cut into pieces. How ever you decide, it is good! This is a great recipe to let the kids help with. JW was too busy watching Saturday morning cartoons to even pay me any attention. Try it out for yourself and let me know if you like it. Leave out the pecans if you want. Next time I'm adding blueberries. I'll probably make a savory version soon so check back for that.

Baby update:

My boys and I have decided on a name for the baby and it is.........Victoria Lee. Victoria is for my uncle who recently passed away and Lee has been a family name dating back to the 1900's. Lee is my grandmother, aunt and my own middle name so I really like it. We are going to call her Tori. What do you think? I love it!

Chicken and Orzo Casserole

Happy Friday everyone!! Yesterday Mark and I found out that we have a little girl on the way!!! I am so excited! We are all excited! Now I can start picking out girly stuff and looking forward to pageants, cheerleading and dance classes. Mark is already saying that he will turn her to the dark side, but I hope not. Lets hope she will have blond hair and blue eyes like JW.

Now for the food...

Pre-heat the oven to 350

Boil 2 chicken breasts for 12 mins or until they are done. Reserve the water used to boil the chicken.

Chop them into pieces.

Boil 2/3 cup of orzo.

Thaw out and drain a package of chopped spinach.

Mix together a can of cream of mushroom, 1/2 cup of mayo, 2 tsp lemon juice, pepper and spinach.

Drain the orzo when it is ready.

Add chicken and orzo to the cram of mushroom mixture and pour into a small casserole dish.

Top with shredded Monterrey Jack cheese and Italian breadcrumbs.

Bake for 45 mins or until bubbly.

All I can say is YUM!! Even JW ate all of his portion. It was so good. Try it out and let me know what you think. Pictures were taken with my phone. The battery died on my camera.