Easy Recipe: Pesto Salmon cooked in aluminum foil

Aluminum foil has always been a really difficult thing for me. I could never tear it in a straight line, and it would constantly roll out of the package never going back in just right. Then I read once in Family Circle something that it claimed many people didn't know. On the side of the aluminum foil is two push in tabs that will hold it in place making it easier to pull and manuever. I was amazed to find this out since I had been stuggling for years with this. But, what made me upset is I bet my Mama or Mom knew about this... you label readers kept this from me. Anyway, my point that I was going to make is that once I figured out how to use the aluminum foil it was easier to experiment with.

Salmon is not the easiest thing to cook for some people. Really fish in general can be a very tricky thing to get correctly. BUT if you place them in aluminum foil packets and pop them in the oven they become an easy recipe.




This recipe will require an oven preheated at 400 degrees F


Easy Recipe Ingredients:


Any kind of season you like on your salmon

Non stick cooking spray

Salmon (duh)

Pesto Butter
(Pesto butter is green, if you are not familiar with it ask your local Italian, or Grocery store clerk ;0p)


Easy Recipe "Utensils" needed:

Baking Sheet

Aluminum Foil

Easy Recipe Instructions:

1) Tear off a piece of aluminum foil that is apprx two and a half times the size of your salmon piece

2) Spray the foil with cooking spray

3) Put your salmon on the foil

4) Add you seasonings (not the pesto)

5) Fold your foil edge to edge and fold several times

6) Take your remaining openings and fold them down several times as well

7) Put foil packets on baking sheet and place in preheated oven

8) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes

9) Remove the baking sheet from the oven and carefully open up the packets

10) Spread Pesto butter over salmon to liking and place back into oven without closing packets

11) Continue to bake another 5 minutes or until pesto butter looks melted



Tips:

Serve with your favorite vegetable or pasta





My boyfriend absolutely loves this dish and now knows the power of the pesto butter! Pesto can be frozen and thawed for your next use as you probably won't use it all the first go around. This recipe can also be used for chicken but should be cooked at 350 for about 35 minutes. Trying adding veggies and potatoes to the chicken packet, it is delicious and you have your whole meal in one easy to clean place.

Easy Recipe: Turkey and Stuffing Surprise

Honestly, I had a really long hard day at work and tomorrow won't be any better. I have no musing for you today. Except to say, that if I didn't have a pizza in the freezer I would def use this easy recipe.

This recipe requires a preheated oven at 400 degrees F


Easy Recipe Ingredients:


1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup

1 cup milk

1 bag of frozen mixed veggies (thawed)

Vegetable cooking spray

4 cups stuffing

2 cups cubed cooked turkey (chicken works too, the kind in the can)

1 cup shredded swiss cheese (or whatever kind of cheese you want)


Easy Recipe Instructions:

1) Spray a shallow baking pan with cooking spray

2) Stir the soup and milk in a large bowl.

3) Stir in veggies, turkey and stuffing an spoon the mixture into your baking dish

4) Bake in your preheated oven for about 25 mins, or until bubbly

5) Sprinkle with the swiss cheese and bake for 5 more mins



I am tired, sorry. I hope everyone has a wonderful night.





Sleepy,

Bela

Easy Recipe: Chicken Burgers

I am newly 23 years old, not married, no kids, and I don't own a house. Can you guess what my favorite magazine is? No its not Cosmo... Nope not Glamour... nut uh its not Vogue. Give up? FAMILY CIRCLE!!! Yes ladies and gentleman I like the magazine made for woman of the soccer mom sort. I love family circle for many reasons but mainly it is cheap (only $1.99) and they know I'm cheap too. Family Circle always has something on the cover that just screams, "HEY YOU CHEAP AND LAZY," to which I reply "yes that's me. What do you have for me this time?" This months addition boasts on the cover " Quick and Easy Dinners." Ahhh perfect. I flip the pages until "chicken burgers" catches my eye. "Why thank you family circle for understanding my need for cheap alternatives to beef." Yes, I did actually say this out loud but everyone who heard me knows I'm crazy after all.

Ground Turkey is cheaper then ground beef, but ground chicken takes the cake as far as costs goes. Plus, it is actually a lot better for you.


Family circle says this easy recipe needs a preheated broiler, or a grill. Whichever floats your boat, they don't seem to care.


Ingredients:

1/4 cup low fat mayonnaise (I hate mayo so I will find an alternative)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped basil plus 4 large whole basil leaves

1 teaspoon lemon juice

16 oz ground chicken

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 tablespoons part-skim ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs

4 hamburger buns

1 small tomato, sliced

Utensils needed:

small bowl

spoon (because obviously you need one to mix stuff)


Tips:

My alternative to the Mayo mixture discussed below : Ketchup, Mustard, Cheese, and a Pickle! ooo fancy


Easy Recipe Ingredients:


1) Stir together mayonnaise, 1/2 tablespoon parsley, 1/2 tablespoon chopped basil and lemon juice in small bowl, set aside. (Then again you could just follow my tip and skip this all together.)

2) Heat gas grill to medium high or prepare charcoal grill with medium hot-coals. (I'm going to use the broiler because i have no idea how to control a coals temperature.)

3) In a large bowl, stir together remaining 1/4 tbsp each of parsley and basil, chicken, onion, ricotta, and bread crumbs until combined.

4) Form #3's mixture into four inch patties.

5) Grill 6 mins per side, or broiler 5 to six mins per side on a nonstick broiler pan

6) Remove and place on buns (well duh)

7) Top with Basil leaf, a slice of tomato and 1 tablespoon of mayo mixture





Any recipe can be fancied up or toned down to fit the taste you are going for. This recipe is pretty easy whether it has the mayo mix or the ketchup. You will notice that the Chicken Burger has a much lighter look than a normal ground beef burger (more affectionately known as a hamburger.) Also notice the obvious lack of disgusting grease pool.

AS the chick-fil-a a cows say, and apparently our friends at Family Circle based on this months recipes: "Eat more chicken!"



Simple, veloce e buon,

Bela

Easy Recipe: Chicken Slop

Have you ever gone to someone's house for dinner and been disgusted by what was put in front of you? Just looking at the dish scares the living daylights out of you. But of course you try it because you don't want to be rude. There goes the fork shoved into your mouth as you wish you could just plug your nose to disguise the taste. "Wait a minute........ this....is.... gooooddddd," you internally sigh with relief. Ok, so sometimes it IS bad but hey you were brave enough to try it!

Are you feeling adventurous right now? Good, then its time to try easy recipe: Chicken Slop. (And yes, even the name sounds like a dumpster but just trust me on this one.)


This recipe requires a preheated oven at 400 degrees F.


Ingredients:

4 Skinless boneless chicken breasts

3 (10.75 oz) cans cream of anything soup

1 pack (5.5 oz) seasoned croutons of your liking


Utensils needed:

9 X 13 baking pan

Non stick cooking spray


Easy Recipe instructions:

1) Preheat your oven to 400

2) Place your chicken's breast (ooo lala ;0p) in the baking pan that has been sprayed with the non-stick.

3) Pour almost the whole bag of croutons over the chicken (leave about 15)

4) Pour all over the soup of chicken and croutons.

5) Mix chicken and croutons so that croutons are covered by soup.

6) Smash up your 15 remaining croutons and sprinkle on top.

7) Bake until chicken is no longer pink (apprx 40 mins)


Tips:

You could always add cheese ; 0)







Looks horrid doesn't it? But just wait until you taste it....yum yum yum! I had a friend once tell me I was trying to kill him with disgusting food when I put this dish on the table. Mmhmm, guess who had seconds?




Simple, veloce e buon,

Bela




ps

For some reason I can not change my text color right now. I am in the process of fixing this.. sorry :(.

Easy Recipe: Low Calorie Weight Watcher Maui Tortilla Pizza

Confession: There was a small period of time that I was on weight watchers. Not many people know that but I am airing it out to the world. As a woman I know what it is like to feel self conscious about the way you look no matter how pretty you really are. I wish every woman could find things about them self that would make them be in love with their body and mind alike. HOWEVER, being a self conscious person myself I know this will never change. The more Hollywood subjects us to the airbrushed world of celebrity women, the more we are going to want to correct ourselves. And so today I decided to share one of my favorite weight watchers recipes "Maui Tortilla Pizza."

As we all know pizza is FATTENING, but there is a way to change that. While tortillas may not be as fulfilling as a pizza crust, you can still fight your craving with this easy recipe.


You will need a preheated oven at 400 degrees (Fahrenheit)


Ingredients

1) 4- 7 inch whole-wheat tortillas
(the "wheat" stuff always scares me but these are actually not so bad!)

2) 1/4 pound piece lean deli ham, diced


3) 4 (1 ounce) slices reduced-fat Swiss cheese


4) 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped


5) 1 (8ounce) can unsweetened pineapple chunks, well-drained and chopped
(YUMMYYYYYY i love pineapple so much, almost as much as cheese!!)

6) 3 tablespoons chopped macadamia nuts or almonds


Utensils you will need:

Baking sheet

Aluminum Foil

A strong will not to pick at the ingredients! (every little bite counts as cals)



EASY RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:

* Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. (ooooo tough lol)

* Lay the tortillas out on the baking sheet. Layer evenly with all ingredients excluding pineapple and macadamia nuts/almonds.

* Bake until the cheese is melted. (apprx 8 mins)

* Sprinkle with pineapple and nuts! ( I like to add these when there is about a min left and slightly cook them too)


Tips:

No really... this is really that easy of a recipe. Nothing else to add





One of these pizzas is 226 Calories and only 2 g of fat. If you are familiar with Weight Watchers, then calculate 4 points a pizza!




The most important thing here is for every woman (or man i suppose) reading this to learn to love yourself. NEVER EVER start a diet because you are worried about what other people think of you. Anything you do should be for a happier, healthier, YOU. This pizza is truly amazing and the best part is that it is 100% good for you. I hope you have enjoyed this easy recipe. If you would like to look up more low calorie, or weight watchers recipes feel free to use my google search bar.





Simple, veloce e buon,

Bela

Easy Recipe : Chicken Pot Pie

The women in my family tend to get divine cooking inspiration from the back label of many packages. Some of these recipes I have been forbidden to give you, like my mama’s chocolate chip cheesecake. Legend has it that the cheesecake recipe came from the back of a chocolate chip wrapper years ago, but if you ask us it’s a family secret and you can’t have it! Today I am giving you an easy recipe for chicken pot pie that my mommy (yes I said mommy) got from the back of a veg-all can. I have adapted it over the last couple years to include cheese because I can best be compared to Steve Urkel in the 90’s when it comes to food. (If you don’t know what I am talking about, you are too young to get it.)


To this day I don’t know why my beautiful mother was reading a can of veg-all, but I suppose we should all thank her for being a slight bit weird because we are about to enter heaven on a little piece of easy recipe chicken pot pie:



Ingredients:

1) Two refrigerated pie crusts
(These are normally located someone near the eggs, or fridge biscuits. I use Pillsbury pie crust, just look for the long blue box, both of your pie crusts will be in there.)

2) 1 can of veg-all -medium size can
(Truth is you can use any mix veggie can, but they gave us this recipe so let us give them thanks by buying their product.)

3) 2 Cans of any “cream of soup.”
(I like to use two cream of potato, but any flavor is fine.)

4) Thyme spice- 1 tsp

5) Salt and Pepper- to taste

6) Small pack of chicken legs

7) One small bag of cheddar cheese


Utensils you will need:

Pie Pan
Fork
Mixing bowl
Spoon
Aluminum foil


This recipe requires a preheated over at 350 degrees

Easy Recipe Instructions:

· Boil chicken in covered pot with salt and pepper

· Drain chicken and allow to cool.

· When chicken is cool to the touch, remove the skin and peel into small strips. (And yes you have enough to share with pets and nibble on too.)

· Mix in a large bowl all ingredients including chicken. (Save just a little cheese)

· Line your pie pan with one of the pie crusts.

· Fill you pie pan with your mixture and smooth. You want your mixture (or goop as I like to call it) to be about an inch from the top of the pie pan. This way your mixture doesn’t bubble and break the crust apart. (Depending on the size your pie pan is you may have some left over. I like to get more pie crust and make mini pies with this)

· Take your second pie crust and put it on top of your mixture.

·“Smoosh” the two pie crusts excess together and roll it under to create a crust.

· Use your fork and press down all along the edge of your crust.

· Cover your crust with aluminum foil

· Place pie in the preheated oven until a nice golden brown



Tips:

· When the pie begins to turn a brown color the aluminum foil can be removed off of the crust so that it is allowed to brown as well.
· Take the little bit of cheese you kept and sprinkle on top of the pie after you take off your aluminum foil.

Remember on the cartoons where the animals steal the pie that the people so stupidly left on the windowsill for grabs? Well there was a method to their madness. Pie sticks together a whole lot better when it is chilled and then reheated. I like to make my pot pies the day before and sit them in the fridge over night. The next evening simply preheat and your pie will not fall apart. I promise.




WALLAAA! You are done :0). This recipe is not exactly how Veg-All created it to be, but it is delicious. If you don’t like this particular Easy Recipe for chicken pot pie please feel free to use my web search to find even more fun cooking ideas. Don’t forget to read your box and can labels because you never know what you will find.








Simple, veloce e buon,

Bela

Baked Ravioli

Thank you for coming to my blog :0)! I am very excited for my first post and hope you find my easy recipes delicious. So with that, I present to you the first "easy recipe":




I LOVE LOVE LOVE ravioli but some times life gets too busy to really get them right. If you cook ravioli often you know what I mean. You have to boil the ravioli while simultaneously browning your meat and preparing the sauce. In fact, people should pay for a ticket to watch your circus antics as you hop around the kitchen praying your ravioli doesn't over boil and your meat doesn't burn.

Ravioli shouldn't be a chore and most certainly should not come from a can, (unless of course you are five.)

If you have 30 to 40 minutes and enough pocket change for 6-7 ingredients then prepare to be amazed!


For this dish you need to preheat your oven to 350

INGREDIENTS:

1) A jar of spaghetti sauce
((pick your favorite because it doesn't matter. I prefer the cheapest ;0) ))

2) A package of cheese ravioli (cooked)
( For those that aren't familiar these are in the freezer section. I know you're out there!)

3) Small curd cottage cheese- 2 cups
( Go ahead get the Wal-mart brand no one knows the difference trust me!)

4) Parmesan Cheese- 1/4 cup
(If you don't already have this then just buy the smallest one it is plenty.)

5) Shredded Mozzarella- 4 Cups
(Yes, 4 cups is enough but personally I prefer the "use the whole stinkin bag" method!)

6) Ricotta cheese- 1 cup
( I mix this with the cottage cheese, but you can make it it's own layer.)

Optionals:

Beef (I use turkey, can you tell I'm a cheapy yet?)


Utensils you will need:

I use a 9 X 13 baking pan





Simple instructions:


* Put about 1/2 a cup of spaghetti sauce on the bottom of your pan and spread.

* Take half of your cooked ravioli and line it over the spaghetti sauce

* Measure out another 1 1/3 cup of spaghetti sauce and spread over raviolis

* Layer with 1 1/2 of your cottage/ricotta mix, approx 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella, and meat (if applicapble)

* Repeat your layers until you are out of ingredients, or have reach almost the top of your pan.

* Sprinkle your Parmesan, and any left over mozzarella you have on top.

* Pop the baby uncovered in your preheated oven for 30-40 minutes and do one of your 50 million other daily tasks while it cooks. (If the ravioli bake is very bubbly then it is most likely done.)






Tips:

I have served this to 4 people in the past, and had plenty left over. My best guess is that it can serve about 6 without a problem.









Well there you have it! A lasagnaesque dish without all the fuss, or price. This is such an easy recipe and I am positive you will love it. Let me know how it goes.






Simple, veloce e buon,

Bela