Snowy cocoa

What do you do when your house looks like this?!

Make some of this!

I cheated with this one. My neighbor gave me a big tin of Starbucks Hot Cocoa mix. If you know me at all, you know that I'm a sucker for Starbucks Hot Cocoa! I love this because the ingredients are, Cocoa, sugar, vanilla. It's makes just like any other mix. A mug of milk 2 Tbl of mix. I added a big spoonful of homemade whip cream and sprinkled a little extra mix on top to make it fancy. 
Enjoy!

Squash Pasta

This is my family's all time favorite fall dish! I like it because it's easy and fast to make.

1 Butternut Squash
Olive Oil
S & P
Cheese Tortellini (or whatever kind of pasta you have on hand)
Chicken Stock, or Broth
cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice (or whatever your favorite fall spices are)

Preheat oven to 375
Cube Squash in big chunks. coat in olive oil, S&P, and put in oven 20-30 mins.
cook and drain pasta.
When Squash is golden brown and soft, remove from oven and put into blender with spices. Add Chicken Stock, blend until desired consistency. Pour over Pasta and enjoy.

I like to add cubed chicken to it as well, although I did not do that tonight. . . .because, well, Life happened.

Smokey Bacon and Cheesy Mac

I LOVE this stuff!! I made it for our little Bear's 2nd Bday and fell in love! I was so proud of my self because this is an original Recipe, and I.ROCKED.IT.
Keep in mind. I made this for 11 people. Adjust amounts according to what will fit your family.

1 22oz Bag of Large Elbow Macaroni
6 Strips of Bacon
3 Tbl Butter
1-2 C. Milk
1/2 lb Colby Jack Cheese -Grated
8 oz Smoked Mozzarella Cheese -Grated

Cook and Strain Macaroni. I had to cook mine in 2 batches because I don't have a pot big enough to accommodate such a HUGE amount of noodles. While it sits in the strainer I also like to put a Tbl of butter in with the noodles so that they don't stick together (you could also drizzle them with Olive Oil and get the same effect)

Cook Bacon in a Large pot.

When the bacon is all crispy and  yummy looking, Add Butter and flour.

After a minute or 2 slowly add milk while stirring

When you've added enough milk (I never measure this step so I honestly have no clue how much milk I used) to make a sauce consistency Add the cheese

I added all the cheese except for about 1 c Colby Jack and 1/2 c. Smoked Mozzarella

Add noodles, Stir. Pour into Baking dish and sprinkle with remaining Cheese

Bake at 350 for 15 mins, or until cheese is all melty and gooey!

The best part about this dish is that it can be made the day before. When you hit the baking stage, Instead of putting it in the over, cover it with tin-foil and stick it in the refrigerator. When you're ready to cook, Bake in a 350 oven for 30 mins with foil on, remove foil and bake an additional 15-20 mins!

ChunkyChickenNoodleSoup

A staple for any cook (good or bad) is a recipe for Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup!! It's simple, inexpensive, super tasty and insanely comforting! This is the fastest CCNS I have ever made! Not to mention the easiest. And on a rainy, drizzly day like to day, while my kiddos are down with cold, it's just what the Mommy ordered!

2  Stalks of Celery (preferably with the leafy tops) chopped

2 Carrots Chopped

1/4 yellow onion chopped

-Saute in 2-3 Tbls of Butter until soft

Pour in 6 Cups (1 3lb box or can) of Chicken stock (I use low sodium)
Sprinkle in 1 tsp Marjoram, thyme, and poultry seasoning
Bring to a boil then add:
4 Chicken tenders that have been cooked and chopped
1 1/2 cups (1/2 lb) of Wide egg noodles (or whatever kind of noodles you like or have)
Boil till noodles are tender and the sprinkle with 1 Tbl fresh Parsley!

Serve hot with Rolls and you have an instant Family Favorite!!

5-Minute Chocolate Cake

A friend shared this on Facebook and I just had to try it! Chocolate cake in 5 mins?! C'mon!!
This is the Link to the website (which is an awesome DIY Website for anything and everything)
My boys love this! Mainly  because they can help make it, or they can do it with some adult supervision (and help counting). And who doesn't love to eat stuff out of a mug?!
 It's pretty good for a cake that's made in the microwave!  A nice little indulgence!

I have found a couple things out from making this.
1-It doesn't stay all puffy and above the rim (I think that might have to do with the fact that my mugs are too big.
2-It falls fast. I took this pic maybe 10 secs after taking it out of the microwave.
3-2-3 toddler size hand fulls are the perfect amount of chocolate chips!
4-It's good. What more do you need?!

Dinner Pockets

I made these one day and they have been a HUGE hit ever since. A once a week go to for me! They are super simple and you can fill them with anything you want! Start with your favorite pizza dough recipie. Here's mine taken from a friend of the family, Thanks Connie:
2 Tbl Yeast
1/2 C Warm Water
2 tsp sugar
put in bottom of mixer and let disolve and foam
while that's working heat, melt and disolve
1 1/2 C Milk
1/2 C Shortning (I use Crisco)
4 Tbl Sugar
when the shortning has melted add to your yeast slowly while mixing, then add 4 C Flour and 1-2 tsp dried pizza seasoning. Mix well. Dump onto floured surface and knead. roll into ball and let rest.

Filling:
I use a chicken mixture and a taco mixture.
Chicken mixture:
3 Chicken tenders cooked ( I bake mine in the oven for 15-20 mins/frozen 10 mins/thawed)
1/2 can Cream of chicken soup
1/2 C Cheese
1/2 tsp Dried Pizza seasoning

Taco Mixture:
1/2 lb Hamburger
1/2 can Refried beans
1/2 Pkg Taco Seasoning.

Take a handfull of dough and roll it out to the size of a personal pizza, or the size of your hand.

Take a scoop of your filling, and put a little pile in the middle to one side of the dough

This is an example of that Taco with the cheese on top. Next fold the dough over the top and seal it by pressing the sides together. I like to put cheese on top of it before I put it in the oven so that I can tell the Taco apart from the chicken

Bake for15 mins or until golden brown!

These will be an instant favorite! They are perfect for lunches and meals on the go!

I store leftovers (on the off chance that there are any) In a ziplock bag in my fridge.

They would also be good filled with chicken pesto, alfredo, mushrooms, spinich cream. . .the possiblities are endless! Good luck!