Chocolate + Peppermint = Cookie Heaven!

Anyone remember the bag of peppermint baking chips I picked up awhile back for $0.29? They've been sitting in my cupboard just waiting for the right recipe to come along. Last week, I saw this recipe and saw my opportunity to put them to good use.

I replaced the 1 2/3 cups of mint chocolate chips called for in the recipe with a little over 1 cup of these peppermint chips and 2/3 cup mini-chocolate chips.

They were delicious! In fact, they taste a lot like Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies. I'd like to say they are better for you too, but that would be a blatant lie. Did I mention they were really good though?

3-in-1 Meals: Part One - Spaghetti & Meatballs

Around here, we love America's Test Kitchen. Most of our favorite, and almost all our foolproof, recipes have come from the pages of their cookbooks or the web content of their show. Our latest favorite is this Marinara & Meatballs recipe. Although factoring in good ingredients which are essential to the recipe made it seem a little pricey, we found that we can easily get 7 or 8 meals out of one batch, thus reducing the cost to a completely acceptable range. And the taste is divine!

First up was spaghetti and meatballs, of course. A few notes on the recipe:

1. Be sure to buy decent quality, block Parmesan cheese and grate it yourself. It is absolutely worth the splurge - trust me!
2. Use fresh basil and parsley, not dried.
3. Don't skimp on the onions. I used three large yellow onions, which had my kids moaning about too many onions (I am a certified onion lover so it's a common moan around here), but they loved the sauce!
4. Unless you like meatballs the size of hamburger patties, do what I did. Make normal size meatballs (a scant ice cream scooper full works great). I reduced the baking time by 5 minutes for the meatballs and cooked them in two big batches, the first of which I added to the sauce as directed, and the second of which I froze for later use.

Whatever you don't eat, freeze for later. Here's what I got from one batch in addition to that night's meal:

• 3 ziplocks with enough sauce and meatballs for spaghetti
• 3 ziplocks with enough sauce (no meatballs) for pizzas
• 2 snack-size ziplocks with just enough sauce for subs (1/8 - 1/4 c. is plenty)
• 4 ziplocks with enough meatballs for subs

Coming Soon:
Part Two - Homemade Pizzas
&
Part Three - Amazing Meatball Subs

Food - Leftovers to Chicken Noodle Soup

We took advantage of the rare warm February weather and grilled chicken breasts last night. Since I had all the necessary ingredients on hand, I decided to make good use of the leftover chicken breast and make chicken noodle soup for lunch today. The grilled chicken, seasoned with poultry seasoning and seasoning salt before grilling, really added nice flavor to the soup.

Here's what I used:

1/2 c. sliced baby carrots
1/2 c. sliced celery
1/4 c. diced red onion
2 T. vegetable oil
1 large grilled chicken breast, cubed
3 c. chicken broth
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 c. egg noodles
salt & pepper to taste

First, heat the vegetable oil in a saucepan until shimmering. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook on medium-high heat until softened, about 5 minutes.



Add chicken broth, chicken, and thyme. Bring to simmer, turn heat down to medium, and cook for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.



Add the noodles and cook until tender, about 5 more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and serve!

Food - Fast & Easy Mexican Night

One of my favorite crockpot dishes is Chicken Tacos because they are super easy and very good at the same time. Paired with my lazy version of Mexican rice, they make for a good, hot meal with minimal effort.

Crockpot Chicken Tacos

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 jar of your favorite salsa (I use medium)
2 tsp. taco seasoning (optional)

Put chicken breasts in the bottom of the crockpot. Pour salsa over chicken and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Cook on low 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. About 1/2 hour before serving, shred chicken inside crockpot and continue cooking. Add flour tortillas, shredded cheese, and your favorite toppings. Viola!


Mexican Rice

1 c. long grain white rice
1 T. vegetable oil
1 c. salsa (I use medium)
1 c. chicken broth

Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add rice and cook until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add salsa and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Stir halfway through cooking time.