{Food} Friday...Rigatoni, White Beans, and Sausage

The love for food and enjoying "Family Time" in the kitchen is something I have always enjoyed.  Growing up, we didn't eat out...we cooked.  The whole family around the dinner table allowed us to share everyones day.  That is something that I grew up on and now have brought into my own families lifestyle.  Eating out is a treat, one that I thoroughly enjoyed the weeks of not feeling my best :)  But there is just something about cooking at home:

Yummy smells the house develops

Miss B running in for fresh chopped veggies

Jazz music

The excitement to try a new dish

Watching Miss B attempt to set the table

At the end of a meal, having my hubby give me a kiss and telling me that was one of my top 10 best dinners...We have definitely passed the "top 10" mark :)

A cute {Short Story}:

While cooking dinner this past Tuesday night, Mr. Adkins snuck in to steal a piece of cheese already prepared for the meal. Weeellll, Miss B saw him do it and she was off.  Looking up at the counter, she stood on her tippy toes and reached....turning around from my place at the stove, I saw her attempt.  Told her to wait on daddy.  Watching she and Mr. Adkins out of the corner of my eye, he gave her a piece of cheese and to not tell mommy.  About that time, I turn around and she was tip toeing out of the room...she turns around to me, puts her finger to her lips and says "shhhhhhhh"

Guess the secret is out :) hahaha

Ok, on to dinner!!

Loving my new cookbook:

Eat what you LOVE

Click here to purchase!  Mine was purchased at Ross for $5.99!

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Rigatoni, White Beans and Sausage

8 oz. rigatoni

2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

3 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 pound turkey kielbasa sausage, sliced thin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 (14 oz) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, well drained

6 oz. (6 cups) baby spinach leaves

6 tablespoons finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Freshly cracked black pepper

1.

Cook the pasta according to package directions in a large pot. Drain and set aside.

2.

Pour the chicken broth and garlic into the same pot. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Add the sausage, oregano, and olive oil.  Stir well.

3.

Stir in the beans, tomatoes, and cooked pasta to the pot.  Place the spinach on top of mixture.  Cover with a lid and turn off the heat.  Allow to steam for about 1 minute, just until spinach has begun to wilt.  Stir mixture.

4.

Serve with a heaping tablespoon of Parmesan cheese on top and seasoned with black pepper to taste.

Fit Tip:  Because the broth and sausage add plenty of sodium to this dish, use no-salt-added tomatoes.  Many brands now offer no-salt-added versions, some of which have as little as one-tenth of the sodium in the regular variety.

This will definitely be a {FALL} favorite in this house :)

Yummy!!!

Happy Friday, lovelies!!

Steph


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Want cake that tastes like {Wedding Cake}...yes, please!

I do believe the best part in attending weddings is to see the brides dress and the wedding cake.  Running around greeting guests, taking pictures, throwing the bouquet, hurrying, hurrying, hurrying you barely get to enjoy the cake at your own wedding.  Well, at least that was the case with my wedding...haha!

So if you are like me and want to experience "Wedding Cake" anytime....this is the recipe for you!

Momma has had this recipe tucked away in her recipe book {1 of many} for a very long time and would only bring it out at special times like birthdays.  

Ever heard of the {Steel Magnolias} story??  I went to school with the boy and my mom got this recipe from his stepmother.  Pretty cool, huh?

Enjoy your wedding all over!

Cake:

Pillsbury Plus White Cake Mix (any moist cake mix will be fine)
Add 1 Tablespoon Almond Extract and usual ingredients. Bake according to cake box.

Icing:1 1/2 Cups Crisco Lard - regular plain white
1 tsp of each flavoring; Almond, Clear Vanilla & Butter
2 tsp Light Karo Syrup
Dash of Salt
Mix

Then Add:
2 lbs. Conf Sugar & 1/2 Cup Water
Mix well


{Sorry for no recipe tutorial.  Will try to revise this post a little later with pictures!}


When you make this, let me know what you think!


Tatta....


{HUGS} & Blessings,


Steph

Last Minute Easter Fun..plus it's delish!

Wow, one more day until Easter!  Do you have any special traditions with your family?  We dyed eggs with Miss B on Thursday night...she had a blast!

Sorry for the pics...Mr. Adkins took them..haha :)..... Love you honey *smooch*

I apologize that there are no pics of the finished eggs...had a hankering for egg salad ;P

OK....

Now for the fun, yummy {Last Minute} Easter Idea!!!

Chocolate Easter Nests 

with 

Malted {Speckled} Eggs

We are having an Easter Bake Sale at our church tomorrow and I wanted something fun and different to make.  Researched and found this great recipe on Woman's Day!!!!

Chocolate Easter Nest Recipe

Follow directions completely.

End result...yummo!

This recipe made 12 medium nests.

I just had to have something cutesy to put them in!!  

Brown Paper Baskets

Go to your closest Dollar Tree for the supplies!

What you will need:

12 Brown Paper Bags

Easter Grass

Pinking Scissors

Scotch Tape

Ribbon

Markers

Colorful Paper

Hole punch (not pictured)

1.

Making the Brown Paper Baskets:

Open up paper bag...

Fill with Easter grass.

Do not close with tape yet.

2.

Making the tags:

Using the pinking scissors, cut a square, oval, circle, etc.  I chose a square.  After your square has been cut, make a hole at top left corner.  Then write whatever you would like onto the tag!

After the tag has been created, use your decorative ribbon and tie name tag onto handle!

3.

Nests made! Now lets wrap!  

Wrap your nests by placing the cling wrap on the top of nest and tuck underneath.

4.

Place your wrapped nests in the baskets.  Tape handles together :)

 Happy Easter!!

xoxo,

Stephanie

Fast and Easy Recipe...Yellow Rice, Black Beans and Pico De Gallo

It's the weekend ~ Yay!!! We are on our way to visit my family in TN...CANNOT WAIT! 

Well we're not going yet ~ Miss B and I drove with Mr. Adkins to the hospital where he has rotations...FUN.   That meant waking up at 5:45 and leaving at 6:45...ewww.   We did it so he would not have to back track and pick us up.  To pass the time, we are sitting in a Mc Donalds parking lot soaking up the WiFi so I can make this blog entry....(oh, you know you do it too :0)    Miss B is determined not to take a nap and is serenading me with delirious sounds...haha.  She is really being a jewel.  

I have been meaning to create this post for a while but just could not come up with a name for this recipe!  So, since it still does not have a name we will just call it this:

Yellow Rice, Black Beans and Pico De Gallo (Sausage Optional)

:o)

Yellow Rice, Black Beans, Pico De Gallo with Italian Sausage

(sorry that is a mouth full...but it's good)

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Tomatoes

Jalapeno's

Red onion or yellow

Cilantro

S&P

2 cans of Black Beans

1 large package of Saffron (Yellow) Rice

Italian Sausage

1.

To make Pico De Gallo:

Follow this Recipe 

(NOTE: I only use the tomatoes, jalepenos in the jar, onion, cilantro, salt and pepper)

2.

Place 2 cans of black beans in saucepan.  Warm.

3.

In another saucepan, cook rice according to back of package.

(don't worry, I cooked this before 2/4/11 :0)

4.

In skillet, brown and cook sausage.

  

5.

Once everything is completely cooked, chopped, diced and warmed....place rice on plate first.  Then top with black beans and pico de gallo.  Serve with sausage.  If you prefer, roasted chicken is delicious with it too :0)

Get ready to enjoy a world of flavors...It is truly delicious!

{my mouth is waterin' and it's only 10:57 am!}

Another HOLIDAY Recipe....Red Velvet Trifle

My ABSOLUTE favorite Holiday dessert is this Red Velvet Cake made by Willard Scott.  Momma found it back in 1987 while looking through a Red Book magazine!  She told me today (while we were baking it for the whole family) that this was the only Red Velvet cake that she baked that did not fall apart...haha.  It is very simple and full of richness and memories.  If you read in my last blog, you will note that while making my last RVC the three layers did not come out of the pans correctly (must not have sprayed the pans enough....can't stand when that happens!)  Sooooo we had the idea of breaking the cake apart, crumbling it and making a trifle! It was the first year the whole family ate all of it :0) So this year I'm doing it the same way.  

Cake

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup (two 1-ounce bottles) red food coloring

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon white vinegar

2 large eggs

1To make cake: Heat oven to 350degrees.  Mix together all ingredients with an electric mixer.  Spray three 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick coating.  Pour batter equally into the three pans and bake for 20 minutes.  Test for doneness with a toothpick.  Cool layers in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Carefully remove layers from pans to racks to cool completely. 

Frosting

1/2 pound (1 1/3 sticks) butter, softened

10 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 1-pound box confectioners' sugar

2 cups chopped pecans

2 To make frosting: Combine butter, cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a bowl.  Beat until fluffy, then fold in 1 1/2 cups pecans.  Use to fill and frost cake when it is cool.  Decorate top of cake with remaining 1/2 cup pecans; refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving OR you can do the trifle :0)

Layer: Cake, icing, cake, so on and so on until all cake and icing is used up.

It's good...you have GOT to try it!

Miss B certainly likes the "tradition" :0)

Recipe TIME...from our Bungalow to yours

Enjoying another lovely week at Papa and Huney's house!!!  We are celebrating our Christmas time with them and enjoying their company and GOOOOOOOD food :) Our Cajun Christmas dinner is tonight including Gumbo and momma's homemade potatoe salad. Woohoo....just a little excited ;)  In the mean time, I'll be making a Lemon 3-layer pie and Red Velvet Trifle ( use to be cake until I messed up the cakes last year...we decided to cut all the cake up and make it a trifle.  I believe we ate it ALL)

Want a new tradition? Try out these lovely recipes.  We have been making these recipes for years now...haven't tired of it yet.

Three Layer Pie

Crust (1st Layer)

1 Stick of Margarine

1 Cup Flour (All purpose)

1 Cup Chopped Pecans

Melt margarine.  Add flour and pecans put in un-greased corning ware dish and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Take out and let it cool completely.

2nd Layer

1 8oz. pkg. of cream cheese

1 cup of cool whip or more

1 cup of confectioner sugar

Let cream cheese soften.  Add cool whip and sugar.  Mix well and add to crust.

3rd Layer

2 (3.4 oz) boxes of lemon instant pudding  (or any flavor you like :0)

3 cups of milk

Make pudding. Add to 2nd layer.  Let chill for 12 hours for best results.

...up next the Red Velvet Trifle