Rissa's Cooking Challenge

Okay, so my big sister challenged me to make Sausage-Stuffed Shells. So, I did. It was really good. The original ingredient list from the site is ...

24 jumbo pasta shells (from 12-oz box)
1 lb lean Italian turkey sausage, casings removed

1 container (15 oz) light ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded reduced-fat Italian cheese blend (8 oz)

1 box (9 oz) Green Giant® frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed to drain
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
3/4 cup finely shredded carrots (1 medium)
1 jar (25.5 oz) Muir Glen® organic Italian herb pasta sauce

Some items were left out entirely from my first try as I do not like carrots and Jay doesn't like spinach. The plan, next time is to split the stuffing into two bowls, one with spinach for me and one with carrots for Jay.

Other things were changed out for what I was able to obtain. For sausage the site says you can simply use Italian pork sausage. That's what I did, I chose the Jimmy Dean brand because I know it, I've used it before and it's really good. The Italian cheese blend according tot he site can be substituted for 3 cups mozzarella shredded cheese. Again this is what I did. The ricotta cheese i was simply UNABLE to find. I was going to use Provolone instead but it's expensive for 15 ounces so I settled for the Hy-vee shredded Pizza blend which is a blend of mozzarella, provolone, romano, and parmesan.

Alright now that we've got all of THAT out of the way lets get to cooking!

First your going to fill a nice BIG pot with water. Not all the way, but you ARE going to be cooking BIG shell noodles so make sure it's enough so the shells can move around while boiling. Then set your over pre-heat to 350. Next you get to pull out a pan and brown up your sausage. Same rules as burger, nice and brown with no pink.

ALRIGHT! So while that's going on, take all of your Ricotta (or the replacement of your choice) and get it all in a good sized mixing bowl. Add in all but 1 cup of the Italian blend (or Mozzarella if you replaced it) and also the Basil. I added a TON of basil just because I love it. Half a teaspoon isn't enough for me haha! This is also the time where you add in your spinach and carrots. When I do use the spinach I plan on using fresh leaves no frozen crap. Use your hand (make sure they're clean) to fold in the basil, spinach and carrots. There is so much cheese the only way to get it all well blended is to use your hands. It's too think to get a spoon of any size through there. Just fold it through with your hands and BE SURE to get the cheese in the center and at the bottom, that was the hardest to get at to mix in.

Okay by this time your water should be boiling, go a head and pure your shells in.

Alright so now you get to pull out your casserole dish. A 13x9 is recommended but work with what you've got I like to say :) Use non-stick cooking spray, or coat the dish in a light layer of butter. Now the site says to put half a cup of the tomato sauce in the pan and spread it around, but that is really VERY little sauce. I used a cup of it instead and a rubber spatula to spread it out.

You should have been keeping an eye on your cooking meat during all of this. Just like cooking up ground burger. It should be nice and brown.

Strain out the little bit of grease into a bowl or a pan. Then you can put the ground sausage into the bowl with the cheese and basil and other good things. THIS TIME you do want to use a spoon to mix it around. That meat is still hot. It's gonna fight against you, the meat will try to melt the cheese a little bit but it won't be too bad. And don't worry if you forget to strain the meat. The grease makes the cheese taste insanely good.

Your shells only need to cook for at the MOST 15 minuets. Any longer and they're over cooked. 15 is even pushing it. When they're done, strain them out and rinse them in nice cold water. This allow then to stiffen up a little as well as make them ale for you to handle them. be sure while rinsing them, that you take apart shells that have slipped inside each other. They fit so well like puzzle pieces that they just slide one inside another while cooking lol.

Right, so now you get to start stuffing the shells! WHHOOO!!! This is a little messy, but it's fun. The original recipe on the site says to fill each shell with 3 tablespoons. NOT gonna happen. 1 you won't have enough filling, and 2 the shells barely hole a single generous tablespoon. Here is what you do. Fill each shell with just a single generous table spoon of the cheese, sausage, basil, etc mixture. And place in the sauced baking dish with the open side up.

Keep filling the shells in this way and lining the pan. If you have any of the cheese and sausage mixture left over, go a head and fill in any shells that look like they could use some more. :) I had extra shells left over i put them in the fridge knowing i can cover them in some sort of sauce tomorrow for lunch. Here was my finished stuffing product.

Now take the rest of your sauce and spread it out over the top of the shells.

Now get some tin foil and spray it with non-stick, and cover the pan. Place it in the over for 40 min. Don't have to check on it, or anything, just leave it for 40 minuets, and it'll be just fine. Then take it you and take that last cup of cheese that you left out of the mixture earlier...remember that? Haha, sprinkle the cheese on top after removing the foil.

Toss the foil and place the dish in the oven for just a few minuets, until the cheese has melted.

Now you're ready to serve it up!

I wound up taking too many shells and had to put 3 back int he pan later! But It is so amazingly yummie!

LEFTOVERS! You'll have a lot left over. Put them in a container and in the fridge. If you want a quick snack, take one out and eat it cold. Good finger food since everything is held in the shell :)

Who will like this: KIDS! The shells are big something they aren't used to seeing and since it's less physically on their plate, they're more likely to eat it quickly since they don't view it as a lot. They'll also like the finger food snack option with the cold leftovers :)

That is all for tonight my loves. This was a super easy meal just takes some time. So if you have a free night, give it a try, it's worth it and with so much for left overs, you'll have snacks and lunch for the next few days :)

Orange Chicken and Fried Rice

Here we go, Orange Chicken and Fried Rice. Mmm, mmm GOOODD!

For full written Orange Chicken recipe, check out Here! :)

You'll find a list of who'll like it and why its a great meal idea, use of the left overs, and Helpful hints can all be found in that post. That is the first ever Simple Cooking post, so make sure you check it out for any questions you might have. If they still aren't answered, find me on Facebook and ask on our Simple Cooking Group!

Momma's Awesome Meatloaf!!!

Enjoy it in all it's greatness and splendor!

Okay so here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 lbs burger

1 1/2 package crackers

1 large or jumbo egg

1 can cream of chicken soup.

1. Preheat over to 425
2. In a mixing bowl with clean hands crush crackers over the burger and start the mash and fold together, adding more crackers as you go.
3. Crack the egg into the bowl and fold that in as well, it will all start to come together better once the egg is in.
4. Once it's all mixed togethere evenly, put into pan (any pan will do as long as it's not too big. A bread pan is the best.) and press out to all sides, making sure it's level.
5. Spread cream of chicken over the top, use the entire can.
6. Place pan into over and let cook roughly half an hour. Check periodically, to see if its cooked through, sometimes it can be done sooner than expected :)
7. Once the soup has a skin on his, and possibly even lightly browned, and the meat is no longer pink inside, it's all done!

Super fast and SUPER simple cooking right there for you all! Enjoy it! I know I do. I don't like any other kind of Meatloaf.

BONUS!!: THe best part about this is the it's NOT dry in any way! It's super moist without being ugh, it really doesn't fit any of the preconceived notions of meatloaf!

ENJOY!

Special V-Log #2 Spaghetti with Garlic Toast

Hey all, our second V-log is ready to go! Tonight I made Spaghetti with Garlic Toast! Enjoy the video. If you want the full written recipe check it out here... Spaghetti with Garlic Toast :)

Without further ado, here's the V-log!

As you can see we now have a twitter account. I will connect it up with the blog tomorrow, I'm so sleepy tonight. As it is I really really hope you all enjoy this! Its so good and really easy, I want everyone to have a go at it! Have a great evening everyone, I love you all!

Simple Cooking V-Log One! Baked Ziti and Ceasar Salad!!

Alright everyone, this is it! This is what Jay and I have wanted for Simple Cooking all along. Our ultimate goal has always been to turn Simple Cooking from a a text blog into a V-log. I know it's not the best quality, but this is our very first one and we're SO excited about it! I hope you all enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it, and eating the final results...Jay had some for breakfast this morning as well hahaha!

Also along with posting the V-log here, we ask that you all check out our brand new Simple Cooking Channel on You Tube. So here it is, what everyone's been waiting for! The Simple Cooking V-Log!

I hope you all enjoyed it! Here are the written instructions as promised!

Three Cheese Baked Ziti

Ingredients:

• 1 box ziti noodles
• 2 jars of tomato and basil spaghetti sauce
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• shredded/ground Parmesan cheese
• sliced provolone cheese
• sour cream

Alright so before we really dig in, you want to set a pot of water to boil, make sure it is big enough to cook the entire box of noodles. After that, things move super fast and you really have only about 10 minuets of wait time.Preheat over to 350 degrees Add box of noodles to the boiling pot of water, and cook for about 7-10 minuets until the noodles are al dente (see glossary term at the end of the recipe) Once the noodles are cooked, pour them into a strainer and rinse with cold water until they're luke warm.

Next, get out a baking pan, one you might use for other kinds of casserole, or cakes, etc. and cover the bottom with the cooled noodles.

Add on a layer of sauce, covering the noodles. Place the provolone cheese around the pan on top of the noodles and sauce. Next add on a nice thick layer of sour cream. (Helpful Hint: I like to spread the sour cream on each slice of provolone before putting it into the pan. I learned the hard way what it's like to spread sour cream onto something that is slippery underneath! )
Add another layer of noodles, and another layer of sauce.

The next layer is a nice, thick spread of mozzarella cheese, don't be afraid to cover it all!
Layer on the last of the noodles, and the rest of the sauce once more time. Finally cover the top with the Parmesan, as much or as little as you like, it doesn't matter a whole lot, do it to taste!
When you're all done, put it in the over for 10 minuets, just util it starts to boil at the top a little and the cheese melts. Remove from the oven and serve it up!

Cesar Salad

Ingredients:

• Lettuce
• Parmesan cheese
• Croutons
• Cesar dressing

Break lettuce up wash it up if you choose, fold in Parmesan cheese and croutons, then mix in just enough dressing to coat everything without drowning it all.

There ya go, that's all you need! I hope you all try it and really enjoy it! :)

Cassie's AWESOMESAUCE Feista Chicken Enchiladas

This one is the FIRST!!! recipe that has come to me through our Simple Cooking Group . One of my best friends, Cassie posted this. Now growing up I never liked the way my parents made enchiladas, but when I read Cassie's recipe I just had to give it a try since it was so different from what I am used to. It was so amazing! Its just... all I can say is you can't understand till you try it for yourself! So with a large THANK YOU to Cassie, we dive right in!

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped ( or how ever fine you wants it )

1 clove garlic, minced

1 lb chicken breast chopped ( i use 2 breasts from a bag of frozen breasts. we have done strips, corsely and finely chopped. it all depends on the size ou want to bite into )

1 cup salsa, divided  ( THIS  is your real deciding factor of how spicy and the base of the flavor. I probably use about 2 or 3 cups in total. )

4 oz cream cheese ( if you cut it up it melt quicker and spreads nicely )

1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup shredded cheese  (what ever you like. i usually use coby jack cheese and probably use about 2 cups.... )

8 tortillas

Alright so this is the list as Cassie posted it. I highlighted the first two in red as I did not use them, since I had plenty of onion and garlic in my salsa. FOR the salsa, I used the fresh from scratch stuff I made in my previous entry. 

Alright so lets start cooking!

1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees
2. In a larger sauce pan heat it up on low with either oil or butter, however you prefer it. Chop up your chicken and toss it in.
3. As the meat starts to slowly cook, add in your onion and garlic. (Like I said I didn't do this due to my salsa.) saute it a bit.
4. Add in a cup of the salsa.
5. If you ought your cream cheese in bar form, it's only half a bar that you need. I cut that up into 8ths so it would melt faster and spread it around the entire pan. 
6. When its about half melted, add in the cilantro, (see previous entry on how to cut up easily) and the cumin. I actually added a ton of the cumin, as I just really really love the flavor. It wasn't too strong just right, mmm yummie!
7. As it all melts down and starts to come together, you'll find it becoming very sauce like all on it's own accord. this is good, we want that. just be sure you're checking your chicken to know it's cooking through all the way. Once the chicken is done, add in your shredded cheese to goo-a-fy!

Alright so now that we're all cooked up, its time for the baking pan. A larger casserole dish is best but I didn't have one so I had to make due.

If you have more salsa, lay it out on the bottom of the dish.

Next, lay out a tortilla. and scoop some of the dish onto it. You can do this one of two ways. You can double the tortilla shells and put the sauce in there with the rest of it. Or you can use one shell and strain the sauce back into the pan. If you use only one tortilla and the sauce it will rip through and it really isn't fun to deal with that. I learned it the hard way. That's when I started to strain out the chicken and sauce.

Wrap it up burrito style or however you like, and lay it seam down in the baking dish. Rinse and repeat, you know how it is, till you baking dish is all filled up.

Alright, so now you should have a lot of leftover sauce with some chicken. Get a spoon or measuring cup or something and drizzle it all over the top of the shells, covering them completely. There may or may not be chicken int he sauce, that's just fine. The more chicken the merrier! After that, if you have any more cheese, just lay it out on top. You can never....NEVER have too much cheese!

Now we bake! Put it in the now hot oven for about 15-20 min. Any longer and the edges of our tortillas will may burn. Mine were only in for 15 and it smelled like they'd burned. Luckily they didn't. Once it's all melty and hot you can take it out of the oven.

Now I actually had to use two spatulas to get these out, they were THAT full, and they still broke up on me! HAHAH! Once you have the enchilada onto the plate, use what's left of the salsa to top it off.

There is SO much food there it's insane! But OH! So mouth watering delicious! I water just thinking about it, this is my new favorite meal, I kid you not.

That's all there is for this super easy!

Who will like this: Adults, especially if you like Mexican food. Children might if you make a smaller one for them, and also if they aren't picky about "foreign objects" I.E.: the weird red or green things. Also depending on the spice level of the salsa that you use, people may not enjoy it if they aren't big on spicy foods. My version in pretty mild, as I didn't make a very spicy salsa for it at all.

LEFTOVERS!!!! We had tons of left overs. They were really good fresh and cold form the fridge the next morning for breakfast. May sound odd but everything you should have for your first meal is right there wrapped up in a nice shell. It's hard from cold and since you wrap the end up, nothing falls out and you can eat on the go if you need to!

That's all for Simple Cooking tonight, you got two entries for the price of one! Enjoy the Enchiladas and let me and Cassie know exactly what you think of them over at the Simple Cooking Group or right here in the comments for Simple Cooking.

Until next time. I love you all, and remember to love yourselves too!

~Alex~

Home Made Salsa!!!

ALRIGHT!!! I have a super quick super easy recipe for salsa, only takes a few minuets to make too!!!

Ingredients:

• Two large, firm tomatoes
• Peppers..green pepper, jalapeno pepper it doesn't matter here just whatever you prefer. PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE END OF THE RECIPE BEFORE YOU MAKE THIS!
• White onion
• Cilantro
• Lime juice
• Minced Garlic (for salsa I like to use the pre-minced stuff in the jar, it's comes in a liquid so the pieces are nice and soft and you're not biting into hard garlic)

Note: If you need pictures for this one..there is no hope for you.

Alright so this so freaking easy anyone can make it. you CANNOT SCREW THIS UP! I promise you that! So lets roll up our sleeves and get started!

1. Chop up your tomatoes. I use really first ones because I have such a hard time dicing them up what they're soft. Put ALL of it into a good sized bowl. The juice, seeds, everything.
2. Dice up your onion. The amount you use is dependable on how you like it. I'm not a big fan of it, but Jay is. I can't bite into hard onion it makes me gag so I used the cheese grater to made it mushy and put a lot in that way. This way I can bite into it without worry and Jay gets lots of onion!
3. Cut up your cilantro. This you need VERY little of. Also scissors is the easiest way to get nice small bits, just hold it all together in one hand, making it as dense as possible. Then use the scissors and snip snip snip snip and it'll just mince itself!
4. Now for the pepper. I do this last because I know how bad it is to get pepper in your eyes or on your face. Depending on how spicy you want it, you can add in the core, or at least the seeds. If you don't want to use them just cut them out and set them aside. Dice up your pepper and add it into the bowl with everything else.
5. Using a long spoon or spatula, fold the ingredients together. Switch between a gentle fold and a slow mixing stirring. The juice from the tomatoes will be more than enough for the liquid aspect, the rest is nice and solid and crunchy and spicy for you!
6. Add in one teaspoon of the minced garlic and mix.
7. Add in the lime juice to taste. Start with a little and go from there. I don't like Lime at all, but I found the salsa didn't taste right to me until I'd used like half of the little green lime thingy haha!

From there adjust the amount of lime juice and garlic to your liking..the lime can do A LOT for the salsa and is great for balancing out a flavor you don't want as strong. Also black pepper helps to balance out come flavor too!

IMPORTANT NOTE!: If you have never word with peppers of any kind before PLEASE BE CAREFUL! The core with the seed are ALWAYS the hottest parts. Once you make the first cut into your pepper do not, DO NOT touch any part of your face! If you cut up the pepper before you dice up other ingredients, PLEASE wash the knife and the cutting board before moving on. Also PLEASE wash your hands right away. I am speaking form experience when I say you do NOT want any part of a pepper even if its only a green pepper, on or near your face. Please be careful!

That's really all there is to this. It's really good. I kept a bag of tortilla chips next to me for proper taste testing!

I don't really have any special tips on who'll like this or anything like that. It's salsa, if you don't normally like salsa this may be a good way to to try different things to see if you just have a particular taste to it, or something like that, yanno? Give it a try, it can't hurt. I just used a green pepper, not super spicy but enough and it was SO good...and that's coming from someone who's very picky about salsa. 

That's about it for now. I'll have another recipe up VERY shortly. Keep this one in mind, when you read the next one. Until then, have a good one!

Spaghetti and Garlic Toast

Alright it's that time again, for another super simple recipe! Today it is my all time favorite food, something I've been in love with for as long as I can remember and for me at least, there is nothing better.....Spaghetti!!! And also a really great, super fast way to do some home made garlic toast! :)  Really it's the sauce we're making from scratch here. If you need detailed instructions on how to boil noodles I worry for you, haha! but go a head and read this there is a brief description on cooking noodles, most all are the same as far as it goes so have at I'd say :) .  I actually got this sauce recipe from my Momma, back when I was in Jr. High school. I've tweeked and altered it over the years to suit my tastes and those of others, etc. So lets get cooking!!!

Ingredients:

1. 1 Box of spaghetti noodles
2. 1 pound of hamburger (optional)
3. Two 29oz cans of tomato sauce and One 15oz can
4. Oregano, Basil, Thyme, and Rosemary
5. Soy sauce (don't knock it till you try it)
6. Garlic (two cloves or already minced)
7. 1 green pepper, or red pepper flakes

So to kick things off go a head and start boiling the water for the noodles. This is literally the longest process so start it first, or possibly even several minuets before you start anything else, depending on your time allowance. Bust out a second large sauce pan where you'll cook p the burger and make the sauce. Got it? Okay ready now? Lets get started!

• Cook up the one pound of burger in the pan, getting it chopped up nice and fine till almost all of it is nice and brown. (if you prefer meatless skip this step :) )

• Open up all three cans of sauce and add them to the pot with the burger. Mix it all gently together, making sure all of the meat is mixed in well.

• Next you want to crush up two cloves of fresh garlic, OR use about the same amount from a jar of pre-minced garlic. Add it into the center of the pot and stir in well. It will separate on it's own and flavor all areas of the sauce.

• I like a lot of oregano in my sauce, it really is my go to herd here. Sprinkle on the oregano liberally, covering the top of the sauce really well. 

• BEFORE stirring the oregano in, sprinkle on the basil. I suggest using about 1/3 the amount of basil you use of oregano. If you take a look at the image above and the image below, you'll see what I mean about the proportions.

• Now you can slowly stir in the oregano and basil, it's kinda fun to watch it slowly vanish into the sauce, and you'll really start to smell the yummie goodness too!
• After it's all blended in, it is time to add in the rosemary. You don't nee a lot of this pine needle looking herb. Just a small enough pinch to fill the hollow in the palm of your hand (see image below). Once you have it in your hand use your fingertips to crunch it all up, essentially you'll be breaking each needle into two or three pieces, but that's all you need.

• Stir it all in, and then lightly dust the sauce with thyme. It'll smell a bit like Christmas, but it won't last for long.

• Once everything has been blended together, you add the soy sauce. You only need one maybe two small splashes of the soy sauce. Any more than that and you're risking the sauce tasting really salty. If that happened, use the oregano and more garlic to balance it out.

• Blend in the soy sauce really well, I suggest stirring for at least a 30 seconds to make sure it really is spread out evenly.
• By this time your water should be oiling and you should have added your spaghetti noodles to it to cook.
• Back to the sauce, this is where we throw in our pepper. Normally I would cut up a fresh bell green pepper, tossing out the seed and insides, and slicing it up to about half inch sections. Freeze the rest for later use in another sauce and toss in two or three pepper slices. They don't make it hot, but add just the right amount of zip to it.
• If you are unable to use green pepper for whatever reason, red pepper flakes (the kind I use in the Orange Chicken) are a great substitute, just sprinkle in a small spoon full and lightly dust the sauce with some black pepper (see image below) The combination has the exact same effect as the fresh/frozen green bell peppers do.

• Once it's all been mixed in, give it a small taste (remember it's hot!) If it is there is too much garlic, or too much salt, or whatever, play around with the herbs to balance it out to how you like it. The great thing about the sauce is it's ability to be customized! Make it your own!
• When you have everything to taste, go a head and let it simmer on low until the noodles are finished. It shouldn't be too long now.

While We Wait...

Let's go a head and make some quick garlic toast. All you need is bread, a toaster, butter or margin, and garlic salt (not garlic powder! For the love of all that is holy please listen to me and do not use garlic powder you will regret it! HAHAHA)

• Put the bread in the toaster and prep the ingredients.

• When the toast pops up, and while still hot, spread out the butter/margin
• Next very lightly coat the buttered toast in garlic salt. You don't need a lot.

That's it, you're finished. By this time your noodles should bet completely cooked, and ready to serve, grab a plate, dish up, add your garlic toast and some Parmesan to top it off and dinner is served!

LEFTOVERS!!!!! One of my favorite things to eat (after a fresh hot spaghetti meal) is cold leftover spaghetti  smothered in an offensively large amount of Parmesan cheese. I don't know why but its SO good. And heated up, this sauce tasted drastically different after being in the fridge over night. It's like a totally different meal. And unless you're feeding a lot of people, you'll at the very least have left over sauce, considering how much tomato sauce went into it!

Who will like this:

• Everyone! I honestly do not know anybody who doesn't like spaghetti. I won't say everyone loves it, but I've never had someone turn it down before if you know what I mean. It's a great classic, and fun to eat. Perfect for large dinner parties since it's just so damn easy to make more! So serve it up anytime to anyone and ENJOY!!!

That's all I have for you for tonight my loves! Enjoy the meal and keep you're eyes open for some short "bonus" recipes directly from the lovely members of the Simple Cooking Facebook group! Please come join us, check us out and share your own recipes! Thanks for reading!

~Alex~

Three Cheese Baked Ziti

Hello my loves! I know it's been a while since I updated you with so super yummie food, but I promise the wait is well worth it. Today I am giving you Baked Ziti! It's something I've been making for a really long time. This particular version has three different kinds of cheese in it, and is so ooey gooey good I've had friends ask me if I'd make it for them if they bought all the ingredients. So are we ready to rock? Then lets wash our hands and get cookin' !

Ingredients:

1. A box of Ziti noodles (my local stores don't carry it, Mostaccioli works just as well!)
2. 2 jars of your favorite red sauce (I like to use tomato and basil)
3. A package of shredded mozzarella cheese
4. A package of sliced provolone sandwich cheese
5. Parmesan cheese. (You can use shredded but the powdered kind is just fine too!)
6. 16 oz sour cream

Alright so before we really dig in, you want to set a pot of water to boil, make sure it is big enough to cook the entire box of noodles. After that, things move super fast and you really have only about 10 minuets of wait time.

• Preheat over to 350 degrees

• Add box of noodles to the boiling pot of water, and cook for about 7-10 minuets until the noodles are al dente (see glossary term at the end of the recipe)  

• Once the noodles are cooked, pour them into a strainer and rinse with cold water until they're luke warm.

•  Next, get out a baking pan, one you might use for other kinds of casserole, or cakes, etc. and cover the bottom with the cooled noodles.

• Add on a layer of sauce, covering the noodles.
• Place the provolone cheese around the pan on top of the noodles and sauce.
• Next add on a nice thick layer of sour cream. (Helpful Hint: I like to spread the sour cream on each slice of provolone before putting it into the pan. I learned the hard way what it's like to spread sour cream onto something that is slippery underneath! )

• Add another layer of noodles, and another layer of sauce.

• The next layer is a nice, thick spread of mozzarella cheese, don't be afraid to cover it all!

• Layer on the last of the noodles, and the rest of the sauce once more time.
• Finally cover the top with the Parmesan, as much or as little as you like, it doesn't matter a whole lot, do it to taste! 

When you're all done, put it in the over for 10 minuets, just util it starts to boil at the top a little and the cheese melts. Remove from the oven and serve it up! 

As you can see, it DOES NOT come out in a nice layer like a lasagna would, but that's alright, everything still mixes really well together and is still FABULOUS to taste!

LEFTOVERS!!!!: Not only can one box of noodles in this dish feed a few people but there is enough to feed a TON of people! Even when I feed close to seven people on one box (three of which have massive appetites) I still have left overs! This lasts us for a good long while, its wonderful to bring to work or school and its so good cold or hot!

Who will like this:

• People who do not like sour cream!!!: I have a very good friend who loves this meal. I fed this to him several times before I discovered he didn't like sour cream. I asked if he knew I had it in the Baked Ziti and he was floored, he said he couldn't taste it at all. Even now, knowing its in there, he still loves it!
• Children: It's cheesy, ooey, gooey and strings out like mozzarella, so it's really fun. The noodles are small too so that helps kids approach this new dinner idea more easily.

GLOSSARY TERM!!!!! 

For those of you who don't know what "al dente" means. Here is the definition directly from BusyCooks.about.com

Al dente refers to the desired texture of cooked pasta in Italian cooking. It literally means "to the tooth". When the pasta is cooked al dente, there should be a slight resistance in the center when the pasta is chewed.

That is it for tonight, my loves! Cook, and cook for the love of it! Feel free to ask any questions you might have right here OR... on the Simple Cooking Facebook group page! Come join the fun and the conversation! See you all later!

~Alex~

Orange Chicken

This is one of my favorite recipes it takes maybe 20-30 minuets to make, and most of that is the actual cutting up and initial cooking of the chicken itself. Now I know that Orange Chicken is breaded and I will include the breading at the end of this post, but I personally do not use it. I tried to the first two times I made it and we wound up eating more breading than chicken! Anyway, I prefer to just put the sauce directly onto my chicken and my family and friends agree it is better that way. So lets scrub our hands and get cooking!

Ingredients:

• 2lbs of boneless chicken breast. (obviously more if you're cooking for more people)
• Sesame cooking oil or Olive oil (Sesame oil is pricey and really only for more traditional flavoring. Regular olive oil is what I use)
• Rice wine (This too is pricy, and you do not need a lot of it, this will last over the next several times you make this meal. Also, Rice Wine Vinagre is NOT the same thing, do not try to use it trust me I learned that the hard way. You may have to ask a store employee where this is becasue it's in a different location in every store)
• Dried red pepper flakes
• Green onion
• Ginger
• Minced garlic (you can use the pre chopped stuff in a jar if you like or fresh it's up to you as long as it's not dried you want it moist and seemingly fresh :) )
• Soysauce

Alright so lets start to dig in. Go on and pre heat your cooking pan on low and add in a little olive oil just to get it going. It can heat up slowly while you're cutting up the chicken. All you need to do is cut the chicken up into bite sized pieces, small and quick to cook through. Once it's all cut up, toss it in the pan, turn the heat up and saute the chicken till all the pieces are cooked through. If you're unsure, cut open one of the bigger pieces and see if all the pink is gone or not. 

While it's cooking, you can rinse the green onion and use a scissors to cut it up into small pieces. You'll be able to get everything else set up and ready for the next part too.

Once it's all cooked through, put the chicken into a bowl and clean the pan out. Add more olive oil get it medium hot again and add the olive oil once more. Now the fun starts! All of this is to taste there are very few exact measurements here on out.

1. You want to put a good deal of powdered ginger into the pan estimated 2-3 teaspoons
2. Add in roughly 1 teaspoon of the minced ginger and use your spatula to mix it together really well. It'll only take about 15 second before it starts to burn down so mix it quick.
3. Sprinkle in about a handful of red pepper flakes and another handful of the cut up green onion. Mix it all together. It's going to start smelling really good right about now. And this is the trickiest part next.
4. Pour in exactly 1 tablespoon of Rice win... any more and you have to try and counter it's taste...which is really gross in when too much is present.
5. Add in a splash or two of soy sauce
6. Slowly mix it all together in the pan, and  as you do this pour in about 1/4 cup water a VERY little at a time mixing it all together. The goal here is to let it all cook down, you may have to add more ginger to the mix to help thicken it. I personally like a lot of the ginger and that's the main flavor in my Orange Chicken.
7. When the yummie sauce is nice and thick, go on and add in the chicken once more. Push it all over and around, making sure every piece is covered. Once it is all covered in the sauce, and hot again, it's ready to serve!

HELPFUL SUGGESTION!!!: If you're cooking for more people I like to add the chicken little by little, get a small amount covered thickly, place it in a new bowl, make more sauce and coat more chicken. I personally do not mind doing this as it assures all the chicken is coated thickly with lots of flavor. And really it doesn't take any longer than if you were to do it all at once. :)

GREAT MEAL IDEA!!!: Feel like Asian food? Serve this dish up with some rice which is nice and filling, and a big glass of cold milk and you've got a GREAT filling meal.

LEFTOVERS!!!: I have always been in the habit of cooking a ton of food even when I'm not cooking for a lot of people. The Orange Chicken I just "made" is a WONDERFUL leftover! In my opinion, it probably taste better as a next day or two left over, cold from the refrigerator! Mouth watering in my opinion!

Who will like this:

• Children: The pieces are fun and bite sized. They can't really taste the onions or garlic if made correctly and it's not spicy, the pepper just adds flavor! It's small, colorful, and a new way to get them interested in chicken!
• Adults: Adults who are new to Asian food but want to try something will enjoy this. There is no intimidation at all. It's something they're totally familiar with with ingredients they have eaten their whole life! It's a great way to introduce you, your family, or anyone to Asian food!
• Anyone who already enjoys Asian food or even new foods, in general will like this. It's a great twist, a totally new way to serve a classic dish!

Alright as promised here is the things you'll need for breading the chicken if you so choose to do so :)

Ingredients:

• Egg
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• Cornstarch
• Flour

Before cooking the chicken, put the cut up chicken into a bowl. In a separate bowl mix the egg, a dash of salt, pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in 1/2 cup of cornstarch and a 1/4 cup of flour. Go through the rest of the recipe as is above, except when you're mixing the chicken and sauce, add in a little water to the four and cornstarch mixture, about 1/4 of a cup should work, then slowly mix it in with the sauce and the chicken so it all thickens and breads up and gets covered in sauce. And that's how you bread the chicken :)

That's it for my AWESOMESAUCE Orange Chicken! I hope you all enjoy it! Let me know how it turned out for you or any suggestions you've got!

~Alex~

About the ads on the blog

I just wanted to tell you a little more about the page here... mostly I wanted to explain the ads all over the page. I want to apologize, I know they're annoying and I tried my best to make sure they were at least relevant to what I do and discuss here as well as tried to make them as little annoying as possible.

I placed these ads because I don't make a lot of money. I'm lucky if I get $250 at the end of two weeks and usually it's completely gone with two days due to bills, gas and food. My boyfriend is out of work, the job market here sucks. He's been out of work since January and feels so useless even though he continues to search hard for work. I've been looking for a second job and have also been failing. I do what I can to provide for us. I've tried to save us some money by applying for food stamps this last week, we'll see how that goes...probably going to try and apply for rent assistance too.

The ad's can help us bring in a little more money, I'm hoping at least enough to pay for gas each month or maybe the phone or the net bill. I don't know to put it towards yet, but anything they help bring in really does help us in general. I'm not asking you to click the links, I'm not trying to give you a sob story either. I just know that the ads can turn people off and away I've been there before myself. But I just wanted you, the readers, to know why they are there in the first place.

Again I apologize they are there, I know exactly how it is, all I ask is that you please be patient and bare with me and continue to read Simple Cooking despite them.

Thank you all for your time. Now I'll go a head and post another little something for you! <3

~Bananas & OJ~

Hello I decided I'd give you a really fun treat to get us kicked off. This is a dessert that I learned while working as a dietary aide in a kitchen. It is so quick and easy and can be served right away or let to sit for more flavor!

Ingredients:

• Bananas
• Orange Juice

Alright so first off remember the way you like your bananas is how you should buy them. This is a chilled snack so they'll stay good no matter how ripe they are, for the most part. Alright now for the steps!

1. Peel the bananas.
2. Slice the bananas the round way so you get a whole bunch of little fruity coins piled up on your counter. (the thickness of the coin is completely at your discretion.)
3. Take the orange juice and pour it into a bowl. (make sure the OJ hasn't been sitting out. we don't want warm OJ)
4. Scoop the chopped bananas into the bowl of OJ and gently mix making sure the banana coins are all soaking well in the OJ.
5. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Step five is optional, but a little note on it for you. The longer the bananas soak in the OJ the better the flavors mix together. 

FUN SUGGESTION!!!: When you serve up, small serving bowls or cups are great! That way you can dish up the juice as well and everyone have a fun drink to go along with the rest of the treat!

Who will like this: 

• Children: Kids love fun snacks like this. Its a great twist on something that's great for them, and it's a nice cool treat in the summer in place of ice cream and soda.
• Elderly: The elderly who may have a more difficult time chewing harder foods especially may like this. It's a nice soft dessert for them that isn't too cold for any sensitive teeth or mouths.
• Just about anyone will enjoy this treat no matter that age. You can even put then in fancy little serving dishes and serve them to a dinner party, perhaps as an appetizer?

Thanks for reading! 

~Alex~

Hello and Welcome!!!

I wanted to take the time of making this first post to introduce myself and thank you for taking the time to read what I have to share with the world.

My name is Alex and I love to cook. I've worked very hard in my still young life to learn from my family and friends the secrets to their cooking. I have actively sought out new things to try, and though I am no professional I know that I have something to offer this incredibly busy world. Food. Dinners, desserts, snacks, perhaps even a fun beverage here and there. I grew up in a home were the food you cook portrays the love you have for the people closest to your heart. It was a very food is love sort of home and one I hope to have when i have my own family. Until then I will continue to cook for my family and friends, as well as share my meals with you all here as Simple Cooking.

The goal of this blog is simple. I want to share nice simple meals with you all. Some might take little time, or others just might be incredibly simple as far as ingredients goes. Other times we might get a little complex and bake something big and fun. By that time I hope to have turned Simple Cooking into a part time video blog so I can show you everything step by step. We're not quit to that point just now but it is my next goal at this point.

As of right now I am aiming to get one meal or dish posted per week. there may be more, or less depending. I might toss up a quick 5 minuet snack between bigger dishes to to tide you all over.

I love feedback, I ask you all to please, please leave me comments. Let me know what you think of a dish. Or leave suggestions for something you'd like to see on here. If you're looking for a recipe that you just can't find, let me know. Maybe you you have a food allergy and want to see an alternate way of cooking a meal to exclude the allergy. ANYTHING! I love comments so please, by all means let me know your thoughts, questions, or anything else you'd like to say! I love to chat it you want to just have a conversation!

Anyway, that's about it as far as Simple Cooking goes and what we're all about here. Thank you so much for taking the time to check us out and please keep coming back for new recipes, and other fun food stuffs! Thank you and remember, you are an amazing person who can change a life with just a little bit of love and effort.

I love you all!
~Alex~