Fried Okra

Fried Okra

10-15 okra pods, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1-2 eggs, beaten

1 cup cornmeal

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup to 1 cup vegetable oil

1. Soak okra in egg for 5-10 minutes.

2. Combine cornmeal, salt and pepper.

3. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.

4. Dredge okra in cornmeal micture; coating evenly. Carefully place okra in oil, stir occasionally. Reduce heat to medium when okra first starts to brown and cook until golden brown.

5. Drain on paper towels.

Creamy Cucumber Salad

I know this recipe is a little late, but I have a bunch of summer recipes to share with you that have been piling up. Just thinking about these yummy cucumbers makes me foreget there's 3 inches of snow on my driveway right now!

Enjoy!!

Creamy Cucumber Salad

1 cup sour cream

5 tablespoons whote vinegar

3 teaspoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced

1/2 small onion, thinly sliced and separated into rings

In a covered container, stir together the sour cream, vinegar, sugar, salt and celery seed. add cucumber and onion; toss to coat. Cover and chill for 2 to 24 hours, stirring once in awhile. Stir before serving.

Peach Pie

I love this pie! It's so easy and tastes so good! I use canned peaches (not the pie filling), but you can use fresh peaches, too. It's hard for me to find fresh peaches where I live for more than a couple months out of the year and for some weird reason, I crave this pie when peaches are out of season. Enjoy!

Peach Pie

Dough for a double crust 9-inch pie

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teasopoon ground cinnamon

dash salt

2 cans peaches, drained

2 tablespoons butter, cubed

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Line a 9-inch pue pan with half if the dough. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt in bowl. Stir in peaches.

3. Spoon peach mixture into pie pan.

4. Sprinkle butter cubes over the top of the peaches.

5. Place top crust on pie and cut slits for steam to escape.

6. Bake for 45 minutes or until crust and topping are golden brown.

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice

This is an easy and quick meal and tastes really really good!

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Rice

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-seze pieces

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups instant white rice, uncooked

1/2 pound Velveeta cheese, cubed

1/2 package (5 oz.) frozen chopped broccoli, thawed

1. Cook chicken in a large skillet on medium-high heat until done.

2. Stir in broth and bring to boil.

3. Add rice and cover. Let cook until rice is almost done.

4. Add Velveeta and broccoli. Stir until cheese is melted and mixture is well blended. Add more broth or water if needed.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This pie recipe is coming to you a little out of season, but I had to search hard for a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe that I thought I would like for my dad's birthday at the beginning of the month because that is his favorite kind of pie. He said it was pretty good so I'll share it with you. It's a combination of about 4 different recipes so I was pretty happy when he said it was good. Just remember to chop the rhubarb into very small pieces so it will cook all the way through.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups fresh rhubarb, chopped into tiny pieces

3 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

9-inch double pie crust

2 tablespoons butter

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons raw sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

2. In a large bowl, mic flour and sugar. Add rhubarb and strawberries. Toss with sugar and flour and let stand 30 minutes.

3. Pour pie filling into pie crust. Dot top with butter and cover with top crust. Seal edges of top and bottome crust with water.

4. apply yolk to top of pie, using a pastry brush. Sprinkle with raw sugar (regular sugar can also be used). Cut small holes in top to let steam escape (if you aren't doing the top in a lattace pattern).

Bake at 400°F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly and brown.

Silicone Bake Ware & Brown Sugar Cake

Sorry I haven't been around very much lately. It's been a busy summer. I have a bunch of recipes to share with you though.

As a wedding gift, I received a bunch of these silicone bake ware. I have a bread pan, muffin pan, a fluted tube pan and a cupcake size rose shaped cake pan. I think this is the first post of where I tell you I'm not really excited about the gadget. The tube pan and rose cake pan are nice and work really well, but I have to spray the bread pan and muffin pan (which you aren't supposed to have to do) and it's kind of annoying having to put them on a cookie sheet to put them in the oven. I spray all of them a little since I have had so many issues with the bread pan and the muffin pan. I would say, if you're trying to decide between a regular piece of bake ware and a silicone piece of bake ware, go with the regular.
Below is a VERY good recipe for Brown Sugar Cake. I modified it a little from the original recipe I found like I do a lot and it is now one of our favorite cake recipes! Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Cake

1 package yellow cake mix

1 package vanilla flavor instant pudding

4 eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup oil

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar mixed with 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon sprinkled in the pan after spraying it with cooking spray

1. Heat oven to 350° F
2. Beat first 6 ingredients with mixer until well blended. Add brown sugar and mix well.

3. Pour into 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

4. Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cook cake in pan 15 minutes. Loosen cake from sides of pan and invert onto wire rack. remove pan and cool cake completely.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I don't like peanut butter cookies - unless they are made from this recipe. This peanut butter cookie is nice and soft and has a good peanut butter taste. They're a lot of fun to make with kids, too.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Extra granulated sugar or Raw Sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter with a mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in the egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer and stir in the remaining flour. If necessary, cover and chill dough until easy to handle. (I usually chill them for about 10 minutes.)

Shape dough into 1-iknch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten by making crisscross marks with the tines of a fork dipped in flour or powdered sugar to keep the fork from sticking to the dough. Sprinkle granulated sugar or raw sugar on top of the crisscross patterns.

Bake in a 375° F oven for 7 to 9 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

Drizzle with some melted semisweet chocolate for something different.

Grilled Chicken Salad & Fried Spinach

Since I've been neglecting my blog lately, I'm going to share 2 recipes with you today! It's summer and these 2 recipes are great summer time recipes. They're both recipes that I made up totally on my own. The first is a grilled Chicken salad. Chicken salad sounded really really good one day when the temperatures out side were way above 100 degrees. I decided to grill the chicken because it sounded really good, plus using the grill outside wouldn't heat up the inside of the house! Smart huh? We tried the salad in several different ways of serving and they were all really good. We tried it on a bed of lettuce & tomato, on crackers, on a sandwich and even on it's own. Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Salad

3 Chicken breasts, grilled and cut into chunks

5 Hard boiled eggs, cut into pieces

3-4 Stalks of celery, chopped up

1/4 cup sweet pickle relish

1/4 cup mayo

1/2-1 cup miracle whip

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1 small box of raisins

1/2-1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients together and serve cold.

The next recipe is Fried Spinach. Our neighbor has a garden that is going crazy right now and she insisted on me taking a bunch of spinach, but there are very few ways I like spinach served. I have had fried spinach in a restaurant before and when I searched the Internet I couldn't find a recipe. Everything I could find was just frying spinach and that was it, but I wanted it battered like I had at the restaurant so I had to come up with my own batter. This batter is a thin batter, that's why it says 1/2 to 1 cup of milk. You want it to just barely cover the leaves so you can still taste the spinach under the batter. I think this would be really good on other vegetables and maybe some meats. If you try it on other vegetables, please send me a picture to add to this post to share with other people. I think the next time I go to the farmer's market, I'm going to get some onions to try it on! I know you'll enjoy this!!

Fried Spinach

2 cups flour

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 - 1 cup milk

Oil or shortening for frying

Heat oil to 350 degrees F.

Put 1 cup of flour on a plate.

Mix flour, egg, salt, pepper and baking powder in a shallow bowl. Mix enough milk in to make a thin batter. Dip spinach leaves into flour and shake off excess. Dip leaves into batter and place into oil. Turn once the bottom is brown and dry the other side until it is also brown. Place fried spinach on paper towel and sprinkle with more salt.

Spinach, washed & dried (water & oil don't mix!!)

Lemon Pepper Chicken

There isn't a photo for this recipe. When we plan to spend the day out fishing, hiking or whatever else we plan I like to put a crock pot meal together. This last weekend, was one of those days. This was the first time I made this recipe and I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER roast a chicken in the oven again and is also the reason why there isn't a picture. When we got home from the lake and pulled the chicken out, it was so tender it fell apart. I wanted a pretty picture of the chicken on the plate, but it didn't work. We had to use slotted spoons to take the chicken out of the pot because it kept falling off the forks. When I went to put away what was left, I had to problem taking the meat off the bones, plus there was wonderful broth to make chicken noodle soup for dinner the next night!
Hope you enjoy this tender chicken recipe! If you make this recipe and are able to get a good picture of it and wouldn't mind sharing it with me and everybody else, leave me a comment.

Lemon Pepper Chicken

1 whole chicken

lemon juice from 1 lemon

lemon pepper

onion powder

garlic powder

salt

1/2 cup chicken broth

Sprinkle lemon juice and spices over entire chicken. Place the chicken in the crock pot and add chicken broth. Cook on low 5-7 hours.

Enjoy!

Praline Cookies

I was looking through my pile of cookie recipes I want to try and foudn this one. I only had 1 egg and 1 stick of butter in the fridge so when I came across this recipe, I was really excited. I also didn't want to have to refrigerate the dough and wait for it to chill, I needed instant satisfaction!
These cookes are sooooooooooo good! When I remembered I hadn't taken a picture of them yet, there was only one and a half cookies left (there was a little bit of an accident when the cookies came out of the oven and were being transfered to the cooling area so there were a bunch of half cookies on the first cookie sheet). I had to try the batter and was a little worried I wasn't going to get many cookies because the batter was so delicious. I definately got instant satisfaction with the batter. I couldn't wait for the cookies to cool enough to hold in my hand to eat one. The burning sensation on my fingers and on my tongue were worth it!!!
Hope you enjoy these as much as we did. I was told I can never make just 1 batch ever again though. They're extremly easy and yummy! Enjoy!!

Praline Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 egg, unbeaten

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Beat together butter, vanilla, brown sugar and egg until smooth. Sift flour with cream of tartar and beat into mixture. Add nuts.

Measure out level teaspoons of dough on greased baking sheets.

Bake 12-15 minutes.

Chicken & Ham Roll-Ups

This is a really really easy and quick meal. It tastes really good, too.

Chicken and Ham Roll-ups

3 cups cooked rice

1 1/2 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted, divided

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

1/4 teaspoon pepper, divided

6 slices fully cooked ham (or 18 thinly sliced ham lunch meat)

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon ground thyme

2 teaspoons dried chives

Paprika

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread rice in a greased 11x7x2 inch baking dish; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, 1/3 cup soup, celery and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Place 1/4 cup on each pice of hap (or 3 thin slices) and role up. Secure with a toothpick if necessary. Place ham rolls, seam side down on top of rice. Combine sour cream, milk, thyme and remaining soup and pepper; spoon over rolls.

Bake for 15 minutes and then sprinkle with cheese and paprika. Bake for another 5-10 minutes until bubbly.

Remove toothpicks before serving.

Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Porkshops

Here is the meat to the grilled meat and potatoes meal. These porkchops are definately well worth the work it takes if it's a pain to get your grill out and going.

Brown Sugar Porkchops

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup apple juice

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

salt & pepper to taste

2 teaspoons cornstartch

1/2 cup water

6-8 boneless porkchops

1. Preheat grill for medium heat.

2. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, apple juice, soy sauce, ginger and salt & pepper. Bring to a boil. COmbine water and cornstarch in small bowl and whisk into brown sugar mixture. Stir until thick.

3. Brush grate lightly with oil before placing porkchops on the grill. Sear both sides of the porkchop and then start glazing while the porchops finish grilling.

Enjoy!

Grilled Potatoes

One of the best parts about summer is being able to use the grill more. I think grilled meat tastes so much better. I found a recipe to make a side dish on the grill and then of course I modified it a little bit. I'll share with you the side dish today and since I haven't blogged in awhile, I'll share the pork chop recipe with you later this week.
Your potatoes ill look a little different because the original recipe said to add the cheese at the beginning. I usually share a recipe with you after I make the final changes to it and I know it's perfect, but this is a small change. Adding the cheese at the beginning makes the cheese melt and run to the bottom and makes a crunchy layer of cheese on the bottom of the foil.

Grilled Potatoes

3 large potatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup butter, cubed

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups your favorite cheese blend

1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

Preheat grill to medium heat.

Put potatoes and onions in a piece of heavy-duty foil (about 18-inches square) that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray.

Top potatoes and onions with butter, seasoned salt and pepper. Close up foil and place on grill. Grill, covered for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add cheese and bacon and grill for 5 minutes longer. Remove from grill and serve.

Enjoy!

Carmel Pecan Coffee Cake

Hope you have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend! I don't think we'll be doing anything exciting, but I'm sure I'll be doing some baking.
This recipe I have had in my stack of recipes I've pulled from magazines and newspapers that I've been collecting for years and have been planning on trying. It is really good, but for some reason most of my carmel went to the bottom and then when it set up, it was a pain to get it out of the bottom of the dish. It's still really good though. Enjoy!

Carmel Pecan Coffee Cake

Batter

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 envelopes (5 teaspoons) yeast

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup very warm water (120-130 degrees F.)

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Carmel Pecan Topping

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans

1. Mix batter ingredients and pour into sprayed 9 1/2-inch deep dish pie plate.

2. Combine cinnamon sugar topping ingredients in small bowl.

3. Stir together corn syrup, brown sugar and butter in small bowl.

4. Top batter evenly with cinnamon sugar topping.

5. Spoon the caramel pecan topping evenly over the batter.

6. Bake by placing in a cold oven; set temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned and firm in center.

Cowboy Bread & Pastry Knife

Hope you all had a great Mother's Day weekend. My mom died over a year ago and we didn't have the greatest relationship when she died, but she is the one that taught me how to bake which is one of my most favorite hobbies, so that is why I made this recipe this weekend. One of the recipes I learned to bake with was the following. You can use a fork to make the recipe, but a pastry knife is so much easier! There are a couple different designs for one, but this is the one I like the most. It's easier to get the job done. I bought one of these just for this recipe, but you can use them on any recipe that tells you to cut in butter, shortening, etc.
This is a breakfast cake that is very yummy served warm with melted butter on top. It's good served cold without butter, too. It's also good as a snack, dessert or I've even been known to eat it for lunch or dinner! Enjoy!

Cowboy Bread

2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick cold butter

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup sour milk (or regular milk plus 1 teaspoon regular vinegar and let sit a few minutes)

2 eggs

Cut flour, sugar, salt and butter together until crumb-like in texture. Remove 1/2 cup and reserve for topping. To the remaning, add all other ingredients and mix until batter is smooth. Pour in greased 9x13-inch pan. Spinkle topping over top of batter. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes or until done.

Au Gratin Potatoes

I decided I better give you a non baking recipe. These are really yummy. My picture is crappy though! You can't see the bacon and it just doesn't look like how it did when I made it. I promise I'll start working on my photography!!
The recipe says to use Velveeta cheese. DO NOT USE THE GENERIC!!!! Trust me! I'm not going to give you the details on why I no longer buy generic processed cheese. Just trust me.
My mom used to make really great Au Gratin Potatoes and people would ask her to make them for potlucks and other functions. She never taught me how to make her potatoes and then she changed her recipe and started using boxed mixes to sped the process up and I no longer wanted her recipe. I searched and searched for a recipe like hers and combined 3 recipes to make my own version and I think my version is WAY better than I remember my mom's being. Enjoy!!

Au Gratin Potatoes

8 russet potatoes, cubed and peeled

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of celery soup

2 cups milk

1/8 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 pounds Velveeta, cubed
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

Bacon Crumbles (as much or as little as you want)

1. Place potatoes in a large sauce pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain and place in greased 13x9x2 inch baking pan.

2. Sprinkle bacon crumbles over potatoes.

3. in a medium sauce pan, combine soup, milk and flour over medium heat. bring to a boil and cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add cheese, pepper and paprika. reduce heat and cook until the cheese is melted.

4. Pour sauce over potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes until bubbly.

Cookie Press & Lemon Cookies

When I was younger, my Mom had a cookie press to make sprintzer cookies. I was never allowed to touch it because it was old and she didn't want it broken. I have no idea what ever happened to that cookie press, but last year Hobby Lobby had a nice sale on Wilton supplies so I bought one. I love my cookie press! I've never tried any other brand, but I really like Wilton's. You can use pretty much any sugar cookie dough as long as it is room temperature. You can even use store bought cookie dough once you let it warm up to room temperature. There is a really yummy recipe that comes with this cookie press that I will have to share with you sometime, too.
Since it's finally starting to feel like Spring outside, I'm going to share this lemon cookie recipe with you. You don't have to use the cookie press. You can make them like regular sugar cookies if you want to. I think next time I make them, I'll try them that way. In my pictures you'll see they have a lot of the glaze on them. I HIGHLY recomend you don't put that much of the glaze on. TRUST ME!!

Lemon Cookies

Cookies
1 1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Glaze
1 1/25 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
milk

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar and baking powder. beat the cookie micture until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionlly. Beat in egg, vanilla and lemon extract until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can. Stir in any remaining flour. Do not chill the cookie dough if you are using a cooke press!

2. Pack the unchilled dough into a cookie press. Force dough through the press onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Back in a 375 degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges of cookies are firm but not brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

4. Lemon Glaze: Stir together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Stir in milk 1 teaspoon at a time, until icing is a srizzling consistency. Drizzle or brush over cookies and sprinkle with colored sugar (optional). Dry for 30 minutes on waxed paper.

Makes about 70 coookies.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Happy Spring!!! I have a very yummy lemon cookie recipe to share with you, but it's pouring rain right now so I'm going to share a nice comforting muffin recipe with you. First I have to tell you, I use those cupcake papers a lot for muffins when we travel, but I think these muffins would have done better without the cupcake liners. I think a lot of the snicker doodle topping stayed on the paper. We were on a 2 1/2 hour car ride so the cupcake liner actually helped with the mess of eating in the car. Also, I got this recipe from another food blog, but I have no idea which one so if you're reading this and you think I got it from you, please let me know so I can give you credit for it.

Snicker Doodle Muffins

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/4 cup sour cream

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon mixed together for rolling

1. Cream the butter and sugar until soft. Add vanilla. Add in the eggs and mix until Incorporated.

2. Mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cream of tartar.

3. Add the sour cream.

4. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out muffin batter one at a time and drop in a shallow bowl filled with the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Roll the muffin around in the mixture until it is covered completely in cinnamon sugar. Place muffin into a greased muffin tin. Depending on the size of your tins, you should get 12 to 14 muffins (I got 18!). Bake them for approximately 20-22 minutes in a 350 degree F oven or until they are golden brown.

My rain storm just turned into a snow blizzard! I think I'll go try out a coffee cake recipe I've been wanting to try now!

Chocolate Oreo Truffles

Sorry it's been so long since I posted! It's been kind of stressful with work stuff. First my hours were cut and then I was let go. Good news is, I have a lot more time to experiement in the kitchen now! Good news for both you and me! I'm not going to review a gadget in this post. Chocolate is very good for stress (physically not goot, but mentally very good) so the first experiment I preformed was Chocolate Oreo Truffles.

Chocolate Oreo Truffles

1 Pound Double Stuffed Oreo Cookies

8 Ounce Package Cream Cheese, Softened

1 Package White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate Chips

1. Crush the Oreo Cookies in a food processor or blender. Don't do all the cookies in 1 batch, split them into about 3 batches (TRUST ME!!!!!)

2. Blend the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese witha hand held mixer.

3. Roll into small balls (you can see in the picture above we did large balls, you should definatly do small balls, trust me on this, too!). Chill for an hour.

4. Melt the chocolate chops and dip the balls into them. Allow to harden on wax paper for about 15 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chocolate coating).

Enjoy!!!

New Range & Easy Manicotti

First, I have to apologize for the pictures. I was a little overly excited about the new range and didn't make sure I had good pictures. I forgot to take a picture of the Manicotti until it was already put in the container to go in the fridge. Sorry!
Okay, I'd like you to meet the newest member of our family! I LOVE it!!!! It's a Frigidaire and I'd tell you the model, but I couldn't find it on the Lowe's website even though I know it's there because I've looked at it almost daily up until Sunday. It is a convection oven and flat top cooking surface. There is a feature called "Speed Bake" that circulates the heat inside the oven and everything is supposed to bake 30% faster. TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!! I can also use all 3 racks (yes, I said 3 racks!!!) and you don't have to push the buttons very hard to get them to work! It can also change between Fahrenheit and Celsius AND it has a setting for the Sabboth! I thought that was weird, but after reading about the setting I learned something new. I had no clue there were certain temperatures to use during the Jewish holiday! How many people can say that their range is kosher?
I like to just stand in my kitchen and look at my new range. Whenever my husband gets near it I get nervous because I think he's going to get it dirty or set something on it. I've been told it's the same feeling when you have a baby. So here's a picture of my new baby:

No, my dachsund isn't in the oven, she's standing in front of me so her refelction is in the window of the door. I think the poor dogs were worried we were moving again when we were taking the old one out and bringing the new one in. Once all of the moving was finished, they were much calmer.
The first meal I made in my new oven of course was a messy recipe. You should have seen me freak out because there were red sauce dors on the control panel. I love manicotti, but hated making it because it's such a pain to stuff them. Not anymore!!! This recipe is so easy! The picture is a little saucier than it should be because we had another jar of sauce in the fridge from something else and it needed to get used. I can't remember where I found this recipe, but it became a quick favorite in my house.
Sorry again for the bad picture, it looks a lot better than this - trust me!

Easy Manicotti

1 (8 ounce) package manicotti shells
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 (26 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
14 pieces string cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook manicotti according to package directions.
2. Meanwhilem in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium hear until meat is no longer pink; drain.
3. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Spread about 1/4 of the meat sauce into a greased 13 x9 x 2 baking dish.
4. Drain manicotti; stuf each sehll with a pice of string cheese. Place over meat sauce; top with remaining sauce. Cover and bake at 350° F for 24-30 minutes or until heated through.
5. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and back, uncovered for 5-10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!!!!!