Spaghetti Pie

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained

*Vegetarian option 1 pound sautéed zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, and carrots

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (Emeril's Roasted Gaaahlic Pasta Sauce is my favorite)

1 1/2 cups low-fat sour cream

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

4 cups hot cooked spaghetti

Cooking spray

1 1/3 cups shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese

Brown meat seasoned with salt and pepper in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, stir and crumble (Or, sauté vegetables for vegetarian dish). Drain well, and return meat to pan. Stir in spaghetti sauce and simmer for 20 minutes. Combine the sour cream, green onions, green pepper, and cream cheese in a small bowl, and set aside. Place the spaghetti noodles in a 2-quart casserole dish coated with cooking spray. Spread the sour cream mixture over spaghetti noodles. Top with meat mixture. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Uncover; bake an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Taco Hotdish

Super simple hotdish that tastes great and my teenagers love!

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (brown and drained)
1 packet of taco seasoning
8 oz of noodles (your choice), cooked and drained
2 cups cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 pkg of frozen corn

Mix the above ingredients and then top with 1 to 2 more cups of shredded cheddar.  Bake at 350º for 30 minutes.  Serve topped with crushed Doritos.  Enjoy!

How long should you read with your kids

Great chart and article explaining why it is vital for students to be read to or read for at least 20 minutes per day.  Readers are LEARNERS!



How long should you read with your kids:



'via Blog this'

Sugar Cookies

1 Cup butter, softened

1 Cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups all purpose flour
 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a bowl cream butter and sugar until smooth.

Beat in vanilla, almond extract and egg.

In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour.  Then, add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer, wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.

Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface about (about ¼ inch thick) and cut with cookie cutters.

Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack

Icing

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

¼ teaspoon almond extract

food coloring

In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.

Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to desired color intensity. Dip cookies, put frosting in squeeze bottles, or paint them with a brush.

Taco Soup

Another snowy and windy day here on the northern prairie.  The big flakes are absolutely beautiful when the wind isn't blowing them sideways across the sky!  When the wind calms down, or the area is sheltered, they float effortlessly to the ground in a clump of fluffy crystals.  The wind and cold have me thinking again of soup for supper.  Here is another one of my favorite go to recipes.  A kid pleasing bowl of taco soup.

Taco Soup

1 large can crushed tomatoes (20-24 oz)

1 1/2 lb hamburger, brown and drain

1 packet of taco seasoning

2 cans sweet corn (don't drain)

2 cans black beans (rinse and drain)

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, corn or tortilla chips, and olives.

Novemberrrrr!

November has arrived with a cold crisp wind and some fluffy white flakes falling from the sky.  We aren't use to temperatures that are below freezing.  I feel the chill and find myself thinking about my favorites soup recipes to warm up.  One of our family favorites is Chicken Tortilla Soup.  Here is my simple recipe that is guaranteed to warm the body and satisfy the taste buds.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 can fiest nacho cheese soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

2 1/2 cup milk

1 lb cooked chicken, cubed

1 can enchilada sauce

1 (4oz) can chipped green chillies

Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream

Simply... Sensational... Sonoma!

Tom and I celebrated 25 years of marriage in August.  We waited until mid-October to celebrate with a long weekend get away.  It was a wonderful trip and I would repeat it again in a heart beat!

We kept it simple!  Two best friends enjoying good food, great wine and fantastic company.

If you are planning a trip to wine country, may I make some recommendations?

We flew into San Francisco on a Thursday morning.  Getting from the airport to the rental car was fast and easy.  Getting our car, however, was a different story.  We rented from Dollar Rental Car and the line was extremely long and moved very slow.  It took us over an hour to get our car.  Service was very slow, friendly, but slow!  I recommend going with a well known company - those lines moved much faster.

With our smart phones and google maps app in hand we made our way North through the city to the Golden Gate bridge.  If you are comfortable driving yourself, I recommend doing so.  The drive is a great way to see the city and enjoy the California country side North of the city.  Plan extra time, the roads in wine country wind and weave, taking even the most observant navigator on a tricky ride.

We arrived to our resort a little over an hour after we left the airport.  It was a great drive.  We stayed at the at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn.  It was lovely and service was outstanding!  We had valet service, and it was well worth the extra fee to have our vehicle parked for us and brought up for us when we needed it.  The attention to detail really made our day.

All the employees had a smile on their faces and were ready to help!

We upgraded to a suite as an anniversary treat.  The room was very spacious, with a fire place and patio.  I imagine any room would be lovely and comfortable.  We did have maintenance come to repair our television as it was not working.  They did this quickly (in fact they replaced the television) and were extremely polite.  I know there are other fantastic hotels in the area, but, I would stay at the Fairmont again!

Food!  We were hungry and ate a very nice meal at a locally owned Mexican restaurant just a few blocks away from the hotel.  Rancho Viejo had quick service and wonderful food.  Locals were coming in to pick up entrees to bring home.  That is always a good sign!  On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a local store to grab some snacks and pop for our room.  Then, we stopped by the pool to relax and enjoy some California sunshine while our television was being replaced.

We went back to our room and enjoyed a little champagne (an anniversary gift from the hotel).

On Friday morning, we were greeted at 10:00 AM by John Nevin, our driver for our private wine tour (California Wine Tours).  We were ushered into a very comfortable Lincoln Town car.  John took great care of us, recommended stops, arranged for tastings, and frankly made our day!

We went to Benziger first.  John recommended the Partner's Tour and we got the last two seats for the 11:15 tour.  Because we had an hour before the tour John took us Loxton Winery and arranged for a private tasting.  We got to greet the owner, Chris and his dog.  Then, we went back to Benziger for our tour - well worth the time!  We learned a lot about wine, soil, climate, pruning, and barrels.  We enjoyed a private wine tasting in the caves.  Great experience!

Our next stop was was the Ledson winery.  There we enjoyed a wine tasting, ordered lunch at the gourmet market and ate it outside in the picnic area next to the castle.  Another great stop recommended by John.

Our next stop was VJB Vineyard.  Victor, the co-founder and owner, was kind enough to greet us and chat while we sampled some great wines.  VJB also has great looking food items including wood fire cooked pizzas.  Our final stop on our tour was Kunde Winery and Estate.  Again, we treated royally and enjoyed great service, company and wine.  The Kunde estate is featured in the movie Bottle Shock, a wonderful movie that we took time to watch after our trip.

We returned to our hotel, spent a little time at the pool, then ate a light supper at the hotel bar.  We enjoyed cheese, fruit, olives and hummus.  We returned to our room to share a bottle of wine we purchased during our wonderful tour out on our patio.

On Saturday, after a wonderful breakfast at The Big 3 Restaurant, I made my way to the Spa and Tom enjoyed driving around Sonoma.  Tom visited Ledson Vineyard again where he enjoyed more wine, classic cars, and lunch.  Then went to B. R. Cohn Winery (one John recommended).

I enjoyed the mineral pools, soaked up sun by the spa pool, had a facial, message, and pedicure.  The spa was relaxing and very nice.  I recommend enjoying a spa treatment if you are staying at the Fairmont, they offer couple treatments as well.

After I was pampered, Tom and I got in the car and drove to the square in Sonoma.  This is the historical area of the town.  We walked through the mission, past historic homes, shops and hotels.  It is a great area with cute shops tucked into corners and down European-like alleys.  We had intended to eat supper at the Swiss Hotel (one of the oldest buildings in town - and it came highly recommended), but we ended up eating at the El Dorado Hotel bar.  We shared a wonderful blue cheese burger and ahi tuna tacos.  Again, service and food were out-standing.

We spent a little time at the hotel pool before we returned to our room to enjoy another bottle of wine Tom purchased during his tours.

This brought us to the end of our lovely trip.  We sipped wine while we packed and organized our luggage for our early morning departure.  After we packed, we relaxed by a cozy fire and talked about how great it would be to come back!