Amazing Filet Mignon

I think my most favorite food in the world is filet mignon... it's so freaking good that I can't even iamgine anything better than this. With it being Labor Day weekend and all, we decided to grill some steaks along with Shelly's Famous Potatoes. Yum!

Ingredients

* Pieces filet mignon, appx 6-8 oz. each (one for each of us)

* Steak seasoning (We used Weber's Chicago Steak Seasoning)

* Blue cheese crumbles

Directions

* Add seasoning to taste to uncooked steaks.
* Grill steaks @ 450 degrees for approximately 15 minutes (flip over halfway through).
* Add blue cheese crumbles on top of steaks. The more, the better!

Don't forget to pair with a yummy Wildberry Grape martini!!

Peanut Butter Blondies

I got this recipe from a fellow WC Nestie, BakingBlonde. This was my first time making blondies and I think they turned out perfectly - they were sooo delicious!!

Ingredients

* 4-5 tbsp. butter
* 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used creamy)
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1 egg
* 1 tsp. vanilla extract
* 1/4 tsp. salt
* 1 cup flour
* 1/2 tsp. baking powder
* 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Nestle's combination bag of chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line an 8×8 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM.

3. In a medium microwave safe mixing bowl, melt the butter for 20-30 seconds until almost/all melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

4. Stir the peanut butter into the butter until creamy and smooth.

5. Add the brown sugar to the butter/peanut butter and stir until smooth.

6. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.

7. Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the peanut butter mixture and stir just to combine.

8. Gently fold in chocolate chips and any other additions (chopped nuts, chopped Reese’s cups, Reese’s pieces, etc).
9. Pour into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top.

10. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting.

Lemon Parmesan Chicken Pasta

I found this recipe on the SparkPeople website. It looked so light yet delicious, I just had to make it! I modified it a bit to suit our taste.

Ingredients

* 1/2 lb. angel hair pasta

* 1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped into bite sized pieces (we just used one large chicken breast for the two of us)

* 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

* 2 tbsp butter

* 3 tbsp lemon juice (we used at least double this)

* 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese (again, we doubled this)

* 1 cup reserved pasta water

Directions

1. Bring large pot of water to a boil.

2. Meanwhile, heat butter in large skillet. Saute chicken and garlic until cooked through.

3. Cook pasta according to package directions.

4. Add lemon juice and parmesan to chicken shortly before pasta is done.

5. Toss the cooked pasta with the chicken mixture.

6. Ladle in 1 cup of pasta water to extend the sauce.

This was so yummy! Will definitely be making it again :)

Sweet Potato Fries

I saw this recipe online somewhere a few days ago and I knew that you were supposed to use sweet potatoes, salt/seasoning, and olive oil. So I browsed around a couple websites and pretty much figured out what to do and just kind of went with it. How hard could it be?

Ingredients

* 2 medium/large sweet potatoes (for 2 people)

* Garlic salt/sea salt/garlic steak seasoning (we used all three separately in different sections)

* Olive oil

Directions

1. Slice sweet potatoes into a fry shape. You can either make them the "string" shape of fry or the "steak fry" shape. We did a little of both.

2. Toss in olive oil and then lay flat on a baking sheet.

3. Sprinkle seasonings of your choice all over fries. I have also read that paprika would be good. We just used a little bit of everything that we had in the house.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, depending on how soft/crispy you like them and how thinly you sliced them. Flip them over halfway through.

I read online that sweet potatoes will never actually get that crispy, but using the olive oil and baking at a higher temperature can help. We only baked for about 35 minutes @ 400 and they probably could have used another 10 minutes or so. Oh well, next time!

These were really yummy and we'll definitely be making them again. (We ate them with grilled chicken breast with feta cheese on top.)

Yummy Turkey Muenster Lasagna

I got this recipe from my mom who recently ate it at a friend's house. She gave me the approximate recipe over the phone. I always err on the side of more cheese and more garlic, so use whatever suits your taste. Also, sorry for the crappy pic. We were so hungry that we didn't want to let it cool... so the pieces kind of fell apart. Oh well!

Ingredients

* 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (I used the small Barilla ones)

* 1 lb. lean ground turkey

* Appx. 26 oz. spaghetti sauce (I used Prego traditional)

* 3/4 lb. muenster cheese - slices or shredded

* 24 oz. small curd cottage cheese

* 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (I used more than that.. we love cheese)

* 1 tsp. garlic powder (I used fresh minced garlic and put way more than 1 tsp.)

* 2 tbsp. parsley

* 2 eggs

Directions

1. Grease a 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Brown ground turkey; drain.

3. Combined second group of ingredients in bowl and mix (cottage cheese, parm cheese, garlic powder, parsley, eggs).

4. Spread one cup of spaghetti sauce on bottom of pan.

5. Layer 4 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture, 1/2 of browned ground turkey, and one cup of sauce.

6. Layer 4 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture, and 1 1/2 cups of spaghetti sauce.

7. Layer 4 lasagna noodles, the remaining cottage cheese mixture, remaining ground turkey, and 1 cup of sauce.

8. Layer 4 lasagna noodles and remaining spaghetti sauce.

9. Add shredded/sliced muenster cheese on top.

10. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

This was really yummy! Next time I will definitely let it cool longer before we scarf it down. I might also try using a flavored spaghetti sauce, maybe garlic.

Red Lobster Biscuits

If you've never had the cheddar garlic biscuits from Red Lobster, you are missing out!! I was so excited when I came across this recipe on the WC board. (Originally from Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats.) I modified it a bit to make it easier (i.e. just spreading butter on top before eating instead of mixing and drizzling). Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups Bisquick mix

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar and would probably double it next time.. I love cheese!)

2/3 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients until moist.

3. Drop onto greased cookie sheet.

4. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden.

5. Spread butter on top before eating.

My Famous TACO BAKE!!

I know, you can't believe that this amazing famous recipe came from MUAH! (well actually, my mom...) This has become a very popular dish on the knot/nest boards and I couldn't be happier! It was one of my fav meals growing up and I'm so glad people seem to love it as much as I do (Shelly - you don't count this time!) Enjoy!

* A pic of the original print-out recipe my mom gave me! *

Ingredients

* 1 lb ground beef (or ground turkey, or ground chicken - I used turkey this time but have tried all three and all are great)
* 1 packet taco seasoning
* 15 oz. tomato sauce
* 8 oz. seashell pasta (I use medium shells but have tried large too)
* 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened in microwave (I used fat free)
* 1/2 cup sour cream (I usually use more like 1 cup of light sour cream)
* 8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I was out of sharp cheddar tonight so I used finely shredded taco cheese - I would not recommend it b/c it made the cheese layer way more oily than usual. Plus the sharp tastes better, in my opinion.)

Directions

1. Brown ground beef, drain. Add taco seasoning and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
2. In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions. Drain.
3. Mix softened cream cheese and sour cream in separate bowl.
4. Spray bottom of 9x13 pan. Put pasta in bottom of pan.
5. Spread cream cheese mixture over pasta.
6. Spoon ground meat mixture over this.
7. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top.
8. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

Ta-da! Eat, put leftovers in fridge, warm up for dinner the next night, and repeat. This is almost even better as leftovers. DE-LISHHH-USSSS!!! :)

Simple Baked Mostaccioli

This is one of our favorite dishes and is so simple to make. Enjoy!

Ingredients

* Spaghetti sauce, almost a whole jar (any kind you'd like - this time I used Emeril's 3-cheese)

* Appx 12 ounces mostaccioli noodles, cooked

* Appx 8 ounces small curd cottage or ricotta cheese (I used cottage this time but both are good)

* Appx 6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

* Optional: chicken breast, cooked, cut into small pieces (I didn't use this time but usually do)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix all ingredients in a 9x13 casserole dish, cover with mozzarella (I usually mix some of the mozz in and then put the rest on top)

3. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until browned and bubbly and heated through (about 25 min)

And that's it! So easy and so yummy!