Chicken Spinach Pasta Bake

Made this tonight and it turned out pretty yummy! Definitely something I will make again. This would be great to take to a family in a time of need or to a pot luck.

Here are my tweaks:

Used whole wheat penne pasta instead of rigatoni

Used reduced fat cream cheese and mozzarella
Added two tablespoons store-bought pesto sauce to the mixture before baking- delicious!

Pesto is my new "go-to" ingredient for Italian dishes. It makes just about everything yummier :)

http://www.savingmoneylivinglife.com/2010/06/chicken-spinach-pasta-bake.html

Pork Chops with Apples and Stuffing

I found this recipe through a church friend of mine and it is really delicious! I will be making these again. It will cook even faster if you will cut up the pork chops before cooking. They take a good while if the stuffing is on top of them. Can't beat only three ingredients!

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/pork-chops-apples-stuffing-111258.aspx

Sweet & Spicy Bacon Chicken

So simple and yummy! I made sure to really coat the chicken with the seasonings before wrapping it with the bacon. I made mine in the oven, but the grilled one in the picture looks even better!!

http://diaryofarecipeaddict.blogspot.com/2011/07/sweet-spicy-bacon-chicken.html

Marinated Tomato Salad with Herbs

Saw this on Pioneer Woman on Food Network and made it the other day. It's one of the few healthy dishes I have seen her make on her show. :) Pretty tasty! I "jazzed it up" by using red AND yellow tomatoes. Oh yeah, I'm fancy haha! You could add anything to this that you'd like. Very easy!!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/marinated-tomato-salad-with-herbs-recipe/index.html

Southwestern Chicken and Cornbread Salad

I made this last night and it's definitely a keeper! And soooo easy! It's probably about the only thing I would attempt from marthastewart.com! haha!

Here is the link: http://www.marthastewart.com/856896/southwestern-chicken-cornbread-salad

Here are my changes:
Omitted the bell pepper and onion
Used a rotisserie chicken from Kroger instead of grilling the chicken

This is great the next day too! I just had it for lunch! Yum! :)

Greek Yogurt Banana Blueberry Bread

Last week, I made the strawberry version of this, but I think the blueberry one is even better! I love this because there isn't any butter in it and you would never know it. The only fat is in the two eggs. I didn't have whole wheat flour so I used all-purpose. 

All of this blogger's versions of banana bread are listed on her blog. So yummy! 

http://nosugarsweetlife.com/content/greek-yogurt-blueberry-banana-bread

Spaghetti Pesto Bake

I threw this together tonight with things I had on hand. It turned out pretty yummy (if I do say so myself!) Wanted to share this before I forgot. It was really simple!

1 pound ground turkey
1/2 pound whole wheat thin spaghetti
1 jar spaghetti sauce (I used Barilla)
1/2 small jar store-bought pesto sauce (or make your own)
1/4 cup parmesan
Small ball of fresh mozzarella (sliced into discs)

Preheat oven to 350.
Boil pasta, drain and set aside.
Brown the meat and add spaghetti sauce, parmesan and pesto and mix well. Mix spaghetti until coated well. Pour into a 9 by 13 pan. Lay mozzarella discs on top. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 to melt the cheese.
Enjoy!

Great Chicken Marinade

I put this marinade together tonight and we thought it turned out pretty well. So I wanted to share it with you all... (These are approximate measurements. I always eyeball it!)

1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

We used boneless, skinless thighs and grilled them. Turned out pretty yummy!