April Recipe Remake Recap

April has been an incredible month in our house! Landon is flourishing. He is speaking so well, it's unreal. Hearing him tell little gossipy stories from his school is hysterical, seeing him really develop into a "person" who has detailed thoughts and plans is amazing, and watching his sense of humor evolve is so enjoyable. He also began soccer this week. Our local park system has a short series of classes for 2.5 year olds, so that has been fun too. In other news I have been named County Teacher of The Year and am in the running for New Jersey Teacher of the Year. It's crazy. Like I said... a good month, for sure.

There was a lot of cooking this month. I remade many things, some just because, and some for Easter. Overall a very yummy time!

To start, I remade my cake batter cookies as a thank you to the custodial staff in my school. They have been helping me immensely with a project I was working on so I wanted to show them my appreciation.

Whenever I have pesto I crave chicken pasta pesto bake. It's so simple but that's what I like about it. It's also great because I assemble it ahead of time and throw it in the oven at dinner time.

I found myself with extra bell peppers so I decided to make Mexican chicken pizza. I recently broke my pizza stone and replaced it with a new one that is amazing. It makes the crust so crisp... this pizza was incredible.

My grill broke. I'm beyond devastated (especially since it's BRAND NEW!!!) but before it broke I got in a few great meals. One was chicken caesar flatbreads. Landon wasn't about to eat the lettuce (shocker...) but he did house the chicken. It was incredible. I used Kraft's creamy caesar this time and really enjoyed it.

Another delicious grill meal we enjoyed was bang bang chicken skewers. I have to say, this is still my favorite meal. It's so beautiful and so flavorful. I made Landon some without the mayo (he's allergic) and he even was a huge fan. I need to get my grill fixes for 10,000 reasons, but this is my main one. I can't go weeks without this meal!

I also made my favorite, BBQ chicken pizza. I added tomatoes this time. Other than that, I made it as usual... and as usual, it was delicious.

We were getting together with family friends and I brought apple pie snickerdoodle bars. They were the hit of the show! I have to say they took twice as long (literally!!!) to cook this time because my filling was wetter than last time. Lesson learned- use just the apples and not all the goo in the can of pie filling. Even so these were a huge hit.

Now on to Easter. I started with my spinach dip. Every event I host requires it. I swear by using just sour cream and no mayo. It doesn't effect the taste but it saves on calories and I like the texture.

As a side I made three batches of cheesy garlic biscuits. We had a ton left so we ate them a few times over the week. They are excellent reheated! Just throw them in the oven for 10 minutes and they are as good as new.

Another staple that graces all family events is my corn casserole. This is another item that reheats so nicely!

Finally for dessert I made easy snickerdoodles. These were mostly for my sister and her fiance. Neither of them are big chocolate people (?!) so I always like to have something on hand for them. Landon got to roll the cookies in the cinnamon sugar and he really enjoyed that!

Last but not least was Texas fudge cake. This was even better this time than last time! I love this stuff, especially because it's so easy to make and really lasts well over time. This could be made a couple days before a party and still be perfect.

Until May... enjoy some of these delicious recipes!

March Recipe Remake Recap

March has been a relatively standard month around here! The weather is still brutally cold (WHY??) but we got a few days that gave us a hint of Spring. Landon discovered T-ball on those warm days and now is yearning to get out and play. Sadly last week an elementary school in my district burned down, leaving 450+ kids displaced. It's been a sad and chaotic time at school. I started a fundraiser through Amazon for the teachers and kids who lost everything and collected over 3,000 books in a week so that has been the highlight of my month for sure. Bring on April... I'm ready for warmer weather and more hours of daylight in the evening!

 I was browsing Pinterest when I saw the picture above pop up. I knew it was my recipe and instantly wanted it. I ended up making it that night! I love this french onion pasta. Landon took one look at it and said, "EW! GROSS!" so needless to say it was just John and I enjoying this one!

Sticking with the pasta theme I took a tray of creamy veggie noodles out of the freezer for John and my mom to enjoy this month when I had conferences. I haven't been freezing meals as much as I used to and I really need to. It makes life so easy!

I feel like Landon is in such a food rut. He eats the same things over and over. Recently, after he refused dinner, I made him yogurt dip and he luckily ate it all. I like that it adds the sunbutter in so there's more protein and calories (which is very important for my little peanut!)

Last month when I remade the sweet onion pot roast I froze half. I pulled it out of the freezer recently and I have to say, I never get sick of this! I made it with mashed potatoes this time and it was delicious. I love the sauce so anything that sucks up the sauce is a favorite for me.

This recipe is almost a joke at how simple it is, but it's so good. I remade double cheese pasta primavera. I added some chicken to it and just used a bag of steamed veggies to mix instead of fresh ones and it made the recipe even easier! The thing is I love Velveeta, so any excuse to eat it is a good one.

Chicken parmesan pasta continues to be a favorite around here. I add it to the remake so often that I'm not even sure it's worth mentioning, but I can't emphasize how easy this is on nights you just don't feel like cooking.

Honey Thai chicken stir fry is a great option for stir fry meals. Can I be honest here for a moment though? The reason I make so many stir fries is because I love my little mini baked egg rolls that I buy and sometimes I just crave them. So the frozen egg rolls are my main motivation to make some type of stir fry... I guess it should be the other way around, with the meal being the main attraction, but I looooove me some egg rolls!

I love Costco... way more than I should. Last time I went I ended up buying a huge jar of bruschetta. Why? I have no idea. But I did. So I've been trying to use it up before it goes bad. One meal was this bruschetta pizza which I added chicken to. Even Landon loved it... I guess he didn't notice the tomatoes and green sauce under the cheese because if he did he'd never have touched it!

See you in April with the next recap!

February Recipe Remake Recap

I find I start these posts the same way every time. I say, "Wow, this month went by so quickly! How is it already XYZ month?" Booooring. So I've decided to take a new approach and give you some highlights of each month.

February was a great month for our family. I found out I was named District Wide Teacher of the Year. I teach in a HUGE district so I never expected such an honor. I am now in the running for county Teacher of the Year, so it's a very exciting time professionally. Landon is blooming. He is talking in full sentences, singing his ABCs, counting to 15 accurately (and then some random numbers thrown in after), and just becoming a full fledged person. It's amazing. John and I were able to get out this month and go out to dinner. We try to get out alone at least once a month, sometimes we get out twice, sometimes not at all. None the less it was nice to get out. Overall, February was a good month in the Stephanie Cooks household! It was also a yummy month, we had some great meals, both new and repeated.

With our 34093403 snow days I decided to bake cookies and went with krispie chocolate chip cookies. I am pretty sure I ate 80% of this batch of cookies. Oh man... I forgot how good they are. Too good really because I can't be trusted with them. Therefore I won't be making them again soon... they're just too good!

I remade a favorite stir fry of mine, chicken sriracha stir fry. It's so totally delicious. I didn't marinade it this time and I didn't have fish sauce so I used some teriyaki and it was still amazingly good. I like the green beans and bell peppers in the stir fry- it reminds me of Thai food!

For Valentines Day I hosted a little party for Landon's friends. I made some spinach dip, like usual. It all went so I guess it was a hit. I never, ever, ever get sick of this dip. I still use only sour cream and I got more compliments than usual. I don't think I'll ever add the mayo again.

Last minute lasagna is so easy that I find myself often adding it to the menu. This time I used fresh ravioli from our local Italian deli, and YUM! Fresh ravioli took it to another level.

John requested something with mushrooms this month and OF COURSE my mind went to chicken marsala casserole. Over time this has become a real favorite of mine. Landon isn't huge on his foods all mixing so I separated his serving into a pile of chicken, mushrooms, and rice. He took a couple bites then goes, "Mama, you make good rice. I want yogurt." Haha... well, so much for my good rice. I was happy to snag a few bites from his plate.

John also requested something with beef. Since I rarely make beef I decided to remake my sweet onion pot roast. As someone who doesn't even love beef I have to say this is good stuff. I had planned to just eat some egg noodles and carrots but I tasted the meat and ended up eating a small serving.

I'm trying to use up a box of Rice Krispie's so I made another batch of microwave chewy granola bars. John loves these things. Landon loves to pick off the chocolate chips. Overall they are a hit around here!

Really, would it be a recap without BBQ chicken pizza? No... no it wouldn't. I can't help it. I just love this darn pizza. After writing about it monthly there's nothing to say. I just love it and need it often!

I made firecracker chicken and broccoli for the first time about a month ago and have been thinking of it ever since. I really love the flavors and best of all I always have the ingredients on hand. This time I used a smaller baking dish and it didn't work as well- the sauce didn't thicken as nicely. It was still delicious but next time I'll stick to the 9x13 dish!

Monthly John has some guys over and we usually order pizzas. I decided to save the money this time and just make garlic bread stromboli. I made one chicken parmesan one and one plain. I didn't use as much butter and I'll tell you... I shouldn't have skimped. Never skimp on butter. Lesson learned.

Last but not least I made a batch of cake batter cookies for Landon's teachers for Valentines Day. I used Valentines M&Ms instead of chocolate chips and they were quite delicious. Landon was helping me stir and he knocked a good 1/8 of a cup of the cake mix on the floor so I was worried it wouldn't be ok, but really it had no effect.

Looking forward to March- warm days are hopefully around the corner!

January Recipe Re-make Recap

Now that we're one month in, how is everyone's 2014 going so far? We rang in the new year needing a new furnace on the first day of the year. I'll admit that shook me. Aside from it costing a fortune who wants to start their new year off on such a crummy note? Luckily the month improved from there! However January has been horrifically cold. Between the Polar Vortex (a "new" term that we all know well now!) and lots of snow it's been a bit frigid. Due to this we ate in a lot more than usual but this month I really made a lot of new meals and meals I don't blog (pasta with jarred sauce, frozen Trader Joe's stuff... you get the picture...). Like always there were some favorites remade, so let's get to it.

I started the month off with this cheesy baked onion dip. If I'm being honest this was technically made on December 31 but I had already posted my recap so it got bumped to January. I made this for a few friends that came over for NYE and it was delicious. I'm very sensitive to onions and still cry every time I chop them so it was cute to hear Landon asking, "Mommy, you sad? Why cry? You hurt?" I love that bugger. And cheesy onion dip. Yup.. I love both.

Every January at my school we do a cultural fair project where each grade level studies a continent. Fifth grade works on Asia and my class specifically focuses on Thailand. I decided to make a rendition of this pineapple fried rice. There were several changes (no chicken, added raisins, added curry powder, teriyaki sauce, and sriracha sauce) but I used this as my inspiration and base. My kids loved it... and let me tell you, those kids can pound sriracha! I used so little but they all wanted more and more to the point where their food was red! My tongue was burning just looking at their plates.

Chicken parmesan pasta continues to be one of my favorite go-to meals when I don't feel like cooking. I often sit at my laptop with one hand on my phone to call for take out and one hand looking through my blog for an easy meal, and without fail I fall to this. I always have the ingredients and it's always a meal that all three of us like!

It wouldn't be a monthly recap without pizza... you know we love our pizza in this house. This month I remade John's absolute favorite- buffalo chicken pizza. I don't love buffalo chicken pizza at restaurants because it's normally so gloppy, covered in fried chicken, and just usually makes me sick after eating it. I love this version though with grilled chicken and a lighter sauce (and less of it).

I haven't made baked garlic rice pilaf in so long and it was time to bring it back! This recipe takes a good deal of time but it is so delicious and truly the oven does all the work. I needed a side dish to serve with my chicken florentine puffs that wouldn't steal the show but would compliment the dish and this rice was perfect. Truth be told I could eat a bowl of this with a salad and call it dinner.

Remember that snow I mentioned earlier in the post? Recently we had a huge snow storm and I was home early from work and REALLY wanted a casserole. Like the "bad" kind full of creamy soups and cheese. I don't buy creamed canned soups often so I decided to make my condensed cream of chicken soup to use. Honestly why don't I make this more often?! It's so easy. Landon helped me stir it and helped me pour the flour mixture in... even with his "help" this still came together so quickly and it's much better for you than the canned stuff.

On Tuesday I posted about how I stink at following my meal plans and this dinner was another result of such a night where I just didn't feel like making what I planned. It's all good though because I ended up making this crispy cashew chicken stir fry which I had basically forgotten about. Man is this stuff good! I used a short cut and used a frozen teriyaki veggie mix for the veggies this time and I thought they worked perfectly. The sauce on them blended well with this sauce and it was all so very good. Even the leftovers were fabulous.

Landon has been picky (surprise...) with his meals lately so I bought some sliced American cheese from the deli for nights where he really won't eat. On those nights I throw him a slice of cheese, a banana, and a smoothie and call it a day. I had some cheese left and used it for these cheesy garlic shells and they were just as good as the first time. Total comfort food.

I was really craving pizza one night but wasn't in the mood for my typical favorites so I decided to bring back bruschetta pizza. It's just so good... it's so fresh tasting which is a nice contrast from the typical heavy flavors of winter. John and I loved it, as usual, and Landon refused to try it, as usual. However I anticipated this and made a section of the pie plain with just tomato sauce and cheese... and sure enough he ate that with no issue!

I cooked with my class this month and they wanted to make a "fancy dessert" in their words. So here we go! We made a trifle using cookies on the base (recipe below), a pudding mousse on top, and covered it all with this warm strawberry sauce. My kids were amazed that it is made from simply just strawberries.

Lastly I made these soft eggless cookies because I have a child with an egg allergy and didn't want to leave him out. They LOVED them. I used chocolate chips instead of M&Ms because I have several nut allergies in my class, but otherwise they were the same.

December Recipe Re-make Recap

2013 is over after today concludes and I have to say this has been a pretty uneventful year in my life. Overall things have been status quo. We were fortunate that we had no tragedy or sorrow, yet no major happy events either. My sister got engaged which was a wonderful event, I was named Teacher of The Year at my school which was also amazing, but overall a very standard year. I'm at a point in my life where I just prefer it that way. I am so happy with how things are right now with my family, my job, and my life in general that status quo is perfectly acceptable. So here's to 2014- may you be just as uneventful as 2013! And to all my readers, I wish you the happiest and healthiest New Year!

December was hectic, as it always is. I had Landon's birthday party at the beginning of the month, John's birthday was in the middle, and the holidays wrapped up the end of the month. Not a ton of cooking was done, I don't even really remember why. December is always like that though, no? You get to the end and you think, "Wow, how did this happen? What did I even do this month?!"

I started off December with my ol' favorite, BBQ chicken pizza. Really I make this monthly. Even *I* am sick of seeing this in my recaps, but I'm not sick of eating it...so... you'll probably keep seeing it.

For Landon's birthday party we had a kids' party out and then had the grandparents back at the house for dinner after. One of the appetizers I served at the kids' party for the adults was the veggie pizza. I never use the spinach anymore and load up on the other stuff. It was such a hit. Several people asked to take some of the leftovers home with them. This is always a crowd pleaser.

I also served spinach dip for the adults at the kids' party. The whole platter of it went so I guess people liked it!

That night for dinner I made chicken parm and baked ziti. I made a batch of tomato sauce with onion and butter. I'll tell you, it wasn't as good this time. I used regular canned tomatoes instead of San Marzano and I saw a big difference in the taste. Now I've learned, always use the good tomatoes!

I used the sauce to make San Giorgio baked ziti which is my standard ziti recipe. Landon was a big fan of it this time around and ate a huge plate. He was starving after the excitement of his birthday party. I think he housed a big plate of this which made me one happy mama!

After Landon's birthday comes John's! That means one thing: Oreo fudge bars! These are John's absolute favorite thing I made. My food processor is broken so I hand crushed them with a rolling pin and it didn't form a fine enough crumb. Due to that I didn't have enough to fill the whole 9x13 pan, but it was still perfectly delicious.

I also made John a favorite meal of his, buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese. This was the perfect meal for the day I made it. It was snowy and cold and this meal was the ultimate comfort food. Totally hit the spot.

For a Christmas cookie exchange I made my famous cake batter cookies but rolled the balls in red, white, and green sprinkles to make them more festive. I found them a little too sweet with the addition of the sprinkles but they were still delicious.

Last but not least for Christmas day I brought corn casserole. It's just not a holiday dinner without this stuff!

...now everyone go have a wonderful New Years Eve and I'll see you in 2014!!