Easy Cheesy Manicotti

This is a tried and true in-law family recipe. There's not much to it, but it's great!

Makes: 6-10 servings

Time: 25 min. prep.; 1 hour bake.

Need: 9x13 casserole dish

8 Ingredients:

1 box of manicotti pasta (14 noodles)

1 jar of spaghetti sauce

4 cups mozzarella cheese (16 oz./1 lb.)

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Italian seasoning

Salt & pepper

Step 1: Boil pasta until al dente.

(Note: That means to look on the box and follow the amount of time it should boil. Don't let it get squishy. For manicotti, it's usually about 10 min.)

Step 2: Put cheeses in bowl. Add salt, pepper, and seasoning. Gently mix.

(Note: You don't need much seasoning because the spaghetti sauce will have seasoning--just put in a little bit.)

Step 3: Drain water from done manicotti and rinse gently with cold water.

Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Step 5: Get your casserole dish. Cover the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of spaghetti sauce. This is so you don't have to spray it.

Step 6: Pick up a manicotti and stuff with cheese mixture. Place in dish. Repeat.

Step 7: Cover manicotti in dish with the rest of the jar of spaghetti sauce.

Step 8: Sprinkle the rest of the cheese mixture on top of the sauce.

Step 9: Cover the pan with foil and put in oven for 45 min.

Step 10: Take off the foil for the last 15 min. in the oven to let the cheese on top melt.

Step 11: Blow off the steam and eat!

Here are some tips I've learned through the years:

1. The cheddar cheese is just to add a little flavor and color. You don't want too much cheddar because it will make everything greasy.

2. You can double, triple, etc. this recipe easily!

3. Whoa there, Cheese Maniac! If you put too much cheese in the pasta, it won't melt; even if it's in the oven for an hour.

4. For leftovers, you can freeze manicotti in a container and pop it in the microwave later.

5. If you want something more than just cheese, pasta and sauce, find a sauce with a lot of chunky vegetables, or use a meat sauce. Or, just add finely chopped cooked Italian sausage, onion and green peppers to the cheese mix for something a little different.

6. Add a green salad and it's a meal!

Easy BBQ Shredded Chicken

The "yumminess" of this recipe depends on the BBQ sauce you use. Keep track of which ones you use until you find a favorite! This is also REALLY easy to freeze and save for those "too tired" or "but I'm hungry NOW" moments.

Makes: 6-10 servings

Need: Crockpot. Time: 7-8 hours.

Ingredients:

4-6 Nonfrozen bone-free chicken breasts

1-2 containers of BBQ sauce

1/4 cup water

Dash of pepper

Rolls or buns

Step 1: Cut off fat from chicken breasts. Stuff breasts into crockpot.

Step 2: Pour water over chicken. Sprinkle with pepper.

(Note: I don't add salt because there should be enough sodium in BBQ sauce.)

Step 3: Put crockpot on LOW setting and let cook for 7-8 hours.

Step 4: Come home from work. Take chicken out (leave chicken juice inside pot), place on cutting board, and with knife and fork, shred chicken.

(Note: I just hold the chicken breast with a fork and gently pull chicken away with the side of a knife or another fork.)

Step 5: Pour 1 container of BBQ sauce in pot with chicken juice. Stir together.

Step 6: Put shredded chicken back in pot and stir.

Step 7: Add more BBQ sauce if needed.

Step 8: Put chicken on buns and eat.

Here are some additional tips:

1. You can probably do this with pork too, but I don't do pork often--okay, ever--so I don't know what kind of pork you'd use. Make a comment and I'll change this tip!

2. 1/4 cup of water isn't very much, and you might be tempted to add more--DON'T DO IT! I put 9 breasts in the crockpot and put extra water in, and it was too much water! The chicken will create a lot of juice on its own.

3. You can use hamburger buns, but I really like to use hard rolls; they hold the meat better and they're funner to eat with.

4. You can do this for large groups! And it's just as easy! Although, you will have to plan a lot of time for shredding chicken...

5. Sides are so easy for this! Salad or green beans and fruit and maybe some chips--and you're done!

6. BBQ sauce--what kind is good? I'm on a "try to be aware of what I'm eating" kick and tried to find a sauce WITHOUT high fructose corn syrup. Very difficult! And they cost more! Be aware that some BBQ sauces are great with cow meat, and not good with chicken meat. I bought Stubb's Original Bar-B-Q Sauce and loved it. It has a nice kick to it and I thought it went really well with chicken. It does have corn syrup, but at least it's the third ingredient and it's not high fructose. ;)

Easy Pizza Crust!

This is a tried and true easy pizza recipe. My family has been using it almost every Saturday night for about 15 years!

Makes: 2 PIZZAS

Time: 1 hr. rising; 30 min. everything else

5 Ingredients:

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cups hot water (95-100 F)

1 Tbsp. yeast

4-5 cups flour

Step 1: Put the first FOUR ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Right after you add the water, add 2 cups flour then 1 Tbsp. yeast.

(Note: The water has to be the right temp. to activate the yeast.)

Step 3: Stir.

Step 4: Wash your hands and take off rings. Add 2 more cups of flour and start digging with your hands!

Step 5: I play with the dough for a couple minutes, mixing it well together. It should be really sticky. Now, start adding a little bit of flour and mixing it in until it's "smooth" and not as sticky.

(Note: If you're in a dry climate, you won't need much more. If you're in a humid climate, you might need up to a cup more of flour!)

Step 6: I usually put the dough on the counter, wash the bowl I was using, spray it with cooking spray, and put the dough back in. You can do whatever you want. Just as long as the dough is in a large bowl that it won't stick to.

Step 7: Put a towel over the bowl and let it sit for an hour.

(Note: Don't put it by anything cold (like a wintry window) because the dough should stay room temperature.)

Step 8: Wait an hour.

Step 9: Preheat the oven to somewhere in-between 415-450 F. Split the dough into two. Roll out the dough. Put the rolled-out dough on a pizza pan (remember to spray!) and add toppings.

(Note: Depending on your climate, you may have to adjust the temperature. If the first pizza takes a while, turn up the heat for the second pizza.)

(Note: Pizza pans with holes are the BEST. If you put the dough on a cookie sheet, you will have to wait longer to subdue your ravenous pizza craving.)

Step 10: Bake pizza for 10-15 min.

Step 11: Find someone to share your pizza with. Relish every bite. :)

Here are some tips I've learned through the years:

1. If your dough didn't rise, try this: Boil some water in a pot. With the oven turned OFF, put your bowl with dough in the oven and put the pot with boiling water in the oven too. Close the oven door. This will create humidity that will help the dough rise. See no. 2 if this does not work.

2. If you're in a hurry, you can use this dough without waiting an hour to rise. I don't think it tastes as good, it's harder to roll out (not as much air in the dough), and of course the crust is much flatter. But who knows! Maybe you'll like it that way!

3. If you're doing pepperoni, don't put on too much cheese because the pepperoni is already greasy and too much cheese will make it really greasy.

4. After the sauce, put some mozzarella cheese down, then toppings, then a little bit more mozzarella on top to hold down the toppings.

5. Work all the way to the edge if you want!

6. You can use this dough for breadsticks. When they come out of the oven, butter them and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

7. You can also use this recipe for calzones/stromboli. For a calzone, I'll put ranch dressing, cooked chicken, broccoli, seasoning, and mozzarella cheese. Yum!

8. Be creative with toppings! For an interesting yet yummy pizza, my mom will sometimes roast garlic (just chop off the end of a bulb and put it in the oven for a bit) and spread it on the unbaked crust, sprinkle on pinenuts and fresh asiago cheese (not very much), then put it in the oven.

9. My mom also will make a bunch of small crusts and put them in the oven for 5 minutes each. Then, she'll wrap them in plastic wrap and foil and stack them in the freezer. Later that week you can pull out a crust, plop on some easy toppings, and bake it in the oven for 10-15 min. My little sister loves this for lunch!