Ratatouille My Way

My inspiration for this came from Sauce and Sensibility but I didn't just want to make a vegetable dish. I wanted a whole meal combined into 1 dish. So this is what I came up with

Ingredients:
- Zucchini
- Yellow Squash
- Tomato
- Potatoes
- Onion
- Italian Turkey Sausage
- Garlic
- Olive Oil
- Thyme
- Salt and Pepper
- Cheese (i used Mozzarella and Romano)

Notice i didn't put measurements on anything. That is so you can make as much, as little, more vegie, more meat, whatever your mouth wants at that moment.

In a medium skillet brown the meat, add the onion and cook until translucent. Stir in garlic and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Set aside.

Dice up the potatoes into bite size pieces and stir into the meat mixture. Place this mixture in the bottom of your serving dish and sprinkle with a little bit of cheese.

Slice your squash, zucchini and tomato into thin slices and layer over your potato meat mixture as shown to left (i put my tomato under the squash and zucchini so i could get enough vegetables in my cute little dishes). Top with Salt, Pepper, Thyme and a drizzle of Olive Oil.

Cover with Aluminum Foil and bake in oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and top with more cheese and bake for 10 more minutes.

Cajun Mac n'Cheese

Doesn't that look so good! I have always been a fan of the Blue Kraft Macaroni and Cheese... but i guess its about time that i came up with something of my own! This is all me and my hubby; and we loved it!

Ingredients:
- 1 pint half and half
- 2 tbls butter
- 1 1/2 tbls flour
- 1 tbls "King of the Cajun" Cajun Seasoning
- 1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 3-4 oz of cream cheese (a little less than 1/2 of the package)
- 1/2 of a smoked sausage, chopped into bite size pieces
- 12 oz macaroni

In a pot boil water and cook macaroni according to package and drain. Also in a small pan cook smoke sausage until browned.

Meanwhile in small saucepan melt butter. When butter is melted add flour and cook for 3-5 mins. Add half and half and cajun seasoning and simmer for about 5-7 mins or until thickened. Add sauce to drained macaroni in large pan and add cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and smoked sausage. Stir until all cheese is melted. If desired add more Cajun seasoning.

If you want it creamier, add some more half and half. More cheddar taste, add more cheddar cheese. Tweak it until its perfect for you!

Anna's Pizza Potato Pie

Have you ever tried a Potato Pizza? My first experience was at the Pizza Pie Cafe, and i LOVED it! but sadly I couldn't find anything similar, so I decided to be brave and try it on my own, and I think it is even better! It's an Anna Original!

Ingredients:
- Pizza Crust (I used Boboli)
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 cup Ranch Dressing
- 1 large Potato
- 3 slices bacon
- 1/3 medium onion (chopped)
- 1 1/2 cup Mozzarella cheese
- Italian Seasoning

Start by preheating oven to temperature required for pizza dough.

Sliced potato into thin circle. preheat skillet with oil and cook potatoes over medium high heat. Do not layer the potatoes, only 1 layer so they cook evenly. Cook about 3-4 mins on each side. When cooked through set aside

In separate pan cook bacon until done and set aside. In bacon grease cook onion until tender and put onions in a bowl without remaining grease. When Bacon is cooled chop into small pieces and mix with Onion, Set aside.

When oven is preheated cook pizza crust as directed on package. When pizza has about 3 mins left in a medium sauce pan add cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook until melted. Pull out pizza crust when completed and start creating your pizza. Spread the Cream cheese mixture on crust, then layer cooked potatoes. Add a thin layer of about 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese and then the onion bacon mixture. Finally add the rest of the Mozzarella Cheese and sprinkle some Italian Seasoning on top.

Cook in Oven until cheese is melted. ENJOY!

Garlic Green Beans

Ever since we went to Portland last year and i have fresh green beans from the families garden i have been craving them. So i finally bought us some and made a garlic onion concoction to go on top. Turned out WAY good!

Ingredients: 
- 1 lb fresh green beans
- 2 tbls butter
- 1/5 medium onion- diced
- 2 cloves garlic- diced
- salt and pepper

Fill pot with water and salt and boil. Add Green Beans and boil for about 20 minutes, or until your desired tenderness. When beans have about 5 minutes left, melt butter in skillet and add chopped garlic, onion and sautee. When beans are done, add to skillet and stir together. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Monica's First Birthday Cake

Isn't it PRETTY!!! My co-worker's little girls is having her 1st birthday party today, and the girl who was going to make the cake got sick.... so i volunteered! I figured someone paying for the supplies so I could learn was a good deal!

So how did I do it?
the cakes were the easy part. I used 3 round cake pans (with parchment paper on the bottom so they don't stick and cooked almost all of 2 boxes of cake mix with them. Once they cooled, i trimed them so they were flat and then wrapped them up in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and froze them over night.

Then I used the fun CupCake Cake Pan to make the top cake. it uses about 1 1/2 cake mixes to fill, and you cook cake in it at 325 degrees for about an 60-65 mins.When that was done i put it in the fridge to firm up (of course i covered it in Plastic Wrap.

Meanwhile--- FONDANT!
I found this really good marshmallow fondant recipe HERE . It really is a good fondant because its pretty tasteless. Luckily i was able to borrow a friend's kitchen-aid to make it. DO NOT MAKE FONDANT WITH A HAND MIXER!! i almost killed mine. The best way i found to color the fondant was to add food coloring before you add the powdered sugar. and to get the brown color i had to use a Wilton Food Coloring from Walmart. Used the Whole thing!

Next Morning...
Woke up and started with my filling. I decided to do a 3 layer cake so i could add more filling in the middle of the cake. I came up with this genius idea while at work the other day. I took my frosting from my Oreo Cupcakes recipe but instead of using Oreo Cookies, I used Grasshopper Cookies (they taste just like Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies). YUMMY!!! So after i made that I took my cakes out of the freezer and layered them with the filling.

Then I took 2 things of creamy Vanilla frosting (store bought... i couldn't get any of my frostings to be smooth enough, and store bought worked just fine) and frosted the cake. In the fridge it went for about 30 mins to firm up, and then i used my New Frosting Spatula to smooth it out.

Setting it up for the top...
I had learned from experience with wedding cakes that you have to make sure that the top of your cake doesn't smash the rest of the cake. So i cut dowel rods to the height of my cake and then used cardboard on top of that so cupcake on top was sitting on that and not resting just on the cake. I also cut the cardboard like a Donut so once i placed the cupcake on top i could place a longer dowel all through the cake so the cupcake was more secure.

Decorating the Cake..
So now that my fondant has sat air tight all night, I cut me off a piece of it and spread it out thin with a rolling pin and cut out strips and circles. and started to decorate. Then I placed the cupcake on top and frosted the top with frosting. I used a normal spatula to get the groves on the top, but yeah... thats It! It only took me a total of 20 hours + all my practice cakes. but i love it!

My entry into the Share It Link Party at The Winthrop Chronicles is sponsored by Appliances Online and their best Range Cookers.

Chicken Taco Wraps

On BYU campus in the food court is this place called L&T Wraps and Salads. I fell in love with there Taco Chicken Wrap, if that's even what its called. I haven't been able to eat there in years now, since graduation. But I love the wrap so I recreated it myself! I love it so so much...

Ingredients:
- Spinach Wraps
- 2 Chicken Breasts
- Taco Seasoning
- half & half
- Lettuce
- Shredded Chese
- Refried Beans
- Sour Cream
and any other taco stuff you like

Boil Chicken Breasts in water until cooked through. Shred chicken with a fork and then put in a skillet. Add taco seasoning and a little bit of half & half (this is to help the taco seasoning to stick, i have tried water and it doesn't work as well but will work. Half and half really makes it creamier). Cook for about 5 mins

Now my husband likes to just layer the rest, the beans, cheese, chicken etc. like regular tacos. But i like to mix them all together (Chicken, Cheese, Lettuce, Beans, Sour Cream) in a bowl and then add them to my wrap. This really lets you have a little bit in every bite. Its up to you! These are so yummy!!!