Meal 16: Ashley makes bowtie pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 box farfalle (bowtie) pasta
• 2 jars pasta sauce- I use Ragu's sauteed onion and garlic
• ~1tsp dried basil, oregano, parsley
• 1 package italian sausage
• 1 package mozarella cheese

How it's done:

• Cook pasta using box directions
• Meanwhile, remove sausage from casings and brown in frying pan.
• Put pasta sauce in large pan. Add herbs. Once sausage is cooked, add to sauce (minus the grease)
• Once pasta is done, drain it and add it to the sauce and sausage
• Stir in entire package mozarella cheese
• Once the cheese is melted, it's ready to serve!

Result:

This wasn't a new recipe for me, but I hadn't made it in a while! It's always a favorite, and it's super easy. Tastes great reheated, too, so it's awesome for leftovers. :)

Meal 15: Sydney makes meatball sandwiches and broccoli and cheese casserole

How it's done and ingredients:

Mini meatball sandwiches: HERE

• Because we didn't have provolone cheese, Sydney used swiss instead, and it tasted fine!
  

Broccoli and cheese casserole: HERE


Results:

• The mini meatball sandwiches were great. Super moist, flavorful!
• The casserole was super cheesy, which I think we all found a little overwhelming ("I have more cheese than broccoli" -Sydney). Apparently we don't like our Velveeta as much as the pioneer woman does.
  

Meal 14: Ashley's failed Avacado Pasta

SO. Here's the deal.

The recipe I used called for a food processor. We had a blender. Said blender decided it did not want to function properly.

This meant that despite my best efforts, several ingredients could not be added in (because no one wants to bite into whole raw pieces of garlic, let's be real).

In the end, we gave up on it. I tried my best to eat it, but seeing as it was only olive oil, avacado, and lemon juice at that point, it tasted an awful lot like avocado with a little bit of lemon juice, and it just wasn't cutting it.

SAD DAY. I'll try this again sometime when I have a food processor.

On the plus side, I used one of our (ten) containers of spaghetti we've needed to make use of.

Meal 13: Sarah makes pork tenderloin

Ingredients:
TBA

How it's done:
TBA


Result:

• The potatoes were awesome.
• The gravy for the pork tenderloin was really good- very different!
• Actual roast was a little overcooked, probably because Sarah was waiting on us slackers to get home and trying to keep it warm!
• Overall: great!
  

Meal 12: Ashley makes Chicken Tacos

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1/2-3/4 packet chicken taco seasoning
• 1 jar salsa
• 1 can corn
  
• Whatever taco toppings you prefer (we did avocado, pico, cheese, sour cream, lettuce)
• 1 box rice
• 1 can black beans

How it's done:

1. Put chicken, salsa, corn, taco mix in a slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours.
2. Serve with toppings.

Result:

These were ridiculously good for how easy they were. Highly recommend and will make again!

Meal 11: Ashley makes spinach manicotti

Ingredients:

• 1 box uncooked manicotti shells (14 shells)
• 2 cups shredded italian cheese blend (or mozzarella cheese, which I used), plus extra for top
  
• 1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese
• 1 box frozen spinach, thawed
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1.5 jar pasta sauce
  

How it's done:

• Heat oven to 375°F. Cook manicotti as directed on box. Rinse with cool water; drain well.
• In medium bowl, stir together 1 1/2 cups of the Italian cheese blend, ricotta cheese, spinach, garlic and egg.
• In bottom of ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish, spread 1/2 jar of the pasta sauce. Spoon ricotta mixture into manicotti; place over sauce in dish. Pour remaining sauce over manicotti.
• Cover tightly with foil; bake about 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbling. Uncover dish; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Italian cheese blend. Bake uncovered 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. (I put the cheese on top before I covered it, and it was fine).

Result:

• Tasty and hearty- I really liked the spinach in it.
• I'd like to try it with the blend of cheeses and see if it tastes any different!
  

Meal 10: Sarah Makes Salmon

Ingredients:

1.5 lb salmon filets
two heads broccoli
four red potatoes
splash of milk
garlic powder
salt and pepper
butter
lemon juice



How it's done:

Season fish with salt and pepper to taste. Cook in skillet in medium high heat in olive oil for about five minutes on each side until cooked all the way through. Peel off skin midway through cooking (should be easy to remove).

Cut potatoes into one inch cubes. Boil until soft. Add a third of a stick of butter, a splash of milk, and mix together until creamy. Add small and garlic powder to taste.

Put a quarter inch of water in a microwave safe dish. Cover and microwave for eight minutes. If desired, melt butter and add lemon for a lemon butter sauce.

Result:

It was great!
And potatoes were a wonderful success this round!