{Recipe Recap} Spinach Pizza Quinoa Casserole with Chicken Sausage

It’s Friiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiday!  Have you seen the forecast for my weekend?

That lightning bolt on Friday probably messed up my commute this morning, but the yucky weather should move out by lunchtime and then the day’s supposed to be pretty darn nice. And then look at Saturday and Sunday – the epitome of a beautiful spring weekend in NC.

With temps like those, I know you’ll be dying to make some comfort food like a casserole in your oven, right?  Well, you’re in luck because I have a delicious one to share with you and it just so happens to be healthy, too.  You know, on the off chance that this warm weather has you thinking more about shorts than sweaters.

I made this casserole late Sunday morning with the intention of portioning it out to eat all week.  The McHusband had it for lunch that day so he had it “fresh” and said it was tasty.  I didn’t have any until Tuesday afternoon and I was sorry I missed out on eating it for two days.

I used one package of Green Giant frozen chopped spinach and also cut up a package of Aidell’s Caramelized Onion Chicken Meatballs and threw those in.

I added…maybe half a teaspoon or so of red pepper flakes to give the casserole a little oomph and that was the right decision.  It’s not spicy or hot or anything, it just gives most bites an extra layer of flavor.

I baked this in an 8 x 8 pan and divided it into 9 portions.  MFP told me each serving had 214 calories and 13 grams of protein.

I know this doesn’t look like much, especially since I didn’t try very hard to get good photos of it.  But I promise, if you like pizza and don’t hate quinoa, you will enjoy this casserole.

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

{Recipe Recap} Tilapia and Carrots

Just wanted to share a new-to-us dinner combo, one we’ll be having again.

The McHusband and I both likes raw carrots, and I like ‘em cooked when they’re done the right way.  I wasn’t positive that this recipe was going to be all that great, but I had everything it called for and I figured it was worth a shot, and I’m glad I did.  Now we have another vegetable option besides steamed cauliflower and the three Steamfresh veggies we keep in rotation.

I was a little turned off by the tilapia recipe having mayo in it, but I only used 1 tablespoon combined with 1 tablespoon of butter, a little less than 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, and a teaspoon of all the spices.

The McHusband and I both really enjoyed the tilapia with this topping on it.  I loved the saltiness from the Parmesan cheese and while I’m not a huge fan of lemon in “real” food (as opposed to desserts), it wasn’t the standout flavor here so it worked for me.

I think especially if you aren’t a huge fan of fish in general, this is the recipe for you.  Tilapia in general is a very mild fish, and the topping was delicious.

{Carrots here}

{Tilapia here}

Monte’s party guests

Remember that party I made the Kibble Cake for?  I want to show you some of the group who came to meet the newest member of our little McFamily.

Chelle and Jeremy were the first to arrive and she wasted no time scooping Monte up.

But she soon had to share the little guy with “the kids” – Charlee, Layton, Bronte, and Bianca.

Charlee and Layton didn’t leave Morgan out (much to her dismay, I’m sure).

Morgan eventually moved into the dining room and Layton kept wanting to go visit her.  He’s at that age where he says “Why?” a lot so he was asking about her being in the dining room and being sleepy and I told him she was tired and ready for bed.  What does everyone need before they turn in for the night?  A kiss goodnight, of course.

When I came back in the kitchen, I told Kristen about Layton’s questions and I asked, “And guess where he kissed her goodnight?”  She immediately answered, “On her butt.”

She was right.

Guess who else held Monte?  Eric, who doesn’t prefer dogs and has always had cats.  But how could anyone resist Monte’s sweet face?

(Bianca did her best to photobomb all the pictures of Eric and Monte.)

One last picture.  I’m not the only one who got into the theme of the night.  Check out Layton’s shirt.

Thanks, everyone, for coming and meeting the baby and eating all the doggie treats!

P.S.  Happy eight-year anniversary to Kevin and Jenny!  They celebrated by going to Chicago this weekend.  I can’t wait to read more about all the food they ate their trip.

{Recipe Recap} Banana Bars with Browned Butter Icing

We definitely need something sweet to get our week started, don’t you think?  I’m meeting you in the middle and sharing a recipe with fruit so you don’t have to feel too guilty if you make (and eat!) these.

We had a morning meeting at the office last week, and I had overripe bananas so it was a no-brainer to try a new recipe for banana bread/muffins/bars.

(I apologize in advance for the especially bad pictures.  I snapped these really quick in the kitchen that night, which has never proved to be good for food photography.  But the bars were so yummy that I couldn’t NOT document them and share them with you guys.)

These were baked on a jelly roll sheet as opposed to in more typical 8 x 8 or 9 x 13 pan.  That means I had WAY more bars than the six people in my office could, or would, eat.

Since these were for breakfast, I debated if I should do the icing or not.  I did, really!  Okay, not for very long.  I mean, it doesn’t take much to convince me to add frosting to something.

I left the nuts out of these and instead added cinnamon chips as well as a teaspoon of cinnamon.  Baked banana goods need cinnamon.

So what’s the verdict on these bars?  They were delicious!  The texture was perfect – not heavy or gummy, not dried out, just exactly right.

You should definitely make these.  You could always divide the recipe in half and make them in a more standard 9 x 13 pan so you don’t have quite as many.  I shared mine with the McHusband’s office as well as the doctor’s office in my building, and I got only good feedback.

And definitely DON’T leave the icing off.

Happy Monday!

{Recipe adapted from here}

{Recipe Recap} Puppy Party Treats

I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to have a theme party so a “sip and see” for Monte was the perfect opportunity to get a little creative with some treats.

I made some Biscoff Rice Krispie Treats and used a cookie cutter I bought just for the occasion to make them fit my theme.

These things were gone in no time.  I will definitely be making them again.  Wonder if they’ll taste as good as squares…

Next up was some Peanut Butter Butterscotch Puppy Chow made with a bag of butterscotch chips, a cup of peanut butter, and half a stick of butter.  This stuff was VERY sweet.  That’s not a complaint, just an observation.  I really liked the flavor, but Shawn said he prefers original Puppy Chow.

And finally, my favorite treat – the Kibble Cake.

Pretty convincing, huh?

I bought a new dog bowl from Walmart for the cake to go in.  I baked a yellow cake, part of the batter in a regular cake pan and the other part in a Dutch oven so I could get the round shape I needed.

I used this frosting recipe, which was good, but it ended up being too crusty for my purposes because the cocoa pebbles didn’t stick to it as well as I needed.

What do you think, Monte?  Does this bowl of dog food look like something you’d like to eat?

I can’t take credit for the idea of the cake as I saw something similar on the interweb.  But I had to figure out how to make it look believable and I think I succeeded.

Ah, the weekend’s upon us!  It’s been a long week, and I am looking forward to the weekend.  Fingers crossed that Monte continues his habit of not making any noise in the morning and letting us wake up on our own on Sunday.

Morgan and Monte

I have to apologize for the lack of a post yesterday.  My weekend of partying and puppying caught up with me on Monday and it was all I could do to drive home from work with my eyes open.  I went to bed early and got a good night’s sleep, which helped, but I still have more than a few zzz’s to catch up on.

But enough of how tired I am.  Not like any of you can relate, right?

I think I’m going to take the easy way out and just give you some pictures from the weekend.  You don’t really want to “hear” me talk anyway, not when there are puppy pics to peruse.

And later that same night…

The next day.  Love those crossed paws.

Don’t let the pictures fool you.  Morgan is a typical big sister who finds her little brother more annoying than adorable.  She does not like to share her bed with Monte and mostly chooses to be elsewhere.  Monte is a typical little brother who LOVES to be with his big sister.  You should see how fast his tail wags when she shows him some attention.

All right, that’s all I have for you today.  I hope to be back tomorrow with the treats from Monte’s meet and greet, but I can’t make that promise.  The McHusband is out of town for work today and won’t be home until close to bedtime, which means I’ll be single-momming things tonight so I’m not sure how much free time I’ll have after I eat my popcorn.  Priorities, you know.

Meet Monte

This weekend was a while in the making.  The McHusband and I decided a few months ago that we were ready to take the plunge and expand our family.

So this past Friday, we brought a puppy home.

Come on!  First, it’s us and second, it’s April Fool’s Day.  You didn’t really think I was going to make a pregnancy announcement, did you?

This is Monte.  He’s a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog.

He’s 8 1/2 weeks old and weighs 16 pounds.

He wasn’t too sure about his adoptive parents, but he took to his new sister immediately.  I think the jury’s still out on how she feels about him.

In the week before we picked Monte up, the breeder had given him a vaccine, dewormed him, and bathed him so for the first couple of days he wasn’t as perky and playful as you’d normally expect a puppy to be.

But by Sunday, he was feeling more normal and energetic.

Monte running around

We won’t be holding him like this for too much longer, that’s for sure.

Plenty more on Monte to come this week, including the Meet and Greet I hosted in his name on Friday.

P.S.  Happy Birthday, Bruce!