Roasted Corn

This stuff is DELICIOUS!!  seriously...like candy :)  I have bags of frozen sweet corn in my freezer.  We always buy LOTS of sweet corn when it is ready in the summer.  We blanch it, cut it off the cob and freeze it so that we have that deliciousness all winter long.

This is my new favorite way to cook it.  I take it from the freezer, spread it on a cookie sheet, sprinkle it with salt and fresh ground pepper, mix it around with my hands and then cook it.....seriously SO good!!

Roasted Corn

(no measurements...you can make a large batch of small)

Ingredients:  

Frozen Corn

Olive Oil

Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Directions:   Preheat oven to 450.  Spread corn onto baking sheet.  Drizzle with Olive Oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Mix with spatula or hands :)....Bake for 10 minutes(on rack in middle of oven), stir and bake for approx. 10 more minutes or until the corn starts to brown up nicely.  I really keep an eye on it the last 10 minutes.

Zuppa Toscana

I have been seeing recipes for Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana everywhere lately.  I have never tried this soup before, so I don't have any idea how close it is to Olive Garden's...but I do know that it is DELICIOUS!!  I adapted my recipe from this one.  I used spinach instead of Kale, but feel free to use whichever you prefer.  I used spinach so that I could get my kids to eat it.....they just DON'T like Kale in soup....fruit shakes yes, soup...NO.  I didn't even chop my spinach, just used baby spinach and it cooked up nicely.

Zuppa Toscana

 Ingredients:

1 pound ground hot sausage

4-5 russet potatoes, chopped (I left skins on)

1 onion, chopped

2 T. minced garlic

32 oz. chicken broth

fresh baby spinach...I added 3 large handfuls...it seems like a lot, but cooks down fast, I wish I had added more.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 T. flour

salt, pepper, cayenne pepper

Real bacon bits and Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:  Brown sausage in a medium size pot.  Drain sausage.  Add cooked sausage and onions to pan.  Cook until onions start to brown.  Add garlic, cook an additional 30 seconds.  Add chicken broth and potatoes.  If vegetables aren't covered by the chicken broth, add just enough water to cover them.  Cook until potatoes are tender.  Whisk heavy whipping cream together with flour until there are no lumps.  Stir into soup.  Add spinach, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste. Cook until the soup starts to thicken, stirring frequently...20-30 minutes.   Serve topped with bacon bits and Parmesan cheese.

O'Henry Bars

Quick post...just wanted to share this recipe today.  We loved these at my house!!  Chocolate, peanut butter, oats...what's not to love?  You like that big 'glob' of chocolate/peanut butter on the bar below?  I had a little left on the spoon after I 'smeared' the topping around...I scraped it off and that's where it landed.  Best bite of the batch :)

O'Henry Bars

Ingredients:

 2/3 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

3 t. vanilla

4 cups quick oats

Topping:

1 cup chocolate chips(I used semi-sweet)

2/3 cup peanut butter

Directions:  Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add corn syrup and vanilla.  Add oats and mix well.  Press mixture into a greased 9x13" pan.  I also lined the bottom of the pan with wax paper to make it easier to get the bars out when they were finished.  Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Melt together chocolate chips and peanut butter.  Spread on cooled bars.  Refrigerate to allow the peanut butter, chocolate chip mixture to harden.  Cut into bars.

Happy Veterans Day

Happy Veterans Day and THANK YOU to ALL of our service men and women!!

3 of my boys with our FAVORITE Veteran

One Skillet Spicy Sausage Pasta

My family LOVED this dish!!  I found this recipe here at Kevin and Amanda's blog.  It is SO simple and I love that you only dirty one pan :)  The recipe calls for a can of Rotel tomatoes, but I just used a can of store brand petite diced tomatoes with green chili.  Because we LOVE green chili around here...I also added extra.

Mmmm...delish!!

One Skillet Spicy Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil
1 lb smoked sausage, chopped
1 diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chili, Mild (I used store brand diced tomatoes w/green chili)
1/4 cup chopped green chili, optional
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz Gemini pasta
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Directions:   Heat oil in an oven-safe skillet(I LOVE a good cast iron skillet) over medium high heat until HOT.  Add sausage and onions, cook until light brown, approx 4-5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook an additional 30ish seconds.  Add broth, tomatoes, green chili, cream, pasta, salt and pepper.  Stir together.  Bring to boil, cover skillet and reduce heat to medium-low.  Simmer until pasta is tender, approx. 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup cheese.  Top with remaining cheese and broil until cheese is melted, bubbly and beginning to brown.

Green Chili Salsa Crock Pot Chicken

You like that name?  Didn't really know what to call this....but I do know that it is DELICIOUS!!  Seriously SO good.  ...and SO easy!  Seriously...dump all the ingredients into the crock pot, cook on low for 5-6 hours and shred...does it get any easier?  This chicken is great for tacos, burritos, served with rice...really just anything :) 

Green Chili Salsa Crock Pot Chicken

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can El Pato (yellow can)

1 bottle of your favorite green salsa (can't remember what size the jars are...12-16 oz..ish)

1/2 cup chopped green chili

Directions:  Place chicken breasts in crock pot.  Dump in El Pato, green salsa, and green chili.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours(depending on size of chicken breasts and if frozen or thawed), until chicken is completely cooked.  Shred your chicken...my favorite method to shred meat with a Kitchen Aid...here.  Serve and enjoy!

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

 We had the GREATEST weekend!!  On Friday we loaded up the truck and took off on a 6 1/2 hour drive to Southern Utah.  Ryan and I registered to run the Snow Canyon Half Marathon and the boys were signed up to run the tuff kids 1 mile run.  We met up with my sister and her family (2 of her kids ran the '1 mile' run too).  My parents also made the drive down from Northern Utah to meet us. We also got to spend some quality time with my Grandma, Aunt and her kids!

Friday night we ate some DELICIOUS pizza from Pier 49 and picked up all the race packets.

The race was beautiful!!  I ran it 5 whole seconds faster than last year :)...1:52.20  I thought I'd do better than that, but started feeling sick around mile 7....SO I didn't finish as strong as I would have liked to...but still it was SO awesome!  Ryan did AWESOME and finished his 1st half in just over 2 hours...2:01.48!!  I think he is hooked and can't wait to run this one again next year :)

The boys and their 2 cousins ran the '1 mile' race that turned into 2 miles.  I guess there was a mix up with the volunteers at the 1/2 mile turn around, so they ended up turning around at one mile.  All the boys (13, 11, 8, 7, and 5) all ran 2 miles, but luckily the little girl cousin (4) got turned around at the right distance.  It's a good thing too, somehow she didn't make it to the race with running shoes and ran in her Toms and got blisters :(  Jake took 1st place overall in that race.

I was going to post a picture of all the runners together, but the only picture that my husband emailed me that I could open was the one of just our family...above.