Last Minute Dinner Recipe: Three-Cheese & Chicken Baked Pasta

I was searching this weekend for a last minute dinner idea. You know how it is...it's Saturday and you've been busy all day, look at the clock and it's already 4:30. I searched around the net and came across this Southern Living recipe for  Three Cheese Baked Pasta and decided this was what was going to be for dinner. I thought the recipe sounded easy and fantastic!

I did, however make two adjustments. There is no way my meat eater hubby was going to have a non-meat meal. I  added chicken to appease my meat eater.  I also did not have ricotta on hand but did have cottage cheese and substituted with that. This turned out so good, easy and the family raved on its deliciousness!  Now, I never eat leftover pasta but my husband does. He said it was as delicious reheated as it was the first time!   

Three-Cheese & Chicken Baked Pasta

Ingredients

1 (16-oz.) package ziti pasta

2 (10-oz.) containers Alfredo sauce 

1 (8-oz.) container sour cream 

1 (15-oz.) container ricotta cheese

2 large eggs, lightly beaten 

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped

Preparation

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and return to pot. Stir together Alfredo sauce and sour cream; toss with ziti until evenly coated. Spoon half of ziti mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Stir together ricotta cheese and next 3 ingredients; spread evenly over pasta mixture. Spoon remaining pasta mixture evenly over ricotta cheese layer; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

I hope your family enjoys this as much as ours!

Cold Weather Meal: Slow Cooker Ham & White Beans

While I may live in South Florida, it has had a chill in the air for a week or so now. For us, it comes and goes. Some days it may be 40's in the morning but get to 60's and 70's by day. Then there are some days it just stays cool. It is days like that when I yearn for those meals that we ate in the Midwest. Now, I do know it doesn't have to be cold. But, there is nothing like a cool or winters day and a cold weather meal. 


Since I also work outside the home, some of those meals are difficult to attain unless it is on the weekend. What I rely on heavily is the use of my slow cooker. I can capture the slow cooked taste and not come home from a long hard day at work and cook for hours. Last nights dinner was both... a cold weather meal utilizing my slow cooker. 

Slow Cooker Ham & White Beans

1 lb package dried northern beans
ham bone, hocks, shanks or diced ham (about 1 pound)
2 tsp onion powder
6 cups water
salt & pepper to taste


Rinse and sort the beans. Add the the rinsed beans, onion powder, salt, pepper, and ham to slow cooker. Add water. Cover and cook on low about 8 hours, until beans are tender. Serve with cornbread. I swear by Jiffy :)

Great Idea: Gift Idea: Repurposed Folger's Coffee Cans & Free Printable Organizational Labels

Organize just about anything in your home when you $ave those used and empty plastic Folgers Coffee containers! This great idea comes from Robin at Robins Blog. She also kindly shares her organizational labels! 

Slow Cooker Sausage Breakfast Casserole

I am always on the lookout for breakfast recipes that are convenient and doesn't make us stand in the kitchen for hours on end. I know when I first get up, the last thing I want to do is stand in the kitchen cooking a large breakfast. One of our go-to breakfasts is Egg Strata. If you've never heard of this and would like the recipe, let me know. I am happy to share!

This weekend we tested a new recipe we found we liked well. This will now be another of our go-to breakfasts!

Slow Cooker Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (26 ounces) frozen shredding hash brown potatoes
  1 pkg. Jimmy Dean® Hearty Original Sausage Crumbles
  1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
  1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded parmesan cheese
  1/2 cup julienne cut sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
  6 green onions, sliced
  12 eggs
  1/2 cups milk
  1 teaspoon salt
  1/4 ground black pepper  

Directions

1. Spray a 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer 1/2 of the potatoe on the bottom of slow cooker. 

2. Top with half of the sausage, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes and green onion. Repeat layering.

3. Beat eggs, milk and pepper in large bowl with a wire whisk until well blended. 

4. Pour evenly over potato-sausage mixture.

5. Cook on low setting for 6-8 hours or on high setting for 3-4 hours or until eggs are set. 

Yield:

12 servings (about 1 cup each)

NOTE: Our variation on this was to omit the sun-dried tomatoes (hubby does not like them) and we added a bag of real bacon Bacon Bits. 

Shout Color Catcher with Oxi Booster Review for Mom Central

As you may already know, I am a Shout Brand Ambassador through my affiliation with Mom Central and previously told of my laundry experiences HERE. With a family, laundry seems like a never ending task.To stay ahead of the game, we try to implement as many helpful things as we can. Such as laundry sorters, sock bags, you name it and we’ll try it. If it helps it stays! 

Prior to my Shout Brand Ambassador status, I have to say, I have never tried Shout Color Catcher with Oxi Booster. Welcoming the chance to try any product, especially one that may lengthen the life of wardrobes, I jumped in with both feet! Already fans of Shout and Oxi, the idea of a color catcher should be great, right? Upon opening it, the first thing I noticed was the scent. While some are not, my husband and I are both attracted to scent when purchasing laundry items. He more so than I as he will stand there opening jugs in the store and sniffing like it is a fine wine!
Many will think I am crazy, but to put this to a real test, I washed brand new pinks and reds with whites. I have had issues with these colors on many occasions, so to me, this was the ultimate test! How did it come out? Thankfully,the color catcher sheet was discolored with pinks and reds while my whites were not! Honestly, I have to say, after I loaded and started the machine, I had major second thoughts. Now? I am a believer!!!
I knew this had been an issue in the past but didn’t know these were available. It will save loads of time and money! After all, not only do we not want to lose money on a wardrobe, we certainly do not want to lose favorite outfits! What I love the most is that if an item that bleeds its colors gets mixed in, I won’t have to worry about it bleeding into the light colored clothing.
Ultimately, Shout Color Catcher with Oxi Booster will take the worry out of doing laundry and makes life easier.

Sheets lock up loose dyes found in the wash water to prevent dyes from running or bleeding onto other clothes.

Sheets change color as they absorb any loose dyes.

Saves time by reducing the need for sorting.

Saves money by reducing the need for
half-size loads.

Oxi Booster powder contains active stain removers to brighten whites and tackle tough stains like grass, dirt, blood and coffee.

Safe for all colorfast washables.

Works in all water temperatures.

Hurry and download a Shout coupon on the Shout Facebook page for Shout Free and Color Catcher with Oxi!

Win Shout Color Catcher with Oxi Booster (2 prizes)

You have the chance to win your own Shout Color Catcher with Oxi, there will be 2 winners.

MANDATORY: Visit Shout Website and tell us something you learned or another product you would like to try.
EXTRA ENTRIES:
Follow @extreme_measure on Twitter
"Like" Extreme Personal Measures on Facebook
"Like" Shoutlaundry on Facebook
Tweet About the Giveaway
Comment on any of our other posts
 “I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Shout and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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Tutorial: Charming Gathered Table Runner

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Shout Brand Ambassador on Behalf of Mom Central Review

 Families spend so much time doing laundry. Since there are 4 of us at home right now, we do approximately 6 loads of laundry a week! And with a messy toddler that we call ‘Pig Pen’, a mechanic husband and a crafter (me), laundry is a major activity!

While I have a great time saving organization system for the sorting, the washing, drying and folding takes up so much time, add in stain removal and it increases the time vastly!

This is why I was excited to be chosen by Mom Central as a Shout Ambassador! What an honor!

I was sent a review package by Mom Central that contained ShoutFree and Shout Color Catcher. Perfect timing! First, the Shout Free is perfect timing in that ‘Pig Pen’ requires me to purchase vast amounts of stain removers.

I try a lot of products because of ‘Pig Pens’ sensitive skin. Some things seem to break her out. Not so with Shout® Free! It has zero dyes, zero fragrance and 99% natural ingredients. She doesn’t break out and I have the quality stain remover of Shout! That means no longer purchasing multitudes of product as Shout works the first time! That is great because you have no idea the amount of stains this little one produces! I actually have a special bucket that I throw her shirts in because they ALL ALWAYS have stains! I also tend to not spray until I do the load, which can cause problems with some products!  When I removed her load of clothing and checked the shirts… stains be gone!!!

Shout Free is now the stain remover for our home. Not only does it work amazingly well at removing stains, but it didn’t break out her sensitive skin!

Also at perfect timing was the addition of the Shout Color Catcher! With the holidays, there were a lot of new clothes that came our way. Wanting to keep them new and pristine looking, I welcomed the opportunity to try the Shout Color Catcher! This was also amazing! With the addition of the new clothes, there were a lot of bright colors added to Pig Pens wardrobe (I tend to stick to black! While I want to keep it vibrant, let’s face it, the bright colors have no impact on my black attire!) None of her vibrant colors ran into the whites. Simply amazing!

I can definitely vouch for the Shout products and tell you that these will be the only stain remover and color catchers in our home!

GIVEAWAY

2 LUCKY READERS OF EPM WILL WIN A BOTTLE OF SHOUT FREE!!!

WIN IT!!! (MANDATORY ENTRY)

- Tell me in a comment the types of stains you treat in your home.(Mine is primarily Pig Pen...lol)

EXTRA ENTRIES

- Become a Fan of EPM on Facebook – 1 ENTRY
- Become a Fan of Shout on Facebook – 1 ENTRY
- Subscribe to my blog – 1 ENTRY
- Add my button to your blog and include the URL – 1 ENTRY
- Comment on any Non-Giveaway post – 1 ENTRY per post comment (no limit)
- Blog about this giveaway and include the URL – 5 ENTRIES

RULES

- Contest will close at 10:59 a.m. PST on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012! Any entries after this time will be deleted!
- Contest open to U.S. residents only.

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Shout and received a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Do-It-Yourself Restaurant Kits

After your first child, at least with me, you start to get more organized and think ahead with each additional child. One of the ways I would like to get organized and prepared is taking kids out to eat. Many restaurants try with a coloring sheet and crayons, but this doesn't not occupy long. Nor is it always age appropriate.
To limit boredom and the fussiness that often accompanies the boredom, I would like to create my own restaurant kit. Create your own DIY Restaurant kit with complete how to instructions over at the SC Johnson Home Economic blog. 

Crock Pot Recipe: A1 Steak Sauce Roast

Moms know, the crock pot can be a lifesaver! I have go to recipes from breakfast to sides to dinner to dessert! What Have you been cooking in your Crock Pot lately?  

A1 Steak Sauce Roast

1 roast, 2-3 pounds
1 pound baby carrots
1 pound red potatoes
1 chopped onion
1/2 cup A1 steak sauce
1/2 cup water
1 packet onion soup mix

Place roast in crock pot. Cover roast with onions, carrots, and potatoes.
Combine soup mix, A1, and water. Pour this mixture over the vegetables.
Cook on low 7-8 hours.

ENJOY!