Baked Penne

I had some of the Philadelphia cooking cream in the 'fridge that I got cheap with a coupon that was about to expire so I headed to pinterest to find a recipe to use it in. Of course, it didn't take me long to find this recipe for baked penne. 

1/2 lb. ground beef 

1/2 cup chopped onions 

1 jar(24 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1 tub(10 oz.) Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

3 cups cooked penne pasta

Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground beef and onions. Drain grease. 

Pour in spaghetti sauce, 3/4 cup cooking creme and 1/2 cup mozzarella

Cook for 2-3 minutes until mozzarella cheese is melted. 

Mix in the pasta and stir until mixed well. 

Pour into baking dish and put remaining cooking cream and mozzarella on top. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

Mike's exact words after eating it was "this is like Olive Garden" I guess he really liked it! It was so good. I usually don't like a lot of pasta sauce but this was perfect because it had the cooking cream mixed in. I will definitely be making this again soon! 

Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

I was originally going to make these for a party we had. But since I wasn't feeling well, I didn't make them. Instead I made them for lunch for me and Marley.

Biscuit dough

cheese cubes

pepperoni

1 egg

parmesan cheese

garlic powder

Flatten out a biscuit and place pepperoni and cheese in center. 

Fold up the biscuit around cheese & pepperoni to make a little ball

Place seam side down in baking dish. In separate bowl beat egg and pour over top. Sprinkle with garlic powder and parmesan cheese.  

Bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Marley only liked the pepperoni. Weird kid! 

Warm Bean Dip

I went to a family friend's candle party a few weeks ago. While there I had the most amazing chip dip ever! Of course when I got home I looked online for the recipe, just to make sure I was making it right. 

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

2 cans (16 ounces, each) refried beans

1 packet taco seasoning

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

Spread beans on bottom of baking dish. 

Mix cream cheese, sour cream and taco seasoning until smooth. 

(I heated it in the microwave to help it mix better)

Layer cheese mix on top of beans. Layer shredded cheddar cheese on top of that. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

I think for next time, I wouldn't add the whole packet of the taco seasoning, it was just a little too much for me. And I would probably stir my cream cheese/sour cream more to make it really smooth because there were big chunks of cream cheese still, and I didn't care for that either. Other than that, it was delicious! 

Jack's Final Adventures

Night 35

Night 36

Night 37

Night 38

Night 39- Christmas Eve Morning

After Marley got over her fear of Jack, I think she really enjoyed it. She keeps asking when he's coming back, so maybe he'll make a few visits throughout the year just to keep an eye on her. She did say that next year he'll watch Mason instead of her. 

Check out all 6 posts of Elf on the Shelf Ideas here.