Delish Delights

Pumpkin Donuts

2012-01-16T07:44:00.000-08:00

We made these with a mini-donut maker. The recipe can be adjusted.

1/2C Gluten free Bisquik
1/2 can of pureed pumpkin
1 egg
1T oil
Powdered sugar

Pre-heat and spray the mini-donut maker with a non-stick spray before filling. Sift the Bisquick into bowl. Add egg, oil and pumpkin. Stir well. Scoop small amount of batter into each slot. Our maker cooks in approximately 3minutes.

For topping, sift powdered sugar.
Yields 10-12 mini-donuts.

Cheesecake donuts

2012-01-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

1/2C Gluten free Bisquik
3oz box Cheesecake jello
1 egg1T oil
2T French Vanilla CoffeeMate
3T Lignon Berries
Powdered sugar

Pre-heat the mini-donut maker and coat with non-stick spray. Sift dry ingredients into bowl. In separate bowl, mix egg, oil, and CoffeeMate well. Add to dry ingredients. Add berries. Mix well.

hint:: don't worry about covering the holes; you can use a nutcracker to pop out the holes to make them ~~picture~~ Pinterest pretty.

#justsayin

For the topping, I heated 3T of lignon berries and 1T CoffeeMate in the microwave for 10second increments, stirring after each time, until I got the consistency I wanted.

Sifted powdered sugar on top is ~~optional~~ necessary.

How to cook radishes

2011-12-22T12:51:00.000-08:00

We are not picky eaters around here.
At all.

And we love to try new things. On our recent trip to the farm, the kids were in awe over the ginormous radishes for a $1 each.

So much in awe that we came home with eight!

There was/is no way we’d eat all of these in a salad. Thanks to @usura on Twitter, I experimented and found that we are all huge fans of {cooked} radishes!

Option 1::

After washing, thinly slice the radishes and sauté in olive oil. Yep. That’s it.
We let them sauté quite a while – the crispier, the sweeter they will be. Trust me.

Option 2 ::

Wash the radishes well, cut off the ends, and then cut the radishes in quarters.
I placed them in a baking dish, topped each piece with a tad of butter (olive oil) and sprinkled all with Kosher salt and pepper. I baked these at 325* for 40ish minutes.
They were super sweet and super yummy!

According to my go-to book, radishes are great for colds/flu, helps respiratory infections, and cleanses the gall bladder and liver. Radishes are also used to promote digestion, heal laryngitis and sooth headaches.

Do you have another fave way of cooking/eating radishes? We’d love to hear!

popcorn to please

2011-06-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

Mid-afternoon snack or during a movie - popcorn is a staple in our home. Someone on Twitter told me recently they eat it for breakfast, served like a bowl of cereal with milk. Who knew??

A fave around our house is Taco flavored seasoning. Just add the seasoning to your un-popped corn and oil. Voila! Your kitchen will smell like dinner is ready! ;)

1/2 cup Orville Redenbacher's Popping Corn
3T Orville Redenbacher's Popcorn Oil
Taco seasoning (to taste)
Salt (optional)

Enjoy!

Cook-off chili

2011-03-30T20:21:00.001-07:00

2lb ground chuck

2 lg onions, chopped
3 cans red kidney beans, dark
3 cans red kidney beans, light

2pkg chili seasoning
1 can hot chili beans

3 cans diced tomatoes
3 cans tomato sauce
salt & pepper, to taste
garlic, to taste
butter

Brown ground chuck; drain. Sauté onions with butter. Add garlic to taste. Add with all other ingredients in large stock pot. Cook for one hour over medium heat.

It’s in the bag.

2011-02-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

For a recent partaay with 40+ kids, we had a make-your-own-meal available for lunch with the easiest clean up in town.

What we used:
1oz bags of Fritos
Crock pot of chili and the f

ixins’ on the side – onions, tomatoes, sour cream.

Each child added a spoon-full of chili to the bag of Fritos – yes, IN.THE.BAG. – and topped with the fixins’ of choice.

The result = Frito Chili Pie = in the bag = to enjoy with a spoon.

This makes a great meal for those events on the go. Friends of ours serve these at swim meets. I’m thinking it would be great camping meal as well.

Clean-up = easy-peasy.

Mazoodles

2011-02-08T16:42:00.001-08:00

1 box gf noodles - (we use Ancient Harvest elbow)
2lb ground beef
2C mozzarella cheese, shredded
16oz tomato and basil pasta sauce
taco seasoning to taste

Brown ground beef, adding taco seasoning and drain. Cook noodles according to package directions and drain. Combine beef, noodles, cheese and sauce in large bowl. Voila!
(This recipe is compliments of Nicholas)

Breakfast split

2011-02-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

We made these recently at co-op. Easy-peasy for kids to make, and super yummy for those mommas who had only coffee for breakfast that morning. Not that I would have done that.

1 banana, cut in half lengthwise

1/2c fave cereal or granola (omit if not GF)
1/2c strawberry or peach yogurt (or both)

1/4c blueberries and sliced strawberries
1/4c pineapple chunks, drained
1 maraschino cherry (optional)

Place banana in bowl and sprinkle 1/4c cereal on top. Top with yogurt, fruit, and remaining cereal. Add cherry to the top.

Enjoy!

Cheesey-brussel-sprouts

2010-12-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

Brussel sprouts have always been one of Nicholas’ fave. Can you believe it?? Too bad I have to entice Maggie-Peyton with the bacon! ;)

If you are a brussel lover or not, this is a yummy recipe. Add enough cheese to anything and you will eat it!

Large bag of frozen brussel sprouts

Large can of sliced mushrooms
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 - fresh garlic cloves
2C shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Set aside 1/2C mozzarella cheese. Cook the brussel sprouts according to package directions. Cut into halves or quarters. Add them with all other ingredients in large bowl. Pour into non-stick oven-safe dish and top with remaining cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 25-30 minutes. Top with additional cheese before serving, if ~~needed~~ desired!

Enjoy!

Christmas morning donuts

2010-12-25T17:43:00.000-08:00

This recipe rocks! But I must confess I borrowed the original recipe from Pamela’s site. And tweaked it.

Do you notice that every recipe gets tweaked around here?? We obviously don’t follow directions very well!

4-1/4C Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix, plus more handling
1/4Cbutter, melted
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1C white sugar
2t vanilla

Preheat oil in fryer to 375°. Dust counter with the additional Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix. Coat top and bottom with Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix. Form dough into doughnut shape (I used large round cookie cutter and an apple corer to form the hole) Carefully lower doughnut into oil. Fry for approximately one minute on each side. (this goes quickly, so watch it closely!)

Not saying that I left them in the fryer too long, but we had yummy cake-like-hush puppies! :)

We The kids ~~coated them with~~ poured half the bag of powdered sugar on them! It’s Christmas – it’s allowed, right?? ;)

buffalo chicken

2010-12-20T18:13:00.001-08:00

4 chicken breasts – cooked, shredded
2 – 8oz cream cheese, softened
16oz ranch dressing
4-6oz Franks’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce (adjust according to taste)

While you are cooking chicken on stove, add all other ingredients to crock pot set on medium/high. Add cooked, shredded chicken to mixture in crock pot. Continue to cook in crock pot on medium/low for an approximately 30minutes.

Great for an appetizer or a meal! We will eat this served over rice as a meal, or alone served with chips as a dip. If you have another way to enjoy this, be sure to let me know – this seems to be a weekly *fix* for us!

Better than caramel apples

2010-12-12T10:47:00.001-08:00

2 apples – any kind

4T Creamy peanut butter

1C-ish Heath Toffee bits
1C-ish Mini Marshmallows
A lot of will-power

Preheat oven to 350°
Core and half the apples.
Spread 1T of peanut butter on each apple half. Sprinkle Heath Toffee bits and top with mini marshmallows.
Bake 15 minutes in sprayed oven dish, or until Heath and marshmallows are melted. You may never eat another caramel apple from the fair again.
Use the proper amount of will power not to eat the entire pan. In one setting. Enjoy!

Appled Pork Chops

2010-12-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

3T GF flour (I use Pamela’s)

1t Kosher salt
1t-1.5t each – Sage, Paprika, Thyme, Minced Garlic
2T Olive oil
1 Onion, sliced

2 Red apples, sliced
1T brown sugar (I FORGOT TO ADD THIS)
1/2C juice – apple or orange

Mix flour and all spices. Coat pork chops with seasoned mixture. Cook pork chops in hot oil on med-high heat until both sides are brown. Remove from skillet. Using the same pan, sauté onion and apple, 3-5 minutes. Stir in juice, BROWN SUGAR, and any remaining flour mixture to skillet. Mix well. Return pork chops; reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10ish minutes or until done.

Turkey Carcass Soup

2010-11-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Bryan is famous for making this.

Well, only in my world. But he is still famous.

He always makes it the day-after-Thanksgiving, but with the sequence of events this year, this actually turned out to be our Turkey Day meal! All I can tell y’all is YUM! And get ready to go back for seconds. Or thirds. I promise I won’t tell.

We will all just be ~~running extra miles~~ dreaming of Jenny Craig next week. But it’s all about savoring the moment right?? In this case…that includes licking the bowl. ;)
Ingredients:

1 picked over turkey carcass

2 celery stalks, chopped
Bag of baby carrots, chopped

2 cans of corn

2 cans of green peas
1 lg can of sliced mushrooms
1 onion, sliced

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon ground sage

2 1/2 quarts chicken broth (gluten free, of course)
G

arlic salt and black pepper to taste

2 cups (uncooked) regular long-grain white rice
Jane’s Krazy – because we use it on everything

Place the turkey carcass in a large stock pot.
Add chicken broth, sage, bay leaves, Jane’s Krazy, and water if necessary to cover the carcass. Boil for approximately an hour.

Remove carcass and set aside. Strain the stock to later use.

To your original stockpot, add all veggies and strained stock. Simmer on low while you separate and remove any bone, fat and skin from the meat.

Add meat to the simmering pot, stir well and continue to simmer for 30-45 minutes.
Add the rice to the mixture and continue to simmer for an additional 20 minutes.
Adjust seasoning to taste.
Get ready to refrigerate or freeze leftovers! This makes a ton!

Enjoy!

Cranberry Chicken

2010-10-27T05:36:00.001-07:00

Last night was one of those nights when we had to *shop from the pantry* – I am still not recovered from being gone the last few days, nor has our home’s routine.
I despise getting home from the football field at 9pm to *figure out* what’s for dinner?

Very poor planning on my part. Just horrible.

Last night I pieced together ingredients to call *dinner*, and it resulted it this…..

The making:

3c Shredded chicken
12ish oz Sour cream

1/2c Mozzarella cheese
Sargento Cranberry Pecan Salad Finishers

Salt and pepper to taste

I combined all ingredients and topped with cornflakes (because I am weird like that).
I baked it at 350ish (because our over is as quirky as I am) for about 30 minutes.
And yes, we were eating dinner at 10pm. That’s just how we roll some football nights. (sigh)

This was given a thumbs up by everyone – YAY! Will definitely be put on our menu for the month. ;)

*I read this morning that salad finisher was being offered for a limited time. In lieu of it, just add pecans, cranberries and Asiago cheese.

Applesauce

2010-09-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

3 pounds of apples - pealed, cored, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Water

Place the apples in a pot and fill with 1/2 inch of water. Partially cover and bring to boil for 15-20 minutes. Add sugar, cinnamon, vanilla Cook on medium to low heat for another 5-10 minutes. Blend in blender or food processor until desired consistency is reached. Add water if needed.

*I added lots of cinnamon! The smell was yummy as was the taste! Other variations to try: add brown sugar, strawberries or pears.

Lemon Juice

2010-03-03T18:22:00.000-08:00

Remember all of those lemons we picked??

Yes, we finally did something with the rest of them.

We juiced them!

Yep. Juiced. Didn't drink. But juiced.

We froze it in ice trays and put the *lemon juice cubes* in baggies.

When a recipe for lemon juice, I have just pulled out a cube.

Genius, huh??

(Actually, not my idea. My sweet friend, who shared the lemons, told me that secret.)

Frightful Findings

2009-11-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Boo!

The week of Halloween, we always like to make *scary* snacks - like this one. Or this one. But this year, my friend Jennifer introduced me to this. Here is how ours turned out....

We had a bit of meat left over, so we made a few eyeballs.

And for desert...ghost brownies.

The Pumpkin

2009-10-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin.

God lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all the dirt off of you.
He opens you up, touches you deep inside and scoops out all

The yucky stuff - including the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc.

Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside
you to shine for all the world to see.

Red Beans & Rice

2009-09-01T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is one of our faves. Not only it is a good meal, but it brings lots of good memories. For the longest, this was THE Monday dinner we shared with Dewey and Stacy (aka Tess). No question about it. Stacy and I would take turns making the beans, and the other would bring the rice, and fixins across the hedge (we lived next door to one another). This is the easiest meal (and prob. one of the cheapest), so enjoy!

Note: We used to cook an already-seasoned pre-packaged red bean mix. Not these days. I am so paranoid of cross-contamination, so I assemble my own. :)

2 bags of red beans (no, I did not pre-soak them)
chopped celery
1 can of black beans
1 can of garbanzo beans (just for giggles)
1 chopped green bell pepper (I would have used a red too, if I had one)
1 or 2 (depending on preference) smoked sausage or kielbasa
2 chopped onion
Jane's Crazy
Creole seasoning
Prepared white rice
Shredded cheese & chopped onions (for toppings)

Rinse the beans and pour in Crock Pot. Fill almost to top with water. Cook on low for 2 hours. Add the remaining ingredients (minus the rice and toppings) Cook on Low for an additional 5-6 hours. (Watch water level - you may need to add more after a few hours)

Serve over prepared rice. Add your toppings. And expect to cook this again next week. 'Cause it's YUMMY!

Cabbage

2009-08-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

The easiest meal ever......

Cabbage
Smoked sausage
Jane's Crazy
Water

Cut the cabbage and sausage. Layer in crock pot, adding seasoning throughout.

Fill crock with water. Cook on Low for 8 hours.

Nan's Roast

2009-08-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

Nan is my *other Mama* - actually she is my mom's sister who I am so blessed to have. She lived (lives) only 6 houses down from where I grew up. Nan is famous (in Bryan's world) for her pot roast. Although my attempts will never be just like hers, he likes it. So, it's worth posting. :)

In all my efforts today, I didn't take a fancy picture of my ingredients. So, just follow me...

1 - pot roast (Nan rubs hers with flour, but that's not allowed in our GF world)
Jane's Krazy
Use all or what you have on hand.....carrots, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, celery, potatoes (quartered), onions

Lay the roast (seasoned with Jane's) in the crock pot and layer the cut veggies.

I cooked on LOW for 8 hours. It fell apart with a fork! Thumbs up from all my peeps!

This used to be a 2-night-meal for us until now. Nicholas is eating like a grown-man these days!!

John McCain's Ribs

2009-06-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Let me just start with...I don't eat these. Nope. NO THANK YOU! In the spirit of the upcoming HOLIDAY, I knew for sure B would appreciate them. I am so green when it comes to cooking red-meat-stuff! So green, that I gave the man at WalMart meat department a good chuckle this morning. I thought there was paper on the bottom of these ribs. (ya' know - like when you buy a roast and you have to peel the paper off the back before you put it in the baking pan) ?? Stay with me here.....I was on the phone with Daddy this morning as I was assembling this, TRYING to pull the paper off. It came off easily of some pieces, but not others, and still others didn't seem to have any at ALL!! I asked Daddy if he thought there would be paper on the back of ribs. His answer *I don't know, Ju. I'm not looking at them! Go soak them in water and see if it will come off then* So, I did. No change.
Got off the phone, called Nicholas in there and asked him if he thought it was paper. He just shrugged. THESE PEOPLE WERE NO HELP TO ME!!! So, what's a girl to do?? I called Walmart Meat Department!! I told the man I had never before cooked these things, much less touched them (RAW) and I wanted to know if there was paper on the back. Or what was I peeling off?? His answer....*I don't know, ma'am. I'm not looking at them* (Well, duh!!) I asked him if he knew how they were typically packaged - that would help with my conclusion. And sure enough....NO PAPER!! So, what I was struggling to remove was part of the rib!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! (Again, I don't eat these things!!) So, he got a good laugh and hung up. I went back to cooking my man's dinner. Which he said was AWESOME!! (it better have been after that effort!!) haha!!

The ingredients:

4 lbs of ribs
garlic powder
kosher salt
Jane's Crazy
lemons, juiced

I mixed the dry ingredients and rubbed generously over the ribs. Laid the ribs in the crock pot (one layer) and squeezed the lemon juice over them.

I cooked them on low for 10 hours. And VOILA!!!!

Recipe courtesy of ABC News - (I'm thinkin' Obama's Chili is gonna have to wait til January!)

Basic Yummy Chicken

2009-06-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

6 Chicken Breasts
1 lg Onion
1C-ish EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil)
Jane's Crazy
1/2 tsp-ish Kosher Salt (more if you are not using Jane's)
Minced Garlic (use fresh if you have it - I was lazy)
tsp-ish Paprika
(I'd also add pepper if you aren't using Jane's)

Slice onion and cover bottom of large crock pot.

Mix the remaining ingredients (minus the chicken) in bowl. Coat chicken breasts well with mixture. Lay on top of onions.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

Tender and tasty, too! :)

Turkey-Meat-Balls

2009-06-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

1 1/2 pound extra lean ground turkey
1 egg
a tsp-ish of each: kosher salt, onion powder
Jane's Crazy (I just add enough 'til to my liking!)
a green apple, peeled and shredded
a cupish shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 bag of dried unsweetened cranberries

Mix all together in bowl (by hand, if you can stand it) and form into golf-ball-sized balls and place in crock pot. (I used my smaller - 6qt, I think) It's OK that they are not just in one layer. Just stagger them and they will cook thoroughly. Cook on high.

As they cook they, they will look like this....

5 hours later, I had this....

....and some very happy little people! :)

(serve with rice and green veggie)

Layered Meal

2009-06-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

When I started assembling this, Bryan just stood there rolling his eyes - irritated that I had the audacity to put a perfectly good steak in a CROCK POT!! Well, much to his dismay, the meal was awesome! Again, this is my version, so tweak as you like...

My ingredients...

1 1/2 lbs rib eye steak
garlic pepper seasoning
1/2 lg onion, chopped
Lea and Perrins worcestershire sauce
pressed olive oil (you might use butter)
1/2 C apple juice (I know....hang with me)
4 baking potatoes
12 small ears of corn

Please note the steaks are not pictured here. It was all I could do to open the package, season them and get them in the Crock Pot without gagging! OK, I think I was gagging. The last thing I wanted was a pic of raw, red meat on my blog for me to have to see! I don't deal very well with red meat - and especially raw!) Oh, what I do for that man of mine!!

And here is what I did....
Seasoned the steaks with garlic pepper and place in LG Crock Pot.
Splashed (1/3 C, maybe??) worcestershire sauce and appled juice over steaks
*Prepared the potatoes and corn and wrapped individually in foil.
Layer potatoes then corn on top of steaks.

Cooked on LOW for 7.5 hours. And....VOILA!!

*I prepared the potatoes and corn as we do when we cook them on the grill. Slice the potatoes in 1/2, add olive oil (butter) and any seasoning of preference. To the corn we add olive oil and Jane's. If you haven't met Jane, you must! I use it on EVERYTHING!!! (except popcorn!) ;)

(Thanks, Stephanie!)

Applesauce Chicken

2009-06-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Probably one of the easiest things to make. Seriously, my kids assembled this meal this morning in the crock pot. (all except the chicken - I have issues with raw meat and little hands!) ;)

Again - this is how I made it. Adjust accordingly for your family.

3 frozen chicken breasts (Mag and I always split one piece - and, yes, Nicholas will eat an entire lg. piece himself! He is a growing boy!)
2 cups of applesauce
2 sm yellow onions, diced (you might want to use just one - we like onions)
1 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

I used our smaller crock pot for this. (4 qt, maybe?) I placed the chicken in the bottom. The kids mixed all other ingredients in a bowl and poured it over the chicken. I also added a splash of water (1/2c-ish) in the bottom. My recipe didn't call for it, but it just made me feel better.

Ready to be cooked....

Covered and cooked on low for about 7 hours.

I served with broccoli.

(preferred asparagus, but we ~~devoured~~ enjoyed it earlier this week!)

This will probably been made again sooner than later!

Late Momma's Breakfast

2009-06-02T13:38:00.001-07:00

Did you know you can cook an egg in the microwave?? Well, you can! One of my GFs recently told me how to do this. Crack an egg in a small microwave-safe dish...

Put it in micro for 45-60ish seconds (dependent on your microwave). And it comes out like this....

Give 'em some fresh fruit and a cup of (soy)milk, and voila! Breakfast is served!! :)

Pumpkin Corn Muffins

2009-05-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

One of my faves.....PUMPKIN-CORN MUFFINS. I found this recipe last year and haven't made these in a while, and I'm not quite sure why. They are one of the easiest WF/GF breads to make, IMO. I always hate having to take out 23 different types of flours (white rice flour, tapioca flour, potato flour, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, millet flour, etc) just to make a loaf of bread! I know - LAZY! Not really, I just wish I could find a better system or routine for making our breads. (And not the $5 a loaf system!) Any suggestions??

So, without having to drag everything off the baking shelf, I made 2 batches of PUMPKIN-CORN MUFFINS. And they were YUMMY!

Taco Bites

2009-05-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

1 lb Ground Chuck
1 pkg of Taco Seasoning
1/2 Jar of Salsa (I use Newman's)
1 1/2 C Shredded Mexican Cheese
3 Egg Whites (or Egg Substitute)

*Brown the Ground Chuck and drain. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Spoon mixture into greased mini-muffin pan and Bake for 30 minutes at 350°
(This amount made almost 2 full mini-muffin pans today)

My mini-muffin pans are Pampered Chef. Y'all remember these? I've had mine for years and seem to still use them alot! Good thing for me, because B still rolls his eyes on how much $$$ I have spent with that company!

I would love to show ya' a picture of these little TACO BITES that I made, too - but the little people in my house devoured them! :) This isn't the original recipe that I read, but my version...I think it goes without saying that I am into super-easy cooking today!

Good stuff! :)

Moon Rocks

2009-02-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

Continuing our Space Study (*warning - this will go on for another couple of months) - the kids made *Moon Rocks* this afternoon.

Roll dough into medium-sized balls.
Coat in cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Bake @ 350 for 12-15 min

Yummy!

(They could have added raisins, etc. to this dough mixture to add color/texture. But this was their *concoction* - not mine!) [grin]

Pantry Beef Casserole

2009-01-14T21:08:00.000-08:00

I love trying new recipes. I got this one from Gluten Free Mommy. (Don't you just love her??) It called for Penne Noodles. But the only noodles I had on hand were Rice Spaghetti and Mrs. Leeper's Pasta for Kids. I opted for the latter. This was a big hit with everyone last night, so it's definitely going on the menu rotation! I served it with corn (not following the rotation diet, I know) and Bryan said next time, just mix the corn into the casserole. Easily done.

PANTRY BEEF CASSEROLE

1 lb. gr. beef, gr. turkey, or soy crumbles
1 onion
1/2 green pepper
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
28 oz. can Muir Glen crushed tomatoes w/ basil
12 oz bag of Tinkyada rice penne
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
salt to taste
red pepper to taste
pinch of sugar
3 oz. mozzarella
5-6 oz. mild cheddar

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to boil to cook the penne. Brown the gr. beef. Drain the excess fat. Add the vegetables and cook for about 8 minutes or until tender. Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, sugar, red pepper, and oregano. Simmer for 15 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, cook the penne and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the sauce and penne noodles are done, layer them in a 3 qt. casserole dish. Start with 1/2 the sauce, then all of the noodles, then a layer of cheddar cheese, then the rest of the sauce, and top with cheddar cheese and mozzarella. Bake for 30 minutes.

Yummy!