blogitness

Yesterday was a cooking/baking/football kind of day! Even though my team isn’t in it, let me just say I am extremely glad the Packers are out of it (I still hold a grudge from last year’s Superbowl!). If your team didn’t make it yesterday, this may be of possible interest to you, How to Deal When Your Team Loses (another guest post from my sports writing gig).

Yesterday was probably the first time I spent some time in the kitchen since around the holidays…I think I spent too much time in the kitchen then and just needed a break! Anyways, here is what I got cooking/baking:

Baked Cheesy, Chicken and Broccoli Pasta

What you’ll need:

• Casserole dish
• 2 cups of pasta
• 1.5 cups of steamed broccoli
• 2 cooked, cut-up chicken breasts
• 1.5 cups of marinara sauce
• 2 cups of shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs

What you’ll do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray your casserole dish with a non-stick cooking spray.
3. Place 2 cups of pasta (you will need to boil them so they are slightly firm) into your casserole dish.
4. Add your broccoli and chicken (prior to starting, I cooked my chicken in small pieces in oil and pepper in a frying pan) to the dish and mix.
5. Then add in marinara sauce, a cup of shredded cheese and a few table spoons of bread crumbs to the mix. Stir thoroughly.
6. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
7. With 10 minute remaining, top your dish with a cup of cheese and the remaining bread crumbs.
8. Enjoy. (This dish also works great as leftovers, but you may need to add a little extra marinara sauce when you heat it up.)

And now for a snack. I find blogs a great place to find dinner/lunch/snack/dessert recipes. While browsing the snack section of pbfingers.com, I came across this recipe for peanut butter energy bites. They are delicious and easy-to-make. I am quite possibly the world’s slowest person in the kitchen and I managed to have the dough ready before my pasta became slightly firm in the above dish. Thanks Julie!

What you’ll need:

• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of wheat germ
• 1 egg

What you’ll do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all of your ingredients together thoroughly in a mixing bowl. The dough is thick, but very tasty.
3. Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet by the tablespoon.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I accidentally ate the dough for the 12th bite, oops!

And guess what I did….I made a huge mess. Thank goodness for dishwashers!

Questions of the day:

• Are you messy in the kitchen?
• Where do you find recipes to try?
• Will you be working today or enjoying the holiday off?

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