Recipe Roundup: Easy Recipes

Old-World Manicotti

12 large manicotti shells

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 (26 oz) jar of spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350'. Spray 13x9 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse with cold water. Let pasta dry on paper towels.

For filling, stir together 3 cups of mozzarella with the ricotta. Using a teaspoon, carefully stuff pasta shells with prepared cheese mixture.

Spoon 2 cups of spaghetti sauce into prepared baking dish. Arrange shells over sauce. Pour remaining sauce over top of pasta. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.

Bake manicotti for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan and bake for 10 minutes longer.

*************************************************************************************

Pork Chop Casserole

4-6 pork chops

vegetable oil

seasoning salt

1 can cream of celery soup

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 teaspoon pepper

24 oz. bag of frozen hash browns (thawed)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 8 oz. cans of french fried onions

Preheat oven to 350'. Brown pork chops and sprinkle with seasoning salt, set aside. Combine soup, milk, sour cream, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of seasoning salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir in hash browns, 1/2 cup cheese, and 1/2 cup french fried onions. Spoon mixture into 13x9 baking dish. Arrange pork chops over mixture. Bake covered at 350' for 40 minutes to 1 hour. Top with remaining cheese and french fried onions. Bake for an additional 10 minutes uncovered.

Recipe Roundup: Easy Banana Bread

Who doesn’t love the smell of their house while banana bread is baking? Who doesn’t enjoy baking when you have a toddler pulling on your pant legs and wanting to be picked up where you suddenly have no extra hands to do anything?

This recipe is easy to make, has only a few everyday ingredients, and is a recipe that your toddler can help with, every step of the way (and will try to eat the whole thing after it’s done )

Banana Bread

4 large, ripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour (you can substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour if you’d like)
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix in order given and put into a large loaf pan. Bake at 350′ for 50 minutes.

I typically just use a wire whisk and a bowl to mix this in. It works great, and you can give your little one their own whisk to help along.

Recipe Roundup: Pfannenkuchen

Before you look at me all crazy, Pfannenkuchen loosely translated are German pancakes. But that doesn't exactly do them justice. They aren't fluffy like normal pancakes. Imagine if a crepe and a pancake had a baby...yeah, that describes them a little better. However you want to describe them, they are DELICIOUS. I grew up eating them and tonight I attempted to make them myself.

Here is the recipe:

1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup milk
5 eggs
4 tablespoons sugar

Mix together with a wire whisk. The batter will be VERY runny. Don't freak out. Take a deep breath, it's supposed to be that way.

See, runny.

Now have a pan preheating on medium heat (or if you don't want to completely wear yourself, have about 2-3 pans going). Pour a little oil into your pan, take a ladle and put some of the batter into your skillet, swirling it around to cover every inch. Wait a few seconds until the side gets golden brown, flip it, let that side get brown, and you're done. Continue until all the batter is used up.

After they're all done.

Now onto the eating part. Growing up, I always ate them with applesauce and a little sugar on it.

Getting them ready to eat.

Lay your pfannenkuchen flat, smear about 1-2 tablespoons of applesauce on top, then sprinkle with a little sugar. Roll it up into a tube. Cut, eat, and enjoy.

Eat and enjoy!

After you try these, you'll be wondering why you haven't heard of this before.