April 24, 2012

Mostaccioli Casserole Recipe

April 24, 2012/ Michelle Scheibe

Be prepared to be amazed by my food photography….

Nate’s mom was kind enough to feed me about once a week during tax season. I think she was secretly working with my mom. They both worry about my lack of cooking skills.

Nate’s mom made this fantastic casserole last week. It was so fantastic that I had to make it for Nate on Saturday night. Well, he actually ended up making it…but I gave him the recipe. Awesome Wife of the Year award, right here!

Mostaccioli Casserole (modified from Taste of Home)

Ingredients

1 package (16 ounces) mostaccioli
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
1-1/4 cups chopped green pepper (I skipped this because it’s a vegetable.)
1 cup chopped onion (We don’t chop onions. We use onion powder.)
1 jar (26 ounces) spaghetti sauce
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted (mmm, secret ingredient)
1-1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
3/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions

Cook mostaccioli according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the beef, green pepper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, soup, Italian seasoning and pepper.
Drain mostaccioli. Add mostaccioli and 1-1/2 cups cheese to beef mixture. Transfer to two greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dishes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 3 months. Cover and bake the remaining casserole at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is melted.
To use frozen casserole: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Cover and bake at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. Yield: 2 casseroles (6 servings each).

How sweet is that? A casserole to eat and a casserole to freeze. Bonus!! Write that one on the pantry doors!

Mmmmm, casserole.

Any favorite casserole recipes you would like to share? Feel free to e-mail them or leave them in the comments!

March 05, 2012

Rainbow Birthday Cake

March 05, 2012/ Michelle Scheibe

I did it. I turned 30. I was seriously dreading it. Thirty. So old.

My 30th birthday was actually quite fabulous. I think I like being thirty. Or at least that’s what I keep telling my old self. Isn’t that would old people do? Convince themselves that being older is actually better.

Rainbow birthday cake definitely helped the transition from being a twenty-something to a thirty something…

I’m honestly not sure I could have done it without the cake.

Want to make your own cake to ease into being another year older? Of course you do.

Gather your ingredients. Two boxes of white cake mix and gel food coloring. (The drops won’t work.) Sprinkles are optional. Wait. Who am I kidding? Sprinkles are never optional.

Mix the cake mixes according to the directions on the box.

Divide the batter into 6 bowls (~1 1/2 cups in each). Add ~1 teaspoon of gel food coloring to each.

I was quite giddy at this point. Look at how pretty that mess is! And then I realized someone would need to wash all of those dishes. Giddy fail.

Now it’s time to bake. I only have 2 round cake pans so this was definitely a time consuming cake. Bake ~15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Words of wisdom from the ancient one: Grease your pans VERY well…or this cake becomes a mess. (See purple and blue layer below.) Use a knife to loosen the edges. Let cool until you can touch the pan. CAREFULLY flip onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Next it’s time for the frosting! We used Nate’s mom’s secret frosting recipe. Nate thinks I married him for his charming good looks and sense of humor. It was actually for the frosting recipe.

Alternate cake and frosting. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look super pretty. It will still turn out just fine.

It helps to have a supervisor.

Nate applied a skim coat of frosting to the outside and then let it sit in the fridge while we went out for a fancy supper at Noodles. We returned and Nate applied the final layer…and sprinkles.

And then we cut into it.

Magical.

Ike, of course, got in on the birthday action. He was really more interested in eating the cake than having his picture taken. He keeps mumbling something about an agent.

I think thirty is going to be pretty awesome!

February 29, 2012

Sunday AM Glazed Donut Muffins

February 29, 2012/ Michelle Scheibe

Don’t you just love Sunday mornings? Yes, I know it’s Wednesday but I want it to be Sunday so I am going to pretend it is. Or should I just blame Leap Day? It messes me up. Leap Day is keeping 29 another day longer though. Thank you, Leap Day.

Where was I going with this? Oh yes, Sunday mornings.

This past Sunday morning was particularly lovely. I woke early-ish. I read a little. Wasted time on the internet a little. The sun was shining. The dog was snuggly. My stomach started to growl. Nate kept sleeping. My stomach started to growl more. Nate was still sawing logs.

I decided to start breakfast without the accounting zombie. I headed on over to my Nom Nom Breakfast Board and picked out Glazed Donut Muffins from My Baking Addiction.

Good pick! These muffins were tasty and easy to make. I followed the recipe exactly. (You can find it here.) I have a few suggestions if you would like to make these yourself. The recipe stated to bake 15-17 minutes. I baked for 15 minutes and that was too long. The muffins were also a little dry..which could be due to over baking. I might poke some holes in the top to let that delicious glaze settle on in and moisten things up.