Cheesy Squid Dogs

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice, relaxing weekend!  I've been so busy lately that I am glad to have a slow Sunday morning to relax before going to church.  Anyway, I found the idea for this recipe on Pinterest and I thought, "that's interesting."  The original recipe uses hot dogs, which, are completely against my food rules.  Hot dogs are GROSS in my opinion and I totally freaked out on my husband when he tried to give my son a hot dog at a barbecue one time.  Anyway, Hy-Vee just started selling these all natural casing smoked sausages.  You can get a beef and pork one or a cheddar chicken one.   I bought a package of the cheddar chicken sausages and used those in place of the hot dogs.  Now as a Foodie, I wasn't a huge fan, but Daniel LOVED these.  He was able to help me make them and he cleaned his plate then asked for "more squid dogs pwease!"  This is a great idea for kids who love to help in the kitchen! 

Cheesy Squid Dogs

• 1 (16 oz) pkg Spaghetti (I use Ronzoni Smart Pasta)
• 1 pkg all natural smoked sausages of your choice (I used Wimmers Natural Casing sausages- you could also use hot dogs if you don't have the qualms with them that I have).
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used a mixture of cheddar and jack)

 Set a large pot of water to boil on the stove.  

Break the spaghetti in half.  Cut the sausages into bite sized pieces and thread several pieced of dried spaghetti through each piece of sausage.  
Once your water is boiling, place all the sausages threaded with spaghetti in the water and boil about 6 minutes or until spaghetti is thoroughly cooked.  Drain, just as you would normal pasta, and place back into the large pot.  Add the butter and the cheese and stir until cheese is melted.  Serve to your kids who will think it's the greatest meal EVER!

Just a reminder, I started a new blog!  It's called Elizabeth's Beautiful Life and I hope you will check it out!  I have an AWESOME giveaway deal going on over there right now!  I'd love to hear what you think!  

Until next time, Happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!

E-Meals and a BRAND NEW VENTURE!

Dear Wonderful and Beautiful Followers!
I know it has been a long time since I have posted on the Foody Mommy.  In fact, I think that I probably have started all my recent posts out like that.  Life has taken many unscheduled turns over the last year.  I got a teaching job, just recently lost that teaching job, and have begun a new journey.  I am still going to keep posting on this blog when I have great recipes. I was feeling a lot of pressure to come up with something new and original every night for dinner.  I wanted to share with you something that a friend of mine introduced to me.  It's called E-Meals and it is FANTASTIC.  You get a menu for the week, there are all different menus from which to choose and they are e-mailed to you once per week along with a grocery list!  It's been my lifesaver the past few months!  It cost me $25 for the whole year, although I got that price on a Living Social Deal. If you'd like more information you can visit the E-Meals website at www.emeals.com.  It's FABULOUS!


Now, onto my new venture.  I have decided to document this next year with a new blog called Elizabeth's Beautiful Life.  I would LOVE it if you would come and join me on that Blog as well!  A couple of weeks ago I was notified that I lost my beloved teaching job.  I was devastated to say the least!  I loved that job SO MUCH, I have to say it was my most favorite teaching job since I started my career.  I had such a connection with my students and their families.  I cried for days after I found out that my position had been eliminated.


After much sadness and grieving, I considered applying for another teaching job.  Nothing felt right  to me and nothing really made me really jump with excitement.  Then I started thinking...I joined Mary Kay on a whim back in May.  After talking with my husband about it, I decided I was going to take the leap and do Mary Kay full time for one year.  Elizabeth's Beautiful Life is the story of my journey through throwing caution to the wind, taking the leap, and running my own business for an entire year!  There will also be TONS of great giveaways and I am hoping to partner with other blogs as well.  I would like to invite all of you to join Elizabeth's Beautiful Life and share in my journey this year.  


Thank you for your support and loyalty!  


Elizabeth

Pizza Mac and Cheese

I have discovered that my son LOVES pepperoni.  I usually buy the REAL pepperoni sold at the deli counter, but recently I discovered these little mini turkey pepperonis.  They are so cute and not too terrible when it comes to ingredients (meaning that I don't find any of of the items on my "yucky no-no" list in them).  

Daniel also LOVES macaroni and cheese and I was in need of a last minute dinner since plans had changed tonight.  I threw this mac and cheese together super fast and it was SO yummy and creamy!  I also used a new technique that my best friend Heather shared with me, and it was DELICIOUS! You boil the macaroni in the milk instead of in water! Give it a try!  You will LOVE IT! The best part?  My son gobbled it up and asked for more!  I am definitely going to add this to my repertoire of mac and cheese recipes.  


Pizza Mac and Cheese

• 1 box elbow macaroni (I use smart pasta but any variety will do the job)
• 4 cups milk (the trick is, equal parts milk and pasta, so if you use only two cups of pasta, two cups of milk- you can use low fat milk but I wouldn't use skim.)
• 1 tbsp. butter (you can leave the butter out if you want)
• 1 tsp. dijon mustard
• salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheese (you can use whatever cheese you have but I used cheddar and jack for this recipe)
• 1 pkg. mini turkey pepperoni (or you can use regular pepperoni diced)

In a large dutch oven, add the milk, macaroni, butter, dijon, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Over medium heat, bring this mixture to a simmer, making sure to stir constantly.  Do not let the mixture come to a full boil, keep stirring!  Once simmering, turn the heat down to low and stir frequently.  Make sure the heat is on low, you don't want the milk to absorb too quickly.  It is also very important to keep stirring!  Cook about 15 minutes or until the milk has been completely absorbed and the pasta is creamy.   Once the milk is completely soaked into the pasta, add the cheese and pepperoni.  Stir to combine.  Remove pan from the heat and cover with the lid.  Let stand for about 5 minutes.  Stir once more to combine and enjoy!  YUM!

Until next time, happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!!!

Chocolate Cherry Almond No Bakes

Hi Everyone!
I hope you all are doing well!  This is just a quick post to share a recipe I made today.  As many of you already know from my previous post, I signed up for NatureBox, a monthly box of wholesome treats that comes right to your doorstep!  
This week NatureBox shared a recipe blog post from a blog called The Lean Green Bean for these No Bake treats using the contents of March's NatureBox!  They looked really yummy so I thought I'd give them a try!  
This recipe is FABULOUS and really, REALLY easy!  Daniel had a great time helping me make them!  
Here's the link to the recipe for HEALTHY Chocolate Cherry No Bakes!  The only thing I did differently is I omitted the chia seeds because I forgot to buy them and I added some extra dark chocolate chips because I am a chocoholic! 














On another note, I would love for you to check out my new blog about travel to France called Bon Voyage France Educational Travel!






Until next time, Happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!

NatureBox!

Hi Everyone!  I have been SO LAME about posting lately.  I've been doing Farrell's and Weight Watchers and life has been CRAZY busy!  I have recently discovered something AMAZING and I need to share it with all of you!  It's called NatureBox! NatureBox is a box of healthy snack foods sent to you each month!  Each box has a different theme for the month.  I just received the March box which included some granola, dried cherries, "fig newtons," and a bag of "Sunshine Chips" which are a mixture of different dried vegetable chips.  The best part?  My 3 year old LOVES all the snacks!  I immediately signed up for a 12 month membership!  For about $20 a month, you get your themed box in the mail filled with TONS of healthy, all natural snacks.  

To find out more about NatureBox visit www.naturebox.com and in addition, if you enter the promotion code HEALTHY you will get 25% off your first month!  

You can pay month to month, you can pay for 6 months (in which case you get one month free) or for the whole 12 months (in which case you get 3 months for free).  

I am SUCH a fan of NatureBox!  Go check it out! 

Educational Trip to Paris

Well Hello Everyone!

I know, I know, it has been awhile!  I have been SO SO BUSY lately!  
This isn't a food post, I am actually posting to advertise my latest venture.  I am taking a group of home school families to Paris!  If you'd like to support us and help us raise money for the trip, please click the link below!  Thank you so much!

Broccoli Cheese Crescent Wreath

Hello Everyone!  Are you all ready for Christmas!
It's the time of year for Holiday get togethers and I just had my annual Christmas Party and Cookie Exchange!  Among other yummies, I am making this recipe.  I found a similar version of it  on a website and then adapted it to fit my tastes.  What a hit this was!  It disappeared almost as quickly as I put it out!   In fact, I ended up having to make another one about 3- minutes into the party!  Fortunately I had enough filling and crescent dough.  YUM!


Broccoli Cheese Crescent Wreath

• 3 cups chopped broccoli (I run it through my manual food processor to make the chunks a little smaller)
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped (again, I run them through the manual food processor for smaller chunks)
• 1 red pepper, chopped 
• 1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped (again, manual food processor)
• 4 slices thick bacon, cooked to a crisp and crumbled
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. Italian herbs
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic (or two cloves garlic minced, but I don't like raw garlic so I use granulated garlic)
• 2 eggs
• 1 recipe crescent dough or 2 cans pillsbury crescent dough

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium sized bowl mix (I used my Kitchen Aid) the broccoli, mushrooms, red pepper, shallots, bacon, cream cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, herbs, garlic, and eggs.  Roll out crescent dough into a large square and cut into triangles .  On a round baking sheet (I use my round pizza stone), overlap the triangles in a circle with the wide side facing toward the middle.  Spoon the filling into the ring towards the middle (wide end).  Wrap the triangle over the filling and secure by tucking under in the middle.  If desired, top ring with more cheese.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is heated through.  

I made the filling the day before in order to save time, and put the ring together on the morning of my party.