Baked Ziti

I made this recipe for our housewarming party this past weekend. It was really good! It reheats well too.

Baked Ziti

INGREDIENTS
1 pound dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef
2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.
In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.

New House!!!!

We love the new house! I am enjoying figuring out how to decorate and even though I am no where close to being done, it is getting there. We had a picnic last weekend with some of our friends and family. There were over 40 people there! Everyone had fun and it was a great time!

Follow this link to see more pictures of the house:

http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/user/page.aspx?username=BeckysinLuv

Cheesy Rice

I made this as a side dish to the Chicken Crescent Pockets. The flavors were very tasty.

Cheesy Rice

Prep Time:10 min
Total Time:25 min
Makes:2 servings, about 1 cup each

1 Tbsp. KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
2 Tbsp. chopped onions
1 cup instant white rice, uncooked
1-1/4 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 plum tomato, chopped
1 oz. (1/8 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese
2 Tbsp. KRAFT Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

HEAT dressing in small saucepan on medium heat. Add onions; cook and stir 3 min. or until tender.

STIR in rice, broth and tomatoes. Bring to boil. Add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to low; simmer 3 min.

Chicken Crescent Pockets

My parents stopped over for dinner tonight so I decided to try a new recipe. I had this saved in my "recipes to try" list for a long time. I had intended to make it last week. I bought the Crescents at Giant Eagle but I stupidly put them on the refridgerator door and they exploded! Haha!

Rating: 10 of 10

Chicken Crescent Pockets

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp butter, melted

2 cups chicken

2 tbsp milk

salt & pepper to taste

1 (8 oz) can reduced-fat Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls

3/4 cup seasoned croutons, crushed



Heat oven to 350°F. Cook chicken in skillet.

In medium bowl, combine cream cheese and 1 tablespoon softened butter; stir until smooth. Add salt, pepper, and milk. Mix well. Add this mixture into the skillet with chicken.

Separate dough into 4 rectangles (combine two crescents). Firmly press perforations to seal. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken mixture onto center of each rectangle. Pull 4 corners of dough to center of chicken mixture; twist firmly. Pinch edges to seal. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Gently spray tops of chicken pockets with olive oil; sprinkle with crushed croutons. Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

The last days in Johnstown

Justin and I have to go up to Johnstown on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. The movers will be packing and loading the truck and then we close on Friday morning. I'm really happy that Justin's company offered to pay for a moving company but I have a feeling I'm going to go nuts before this is all over.

When we got the storage unit to stage the house, I packed up a ton of stuff. I thought I was just being nice because then the movers wouldn't have as much stuff to pack. Oh no, we found out that we had to unpack ALL the boxes. If we leave the boxes packed, then they will not be insured. If they aren't insured, then if they magically disappear, we won't be compensated. It costs extra money to have them unpack all the boxes so tomorrow night will be spent unpacking all my hard work!

I am also nervous about them moving our stuff in general. I have heard some horror stories about moving companies. I am just going to try to be as organized as possible and hopefully everything will be fine.

Paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaartay!

We have decided to have a party on August 23rd. It will only be about 2 weeks afer we move into the house but we thought it would be a good way to get family and friends together to show off our new house. We'll also make good use of the new pool!

4th of July - Lake Canadohta

For the 4th of July, we went up to Lake Canadohta. Justin's friend Billy has a cottage there. Bill is in the Army and just got back from Afghanistan. He was over there or 1.5 years. He is now at Fort Bragg finishing up his contract with the army. He took 4 weeks off to visit family and friends. This weekend was the last of his leave.

We left on Thursday night and go there around 9pm. Of course we had to put up the tent in the dark. We had Bailey and Cooper with us, hence the tent! Cooper loved the tent and thought it was his private play den.

Friday, my parents came up for the day. We took the dogs out on the boat and taught them how to jump off the dock. This was the first time Cooper was in water deep enough to swim. He didn't really get it at first and was trying to swim upright. It was a very funny sight! He finally got the hang of it though. My parents took the dogs home with them that night. I was thankful because that meant we got to sleep inside instead of the cold tent!

Saturday, Jason and Jess came up for the day. We played some Baggo and went out on the boat. Bill accidentally jumped into the water with his glasses on and they are now at the bottom of the lake. Bill knew a guy that had a water trampoline so we played on that until Bill broke a glass beer bottle on it! Glass and jumping don't really mix but when you are drunk, apparently it's a good idea! After dinner, we went back out on the boat to watch the fireworks on the lake.

Sunday we got up at 7am to leave since Bill had to drive back to North Carolina. Overall the weekend was really fun. It was a nice way to end Bill's month of leave. He will be back for Thanksgiving and then will officially be out of the Amry in December.