Some years ago, I acquired this recipe at a church recipe exchange. I have made a few changes to the original ingredient list to add flavor, but the simplicity of these enchiladas has stayed the same. I share this dish today because it has made its way into my family meal rotation. So quick, easy and tasty, try this recipe tonight and let me know what you think in the comments!

My husband lived in Italy for a couple of years before we were married and this is a dish he learned to make while he was living there. I have tweaked it a bit to enhance some of the flavors along with adding left over ham. It is easily one of my favorite dishes to make because it is so easy and so delicious!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion, chopped
Pepper
4-5 strips of Bacon, chopped
1 cup Honey Glazed Ham, cut to about 1/2" cubes
2 - 3 teaspoons Dark Brown Sugar (optional, just adds a bit of sweet to the savory)
2 - 3 cloves Garlic, minced
6 Eggs
2 teaspoons Italian Seasonings
1/4 cup Milk
1 pound dry spaghetti
1/2 - 1 cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
Cook the spaghetti according to package directions, reserving about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Put the spaghetti back into the cooking pot, once drained, along with the reserved cooking liquid.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the onions and sprinkle with pepper. Fry until the onions just start becoming translucent, about 5 minutes, then add the bacon, stirring occasionally until bacon gets crispy, about 8 minutes. Add the ham, brown sugar and garlic. Saute until mixture is well coated with the brown sugar and caramelized a bit.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk and seasonings. Add the egg mixture, bacon mixture and all but about 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese to the noodles and stir until eggs scramble. You may need to turn the burner on depending on how hot your noodles are. Garnish with remaining Parmesan cheese and serve.

Whenever I meal plan, I usually incorporate far more recipes that I haven't tried then ones that I have tried. When I do include one that I have tried before, it is because I haven't made the dish in a long time or it is REALLY good. This recipe falls into the REALLY good category and, as a bonus, it is one of the easiest and quickest meals to make.

This recipe was adapted from Gimme Some Oven's Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry. I used asparagus, but this recipe would be great with basically any typical stir fry veggies, such as broccoli, carrots, green beans, peas, or bok choy.

Makes 2 servings.

Marinade:
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Honey
Stir Fry:
5 - 6 Chicken Tenders or 2 Chicken Breasts cut into bite size pieces
1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
1 Bunch Asparagus, broken in half 
Sauce:
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Honey
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 Scallions, roughly chopped
Garnish:
1 Teaspoon Toasted Sesame Seeds
1 Teaspoon Sesame Seed Oil

Directions:
In a ziplock bag, combine the marinade and the chicken pieces, place in refrigerator until needed. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the asparagus, salt and pepper to taste. Cook asparagus for about 5 minutes, until crisp-tender. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add chicken and marinade to the hot skillet and cook until golden on the outside and no pink remains on the inside, 7 - 10 minutes

While the chicken is cooking, in a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons honey, garlic and scallions. Add sauce to pan once chicken is cooked and continue cooking for 1 - 2 minutes or until garlic is fragrant.

Remove skillet from stove and stir in sesame seeds and sesame seed oil. Serve hot with cooked rice.

Back when I was in grade school, I remember there regularly being Hawaiian Haystacks on the lunch menu. Generally this consisted of rice, chow mein noodles, pineapple chunks and some kind of really thick gravy. Once I reached adulthood, I basically put this high calorie, semi-good meal behind me. Well, not long ago, I came across a recipe for the stacks by The Pearl Owl that intrigued me. Basically, this recipe uses a coconut gravy that is much lighter than the goop shoveled onto my grade school tray. When I first tried the recipe, I was watching my calories to loose some pregnancy weight, so, although the Pearl Owl version is pretty light, I took it a step further and cut out the roux. Honestly, I LOVE this meal. It fills you up, is tasty and you don't feel bad eating dessert! Give it a try, tell me what you think!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons Corn Starch
2 tablespoons Water
1 cup Low Fat Coconut Milk
1 cup Chicken Broth3 tablespoons Juice from a can of Mandarine Oranges
3 - 4 teaspoons Red Pepper FlakesSalt and Pepper
Cooked Rice

Add Ons:
Shredded Chicken
Sliced Celery
Mandarine Oranges
Toasted Coconut
Toasted Almonds
Chow Mein Noodles

Directions:
Start by combining the corn starch and water in a small bowl. Combine this with the coconut milk, broth, juice, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Warm until the sauce reaches your desired consistency. (The longer it is on the heat, the thicker it will get, it will also thicken a bit when it cools).

Put a scoop of rice on your plate, top with desired add ons, then drizzle the gravy over the top.

Serves 4.

In an effort to cut back on costs, I tried making my own granola bars, but they really weren't that great. For the recipe, I bought a bag of puffed wheat. Unfortunately, the puffed wheat sat in my cupboard for at least a month without being eaten. A couple Sundays ago I decided it was time to do something with this neglected cereal. Here is the recipe I made, which was adapted from a recipe I found at The Mother Huddle.

Ingredients:
8 oz bag Puffed wheat
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Light Corn Syrup
1 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
12 oz bag Milk Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Grease a 9" x 13" pan. Pour puffed wheat into a large bowl and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat, but do not let boil. Add sugar and corn syrup, then turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Add sweetened condensed milk and return to a boil. Then, reduce heat to medium and, stirring constantly, cook to 240⁰ (soft ball stage), which takes about 10-15 minutes.

Pour caramel mixture over puffed wheat and mix thoroughly. Gently press into greased pan with the back of a wooden spoon.

In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate chips. Sporadically drop dollops of the melted chocolate on top of the caramel puffs, then spread into a semi even layer and let cool.

Once both layers are room temperature, cut into 16 rectangles. Store in an air tight container for up to a week.

Lately, on Pinterest, I have seen a lot of different ways to make monkey bread that depart from the typical gooey sugar and cinnamon syrup. One such recipe was Mini Garlic Monkey Bread over at Crumbs and Chaos. This recipe is simple enough and tastes pretty good, but, as usual, I took it up a notch and made spirals so that the flavoring spreads more evenly.

Ingredients:
2 cans (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner roll (or you could just make your favorite baking powder biscuit dough from scratch)
6 Tablespoons Butter
4 Cloves Garlic (pressed, finely chopped, or grated)
1 Tablespoon Dried Parsley, Basil, Oregano, OR Italian Seasoning
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese


Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Add the garlic and cook for 30 - 60 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Open the cans of crescent rolls and unroll the dough into a flat rectangle (or roll dough from scratch into a rectangle). Brush the dough with the butter mixture. Starting on one of the long sides, begin tightly rolling the dough. When you reach the end, pinch the seam shut. Using dental floss, cut slices about 1/2" to 1" thick. Place up to 3 slices in each of the muffin cups. If needed, brush the tops with more of the butter mixture.

Bake for 12 - 14 minutes or until the edges are browned.

Another great twist on this classic is Maple Bacon Monkey Bread. Just switch out the butter mixture here and replace it with the maple bacon mixture. Oh, and add about a 1/2 cup diced apples to the mix. SO GOOD!

Just about every week, I like to make pancakes for breakfast at least once. I tried a few different recipes, but my husband wouldn't eat much because they were all too heavy. Then, I found the perfect recipe on All Recipes. It is one that needs no alteration (except to add berries or bananas or chocolate chips), so I am linking directly to it, just click on the picture below.

This is one of those recipes that has been in the rotation for a while now. The combination of ingredients is not something that I would of thought of on my own, in fact I found the meatball recipe in a Real Simple magazine quite some time ago. They paired the meatballs with sautéed chard, but I have to be honest, the chard was gross. So, I swapped out the chard for lemon rice, which created a very light and filling dish.

Position oven rack approximately 6"-8" from broiler. Preheat broiler. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and place a cooling rack on top of the cookie sheet.
Combine all of the meatball ingredients in a medium bowl. Shape the meat mixture into walnut-sized balls and place on the cooling rack. Bake for 3 minutes then flip the meatballs with tongs and bake for another 3 minutes or until browned, but not burned.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the bubbling subsides, add the garlic and cook only until fragrant, 30-60 seconds. Spoon in the rice and stir. Add in the lemon juice and zest and the salt and pepper (go heavy on the pepper), then stir to combine.

This is a dish I started making years ago. It is best on the grill in a tin foil pouch, but you can fry or broil it and it will still be good.

About a year ago, I was looking for quick easy recipes that were actually good. I stumbled upon this one on the Food Network website  and now I make it at lease once a month, if not twice. It is one of those "quiet meals" as in it is so good you are too busy eating to bother conversing. The best part is that it is pretty healthy, granted there is butter involved, but I feel like that negative is cancelled out by the other good-for-you ingredients. Plus, it has pleased a couple of very picky little eaters who even asked for seconds. I made a few alterations, mostly to go with what I usually keep on hand.

Chicken and Couscous
4 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and pepper
15-20 petite carrots or 4 medium carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup couscous
2 cups coarsely shredded rotisserie chicken (I find it easier to at least pull the chicken from the bones
whiled it is still warm so that the fat doesn't get all gelatanous and gross)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
1/2 cup Craisens
4 scallions, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
Greek yogurt for topping

Directions:
Bring 2 1/2 cups water to boil (do NOT substitute this with broth) and add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and the ginger, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the carrots and cook until tender. Drain, reserving the liquid.

Combine couscous and chicken in a bowl with a lid or have plastic wrap handy. Stir in 1 cup of the reserved liquid then cover and let sit while you finish the recipe.

Melt butter over medium-high heat. Add almonds, Craisens, scallions, and the 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Fry stirring until the almonds are browned. Removed from heat and stir in cilantro.

Divide chicken and couscous into bowls top with carrots and some of the reserved liquid. Sprinkle almond mixture over top. Add a dollup or two of yogurt and serve.