creamy tortellini

Creamy Tortellini

Ingredients

2 jars marinara sauce
1-8 oz cream cheese, softened
1- 25 oz bag frozen tortellini
Pepperonis
Mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the marinara sauce and the cream cheese. Stir in the frozen tortellini. Pour tortellini mixture in a glass 9x13 pan. Top with pepperoni, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling.

elle-isms

I know this sweet and innocent-looking girl may make it seem like we never have to deal with the typical toddler problems. For some reason I never think to pull out the camera while she's throwing herself on the floor in a limp pile while screaming at the top of her lungs. I wonder why that never crosses my mind? To be real, I feel as though we got lucky in the toddler department. She really is pretty good. That doesn't mean we don't have our moments though. Last night at Costco, for example, we were eating in the food court, and the peace didn't last long. I had cut up half of Elle's super large slice of pizza to cut down on the mess. She ate most of it, but as soon as she saw the ice cream Mister bought it all went downhill. I told her she needed to eat three more bites and she could have some ice cream. Seems pretty simple, right? Wrong. Meltdown city. I'm pretty sure all of Costco was staring at us. It is so hard to discipline a screaming, limp child in public. First off, reasoning with a toddler is an art in itself, but if they have already lost it - good luck. We ended up heading straight to the car. We do have some really great moments with Elle though, and that's really what I wanted to talk about.

Elle is very particular. She remembers which basket each of the toys go in without me saying a word to her. To be honest, I don't care which basket the toys go in as long as they get cleaned up. For a few days we were missing the top to a block train we had. Mister found it under the TV stand and set it on the ledge of the stand. It stayed up there for a day or two simply because neither of us really cared enough to put it away. I saw it the other day, and put it back in the box with the other train blocks. This morning, Elle was playing with the train. When she was done she cleaned up the blocks, but she made sure to put the top of the train on the TV stand because that's where it had been the last few days. It's funny to see what she observes.

Elle is working hard on learning the English language. She does pretty good considering that she's only been alive for two years. Here's some of my favorite Elle-isms to date:

Za-pee = Pizza

I carry you = Will you carry me?

Huh on = Take it off

Stin-y = Stinky or poopy

Pood Ke-ee = The kitty needs more food

Naow - Milk

No-man = Snowman

Luh you = I love you

Na-nite = Goodnight

Shash can = Trashcan

Serius = Cereal

Nummy = This tastes delicious

*Grunt or growl* = I do not like it

Me = Mickey

Beh = I'm tired, or I want to go to bed

Dunny = Bunny (her lovey)

Show = Turn on the TV stat

I love how quickly she is learning. It has been so great to have the ability to communicate with her more. Today's recipe would get a big grunt from Elle, but it is a favorite of Mister's and mine.

Bow Tie Chicken Caesar Salad

Ingredients

1 bag of Caesar salad mix (I absolutely love the Marketplace brand from Walmart)

            This mix should include lettuce, Parmesan cheese, croutons, and dressing.

1 cup of chicken (cooked and shredded or diced)

1 1/2 cups bow tie noodles (prepared)

1/3 cup bacon (crumbled - I just use bacon bits)

Instructions

Mix everything together and enjoy! We have used this as a meal, but it is also a great side or served at a party as an appetizer.

chicken bacon ranch pasta

I love Alfredo. I love chicken. I love bacon. I love ranch. When I came across this recipe on Damn Delicious I knew it was for me. It was so good. My husband loved it, and requested for it to be added to our regular meals. I used a different Alfredo sauce recipe than the website used simply because I didn't have heavy whipping cream on hand. You could probably use bottled Alfredo sauce instead if you were feeling lazy.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta

Ingredients

4 slices of bacon diced (I just used bacon bits)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Ranch Seasoning and Salad Dressing Mix
8 ounces rotini
Mozzarella cheese
Alfredo sauce (I halfed this recipe)

Directions

Head over to Damn Delicious for the baking instructions. You can use their Alfredo recipe instead of the one I linked if you prefer. Enjoy!

creamy penne

Today was Elle's 2 year checkup. When we got there Elle was thrilled that they had a tank full of "feesh" and a "show" playing for her to watch. When we arrived at the room for her checkup she immediately backtracked and refused to walk in on her own. The rest was meltdown city. Little did she know that the worst was saved for the end of her appointment. After she was pricked in her legs and she calmed down, we were on our way. She was very melancholy in the backseat until the song "Can't Stop the Feeling!" came on. She immediately asked me to ""nance" with her, so we jammed together on our way to the post office. I just love my little dancer. She's got quite the moves. If you're lucky I'll record it and share it with you some day.

We found a new show that Elle likes to watch on Netflix. Bless Curious George's Boofest for keeping her busy while I cooked dinner. Tonight's dinner was a simple pasta. We tried ground turkey in it, and it wasn't to shabby. This pasta recipe is my go-to when I don't want to think about meal planning. I always have the ingredients in the pantry, and if I don't have any meat I make it meatless. This meal can't fail you. Throw in some quick bread sticks and a salad, and you're good to go.

Creamy Penne

Ingredients

1 jar marinara sauce
1 jar Alfredo sauce
1 pkg penne (or any type of noodle)
1 lb ground beef (optional)
Mozzarella
Parmesan
Italian Seasoning

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the noodles according to their package's directions. After draining the noodles, pour them into a 9x13 pan. Pour both sauces on top and stir together. Sprinkle desired amount of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. I always add a bit of Italian seasoning on top for a bit of flavor. Throw in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes - until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted.