Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Whenever I make homemade lasagna, I always have leftover ricotta cheese. These are the best way to use it up. They are so soft and cake-like. Perfectly lemony...Giada is a genius.

Image via Food Network

Stuff that looks good

It's pizza day at our house. My dough rising as I type. I even made homemade sauce for the pizza this time! I was browsing through tastespotting.com and found 3 new takes on pizza dough I need to try SOON.

Pizza bites look fun and easy, just to mix things up from the normal pizza pie.

David loves homemade breadsticks so I'll need to give these a try as well.

And last but not least, I NEED to make this stromboli. Instead of the feta I'd use mozarella, since I'm quite picky about my cheese selections.

On a note completely unrelated to pizza, here's an image of a dinner I made last week. I barbecued chicken legs and vegetable kebabs. I'm so excited to get back into grilling now that it's finally warm.

Crock Pot Chicken

Ok. This is seriously one of the easiest dishes I've ever made, especially when you taste how good it is! I'm writing it from memory, but I found it in a family cookbook. I will say that it's far from healthy. But sometimes you need something quick and easy and delicious. Serve a big salad next to it to make yourself feel better about the butter! :)

Here's what you need:

1 brick cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 ranch packet
1 can cream of chicken soup (you could use cream of anything probably)
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock or broth
3-4 chicken breasts

Let the butter and cream cheese come to room temperature, then mix everything together (I mix it all in the crock pot, then add in the chicken on top.) Cook for about 4 hours and serve over cooked rice. It's so good!

Easter Cake

I love colorful things! This is a little remake on the rainbow cake, I guess. I recreated it from this blog

The only change i made to the recipe is that I added vanilla to the frosting. I don't think the actual flavor of the cake was anything super special, but it was really moist which is always a plus. Here are some shots of my cake:

Herbs

I have been wanting to plant an herb garden for SO long. I always ended up not because of some random excuse, but this summer I was planning on going all out. We stopped at Trader Joes in Vegas on our way out a few weeks ago and I saw this:




There were a few combinations, and I really wanted basil, but I opted for this combo of rosemary, thyme and oregano. I had never used fresh thyme or oregano before so I figured it was about time to try it out.

I have never liked dried thyme and usually leave it out of recipes if they call for it because it's so strong and hay-ish. I had heard Rachael Ray describe fresh thyme as lemony and fresh- and trying it out, she is right! It has a completely different smell and taste than dried thyme. It was a pleasant surprise!

I fully recommend purchasing some herbs- basil is a good starter because it's in so much, and rosemary is great on chicken and in marinades for meat. Let me know how it goes!

Teriyaki Pineapple Chicken Burgers

Something about a big piece of pineapple on top of a hamburger just sounds so refreshing- After a recent trip to the Trolley, one of my favorite little places to eat in Utah, I decided to recreate it on my own.

What you need:

Grill a chicken breast that's been marinated in teriyaki
Pineapple slices (I used canned rings because the fresh ones didn't look good)
lettuce
some kind of roll or hoagie

I sliced the chicken breast (after letting it rest, of course) and loaded it on a warmed roll with the pineapple slice and lettuce. It was so juicy + refreshing. It's the perfect meal for the warmer weather.

Stuff that looks good

There are so many recipes out there, I figure I can't make them all. Once a week I think I'll post links to what looks good to me. Maybe I'll make some of them, maybe I won't- But for those who are looking for ideas, maybe it will inspire YOU!

Someone showed me these Strawberry Lemonade Bars. A nice twist on the original!

I'm pretty sure I'm going to to have to fit this in one day this week. David LOVES gyros!

Wanna make your own girl scout cookies? I might have to since I haven't seen any little girls at wal-mart...

The Pioneer Woman's recipes always look heavenly. Especially these rosemary dinner rolls.