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My kids are crazy about these!

I love making side dishes during the holidays and I always think the sides are the best part of the meal. However, it often saddens me that we only make these yummy side dishes once a year! When I first came across this recipe for creamy parmesan potatoes I immediately thought it’s not going to be just a Christmas dish in our house! And you know what? As soon as I served these to my family, they all said the same thing. So these are now in our dinner rotation!

Of course, I’ll still make some classic mashed potatoes every now and then! But these creamy parmesan potatoes are so good, I wouldn’t mind having them twice a week. I made these again the other night. We had pork chops, applesauce, and these yummy taters. I was amazed at how much creamier they are versus traditional mashed potatoes. It must be the cheese!

I would be happy to have just these for dinner! If you want to do that, just add some cooked, ground beef into these and you’re good to go!

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Quick Tip: Want to up the ante on these creamy parmesan potatoes? Add in some crispy, crumbled bacon to the mix.

I love Italian food. Ahh, how I love a good pasta dish, full of sauce, hearty with meat and with loads of cheese over the top. It is just the epitome of a comfort dish. Any pasta dish can really be transformed into something amazing. Some of my favorites are ravioli and tortellini. I so easily take these and elevate them to become a better, fuller versions of what they are. Say, add a combination of two sauces, add some different spices, or try out a different cheese.

The options are endless when it comes to pasta and you can get as creative as you would like without ruining anything! Recently, I decided to make lasagna in the crock pot. I had found a recipe and though it was the coolest thing so I gave it a go. Well, when it was time to make it, I realized I did not buy the right noodles.

Actually, I forgot to buy them altogether. I was a bit disappointed, but then realized I could probably still make a great dish with these ingredients and some of the other pasta in my pantry. I searched for a good recipe with those ingredients and found this lasagna soup.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Shugary Sweets.

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Quick Tip: Serve this with toasty garlic bread.

I love a good Italian meal. Oh gosh, how I love when my husband tells me that he is in the mood for Italian! With him, it does not come often. He is just not a pasta kind of guy. He likes other things and although he will eat Italian, it is definitely not his favorite. That is why when he tells me he is in for some good Italian cuisine, I jump at the opportunity. A lot of times, we go to my favorite restaurant, Mike’s (ironically, that is my husband’s name too!) and I get a classic ravioli or maybe a lasagna.

This last time we visited my favorite restaurant (in the world!!), as the waitress was passing out the garlic rolls, she told me that they had a new special. She knows I love lasagna so she thought I would like this: lasagna roll-ups. Yep, they are kind of like fruit roll ups, but they are even more delicious. They take the layer of lasagna noodles, and add the ricotta cheese mixture as well as tomato sauce and meat and then roll them up and bake them in a casserole dish. It is a neat way to serve something so delicious!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Cooking Classy.

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Quick Tip: Use your favorite homemade meat sauce or just jarred sauce if you want to save time.

The other day I was at the supermarket with my shopping list, buying everything I needed to start eating healthy the next week. I had filled my cart with greens, apples, bananas, oatmeal and the like and there was nothing unhealthy in my cart… until I passed the prepared pasta section. You know, the one where they sell the stuffed ravioli or tortellini? Yeah, that’s the one. It was full of delicious kinds of pasta and I simply could not resist. I ended up with all the healthy stuff as well as two packs of tortellini with everything I needed for making an Alfredo sauce. Healthy, huh?

Well anyway, the first thing I did when I got home that night was prepare that dinner. My husband was coming home from work starved and I knew with the help of this prepped up tortellini, I could get a delicious meal on the table in no time. Well, that was the case! In about 30 minutes, I had a garlic alfredo tortellini with chicken on the table for my husband, along with garlic bread. Oh, did I not mention I also picked up that garlic bread at the supermarket? Whoops…

Photo and recipe courtesy of Damn Delicious.

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Quick Tip: Top with your favorite protein.

Everyone in my family absolutely adores spaghetti. They love to enjoy it with tomato sauce, white sauce and even pink sauce. We even enjoy it with just a sprinkle of olive oil and salt! Any way we can enjoy spaghetti, we do, and it is so much fun. My husband, on the other hand, hates spaghetti. He hates that it is often a mess to eat and that it always untwists on his fork before he can even get it into his mouth. It is definitely a love/hate (but mostly hate) relationship with spaghetti in his book.

Well, since my family loves it and my husband hates it, I have been trying to find a solution for this conundrum. How hard it is to feed people who are polar opposites, huh? Well, after a while of browsing on Pinterest, I was still stumped. I had absolutely no idea what to do to make my family something they love, but also not something my husband hates. So, I called my neighbor Anne who quickly came to the rescue. After hearing my dilemma, she had a solution of a family recipe from long ago in her family: spaghetti baked cream cheese casserole.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Plain Chicken.

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Quick Tip: Sprinkle with any of your favorite cheese over the top.

Breakfast Bakes. A man’s (or woman’s) best friend. There is nothing more comforting when you wake up than knowing that you have a bake in the fridge and all you have to do is pop that in the oven and it will be good to go. It is easy, simple and usually very comforting food that is perfect for getting yourself going on a lazy morning. Also a perk, these are quite filling and kids tend to love them! You can fix this up in any way you want, so do not be afraid to get creative with your preparation of this dish.

A great way to make your kids eat their veggies is to hide them in these! The kids love this because it is all their breakfast in one dish, so it will all be in one bowl and easy to chow down with a spoon. They also cannot really tell what is in it, so they eat it thoroughly, enjoying the potatoes and bit of cheese on the top, so it really does make it the perfect dish to sneak some of those veggies they would not eat otherwise. Do not let this fool you, it is easy to prep and delicious to enjoy.

Photo and recipe courtesy of Plain Chicken Mom.

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Quick Tip: Replace ham with chicken if you’d like.

As much as I love Mexican food, I have a soft spot for Italian meals. I love the taste of pasta loaded with lots of creamy sauce. I love chopped chicken or meatballs that are the perfect size to pop into my mouth. Oh and let’s not forget the garlic bread! Any of these combinations I will take at any time of day. They are fun and delicious and you will be thrilled to have them for dinner.

The other day, my neighbor Anne came over my house lugging her slow cooker with her. It seemed hot and like it was full of food. She is usually the crazy one who will bring her food in a slow cooker instead of transferring it first so as not to burn herself. But anyway, she brought over her crock pot full of manicotti. Yeah, I know it is a weird place to prepare it, but the reason she brought the entire crock pot over was to prove that she had done it in there. I was shocked when I had a taste. It seemed too good and sophisticated to have been made in a crock pot, but there it was. That amazes me! She is so awesome at this stuff!

Photo and recipe courtesy of Thrifty Treasures.

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Quick Tip: Use your favorite type of pasta sauce for this.