Make a big sheet cake.

Buy any chocolate cake mix, or vanilla cake mix and add some pudding.

Many cake mixes already have the can of pudding in the box.

Make two of these so it can feed everybody (I'm sure there will be other desserts there as well).

So get two of those aluminum 9 X 13 pans. Pour in the batter.

Bake the cake according to directions.

Then spread some chocolate frosting.

Get some confetti sprinkles. And pour all the sprinkles on the top of the cake.

This is so easy to do. Takes no time. The confetti makes it party-time.

And the kids can have fun eating the sprinkles.

It's a very festive looking cake!!!

I thought of chocolate mud cake. That also comes in packets and what kid doesn't like chocolate cake? :)

Buy 2 boxes of mix and separate into 2 large tins. Frost with the chocolate icing that comes with the packet mix and Hey Presto!.... Instant success!. :D

Easy and Quick. Those are two of my requirements.

This recipe tastes really good. Healthy too. The ingredients make it sound complex but once you try it, you will be amazed.:)

Low Fat Chicken Parmesan

1 ½ cups shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
½ cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
¼ teaspoon salt, divided
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 pound chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 ½ cups bottled fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup shredded provolone cheese

1. Preheat the broiler
2. In a shallow dish, combine 2 tablespoons of the parmesan with the bread crumbs, parsley, basil and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Place the egg white in a second shallow dish.
3. Dip each chicken tender in the egg white, then dredge through the bread crumb mixture.
4. In a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the chicken and cook 3 minutes per side or until done. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
5. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the remaining salt with the pasta sauce, vinegar and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap, leaving one side loose to vent. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, or until thoroughly heated.
6. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the pan. Sprinkle evenly with provolone and remaining Parmesan. Broil 2 minutes, or until the cheese melts.

Nutrition Information per serving: 308 calories, 10 g total fat, 88 mg cholesterol, 808 mg sodium, 36 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 2 g dietary fiber

Source: Cooking Light magazine’s “Cooking Light Italian.”

Budget Cooking
 

With the cost of groceries going up every day I thought that maybe we could all share our "budget" recipes. I know that I am trying to cook with less now and sometimes it gets to the point where I just fix the same things over and over.

Does anyone have any recipes to share that are budget friendly AND good??:p

I'll start:

Tuna Spaghetti Casserole

4 ounces spaghetti, broken, cooked & drained
1 can or pouch (7 oz.) tuna, drained & flaked
1 small jar pimentoes (optional), drained & chopped
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese (your choice - I use extra sharp cheddar)
1/2 cup crushed potato chips

Combine cooked spaghetti (I break mine up into 2 inch pieces before cooking), tuna and pimento. In a large saucepan combine the soup, milk and cheese. Heat and stir until cheese is melted. Add spaghetti/tuna mixture and mix well. Transfer to a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish and sprinkle with crushed potato chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serves 4.

Okay, here's my contribution.

We eat a lot of veggies in our meal plans. Besides drinking my fresh juice in the morning.

So if at night, I have made steamed carrots, brocolli, asparagus, zucchini, (whatever I steamed), well the next day, it's kind of limp, so while it might still taste good, it doesn't have the same appearance as the day previously.

So what I do is take all these cooked veggies, put in a food processor, add one egg or or egg substitute, some onion, (or shallots), some fresh garlic (or garlic powder if you don't have fresh), some parsley, (NO SALT), not needed.

Transfer the ground up mixture to a nice big bowl. Depending on how many veggies you have used, you can make a big batch or a small batch for just two servings. You get to know how to do this as you DO IT!!!

So in the bowl of mashed up veggies, you add about a half a cup of break crumbs (or cooked Quinoa), I've used both, does the trick.

Now (and this is unusual but it works), if you have some selzer in the house, add a bit. It puffs up the mixture in the pan.

So now you have the mixture, the breadcrumbs (or cooked Quinoa) and some selzer.

Mix all together and spray PAM into a frying pan. (if you don't care about calories, you can forego the PAM, and just add vegetable oil to the bottom of the pan.

Heat and then dip clean hands into the mixture and make either little balls, croquettes, or patties.

Then you carefully put them in the pan, making sure they are browned on all sides. Cook about ten minutes on medium, turning them from time to time. If you put the selzer in the mixture, you will see the patties puff up.

Then drain on paper towels.

(If you are having a party, you can make little balls, stick a toothpick and pass around as appetizers).

If used as a side dish, make them a big bigger.

Now how to serve these??

Alan likes them with honey and splenda. That's HIS thing. Not mine.

If I was not watching my weight or not a diabetic, I'd add a dollop of sour cream. There's low fat sour cream also.

Or you can get a nice applesauce and put some applesauce on these patties, or fitters or whatever you wish to call them.

These are very versatile, can be made to feed one or two people or a bunch of people (depending on how much cooked veggies you use).

I don't waste any veggies. If I cooked them one night, they get made into patties or fritters the next night.

IT'S ALSO A GREAT WAY TO GET KIDS TO EAT THEIR VEGGIES WITHOUT KNOWING THAT THEY ARE EATING VEGGIES.

They like the crispiness.

So Enjoy!!!

We tried this recipe a couple of days ago. It was REALLY GOOD.

Chicken and Veggies
 

This is a recipe that I wrote down from a BBC program called "You Are What You Eat." Yams and marinara sauce? Yes! it tastes good. : )

I could not resist trying something weird! And low in fat and of course...

Very easy and no mess!

1 large or 2 small chicken breasts
1 yam
1-2 zucchini
1 red onion
1-2 yellow summer squash
1 T. extra virgin oil
Marinara sauce

Cut chicken and veggies into bite size pieces.

In wok style pan, heat oil and cook chicken. Take out, set aside.

Next, cook yams in wok (no need to add more oil!). I boiled the yams, it was faster.

When soft, add other veggies. Be sure to not overcook veggies or you will lose the nutritional value.

When done, add chicken back into wok and heat. Add marinara sauce.Heat and serve.

Sprinkle with parmesan if you like.

Serves 3-4

Oh My. Alan loves chicken, yams and zuchinni.

Never thought to combine them and add sauce.

Doing this tomorrow.

THANKS MUCH.!!

I'm still getting over that you have leftover veggies... that never happens here lol. I'm a pan cleaner - oh look, there's corn left. Can't leave that. munch munch munch...

:D