What's For Dinner? February Week 5

{Week of February 25 - March 2}

Weekend breakfast: pumpkin waffles.

Made a couple big batches to freeze for school mornings.

This is also an example of what most of my breakfasts looked like last week and this week after Sophie and I made that coconut lemon bread last week (Feb 20th). This was soooo good together and very satisfying all the way till lunch time.

Weekend lunch/snack a few times: PB, granola and mini-chocolate chip apple sammies. (From Pinterest and my sister.) Deeeelicious!

We unintentionally had kind of a lot of pasta this week. Two pasta dishes, both providing lots of leftovers...

Cajun Chicken Pasta - recipe from Pinterest... which is weird, cause now I can't find it to link it for you. It was very yummy. Sun dried tomatoes, cajun seasoned chicken, cream sauce, scallions to finish. Delicious.

And then my grandma's Italian Baked Penne, which she brought to my birthday dinner at mom and dad's. It tasted so good, especially with the spicier sausage my grandma used. I got mild for Craig and the kids, but if your fam is not picky, I'd get spicy.

Served with side salads.

Italian Baked Penne

1 16oz pkg penne pasta

1# bulk Italian sausage (preferably hot)

1 cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 pkg sliced white mushrooms (fresh, not canned)

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 (14.5oz) can Italian style diced tomatoes

2 (14.5oz) cans crushed tomatoes

3 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped (optional... it cooks down to almost unnoticeable)

8oz shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Cook penne in boiling water about 8 minutes until al dente. Drain and return to pan. Heat large skillet over medium heat and saute sausage, onion and garlic until sausage is cooked through. Add mushrooms and saute another 3 minutes. Add seasonings and tomatoes to pan and simmer about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine sausage with pasta, spinach and 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese. Pour half of mixture into greased 13x9 glass baking dish. Sprinkle with half of mozzarella. Layer again with sausage mixture and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. (Will be VERY full!) Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 45 minutes or until cheese is bubbly, removing foil for last 5 minutes of baking time.

Nichole and I have had stay-in movie nights on a couple of recent weekends. Partly to hang out, partly as an excuse to make another Pinterest dessert. :-)

I made white bean dip with pita chips and veggies as usual. (She loves it too!) And for dessert (ahem, desserts! - plural), she brought salted caramel chocolate mug cakes (done in the microwave) and I made baked s'more bars. Soooo good!

Is it coincidence that two extra large (baking-size) Hershey bars fit perfectly in an 8" square baker? I think not. :-)

"The Apron Gal's" suggestion of rolling out the top crust in a zip lock bag and then cutting open the bag to set it on top of the chocolate and marshmallow layer is brilliant... and easy! There are graham cracker crumbs in the delicious top and bottom "crust".

Ooey gooey deliciousness.

Happy eating!