Annual Girls' Night Cocoa Party

Want to see our cocoa party pictures?

Visit my other blog at Creative Mommas.

Roasted Pepper & Chicken Ciabatta Sandwich

This is what we had for dinner last night and I just had again for lunch today.

It was oh, so yummy!!!

First I cooked some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a skillet with olive oil and this yummy seasoning.

This is the yummy garlic bread I used to make the sandwiches.

We added these scrumptious roasted bell peppers & other assorted veggies.

Of course there has to be some cheese on the sandwich too. This time I chose Gorgonzola. Have you had it before? It's super yummy!
This is the final yummy product. Enjoy!

Cheesy Potatoes w/ Sausage

Recipe from Val Gardner with some alterations

Ingredients:

• 1-26 oz. bag frozen hash browns
• 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
• salt & pepper to taste
• (I added sausage to mine)

Directions:

1. Mix everything together and pour in a 9x13 pan.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
   
   

Dried Tomato & Fresh Basil Crostini

Recipe from www.cdkitchen.com, but made with substitutions.

Ingredients:

• 1 baguette, cut into 24 slices, approximately 1/4-inch thick
• 24 Boconcini (individual mini-mozzarella balls), cut in half (we used fresh mozzarella cut into small pieces)
• 24 fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
• 24 oven-dried plum-tomato halves (we used fresh tomatoes, diced)
• 1/4 cup pesto (we used sun dried tomato pesto instead)
• dried oregano

Directions:

Preheat broiler (a toaster oven may be used instead of broiler), placing oven rack as close to broiler as possible. Place baguette slices on a cookie sheet and broil till golden brown. Turn slices over and toast on the other side. Watch carefully they will only take a few minutes! (Alternatively, these may be made a few days ahead and kept in an air-tight container.) To assemble, use a pastry brush or small knife to spread a small amount of pesto on one side of each baguette slice. Then place one half of a boconicini cut-side down on top of the pesto. Next, place a basil leaf on top of the boconcini, followed by a dried tomato half so that it's "standing up." (We omitted this step ->Finally, place the other half of the boconcini on top of the tomato and sprinkle with dried oregano.)

Stuffed Shells

Here's a dish I made the other day and I wanted to share the recipe cause it was so yummy!

Cook jumbo shell noodles according to package directions.

Cover bottom of baking dish with some tomato sauce. This is the one I love and use. Of course, I only use it when my hubby doesn't make the real thing homemade.

This is my stuffing mixture:

-mozzarella cheese (fresh is the best, but this is what I used instead)

-ricotta cheese

-egg

-Romano cheese

-small amount of frozen spinach, defrosted

Mix it all together and stuff each shell. Sorry there are not amounts, I just used whatever amount and threw it all together.

Place each shell in pan, cover and cook until warmed through, about 30-45 mins at 350 degrees.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and return to oven until melted.