I can admit it like so many others I am addicted to pinterest. I spend a crazy amount of time looking at and pinning things. Darn iPhone app makes it just too easy. I can pin while feeding Elias at 4am. I can pin while watching TV. I can pin when I can't sleep in bed. I love the create ideas. I love the new recipes it provides. I like imaging what I could do or wear someday when I lose weight or what I could see when I travel somewhere. The ideas and pins are endless.

Here's a few of my recent pins I've created:

Monster Cookie Bars - I added raisins, halved the chocolate chips, added 1/4 c. white chocolate chips. They were fantastic and I think we drank an extra gallon of milk because of them :)

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread - I think I've made this 3 times in the past month or so. Colin is obsessed with it.

Crockpot Applesauce Chicken - It was so-so. Not bad - not great - just fair.

Personal Sized Baked Oatmeal - I used a different recipe but this concept. LOVE it!

Frozen Yogurt Dots - Colin LOVES these - well Colin loves anything yogurt. With Elias being on antibiotics yet again, I may make another batch with yogurt he can eat in hopes to not tear up his GI Tract again.

As promised from yesterday's freezer meal post, here are a few of my recent recipes.

photo credit: http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com

Crockpot Italian Chicken
4 chicken breasts, frozen or thawed, full breasts or tenders
1 stick of butter
1 packet dry Zesty Italian dressing (Regular works as well)
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 can cream of chicken soup

Melt butter in crockpot. Once the butter is melted, stir in dry dressing packet. Add chicken to the crockpot and thoroughly coat in the butter mixture. Cook on low until done. Remove chicken and set aside. Add cream cheese and soup to crockpot. Whisk together until smooth.

To serve: Add chicken and serve over prepared noodles or rice.
To freezer: Add chicken and sauce to either pan or freezer bags.

Chicken Alfredo

1 bag Broccoli florets

1/4 c. butter

1 lb chicken breast, cooked and cubed

1 bottle Alfredo sauce, 16 oz

1/2 c. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1/2 c. Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp Garlic powder

1/8 tsp black pepper

In a saucepan combine broccolli, chicken breasts and sauce. When it's warm add the butter, cheeses, garlic powder and pepper. Let simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Once cooled, pour into a gallon sized freezer bag.

photo and recipe credit to: joelens.blogspot.com

16 buttery crackers (such as Ritz), crushed (about 3⁄4 c)
6 ounces sharp Cheddar, grated
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1-2 stalks scallions, thinly sliced {I omitted}
kosher salt and black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 Tbsp butter, melted

Heat oven to 350° F. In a bowl, combine the crackers, cheese, garlic, scallions and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.

Pound the chicken to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness with a meat mallet. Dip the pounded chicken in the butter, then in the cracker mixture, pressing gently to help it adhere, and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Sprinkle any remaining cracker mixture on the chicken and drizzle with any remaining butter. Bake until the chicken is golden brown and cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

* To make ahead/freezer meal - Prepare the chicken as directed above. After coating it in the cracker mixture, place chicken in a gallon sized freezer bag, seal and freeze flat in your freezer. When ready to prepare, place on a baking sheet and drizzle with melted butter. Bake as directed above from frozen until cooked through, possibly 30-35 minutes depending on thickness.

One of the things I'm trying to do to prepare for going back to work is creating some freezer meals. With working funky hours, too often, we eat crap and it's crap late at night. But many days I work until at least 7pm, so by the time I get home it's about time to get Colin ready for bed. After reading books, brushing teeth, changing into a pull-up and jammies, saying prayers and singing songs, it's typically close to 8:30pm. The last thing I feel like doing is BEGIN making a dinner only to eat it after 9pm and then have to clean up afterwards. It's easier to order a pizza, send Mike to a drive-through, or make something super easy (tortilla pizzas, burgers on the grill, mac'n' cheese and quesadillas are often our go-to). It's not great on our waist lines or a wallet especially when most days I don't have lunch at work either.

So I'm hoping that I can create some freezer meals in ziplocks (since I don't have room for pans in my freezer) that I can just pull out in the morning. There's a good chance that we won't be eating much earlier since Colin's bedtime hasn't really changed but at least our meal will be more healthy and we will hopefully be avoiding the dreaded, but oh so tasty, drive through.

I made two dinners, some muffins, and a breakfast last week. My goal to make at least two more this week, which I should probably get to it since it's already Friday afternoon. We will see how many more I can make after that since I'm running out of space in my freezer. I'll post recipes either later today or another day.

Tried *gasp* TWO new recipes this week and both were big hits! Thank goodness for elastic pants!!! Neither are remotely healthy and leave quite a bit in leftovers, so they shouldn't be used nearly as often as I'd like to make them.

Bacon Parmesan Pasta

1 pound bacon
1 package of penne pasta
1 c. heavy cream
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
2 eggs
Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, start the sauce.

Add a cup of heavy cream and the package of cream cheese to a saucepan and heat on low. Once the cream cheese is nice and smooth, remove from heat.

Add two eggs and 1/2 cup of the shredded parmesan. Mix well. The eggs will cook from the heat of the sauce and pasta.

Cook and chop up bacon with sprinkled crushed red pepper flakes.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Now add the sauce mix and chopped bacon. Mix well to coat.

*Next time I think we will add chicken stripes to it, although it was frickin-fantastic without it*

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Two-Cheese Spaghetti Bake

6 ounces uncooked spaghetti, broken into thirds
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 jar (14 ounces) spaghetti sauce
2 tablespoons butter
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/3 cup water
4 ounces Velveeta, cubed, divided
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add spaghetti sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Drain spaghetti; stir into beef mixture. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour and salt; gradually stir in milk and water. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add 1/2 cup process cheese and Parmesan cheese; stir until melted.

Spread half of the spaghetti mixture into a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish. Cover with cheese sauce; top with remaining spaghetti mixture and process cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

I've been on a new recipe kick lately. I'm loving reading cooking blogs and seeing what's out there. Had a (small-ish) freezer baking session last weekend with hopes to do it again before our trip to Florida in a few weeks. {Photo posted on Project 365 as well}

Successes:

• Soft Baked Tacos. One of my recipe successes was the baked soft tacos from my freezer baking day. Super easy to make, froze well, and easy to pop in the oven and then eat. Definitely will make again.
• PB&J Bars. We weren't super crazy about them the first night while they were still warm-ish. I brought probably half of them into work only to realize how much we loved them later.
• Monte Cristo Stack. 8 layers of warm goodness.
• Monster Cookies. Found a recipe on allrecipes.com. Stupidly didn't bookmark it. Praying I'll find it again and remember the modifications I made to them. They were one of the best cookies I've made. Ever.
  
  There was another great recipe but I'm stumped as to what it was right now. Anyone have a great (new?) recipe?

I thought I'd start another new....series for lack of a better word because I've been sitting here for probably 5 minutes trying to think of the correct word I'm looking for :)

I'm going to post recipes -- both new and tried and true.

I had heard about a recipe on the radio and then Olivia confirmed it's deliciousness.

I made them last night and man were they good!!! They were incredibly chocolate-y, very moist and super easy. I brought a bunch into work and everyone loved them. No one believed there was pumpkin in the muffins!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 package of chocolate cake mix

15 oz canned pumpkin

6 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini choc chips)

Mix together; batter will be thick. Pour into muffin tins. The batter will not rise, so fill close to the top. Bake in a 350 oven for 15-20 minutes.