Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Treats For Your Furry Loved One!

I love making homemade dog treats for our dogs because then I know exactly what ingredients are in them and where the ingredients are from.  Making homemade treats are easy to do and you can find cute little cookie cutters to use that come in fun shapes and sizes (bones, fire hydrants, dog shapes, etc)! 

Below is an easy 3 ingredient recipe you can use!  This recipe makes a ton of soft cut out treats that can be frozen for months in your freezer.  I just place mine in a freezer bag and pop them out one at a time for a special treat for our Max & Sammy.

Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats

1/2 Cup of Peanut Butter (natural peanut butter is best because it contains less sugar but you can use whatever you have on hand)

1 Cup 100% Pure Pumpkin Puree

1 3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour (or you can use regular flour)

Instructions:

Pre-Heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper (just to avoid the treats sticking to the pan)

Stir all ingredients together (it may help to add the flour 1/4 cup at a time so it's easier to mix)

Roll out dough to 1/4" thick and cut out your cookie treats

Place your treats on your pan and bake for 8-10 minutes. 

Remove from oven and allow to completely cool before storing. 

I hope your fur baby loves these treats!  You'll love how easy they were to make & you will feel confident in knowing what you are feeding your fur baby and what is in their food.

They are pet approved by the Max & Sammy council! 

Happy Baking!

17 Freezer Meals for Quick & Easy Dinners

Ok ladies....  I won't go into why it's so awesome to make freezer meals because you probably already know!  We don't have kids yet and I find it extremely convenient and it makes my life easier having freezer meals ready and prepared, so, I can only imagine how helpful it would be with kids and a family.  1 day of work can save you hours of time in cooking and prep everyday.

I am going to get right down to the recipes.  I made these recipes with only my husband and myself in mind, so adjust the amounts for your larger family.  I spent $90 total and was able to get 17 meals, which breaks down each meal to just over $5, for 2 people!  Talk about savings!  I did use coupons and bought items that were on sale, and the 2 lasagnas I made make up for 12 of the meals alone.  

*You will notice on some of the meals that I have made a note to add the chicken/beef.  That is simply because I didn't feel like opening up the chicken and I just left it in the freezer.  I buy the individually wrapped frozen chicken breasts from Costco so it's easy to just open a 2 pack and add it in.

Crock Pot Beef Fajitas 

*this recipe will make 2 freezer meals.  Just prep everything and then divide into 2 separate freezer bags)

2lb beef (1lb per freezer bag)
1 green bell pepper (1/2 pepper per bag)
1 yellow bell pepper (" " " ")
1 red bell pepper (" " " ")
2 onions (1 onion per bag)
2 tsp chopped garlic (1 tsp per bag)
1 - 16oz World Harbor Fajita Marinade ($1.99 Kroger) split the marinade in half in each bag
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp cumin per bag
red pepper flakes (I use 1/2 tsp but it depends how hot you want yours to be)
2 limes (juice from 1 lime per bag)
salt & pepper


Other items needed for day of dinner:
-Tortillas
-Mexican Cheese
-Rice & Beans
-sour cream

Crock Pot Chicken Marsala
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I buy mine at Costco)
1 onion sliced
Campbells Marsala Skillet Sauce packet (complete sauce packet with mushrooms)
6 gold potatoes (small ones) halved
pepper
No salt added due to the sauce packet having salt in it

*you can swap out the potatoes for rice)

Crock Pot Beef Stew
1lb of beef 
1 celery stalk cut into pieces
2 carrots chopped or you can use 1/3 bag of mini carrots
6-8 gold potatoes halved
1 onion
1tsp garlic
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tomato paste
salt & pepper
1 packet beef stew seasoning

*I add in 1/4 cup red wine on the day that I cook it)

Other items needed for day of dinner:
-Rolls, biscuits or bread

Crock Pot Honey Mustard Chicken
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 onion sliced
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp paprika
1/3 cup Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup honey
1/8 tsp dried mustard
salt & pepper
8 gold potatoes halved

Other items needed for day of dinner:
-Rice (take out potatoes and use rice instead)

Meat Lasagna
Lasagna noodles (9)
Roll of Italian sausage (I use Kroger but you can use Bob Evans or whatever you can find)
8oz Low Fat Cottage Cheese
8oz Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Parmesean Cheese (reserve 1/4 cup for top of lasagna)
1 cup Mozzarella shredded cheese (reserve 1/3 cup for the top of lasagna)
1 large jar marinara sauce (or whatever spaghetti sauce you like)
1/2 tsp dried oregano

*I pre-cooked the sausage prior to putting together the lasagna

Other items needed for day of dinner:
-Steamed broccoli
-small side salad

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

*Each lasagna gave me 9 LARGE pieces of lasagna or 12 smaller pieces
*I froze these in tupperware containers - 2 pieces in each

Veggie Lasagna
Lasagna noodles (9)
8oz Low Fat Cottage Cheese
8oz Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Parmesean Cheese (reserve 1/4 cup for top of lasagna)
1 cup Mozzarella shredded cheese (reserve 1/3 cup for the top of lasagna)
1 large jar of marinara sauce (or whatever spaghetti sauce you like)
1 yellow squash sliced
1 zucchini sliced
1 onion
1 cup spinach
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic
salt and pepper

*I sauted all of the veggies prior to putting together the lasagna

Other items needed for day of dinner:
-bread or rolls

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

*Each lasagna gave me 9 LARGE pieces of lasagna or 12 smaller pieces
*I froze these in tupperware containers - 2 pieces in each

That's all folks!  I hope you love these recipes as much as I do!
Happy cooking!

Chicken Enchilads you will LOVE!

I have always been intimidated by making Mexican food!  I don't know why..... probably just because I didn't grow up with it and the only "Mexican" I knew of when I was young was the colorful and extremely Americanized version at "Chi-Chis" restaurant (remember that place?!). 

I couldn't find a recipe that I liked for enchiladas so I decided to just create my own version.  My husband loved it and I was happy with how it turned out, not to mention, it was super easy to prepare!

Ingredients (the below recipe will give you 5 servings)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 onion - diced
1 small can of green chilies
1 can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos
1tsp of chopped garlic
2 tbsn olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1tsp paprika
5 tortillas
1 packet of enchilada red sauce (this can be found either in jars, cans, or sauce packets)
Rice
1 16oz package of shredded quasadilla cheese (or any kind of mexican blend you like) divided

Here's what you do.......

I had frozen chicken breasts so I just threw them in my crockpot on low in the morning and let them cook all day (6-8 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high).  I like to do it this way when I am making something with shredded chicken, because once the chicken in the crock pot is done, it shreds itself and is moist and tender. 

If you don't want to crock pot it, you can boil the chicken or saute it.... whatever you like! 

Next, saute the garlic and onions in olive oil in a pan until tender.  Then, add in your tomatoes and green chilis.  Simmer on low heat.

Add in your seasonings: pepper, salt, cumin and paprika.  Mix these spices into your onion mixture that is simmering on the stove. 

Next, add in your shredded chicken to the onion mixture.

You are almost done!! 

Heat up your tortillas for about 30 seconds in the microwave.  This makes them more pliable so they don't crack when you roll them.

Then, lay out a tortilla and spoon some chicken/onion mixture onto your tortilla.  Add some cheese and then roll up and place in your baking dish.

Repeat for all 5 tortillas.

Once all of your tortillas are filled and rolled, pour the red enchilada sauce over the tortillas, spreading evenly.

Then, top off the entire dish with the remaining cheese.

 Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, I like to turn my oven on "broil" and burn the top of the cheese slightly.  This step is not crucial, but in our house, we like color on our cheese!  It is critical during this step though, that you stand at your oven and watch - using the broiler can be an amazing thing if done right, but, 5 seconds too long and you could burn your entire dish (I know this from experience!).  Once there is color on your cheese, remove it immediately from the oven.

*When my enchiladas are in the oven for the 30 minutes, I make my rice.  The rice will be the "bed" of the dish, and the enchilada will be served on top of it.

You can use spanish rice, mexican rice, white rice, brown rice - whatever your little heart desires!

Plate your yummy cheesy enchiladas and rice and enjoy!