Paula Dean's Baked Spaghetti

14.5 can diced tomatoes
29 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced green pepper
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tsp House Seasoning (recipe to follow)
2 1/2 tsp sugar
2 bay leaves
1 lb cooked sausage
16 oz cooked angel hair pasta
2 cups cheddar cheese

Combine diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, onion, green pepper, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, house seasoning, sugar, and bay leaves in a large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least an hour.

Add cooked sausage to pot and simmer 20 minutes more. Remove bay leaves before assembling casserole.

To make casserole spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray. Cover the bottom with sauce and then layer with: 1/2 the pasta, 1/2 the cheese, sauce, remaining pasta, and remaining sauce.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Add remaining cup of cheese and bake another 5 minutes.

House Seasoning
1/2 cup salt, 2 Tbsp black pepper, 2 Tbsp garlic powder
Combine and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Cheesy Ham & Apple Panini

1 Tbsp Mayo (I leave this out)
1 tsp dijon mustard (I leave this out also...)
2 slices Italian sandwich bread
2-3 oz smoked ham
1 oz smoked gruyere cheese
6 thin slices granny smith apples
red onion slices
1 tsp olive oil

Assemble sandwich and brush the outside of the bread with the olive oil. Cook on panini grill for 3 minutes or until golden brown.

My Weight Watcher calculator gives this sandwich a point value of 8 when no mayo or mustard is used. It looks like just adding the 1 Tbsp of mayo will cost you an extra 3 points. I am very glad I am repulsed by mayo. =)

Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas

1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced onions
3/4 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 lbs chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 medium green or red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
8 flour tortillas

Mix juices, oil, all of the spices and salt in small bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade. Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag or glass dish. Add remaining marinade; turn to coat well. Refrigerate 30 minutes or longer for extra flavor.

Cook and stir chicken in large heated skillet on medium-high heat 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from skillet. Add bell pepper, onion and reserved marinade; cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender. Return chicken to skillet. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through.

Spoon chicken mixture into warmed tortillas. Serve with assorted toppings, if desired.

Weekly Meal Plan

I shop on Friday or Saturday, so I like to start my Meal Plan week on a Sunday.

I like blogs that list their meal plan b/c it gives me idea when I am in a rut. I plan on having these posted on Sunday every week and if I have a recipe already in my blog I will link up to it. Otherwise a recipe is likely to follow.

Here we go!

Sunday: Chicken Fajitas, Black Beans, Rice or Corn
Monday: Paula Dean's Pasta Bake, Broccoli, Rolls/Bread
Tuesday: French Onion Soup; Chicken Nuggets for Colin
Wednesday: Sweet & Sticky Orange Chicken with Rice
Thursday: Breakfast - Bacon, Eggs, Breakfast Potatoes
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Crockpot Cheesy Potato Soup

Trick-or-Treat

This was Colin's first year Trick-or-Treating. First we went to Mamaw's house to visit before we headed over to World Outreach for the Harvest Hoedown (or something like that). We only stayed about 15 minutes. As grand and spectacular the event is, there just isn't anything geared toward toddlers. The Pre-school tent was plenty busy but he doesn't have the skills to kick a ball into a hole or throw a rock at the giants head. I wish they had things like a duck pond where he could pick a duck with a number on the bottom for his prize or that plinko thing with a ball that you put in the top and would fall to the bottom between all the metal pegs. We played in the rice and looked at the horses and then we were done. We may try again in a year or two, but honestly, he enjoyed Trick-or-Treating so much more that we may not go back.

He is a GREAT Trick-or-Treater. Although he can't say "trick-or-treat" he loved running up to the door with his little pumpkin basket. He especially loved houses with dog. He wasn't at all interested in the candy and treats but loved the dogs. He would bark at them and try to pet them.

We didn't need all the candy he got in our house, so we pulled out the suckers and a couple of Reese's for me and then added the rest to our bowl of candy for the trick-or-treaters. I guess we "re-gifted" candy. At least it won't end up on my hips. =)

First house of the night - Mamaw's!

She passed out Teddy Grahams

This is how we carried around Snoopy

Watching horses at WOC

Charlie Brown and Mommy

Charlie Brown and Daddy

The Peanut Gang - Lucy, Linus, and Charlie Brown

You can see Linus' body on his shirt.

Lucy's can said "The Doctor is in"

Mady came by with some yummy cookies!

Sadly, the best picture I got of Colin and Mady.

Doing and little trick-or-treating. This house was my favorite. They were very excited to see Charlie Brown!