Yummy Parmesan Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Hi! Long time, no write. Sorry. Been busy, blah blah blah. Excuses, excuses. Apparently, I had forgotten how busy a baby can keep you. Holy cow! So much has happened, but I'll skip the boring part and get to the goods...

Who doesn't love chicken? Besides, ya know, vegetarians and crazy people. I could seriously eat chicken every single day and never tire of it. Ever! And, to make chicken breasts even better, stuff them! Here's a simple, quick recipe:
Ingredients:
 -Chicken breasts
 -1 tsp Cayenne pepper, Chili pepper, Pepper, Italian Seasoning, & Garlic Powder (Good amount for 4 breasts)
 -1 Tbsp Oregano, Garlic Salt, & Basil (Good amount for 4 breasts)
 -1 Tbsp per breast of Parmesan Cheese
 -1 Tbsp per breast of softened Cream Cheese
 -2 Tbsp per breast of Spaghetti Sauce
 -Shredded Cheddar Cheese

You'll need aluminum foil for cooking.

Go ahead and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together the seasonings, cream cheese, and the spaghetti sauce.

Next, butterfly cut your chicken breast (cut almost all the way in half).

Then, spread the sauce/seasoning mixture across the top. Sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese.

Throw some shredded cheese on top of it all - we like cheese a lot, so I put quite a bit on there.

Then, fold it back together as best as you can. Place your chicken in the foil and inside of a pan. Wrap the foil around your chicken breasts. Cook for twenty minutes, then another ten minutes with the foil open.

Like I said, we like cheese. So, after the thirty minutes were up, I added some more cheese and chopped onion to the tops and cooked for another 5 minutes. Completely optional. I put ours on top of some Alfredo noodles, and it was the BOMB DIGGITY!!!!! So yummy!

Thief Thursday, No Bake Peanut Butter/Chocolate Bars

That is actually quite a mouthful to say. Oh well-it's too delicious to really care. I was in the mood for something chocolate this afternoon, but since my husband is all healthy and what not, we don't have anything already made. So, thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find a quick recipe to make. Here's the link to the original poster.

What's Needed:

-1 cup Graham cracker crumbs

-1 cup peanut butter

-1/2 cup butter

-1 cup powdered sugar

-1 cup milk chocolate chips

--Microwave save bowl

--Spoon or fork

--Glass dish to set them up in

I had to make my own powdered sugar and cracker crumbs. I used the same amount of sugar and blended it for 1 minute to make it into a powder. I made the crumbs in the blender using one package of Graham crackers.

Next, melt your butter and peanut butter together in your bowl (I did 1:11 in our microwave). Stir. Take a taste test, just to make sure it's not poisonous.

If it's not, then continue.

Add in the rest of your dry ingredients (not chocolate chips) and stir some more. Take another test bite, to make sure it isn't terrible.

Still good? Good! Now, press it into the bottom of your pan, melt your chocolate, and pour it on top. I did mine pie style, but that's just for convenience of eating one handed while I hold or feed baby.

Here's my piece:

Oh how I love chocolate and peanut butter combined. So heavenly tasting.

Do you have a favorite recipe? Share it on here and I may just try it and blog about it. I love trying new things!

DIY Puppy Treats, Part 1

 How much would your spoiled pooch absolutely love you if you made him/her some delicious, peanut butter puppy treats? Don’t laugh! They are so easy to make and even my picky doggies enjoy eating them! And… just think of the money you’ll save by making your own versus buying them AND you know exactly what your dog is eating. Sounds like good enough reasons to me!

  Materials Needed (makes appx several dozen 1.5” treats - seriously it makes a ton):
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (you can use bleached, but it’s not as healthy and may be harder for dogs to digest)
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ cup broth (beef for my dogs)
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

 I put mine in my KitchenAid mixer bowl because 1) it’s easier on me, 2) I’m lazy, 3) I could do other things while it mixed, and 4) something slightly more heavy duty works better for this recipe because it gets pretty thick (but I used my hand held mixer every time I’ve made these treats up until now).
 

 

 Combine all of your dry ingredients first. Mix well so that the cinnamon is distributed evenly through the crumbs and flour.

 Next, add in all of the other ingredients and mix for 3-4 minutes on Speed 2. Make sure that the dough is in a ball on your mixer and is no longer sticking to the sides.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough until ¼ inch thickness.
 

 

 Cut with cookie cutter.

Place your millions of little treats on an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 35-40 minutes, or until lightly browned.

 

Store in an airtight container. Put some in freezer to ensure that they last even longer!


And, if I may note, these dang things smell very appetizing while they are in the oven. Not fair! I, of course silly me, hadn’t eaten almost all day and then had to smell these things for hours while I was cooking them. Although all of the ingredients are edible, I’m just not sure about the whole cinnamon-with-peanut-butter-with-beef-broth-thing would actually taste. Unless you are a dog, in which case they taste scrumptious.

Look forward to a Part 2: DIY Yogurt Topping for Puppy Treats recipe!

If you decide your dog should definitely be allowed to have these healthy and yummy puppy treats, but don’t want to take the time to cook them yourself (Hey, I won’t judge!), they will soon be available for purchase in my Etsy shop: Etsy.com/shop/MommysSewClever

Thief Thursday, Laundry Detergent Pods

Today, I'm going to show you how to make amazing laundry detergent pods! The Diva and I made a batch three weeks ago, and I love it! My laundry smells amazing, I don't have to measure my detergent, I know exactly what chemicals I'm wearing, and it's SO cheap to make!

You can find the original recipe here, but I tweaked it in a way that made a smaller batch than what she had posted.

Ingredients needed:

- 1 1/4 c. Borax

- 1 c. Super Washing Soda

- 3/4 c. Powdered OxyClean

- 1/4 Bar of Laundry Soap

- 1 c. Baking Soda

- 1 1/2 - 2 c. Purex Crystals Fabric Softener

We, also, used the following:

- Ice Tray

- Tablespoon

- Large Bowl

- Small Bowl

- Blender

- Microwave

- Plate

- Whisk

First thing we did was cut the bar of soap into fourths and microwave one of the pieces. Weput it in for 45 seconds, let it cool, tthen another 45 seconds. Above is what our soap looked like when it emerged from the microwave. It felt like Styrofoam. LET IT COOL AND HARDEN! If you don't, the next step won't be as easy or work to well: crumble the soap in a large bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. 

So, this is what it looks like if you don't wait. We didn't at first and so we got big chunks. But, after we let the soap harden, it crumbled nicely. But, since you want it to be as fine as possible, we cheated and put ours in our Ninja Blender. 

Much better, is it not? Perfect powder substance. This is where the original poster stopped, but I wanted the pods so I could just toss the detergent in without measuring, so I went even further. 

In a small bowl, we then added water a teaspoon at a time until we got this consistency. It's not quite wet, but is damp enough to mold it. 

And, we did mold them - into our pods. We put a tablespoon full of our mixture into each cube of the ice tray. Then, we popped them into the freezer for about an hour. You really don't need to put them in the freezer, but I wanted them to take shape quicker so I could take them out of the trays and test them out. 

Beautiful, aren't they? The Diva and I are so proud of ourselves. I use two pods for my large loads, and one for my small loads. When it comes to my medium loads, I determine the number on how dirty my laundry is. The above picture is only one container full of our pods. I have two and a half more already in the cabinet from this one batch.We love these and will continue to make them as long as possible. They work wonders on stains.