Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Do not let the slow cooker part confuse you.  This recipe is not a quick toss everything into the slow cooker and enjoy sort of recipe.  It’s a bit more labor intensive but oh so worth it!

Now that I have been cooking regularly for several months, I have been trying to modify and create my own recipes.  Many Italian recipes I have been finding online requires a jar of spaghetti sauce.  That is the first thing I eliminate from every recipe I try.  Instead, I substitute a can of tomato sauce.

I do this for two reasons.  First, with tomato sauce, I can control the level of salt and spices.  Spaghetti sauce generally is full of salt.  I can just add a pinch of salt instead of being subjected to the already mixed salty sauce.  Plus, my herb garden allows me to add fresh spices instead of the dried ones.  Second, a can of tomato sauce is far cheaper.  So with health and my wallet on my side, I haven’t missed the jar of spaghetti sauce in my recipes.

True to form, I have modified this recipe slightly.  Subbing out the spaghetti sauce and modifying some ingredients and prep.  This recipe was a huge hit.  It allowed us to enjoy the delicious taste of wings without the deep fried fat.

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Pizza Pasta Bake

This weekend my in-laws came to visit.  It’s a 6 hour drive from their place to ours so they usually do not get in until around 9 or 10.  The visit always starts out with my father-in-law suggesting we get pizza.  But because it’s around 9, all the places around us only do delivery and Matt and him debate whether delivery will take too long.  And after discussing it for 20 minutes, a delivered pizza would likely already be on its way.  So this time I decided to skip the whole first act and make something.  This pizza bake was a huge hit.  My father-in-law got his pizza fix, and Matt got his bake fix.

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S’mores Bars

This was a week testing my resilience.  First, a semi-truck smashed into me on 94.  It was 8:30 am–rush hour.  We had slowed down to about 5 mph when I looked into my rear view mirror and saw a semi barreling towards me.   My heart sunk, and I told myself to think like a sponge (old hockey trick).  He pushed me into the car in front of me.  The entire experience was terrifying.  I had to be taken by ambulance because I hit my head.  But I survived.  Have some major bruising and some serious whiplash but nothing that cannot be fixed.  Except of course for Sally.  Sally is was my car.  She was totaled.  My poor baby.  Then someone stole all the stuff out of my car–my yoga block, water bottle, etc. when it was towed.  It was a sad day for Sally.

RIP Sally.

I figured after all this, it was time for me to indulge in a dessert.  Even better, I had an excuse to make a dessert without eating the entire pan (nope, I only ate about a quarterish!)  We had our neighborhood block party this week.  Everyone brought a dish to pass, and my s’mores bar had a nice indent when it was time to clean up.  I’ll take that as a good sign since there was a plethora of desserts to choose from.

Also, we have TONS of chocolate.  See, last weekend was my friend’s bridal shower that I co-hosted.   We had a chocolate fountain filled with 10 pounds of chocolate.  Of course, this is a bridal shower of ladies.  Ladies who aren’t going to eat pounds and pounds of chocolate dipped fruit.  So, I came home with more chocolate than anyone ever needs.  Honestly, we have so much that I could have taken a bath in it.  It was the perfect storm of excuses.  It was time for some dessert.

So I went on a search for recipes that need melted chocolate.  Matt loves marshmallows more than anyone I’ve ever met so when I found this recipe, I knew it was the one.

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