Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a fabulous, safe, and love-filled Christmas!

No-Hamburger Helper

I often use ground turkey instead of ground beef in Hamburger Helper. This recipe is a healthier alternative to the boxed stuff and tastes just as good, if not better. My apologies for forgetting to take a picture before it got devoured!



Ingredients

• 1.25 lb. ground turkey (why aren't they ever packaged in 1 lb containers?!)
• 1 (28oz) jar pasta sauce
• 1 3/4 c. water
• 8 oz. pasta, I used large shells
• 1/2 c. mozzarella, shredded
• 1/4 parsley, roughly chopped

Directions
Brown ground turkey in a large skillet. Add pasta sauce and water, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and add pasta. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until pasta is cooked through. Top with shredded cheese, cook an additional 3 minutes to let cheese melt. Sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Frosty the Cheeseball

This weekend was my mother-in-law's annual Christmas party. She found a snowman made of cream cheese in Family Fun magazine and commissioned me to build him for the occassion. I used the magazine article as a guideline but did my own thing with Frosty.

*I wasn't quick enough with the camera, someone already started snacking!*

Tools:

• 16 oz. cream cheese
• 1 T. garlic powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1 large carrot
• raisins
• 1 toothpick
• 1 green olive
• 2 Ritz crackers
• 1 saltine cracker
• 1 sprig parsley (I'd go with rosemary or thyme next time as the parsley got wilted)
• 2 pretzels (I'm using the pretzel sticks next time; it's a pain to cut the orginals just right to make the little arms)
  

Method:

1. Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature. Mix in garlic powder and salt. Chill about 2 hours. Roll 2/3 of cream cheese into a ball for the body and place in the center of your plate. Roll remaining 1/3 of cream cheese into a ball for the head and gently press onto body.
2. Shave off outer layer of carrot with a vegetable peeler. Use the tip of the carrot for Frosty's nose. Shave a large strip with your vegetable peeler for his scarf.
3. Press raisins into face and body for eyes, mouth and buttons. Insert toothpick into, but not all the way through, olive for his pipe. Insert pretzel arms. Assemble hat and attach to the head.
4. Make ahead and refrigerate; set out at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

*Use excess cream cheese from the mixing bowl to "glue" scarf and hat pieces together.

EDIT: Thank you for the Linky Love, Kimba!

Artichoke-Stuffed Mushrooms

(Photo: www.freerecipes.org)

You will need:

• 30 baby portabello mushrooms
• 1/2 c. neufchatel cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 c. artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
• 1/4 c. roasted red bell peppers, roughly chopped
• 1 T. jalepeno (seeded, cored & finely chopped)
• 1/3 c. italian bread crumbs
• cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425*F. Mix cream cheese, artichoke hearts, roasted red bell peppers and jalapeno in food processor until combined. I like it a little bit chunky.
2. Use a paring knife to cut around the stem of each mushroom, being careful not to cut all the way through. Pop the stem out to reveal a little mushroom bowl.
3. Put artichoke mixture into a large ziplock bag, then one corner off to make a pastry bag. Pipe the filling into each mushroom. Top with bread crumbs and spray a little bit of cooking spray on top.
4. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or until bread crumbs are golden and delicious-looking.
   

And the best part...they are only about 45 calories each! Great for a holiday appetizer or a Girls Night In (which is where I took these little puppies on Friday night).

Wedding Photos

Finally, right?! We have officially been married 3 weeks and 2 days...and boy has it been a busy 2 weeks since coming home from the honeymoon. My poor blog has been neglected between work, Thanksgiving, unpacking from vacation and finding places for wedding gifts. BUT, the wedding photos have been shared with family, co-workers, friends and are now ready for blog land. Enjoy!

Click on the photo to view album:

The Wedding

...now I have a lot of blogs to catch up on!