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5 Minute Tortelloni Dinner

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I love homemade meals.  Homemade spaghetti with chopped up carrots, celery, garlic, and onions.  Yum!  Sometimes though, life doesn’t slow down long enough to prepare a meal made from scratch.  Sometimes short cuts are okay.  Embrace the short cuts sometimes and give yourself grace!

I want to share with you a favorite short cut delicious dinner that I pull out every so often.  It takes 5 minutes to make.  Yea, I know, crazy, right?  Okay, maybe a little longer depending how fast your stove will boil water.  My 5 Minute Tortelloni Recipe is easy though and absolutely delicious!

Delicious Tortelloni in five minutesShopping List:

– Mezzetta Napa Valley Homemade Marinara Pasta Sauce (Roasted garlic & caramelized onions is a great choice!)

– Refrigerated tortelloni (chicken/mozzarella is my fave)

– Fresh basil

– Parmesan cheese for grating

– Loaf of Italian bread (optional)

Tortellini Recipe

Recipe:

– Bring water to a gentle boil. Add tortelloni.

– Heat Mezzetta marinara sauce.

– Meanwhile, wash and chop the fresh basil.

– Drain tortelloni and cover with marinara sauce.  Garnish with fresh basil and Parmesan.  Serve immediately.

Quick Italian Meal

I’m telling you, it feels like you’re cheating on dinner but it tastes so good that you won’t feel bad for it.  Mezzetta marinara sauces are a high end line of sauces that taste delicious!

Mezzetta is hosting a fabulous giveaway where you can win the perfect pasta night!  Just click the picture below to enter!  Good luck!

Mezzetta

Sweet and Salty No-Bake Clusters with Honey Bunches of Oats

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This is a sponsored post but all the yummy pictures are my own. : )

No Bake Clusters Recipe

Honey Bunches Of Oats is a cereal that my family loves and I feel good about feeding them.  Recently, I was asked by Honey Bunches of Oats to make their version of sweet and salty no-bake clusters using their cereal.  I’ve always loved been obsessed by no-bakes so I had to give it a try.  If you like sweet and salty treats, you’ll love these.  They are delicious!  You have to make these to experience this chocolatey, honey, crunchy goodness for yourself!

Here’s the recipe and it makes 2 dozen clusters.  You can thank me later! : )

Ingredients:

  • – 1 cup sugar
  • – 2 tablespoons cocoa
  • – 1/4 cup butter
  • – 1/4 cup milk
  • – 1/2 cup reduced fat peanut butter
  • – 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • – 1 1/2 cup Honey Bunches of Oats Honey Roasted Crunch
  • – 1 cup pretzels
  • – 1/2 cup peanuts

Directions:

  1. In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla, peanuts, pretzels and cereal.
  2. On a baking sheet coated with waxed paper, drop mixture by 2 Tablespoon scoops. Place sheet in the refrigerator until the clusters are cooled and hardened. When ready, gently pull clusters off of the waxed paper. Store clusters in the refrigerator.

This is a great treat to make for a summer picnic or cook out.  The prep time was only 15 minutes and from start to finish they were ready in an hour.  If you have young kiddos at home, this is a great recipe to let them help with because there aren’t any raw ingredients that they couldn’t eat.  I know I’ll be making these again soon and next time I’ll have my daughter help me.  She loves to measure and mix.  I love simple recipes that I can make with my little “helper.”  If you give this a try, let me know how you like it!

Sweet and salty no bake clusters

Watermelon Krispie Treats

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Watermelon Krispie Treats

A friend of mine made these adorable Watermelon Krispie Treats for her family and was kind enough to share with us how she did it!  {She took the simple and quick method but if you want a longer method using Kool-Aid check out the watermelon treats from Dine and Dish.  They also have a cute hamburger made out of homemade Rice Krispie Treats!}

Instructions:

  • – Follow Kelloggs’ Rice Krispie Treat recipe except you’ll divide the marshmellow-y goodness in half and add green food coloring to one half and red to the other.
  • – Use a springform pan for easy release and a perfect shape.
  • – Once your watermelon is cooled you can add raisins or chocolate chips.

That’s it!  Just slice and serve.  One 9 inch pan should feed quite a few people.  Enjoy!!

Homemade Sugar Cubes

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Homemade Sugar Cubes

No proper princess tea party is complete without sugar cubes but why spend money on expensive sugar cubes when all they are is sugar and water?  Plus, when you make homemade sugar cubes you can add color, flavoring, and you’re not restricted to just cubes – you can make them any shape!

Here’s the recipe I used for the sugar cubes (& rectangles) seen above.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 tbsp water
Food coloring (teensy amount!)
1/8 tsp vanilla flavoring (optional)
Plastic candy molds or small fondant cookie cutters (optional)

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar and water until it’s moistened.  Add a little more sugar or water to get the desired wet sand consistency.

2. Add just a tiny bit of food coloring if you wish.  I used Wilton’s gel food coloring and one tiny bit on the end of a toothpick was plenty.  You can always add more so start slow.  Add the 1/8 teaspoon of flavoring here if you would like.

3. If you’re using a mold firmly press the sugar into the mold.  It needs to be compact to hold it’s shape.  If you’re using fondant cookie cutters place the cookie cutter on parchment paper, pack with sugar, gently lift the cookie cutter, and repeat.

4. Allow to dry completely!  I skipped this step on my first batch and I had to be super careful when handling them – it was not pretty!  I would prepare these a day in advance to give plenty of time to dry.  Sugar cubes can be kept as long as regular sugar can as long as it’s in an airtight container at room temperature.

My first attempt at sugar cubes didn’t go so well because I didn’t allow for them to properly dry but every attempt after that has been perfection.  Give it a try once and I don’t think you’ll ever buy sugar cubes again!

Vendors:
Photographer for my daughter’s birthday party was:  Carrie Helms Photography, Decorations provided by Dahlia’s Flowers.

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