Fazoli's Snacks Review

When I was in school, we used to pick up food on Thursday nights every week as a treat for making it through the week. We did it on Thursdays because we often spent Friday nights at my dad’s house. One of the places we would go is Fazoli’s. There was one in our town and they have breadsticks. I love Italian food a lot. I remember ordering delicious food from the drive thru. I always preferred going in and eating though because they were always walking around with the baskets of breadsticks. When you went to the drive thru you only got a couple. We would go to Fazoli’s about once a month, alternating other fast food restaurants the other weeks. It’s been a while since I have been to Fazoli’s, and boy did I miss it. I said did because now Fazoli's has their own brand of appetizers in the frozen section at Walmart called Fazoli's Snacks. There is really something for everyone.

They even have mini cheese filled breadsticks that Noah loves. I love the dipping sauce. It’s so flavorful. It’s also cheaper and better than ordering pizza every time Noah or I want breadsticks, which is a lot.   I personally love the Boneless Parmesan Chicken. It even comes with marina sauce for dipping! So if your kids aren’t sauce fans they can enjoy it too! I can’t wait for Noah to try the Six Cheese Toasted Ravioli because he is the pickiest kid in the world. He doesn’t eat meat and he doesn’t like sauce! I know I know, he’s goofy as can be. I really like that the Six Cheese Toasted Ravioli has the sauce on the side. Maybe he will try it then. I really like the Lasagna Fritta too.  I love Lasagna and this is a great way to have a bite size easy way to eat it. The crust is great too. I think that Fazoli’s Snacks are great for any get together, game night or to have for dinner. Make different varieties and have an amazing Italian buffet! 

For more information Please visit Fazoli’s Snacks website

You can find Fazoli’s  Snacks in the freezer section at your Local Wal-Mart.

I received some coupons to try out Fazoli’s Snacks. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Healthy Snacks for Traveling

It's no secret I love food. I love going grocery shopping. I love cooking and baking. I love to eat. When I am traveling for the holidays or just in general, it's all about the food. We used to bring snack bags on trips with us. My Grandma Rose always made the best snack bags. She would have one waiting for us and have one for us to take with us on the way home. It was one of my favorite things. I would give anything to have one right now. When Noah was about three, I started making Noah a snack bag for when we travel. It is a great way to give him healthy choices while saving money. Buying snacks every time we stop is not practical or affordable. The choices are not the best and well Noah is extremely picky. I have to make sure while we are traveling for the holidays, he has good choices for snacks and drinks. Gas stations don't really offer much when it comes to kids' drinks. He likes some juice and keeping gas station milk ice cold can be challenging even with a cooler. I am teaching him about healthy foods and that treats are fine in moderation but when you only have junk as a choice something needs to be done.

Be sure to read this post about what I put in our Holiday Snack Bag for Travel

Sheila's Strawberry Cake Recipe

One of my favorite fruits, probably my favorite fruit is strawberries. When they aren't in season they can be really expensive or not very sweet. I am also a really busy mom and I don't always have time to devote in the kitchen to make a dessert. I had to come up with something easy and delicious. Something my super picky kiddo would also enjoy. He gets sick of the same old desserts. So I thought about things we used to make growing up and I remembered what I called Strawberry Cake.  Now you can put strawberries on shortcakes, which I am not really a fan of. You can put strawberries on Angel Food Cake, while I love Angel Food Cake, I think it is perfect as is. I wanted to share with you my two ingredient Strawberry Cake Recipe.





Sheila's Strawberry Cake Recipe:

1 pound cake or slices of pound cake.  I think it's brilliant they sell it sliced. Coming from someone who never would finish a loaf.

1 container of frozen strawberries in the juice.

Defrost both the strawberries and the pound cake. Cut a slice or two of pound cake and top with a few spoonfuls of strawberries. Don't forget the extra juice.

You can top with whipped cream if you would like and enjoy.

Macaroni and Cheese made in a New Way!

Now that it is getting warmer, I know a lot of people don’t want to use their ovens and stoves because it heats up their home. People who don’t have central air like my bestie, Brandy is one of them, especially stick to sandwiches in the summer. I came up with a genius way to make Mac and Cheese. I know what you are thinking, in the microwave. It’s gross in the microwave, trust me I know.  It’s not the microwave however. It’s in an electric skillet. They are such an amazing invention, and I love mine. Our oven and stove are having issues at the moment and Noah really wanted mac and cheese. 

So, it dawned on me, after making what my best friend calls poor man grilled cheese with toast and the microwave. I could use my electric skillet. It was sitting on my counter. In my defense, it had been a long five days at this point.  I was curious how making Mac and cheese in the electric skillet would turn out.  I carefully measured six cups of water per the instructions on the Kraft Mac and Cheese box. I have honestly only measured water a few times for mac and cheese in my life. I didn’t want to over fill or get the electric skillet wet before using. The other times were probably in Home Ec or Foods class because I am convinced that the teachers know exactly to a science what 6 cups of water look like. I wouldn’t want to get points off of my grades. Cooking is one of my passions and I can’t fail at that ever. It’s not allowed.  Here’s how I made it.

Mac and Cheese in an Electric Skillet

6 cups of water

1 box Kraft Mac and Cheese

4 tablespoons butter

¼ cup milk

Turn on the electric skillet to 350 degrees. Carefully place 6 cups of water in the electric skillet. Bring water to a boil. It doesn’t take as long in the electric skillet unless you have a super fast stove that boils water in 90 seconds.

Pour in Macaroni and cook for 7 and a half minutes.

Drain macaroni

I then poured the macaroni in a Tupperware bowl and add the butter and let it melt.

Add the cheese mix and the milk and stir until completely mixed.

Enjoy!

This would be great if you are in a hotel room or at college too.

It tastes and looks exactly like I made it on the stove.

Hibachi Shrimp Recipe

It is no secret that my favorite food is Japanese. I don't like sushi though. I used to love to go to Japanese Steakhouses. I still love to go to them but haven't been to one since I was in New Hampshire in December 2011. The one I went to was not very good at all, but I didn't get sick so that is good. I did have a good time even though it was loud and not very Japanese steakhouse like.  I love Hibachi Shrimp. It's not really a secret how it is made as they make it right in front of you. I don't know why I paid so much for so long when it is so much cheaper to make at home. I love the Japanese Onion soup so that may be part of it.  I also know how to make that at home too and you get tons of it.  I wanted to share how to make the shrimp.  Hopefully they won't come after me with knives or throw me in an onion volcano. 

Hibachi Shrimp

One pound of raw tailess shrimp
A big spoon of garlic butter
Soy sauce

Three ingredients that's all.

Prep the shrimp by cutting them in pieces. Place the butter in the skillet. I always use an electric skillet add the shrimp and cook through. Add soy sauce and finish cooking and Voila you have the same hibachi shrimp and tons of it, just like the Japanese steak houses make.

You're Welcome.

How to Make Mashed Potatoes from the Box Taste Homemade

I love mashed potatoes. I don't have enough time all the time to make them from scratch. I have a really good ranch mashed potato recipe to share with you some time. We have mashed potatoes almost every week depending on our menu. Like many others I use the boxed kind for the convenience. For some reason I don't follow the directions on the box.  I realized that I make them wrong, however I still do it because it tastes really good. I like thicker mashed potatoes personally. I used to eat Salisbury steak TV dinners but never ate the mashed potatoes. They are not too good in my opinion. I am pretty weird though. I still don't eat them.  I have perfected my boxed mashed potato recipe. It's really good too. Trust me!

How to make boxed mashed potatoes taste like homemade every time. 

This makes four servings which is like really like three.

1 and 1/4 cup water
2/3 cups of milk
A stick of butter cut in half.
Potato flakes ( I don't really measure them. I just as much as it takes to get the consistency you like)

Combine half a stick of butter with the water and milk and bring to a boil on high heat. As soon as it starts to rise take it off the heat and add the flakes. Combine and then add the remaining half of stick of butter and salt and pepper to taste.

I know you aren't really suppose to boil milk but it doesn't burn or anything in this recipe.

How to make Peanut Butter Shells

When you think of making candy it seems like a really involved process. I made a ton of delicious peanut butter shells. When I say shells I mean seashells. I have a shell mold. Of course I do. Are you new? Noah loves shells and sea life. After my infamous Crisis Cooking with Sheila episode and trying every easy method to make these darn shells. I figured out that a spoon works the best. I used one of Noah's toddler spoons. It made it easier for control purposes. I tried the pastry bag. It wasted too much of the goodie. I tried a squirt bottle. It was impossible. So lets just say when I finished them I was not making them with love anymore. I was extremely frustrated and angry. So, use a spoon. It will save you hours of grumpiness.  Here is my recipe. It has two ingredients. It sounds like it would take a long time to set but it doesn't. Like twenty minutes in the fridge.

Sheila's peanut butter shells

Reese's peanut butter chips
Shortening

Combine half a bag of Reese's chips with a teaspoon of shortening. Microwave it for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 17 seconds and stir until melted. Carefully fill the molds. Carefully drop them on the counter.

Refrigerate  for twenty minutes until hard pop them out and do it again.
I figured out that two bags makes six trays of shells as long as you aren't sloppy.

It's a beautiful and yummy treat for anyone who likes peanut butter.

The Butterball Cookbook Plus App Review

If you know me, you know how important food is to me. I love to eat. A lot of my memories have food associated with the memory. One of my favorite meals is smoked sausage and fried potatoes.  It reminds me of my grandparents. My Grandma Rose always made smoked sausage and fried potatoes for my Grandpa and my uncles when they would come over for lunch. The smell of fried potatoes and smoked sausage, transports me to my Grandma’s kitchen. My mom also made this meal for me a lot when I was growing up. I had the opportunity to try out some Butterball Turkey Dinner Sausage. I had never tried turkey sausage before. I was excited to see how it fared to what I was used to. Butterball also has a free app called Butterball Cookbook Plus. It has all kinds of recipes. There are so many good ones. I think the Pizza Turn Overs sound amazing. I also thought the Mini Spinach and Turkey Bacon Quiches sound really good.  Here is more information about the app:

Butterball ® Cookbook Plus is only FREE for a limited time so make sure you snag this app while you can!

Butterball ® Cookbook Plus also features in-app purchases for additional themed recipe packs including how to prepare gluten-free meals for more delicious recipe ideas.

Voice Commands: Advanced recipe instructions, using simple voice commands. I love this because I can know the recipe hands free. 

My Recipe Box: Bookmark your favorite recipes from within the app and add recipes from your personal collection.  I love the recipe box, the most. I can find all the recipes I want to try without having to write them down.

Network with Friends and Family: Share what you're cooking with friends and family via email and Facebook I love sharing recipes with friends and family via Social Media.

Kitchen Tools: Access to multiple timers, substitution lists, and measurement conversion charts are tools everyone in the kitchen needs. 

Never forget an item again with the Shopping List. Tag ingredients directly from a recipe and add them your shopping list. Print or email your list. Talk about convenient. 

I had thought about trying the Classic Smoked Sausage Mac and Cheese, but I decided that since I have wanted Dinner Sausage and fried potatoes, I would test the Turkey Sausage as is. I am so glad I did. It was really delicious. One thing I noticed was it isn’t as fatty as beef smoked sausage. There wasn’t a ton of grease in the bottom of the pan. I think that is great. Sometimes when I eat smoked sausage I feel kind of greasy inside.  I feel that it is a great alternative for Beef Dinner Sausage. I did notice a slight difference in taste, which is to be expected. It was really good. I even enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today.  I will definitely try out the other recipes and let you all know what I think.

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The Butterball Cookbook Plus App is available for free on iTunes.