I made tuna noodle casserole before, but I decided to revisit it. I hadn’t made it since that last post, and after cooking it again, I will definitely include this meal on a more regular basis.  It’s easy to make, and it’s a pretty inexpensive meal to make as well!  You can probably buy all the ingredients and it’ll end up to cost less than $10.  I also added the full recipe below from Campbell’s Kitchen, and you can print it straight from the blog! 

Here are the ingredients I used:

Here’s how I did it:

Heat your oven to 400 degrees!

To me, tuna noodle casserole is a comfort food.  Its even good the next day too!  Yum yum yum.

The first time I had a chicken teriyaki bowl was at Whole Foods.  It became one of my favorite lunches to get there, as it was wholesome, healthy and not to mention, delicious!  Because the Whole Foods that I go to that makes it fresh to order is far from I live, I decided to make it myself, and it’s become a favorite dish in our household.

It’s so simple, and its so filling!

Ingredients I Used:

Brown rice
Chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Steamed Brown Rice
Scallions
Teriyaki Sauce
Sesame seeds

How I Made It:

Brown rice takes a long time to cook, so I started that first.  Thank goodness for a rice cooker.  I followed the directions on the package.

Then, I spiced the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  Then, I heated a pan and put some EVOO on it to prevent the chicken from sticking.  I cooked the chicken for about 15-20 minutes and then cut the cooked chicken into strips.

While the chicken was cooking I cut up the scallions. Depending on how much you like scallions you can use one or two. I used two since it was a dish for me and Glen.

Once the rice was cooked, I put the rice in separate bowls, followed by the chicken, teriyaki sauce, scallions and topped with sesame seeds. That’s it!

End Result:

A simple, dinner that can be cooked in less than an hour, and delicious too!

Tomorrow’s Glen’s birthday, but since his birthday is on a work day, we thought it would be nice to celebrate today.  Sundays are usually when football is on, and sometimes I watch, but mostly I think about what I should cook, or bake.  I had planned to make a cake for him, and I even asked him what kind of cake he wanted, and he wanted a chocolate cake with strawberries.  So I went and looked for a chocolate cake recipe with chocolate frosting.  I found a recipe I figured I couldn’t go wrong with, since Hershey’s is pretty much the ultimate when it comes to chocolate, right??  And following it to the tee, I now understand why this cake is called “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate cake!

I also got to use my Kitchenaid stand mixer that I got for my birthday for the first time, and I was pretty excited about it.  I was so mesmerized that I didn’t have to hand stir I made a short video on my iPhone.

Here was the end result:

For someone who’s never made cake from scratch (and mostly using those ready made boxes by Pillsbury) it was pretty easy.  I realized I need more cake tools such as a cake cutter and one of those cake stands with the cover.  And I’m sure you’re probably wondering what the gibberish on the cake is, well, all couples have their inside jokes, right?  Even made up words only they can understand.  Hahaha.

And here’s Glen blowing out the candles!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! <3

Glen’s parents and brother came by and brought dinner from Smokey Bones BBQ, a barbecue place nearby.  I swear, this weekend was really all about FOOD.  Just how I like it. 

I love fall, and today was just a beautiful, cool, fall day.  Actually, today is probably the only day that the weather will hold up this way, as a cold front has hit the east coast, but something is definitely better than nothing!  I had to take advantage of the day and go for a run at the nearby park.  I discovered a fit trail which is pretty cool.  A fit trail is pretty much a trail where you can walk or run and along the trail there are exercise stations.

Afterwards, I went to get groceries for the week and I had been craving pumpkin pie.  I found this recipe online from VeryBestBaking.com and found that the only can of pumpkin they sell is Libby’s which was convenient, since the recipe is straight from there!  This is probably the easiest pumpkin pie to put together, not to mention really good.  This is going to be the only pumpkin pie recipe I’ll probably ever make!

Ingredients I Used:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY’S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
• Whipped cream (optional)

How I Made It:
I put together the sugar, ground cinnamon, salt, ground ginger and ground cloves together in a small bowl – the “dry ingredients.”  Let me just say that ground ginger is really potent!  Wow.  Then I beat 2 eggs in a large bowl and added the “dry ingredients.”  I then added the can of pumpkin and mixed all of that together.  Gradually, I added the evaporated milk.  Mix that well, and pour the mix into a deep dish pie shell.  I actually had a lot of mix extra that I ended up saving, and put that in a container in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and when ready, place the pie in the oven for 15 minutes.  Then, lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 40-45 minutes.  You’ll know when the pie is “done” when you can place a knife into the pie and none of the pumpkin mix sticks to the knife.  Once done, place it on a cooling rack for about 2 hours.  That, is really it!  Super easy.

End Result:

Unfortunately, my digital camera card reader is busted so I had to use my iPhone to take the picture.  Better than nothing, I guess!  Add a dollop of whipped cream for even more yumminess! 

For some odd reason, I was craving hot dogs today.  I used to live in NYC and you really couldn’t go wrong with a $2 hot dog, which you could pretty much find on any NYC street corner, and they were quite tasty!  Since NYC is now far far away, I had to settle with just buying some hot dogs at the grocery store with buns, but then my fiance, Glen suggested we make chili cheese hot dogs with chopped onion.  Definitely made the hot dog a bit more, sophisticated than your plain dog.

Ingredients I Used:

• 4 Beef Jumbo Hot Dogs
• 1 Can of Hormel Chili with Beans
• Chopped Onion
• Shredded Cheese
• Hot Dog Buns

This is considered a pretty budget friendly meal, since everything above cost under $10 altogether!

How I Made It:
First, I boiled the 4 beef hot dogs in water for about 10-15 minutes. Then, in another small pot, I heat up the chili, and while that was heating up, I chopped half of an onion, toasted hot dog buns and that was it. Brought the hot dogs, chili, chopped onions altogether, with cheese on top and done!

End Result:

This is a totally simple recipe which just consists of boiling, cutting and putting ingredients together… so it really didn’t take a long time, and all that food definitely gets you full fast! We both had 2 hot dogs each and I got only 1 and 1/2 eaten. LOL.

I also made some oven fries as a side, but by the time they were done, I was too full to eat them… I guess I can save them for lunch tomorrow!