Monkey Bread

This is a must on Christmas morning. My family has come to love this and it's now a tradition for us to have monkey bread every Christmas. Very easy to make and will make your whole house smell like heaven. If you've never had it before, you must give it a try. Also, contrary to what my son thinks, it's not made w/monkeys LOL, or does it have bananas in it. 4 year olds are funny huh? lol

4 cans (7.5 oz cans) biscuits
1 stick of butter(Jeannine that is 1/2C for my Aussie friend haha)
2C brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 C cream or half and half
1/2 C chopped pecans


In a small pot, combine butter,brown sugar,ground cinnamon,cream and pecans and bring to boil. In a greased bundt pan, layer biscuits(but in half then rolled into balls) and sauce, ending w/sauce. I use 2 cans on bottom, add half the sauce, then add the other 2 cans then add rest of sauce. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Invert onto serving plate and serve warm.

It's called Monkey Bread bc you can use your fingers to pull the bread apart. :) Try explaining this to a 4 yr old lol.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Once you master the technique of making this dish, you will be making it all the time. It's super yummy, cheap, and a quick meal. Craving pasta, try this recipe!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb bacon, chopped up
1 tbsp chopped garlic
freshly ground black pepper
1 lb spaghetti (or any pasta of choice really)
4 large eggs, beaten
salt
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1tsbp chopped parsley leaves
white wine

In a large pot, boil your spaghetti noodles til they are al dente. In another large pot, saute bacon until crispy, about 6 min.Remove bacon and set aside. Drain most fat except 3 tbsp. Add chopped garlic and pepper, saute for 30 sec. Add a splash of white wine to de-glaze pan.
Meanwhile, beat your eggs and add a ladle full of the pasta water to the eggs. This will temper the eggs to keep them from scrambling. Turn down the heat to the bacon pan, add bacon and pasta to that pan. Saute for 1 minute. Stir in the eggs. Keep stirring til sauce is thickening and then add cheese. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Then add the parsley. Stir and serve.

Now, when tempering eggs, what you're doing is heating the eggs up so they won't scramble. If you notice that your eggs are trying to scramble remove the pan from heat and keep stirring. Master this technique and you will LOVE cooking this dish bc of how fast it comes together. Enjoy. This is SOOOOOO good. AND please, do NOT burn your garlic. Burnt garlic isn't very good lol.

Beef and Parmesan Pasta

This is a recipe that I got our of one of my many cookbooks. It's a favorite bc it's very yummy and simple to make. You can use any veggie you like but we choose zucchini as the recipe calls for. I couldn't find any whole wheat bow tie pasta this time at the grocery so I substituted whole wheat rotini.

1 1/2 lbs of ground beef or ground turkey(guess which one I use lol)
1 (14 oz) can beef broth
1 (14.5 oz) can Italian style diced tomatoes
2C uncooked bow tie pasta
2C sliced zucchini (1/4 in thick)
3/4 C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

In a large skillet (or pot) brown the ground beef and remove from drippings, drain grease from pan. Return the skillet to heat and add the beef broth,tomatoes,and pasta.Stir to coat all of the pasta. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium.
Cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes stirring frequently. Add zucchini and continue cooking for 5 minutes or until pasta is tender(zucchini too).
Return beef to skillet and stir in 1/2C cheese; heat through. Sprinkle w/remaining cheese over each serving.

This is recipe is from the cookbook All Recipes, Dinner Tonight.