I don’t know about you, but when I think of the holidays I think of family, reading a good book by the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate and eating lots and lots of food. My family shares the best Holiday recipes from candies to comfort food. We get together every year to throw a big Christmas party and make special treats. To prepare, we decorate, set a theme and prepare a menu. This year, that menu will include my version of a delicious Mezzetta recipe: Pasta Salad.

Ingredients:
1 bag of Whole Wheat Pasta
Light Italian Dressing
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Mezzetta Peperoncini Peppers
Mezzetta Roasted Bell Pepper Strips
Mezzetta Castelvetrano Whole Green Olives

Directions:

Boil the noodles and drain. Pour them in a large mixing bowl. Chop peppers. Add the peppers, olives and Italian dressing to the mixing bowl (add as many as you prefer) and stir it all up. Top with Parmesan cheese. Store the dish in the fridge until party time!

This recipe is so easy, delicious and it looks so festive for the holidays! This is the perfect side dish to any holiday meal and is a big hit with my family. The Mezzetta peppers and olives make this dish. The flavors are outstanding.

Be sure to enter the Mezzetta favorites holiday gift basket giveaway! There are 31 winners daily. Yes, daily. The basket includes an apron, ceramic bowl, tote bag, metal olive spoon and lots of Mezzetta favorites that you can include in your Mezetta Holiday Recipes!

Also Mezzetta is offering you all a $0.50 off coupon now through December 31st! Be sure to snag one!

What is your favorite Holiday Memory? Does your family have a special Holiday Recipe?

I was super excited to throw this recipe together. However, when I placed it on the table my kids weren’t thrilled about the peas and carrots in this recipe. I told them they had to have some veggies one way or another! I, personally, like the sweetness that the peas and carrots add. After trying it, my boys said it wasn’t too bad. They ended up loving it, saying they wanted to have this at least once a week. So this is a definite winner!

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast halves cut into bite size pieces
8 pieces of bacon
1 cup of frozen peas & carrots
4 tbs. Olive Oil
2 cups heavy cream (more if needed)
4 tsp. season all
1/4 powdered Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 box Penne pasta
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Cook pasta as directed.
2. While the pasta is cooking, cook bacon in the oven like this.
3. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute chicken in olive oil until almost tender about 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Add in peas and carrots and cook about 2-3 minutes.
5. Remove the bacon from pan. Place on paper towel to soak up grease.
6. Roughly chop bacon and set to the side.
7. Drain any excess liquid out of pan. Add in bacon.
8. Reduce heat. Add cream, spices, and powdered parm. Stir and cook for about 3-5 minutes.
9. Put pasta in large bowl and pour chicken and cream sauce over. Stir and mix well.
10. Dish pasta into bowls and sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese over top.

Recipe and picture by Lysha at Magnolia Mom

Hey, everyone!

My name is Leslyn, and I blog over at Leslyn’s Lovely Life! I’m a wife, a new mama, teacher, and blogger! Before I get going, I need to do what any new mom would do and show you a picture of my adorable baby, Emmett.

It’s Creamy, Cheesy, Garlic Pasta (Oh my word…. calories just can’t count when you eat it. Divine).

Creamy Garlic Pasta
2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 cups chicken stock
½ lb spaghetti or angel hair pasta
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
¾ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

In a pot, bring the olive oil to medium-low heat. Add the garlic and stir, allowing it to cook for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the butter until melted. Add the salt, pepper and chicken stock. Raise the heat to high and let it come to a boil.

Once it is at a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook for as long as the box’s directions indicate. Reduce the stove to medium heat and mix in the parmesan until completely melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream and parsley. Serve immediately.

Cook it for yourself. Your significant other. Your friends. A stranger. Whoever eats this will worship the ground you walk on. Babies will be named after you…. Okay, maybe I’m getting carried away. But that’s the effect this pasta has on me. Sorry.

I would love for us to be friends and for you to follow me on social media! Here’s where you can find me!

Bloglovin
Twitter & Instagram: @leslynjacks
Pinterest

xoxo
Les

 

I made this by mistake one day. I literally threw the things that I had left over from the week in the blender and Wa La! New favorite smoothie! I have been addicted to this throughout the last few weeks of the bikini series and it has been my go-to post workout drink or breakfast smoothie. It leaves me full and most importantly, energized. And you know I need energy with my little 8 month old going ninety to nothing now!

Ingredients:
Ice
2 or 3 hand fulls of Blueberries
1 Banana
2 hand fulls of chopped Pineapple
a little Water

Blend it all up and there you go! It’s so simple and doesn’t require many ingredients, yet it is 100% natural and so healthy. I hope you enjoy!

Linking up with Katie!

I love to make these 3 ingredient oatmeal raisin cookies because they are quick, easy and super healthy. I prefer to eat them for breakfast. You can also substitute the raisins for dark chocolate chips for a sweet treat. Each cookie contains around 62 calories.

Smash the bananas up and mix all ingredients together. Roll in balls then slightly flatten. Bake in the oven at 350° for 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown. If they are still really mushy, bake for a little longer. Let them cool and enjoy!

In honor of Saint Patrick, I thought I’d share my favorite Green Smoothie Recipe. This smoothie is my favorite go-to as an on-the-go breakfast or post-workout recovery drink. It’s filling and super healthy. It’s around 160 calories. Not bad, huh? Try it and thank me later because this sucker is delish!

I love to bake but I’m not a pro at cooking. It’s something I’m really working on and trying to improve. I love trying new recipes especially quick and easy ones. I found this buffalo chicken wreath on Pinterest that I decided to try. Instead of baking it in a wreath I put 2 crescent rolls together (in a rectangle) and folded it over instead. It turned out great! It was so quick and easy and it passed the hubby’s test as well. It would be really great for a party or shower food.

Excuse the poor quality of the photo. It was taken with my iphone.

One night we really wanted to make homemade ice cream. We love to use our ice cream maker because it makes us feel extra domestic. So we gave this Wendy’s Frosty copy cat recipe a try! It was amazing! A big hit with both of us. Unfortunately I did not take any photos of it, but rest assured, it didn’t last until the next day. I definitely recommend it for a late summer night treat out on the porch with your family.

A few weeks ago, I promised I’d post my mother’s coveted coffee punch recipe in my Sunday Social post. I can promise you, you will fall in love. I can’t ever get enough of this coffee punch. She makes it for our Christmas party every year, and for my family on Christmas morning. Okay, on to the recipe…

Ingredients:

1) 2oz. jar of instant coffee (decaf or caffeinated)
1) gallon of milk (we use 2% for this recipe)
1) 16oz. can of Hershey’s chocolate syrup
1) half gallon of french vanilla ice cream
(optional) 1/4 cup of sugar (we only use this sometimes, it is pretty sweet without it).

Directions:

Pour instant coffee into a large bowl. Boil about a cup and a half of water and pour it over the coffee, stir to dissolve. Slowly pour in chocolate syrup and milk. Stir well. Scoop 6 to 8 scoops of ice cream and plop it in the bowl. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Ice cream will melt on top and make it extra delicious. Before serving, put a few more scoops of ice cream in the punch. Ta Da! Done! and enjoy…

This is my favorite “holiday” drink, although I could possibly drink it every day.

WARNING: you may gain 10lbs.

100 followers? Are you serious? You guys are so awesome! I haven’t even finished my 50 follower giveaway and I’m already at 100. Thank you so much for reading my random thoughts. Don’t forget that there are still a few days left to enter my giveaway, so go do it! Shout out to my 100th follower Erica @ Erica Start Walking!

I’m very excited to participate in the new link-up “THAT Just Happened” because I am always saying I am a brunette with a lot of blonde moments. Here goes…

Last Saturday my husband and I decided to get a little creative with our breakfast. We had a genius idea- to put our cinnamon rolls in our waffle iron and make mini cinnamon waffles! I took a lot of pictures and was so excited to put it on the blog to share with you all! Later that afternoon I was playing around on Pinterest and saw this:

Source: scribbly-wibbly-stuff.tumblr.com via Logan on Pinterest

I was so disappointed. It turns out we aren’t so clever after all. Oh well. They were delish!

-LC