Spaghetti & Meatball Pie

Looks like pie, tastes like lasagna, comes together in a snap! My kids LOVE this meatball pie and the mascarpone gives it a grown-up taste that I love. If you can't find mascarpone, you can use Kraft's new Cooking Creme (Original Flavor, you'll find it by the cream cheese).

This is also a GREAT make ahead dish. It firms up nicely in the fridge overnight for slicing the next day. For the meatballs, you can use storebought but I love to make up batches of my Oven Baked Meatballs and freeze them for quick dinners like this one.

Spaghetti & Meatball Pie
Ingredients:
6 oz. uncooked spaghetti
2 T. Butter
1/3 C. shredded Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
16 meatballs, thawed and cut in half
1 ½ C. Marinara Sauce
½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt & Pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cook the spaghetti and drain. Return to pot and add eggs, parmesan cheese, butter and salt & pepper (to taste). Mix well. Place pasta mixture in greased pie pan, pressing down slightly to form a “crust”. Spread mascarpone over pasta and top with meatball halves. Pour marinara sauce over meatballs and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil (spray foil with cooking spray to avoid sticking) and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from the oven, let sit for 5- 10 minutes, and then cut into slices and serve.

Q is for Queen Cupcakes

Little C's class needed a treat for Q day recently. I figured Kindergarteners wouldn't be too excited about my favorite Quinoa Salad, so we made up some Queen Cupcakes...

I think they came out pretty close to their Letter Friend of the week: Queenie Queen!

These look fancy but are pretty easyto assemble. You can improvise with ingredients you have on hand, but here's what we used :

-Your favorite cupcakes, baked and cooled
-White Icing
-Orange Food Coloring
-Small amount Chocolate Icing
-M & M's Candies
-Large red heart sprinkles
-Kix Cereal
-Wax Paper
-2 Quart Ziploc freezer bags
-White Candy Melts
-Yellow Candy Melts
-Edible pearls or various sprinkles (for crown)

Directions:
Lay out a sheet of wax paper. Melt white candy melts in microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted and smooth. Pour into ziploc freezer bag and snip off the end of one corner. Draw the outline of white "hairdos" on the wax paper, one for each cupcake. Using a spoon, fill in your outline with additional melted white candy melts and smooth with back of spoon. When set, use melted yellow candy melts to draw on "crowns". Decorate with sprinkles, etc..
Tint white icing with a small amount of orange food coloring (to make a "peach" color). Frost cupcakes and place "hair and a crown" on top of each. Draw on eyes using chocolate icing. Add two M & M's candies for earrings. Add a large heart sprinkle for lips.
Microwave a small amount of peach icing in a bowl for 15 seconds until very soft. Coat a piece of Kix Cereal in melted icing and place on face for the "nose". Here they are, just waiting for those little kids to Quickly gobble them up!

Movie Night!

We love having movie nights at our house on weekends, the kids feel "cool" for staying up and I enjoy snuggling together on the couch with yummy snacks.
This weekend we're making Mini Root Beer Float Cupcakes to go along with our big bowls of popcorn.

Speaking of popcorn, have you heard about Orville Redenbacher’s Pop & Win Sweepstakes? Right now, each bag has a heat-activated code on it and people have the chance to win cool prizes when they pop the popcorn! Cool, huh? It's on the shelves for a limited time so make sure to grab some on your next trip to the grocery store.

Guess what?! You don't have to wait until movie night to win an amazing prize pack (Flip Cam, anyone?!).

We're giving one Gourmet Mom reader an
Ultimate Movie Night Gift Pack that includes:
· A Flip Camera
· $10 Snapfish gift certificate
· Movie theatre candy
· Free Redbox rental
· Board games
· Orville Redenbacher’s Pop & Win popcorn

TO ENTER:

Time's up! We have a winner!
Pinks My Ink who said...
My family has 2 teenage girls so our favorite family movie is "The Notebook".

We'll chose one winner via random.org on 3/3. Open to US Residents. The prizes and information was provided through Orville Redenbacher's. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions, as always are my own.

Mysterious Mustaches

Sometimes in Winter we get a little crazy...

I remember seeing an adorable Tootsie Roll Mustache video tutorial last Fall from Kellie over at Little Nummies. It's a great activity to beat those winter blues!

Little H was giggling so hard she could barely keep her mustache straight...

You can download the template I used here or the one Kellie used here...
Basically, all you do is melt Tootsie Rolls in the microwave, mash together, roll them out like dough, cut out mustaches and attach a sucker stick!
Check out Kellie's video for the whole process. I also wrapped our sucker sticks in black floral tape just for fun, it's definitely not necessary.
You can also let the kids go freestyle and make their own...check out this hairy beast! Yowza!

Doing this again, I might make them out of chocolate candy melts. It would also be super easy and they'd set up harder. But, either way you have a fun treat!

Raspberry Chocolate Magic Shell

How about some homemade Raspberry Chocolate Magic Shell topping for you and your sweetie this Valentines Day?...

If you don't know what Magic Shell ice cream topping is, it's a liquid topping that becomes a hard shell when you pour it on ice cream. Yum! So we decided to make our own homemade version. It's incredibly easy and soooooo tasty! It only takes a few ingredients and a microwave...

You could even put it in a cute jar and give as a gift! We devoured ours before I could do anything that cute, though.;)

Raspberry Chocolate Magic Shell
Ingredients:
16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 oz. coconut oil
1/4 c. raspberry syrup
3-4 drops raspberry oil

Notes: I found the coconut oil at our local health food store. You can get coconut oil refined or unrefined. Either one works--unrefined will give you a slightly coconutty flavor. You can find raspberry syrup by the regular pancake syrups in your grocery store.

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except flavoring oil in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 60 seconds on high power, remove and stir. Microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until ingredients are melted and combined. Stir in 3-4 drops raspberry oil or 5-6 drops raspberry flavoring. Store in a sealed container at room temperature (do not refrigerate!). If it hardens, simply microwave for 20 seconds before serving.

To serve, pour over your favorite ice cream...

You know, I think I'd like a little more...

Mmm....getting better...
That's more like it!...

Warning: this liquid lusciousness has been known to cause serious romance. Use at your own discretion!

Valentine Baking Kit Giveaway

Happy Birthday to Me...!
However, YOU are getting the birthday present!
I love Valentines Day treats and though it would be fun to send one of you this Gift Box chock full of Valentines Day baking goodies from McCormick!

It's chock full of everything you'll need and lots of ideas to make your Valentines Day super sweet!

To enter, let's make it easy...
Simply leave a comment on this post, any comment.

Time's up! We have a winner!
runningchick who said...
"Thanks for a chance to win!!"

Disclosure: I was provided this gift box and information from McCormick. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions, as always are my own.

Valentine Mystery Dinner

How about turning this ordinary spaghetti night in to a crazy fun family Valentines dinner? "How?!", you say...

By using these menus to make a Valentine Mystery Dinner!
(Click on either image to download and print)

If you've never had a Mystery Dinner before, the names of all the menu items (utensils, too!) have been changed to silly Valentine-inspired names. Everyone gets a menu, writes what they want for each course, then they get served a mixed-up dinner. The kids loved it because one of my daughters got an Ice Cream sundae for her first course....however she didn't have a spoon to eat it with.:)
Here's what you need:
Puppy Love (Crush soda)
Cupid’s Arrow (toothpick or wooden skewer)
Love Trouble (jam)
Rising Love (roll or biscuit)
Melted Hearts (pasta sauce)
Angel’s Coiffure (cooked angel hair pasta)
Kissing and Hugging (spoon)
Girls Best Friend (Carrots...get it? "karats"...)
Persuader (fork)
Cold Shoulder (Ice Cream Sundae)
Heart Breaker (knife)
Snuggles (napkin)
Lots o’ Pick-up Lines (shredded cheese)
Mystery Dinner Menu

Directions:
Gather all your dinner ingredients and keep on the counter, away from everyone's eyesight. (Note: If you want to get fun with your rolls or biscuits, you can make them into simple heart shapes. I just took a can of Grands biscuits, cut a triangle out of the top of each one, then pinched the bottom to make a heart shape. Bake as directed.)

Place a menu, pencil, and plate for each person on the table. Have everyone fill out the menus, gather them up and serve the first course with everyone's requests written on them. After everyone has eaten for a few minutes, serve the next course and continue until everything has been served. Enjoy laughs together while everyone eats their mixed-up dinner!

(Note: once a person ordered a utensil or napkin, we let them keep if for the rest of the dinner.:))
More Valentine ideas to come! Hope you can all enjoy a fun family dinner this VDay!