Pizza Mac & Cheese

This Pizza Mac & Cheese combines two American staples. This unique mac & cheese dish has cheesy pasta for the mac & cheese base and sausage, pepperoni, and bell pepper as the pizza base. The outcome is an amazingly creamy, super flavorful marriage of Pizza and Mac & Cheese.

 

The only substitutions to the recipe link below that I made were to use Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta Shells in place of the elbow macaroni and brown rice flour in place of the all-purpose flour. The same amounts can be used, so no changes need to be made to the proportions.

Click here for recipe from Betty Crocker

In My Pantry: Schar's Gluten Free Classic White Rolls

In general, I haven't found shelf-stable, packaged gluten-free bread products to be appetizing. The one exception to that is Schar's Gluten Free Classic White Rolls. My parents introduced me to these rolls earlier this year, and they truly are fantastic. No funky gluten free taste and no dry/stale taste from being shelf-stable. I've enjoyed these rolls a variety of ways - as a grilled sausage sandwich, with my husband's secret pulled pork recipe (pictured above), and as garlic bread with lasagna.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. It's a product I bought, loved, and wanted to share with you!

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad

This Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad is healthy, flavorful, spicy, and crunchy. My picky husband even enjoyed it. Yummy!

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Salad

Slightly adapted from Half Baked Harvest

Ingredients:

·1 cup quinoa
·2  cups water
·1½ cups cooked, diced chicken
·1 cup broccoli
·1 cup chopped carrots
·½ cup cream cheese with chives
·6 green onions, chopped
·½ cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
·½ cup hot sauce
·1 tsp season salt

Directions:

Rinse quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer and drain. In a medium pot, combine quinoa and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until almost all of the water is absorbed, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, make the dressing by whisking together olive oil, hot sauce, and season salt in a small bowl.

Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the broccoli and carrots for about 5 minutes. Add the cooked quinoa, cooked chicken, buffalo dressing, green onions, and cream cheese to the pan. Stir until all ingredients are heated through and well-combined. Serve warm.

Moscato Spritzer

This Moscato Spritzer is my new favorite party drink. The ingredients – 1 bottle of Moscato, 2L of Sprite, and 16oz. of Frozen Raspberries – are easy to remember when I’m doing last minute grocery shopping. It’s also simple to prepare and tastes great – very fresh, light, and slightly sweet.

 

Click here for drink ingredients from Make It-Bake It-Create It

Reese's No Bake Cheesecakes

Just in case Lemon Mousse Cake wasn’t enough dessert for Mike’s birthday a few months ago, I also made these delicious Reese’s No Bake Cheesecakes. They are naturally gluten-free, so I may have indulged in a few too many of these mini cheesecakes.

I originally came across this recipe on Pinterest, but the link to the original recipe is broken. The concept is pretty self-explanatory, so my recipe and take on it is below. It’s a super easy and very tasty dessert!

Reese’s No Bake Cheesecakes

Ingredients:
·16 regular-sized Reese’s cups, unwrapped
·¼ cup chocolate chips
·½ cup sugar
·8oz. Neufchâtel cream cheese
·8oz. cool whip
·1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Line muffin tins with wrappers. Place an unwrapped Reese’s into the liners. Make no bake cheesecake by beating together sugar, cream cheese, cool whip, and vanilla. Spoon cheesecake on top of Reese’s and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Chill in the fridge for 2-3 hours before serving.

Lemon Mousse Cake

My husband requested a lemon cake for his birthday in May. While he’d be happy with a boxed lemon cake with icing, I can’t do anything simple. So, I came up with this Lemon Mousse Cake recipe. This decadent cake is the outcome of combining a few simple ingredients of white cake mix, lemon pie filling, and cream cheese frosting. 

Full disclosure – I used a gluten boxed cake mix since my husband is not gluten free. However, I’m posting this recipe because it was simply amazing and I’m confident it will be just as delicious with gluten free boxed cake mix. How do I know it’s amazing outside of what my husband and party guests claimed? I was able to taste the filling and icing as I was making the cake. It was sweet and creamy, and I may have been unable to resist licking the spoon, beaters, and bowl. :)

Lemon Mousse Cake
Ingredients:
·1 box of white cake mix, plus ingredients called for on cake mix box (for gluten free, I’d recommend Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix)
 ·1 - 24oz. can of lemon pie filling
 ·1 container of cream cheese frosting 

Directions:
For the cake, pour all ingredients – reducing water by ¼ cup – into a large bowl. Add ¼ cup of lemon pie filling to the bowl and mix until combined. Make, bake, and cool cake according to package directions for two 8- or 9-inch round cakes.

For the frosting, mix together in a large bowl one container of cream cheese frosting with ¼ cup of lemon pie filling.

To assemble the cake, place one cake layer on a cake plate. Spread the remaining lemon pie filling on top of the cake, leaving about ¼ inch diameter at the edge. Place the second cake layer on top. Then, frost the entire cake with the lemon cream cheese frosting. Store loosely covered in the fridge until ready to serve. Let cake sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before serving.

Chicken Bacon Avocado Chopped Salad

One more satisfying, flavorful salad this week to round-out the salad kick I was on back in May. This Chicken Bacon Avocado Chopped Salad is a tasty twist on a traditional chopped salad. It combines grilled chicken, bacon, avocado, tomato, and garlic herb vinaigrette. The only revision I made was to substitute grated parmesan cheese for blue cheese because Mike and I don’t care for blue cheese. Deliciously healthy!

Click here for recipe from Gimme Some Oven

Cashew Chicken Mango Salad

Cashew Chicken Mango Salad combines sweet mangos, perfectly seasoned grilled chicken, creamy avocado, crunchy cashews, and sweet-tangy homemade vinaigrette on top of a bed of lettuce. I absolutely devoured this salad! It was delicious with fresh flavors and a combination of creamy and crunchy textures.

I made this delicious salad back in May when I was on a salad kick. Yes, that’s how behind I am on recipes. You’ll notice a theme in all of the recipes I post in July – they were almost all made in May. At least I had some recipes to post for you in June and isn’t the saying better late than never?!  Anyways, this delicious salad uses the same Honey Lime Vinaigrette from my uber flavorful Mango Avocado Spring Salad. Sweet, tangy, amazing!
 

What’s your favorite summertime salad?

Click here for recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

Pickle Wrap Dip

Pickle Wrap Dip takes all of the ingredients in the popular pickle-ham wraps and combines into an easy, tasty dip. This appetizer is much easier than making the wraps and it tastes just as good as the wraps. I made this in May for my niece’s birthday party and it was a huge hit.

The only ingredients you need for this dip are 16oz. softened cream cheese, 12oz. chopped deli ham, 16oz. of diced baby dill pickles, and crackers to serve. I served the dip chilled with Glutino Gluten Free Table Crackers.

Click here for recipe from Game Day