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To toast almonds, place them on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees until lightly browned which will be around 5 minutes.  Stir once to keep the nuts from burning.

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To bring out the nutty, whole grain flavor of oats, toast them before using.  Spread the oats on a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 5 minutes.  Remove immediately so the oats do not burn.

This easy to make recipe is again from Prego. I made a few changes to it and made it my own. It also said to cook with a pizza pan. Unfortunately, pizza pan had holes in the bottom. I figured that wouldn’t work too well, so I talked to Elizabeth over at MomCooks, and she suggested a cookie sheet. That worked great. If you don’t have a pizza pan, definately use a cookie sheet instead. Like the last Prego recipe I did, this again will feed a family of 4 for under $20 (actually, I think the total for this recipe was $14.71). In this economy, we can all use recipes like this.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion chopped
3 oz mushrooms, sliced
Vegetable cooking spray
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
3 1/2 cooked corkscrew pasta
1 1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1 jar (26 oz) Prego Italian Traditional Sauce or Prego Tomato, Basil, and Garlic Italian Sauce.

Follow the directions on the pasta. While that is cooking, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Heat oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and mushrooms and cook until the onions are tender. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Spray a 12 inch pizza pan (or small cookie sheet) with the cooking spray. Stir the egg, milk, pasta and 1/2 cup of cheese in a large bowl. Spread the pasta mixture in an even layer on the pizza pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Spread the sauce on the pasta crust. Top with the onion mixture and then sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake for 15 more minutes or until the cheese is melted. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

1 can of Pillsbury refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 can pizza sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I didn’t have mozzarella cheese when I made this so I used what shredded cheese I had available)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 8 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Separate the dough into biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters and place into a medium sized bowl. Stir in the pizza sauce. Spoon biscuit mixture evenly into dish.

Bake 15 - 20 minutes or until light golden brown and center biscuits are no longer doughy. Sprinkle with cheese and bake about 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Cut into squares and serve with warm pizza sauce for dipping.

This is an easy to make recipe for families on the go. It is made with ingredients you will easily find around your house. I have made this several times for my family. However, this last time I made this with low fat mozzarella cheese. Do NOT use low fat cheese. It never melts. I learned that the hard way. However, the casserole was still really good.

1 lb. ground beef
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 (16 oz) package of rotini pasta
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat your over to 350 degrees F. While the oven is preheating, make your rotini noodles as directed on the box. Drain. Brown the ground beef. Drain.

Add the spaghetti sauce and rotini pasta to the browned beef in a 3 qt casserole baking dish. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top and bake in oven for 25 minutes.