Place sliced onions on bottom of crock pot. Place roast in crock pot. Season with salt and pepper. Pour diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, vinegar, and spices over roast. Cook on high for 1 hour, and then low for 8 hours. Transfer meat to cutting board and cut into chunks. Meanwhile, whisk tomato paste into the gravy in the pot roast and add parmesan cheese to taste. Gravy will get thicker after a minute or two. Add meat back to gravy and serve.

Leftover Tip- If you have any meat leftover (which will be highly unlikely), shred it for sandwiches. Serve the shredded meat on hoagie rolls with chips and fresh veggies. Yum!

4 chicken breasts
2 cups marinara sauce
1/3 cup chopped tomatoes (you can use fresh or a can of diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup Italian Dressing

Slow Cooker Version: Place all ingredients in your slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for six hours. Serve over spaghetti or rice with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. This is delicious with a side of roasted green beans.

Oven Version: Throw frozen chicken breasts in. Pour sauce, tomatoes, & Italian dressing on top. Bake at 375 for 1 hour (or longer if they are large chicken breasts).

Make-Ahead Version: Throw all of the ingredients in a freezer bag and label with cooking directions. To prepare, just thaw and follow one of the versions above.

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced (I omitted this)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained (I used petite diced)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Season chicken breasts with ground black pepper and garlic salt. heat olive oil in a medium skillet and brown the onion and seasoned chicken breasts. Pour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar over chicken and add basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. Simmer until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, approximately fifteen minutes. Serve over a bed of rice or spaghetti.

This would be delicious served up with a side of green beans and a big sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. The dinner comes together in about twenty minutes which makes it a great dish to entertain with or to throw together on a weeknight. Enjoy!

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced (I omitted this)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained (I used petite diced)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Season chicken breasts with ground black pepper and garlic salt. heat olive oil in a medium skillet and brown the onion and seasoned chicken breasts. Pour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar over chicken and add basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. Simmer until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, approximately fifteen minutes. Serve over a bed of rice or spaghetti.

This would be delicious served up with a side of green beans and a big sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. The dinner comes together in about twenty minutes which makes it a great dish to entertain with or to throw together on a weeknight. Enjoy!

To Make Dough: Place water, yeast, sugar, flour, salt and powdered milk in the pan of the bread machine, in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle. After cycle is completed, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface. Meanwhile, brown sausage for about 8 to 10 minutes in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain excess fat and reserve.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Shape dough into a 16 inch by 10 inch rectangle. Transfer to a lightly greased cookie sheet, and spoon pizza sauce lengthwise down the center of  the dough, followed by the browned sausage and the cheese. Make diagonal cuts 1 1/2 inches apart down each long side of the dough rectangle, cutting to within 1/2 inch of the filling. Criss-cross cut strips of dough over the filling and seal edges with water. Brush top of calzone with melted butter.  Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

Exquisite Pizza Sauce

1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
6 fluid oz warm water (110 degrees F)
3 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
1 TBS minced garlic
2 TBS honey
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
¼ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp dried red pepper flakes
salt to taste

In a small bowl combine all ingredients in order listed above, making sure to break up any clumps of cheese.  Cover the sauce and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Spread sauce over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.

1 pound spaghetti
1 jar prepared spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste (minus 2 tablespoons for the meatballs)
½ cup beef broth
1 pound ground turkey
¼ cup breadcrumbs (directions for preparation to follow)
2 tablespoons paste
1 egg
3 tablespoons of beef broth
Handful of parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and the spaghetti and cook as directed or until al dente. The spaghetti will continue to cook in sauce, later. To a large skillet add prepared spaghetti sauce, tomato paste (minus 2 tablespoons), and diced tomatoes, and allow to cook together. Add beef broth and allow the sauce to simmer while you make the meatballs. In a large bowl mix together turkey, bread crumbs, tomato paste, egg, beef broth, handful of cheese, and salt and pepper. Shape into meatballs (any size, just make sure they are all the same size for even cooking) and bake the meatballs for fifteen to twenty minutes or until cooked thoroughly. Carefully remove meatballs from the baking sheet and add them to the sauce. Drain and add cooked pasta to the pan and mix together with the red sauce.

Serve meal with a tossed garden salad.

Breadcrumbs Recipe

Making your own breadcrumbs can be easy and inexpensive. The flavor of fresh breadcrumbs versus the store bought variety is not even comparable. Store your breadcrumbs in your freezer and you will always have fresh breadcrumbs on hand. I keep mine in a freezer-safe container and when I get low, I simply make another batch. Breadcrumbs can be made out of loaf ends, stale bread, hot dog rolls, & hamburger buns- whatever you have on hand! Keep a bread bag with all of your bread in it and store it in the freezer. Once the bag is filled, it is time to make some breadcrumbs!

Set your oven to broil and then lay all of the bread out on cookie sheets. You only need to broil the bread a couple of minutes (keep one eye on it because it can burn quickly). This helps just to dry the bread out and make it easier to handle. Once the bread is toasted, put this bread into my food processor. You can just have only the bread in there, or if you like the Italian seasonings type of breadcrumbs add your own seasonings (I add garlic salt, and an Italian seasonings dry blend of herbs to mine for that variety). Run the food processor until the bread crumbs are of a fine consistency. Then put these crumbs into a freezer-safe container.

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
4 1 inch thick pork chops, boneless
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup chicken broth
3 plum tomatoes seeded and diced-or small can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons capers- (can be omitted to make this an Aldi store recipe. Feel free to add, should you have these in your pantry!)

Combine first 3 ingredients in shallow dish, dredge pork chops in flour mixture. Cook pork chops in hot oil in large skillet over medium high heat until golden brown on each side.One or two minutes per side. Remove chops and set aside.  Add Garlic to skillet, sauté for 1 minute. Add vinegar and chicken broth and stir to loosen particles from bottom of skillet, stir in tomatoes and capers.  Return pork chops to skillet, bring sauce to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 4-5 minutes until pork is done. Plate pork chops and cover with sauce.

Serve over angel hair or thin spaghetti pasta.

Pepperoni Bread

1 lb loaf frozen bread, thawed
1 egg, beaten
4 oz sliced pepperoni
1 cup mozzarella
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1½ tsp Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 375°. Roll bread into rectangle and brush with egg. Arrange pepperoni and cheeses. Sprinkle on the seasoning. Roll and pinch seam to seal. Place seam side down on greased cookie sheet. Bake 40 minutes or until golden.

Yield: Four Servings

Serve with spaghetti sauce for dipping and a salad with cut up pepperoni, olives, and Italian dressing.

Saucy Mozzarella Patties

2 jars of your favorite tomato sauce
1 lb ground turkey)
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 cups breadcrumbs
1 egg
salt & pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
butter or margarine
olive or veggie oil
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Yield: Four Servings 

Serve these on top of a bed of angel hair or thin spaghetti pasta.

Classic Baked Ziti (Serves Eight)

1 pound short pasta (ziti, penne, or elbow macaroni)

1 jar of plain spaghetti sauce

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound ground turkey

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Brown the ground turkey in a skillet. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasonings. Drain fat from turkey. Dump in the jar of spaghetti sauce and 1 cup of chicken broth. Allow this to simmer while you cook the noodles. Cook noodles until al dente (make sure there is still a good bite to the noodle). Stir one cup of sauce into the drained noodles. Add 1/2 cup of sauce to the bottom of a 9×13″ dish and then pour in 1/2 of the noodles. Top these noodles with half the cheese. Repeat these steps with the remainder of the ingredients. Bake for twenty minutes covered and then remove foil and bake another ten minutes.

Serve with Texas Toast.

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