Rebecca, Author at Sprinkle of Country

A Fast and Easy To Make Snack

For the upcoming Valentines Day holiday, I began looking for something I could make that would be a little festive, and most importantly: EASY! I had a little help in the kitchen tonight making banana chocolate chip muffins for my son’s class and these amazing Berry Cereal Snack Bars! These are both perfect recipes to have your kids help in the kitchen!

I have previously used this recipe with an old flavor of Cheerios I love that unfortunately is now discontinued. Hopefully they will bring the plain peanut butter back, but for now very berry and chocolate peanut butter are close seconds to my favorite flavor! I have found this recipe works great with almost any cereal. The best part is there is no measuring other than cutting some butter off the stick!

To begin with I melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot on the stove.

Once the butter is melted add in the marshmallows. Mini marshmallows tend to melt quicker and easier than full sized marshmallows from my experience. Stir the marshmallows continuously until they are completely melted. Remove the marshmallow mixture from the heat.

Dump in the whole box of cereal. If you like extra gooey cereal bars, I would recommend using approx 1/2-1 cup less cereal. Mix the cereal well into the marshmallow mixture until well covered.

Once cereal mixture is mixed into melted marshmallows pour into a 9x13 pan.

Pour the mixture into a greased 9×13 pan. Even out the mixture using a spatula sprayed in oil. You can also use butter for this, but oil works just as well. I prefer to use glass pans for my cereal snack bars similar to this one.

Wait for your cereal snack bars to cool and then cut them to the desired size. Store in an airtight container. They will keep for one week, if they last that long!

Ingredients For Cereal Snack Bars

3.5 Tablespoons Butter

1 10.4 Oz bag of mini marshmallows

1 10.9 Oz box cereal (Cheerios work well)

Print Recipe

Cereal Snack Bars

Cook Time15 mins

Servings: 12 Servings

Calories: 140kcal

Ingredients

3.5 Tbs Butter
10.4 Oz Bag Mini Marshmallows
10.9 Oz Box Cereal

Instructions

Melt butter over medium heat in large pot on the stove top.
Stir in mini marshmallows, continue string continuously until marshmallows are completely melted.
Remove marshmallow mixture from heat, dump in entire box of cereal.
Stir until cereal is completely covered by marshmallow mixture.
Transfer mixture to a well greased 9×13 pan. Smooth out mixture with a greased spatula.
Let cool completely before cutting into desired sized pieces. Keep in an airtight container.

Notes

Calories are calculated by a third party website and are based on ingredients used.

Budget Friendly and Easy To Make

I have always loved a trip to Olive Garden, and one of my favorite dishes is baked ziti. Today the mission was to make a slightly healthier version of this dish and include some veggies! We’ll just say mission accomplished! It turned out fantastic! This vegetable baked ziti makes a great main dish for a dinner party or family dinner. It also is perfect for meal prep lunches!

Baked ziti is also super budget friendly coming at just over $5 for all of the ingredients. Also leaving you with half a box of pasta for another meal! I used my other half for Chicken Alfredo which is another one of my favorite meal prep recipes!

Baked Ziti Preparation

Begin with preheating your oven to 350°.

After gathering all of your ingredients, start with bringing the water to a slight boil and cooking the ziti (or penne pasta) for about 3/4 of the time listed on the box. I cooked mine for 8 minutes this morning. Drain your pasta and combine with the spaghetti sauce.

Set your noodle mixture aside. Then slice up your vegetables. I sliced my zucchini in approx 3/4 inch pieces and then quartered these. I did the same with the smaller end of the yellow squash and the larger rings were cut into six pieces to make them approximately the same size.

Dump your cut up zucchini and yellow squash into your spaghetti sauce mixture. Once this is mixed well, dump the mixture into a medium sized baking pan. I used a 9″ square baking stone, and it was the perfect size.

Then cover your pasta mixture with the Parmesan cheese first before topping it with the mozzarella provolone cheese. If you can’t find a shredded mozzarella and provolone cheese mixture, you can use provolone slices and then top with mozzarella cheese. Having the provolone cheese mixed in helps give the finished product a more creamy texture to the melted cheese.

Top the baked ziti with cheese prior to baking at 350° for 30 minutes.

Baking and Serving

To bake your vegetable baked ziti place it in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown. The noodles should be fully cooked now and will have absorbed the spaghetti sauce giving them more flavor. Once your finished cooking let set out of the oven for 5-10 minutes before serving to help the cheese and sauce thicken slightly.

If you are going to use the vegetable baked ziti for a meal prep, transfer the ziti to your dishes. Wait for the ziti to cool prior to putting on lids and storing them for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

Ingredients Vegetable Baked Ziti

8 oz Penne Pasta

24 oz Spaghetti Sauce

1 Zucchini

1 Yellow Squash

1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella and Provolone Cheese

Print Recipe

Vegetable Baked Ziti

Traditional cheesy ziti with a healthy addition of vegetables!

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Cooling Time10 mins

Total Time1 hr

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 310kcal

Cost: $5.40