Playground Duty: Tasty Tuesday!

I know we're past Valentine's Day and on to (and even past) Presidents' Day BUT I wanted to give a quick recap becaues I have a few recipes to share for Tasty Tuesday!
Valentine's Day fell on conference week for me so we weren't really able to go out to dinner during the week. I worked 12 hours Monday and 10 Wednesday so Tuesday I wanted to RELAX! Since I didn't have to work late Tuesday I made one of Nick's favorite dinners: Spaghetti Pie. This is one of the easiest recipes and can be customized in so many ways:

Spaghetti Pie
-2 cups (approximately) cooked spaghetti (I like using angel hair)
-1 jar of sauce
-1/2 - 1 cup cubed chicken, cooked (you can buy the refrigerated bag or cook it quickly in the skillet)
-1/2 cup cubed cheese (you can use anything...Velveeta, cheddar, mozzarella, etc.)
-1 tbsp. parmasan cheese

Preheat oven to 375
Combine all ingredients in gallon sized ziplock bag and smash/mix together until everything is well blended.
Pour ingredients into a 9" glass pie dish
Stick in the oven for about 15 minutes
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with parmasan cheese
Serve with garlic bread and wine! (or in my case, sparkling grape juice!)

I also made Nick a dessert. Every year for Valentine's Day, I try to do a love-y dessert. I'm not super creative so that usually ends up being something red/pink or something in the shape of a heart. Last year, I made Red Velvet Whoopie Pies and he loved them so I figured since it had been a year, I'd go with those again. Seriously, these are SO easy and so delicious!

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
1 box Red Velvet Cake Mix
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs (I always use Egg Beaters...)
Flour
1 can vanilla frosting, whipped

Preheat oven to 375
Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs until well blended. (The batter will be STICKY)
Using a cookie scoop, place dough about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet
Using a glass dipped in flour, flatten the cookies to about 1/2" thickness
Stick in the oven for 6-8 minutes
Allow the cookies to cool completely
Ice the bottom of a cookie and press another on top like a sandwich....voila, whoopie pies!

I like serving mine chilled :)

In the process of flattening with a flour-dipped glass....

After baking - nice and fluffy!

The final product....oh so tasty!

Wondering what I got for Valentine's Day? We don't really exchange gifts but I got a super adorable homemade card (heart melts!) and a bouquet of flowers! Nick knows I love flowers especially in the winter when our garden is bare and ugly! He picked stargazer lilies (our wedding flowers) and dutch iris (a flower we planted in our garden this past fall)...so thoughtful!

I got Nick a waffle iron because he has been wanting one FOREVER. I have to admit, it's a pretty smart gift considering I got waffles in bed the next day! You might wonder what type of waffles my lovely husband made for me........chocolate chip, of course! Delish!