Chicken Bacon Ranch Alfredo Bake

The name of this recipe leaves no guessing as to what it is!  Ha ha!  But, it is easy and delicious and my whole family likes it, so it is definitely worth putting on here!

Chicken Bacon Ranch Alfredo Bake

adapted from: pillsbury.com

1 lb. cooked pasta

2 c. cooked shredded chicken

1 jar alfredo sauce

3/4 c. ranch dressing

6 slices cooked chopped bacon (I actually just used some of my real bacon bits)

2 c. shredded cheese (I used a pizza blend)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, stir together the cooked pasta, chicken, alfredo sauce, ranch dressing and bacon.  Pour it into a 9X13 pan and sprinkle the cheese over the top.  Bake it for 15-20 minutes or until it is hot and bubbly.

Slow Cooker Three Cheese Chicken and Noodles

I have a slow cooker cook book that I have used a few times lately, and have been happy each time.  This one was an easy, macaroni type recipe, with a little bit of a twist.  Peppers and chicken give it a more adult taste, and also a little bit of spice.  I really enjoyed it!

Three Cheese Chicken and Noodles
adapted from: Crock Pot brand cookbook

1 chicken breast
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 c. diced green or red bell pepper
1 c. shredded Monterey jack cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. diced onion
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 (8 oz.) package of egg noodles

Combine all of the ingredients in your slow cooker, except the egg noodles, and stir.  Cook for 6 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high.  Take your chicken breast out and shred it and then add it back in.  Cook the egg noodles according to the package directions, and the add them to your slow cooker and stir gently until they are coated evenly.  (The recipe actually says to cook them, then add them to the crock pot at the beginning and cook it all together.  I was afraid of super soft noodles falling apart, so I did it this way.  But it might be worth trying the other way to save a few minutes at dinner time.)  Enjoy!  

Thai Chicken Vegetable Soup

Soups are very hit and miss with me, but this really hit the spot tonight.  It might be because we're all sick and just needed some comfort food, but it did not disappoint.  I will definitely be making this again.  This also marks the first time in my life I have happily eaten mushrooms, and if you know me, you understand what that means. They really worked well in this recipe!  I modified it just a little from this recipe, and I imagine you could substitute or add any number of other vegetables and it would still be delicious.

Thai Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 Carrots (I used about 8-10 baby carrots), sliced very thin - matchstick size
1 Red Pepper, sliced very thin
1 cup Sliced Mushrooms
4 cups Chicken Broth
Ginger, dashed
2 cups Shredded Chicken
1 can Coconut Milk
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
2 Tbsp fresh Cilantro, chopped

In a large pot, heat the vegetable oil over a medium-high heat.  Add the carrots and peppers and stir-fry for about 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms, chicken broth, and about 8-10 dashes of ginger.  Bring everything to a boil, stirring occasionally, and then turn down to a medium-low heat.  Add the shredded chicken and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and cook until it gets hot and bubbly, stirring frequently.  Just before you serve it, add the lime juice and fresh cilantro.

Lazy Sunday Casserole

This was a delicious meal that we just happened to make on... Sunday.  It was easy, the only real time-consuming part was chopping up all of the vegetables.  It was the first time I've cooked with, or eaten for that matter, fennel.  It's a very interesting vegetable, it has almost a black licorice flavor (which I actually don't like, but eaten as a bite with all of the other vegetables combined it wasn't bad).  My husband liked the flavor of it combined as well.  My sister-in-law informed me that fennel is an ingredient in a lot of Italian sausages (which may be a clue as to why I don't like Italian sausage that much) so it complimented the flavors of the dish well.  

After all of my fennel talk, it was just a small part of the dish and the overall flavor was well balanced and delicious!  The vegetables were moist and it had just the right amount of seasoning.  This is one of our new favorites for sure.  I got it from Kayotic Kitchen, a new blog that I found via Pinterest, and was so happy to find it.  As she suggested, we used vegetables we had on hand, so my slight adaptations are from the vegetables we needed to use up which included mushrooms. My husband was very happy that I finally chose a recipe that used sausage, his favorite.  And I liked it just as much as he did!

Lazy Sunday Casserole

slightly adapted from Kayotic Kitchen

Ingredients

4 sausages (beef or pork)

3 large potatoes

3-4 large carrots

1 red bell pepper

1 large onion

1 fennel bulb

5-6 mushrooms

2 garlic cloves

2 tbsp oil

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

1 1/2 tsp Italian herbs

1/2 cup chicken broth

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes, wash them and cut each potato into large cubes. Chop carrots into large pieces and slice mushrooms.  Chop onion into wedges. Remove the base and stalks of the fennel and slice it into wedges as well. Slice bell pepper into strips and put everything in a big roasting tray.

2. Use a big bowl to combine the oil with the Italian herbs, grated or chopped garlic, and chicken broth and pour it over the vegetables. Toss them around to make sure the broth gets everywhere. Season with a generous amount of salt and black pepper.

3. Cover the tray with aluminum foil and pop it in a preheated oven. Bake at 450F (225C) for 45 minutes.

3. While the vegetables are cooking, lightly brown the sausages and slice each sausage in half. (Sausages do not need to be cooked through.)

4. After 45 minutes the potatoes and vegetables should be fork tender. If they’re not, cover the tray with the foil and pop them back in the oven for a few more minutes. If they are fork tender, place the sausages in there and pour the balsamic vinegar all over. Place the tray back in the oven, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes. Take it out after 15 minutes, flip over those sausages and ladle some of the juices lurking at the bottom all over the vegetables and sausages. Put it back in the oven for the remaining time, until everything is nice and brown.

Mango Sauce (2 Versions, Sweet and Spicy)

One night we had 3 ripe mangoes, sitting, beckoning to us to eat them.  I love mangoes.  They are my favorite fruit.  We looked online for a main dish involving mangoes and ended up finding two great ideas!  Dinner and dessert, for the price of the same mango!  We found a chef on youtube who taught me how to properly cut, squish and dice a mango (see pictures below).  Then I looked at his food blog and adapted the spicy sauce from that website.  
Here is the way to finely dice your mango.  First, peel it, using a peeler.  Discard the peels.  Then continue to peel the actual mango onto your cutting board.  

Next, using your fingers, squish all that mango juice onto your pile of mango slices.  A lot of juice will come off of that mango.  I was a little surprised.

Now take a large knife and finely dice your mango.  If you puree it, according to the youtube guy, it will throw the universe off.  So don't do that.  Just dice it.

Now you are ready to add the other delicious ingredients.


Sweet Mango Sauce
adapted from: www.uk.answers.yahoo.com


1 large, very ripe mango, finely diced
1/2 can coconut milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 c. brown sugar (plus a teeny bit more)


Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and heat it over low heat until it is warm.  And that is it. Split the sauce in half and reserve one half to put over vanilla ice cream.  Mmmm.

Using the other half of your mango sauce, make this recipe to put over grilled chicken:

Spicy/Sweet Mango Sauce

adapted from: www.foodwishes.blogspot.com

1/2 recipe sweet mango sauce (see above)

1/4 tsp. minced garlic (actually, just a slightly less)

1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

1 sprig cilantro, chopped

In a medium sauce pan, combine all the ingredients and stir gently.  Serve over grilled chicken.

Chicken Milano

I have made this recipe many times.  I was going to make it for a church dinner, but couldn't perfect it in the slow cooker.  Needless to say, we ate it almost every night for about a week.  In order to avoid an uprising from my family, I waited a few months before trying it again.  And it was just as delicious as I remember (I never could get it to work right in the slow cooker).  The original recipe calls for heavy whipping cream (that is how you know it is going to be delicious).  I didn't have any this last time that I made it, so I used evaporated milk instead and it still tasted great!  So, if you are in a pinch, substitute and try different things.  I have served mine with steamed red potatoes or fettuccine noodles and it is great either way.


Chicken Milano
adapted from: www.allrecipes.com


1 Tbsp butter
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 c. sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 can sliced mushrooms
1 c. chicken broth, divided
1 c. heavy whipping cream (or evaporated milk worked, too)
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut in thirds
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (or a sprinkle or two of dried basil)


In a large sauce pan, melt the butter and saute' the garlic for about one minute, on medium-low heat.  Add the sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms and 3/4 cup of the chicken broth, bring it to a boil over medium heat and cook it until the tomatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the heavy whipping cream and boil it gently until it begins to thicken, or until it will coat the back of a spoon.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.  Pour the oil into a skillet and cook the chicken until there is no more pink on the inside.  When the chicken is cooked through, pour the remaining 1/4 cup chicken broth over the top and let it simmer.  Pour the cream sauce over the top of the chicken and stir in the basil.  

Leek Macaroni and Cheese

I went to a coworker’s house a little while ago and she had this awesome macaroni and cheese dish for us to try.  I was just going to have a little, as I was eating dinner with my husband later, but somehow couldn’t help asking for a little more, and then a little more.  My husband had to eat dinner by himself that night…  Anyways, I couldn’t wait to make it myself.

A few notes about this recipe.  The original recipe called for chanterelle mushrooms, which were really good when I first tried this; however, my husband is more of a meat-lover rather than squeaky-vegetable-lover so I used sausage instead.  You could use any sausage but I used and love Hillshire Farm’s Chicken Apple Sausage with Gouda Cheese.  Mmmmmm.

Also, it called for milk white cheddar cheese and the first time I made this I used a mild yellow cheddar and it did not have enough flavor for me.  So this time I used a sharp white cheddar and it was awesome!! 

Oh, and I think my favorite flavors in this are the leek and ground pepper.  Who knew?

Leek Macaroni & Cheese

Adapted from A Chow Life

1 lb. macaroni pasta (large elbows)
4 cups whole milk
6 tblsp. flour
4 tblsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 tsp. sweet or smoked paprika
1 chicken (or other) sausage, sliced (see note below)

2 cups thinly sliced leeks (green part only)
kosher salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
8 oz. sharp (or other) white cheddar cheese

Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook at a rolling boil until just tender. Drain. Rinse. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bring the milk to just a boil in a heavy saucepan. Set aside.

Melt the butter in another pan. Add the flour and whisk over low heat for about 5 minutes. Do not brown. Remove from the heat.

Add the butter mixture to the milk and whisk well to get rid of lumps. Add 1/2 tsp of paprika. Season with salt and pepper. Return to heat. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until it’s smooth and it thickens. About 5 minutes.

Add mixture, sausage, and leeks to the pasta and stir until well coated and mixed. Spread the grated cheese over the top of the pasta. Sprinkle the top with the remaining paprika.

Cover the dish in foil and bake for 25 minutes. Then, remove the foil, place dish under the broiler (about 4 inches away from heat) and cook for another 3-4 minutes until slightly golden.

Lasagna Soup

Thanks to the ambition of Paula Deen's sons to break away from their mama's traditional foods and make healthier yummy meals (not that we all don't love a lot of love in our food, just like Paula), I found this delicious soup recipe that I tried out tonight.  I chose it for Matt because I always make the kind of food that sounds good to me, but I thought this one would be tantalizing for him, what with all that Italian sausage and peppers and what not.

And how wonderful it was to hear him say it may be his favorite soup recipe, that it tasted like a soup you might get at Olive Garden.  I also loved this soup.  I bought sweet Italian turkey sausage (Matt's response: "Of course you did") which was to my liking.  I'm not much for spicy Italian sausage.

Just as much as the sausage and peppers made it awesome for Matt, the lasagna noodles, basil, cheese, and tomatoes made it wonderful for me.  And although Paula uses love in the form of 2 c. of cheese in her recipe (love you Paula), I thought 1/2 c. was plenty for this soup.  I wouldn't have liked any more than this.


Bobby's Lighter Tastes Like Lasagna Soup
from the Deen Bros


Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 ounces broken whole-wheat lasagna noodles (about 4 noodles)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
8 Whole-wheat breadsticks or grissini (optional)

Instructions:

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick saucepot or Dutch oven. Add the sausage, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is crumbled and browned, 8 – 10 minutes.

Add the broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt, and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are blended, about 20 minutes. Add the noodles; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens slightly and the noodles are tender, 10 – 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in mozzarella, basil, and the Parmesan. Serve with the breadsticks, if using. (whole-wheat lasagna noodles take a little longer to cook.)

Nutritional Information:

Per Serving (1 cup) 225 Cal

Quinoa Chili

Have you ever tried quinoa?  If you haven't, you really should.  And you should try out this recipe first.

Quinoa is like a grain, cooked the same way you would cook rice, but it is actually a relative of beets, spinach, and... tumbleweeds.  Yeah, I know tumbleweeds, I'm from Southern Utah.

Quinoa has a lot of health benefits, especially considering it's a complete protein, and has a fun texture and a sort of nutty flavor.  It is versatile and I'm excited to try it in all the new recipes I've picked out.

This one Matt actually picked out and it ended up being awesome!  This is definitely going to be one of our favorite go-to recipes from now on.  I changed it up a bit from the originial recipe to include one of my favorite foods ever, sweet potatoes!

Quinoa Chili 
Adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients:


1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed thoroughly

1 ½ cups water

1 pound extra lean ground turkey

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped 

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon dried parsley

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Sour cream

Directions:

Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.  (I just used my rice cooker and it came out wonderful and fluffy.) The typical amount of water called for to make quinoa is 2 c. per 1 c. of quinoa.  I read, however, that if you rinse the quinoa thoroughly it will retain some of the water, then add 1 ½ c. water per 1 c. of quinoa and it will come out fluffier.  I would have thought it opposite (the more water the fluffier) but it came out perfectly fluffy when I tried it.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in the ground turkey. Cook and stir until the turkey is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain if necessary and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with chili powder and cumin; cook 1 minute more to release the flavor of the spices. 

Prep tip: If you don’t have long to let the stew simmer, cut the sweet potatoes into smaller chunks for speedier cooking, or pre-cook them by placing them on a microwave safe dish with a very small amount of water and microwave for a few minutes until they are tender. 

Stir in the tomatoes (pour in one can of tomatoes and add the second at the end if it needs more liquid), black beans, green bell pepper, sweet potato, oregano, and parsley. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Simmer until the bell peppers are tender, about 20 minutes.

Once the vegetables are tender, stir in the quinoa, ground turkey, corn kernels, and second can of tomatoes if needed. Return to a simmer, and cook 5 minutes to reheat. Stir in the cilantro and top with sour cream to serve.

Crispy Eggplant Parmesan

Before this recipe I had never tried Eggplant Parmesan (in all honesty, I had never eaten eggplant at all) and so when a friend gave me one of her eggplants, fresh from her garden, I decided to see why people actually like it so much.  (I mean it’s a weird, squeaky veggie in place of meat.)  Everyone told me how much they love Eggplant Parmesan, and so as I was searching for a great recipe online, I found this one that the people raved about in the reviews, and now I see why.  It was really delicious, and to tell you the truth, I absolutely loved the eggplant in it!  I even preferred it over chicken (although my husband will always prefer everything with meat:)

One note I will add about this recipe is that in the end, there wasn’t enough sauce to use for our pasta as well.  I added some of our favorite tomato-basil pasta sauce from a jar to eat over our pasta. (We like a lot of sauce in our family.)  So if you’re planning on eating it with pasta, I would either double the sauce or have an extra jar on hand if you need more.

Crispy Eggplant Parmesan

Adapted from Food Network.com

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. canola oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 tbsp. chopped garlic

Dash red pepper flakes (to taste- I like it less spicy)

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

½ can crushed tomatoes (or 2-3 fresh tomatoes)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup flour

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup dried Italian bread crumbs or Panko mixed with Italian seasonings

1/4 cup cornmeal

2 tbsp. grated Parmesan, divided

1 eggplant

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2-3 tbsp. chopped fresh basil

Directions:

In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the canola oil. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 minute. Add the 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, to taste Bring to a simmer and let cook for 10 minutes. . (I used fresh tomatoes and allowed to simmer for 30 minutes.  I also added fresh basil.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Set up a breading station using 3 baking dishes. In the first dish, add the flour and season with salt and pepper, to taste. In the second dish whisk the eggs with 1/4 cup water. In the third dish combine the bread crumbs, cornmeal, 1 tablespoon Parmesan and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Slice the eggplant into 3/4-inch slices. Dredge them in flour, then in the egg wash and then in the bread crumbs.

Set a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and arrange the eggplant slices on the cooling rack.  Bake in oven until crispy, about 30-35 minutes

Turn the oven to broil. Put the eggplant, overlapping, into a baking dish. Cover eggplants with about a cup of sauce and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese and remaining tablespoon of Parmesan. Put under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 3 to 4 minutes. For last minute under broiler, sprinkle fresh basil on top to garnish.

Serve over linguine pasta with remaining sauce.  Enjoy!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

This is my go-to dish when I need something easy and delicious!  I love these enchiladas, my husband loves them, and usually anyone that tries them wants the recipe.  As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t love to make the same thing all the time, but this dish is one exception.  These are a regular at our house!

The Sisters’ Café is one of my favorite blogs to get awesome recipes (like the Brie en Croute!!).  When I make these, I like to add black beans inside the enchiladas.  This adds a nice texture and flavor, but it also helps the chicken go a lot further!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Adapted from The Sisters’ Cafe

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs pork or chicken, cooked and shredded

Sauce:

1/3 c honey

1/4 c lime juice

1 Tb chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 (10 oz) cans green enchilada sauce

1-2 cans black beans

Equal parts mixed together of:

mozzarella cheese, shredded

cheddar cheese, shredded

flour tortillas

sour cream & salsa

Directions:

Mix together sauce ingredients then add to shredded pork or chicken. Let the sauce soak into the meat for about 30 minutes.

Lightly spray 2 pans with non-stick baking spray.  (I usually fill a 9x13 and a 9x9. It may vary depending on how much chicken you put in each one.) Pour green enchilada sauce into pans to coat the entire bottom. Fill tortillas with shredded meat, black beans, and desired amount of cheese. Roll and place in dish.

Pour remainder of sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on the top! Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Then turn on broiler and place enchiladas nearer the top of oven. Let it broil until cheese is slightly brown and crispy.

To serve, top with sour cream and salsa.  Delicious!

Moroccan Tagine

I tried this recipe the other night when I needed to use up my butternut squash and wanted to try something different than just baked squash. I found this fun gem and really loved it. (Matt even liked it too, even with his disdain for squash. It may have helped that I didn't tell him there was squash in it until he ate it...)

Moroccan Tagine

Adapted from allrecipes.com

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped

1 (15.5 ounce) can garbanzo or northern beans, drained and rinsed

1 carrot or celery, peeled and chopped

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juice

1 (14 ounce) can vegetable or chicken broth

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 dash cayenne pepper

1 tsp. cumin

¼ tsp. cinnamon

1 dash of curry powder (if desired)

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken, onion, and garlic about 15 minutes, until browned.

2. Mix the squash, beans, carrots or celery, tomatoes with juice, broth, sugar, and lemon juice into the skillet. Add seasonings and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue cooking 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Serve over rice or couscous.

Coconut Curried Chicken

James and I have always been big fans of Curry and I have finally found a recipe that I absolutely love. I adapted it from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 Large Carrots, thickly sliced
• 3 medium potatoes, chunked

Directions

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil and curry powder in a large skillet over medium-high heat for two minutes. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add chicken, tossing lightly to coat with curry oil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.
3. Pour coconut milk, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar into the pan, and stir to combine. Add potatoes and carrots, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

Something that I have learned (that may be somewhat common knowledge but was news to me) is that you need to cook the curry in the oil on its own for several minutes to let the flavors come out.

Enjoy!

Cheater Enchiladas

Isn't it kind of fun to cheat when you know you don't have to feel guilty? Some of you may know that spaghetti is keeping my children alive. They may eat a few other things, but if it weren't for this, they would all starve. We eat spaghetti about once a week (plus leftovers). Dustin requests it nearly as much as the children. I, on the other hand, have started to dread the stuff. I'm SO sick of spaghetti. But wait. Isn't the title of this post "Cheater Enchiladas"? Let's get on with it then! In order to not want to vomit every time someone says they want spaghetti for dinner (every day), I have started buying and making different brands and kinds of sauces, in the hopes that it will make this meal a little more exciting for my poor, worn out, pasta taste buds. I bought this the other day:


And when I opened it up and smelled it, all I could think of was a happy little waiter in Mexico, wearing a very large sombrero. I couldn't even imagine drenching my noodles in it. So, I saved it and instead, used it as the secret (and main) ingredient in my next batch of enchiladas. And because of it, these were the easiest enchiladas I have ever made! And they tasted great! And now you can all be cheaters (guilt free), too!

Cheater Enchiladas
by: Carolyn

3/4-1 c. milk
1/2 c. sour cream
1 jar of Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo sauce
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 c. chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
8-10 tortillas
1/3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

In a large bowl, stir together the milk, sour cream and Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo sauce. Take out 1 1/4 c. of this mixture, put it in a little bowl and set it aside for later. To the rest of the sauce (in your big bowl) add your cheese and shredded chicken and stir it well. In the bottom of a 9X13 pan, spread 2 spoonfuls of the sauce that you withheld (in your little bowl). Is this getting confusing? Hopefully not. Heat your tortillas in the microwave for 1 minute so that they don't stick together (is this because I buy cheap tortillas that this happens?). Now take the big bowl of sauce/chicken/cheese and fill your tortillas with this sauce, roll them up and place them close together in the pan. Repeat this until all the tortillas are filled and your pan is full. Pour the little bowl of sauce (that you kept out) over the top of the tortillas and then sprinkle it all with the 1/3 c. cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Serve with sour cream, spanish rice and a sombrero.

Easy Spinach Manicotti

I rarely make Italian dishes like manicotti, lasagna and the like, because it always seems like it will take forever to prepare, and because ricotta cheese is a little too pricey for my tight budget. But a long time ago my good sis, Nicole, told me about a cheap way to do manicotti by shoving a mozzarella cheese stick in the cooked manicotti shell. Taking that idea and adding it to a recipe I found on www.allrecipes.com for easy spinach manicotti, another sister, Jen, and I (try to follow me, there are a lot of us) made a spinach manicotti, using mozzarella, Parmesan and other yummies. This recipe is easy because you don't cook the manicotti noodles first. It turned out great and even the kiddies loved it!

Spinach Manicotti
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
chopped fresh spinach (about 1 1/2 c.)
1 egg
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a 9X13 pan, spread 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce (or whatever is needed to cover the bottom of the pan). In a medium bowl whisk the egg and add italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper and stir well. Add spinach, Parmesan and 2 c. mozzarella cheese and stir to combine. Mix remaining spaghetti sauce with water and set aside. Using a small spoon (or your fingers) stuff the uncooked manicotti noodles with the cheese mixture until they are full. Lay them side by side in the 9X13 pan. Pour remaining spaghetti sauce/water over all the manicotti and top with 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until noodles are cooked.

Chicken Roll-Ups redone

I grew up eating Chicken Roll-Ups. They were quick, they were easy, and they were good. However, I found myself comparing the sauce (cream of chicken soup) to the memory of when I had cream of chicken soup minus the chicken at the hospital when I had my appendix out, and so I revamped it a little bit so as to give it a little better flavor. But I didn't stop there and just kept adding things until I got this. Beware that I usually just add in a bunch of seasonings and flavors until it tastes good, so these are rough estimates. Enjoy!

Chicken Roll-Ups redone:

1 1/2- 2 c. cooked chicken (I use less chicken if I add more spinach)

8 oz. cream cheese

frozen or fresh spinach (I used about as much spinach as chicken... 1 1/2 c. ish)

lemon juice (I either cook the chicken in lemon juice or add it in when I mix the ingredients, probably 2-4 tbsp.)

italian seasoning

oregano

3+ tbsp. melted butter

2 cans crescent rolls or biscuits

For sauce:

2 cans cream of chicken soup

sour cream (about 1/2 c. or a little more)

milk (1- 1 1/2 c., or until desired thinness)

italian seasoning

oregano

For topping: (I used the leftover topping I had from making this ziti and it was awesome. You can also use italian breadcrumbs)

1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 c. Italian breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon romano cheese, grated
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix topping ingredients and set aside. Soften cream cheese. Mix chicken, cream cheese, spinach, lemon juice, and seasonings (to taste) in a medium sized bowl. (I used frozen spinach and mixed it in without thawing it and it came out great.) Press crescent rolls flat and put even amounts of cream cheese filling onto rolls. Fold dough over and seal the edges to make mini looking calzones. Dip each roll into melted butter, then into ziti topping (or Italian breadcrumbs) and arrange side by side in 9X13 pan (I use round cake pans). Top with any remaining topping and bake uncovered for 20 min. or until dough has cooked through.

For sauce:

Mix cans of cream of chicken soup, sour cream, milk, and seasonings (to taste) over medium-high heat stirring occasionally.

Serve sauce over rolls and enjoy.

(The picture shown does not have ziti topping.)

Primavera Risotto Nests with Fried Eggs

This recipe is (slightly adapted) from Bon Appetit, a food magazine that I have a subscription to (thanks Carolyn). It has really yummy recipes with fancy names, like this one. Almost so fancy that I feel it will taste exotic. This recipe surprised me by how great the flavors blended together and how it didn't taste super exotic or foreign, just wonderful. I was also starving by the time I ate it so that may have helped by how wonderful it was. The rice mixture would have been really good alone, but honestly adding the fried egg on top is what made this recipe so so good!

One thing that may keep me from making it often is the time it took. It takes a lot of stirring by the oven so you need to have all of the ingredients prepped beforehand so you can just dump them in when it calls for them. I'm thinking that I could just cook the arborio rice in the rice cooker with the other ingredients and it might come out the same. I'll have to try it; that would cut down on the time significantly. But seriously, you need to try this recipe when you have a day where you just want to cook something different and yummy!

Primavera Risotto Nests with Fried Eggs

Ingredients:

4 T. (1/2 stick) butter, divided

2 c. chopped button mushrooms (I omitted these, I'm not a fan.)

3/4 c. chopped onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 c. arborio rice

3 1/2 c. vegetable broth, divided (it originally called for 1/2 c. dry white wine, but since we don't drink alcohol I used all broth. I also used chicken instead of vegetable broth.)

3/4 c. 1/3-inch cubes carrots

2 c. diced trimmed asparagus

3 c. (or more) of water

1 c. Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving

1/2 c. shelled fresh peas or thawed frozen peas

1/4 c. chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 T. olive oil plus additional for drizzling (we didn't drizzle but it might be good)

4 large eggs

Melt 1 T butter in med. skillet over med./high heat. Ad mushrooms; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Melt 3 T butter in large pot over med./high heat. Add onion; sauté until beginning to soften. 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir 1 minute. Add rice and stir until translucent at edges, 5 minutes. Add 1/2 c. broth. Stir until liquid is absorbed, 1 minute. Add 1 c. broth. Simmer until broth is absorbed, stirring often, 3-4 minutes. Add carrots, asparagus, and 1 c. broth. Simmer until liquid is absorbed, stirring often, 5-6 minutes. continue to add remaining broth, then water, 1 c. at a time, until rice is just tender and mixture is creamy, stirring often and letting almost all liquid be absorbed after each addition, about 25 minutes total.

Stir 1 c. cheese, peas, parsley, and mushrooms into risotto. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat 1 T. oil in large skillet over med./high heat. Cook eggs, without turning, until whites are cooked through and yolks are cooked to desired doneness.

Put rice on plate and use a spoon to make hollow in top of each mound. Top each with egg; drizzle with oil. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

-Now I was fooled by the proportions because it says that this was 4 servings. For us, this was probably double that. It made a lot of food. Also, we both wanted two eggs per dish so keep that in mind too. Oh, but this dish was so good! Let me know if you try it!