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Friday, December 28, 2012

Back on track!

Okay, so when I started this blog, I thought I would keep up with it daily...  Well, that isn't happening obviously...  So starting the beginning of the year I plan to post three times a week.  I really enjoy sharing recipes and ideas and I hope you are enjoying them too!  Now that my mom has shared this blog with everyone on her Christmas list, it has given me extra motivation to keep it up!  :)  So here is to a New Year of healthier, quick and easy recipes!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup
6 large potatoes, peeled and cut up                        1 med. Onion, chopped
3 cans chicken broth                                                       ¼ c butter
2 ½ t salt                                                                              1 ¼ t pepper
Put first 6 ingredients in crock pot and cook on high 4 hours or low 8 hours. 
Mash potatoes and add:
1 c heavy whipping cream                                           1 c shredded cheese

Serve!

This is my favorite soup recipe!  It takes a little longer than the other one I posted before but well worth it! 
My little helper likes to help cut up the potatoes!
HyVee sells great bread bowls!

Monday, December 10, 2012

Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Ingredients

  • 1 box Chicken-flavor Rice-A-Roni (6 Ounce Box) ( use lower sodium)
  • 1 can Cream Of Mushroom Soup (10 Ounce Can)  (you can use healthy request)
  • 1 container Sour Cream, Low-fat (8 Ounce Size)
  • 1 whole Rotisserie Chicken (I just used 2-3 cooked chicken breast)
  • 1 container Durkee French-fried Onions (6 Ounce Can)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare Rice-A-Roni according to package directions. While that is cooking, shred/cut up the chicken removing meat from bones if using Rotisserie.
When Rice-A-Roni is done, add the can of soup and the sour cream, and stir to combine. Add the chicken and mix together. Spread mixture into a sprayed baking dish (I use a 9-by-13-inch pan, but you can use what you like for how thick you want it to be) and bake, uncovered, at 350 F for 40 minutes.
Remove from oven, cover with the french-friend onions and bake for 5 more minutes.

Not one of my most healtiest meals, but a good one...

Pic 2- My kids do not care for the fried onions, so I left theirs plain...

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Baked Penne

Baked Penne

½ lb extra-lean ground beef or Italian sausage
½ cup chopped onions
½ cup green peppers (omit if you wish)
1 jar (24oz) spaghetti sauce
1 tub Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb cooking cream, divided
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese divided
3 cups cooked penne pasta

Heat oven to 350

Brown Meat with vegetables in large nonstick skillet.  Stir in spaghetti sauce, ¾ cup cooking crème, and ½ cup mozzarella; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until mozzarella is melted.  Add pasta, mix lightly.  Spoon into 2qt casserole dish; top with remaining cooking crème and mozzarella.  Cover.  Bake 20 minutes or until heated through.  Uncover after 15 minutes.

We had this with green beans and garlic bread.  This recipe is very easy and the kids like it. 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Homemade Tacos

Homemade Tacos Mom Makes

Shells:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon lard (solid crisco)
Warm water

Filling:
1 lb ground beef
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Ground cumin

Shredded Lettuce
Tomatoes chopped
½ pound mild cheese, grated
Crisco for frying (about four sticks)

Mix baking powder and salt into flour.  With hands work in lard and enough warm water to make a dough that is neither hard or soft, like a tender bread dough.  It should not stick to hands.
Cover and let stand an hour or so.  Meanwhile, prepare garnishes and meat.
Brown beef in skillet and season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cumin.  Keep warm.
Divide dough into 12 round smooth discs.  (keep these covered until needed)
On a smooth unfloured surface, roll dough into 6-7 inch circles about 1/16 inch thick.
When starting to roll each ball, dip in flour before the first three passes with rolling pin.  After that, additional flour should not be needed.
Place about two tablespoons of the ground beef mixture in center of each circle.  Fold circle in half.  Seal edges from fold up each side one third the way.  Do not seal the top of the curve.
Roll and fill tacos quickly to prevent the dough from drying. 
Fry in one inch of hot, but not smoking lard or shortening.  Cook turning once with smooth tongs until tacos are puffy and golden brown on both sides.
Drain tacos several seconds standing on end, over paper towel, a colander also works well.
Fill with cheese, lettuce, salsa, ect.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan

Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan
Makes 4 large stuffed green peppers.

1 C long-grain brown rice
4 large green bell peppers, bottom trimmed, cap end cut off and diced, and seeds removed
1 large onion, diced
2 tsp. + 1 tsp. olive oil
2 links (about 8 ounces) turkey Sweet Italian Sausage (or other sausage of your choice.
1/2 tsp. ground fennel
1/2 tsp. dried Greek or Turkish oregano
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Cook rice according to package directions.

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds. Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil. (A dish that's close in size to the peppers will work best.)

Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet, then saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren't browned. Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 tsp. more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it's lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner.

Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors. Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.

Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. If you have any extra filling, you can put it in a small ramekin and bake along with the peppers. Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.