Chicken Taco Pie

Chicken Taco Pie
4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

1 T vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 chicken breasts, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 t cumin

1/2 t paprika

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1/4 cup taco sauce

1 flour tortilla

1 can refried beans

4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

1 c Doritos Nacho Cheesier chips, smashed (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook onion and green pepper over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add chicken and garlic; stir occasionally until chicken is cooked through.  Season with salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika.  Add tomatoes, corn, and taco sauce.  Simmer over low heat until liquid is mostly gone.

Meanwhile, place the tortilla on the bottom of a pie tin.  Spread refried beans over tortilla and up the side of the pan.

When chicken mixture has lost most of its liquid pour it into the pie tin.  Sprinkle cheese over chicken mixture. 

Cook pie for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.  Sprinkle chips over pie and cook for 5 more minutes.

Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Note: This can be made ahead and frozen (without any chips).  Bake just until the cheese is melted and let cool before covering tightly with plastic wrap.  Defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours before reheating.  Bake at 350 degrees until cooked through, about 45 minutes.

Blueberry Banana Breakfast Bread

I love banana bread but wanted to put a twist on it.  I try to incorporate wheat flour when I can and that was my goal in creating this loaf.  I don't like that wheat flour because it makes everything so dense and heavy so I used oatmeal to lighten it up without adding white flour.

I figured I'd have to experiment with a few loaves to get it right, but this one was good right off the bat!

Blueberry Banana Breakfast Bread
1 loaf

Ingredients:

1 1/4 c sugar

1/2 c butter, softened

2 eggs

3 bananas, soft

1/2 c milk

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 c old fashioned oats

1 1/4 t baking soda

1 t salt

1/2 c blueberries (I used frozen)

1 c walnuts, chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease the bottom on one 9x5" loaf pan.

Stir  sugar and butter in a large bowl until well mixed.  Stir in eggs, bananas, milk, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.  

Stir in flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt just until combined.  Add blueberries and nuts and stir until combined.

Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 60-75 minutes in the center of the oven.  When bread is finished cooking (toothpick test) move to a cooling rack and let rest in pan for 15 minutes.

Remove from pan and let cool for 2 hours before slicing.  

Bread should be stored in plastic wrap.  It can be frozen for later use.

Zucchini as Pasta

No, I'm not talking about zucchini flavored pasta; this is sliced zucchini that you can substitute for your regular old spaghetti.

I'm not a big fan of food substitutes, but this one isn't too bad.  We always have garlic bread with our pasta so we are still getting carbs, we just aren't getting the carb overload.

To make "spaghetti:"

Julienne 1 zucchini per person.  

Bring water to a rolling boil in a large pot.

Put zucchini in boiling water and cook for 1 minute.

Remove zucchini and place in an ice bath and let cool.

Serve with your favorite pasta sauce or with melted butter and parmesan.

To make "lasagna:"

Slice zucchini very thin.

Cook in boiling water (as in last recipe) for 2-3 minutes

Move zucchini to a water bath and let cool.

Use a towel to get excess water off of zucchini.  Get as much water out as possible as it will make your dish soupy.  If you have time, let it sit out for 15 minutes before preparing lasagna.

Pasta Sauce

Making your own pasta sauce isn't as hard as you might think.  It does take more time that opening a jar, but it's worth it.

Pasta Sauce
4 Servings

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 white onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

15 roma tomatoes, halved

15 basil leaves, chopped

12 oregano leaves, chopped

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

2 cans V8 Spicy Hot

Instructions:

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pot.  Cook mushrooms and onion until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

Add tomatoes and 2 c water; cover and stir occasionally.  After 15 minutes use a potato masher to press down on the tomatoes.

Add remaining ingredients.  Cook down until mixture becomes thick.

Serve over pasta.

Potato Chips

Potato Chips

Ingredients:

russet potatoes

peanut oil

salt or other seasoning

Instructions:

Preheat oil in fryer to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, slice potatoes very thin (I use a 1/8" ruffle cut on a mandolin).  It is essential to have them cut evenly.  Place sliced potatoes in water until ready to use to prevent them from turning brown.

Before you fry the potatoes, drain the water and place potatoes on a towel.  Remove excess water by rolling the towel.

Place a few potatoes in the fryer (be sure to not overcrowd).  I found that they cook best when fully submerged.  My fryer has a basket that has an up and down position.  When I placed the basket in the up position it was just low enough to keep the potatoes submerged.  If you don't have this option, you will have to flip as you cook.

Cook potatoes until they are slightly tanned.  They should be rigid, not soft and mushy.  If your potatoes are not cut evenly you will see that one side is rigid while the other side is soggy.

When the chips are fully cooked move them to a cooling rack topped with paper towels.  Allow them to cool slightly before adding salt or other seasoning.

Tips:

My favorite chips are sour cream and cheddar and I wanted to try to make something similar.  If I were at the store I would have bought a cheddar popcorn flavoring or something but I wasn't at the store...I had to improvise.  I took the cheese packet out of a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and sprinkled the chips with that.  It wasn't the same, but it was actually better than I expected.  

What flavors do you like on your chips?

Chicken Fried Rice

Chicken Fried Rice

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 c chicken broth or stock

1 c brown rice

2 t oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 c mushrooms, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1-2 chicken breasts, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c frozen peas

2 eggs, scrambled

1/4 c soy sauce

1/4 c rice vinegar

Instructions:

Place broth and rice into a saucepan and bring to a boil; cover and cook 30-45 minutes until rice is tender (broth need not be completely dissolved).

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan heat oil.  Add onion, mushrooms, and carrots and cook until tender.  

Add chicken and garlic; cook until chicken is cooked through.  Add cooked rice and peas.

Push everything in the pan over to one side.  Add the eggs to the free side; stir and cook until cooked through.  

Stir eggs into the rice mixture.  Add soy sauce and vinegar.  

Serve.

Notes:

Fried rice is great because you can really throw in any vegetables that you have around the house.  You can serve it as an entree or side dish.

Sesame Green Beans

My favorite sushi restaurant is in Chesapeake, VA and they make the most amazing sesame spinach dish.  I make a spinach dish but also incorporate the flavors into other vegetables like green beans.

Sesame Green Beans

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb green beans, trimmed

1 T rice vinegar

2 t sesame oil

1 t sesame seeds

Instructions:

Place a steamer basket in a large pot with 1 inch of water; bring to a boil.

Add green beans to basket, cover, and cook until tender; about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix vinegar and oil.

When beans have cooked through place in a medium bowl.  

Pour vinegar/oil mixture over beans and toss to coat

Top with sesame seeds.

Notes:

Sesame oil is VERY strong.  Add a little bit at a time until you find a taste that you like.

Asian Inspired CrockPot Chicken

Our family loves Asian food, be it chow mien or sushi.  I have made a few recipes but wanted to try something for the CrockPot.  Another thing that inspired this recipe is we buy whole chickens as they are much cheaper than buying them in pieces.  We use the breasts in various ways, we fry up the legs and wings and slather on buffalo sauce, but I never know what to do with the thighs.  Problem solved!

Asian Inspired CrockPot Chicken

4 Servings

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs (boneless, skinless)

1/4 c soy sauce

2 T rice wine vinegar

1/4 c sake

2 T honey

1 c chicken stock or broth

2 T ginger, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c onion, chopped

1 T chili paste (found in the Asian aisle of the supermarket)

Salt

Pepper

2 T sesame seeds

4 T cornstarch

4 T water

Instructions:

Place chicken in Crockpot.

In a medium bowl mix all remaining ingredients except sesame seeds, cornstarch, and water.

Pour liquid mixture over chicken; top with sesame seeds.

Cook for 6 hours on low.

After 6 hours, remove chicken and set aside while leaving sauce in CrockPot.  

Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl until cornstarch is dissolved.  

Add cornstarch slurry to CrockPot.  

Turn CrockPot on high and cook an additional 15 minutes.  

Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

The Spicy Bird

A friend and I used to go to a NY style deli during our lunch at work and they had a sandwich called "The Spicy Bird."  It was your typical sub sandwich with turkey and pepperoni.  I don't think I've made a turkey sandwich without pepperoni since. I love deli turkey but the pepperoni gives it that little kick.

Today for lunch I made a Spicy Bird panini with mayo, Havarti and mozzarella cheese, lettuce, turkey, and pepperoni.  I would have included some pickle slices but we didn't have any around.

This isn't the only way to enjoy a Spicy Bird.  Try your own combination and share it with us!

Unicorn Poop Cookies

No, these aren't real unicorn poop but if unicorns do poop this is probably what it looks like.

Again, I'm not sharing a recipe here but showing a technique.

First, whip up your favorite sugar cookie recipe (I used the Betty Crocker cookbook).  Divide the dough into 6 pieces and die each piece a color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple).  Roll each piece into a 10 inch snake.

Roll out a piece of clear plastic wrap.  Lay down the pieces in ROYGBV order side by side.  Then carefully wrap them into a log as shown below.  Twist the ends to make it tight and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Once the dough has hardened take it out and roll it into a long snake (I dusted the countertop with powdered sugar).  As it gets longer you will want to break it in half and continue working with it.  Continue rolling and halving it until you get about 1/2" diameter snakes.  Cut the snakes into 4" lengths.

Now it's time to shape the cookies.  You want to pile them up so they look like, well, poop.

Bake them as directed by your recipe, and cool on a cooling rack.

As they are baking whip up a batch of icing.  You don't want anything that will cover up the design of the cookies, so I just mixed powdered sugar and milk into a thin icing (I forgot to sift the sugar which was a big no-no so there were clumps).  Spoon it over the cookies when they are still on the cooling rack (put a paper towel underneath because a lot of excess will drip off).  I also added some edible shimmer to the cookies with a paintbrush.

And there you have it, the most delicious unicorn poop you've ever tasted!

Buffalo Burgers

Ever had a buffalo burger?  If not, you're missing out.

I saw our local grocery store advertise buffalo meat for $6.99/lb which is the same price we pay for beef off-sale (I NEVER pay that for beef as I stock up when it is on sale, but that's not the point) so I picked up a pound.  After eating this burger I wished I had picked up two pounds!

You don't need to go all crazy with spices and flavorings with buffalo.  I just sprinkle in a little salt and pepper and it's delicious!

There aren't any big secrets or special recipes to share, I just wanted to give you something different to work with.

For this meal I made homemade sesame seed buns (recipe here).  I followed the ingredient list and used the bread machine to do all the work.  Once the dough was ready I shaped it, let it double (I actually fell asleep because I wasn't feeling well and they more than doubled) and baked it.  They turned out AWESOME!  I highly recommend that recipe.

I made approximately 1/2 lb burgers for my husband and a mini-burger for my son.  Brown up the patties as you would with hamburger, add some cheese, and voila!

Juicy Lucy with Bacon

If you're looking for a healthy recipe, you're looking at the wrong post.  This is a special treat that we only make once or twice a year.  I'm not even going to calculate the P+ on this one...just know it isn't good for you, but it's amazing!  This is what I classify as a "so good you won't care how bad it is" recipes.

I don't usually give step-by-step photo instructions but in this case I think it's easiest.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 lb 80/20 ground beef

Seasoning (I used Weber Gourmet Burger but you can use salt and pepper or the seasoning of your choice)

4 oz American cheese, cut into 4 slices (I used Velveeta)

10 slices center cut bacon

4 American cheese slices

4 hamburger buns

Directions:

Prepare bacon (see Baking Bacon).  Chop 2 pieces and set the rest aside.

Season beef with desired seasoning.  Separate into 8 pieces and form into patties.  

Top four of the patties with the American cheese and bacon.  Place the other 4 patties on top of the bacon and cheese to enclose the cheese and bacon.

Ok, this is the most important part.  You want to seal the two patties together well so they don't separate when cooking.  Press down the edges of the top burger until it is completely blended into the burger on the bottom.  Flip the entire thing and form into a thick patty.  Continue until you have 4 patties.

Place a skillet over medium-high heat.  Once pan is hot, place the patties in the pan.  Once the first side has a good sear flip to sear the second side.  When second side has seared, flip again and turn heat down to medium low.  Cook and flip until both sides are done (use a thermometer as these take a lot longer than a regular burger).  Let burgers rest for 5 minutes.

 Time for assembly.  Treat the burger as if it were any other burger.  Top with sliced cheese, bacon, and and any other toppings you would like.  Serve immediately.

WARNING!  The cheese in the burger is HOT!  Be careful!

The fun of this recipe is you can use almost any kind of cheese and other ingredients.  What combinations can you come up with?  Try them out and share your ideas with us!

John Frieda Hair Products Promo at Rite Aid

This promotion has already expired, but I wanted to show you as another example of how to get great deals.  I went to Rite Aid this week and bough JF shampoo, conditioner, and foaming hair color.

Shampoo $6.99

+ Conditioner $6.99

+ Hair Dye $12.99

Total Retail Value $26.97

What I paid:

Promo:  Buy 1 JF Shamp/Cond get one 1/2 off

Shampoo $6.99

+ Conditioner $3.49

Promo: Buy 2 Shamp/Cond get $3 Register Rewards

- $3.00

Promo: JF Hair Dye $11.99

+ Hair Dye $11.99

Promo: Buy 1 JF Hair Dye get $2 Register Rewards

- $2 Register Rewards

Coupon: Buy two JF hair products, get $10 off JF hair dye

- $10 Coupon

Total Paid: $ 7.47

That's a total savings of $19.50 or 72%!!!  Yeah buddy!

Maple Berry Oatmeal Cups (2 P+)

Here's another baked oatmeal recipe.  I wanted to make something a little different than the last batch and make it a little lighter.  I omitted the butter and made a couple other changes.  I also decided to make a smaller batch because I only have one 12 cup muffin tin so I only have to bake one batch.  I hope you like it!

Maple Berry Oatmeal Cups
12 Servings, 45 minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

1 c steel cut oats

9 strawberries, quartered

36 blueberries

¼ c walnuts, chopped

1 c milk

1 egg

¼ c brown sugar

2 t cinnamon

2 t maple syrup

½ t baking soda

¼ t salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°.  Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Divide the oats between the 12 muffin liners (approximately 1 ½ T each).

Divide the berries between the muffin tins (3 blueberries and ¾ strawberry each).  Top with walnuts.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well.  Divide and pour into the muffin cups (muffin cups should end up ¾ full).

Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, until liquid has set.

Cool for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Notes:

Put into an airtight container and store in the fridge for a few days.  You can eat them cold or warm them for 45

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies (4 P+)

Nestle's Tollhouse Chocolate Chip recipe is tried and true, but you can do better than that.  Once you figure out the exact time to keep them in your oven, they will be perfect every time.  I find they are best before they turn golden brown and I get the perfect doneness at 11 minutes in my oven.  They are crisp and crunch on the bottom but soft and chewy on the top.  Yum, yum, YUM!  I cannot get over how good these cookies are.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
30 cookies, 60 minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c white flour

½ t baking soda

¼ t salt

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

¼ cup butter, melted

2 egg whites

2 t vanilla

1 c mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking liner.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, butter, egg whites, and vanilla.  Continue whisking for 3-5 minutes. 

Next, it’s time to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  Only add ¼ of the flour mixture to the wet mixture at a time and be sure to thoroughly combine by whisking before adding the next portion. 

Once the flour has been fully incorporated, remove the dough from the whisk with a rubber spatula.  Fold in the chocolate chips with the spatula.

Using a cookie scoop, place 12-15 dough balls on silicone baking liner spacing them 2 inches apart. 

Bake for approximately 11 minutes.

Cool for 3-5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Notes:

To get the cookies the perfect crisp bottom while still being soft on the top I think it is necessary to use a silicone baking liner such as a Silpat.

A cookie scoop is a must as well.  If the cookies aren’t all the same size and shape they will cook unevenly so having them uniform is essential. 

Make sure the butter isn’t still hot because you are introducing it to raw egg whites and you don’t want to start cooking them until they get in the oven.

Don’t break out the electric mixer for this one.  You can do it with a whisk and a little elbow grease (ok, it’s a lot of elbow grease).  

Baking Bacon

Everybody loves a good piece of bacon, right?  I always liked it but hated making it.  It always turns into a hot mess.  If only there were an easy way...and there is!

Baking Bacon


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Place bacon on aluminum foil in a single layer.

Bake 10 minutes, remove from oven, flip bacon, and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and place bacon on paper towels to remove excess grease.

Enjoy!


Making the bacon in the oven clears up room on the stove to make whatever else you are making.  There really isn't any fuss besides flipping it once and you really don't even have to do that if you don't want to.  The best part is the cleanup.  All you have to do is wrap up the foil and throw it away!

Perfectly cooked every time!

Bring Home the Bacon

Instead of bringing home a pound of Oscar Mayer's shrink wrapped pork product check out the butcher's case at your local grocery store.  They may have a better product for less money.

Here in San Diego, CA a pound of regular bacon (not on sale) cost around $8.49.  That is RIDICULOUS!  I used to only buy it if it was BOGO or a great sale/coupon.

Before going grocery shopping one day I was looking in the store ad and saw that the butcher's cut applewood smoked bacon was $1.99/lb.  I thought it had to be a typo so I had to investigate.

Sure enough, when I went up to the butcher's case there was a sign for $1.99 on the bacon.  What surprised me even more was that the normal, non-sale price was only $3.99!  I have been paying more for bacon that isn't as fresh, has more preservatives, and doens't taste as good.  Unbelieveable.

Buying the  bacon this way also gave me a great idea of how to stretch my dollar even more.  When we buy the pre-packaged stuff I just throw it in the freezer until we need it.  I cook the whole package and that's the end of it.  Since this bacon wasn't prepacked I decided to layer it between sheets of parchment paper/aluminum foil (it's double sided).  I put 4 pieces on one side then folded the paper in half and added 4 more.  I continued wrapping and stacking until I had all 3 lbs wrapped.  I wraped it again with press and seal plastic (you want to keep as much air out as possible to prevent freezer burn) and placed it in a flat, open spot in the freezer.  Once frozen, it will keep it's shape so you can put it anywhere.

This keeps the bacon slices completely free from one another so you can take out exactly as much as you need even when it's still frozen.  Now, instead of cooking up 16 pieces like I used to, I only take out 6-8 pieces that we need and put the rest in the freezer.  Not only is it saving money, it's also saving the extra calories from when I'd graze on the extra bacon througout the day.

Get the Drug Store Deals

This is one of those things that I thought was too good to be true.  I can, with 100% confidence, say that it is a very real thing.

I wanted to use a current example, and what do you know, it was the first item on the first page I looked at when I opened this morning's paper.

This is from the Rite Aid ad.  I know it's hard to read, but it says Crest Toothpaste, Oral-B Toothbrushes, and Scope Mouthwash is on sale for $3 with your wellness plus card.  The red/yellow part on the left says that when you buy any of these items you get a
$3 +UP Reward (Limit 2).

There are also coupons for $.75 off Crest Toothpaste and $.75 off Scope Mouthwash.

This is the same advertisement from their website.

Time to save!!

First things first:  you need a +UP card.  If you don't have one, get one.  It's one of those annoying little cards that you put on your keychain but it is totally worth the annoyance.

If you purchase one Crest Toothpaste and one Scope Mouthwash your total would be $6.00 plus tax.  Take off $1.50 for the coupons and your total is $4.50 plus tax.  You will pay that out of pocket but in return you will get $6.00 back in +UP Rewards (+UP Rewards are just like store credit, so it's almost as good as cash at Rite Aid).

For these two items you are making $1.50 minus any taxes you had to pay (it varies state to state).

YOU ARE MAKING MONEY BY BUYING THINGS!

Save your +UP Rewards for next week.  You get to a point where you are only spending a dollar or two out of pocket because you have so many +UP Rewards saved up.

When you start to get the hang of this it gets to be so much fun.  I haven't even looked through the rest of the paper but usually there are a lot of free or almost free items.  Getting free items is great but making money when you buy things is a feeling like no other.

Additional information:
+UP Rewards do expire a couple weeks after they are issued.
+UP Rewards cannot be use to pay sales tax and value will not be returned.  To know how many +UP Rewards you can use, ask for your subtotal.  If your total is $5.50 but your subtotal is $4.99 you can only use $4.00 in +UP Rewards and will have to pay the additional $1.50 out of pocket.

Guacamole Salad (4 P+)

Guacamole Salad
8 Servings, 15 Minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

4 avocados, skin and seed removed, ½” dice

4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

½ white onion, sliced

2 limes, juice only

1 T fresh cilantro, chopped

salt, to taste

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, gently mix all ingredients.  Serve immediately.

Notes:

The lime juice will help to keep the avocado from browning but can’t prevent it completely.  If storing, cover with plastic wrap, pressing out as much air as possible and refrigerate.

Guacamole (4 P+)

This is another food that everybody has their own recipe for.  I always make my guacamole with a lot of lime and salt.  Say what you will, I always get complimented on my guac!

The hard thing about this recipe is, since the vegetables always vary in size and taste, there isn't an exact recipe.  This is what I usually start with and work from there.

Guacamole
8 Servings, 15 Minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

4 avocados, skin and seed removed

4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

½ white onion, chopped

3-4 limes, juice only

1 T fresh cilantro, chopped

salt, to taste

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, mash the avocados with a potato masher.  Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix well.

Notes:

The lime juice will help to keep the avocado from browning but can’t prevent it completely.  If storing, cover with plastic wrap, pressing out as much air as possible and refrigerate.

Fruit Snacks (1 P+)

Fruit Snacks
8 Servings, 60 minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

1 lb strawberries, sliced
1 banana, sliced
1 t cinnamon
3-5 packets Knox gelatin

Instructions:
Cook strawberries and banana in a saucepan for approximately 15 minutes until strawberries have softened.  Blend fruit and cinnamon in a blender until smooth.

Refrigerate 1/2 cup of the fruit mixture for 15 minutes.  Stir gelatin into chilled fruit and dissolve, approximately 5 minutes.  Add remaining warm fruit mixture.

Fill silicone ice cube trays with mixture and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until fruit has set.  Remove and store in an air-tight container for up to one week.

Notes:
Silicone ice cube trays should be available in the kitchen section of most stores.  The shapes shown are from trays that I got from Ikea for $1 each.

The amount of gelatin used is going to determine how firm your fruit snacks are.  Use 3 for a relatively soft snack and 5 for chewier snacks.

Other fruit can be used to make these.  Please share your favorite combinations!

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole (10 P+)

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole
8 Servings, 75 Minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

7 ½ c chicken broth, divided

2 c wild rice mix

3 T butter

1 onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, smashed

3 T flour

½ c milk

1 can sliced mushrooms, drained

1 can green beans, drained

1 can water chestnuts, drained and chopped

2 c cooked chicken, shredded

salt

pepper

¼ can French’s fried onions

Instructions:

In a saucepan, bring 6 cups of chicken broth to a boil; add rice and return to boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for approximately 40 minutes, until rice is cooked.

Meanwhile, place a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add butter, onion, and celery.  Sauté until onion is translucent.  Add garlic and cook for one minute.  Sprinkle flour over vegetables.  Stir and cook until flour browns slightly.  Slowly whisk in 1 ½ cups of chicken broth and ½ cup milk.

Stir in mushrooms, green beans, water chestnuts, chicken, salt, and pepper.  Top with fried onions.

Bake for 25 minutes or until fried onions are golden and casserole is bubbling.

Notes:

Change it up by switching up some vegetables each time you make it.

Breakfast Burritos (6 P+)

My husband loves to take these with him in the morning because he can throw them in the microwave before he goes to work.  This recipe makes 10 at a time but you could easily make a double or triple batch.

Frozen Breakfast Burritos
10 Servings, 30 Minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

8 eggs

4 egg whites

¼ c milk

salt

pepper

10 flour tortillas

1 lb ground sausage, browned and drained

12 oz hash browns, prepared

1 c cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Beat eggs, egg whites, milk, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. 

Spray skillet with cooking spray.  Cook eggs over medium heat until cooked through.

Put tortillas in microwave for 15-30 seconds to slightly warm them (this prevents them from cracking when folding).

To build burritos spread tortillas out flat on counter top.  Start with eggs and then add sausage, hash browns, and cheese.

Roll burritos up and wrap each one in plastic wrap.

Freeze up to 1 month.

TO REHEAT:  Remove plastic wrap and wrap burrito with paper towel.  Microwave one burrito at 50% for 60 seconds then 100% for 60 seconds.

Notes:

This is another easy recipe to modify.  You can substitute bacon, ham, or even a soy product for the sausage.  You could also use all egg whites, Mexican cheese, or whole wheat tortillas.


Add sauteed mushrooms, onions, peppers, or other vegetables for something different.