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.

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!

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!

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.

Tater Tot Hotdish (11 P+)

Hotdish?!?  What's a hotdish???

If you are asking yourself that question, you probably aren't from the Midwest.  That's what we call a casserole.  It doesn't include anything special; it's just a bunch of stuff in a pan that's been baked for a while.

This is a great recipe that I made up from what little I know about tater tot hotdish.  It's one of those things where every family makes it their own way.  I actually never had it before I started experimenting but I had a roommate that made it and it looked delicious.

The best thing about this dish is it is EASY!!!  Basically all you do is brown some beef, then open a few cans and throw them in a dutch oven.  45 minutes later you have a meal complete with meat, vegetables, potatoes, and a sauce.  Voila!

Tater Tot Hotdish
6 Servings, 60 minutes
PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef

½ onion, chopped

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 can green beans

1 can whole kernel corn

Salt

Pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

12 oz frozen tater tots

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a Dutch oven, brown ground beef and season with salt and pepper.  Add onion and cook until tender.  Remove from heat.

Stir in soups, vegetables, salt, and pepper.

Top with cheddar cheese.

Arrange tater tots around the top in a single layer.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until tator tots are golden brown.

Notes:

This is a great make-ahead recipe.  It can be refrigerated overnight or frozen for a couple weeks.  Be sure to remove as much air as possible before freezing and allow adequate time for thawing before cooking. 

To make this recipe healthier substitute ground turkey for the beef, fresh vegetables for canned, and use fat free or reduced fat soup (9 P+).

Baked Oatmeal (3 P+)

Baked Oatmeal 

18 Servings, 60 Minutes

PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients       

2 c steel-cut oats         

1 t baking soda      

½ t salt      

1 cup strawberries, sliced      

1 banana, diced      

1 cup walnuts or almonds, chopped       

Wet Ingredients 

2 c milk

1 egg

4 T butter, melted

1 T vanilla

⅓ c brown sugar   
1 T cinnamon

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375°.  Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.

Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl.

Divide the dry mixture evenly into the muffin cups.  Top with an equal amount of the wet mixture.

Place in oven and bake 45 minutes or until liquid has set.

Notes:

The beauty of this recipe is that every cup can be made differently.  Modify this recipe by using different fruit or nuts or by adding chocolate chips or dried fruit. 

Add some sweetness by sprinkling brown sugar over the oatmeal after it has been cooked.


Wrap these in plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator or freezer until needed.  From the refrigerator, we microwave them for 45 seconds.


Old-Fashioned or Rolled Oats can be substituted for the Steel-Cut Oats, they will just have a different texture.

Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna Rolls (8 P+)

Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna Rolls 

6 Servings, 60 Minutes

PRINTABLE

Ingredients:

6 lasagna noodles

1 T olive oil

8 oz baby portabella mushrooms, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

salt

1 t dried thyme

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 c ricotta cheese
1 c cottage cheese

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

pepper

2 c tomato sauce

1 c mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Prepare lasagna noodles as directed on package.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook mushrooms and onions in oil until tender.  Season with salt and thyme.

In a large bowl combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, and egg; season with salt and pepper.  Mix well.

Lay lasagna noodles out on countertop.  Spread spinach mixture over the noodles leaving one inch on each end bare.  Top with mushroom/onion mixture.

Fold over one end of a noodle to roll up, spinach side in.  Place in a 9” x 9” baking dish with the seam side down.  Repeat with remaining noodles.

Top noodles with tomato sauce then mozzarella cheese.  Cover with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray to prevent mozzarella from sticking. 

Bake for 35 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until cheese melts and browns slightly.

Let lasagna rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes:

Make this dish a few hours or even the night before serving and keep it covered in the refrigerator. 

Mexican Bruschetta (7P+)

This recipe was developed when I was making bruschetta but wanted to incorporate avocado.  I decided to make a guacamole inspire topping.  You can use more or less of any of the ingredients as there is no right way to make guacamole.  I like to make it with a lot of avocado, lime, and salt.

2 Roma Tomatoes, diced

1 Avocado, diced

1 slice Red Onion, finely chopped

1-2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped

½ t Salt

¼ c Fresh Lime Juice

1 t Cilantro

12 slices of small loaf Wheat Italian Bread

Preheat broiler.

Put all ingredients except bread into bowl.  Mix gently, taking care not to crush avocado.  Set aside.

Place 8 slices of bread on broiling pan.  Place in oven 4 inches from the heat.  Cook until lightly toasted, flip, and toast on opposite side.

Place bread on serving plate.  Spoon tomato mixture over bread and serve.

Serving Size: 3 slices

Total Servings: 4