Chicken Pasta

There is a delicious frozen meal that my marvelous friend, Sandee, introduced me to.  It was a three cheese chicken meal, and we loved it.  That was exactly what I wanted for dinner the other night, but much to my annoyance, I can't find this meal anymore.  So, there was only one thing to do.  Make it myself.

If you want to try the meal, it's pretty easy.  (Sandee, try it, and see if you think it tastes close to the frozen stuff.)

Take cubed chicken, chopped broccoli, red, green, and yellow peppers, and onions.  Cook them all in a skillet until the chicken is cooked. 

While this is cooking, cook pasta (I used rotini) in a pan, and drain.

When the pasta and the chicken is finished, add half a can of cream of chicken, the pasta, and about 16 small cubes of velveeta cheese. 

Keep the food on low heat, and mix while the cheese melts.  When everything is hot, and the cheese is melted, sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top.  Eat and enjoy!

The Other White Meat

Remember all of that pork that we had?  Well, we still have a lot, but we are putting a dent in it.  (I'm not going to lie, I've been missing having beef, but I refuse to buy more meat when we already have so much.)

So far we've had fried pork chops, pork and rice, pork and noodle casserole, and pork enchiladas. The pork enchiladas surprised me.  They were really good. 

First, I took the cooked pork and shredded it.  I added a package of taco seasoning, and cooked it according to the directions.  I also added corn, shredded cheese, and cilantro. 

Next, we (my husband helped too), rolled the meat into tortilla shells, and placed seam side down in the pan.

 

After the shells were stuffed, we put on the toppings.  The recipe that I was basing my ingredients off of called for enchilada sauce.  However, enchilada sauce costs much more than I wanted to spend, so we decided to add the rest of our queso.  I made the white cheese sauce, and then poured it on top of the enchiladas.  (That's the way that I order my enchiladas in the restaurants anyway, so adding the queso sauce was great!  Then we sprinkled shredded cheese and cilantro on top, and cooked it until the cheese was melted.

It was delicious, and the leftovers lasted for a couple of meals.  

 

Cream Cheese Rolls

Trying to use up the rest of my cream cheese the other day, I decided to make a yummy dessert.

I took a package of the crescent rolls and unrolled them.  Then I spread the cream cheese on top.  (Mine was strawberry flavored.) 

Then I rolled them up and put them in the oven, cooking them according to the directions on the package.  It was another quick, easy, and yummy treat!

Simple Sunday

On Sunday's I like to have something fixed ahead of time, but this doesn't always happen.  I just like to get my food, clean up, and head to watch football and take my Sunday nap.  Well, last Sunday, nothing had been fixed in advance, and I was more than ready for that nap.  Thanks to a new magazine, courtesy of my husbands grandmother, I had noticed an interesting new recipe.  Of course, I didn't follow it exactly, I never do, but what came out of it was a quick, easy, and delicious meal!

 

First, cube some boneless skinless chicken breast, uncooked, and toss it into a pan with frozen broccoli.  (I cooked both the chicken and the broccoli in the microwave for a little bit, so they weren't frozen hard.

When the chicken has cooked add a box of stove top stuffing, a cup of milk, and a can of cream of chicken.

Mix it all together, while the meal continues to cook.

When the food is all warm, sprinkle cheese on top, then eat and enjoy!

Pumpkins!!!

I love fall, and I love pumpkins...  We bought pumpkins the other day to carve, and the great thing is, that we can benefit from them, besides that fun decorations that they become.  Pumpkin seeds are yummy to eat!

First, separate the seeds from the rest of the pumpkin gunk.  Wash them until all of the extra gunk has come off, and lay them out to dry. 

I like to flavor my pumpkin seeds with different seasonings.  We had some garlic salt ones, season salt, plain salt, and even cinnamon and sugar.

After seasoning, put the seeds in the oven at 350 degrees.  Stir them up occasionally so that they don't stick to the pan.  Cook them until the shell is a little crispy, making it easier to get the seeds out.  You eat pumpkin seeds like sunflower ones.  Enjoy!

Harvest Spice

Here is my recommendation of the week.  I found this Harvest Spice Cocoa Mix at TJ Maxx.  I was attracted to it, because of Snoopy on the front (I have collected Peanuts memorabilia for years).  Today, my husband used our cocoa maker to try the new mix.  It was great!  One thing that I don't like about hot chocolate is that it sometimes is too rich for me.  This mix was perfect!  I didn't even put marshmallows in it (which is a really big deal for me.)  If you see some in the store, get some, and enjoy!    

More Than Cooking

Did you know that I actually do more things in life than cook?  It's true.  For anyone who's interested, I have another blog (I don't write on it as often as this one), that is my place to vent my need to write.  Here's the site if you want to check it out.  There's something big coming up in November, and that's where I'll be writing about it.  Enjoy!

BBQ

I noticed the other day that I have a tendency to make what I called, "girly foods."  Well, I'm a girl, so that's easily explained, but I realized that my stupendous husband might want something a little different.  In a word, I'm talking about Bar-B-Que.  Now, real BBQ is not to be had at our house.  We don't own a grill, and even if we did (according to our contract) we would have to carry the grill downstairs and outside, 10 feet away from our apartment, cook on it, clean it, and then carry it back up to store it on our deck.  (It's not really worth it.)  I decided to see what I could come up with using my oven.

Here is the final product.

Well, what do you think?  Ok, the food is really more than it looks.  We have really big plates.

For the chicken I thawed out the boneless, skinless chicken breast.  When it was thawed, I put them in a pan and soaked them bar-b-que sauce with a little bit of water in it.  It soaked for a couple of hours, and every once in awhile I would turn them and use a baster to coat them more.

Make sure to cover the pan with foil before you put anything in it, because it will be really hard to clean out the baked sauce.  After soaking the chicken I baked it slowly, staring at a low oven heat, turning the pieces of chicken over every once in awhile.  The sauce bubbles up around the chicken nicely as it is cooking, and gives it a good flavor.  Make sure to not overcook the chicken, or it will be dry.

 

With our chicken we had some green beans, yummy!

I wanted something else with the meal, so I tried something new.  I took some instant potatoes and made them according to the instructions.  Then I added chopped green peppers, chopped onions, bacon bits, cilantro, and shredded cheddar cheese.

After mixing it all together, I put it into a pan, and sprinkled shredded cheese on top, and cooked it until the cheese was melted.  It was delicious and super easy!  The meal was really easy, and something that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Blessed

Well, I'm back.  It's been awhile, but don't think that my lack of sharing has meant a lack of cooking.  (Although it was substantially less this past week.)  My husband and I traveled back to our home state for a short visit.  It was much cooler there (some days 20 degrees cooler than home).  It rained a lot it seems, and Fall has definitely arrived.  The crops have changed, and are ready to be harvested.  Of course that meant that soup had to be made.  One of my two favorite soups is vegetable soup.  I make it like my mom does, and her way is the best!  (I was reminded of this later in the week, when I discovered that people put cabbage in their vegetable soup!)  The recipe will come soon, but rest assured that supper that night was delicious!

One of the fun things (for me) about the week was my chance to cook a couple of times for my family.  (The more people that I can feed, the more I enjoy it.)  I enjoyed the cooking, but it was also nice to know that it helped my mom out a little, maybe.  She works full-time now, and I enjoyed have supper ready when she came home one night, and partially ready another night.

My favorite part of the week (culinarily speaking,  No culinarily is not really a word, but I have an English degree and I can make it up.)  was the free food I got to bring home.  What?!?!?  Free food?  Yes.  I'm so excited.  Thanks to my wonderful parents, I am now the proud owner of...

1. Real vanilla (from Mexico)
2. Chili powder (from New Mexico)
3. Cilantro (I've been needing this for awhile now, and it's too expensive for a little bottle)
4. Bacon bits
5. A bag of chips
6. A ring of deer sausage
7. A pork loin

Yes!  A whole pork loin.  Do you have any idea how much meat that is, especially for two people?  Meat is expensive, and I'm so thankful that we now have enough meat to last us for a good while.  Be watching for pork recipes!

We were blessed in many ways on this trip, just one small, yet big way of being all of this great food.  Thanks, Mom and Dad! 

A Taste of Class

Thursday, I decided to try something a little different.  Casseroles and one dish meals are rather common around here.  There are only two of us, and it's not very often that I actually make a full "meal."  My husband had been asking for corn, so I decided to make that, as well as some rice (from a pouch, cause it tastes so good), instant potatoes (cause I really do like them), and chicken. 

The chicken was the fun part.  At home, my mom would sometimes take boneless skinless chicken breasts and bake them with bacon and mozzarella cheese on top.  It tastes so good!  I, however, did not have any cheese, so I decided to make my own dish.

I started by thawing out two chicken breasts.  Then I coated them in a mixture of parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and parsley.

I let the chicken sit like that for a little while and as Emeril says, "let it rest."  The seasonings had a chance to get into the meat a little more.

Next I put the chicken into the oven.

 

Half way through the cooking process, I flipped the chicken breasts over, so each side would cook well.  When the chicken was almost done cooking, I added a piece of bacon, cut in half, to each chicken. 

  
When the bacon was getting a little crisp, and the chicken was done, I pulled it out of the oven.  It tasted great!  There was a little bit of a rich taste to it (a smidge of sweetness from the bacon, and richness from the parmesan.)  Still it was delicious.  It was a meal that we really enjoyed.

 

Pop It In The Oven

Sometimes, "pop it in" meals are my favorite.  You make a casserole or other dish in advance, and when the time comes all you have to do is "pop in in" the oven.  I especially like doing this on days that my husband is gone.  I can out everything together, and when he gets home and ready, it's easy to just pop the meal into the oven.

It's always fun for me to "create" a new casserole recipe.  Tuesday's was exceptionally tasty, in my opinion.

First, bake two boneless skinless chicken breasts.  When they are cooked, cut them into little pieces and line the bottom of a casserole dish with them. 

While the chicken is cooking, cook a box of macaroni according to the instructions.  When the noodles are cooked and drained, add 1/5 of a box of velveta (chopped), a can of cream of  mushroom soup, and broccoli.

Stir the mixture until everything is melted and warm.  (You might add some milk if it looks like it is getting too dry.)  I also added some mushrooms, because, I LOVE mushrooms!  When it all gets mixed and melted together, it looks like this.

Then pour the macaroni mixture over the chicken.

Not all of my cheese got melted in the pan, and it still tasted ok, but it would have been better all melted and mixed in.  After watching Emeril that day (one of my new favorites) I decided to try making a bread crumb topping.  It was delicious!

Simply tear bread (I used 3 pieces) into little bitty bits.  Then mix in parmesan cheese and parsley.

Sprinkle the crumbs on top of the casserole and then bake until the crumbs start to get crispy and the middle of the casserole is hot.

Enjoy!

Chocolate

One of the fun things about fall and winter is....Hot Chocolate!

One of my favorite wedding gifts was a hot chocolate maker. I've been waiting and waiting for it to get cool enough for hot chocolate. Well, the other night I pulled it out and tried it. It was amazing!

This is a great purchase!  So, if you have the chance to get one, do!  You just pour in the chocolate mix, water, and let the machine do the rest.  It mixes and heats and then shuts off when it is ready.  Clean up is really easy too.