Recipe Wednesday - Pot Roast

I'm still behind on my recipes in that I don't have them scheduled ahead like I have in the past. Today I just figured I'd do pot roast since that's what we're having for dinner. Quick, easy and always good on a fall afternoon.

Ingredients
1 roast (3-5 lbs? - I just get whatever I get at Costco)
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
1 can beef broth
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup water
two handfuls of baby carrots
1 packet of onion soup mix
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp marjoram

Directions:
Put baby carrots on the bottom of the crockpot. (I like to use those crockpot liners to make clean up really easy.) Place roast on top of carrots. Throw in everything else. Cook on low for approximately 8 hours. Serve.

I like to throw in peas or green beans right at the end and bump it up to high for 15-20 minutes to cook those. I usually serve with rolls and mashed potatoes. You can also add the potatoes to the crockpot and cook them with the roast if you'd rather. Quick. Easy. Yummy.

Recipe Wednesday - Baked Mac-n-Cheese

Ok, well this one is going out a little late and I haven't even tried this recipe yet. I forgot that I didn't have one scheduled for today so I grabbed a recipe from Laura's Recipes (a blog I read) that I've been wanting to try. It sounds really cheesy (which is what I like in my mac-n-cheese). If anyone tries it before I do, let me know how it comes out. Most of the mac-n-cheese recipes I've tried so far just aren't cheesy enough and tend to be fairly dry. Here's the one I'm going to try next, though (straight from Laura's blog):

Ingredients:

4 Cups elbow macaroni (I prefer cavatapi- it’s fun shaped and holds the cheese well)
5 Tbls butter
5 Tblp all-purpose flour
5 Cups milk (I prefer whole milk, because yum, but even skim works really well)
2 Tbls salt
1 Lb grated cheese (I use mild cheddar)
Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, then rinse in hot water. Set aside.

Melt butter in a medium-large sauce pan.
Add the flour and cook until it is well mixed and slightly browned.
Add the milk and stir constantly until boiling and thickened. (Somewhere between 5-10 minutes. I’ve never timed it)

Add the salt, mix. Add the cheese and stir until it has fully melted.

Mix the pasta into the cheese sauce and pour into a 13×9 glass baking dish.

Bake 30 minutes or until browned and bubbling at the edges.

Recipe Wednesday - Chicken Sausage Pasta

Really easy and yummy and quick. (I copied this straight from what my mom sent me. I usually leave out the spinach because I don't eat it and neither does Brent, but it'd be good in it too.)

Here is the recipe EXACTLY as it reads (with Mom's modifications next to it)

2 Italian sausages cut into 1/2 in slices (3 is better)
2 chicken breasts cut into bite-sized pieces (I added this)

1 small onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 t. olive oil

2 cans chicken broth

4 oz. uncooked angel hair pasta

1 pkg. fresh spinach

1 T. flour

1/8 t. pepper

3 T heavy cream (milk is fine)

In a large pan, cook sausage, chicken, onion and garlic in oil until sausage is browned...drain oil (if needed)

Add broth and bring to a boil. Add pasta, cook 3 minutes stirring frequently. Add spinach. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes until pasta is cooked and spinach is wilted.

In a small bowl, combine flour, pepper and cream. Add to pasta mixture. Bring to a boil and cook 1-2 minutes until thickened.

Recipe Wednesday - Swiss Chicken

Ok, so I'll admit that I don't really like swiss cheese so I used provolone instead, but this was yummy. I also added ham in between the chicken and the cheese. Other than that, it's virtually straight off the Menus4Moms site.

Ingredients:
6 boneless chicken breasts (raw)
6 slices Swiss cheese (I substituted provolone)
6 slices of ham (I added this)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1 cup stuffing mix
1/4 cup melted butter

Place chicken breasts in a baking dish. Cover each with cheese. Mix soup and wine; pour over chicken. Cover with stuffing. Drizzle 1/4 cup butter over stuffing. Bake 40-45 minutes at 350°F.

Recipe Wednesday - Mom's Cheeseball

Hopefully I'm not giving away any family secrets with this one. It's a crazy week so I decided to do a quick and easy recipe for Mom's Cheeseball. Growing up, we used to give these to everyone from our neighbors to best friends for Christmas. I still bring them to almost any holiday party I go to, though down here it takes a bit for people to try it (but everyone always loves them when they do).

Ingredients

2 pkg (8oz) cream cheese
1 small Wispride cheddar cheese (or spreadable cheddar cheese)
1 Tbsp dried minced onions
t Tbsp dried chives
dash of Tabasco

Let cream cheese and cheddar cheese soften and then mix with other ingredients. (I throw it all in the food processor, but Mom does it by hand.)
Chill for at least a few hours, overnight if you can
Form into balls and rolls in chopped walnuts. (makes 3-4 smaller balls)
Serve on crackers

These are also great to freeze so I usually make a few and freeze the ones we don't need for another day.

Recipe Wednesday - Apple Dumplings

OMG. These things are so good and soooooooooo bad for you. Still, they're really easy and a great dessert for company as well as just a quiet night. I cut the recipe in half and just used one of the small crescent roll cans instead of a big one. Lana ate the rest of the apple.

This one is from The Pioneer Woman. She uses moutain dew instead of apple juice, but my kids don't do dew. Plus she uses way more butter and sugar but mine came out fine with significantly less. (I used her picture, though. It was easier than trying to get another one when I made them.)

Ingredients:
1 Granny Smith apple
1 can crescent rolls
1/2 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon
1 cup apple juice

Directions:
Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 8x8 greased pan. (I just use Pam but the original recipe called for more butter.) Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour apple juice around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Everyone in our house loved there. Even Calli had a taste of the ice cream with a little of the apple sauce stuff. Yummy!!!

Recipe Wednesday - Meatball Calzones

Ok, I got this one straight from Menus 4 Moms, but everyone around here loved it. Even Lana ate almost an entire calzone by herself. Here's the recipe:

Meatball Calzones

• Dough of your choice (we used the Pilsbury pizza dough)
• Cooked meatballs, 3 per calzone (I just used Costco brand Frozen Italian Meatballs that I heated up in the oven for 10-15 minutes before putting the calzones together)
• 28 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce (I used some of my own that I threw together - basically my spicy meat sauce without the meat simmered for about an hour or two on the stove.)
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Roll out dough and cut into 3-4 rectangles. (I did four, but it probably would have worked better with three.) Place 1 heaping Tbsp. spaghetti sauce on each rectangle. Top with 1 heaping Tbsp. cheese and 3 meatballs. (I cut the meatballs in half.) Carefully fold rectangle so that the long side is folded in half and the short sides are touching each other. Seal all around and bake according to the dough instructions. When done, place on plates and top with more sauce and cheese and serve.

Lana even helped me making them. See.


But then they got a little over done because we had a potty emergency (needing to go and everyone had to go with her). Ugh. Oh well, everyone loved them anyway.

Recipe Wednesday - Shepherd's Pie

Well, I think it's still a bit warm for shepherd's pie, but apparently none of my friends down here have heard of it so I figured I'd post this one. I should add that you can throw almost anything into shepherd's pie so this is just my way of making it...or at least how I make it most of the time. I'll note the substitutions when I think of them.

Shepherd's Pie is layered casserole, I guess. The bottom layer is meat with gravy, then veggies in the middle and potatoes on top.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (can substitute ground turkey or over in Ireland I believe it's mutton)
1/4 large yellow onion minced
1 packet of brown gravy
1 cup of water

1 can of corn (can substitute/add peas, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, almost anything)

~5 golden potatoes - cooked and made into mashed potatoes (I like to make garlic mashed for this, but regular works just fine.)


Directions:
brown the ground beef and drain
add minced onion, water and gravy and simmer for about 20-30 minutes until thick
put meat mixture at bottom of casserole dish
put corn on top of the meat spread evenly
top with mashed potatoes spread evenly over the whole thing.
put a few pats of butter on top
bake covered at 375 for about 30 minutes (to get everything piping hot)
remove cover and bake for another 15 minutes to kinda brown the top (you can also add a sprinkle of cheese to the top of the potatoes)

Serve with butter, salt and pepper.


We had this earlier this week and even Calli got to try some. I was a bit worried about the corn with her but ever since the biscuit incident, she's been refusing most baby food entirely. She loved it and loved it even more when we let her feed herself...

Recipe Wednesday - Spicy Meat Sauce (Spaghetti Sauce)

Ingredients:
three-four big cans of tomato sauce (29 oz)
1-1.5 lbs ground beef browned
2-3 Hot Italian Sausage – I take it out of the casing and scramble with the ground beef
½ large yellow onion minced
½-1 cup Italian Seasoning
1 Tbsp minced Garlic
1 tsp black pepper

Directions:
scramble and brown hamburg and sausage
put all ingredients in crockpot and stir
cook on low for at least 8 hours

If possible, use the crockpot liners with this. It tends to be hard to clean otherwise. This makes a ton but freeze it in ziplock bags in serving sizes so it's quick to thaw and reheat. If you want it a little less spicy, brown the sausages and put the crockpot whole or for really mild use mild/sweet Italian sausage instead.

Recipe Wednesday - Fancy Tacos

It's Wednesday again and I'm still keeping up. Aren't you impressed? Ok, so I'm actually doing all these entries at the same time and then dating them ahead so I don't have to keep up quite so much. Still, they're coming, right?

Well, here's my favorite taco recipe. Even Lana loves it and it's a bit nicer (IMHO) than just regular meat with taco seasoning.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 cup of salsa (as spicy as you like)
1 packet taco seasoning
1 cup of water
taco shells - soft or hard
shredded cheese, lettuce, etc - taco fixings

Directions:
brown ground beef and drain
add salsa, taco seasoning and water and simmer for 20-30 minutes (until thick)
serve over shells with all the fixings

Sometimes I chop up an onion or something and throw that in too, but it seems to work just fine with just salsa. I usually get the cheap kind since it's mixed in.

Recipe Wednesday - "Kim's Chicken with Grilled Asparagus"

It's hot here this week so I'm going with just a simple grilled chicken.

Ingredients:
boneless chicken breasts
soy sauce
Italian salad dressing

asparagus
2 Tbsp olive oil
garlic - fresh or minced but not dried
salt
pepper

Directions:
Marinade the chicken in one part soy sauce to two parts dressing for at least 24 hours
Grill

Make an aluminum foil packet and put in the asparagus, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic
Grill entire packet for 10 minutes or so

I love this chicken cold and usually make double or triple what we need and eat it in salads and everything else. You can also use this marinade to make kabobs if you wanted and they come out really yummy too.

I forgot to take a picture when we grilled this a few nights ago, but here's my salad for lunch the next day.

Recipe Wednesday - Chicken and Biscuits (Crockpot)

Here's another recipe for you that we love. It's a crockpot one because you know I'm all about the crockpot. I try to throw it together first thing in the morning after breakfast or even the night before.

Ingredients:
Chicken:
2 chicken skinless breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
4-5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
a handful of baby carrots
1/4 large yellow onion diced
1 large (family size) can of cream of chicken soup
1 can of chicken broth
paprika
poultry seasoning
Lawry salt
pepper

Biscuits:
2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 ounces)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder



Directions:
Chicken in crockpot early in the morning:
Brown chicken in a little bit of olive oil (if you have time)
Throw all the ingredients together in the crockpot
Cook for 6-8 hours on low

Biscuits 15-20 minutes before you eat:
Heat oven to 450ºF.
Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.


Brent doesn't like soggy bread (like ever) so I serve the biscuits separately but you could just as easily put the chicken and potatoes on top.

Recipe Wednesday - Cheesy Potatoes and Ham

So a bunch of my friends have been asking for recipe ideas. For some unknown reason, I seem to be cooking a lot when I'm chatting with them or when they're over. So I'm going to try to start a weekly recipe post. I'll even include pics if I have any, but I don't today.

To start us off, here's one of our all-time favorites. I adapted a recipe from my breast cancer cookbook that Mom gave me a while back. I took the recipe for easy scalloped potatoes and added the ham. Here's my version:

Ingredients:
1 package (2 lbs) frozen southern style hash browns (the cube ones)
2-3 cups shredded cheese (I like a Mexican blend, but plain cheddar would work too)
1 pint sour cream
2 cans cream of potato soup
2 tablespoons minced onion (or one packet of onion soup mix)
1/2 cup milk
1-2 ham steaks cut into small pieces/cubes

Directions:
preheat oven to 325 deg F
Heat soup and cheese until cheese is completely melted in large saucepan
Take off heat and add other ingredients (leaving a little cheese out to top)
Bake at 325 for at least 2-2.5 hours in covered, greased/buttered casserole dish
Remove cover and sprinkle cheese on top
Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until cheese on top is browned


Although you really have to think ahead on this dish because it takes so long to cook, I love that it's so easy to throw together and has so few ingredients. It's great because I can throw it together at nap time and then it's ready for dinner. I also do it a lot when I have a shoot or meeting in the evening because it's easy for Brent to pull out of the the oven and feed the girls and still good for me to eat whenever I get home.

Best Potato Soup Ever

Ever since my friend, Michelle, brought us some of this soup right after I had Calli, I've been totally craving it. I must have made it at least 3 or 4 times since then (twice just when Mom and Dad were here). It's so easy and so yummy. Ok, it's not low fat, but at least it's healthy (mostly)...and Lana will eat it! Yes, my two year old who will rarely eat anything consistently and has been refusing potatoes for months (no, I don't think she's my kid either) loves this soup. I cook up some frozen peas for her and put them in there since she also loves peas so she gets all the food groups out of it. Here's a pic of her showing you how much she loves it:



Here's the "official" recipe:

6 Bacon strips, diced
3 cups cubed peeled potatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
1 small carrot, grated
½ cup chopped onion
1 tab dried parsley flakes
½ tsp each celery seed, salt & pepper
3 tab all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
8 oz process American cheese, shredded
2 green onions, thinly sliced

In a large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp; drain. Add potatoes, broth, carrot, onion, parsley, celery seed, salt & pepper. Cover & simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Combine flour and milk until smooth; add to soup. Bring to a boil; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Add cheese; stir until cheese is melted and the soup is heated through. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Note: When it is time to add the cheese I start with half the amount and then get the taste the way I like it. I usually have left over cheese and use it for a topping. Also, I cook my bacon and use it for a topping. Next time I will try cooking it with the potatoes like the recipe says. Enjoy!!

But you all know me - I never follow a recipe. I don't have parsley or celery seeds so I just skip that. I at least double or triple the entire recipe because I love the left overs. Here's my version:
Cook the bacon in the bottom of the soup pan. Remove and blot with towels and chop into smaller pieces. Add a little chicken broth to the bottom of the soup pan to get the good stuff up (yum). Add rest of chicken broth, potatoes, carrot gratings, onion and bacon. Simmer for at least 30-45 minutes (I like my potatoes nice and soft). Add milk and cheese. Make sure all cheese is melted. Serve with cheese and more bacon sprinkled on top (and peas for Lana). Seriously yummy and easy! (I have no idea how much milk, potatoes or chicken broth I add, but you can follow the above recipe or experiment until you get the right consistency. I've only had to add the flour once, but I use Lana's whole milk so it's pretty thick from that.)