Chicken Garden Casserole

Chinese food is one of my favorites!  This casserole is easy and yummy!  I found it in a Casseroles cookbook from Books Are Fun.  Lukas even ate this casserole happily!  

Ingredients:

1 (6oz) package Rice-A-Roni fried rice

2 TBLS margarine

1 chopped onion

2 cups celery

1 (150z) can Chinese vegetables, drained

1 (80z) can sliced bamboo shoots

3 1/2 cups cooked, chopped chicken

1 (10oz) can cream of chicken soup

1 cup mayonnaise

2 TBLS soy sauce

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1 cup chow mien noodles

Cook rice according to package directions and set aside.  Heat margarine in large skillet and saute onion and celery. Add Chinese vegetables, bamboo shoots and chicken and mix well.  In saucepan, heat chicken soup, mayonnaise, soy sauce, garlic powder, and pepper just enough to mix well.  In large bowl, combine rice, vegetable-chicken mixture and soup mixture and mix well.  Transfer to greased 13x9 casserole dish.  Sprinkle chow mien noodles over casserole.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I never posted Thanksgiving recipes, because I don't actually cook anything for Thanksgiving.  We always go to either my side or my husband's side of the family.  It's a every other year kind of thing.  Also I don't like some of the Thanksgiving traditional recipes.  I am not a fan of pecan pie, anything with pumpkin, or sweet potatoes.  However, I do love turkey, veggies, and potatoes!  French silk pie is always what we have for dessert so we will enjoy that.  Hopefully you all have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy spending time with your family!

Here are some links to some of my favorite sites that posted some wonderful Thanksgiving Recipes.

Mommy's Kitchen:  Old Fashioned Chocolate Pie

Big Red Kitchen:  Thanksgiving Wassail

Noble Pig:  Creamy Bacon and Green Onion Mashed Potatoes

Evil Chef Mom:  Sauteed Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Budget Bites:  Mushroom Herb Gravy

I am looking forward to the eating and to the napping that comes with Thanksgiving!  Oh and the football!  Hope yours is great! ♥

Mexican Dish

I have a confession.  I haven't been cooking lately.  I have been feeling awful lately.  The "morning sickness" is getting the best of me and I have been too exhausted to cook.  I have been making the old stand by recipes that are easy and my husband knows how to make them too.  However, I finally did cook supper last night!

This dish has been one of my family's favorites for years.  My Aunt first made it when I was little.  Her version had hot taco sauce and jalepenos in it, but this is my Mom's version.  It's made with green chilies and mild taco sauce.  You eat it like a dip with chips.  It's such a great yummy comfort food!

Mexican Dish:
2 lbs hamburger (I used turkey)
2 bottles of taco sauce (which ever spiciness you prefer)
2 cans of chopped green chilies
1 can of chopped black olives
2 cups of mozzarella cheese
2 cups of mild cheddar cheese
2 cans of refried beans
2 cups of sour cream
Tortilla chips

Preheat oven to 350 and in a frying pan brown hamburger.  Once hamburger is browned layer ingredients as follows:  1 can of refried beans, half of hamburger, 1 can of green chilies, 1 bottle of taco sauce, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1 cup cheddar cheese, sprinkle with black olives, and repeat last layer.  Bake for 35 minutes, bring out of oven and put your dollops of sour cream all over the top and sprinkle with black olives.  Bake for 5-10 more minutes.  Eat with chips!  So very very yummy!

Picky Palate Review and Giveaway

Picky Palate is reviewing the new Intel Core i5 processor and giving a way a $250 dollar gift certificate for Best Buy!  Visit the site and comment to register!  Good luck and happy blogging!  Click here to visit Picky Palate Intel Core i5 review.

Lunch Wraps

This really isn't a recipe, but it's been my favorite lunch for some time now.  We love to make wraps instead of sandwiches at our house.  Lukas won't eat them, but we sure do gobble them up!  The best part is you put whatever you want in them.  My husband loves mustard, extra pickles, and ham in mostly all of his wraps.  I am more of a turkey, cheese, lettuce, and tomato girl.  We usually have this for lunch or for a late afternoon snack!

I am not feeling very creative lately.  I have found myself in the fatigue of the first trimester.  I experienced this with Lukas and now with this one.  At least I have the second trimester to look forward to.  Can't wait for my energy to return!  I used to look up recipes and print out a few a week to try, but I am so tired.  The only suppers my family have been eating are our old stand by suppers.  Like meatloaf, spaghetti, tator tot hotdish, and noodles with sauce.  Hopefully this fatigue will go away...I have way too many plans for the holidays!  I have also found cooking makes me nauseous right now.  The smells of the food are sometimes too much.  ~Sigh~  What we go through for our little bundle of joys!

Cheddar Jalapeno Wraps:

Ingredients:
1 Mission Cheddar Jalapeno Wraps
5-6 pieces of deli meat (which ever you prefer)
1-2 pieces of ice berg lettuce
diced tomotoes
shredded colby jack cheese
 pickles
mustard or mayo (I like light mayo)

Layer all ingredients and roll.  Eat!  

♥ Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Chicken Enchiladas

One of our favorite dinners is enchiladas.  We do love our regular recipe with the red sauce and turkey and pork, but this has also become a easy favorite.  Please forgive the picture I let the broiler get the best of me.  They still tasted delicious regardless!  This recipe was simple and yummy!  I found this recipe over the summer from Budget Bytes blog.  Not only does she have some really yummy recipes, but she tells you how much they can cost per serving and for the whole dish.  I thought that was a nice bonus!

 Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:
1 lb. Chicken breast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne powder 
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
8 oz. sour cream
2 cups shredded mozzarella
1 can (8 oz.) green chilies
10 small tortillas
1 can (15 oz.) green enchilada sauce 
1 medium tomato (optional)
3 sliced green onions (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.  Cook chicken meat sprinkle with garlic, cayenne, cumin, salt, and pepper.  While cooking the chicken mix together in a separate bowl the sour cream, mozzarella, and green chilies.  Dice the chicken meat and combine with sour cream mixture.  Grease a 13x9 casserole pan and start filling the tortillas and with one spoonful of chicken mixture each and roll.  Place in the casserole dish seam side down.  Repeat until filling is all used up.  Pour the enchilada sauce over the top of the tortillas and bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes of baking take 1 cup cheese and sprinkle the top and set to broil for 5 minutes or until turns a light brown.  (Keep an eye on that broiling!)  Sprinkle with green onions and tomatoes to finish off the dish.

Dig in...I add more sour cream when eating! 

Chicken Marsala

First off let me say Happy Friday!  Amen for the weekend coming!  Second I have some news!  I found out Monday I am pregnant!  This will be my second child and we are all very excited!  I don't care if it's a he or a she...I just want a healthy baby.  My little guy will be a fantastic big brother and we are really looking forward to this summer!  I guess we will see how my blog direction goes in terms of cravings, sickness, and musings.

So anyway, let me admire this Chicken Marsala. This is one of my husband's favorites. He orders this when we are out and they have it on the menu.  I have never made it until the other day or even had it.  When we are usually out and he orders this and I am a pasta lady so I order me some pasta.  I found this recipe on Olive Garden's website.

Chicken Marsala

Ingredients:
4 ea Chicken half-breast, boneless & skinless
1/4 cup(s) Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
Pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Oregano, dried
4 Tbsp Oil
4 Tbsp Butter (or margarine)
1 cup(s) Fresh Mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup(s) Marsala wine

Pound chicken breasts between sheets of "Saran Wrap" until about 1/4" even-thickness.  Combine flour, salt, pepper and oregano, blend.  Dredge chicken pieces in the flour, shake off excess.  Heat oil and butter in frying pan over medium heat.  Cook the breasts on medium heat for about two minutes on the first side, until lightly brown.  Turn breasts over to second side to cook, add the mushrooms around the chicken breasts.  Cook breasts about two more minutes, until lightly browned on the second side, stir the mushrooms.  When lightly browned, add Marsala around the chicken pieces, cover and simmer for about ten minutes.  Transfer to serving plate.

I must add...my favorite part of this recipe was pounding the chicken!  

Baked Tomato Sauce

My Mom gave me my Step Dad's cast iron skillet.  It was his favorite thing to cook with.  He passed away a year ago October 28th, and we do miss him very much!  He helped spark my interest in cooking by always trying new things and making yummy stuff for us to try.  This is the first thing I made in his cast iron skillet.  I actually really enjoyed it.  You can cook with it on the stove and bake...no extra dishes!

This recipe I found on Evil Chef Mom's blog.  She is a funny blogger.  Her stories and sarcasm crack me up.  Well when I saw this recipe I knew I wanted to try it!  So easy and tasty.  Her recipe has no meat in it, but my husband for some reason doesn't think that it's supper without some meat at dinner.  So hear it is.

Baked Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
 1/3 cup melted butter

2-3 pounds very ripe tomatoes, halved...I used 5 large tomatoes
1/3 cup panko break crumbs
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound dried penne
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or a cast iron pan with one-third of the oil. Place the tomatoes cut side up in the dish. Pour melted butter over tomatoes.

In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, and garlic and toss with a fork to mix well. Sprinkle the bread-crumb mixture over the tomatoes, making sure that each cut side is covered with the crumb mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake until the tomatoes are cooked through and the tops are golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make noodles and drain. 
Time the pasta so it finishes cooking about the time the tomatoes are ready to come out of the oven.
When the tomatoes are done, add the basil and stir to mix everything into a sauce. Drain the pasta and immediately place it to the baking dish. Mix well.

(I cooked some turkey breasts and added them into the mixture too.)

EAT!  :)

Easy Lasagna

We had my husband's side of the family over for dinner and I wanted to make something up ahead of time that would be satisfying to all.  So I used this easy lasagna recipe I got from the 2004 Wal-Mart Family Recipes cookbook.  I make this lasagna every few months since my whole family loves this stuff!

Ingredients:
10 No-boil lasagna noodles
1 1/2 lb. Ground beef (I used a combo of Itailan sausage and turkey)
1 cup chopped onion
1 jar of Ragu Pasta sauce(what ever flavor you like!)
1 1/2 tsp Itialan seasoning
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
3 cups Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesean cheese

Soak lasanga noodles in water for 15 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350.  Cook hamberger and onions in a large skillet; then drain.  Stir in pasta sauce, Itlian seasoning, and garlic.  Heat through.  Spray a 13x9 with cooking spray then place half of the lasagna noodles in the bottom of the pan, half of the sauce, and half cheese.  Repeat layers and spinkle with parmesean cheese.  Bake uncovered for 45 minutes then let sit for 10 minutes.

Turkey "Beefy" Nachos

Happy Friday!  Thank goodness the weekend is coming!  This week has been packed full of doctor visits, cooking, and cleaning up the yard for winter.  I thought since it's Friday I am going to post a fun and yummy snacky type of dinner.  I found this recipe from a blog called KevinandAmanda.com.  She has some great crafting ideas as well as some really good recipes too!  She made homemade tortilla chips and all to go with the nachos...call me a bum, but I didn't go to that much trouble!  I bought the good old Tostitos Tortilla Chips.  We made these yummy nachos on a Sunday night when our Vikings were playing the Green Bay packers.  We lost, but the food was great!

Turkey "Beefy" Nachos
(32 oz) Velveeta cheese (I used 2% Velveeta)
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies
1 lb sausage, browned and drained (I used turkey sausage)
1 lb hamburger, browned and drained (I used ground turkey)
1 small jar of salsa
1 can cream of mushroom soup


Melt Velveeta for 1 1/2 to 2 hours in a crockpot on high.  Brown meat in a frying pan and drain.  Turn crock pot to medium or low and add meat, rotel tomatoes, salsa, and soup.  Let it cook on low for 1/2 hour.


Serve with chips and devour!  We didn't eat all of ours so I put it in a freezer safe container and then wrapped it in foil.  I will bring it back out in the next few weeks and try reheating it for a football game or I might try to make some kind of other nachos with more veggies and use this.

Sunshine Blog Award!

 I received the Sunshine Blog Award from coolblogger of Gourmet's Kichenette! 

Here are twelve fellow bloggers I am awarding the Sunshine Blog Award to.
1.  Amy of "Dinners for a Year and Beyond" http://dinnersforayear.blogspot.com/
2.  Susan of "You Go Girl" http://www.ugogrrl.com/
3.  Beth of "Budget Bites" http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/
4.  Monica of "Lick The Bowl Good" http://lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com/
5.  Katie of "Chaos in the Kitchen" http://chaosinthekitchen.com/
6.  Chrissy of  "Feeding our Faces" http://cookingformyhusband.blogspot.com/
7.  Dr. Sameena of "My Culinary Creations" http://myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com/
8.  Meredith of "in sock monkey slippers" http://www.insockmonkeyslippers.com/
9.  Carrie of "Carrie's Cooking and Recipes" http://cookingwithcarrie.blogspot.com/
10.  Jenna of "Kid Appeal" http://foodwithkidappeal.blogspot.com/
11.  Stacy of "Recipes for Moms" http://www.recipesformoms.com/
12.  Jenny of "Payday Shopping" http://paydayshopping.blogspot.com/

I must say I was surprised when I received this award!  Thanks so much coolblogger you really made my day!  I am no recipe creator or anything I just read blogs for ideas for things to try on my family and then I gladly share it!  I plan ahead and always try at least 2 or 3 new recipes every week.  Please check out Gourmet's Kitchenette her blog features some really awesome Indian food which my husband and I are going to be trying very soon!  She also had a really neat Halloween Potluck she hosted on her site!

The Sunshine Award, is awarded to bloggers whose positivity and creativity inspires others in the blog world.
The rules for accepting this award are:-
Put the logo on your blog or within your post,
Pass the award on to 12 bloggers,
Link the nominees within your post,
Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog,

Share the love and link to the person from whom you have received this award.

Autumn Mix and Mummy Munch

Happy Belated Halloween!  Sorry for the late Halloween post, but Halloween weekend in a nutshell felt like a blink of an eye!    We attended a family Halloween party Saturday night and I brought these two snacks for them.  One was Autumn Mix (I got the recipe from my Pastor's wife) and Mummy Munch from Picky Palate.

Here is the Autumn Mix recipe:

4 Cups Honey Chex
1 cup peanuts
2 cups mini pretzels
1 cup cheereos
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbls Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 cup candy corn

In a big bowl combine first 4 ingredients place on a greased cookie sheet, in a microwave melt peanut butter and butter, and then mix the remaining ingredients in into peanut butter/butter mixture.  Pour over cereal mixture and bake at 200 for 1 hour stirring every 15 minutes.


Mummy Munch:

4 Cups Honey Chex Cereal

16 oz package vanilla candy melts

1 Cup Candy Corn

1 Cup dry roasted peanuts

2 Cups mini pretzels

Place cereal, candy corn, peanuts and pretzels into a large bowl.  Mix to combine.  Melt vanilla candy melts according to package directions then pour into cereal mixture.  Gently stir until well coated then pour onto wax paper or foil lined baking sheet to dry.  Once dried, break up into pieces and serve!
This was a hit!

I was a Double Mint Twin for Halloween I hope your Halloween was great!