MISC – Page 128 – Chasing MY Life WHEREVER it Leads ME

GREEN CHILE TUNA CASSEROLE

GREEN CHILE TUNA CASSEROLE
2-5 ounce cans tuna, REALLY well drained
2 cups cooked egg noodles
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 can chopped green chiles, well drained
1 can Campbell’s cheddar cheese soup
1 cup whole milk
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375˚.
Blend together milk and soup until well blended.
Fold tuna, onions, green chiles, garlic, salt and pepper into soup mixture.
Fold in cheese.
Gently fold in egg noodles.
Pour into a generously greased baking dish.
Top with potato chips.
Bake for 30 minutes.

SPRING IS HERE

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

~Zig Ziglar

Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie Recipe from Dawn’s Daily Life
9 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 ounce) can green beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons milk
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and cook over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat; drain fat. Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce to taste, salt, pepper, green beans and corn. In a separate bowl, mix flour with the 3 tablespoons water and stir into beef mixture. Pour this mixture into a casserole dish. Stir all together well. Drain the potatoes, mash and spread over the beef mixture. Place 2 to 3 vent holes through the mashed potatoes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Brush the milk over the potatoes for the last 5 minutes of baking.
Modifications:
-I added 2 cloves of garlic, 1 onion and 1 green pepper to this recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and cut up about 10 potatoes and put them on to boil
Slice up a green pepper.

Coarsely chop 2 garlic cloves and slice up an onion.

Brown about 1 1/2lbs of lean ground beef.

Add the garlic, onion and green pepper.

Add 1 small can of tomato sauce.

Drain and rinse a can of corn and a can of green beans and added it to the mixture.

Add 7 or 8 good shakes of worcestershire.

While that mixture is cooking, measure out 2T of all-purpose flour and 3T of water. Mix it together and then mix it into the pan.

Grease a 9×13 baking dish and put the mixture in it.

Drain the potatoes and then added a tad of butter. Mash.

Once mashed up, I scoop the potatoes over the meat mixture and poke 4 holes in it.

Popped it into the oven for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

With a few minutes left to go, I measured out 3 tablespoons of milk and started to brush it on the potatoes. That was too much of a pain so I just drizzled it all over the top.

Here’s what you’ll end up with:

Review:

I almost just made the mashed potatoes on the side and served it that way but I really wanted to try to stay as close to the recipe as possible. I’m glad I did!

I added the garlic, onion and green peppers and it did add a lot of flavor. In hindsight, though, I think I should have left out the green peppers. The texture was pretty close to that of the green beans and while it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t add a lot to it.

If you aren’t going to be all critical about the authenticity of what you put in the dish, I think you could really add anything you wanted–mushrooms, ground turkey, beans, etc.

I’d say to definitely give this recipe a try. It was easy and tasty!

Hope you enjoy!

April

ADDING SOME COLOR TO BRIGHTEN THE DREARY DAYS & A LITTLE HONEY DO

This “cheer me up” basket from my mom became these pretty violets in the right type of watering pots.

So I got her a few colorful primroses to say thank you (the cabbage roses & the weeds are ready to go).

Then I found this fun little shelf that looked precarious and hubby fixed that too.

WEEKLY MENUS

Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie

	DATE	BREAKFAST	LUNCH	DINNER
Monday	3/19	Cereal	Sandwiches	Seafood Salad
Tuesday	3/20	Toast	C.O.R.N.	Roasted Red Pepper Krab Salad
Wednesday	3/21	Yogurt	Soup	Polynesian Chicken Pasta Salad
Thursday	3/22	Fruit	Salad	Hot Wilted Greens
Friday	3/23	Oatmeal	Sandwiches	Peanut Butter Burgers
Saturday	3/24	Oven Poached Eggs	Salad	Danish Cube Steak
Sunday	3/25	Buttermilk Pancakes	C.OR.N.	Stuffed Shells

DELICATE BERRIES – HELPFUL EMAIL INFORMATION – REALLY WORKS

image credit

Berries are delicious, but they’re also kind of delicate. Raspberries in particular seem like they can mold before you even get them home from the market. There’s nothing more tragic than paying $4 for a pint of local raspberries, only to look in the fridge the next day and find that fuzzy mold growing on their insides.

Well, with fresh berries just starting to hit farmers markets, we can tell you that how to keep them fresh! Here’s a tip I’m sharing on how to prevent them from getting there in the first place: Wash them with vinegar.

When you get your berries home, prepare a mixture of one part vinegar (white or apple cider probably work best) and ten parts water. Dump the berries into the mixture and swirl around. Drain, rinse if you want (though the mixture is so diluted you can’t taste the vinegar,) and pop in the fridge. The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the surface of the fruit, and voila! Raspberries will last a week or more, and strawberries go almost two weeks without getting moldy and soft. So go forth and stock up on those pricey little gems, knowing they’ll stay fresh as long as it takes you to eat them.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR LEPRECHAUN IS?

FRIDAY FILL IN TIME

1. Welcome TO MY WORLD.
2. COMPLETED PHONE CALLS and PAPERWORK COMPLETION makes me jump for joy.
3. There’s a LIGHT AT THE END OF EVERY TUNNEL!
4. BREATHING is the thing I love most about LIFE.
5. Eyes FORWARD IS THE PHRASE I REMEMBER MOST FROM TEST TAKING IN SCHOOL.
6. VA CLAIM COMPLETION is what I’m eagerly awaiting.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to SOME DOWN TIME, tomorrow my plans include PAPERWORK and Sunday, I want to WATCH THE RACE!

DON’T BUG ME, I’M RESTING…

Please visit other Camera Critters!

IT’S TASTE & CREATE TIME – CHICKEN BREASTS IN LEMON SAGE SAUCE

Taste and Create was started as a food event by Nicole from For the Love of Food. The whole purpose of Taste and Create was, and has been, and continues to be to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. The participants of the event are paired together and try a new recipe from one another’s blog.

This month I was paired with Corina from SEARCHING FOR SPICE. I love being paired with someone I’ve never been paired with before I inevitably learn sooooooo much, and find great new recipes. I chose her CHICKEN BREASTS IN LEMON SAGE SAUCE recipe which she adapted from The book Fantastico by Gino D’Acampo. I chose it because it looked sooooooo good and I had some sage that was left from when I made the PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY & THYME CHICKEN. I converted the metrics for my use.

Ingredients – Serves 2

2 chicken breasts

1 lemon, juiced and divided

1 tablespoon flour

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon fennel (optional)

3/4 cup chicken stock

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon sage

Salt

Black pepper

Olive oil

Make a paste with the flour, garlic and lemon juice.
Coat the chicken with the paste and leave for half an hour.
Put a little olive oil in a sauce pan.
Scrape the paste off the chicken and keep for the next step. I forgot to scrape off the paste, but it worked well as a coating and hubby enjoyed it so I guess you could do it either way. Fortunately my pan wasn’t too hot that it burned and all worked out well.
Add the chicken and the fennel seeds to the pan and fry the chicken on each side. I also omitted the fennel seeds – thought I had some, but didn’t after all.
If the paste is quite thick, thin it with a little water or stock then add it to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon. Since I messed up above, I did add a little stock (thought about using wine, but didn’t want to mess with her recipe since it smelled perfect).
Then add the rest of the stock, sage, salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil then lower to a very gentle simmer for about 20 minutes.
Mix the egg yolk with a little lemon juice.
Remove the chicken from the pan.
Stir in the lemon juice. Keep stirring as it thickens, but don’t let it boil.
Serve the sauce over the chicken with rice or potatoes and vegetables.

Slam Dunk Wings – Fire Day Friday

March Madness is here and the NCAA basketball tournament has kicked off for this weekend. Wings are always a great “game day” food and here is one I made this past weekend.