Category: CASSEROLES & SIDES

Favorite Ingredient Friday ~ Light and Creamy Tuna Noodle Casserole


hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy

Light and Creamy TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE
1 recipe of Basic Cream Sauce (see below)
2-5 ounce cans solid white albacore tuna*, drained well
1 can LeSeur baby peas, drained well
2 cups dry Farfalle or Fusilli pasta
1/3 cup boiling water
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Better than Bouillon Chicken Base
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • Cook and drain pasta al dente.
  • Prepare sauce (recipe below).
  • Spray 2 quart baking dish with PURE.
  • In a large mixing bowl dissolve chicken base into lemon juice and boiling water.
  • Whisk in Alfredo sauce to thin smooth consistency.
  • Add tuna, peas and pasta. Toss gently until well blended and coated with sauce.
  • Spoon into the casserole.
  • Melt butter and add bread crumbs until well blended.
  • Sprinkle crumb mixture over top of casserole.
  • Bake 30 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

SAUCE
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon minced garlic, jar
1 egg yolk, beaten
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add garlic until fragrant. Gradually add heavy cream, stirring constantly. Stir in salt, pepper and cream cheese. Add grated Parmesan cheese and stir constantly until melted. Whisk in egg quickly and heat through.

*white meat chicken substitutes well

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Favorite Ingredient Friday and Freezer Food Friday


Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy
Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom
Christmas Morning Brunch Casserole*

This is a BIG family favorite and the recipe varies depending on who in the family is preparing it. Some people use Jimmy Dean’s HOT sausage, some use bacon, some use all ham… some use cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom… some use Monterey Jack cheese or a combo of lots of cheeses… some like plain white bread or wheat… There are so many possibilities!


1 package Jimmy Dean Bulk Sausage
1 cup diced ham
6 slices sourdough bread
2 cups milk
1 can cream of celery soup
7 eggs
salt and pepper
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

  • Spray he bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with PURE.
  • Brown sausage and drain fat.
  • Scatter sausage and ham along the bottom.
  • Layer bread evenly over meat.
  • Whisk together the soup, milk, eggs and seasonings.
  • Pour over bread layer.
  • Top with cheese.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

*For Christmas morning I make this ahead a few weeks, but do not bake it. On the evening of the 23rd I take it from the freezer to the refrigerator and let it defrost. When we get up on Christmas morning I preheat the oven and pop it in. When we’re ready, so is brunch!






I participate in the memes: Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie, Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by Kathryn at Overwhelmed with Joy, Freezer Food Friday hosted by MJ at mjpuzzlemom, Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks, Homemaker Mondays hosted by Robyn at 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven, Making a Happy Home Monday hosted by LL at As for me and my house…, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday hosted by Lisa at Blessed with Grace, Slow Cooking Thursday & Tips on Tuesday hosted by Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and Tempt my Tummy Tuesday hosted by Lisa at Blessed with Grace. Doing them all make great additions to help keeping me on track and finding so new recipes!

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Scrumptious Sunday ~ National Rice Month ~ Cranberry Rice Pilaf & Chicken Alfredo Rice Casserole


Scrumptious Sunday hosted by Meredith at Mercedes Rocks

CHICKEN ALFREDO RICE CASSEROLE
1 cup alfredo sauce
scant 1/2 cup milk
1 can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon minced garlic, jar
2 tablespoons Classico sun-dried tomato pesto
2 1/2 cups cooked rice* (white, brown or wild – your choice)
2 cups chicken, cooked (I like to grill it) and cubed
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, revived
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3/4 cup italian bread crumbs

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a large bowl combine milk and alfredo sauce. Blend until smooth.
  • Add rice, chicken, basil, cheese and tomatoes and stir well.
  • Transfer to a PURE sprayed baking dish.
  • Bake covered for 30 minutes.
  • Mix melted butter and bread crumbs. Sprinkle on top.
  • Bake another 20 minutes uncovered until crumbs are golden.
  • Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

*1 cup uncooked rice equals approximately 3 cups cooked rice

TRIVIA TIP: According to Better Homes & Gardens May 2008, the first recipe for chicken and rice casserole appeared in the 1896 Fannie Farmer’s The Boston Cooking School Cookbook.

CRANBERRY RICE PILAF
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 small bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup sliced and chopped mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup craisins
1/2 cup brown rice
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1 cup water

  • Melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan
  • Saute’ onions and celery until tender.
  • Add mushrooms, thyme, salt and pepper and cook 2 minutes more.
  • Add bouillon, water and mix well.
  • Add rice and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until rice is tender.
  • Add crasins and cook 5 minutes more.

The Revival of a Family Sunday ~ Breakfast through Dinner

We’re changing up the menu plan a bit! The catch to dinner: My recipes, but the teenager has done all the menu planning (which she hated making choices – said it was hard work), shopping, prep work, cooking and clean-up. On the Menu: Toasted French Toast for breakfast and for dinner, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Garlic Smashers, Home Made Carrot Cake she made a gourmet meal that was quickly devoured! We used multi-grain and sourdough for the French toast and it was truly scrumptious.




TOASTED FRENCH TOAST ~ We hate soggy French Toast and this recipe conquers that.
8 slices thick white bread
1 1/4 cup milk
5 egg yolks
1/8 cup flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

  • Toast bread, but not browned.
  • Preheat griddle and coat with a small amount of butter.
  • Whisk together the egg yolks, milk, salt, vanilla, butter and cinnamon.
  • Whisk in flour until smooth.
  • Pour milk mixture into a baking dish.
  • Soak bread pieces for a few seconds on each side.
  • Grill for several minutes on each side until golden brown.
  • Serve with warm maple syrup.

SMASHERS
6-8 small YUKON potatoes, skin on
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 stick butter, melted
2 teaspoons minced garlic
olive oil

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  • Scrub potatoes
  • Boil potatoes until tender
  • Generously spread olive oil on cookie sheet
  • Space potatoes a couple of inches apart
  • With a potato masher, SMASH each potato
  • Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika
  • Melt butter and mix butter and garlic together
  • Pour a tablespoon of butter mixture over each potato
  • Bake 30 minutes or until tops are crispy
CHICKEN CORDON BLEU
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts*
2 tablespoons butter, softened
4 thin slices cooked ham
4 thin slices swiss cheese***
1/2 pound bacon (8 slices)
2 jumbo eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon minced garlic, jar
1 teaspoon oregano

  • Flatten chicken breasts.
  • Spread butter evenly on the tops.
  • Smooth garlic evenly amongst the 4 breasts.
  • Sprinkle the thyme evenly between the four breasts.
  • Top with a slice of ham and then a slice of cheese.
  • Roll up tightly.
  • Wrap 2 slices of bacon around each one and secure with toothpicks.
  • Whisk together the eggs and milk in a shallow bowl. Place flour in another shallow bowl. Combine the bread crumbs, oregano and cheese in a 3rd shallow bowl.
  • Dip each chicken breast in the egg mixture first, then the flour, then the egg mixture again and the crumb mixture last.
  • Place on a greased cookie sheet.
  • Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
  • Don’t forget to remove the toothpicks before serving.
*For really easy servings, I lay the bacon on the cookie sheet and cut the flattened breasts in half. On top of 1/2 of the bacon strip lay a chicken piece, top as directed and then lay the other chicken breast. Bring the other 1/2 of the bacon slice over the top and bake as directed. NO ROLLING AND NO TOOTHPICKS!

***I also use Muenster or Gruyere if that is what I have on hand.

SCRUMPTIOUS CARROT CAKE with CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
CAKE
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup butter, softened
3 Jumbo eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup golden rum*
3 cups grated carrots
8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained well
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

  • Pour rum over raisins and set aside for at least an hour.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Grease and flour 2-9 inch cake pans.
  • In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and sugars.
  • In another bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and 1 egg. Add additional eggs and beat until well creamed.
  • Add dry ingredients gradually until well blended.
  • Add carrots, pineapple and walnuts until well blended.
  • Drain raisins and fold in last.
  • Pour batter into prepared pans.
  • Bake 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean.
  • Cool 10 minutes.
  • Invert cakes onto rack and cool completely.

*As an option you could soak the raisins in orange juice instead and then substitute 1 teaspoon maple flavoring for the rum.

FROSTING
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

  • In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
  • Add lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until blended.
  • Add powdered sugar gradually until well blended and smooth.
  • Ice first layer and then add 2nd cake top and ice again including sides of cake.
  • Refrigerate 1 hour to set icing before serving.

Garlic Smashers for Tasty Thursday & Favorite Ingredient Friday

Tasty Thursday hosted by Pumpkin Patch
Favorite Ingredient Friday hosted by hosted by Overwhelmed with Joy
SMASHERS

6-8 small YUKON potatoes, skin on
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 stick butter, melted
2 teaspoons minced garlic, jar
olive oil

  • Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees
  • Scrub potatoes
  • Boil potatoes until tender
  • Generously spread olive oil on cookie sheet
  • Space potatoes a couple of inches apart
  • With a potato masher, SMASH each potato
  • Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika
  • Melt butter and mix butter and garlic together
  • Pour a tablespoon of butter mixture over each potato
  • Bake 30 minutes or until tops are crispy

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Freezer Food Friday Spinach Stuffed Manicotti

hosted by mjpuzzlemom

MJ over at MJPuzzlemom recently left me a comment which indirectly let me find this wonderful new meme that the she hosts, Freezer Food Friday. I’ll join in this week by recycling this great updated freezer recipe of mine for Spinach Stuffed Manicotti Shells.

1 1/2 pound ground beef
1 medium finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic or 2 teaspoons minced jar garlic
1 box chopped frozen spinach (thawed & drained)
salt & pepper to taste
14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 can Contadina tomato paste
10 ounces beef broth (I use granules and make my own)
2 tablespoons Classico sun-dried tomato peso
1/4 cup butter
2-8ounce shredded mozzarella cheese packages
1 box organic pasta Manicotti Shells (prepared al dente, very al dente)
  • Brown hamburger. Add garlic and onion about half way through. When the hamburger is browned, add spinach and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste. Drain off fat.
  • Mix all other ingredients together except the shells and cheese and bring to a simmering boil. Add one third of the sauce to the meat mixture.
  • Stuff the shells with the meat mixture. Continue until all shells are full. This recipe serves 4, but at this point since there are just 2 of us I try to think ahead and prep meals to freeze for easy cooking on the nights we’re busy with appointments, but still need a home cooked meal. This Manicotti recipe is great for that. The shells come in a box with 2 layers of plastic protectors. I make sure to save one to protect the shells I’m going to freeze. I prepare the recipe like normal, but split it in half before baking and freeze half. As you can see it all slips easily into a gallon size ziploc bag. After removing everything, I roll the bag up and stick in the freezer door until the next time I prep the whole recipe.
  • In a small greased casserole layer some sauce on bottom. Lay in half the shells, pour more sauce over top reserving half the sauce for the freezer. Put that sauce in a quart size ziploc. Top with the cheese. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove fol and return to oven for an additional 20 minutes.
  • In the gallon sized ziploc bag slide the extra tray of shells into it. Slide the bag of sauce on top of that as well as the second bag of mozzarella cheese. Zip shut and freeze. You now have a home cooked meal for another night.

Favorite Ingredient Friday ~Side Dish~Chile Cornbread Casserole

15.25 oz. can white corn
4 oz. can chopped green chiles, drained REALLY well
8.5 oz. can cream corn
8 oz. sour cream
1 egg
1 box JIFFY (small blue box) Corn Muffin Mix
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix all together by hand. Pour into greased 9×9 pan. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. If doubling recipe, use a 13×9 baking pan and bake at 350degrees for 1 hour or golden brown and set.

5 Night Dinner Challenge Update & Recipe

So we were supposed to have Shrimp Pasta and Salad, but hubby drank the last of the white wine I ‘d been saving for the recipe so I had to do a last minute substitution for the shrimp pasta or go to the store and it was just too cold here today ~ I didn’t want to leave the house! So we had spicy tuna casserole instead.


SPICY TUNA CASSEROLE
1 large can white meat chicken
1 small can albacore tuna
3 green onions, chopped fine
1 can cream of celery soup
4 tablespoons Frank’s hot sauce
salt & pepper
1 cup milk
2 cups al dente egg noodles
1 can Leseur baby peas
3 slices provolone cheese
1 1/2 cup crumbled potato chips

Drain chicken and tuna thoroughly. Chop the green onions fine. Mix soup and milk together thoroughly. Add salt and pepper and then hot sauce. Add the green onions and meat mix to the soup fix. Fold in noodles.

Pour 1/2 into baking dishes, layer cheese and pour remaining 1/2 on top of cheese. Top with crumbled potato chips and bake at 350 degrees fr 45 minutes.

5 night dinner challenge Update & recipes

Today was a super easy! Lunch was Kraft ~ yes, even I use the box stuff now and then, but I ‘doctor’ it up good. I add 1 tablespoon of Frank’s hot sauce, 1/2 cup real shredded cheddar cheese and I had some left over grilled sausages that I sliced up. We loved a hearty comfort meal on such a cold day ~ it actually reached 8 degrees today.

Here’s my update for the 5 night dinner challenge hosted by Sommer Designs.

Dinner was Baked Crunchy Chicken and I made a surprise for hubby, grams old decadent brownies ~ I forgot how rich those are and now we have those leftover for tomorrow night. We ate the salad while everything was in the oven baking.

BAKED CRUNCHY CHICKEN
1 boneless chicken per person
1 slice thinly sliced provolone cheese
1 green onion per person, chopped
1/2 cup stove top stuffing per person
1 can cream of mushroom, celery or chicken soup (your choice)
1 Tablespoon butter per person

Spray baking dish lightly with PURE. Arrange chicken breasts in bottom, sprinkle green onions (I was out of onions so I used tomatoes tonight) over top of chicken breasts and then lay a piece of cheese over each chicken breast. Spoon soup over and around the chicken breasts. Melt butter and toss with stuffing mix. Layer stuffing mix on and around chicken. Bake at 35 degrees for 45 minutes.

After I get this in the oven, I start the brownies and then they’re finished just in time for dessert.

DECADENT CHOCOLATE BROWNIES (make 4 ramekins)
2 Tablespoons butter + 1 Tablespoon butter
1 ounce Baker’s Bittersweet Chocolate
1 ounce Baker’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1 1/4 ounce Baker’s sweet German chocolate
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon flour
1/8 scant teaspoon baking powder
1/8 scant teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup sugar

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in microwave safe ramekin for 30 seconds, add the bittersweet & semi-sweet chocolate and microwave in 30 second increments until you can stir it smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Mix together the egg and sugar and beat on high with a hand mixer until slightly thick and turns a dull yellow. Lower speed and add chocolate mixture to egg mixture. By hand stir in the flour mixture until consistent in color. Spoon into ramekins and bake on cookie sheet for 25 minutes or until centers are set. Just after you put these in, prepare the topping. Melt the other tablespoon of butter and then add the German sweet chocolate and melt until you can stir smooth. Just after the brownies come out of the oven, pour the topping over.

WARNING: THESE ARE RICH & DECADENT!