Kim's Comfort Casserole

This is a comfort in 2 ways. First, we all know and love tator tot casserole...well, this is a healthier version. Second, it reminds me of something my mom used to make called "One Dish Meal" that had to bake for an hour...this one doesn't take that long!

Kim's Comfort Casserole

1 lb ground beef
1 T olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 T Italian seasoning
Salt and Pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 of a 30 oz bag of frozen shredded hash brown potatoes

Preheat oven to 400. Brown ground beef with oil, onion, and garlic. Add soups and seasonings. Put in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Top with cheese and then potatoes. Bake until the top starts to turn golden...about 30ish minutes. If you let them bake too long, they get chewy, so just keep an eye on it.

Chicken Biscuit Cups

This is one of those recipes that has endless possibilities! You can also add cheese to these, but I don't think you miss it, so I save those calories.

Chicken Biscuit Cups

10 oz can chicken, drained
1 can cream of soup of your choice (we prefer chicken or celery)
2 teaspoons italian seasoning
1 can 10 count biscuits

Preheat oven to 375. Mix chicken, soup, and seasonings in a bowl. Flatten biscuits and place one in each hole of a muffin tin forming a "cup". Divide filling among cups. Bake 12 minutes.

Upcoming Meals for the Week

All right, I should be cooking most of this week. Yippee!

S: Chicken Biscuit Cups
M: Shake and Bake porkchops
T: Kim's Comfort Casserole
W: Chicken Enchiladas
T: Shrimp Stir Fry
F: Steak on the grill
S: out

Meatloaf Brasciole

This is a great RR recipe. In my house, we call it "better than sex" meatloaf. I will copy and paste it because I make quite a few substitutions. I've done the recipe as listed, but have tweaked it to be even better! We also usually serve it with the pasta she uses in the recipe.

Meatloaf Brasciole

1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound pork pan sausage (you know, Jimmy Dean breakfast stuff in the chub)
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup eggbeaters
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 small white onion, grated
3 tablespoons pine nuts, chopped very, very, very fine
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 cup baby spinach
6 slices prosciutto
6 slices deli sliced provolone
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Preheat oven to 450. Mix meat and next 9 ingredients as if you were making meatloaf.

Flatten meat out on a silpat mat or waxed paper lined cookie sheet into a thin layer, about 1/2-inch thick. Cover meat with spinach, prosciutto and cheese. Roll the meat, using the mat or waxed paper to help roll up into a large log. (Roll it so that it is long, not short.) Drizzle the log with extra-virgin olive oil to coat lightly.

Roast meatroll 20 minutes. Let sit a few minutes before serving

Tomato Basil Salad

This is a super simple, throw together take on a Caprese salad.

Tomato Basil Salad

1 lb tomatoes, cut up
1/4 lb fresh mozzarella, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 c fresh basil, cut into strips
1 T olive oil
1/2 T red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Throw it all together in a bowl. Allow to sit for at least 15 minutes before serving. The longer it sits, the better it is.

Upcoming Meals for the Week

This is a mostly non cooking week here. I have stuff, Bryan has stuff, and we have a ton of leftovers from the weekend and all the eating out we did.

Sunday: chicken from Sam's, Tomato Basil Salad
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: leftovers, I have Bunco
Wednesday: Meatloaf Brasciole; Pasta, Broccoli, and Ricotta
Thursday: leftovers, Bryan going to baseball game
Friday: leftovers, I have a Thirty-One party
Saturday: wedding

Sloppy Cubanos

Yet another RR. This was super good. I halved the recipe, but still used the full cup of chicken broth and tomato sauce (accidentally forgot to half them) and ended up having to thicken it up with cornstarch. But, this made it super saucy and more sloppy...which we loved!! I also use provolone cheese since we are not swiss eaters.

I also didn't have allspice and wasn't going to spend the money on it for one recipe, so I just used a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, which was perfect. It gave it the right amount of "hmmm, what is that in the background?" Hee hee!

Sloppy Cubanos

PS. I won't be baking anytime soon. It seems our oven is setting off our carbon monoxide monitor when I bake all of a sudden, so we must get that looked at before I attempt the corn bacon muffins.

PPS. Never, ever look at the ingredient list for chorizo. It may make you gag. I had to really think about how good it tastes to forget what I saw.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts and Banana Pupcakes

Stuffing chicken breasts is an easy elegant looking meal. It's my go to when I'm on burn out with chicken. The possibilities are endless with stuffings. I'll list a few others that I've done at the end of the recipe.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2 chicken breasts
2 T feta cheese
2 T frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed
1 T sundried tomato paste
2 T breadcrumbs
1/2 t Italian seasoning, plus some for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Cut slits in the chicken breasts. Mix all other ingredients. Stuff chicken breasts evenly with the mixture. Place in baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is done.

Other variations:
Goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, shallots, balsamic vinegar
thin sliced ham and laughing cow cheese

Now, on to the banana pupcakes...and no, that isn't a typo! This is a RR recipe. They are delish!!! Or, in the words of Rachael....YUM-O!! The simple sprinkling of powdered sugar is great, but cream cheese frosting would be even greater! Oh, and I did use lowfat buttermilk and egg beaters.

Banana Pupcakes

Upcoming Meals for the Week

The week ends early b/c my in-laws will be coming into town on Thursday. I do not usually cook when they are here! One day this week I'm also going to make banana cupcakes. You will also see a lot of Rachael Ray this week b/c I finally got around to this month's magazine.

Sunday: Tacos
Monday: Stuffed Chicken breasts
Tuesday: Sloppy Cubanos
Wednesday: Shake and Bake pork chops and bacon corn muffins

Creamy Pesto Chicken and Pasta

This was a huge hit all around. Very quick, simple, and healthy to boot! Even better...This is probably about a 20 minute start to finish recipe.

Creamy Pesto Chicken and Pasta
Serves 4

1 lb chicken breasts, cubed
1 T olive oil
1 can RF cream of chicken soup
1/2-3/4 cup FF milk
1 package Knorr Basil Pesto sauce mix
8 oz uncooked pasta (I used mini penne)

Prepare pasta according to box directions.

While pasta is cooking, season chicken with salt and pepper and brown in skillet in olive oil. Add soup and 1/2 cup milk. Stir to combine. Add sauce mix and stir. Now, when it starts to get bubbly, you may have to add more milk b/c the sauce mix thickens. Then, mix the pasta with the chicken and sauce.

WW points: 8

Ham and Pea Casserole

This is yet another Rachael Ray recipe. The only problem...Bryan doesn't like cornbread. Now, mind you, I have a rule. If I make something you don't like, tell me. Be honest, or else it will show back up in the rotation. I made this before, Nicky ate it, Bryan didn't say he didn't like it, so I made it again.

Well, guess what. I don't think I have to tell you.

Ham and Pea Casserole
8 servings

What I did differently was using 1% milk, 4 eggs worth of eggbeaters, and dried thyme. When I made the cornbread, I omitted the butter and used 1% milk.

Sea Bass alla Fiorentina

I found this recipe last night. I actually had everything on hand to make it...which usually doesn't happen. It was really, really good.

Sea Bass alla Fiorentina

The only adjustments I made were that I added a shallot to the sauce and used dried basil and parsley.

Upcoming Meals for the Week

Last week was quite a cooking disaster. Nothing went right. One day I forgot to take something out. Another day I went to grill, and we ran out of gas. Here's to a better week!

Sunday: Sea Bass alla Fioretina
Monday: out b/c Bryan won't be home for dinner
Tuesday: Ham and Pea Casserole
Wednesday: Creamy Pesto Chicken Pasta
Thursday: Grilled Shrimp
Friday: Steak on the grill
Saturday: out

Upcoming Meals for the Week

Not a lot of "cooking" on my part this week. I wasn't in the mood to look through my recipes, so I went with easy and quick this week.

Sunday: General Tso's Chicken (uh, from the freezer section at Sam's)
Monday: Rotissere Chicken (also from Sam's)
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: ??
Thursday: shake and bake pork chops
Friday: parmesean baked fish of some sort
Saturday: out

Mini Caramel Pecan Rolls

Ok, you are all going to start thinking that I am seriously addicted to crescent rolls. I made these this morning for breakfast. Super easy and tasty!

Mini Caramel Pecan Rolls

1 tube crescent rolls
1/2 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
cinnamon
sugar
chopped pecans

Mix butter, brown sugar, and syrup. Spread in the bottom of an ungreased 8 or 9 inch cake pan. Unroll crescent rolls and leave in 4 rectangles. Press along seam to seal. Sprinkle with cinnamon, sugar, and pecans. Roll up and press along edge to hold roll together. Cut each roll into 4 pieces and place in cake pan, leaving a little room around each roll for them to bake up. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from oven and invert cake pan onto a plate. If the caramel hardens on the plate, simply throw it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it.

Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels

I have a little appetizer recipe book, and this is one of those recipes that is always a hit. I did fix it up a little to suit my tastes, but no one ever complains!

Buffalo Chicken Pinwheels

1 10 oz can chicken
2-3 teaspoons of hot sauce
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon chives, chopped
1 tube crescent rolls

Heat oven to 375. Mix chicken and hot sauce in a bowl. Unroll crescent rolls and leave in 4 rectangles. Pinch along seams to seal. Spread 1 oz of cream cheese on each rectangle. Sprinkle evenly with chives. Divide chicken mixture and spread out. Roll up and press on the seam a little to keep the roll together. Cut each roll into 6 pieces. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with ranch or blue cheese dressing.