Tater Tot Topped Casserole

I was flipping through some old cooking magazines yesterday and discovered this recipe. I haven't had tater tots in a LONG time and who doesn't love hamburger and tots....this was a simple way to combine with veggies.

1lb ground beef

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/4 cup milk

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 lb. (1/2 of a 32 oz pkg) frozen tater tots

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Brown meat with onions in a skillet, stirring occasionally, drain. Spoon into 8 inch square baking dish.

Mix soup and milk, pour over meat mixture. Top with layers of mixed vegetables, cheese and tots.

Bake 45 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown and casserole is heated through.

It may not look into great in the bowl, but it is YUMMY!!!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter....YES PLEASE

I decided I needed to make cookies....actually I decided this 2 weeks ago and finally got around to making these gems. OMG. Dark Chocolate, Crunchy Peanut Butter and Oats and NO STOVE....be still my heart. I got this recipe from http://eatliverun.com/

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

makes about 3 dozen small cookies

3 T butter

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 heaping tablespoons cocoa

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter (I like crunchy all natural peanut butter here)

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

Melt the butter on the stove. Add the sugar, cocoa and milk and stir well. Add the peanut butter and chocolate chips. Stir. Add the oats. Stir again.

With wet hands, form little balls of dough and on a wax paper lined plate or pan. Refrigerate for thirty minutes until hard.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

I got this idea off of C + C Marriage Factory. I have been wanting to try to make a veggie lasagna and frankly chopping up all the veg just seemed too time consuming. I tried this out tonight and loved it. I am bringing leftovers for a co-worker tomorrow, so hoping she likes it too. These are individual lasagnas. They freeze well and make an excellent hot lunch. I definitely think these are staying on the menu.

**Disclaimer....I used her photo's cause frankly my camera decided it didn't want to cooperate and phone pics just don't do it justice.**

Ingredients:
9 lasagna noodles, cooked
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
15 oz fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
salt and fresh pepper
32 oz tomato sauce (I used Bertolli Tomato & Basil)
9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.


Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle.

Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese.

Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

Servings: 9

Serving size: 1 roll

Calories per serving: 225

Points: 4

C&C Marriage Factory made a homemade sauce and while I was adventurous to make these beauties....I didn't try her sauce....it sounds delicious...maybe next time.

Stuffed Zucchini Boat

Seriously one of the best things I have made in FOREVER! This will definitely be staying on the recipe board. I served it with brown rice, but thinking maybe some orzo would be really good with this.

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, about 12 inches long (or 2 6-inch)

2 tbsp. olive oil, divided

½ cup onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup mushrooms, chopped

1 lb. turkey sausage or ground turkey

2 tbsp. dry white wine

2-3 tomatoes, seeded and diced

3 tbsp. chopped fresh basil

1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary

¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

Directions:

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out insides, leaving a shell about ¼-inch thick. Reserve about half of the insides.

In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and reserved zucchini insides to the skillet and sauté another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble in the sausage or ground turkey and cook until lightly browned on all sides, stirring occasionally. Stir in the cooked onion and mushroom mixture. Add the wine to the pan along with the tomatoes, basil and rosemary. Cook for 1 more minute. Drain of any excess fat, remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Once the turkey mixture has cooled a bit, mix in the Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper. Fill the zucchini shells with the mixture. Fill a baking dish with ¼-inch of water. Place the filled zucchini shells in the pan and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Remove the zucchini from the pan and serve immediately.

Crab & Asparagus Quiche

OMG!!!! It was a party in my mouth. So freaking good!!!!

Crab & Asparagus Quiche (serves 4)

Ingredients:

4 Ramekins (mine are 6 oz sized)
2 eggs
1/4 cup Bisquick
1 Cup Milk
4 oz cheddar & jack cheese
8 oz can of creamed corn (optional)
1/2 lb lump crab meat
2-3 spears of Cooked Asparagus cut into bite sized pieces
salt and pepper of Old Bay

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray Ramekin w/cooking spray.

3. Put crab, asparagus, corn into a bowl. Mix together and season to taste w/salt and pepper or old bay.

4. Place a generous helping of crab mixture into ramekins. Top with cheese.

5. Mix Eggs, Bisquick, Milk mixture together in small bowl. (mixture will be thin, be sure to get lumps out).

6. Pour Bisquick mixture over crab mixture.

7. Cook to a golden brown (about 45 minutes to an hour depending on size of pan).

Thanks momma for the mouth-watering recipe. It was DELICIOUS!!!!

Chicken Asparagus a la Vodka

Chicken Asparagus a la Vodka (serves 4)

Ingredients:

2-3 cups penne pasta
8-10 asparagus spears (broken into 1 1/2 inch pieces)
1lb chicken
1 jar Vodka Sauce
Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

1. Cook Chicken, cut into bite sized pieces. Add Vodka Sauce to chicken and heat through.

2. Cook Pasta according to package directions. Add asparagus the last 4 minutes of cooking time. Drain.

3. Add Chicken Mixture to Pasta and Toss. Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.

YUMMY!!! and I had a TON of leftovers.

Buttery Garlic Shrimp with Red Pepper

Buttery Garlic Shrimp w/Red Pepper (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs fresh or frozen medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 oz dried angel hair pasta
2 TBSP butter
2 cloves garlic, minced or 1 TSP bottled minced garlic
Salt
1/4 TSP crushed red pepper
2 cups fresh broccoli florets

Directions:

1. Thaw Shrimp, if frozen. Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels.

2. Cook Pasta according to package directions. Add broccoli the last 4 minutes of cooking time. Drain; keep warm.

3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add garlic; cook for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp; sprinkle with salt. Cook and stir for 2 to 4 minutes or until shrimp turn opaque. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper. Serve over hot cooked pasta.

(444 calories, 10g fat (4 sat fat), 274 mg chol, 438 mg sodium, 44g carbo, 1g fiber, 42g protein.)

Fast Chicken and Rice

Fast Chicken and Rice (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup frozen peas
1 8.8 oz puch of cooked brown or white rice
1 TBSP cooking oil
1 lb chicken breast tenders, halved crosswise
1/4 cup bottled stir-fry sauce
Packaged oven-roasted sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Stir Peas into rice pouch. Heat in microwave according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet; cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir rice mixture into skillet. Stir in stir-fry sauce; heat through. Sprinkle with almonds.

(311 calories, 9g fat (1g sat fat), 66 mg chol, 453 mg sodium, 25g carbo, 2g fiber, 31g protein.)

White Wine/Butter Sauce w/Chicken, Penne & Broccoli

My best friend is a Great cook.....and I took this recipe from the source and tweaked it for my own purposes.


White Wine & Butter Chicken Dinner (serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

3-4 Chicken Breasts
1/2-1 cup white wine (I eyeballed it....so it was probably more like a cup)
1 stick of butter
Seasonings to taste
Penne Pasta
Frozen Broccoli

Directions:

1. Mix together butter, wine and seasonings to taste in a large frying pan, heat till butter melts and ingredients combine (I used Basil, Red Pepper Flakes, Oregano, Parsley, Onion Powder, Rosemary and Minced Garlic).

2. Place chicken in butter mixture and cook till done. Cut up to 1 inch cubes.

2. Cook pasta to directions on box. Drain.

3. Cook broccoli in the microwave till done.

4. Combine all ingredients and butter mixture and top with Parmesan cheese.

Thanks D for the incredible recipe....I'll be making this in the future!

Rainy Day Comfort

It's raining like cats and dogs today and well comfort food just sounded YUMMY! After a day of massage and relaxing (oh yeah...I lead a hard life) I decided to make some chicken, stuffing and asparagus.

I never thought making stuffing in a crock-pot was plausible, but damn if it didn't work.


Easy Chicken Dinner (serves 4)

Ingredients:

4 Chicken Breasts
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup milk
1 6oz packaging of stuffing
1 2/3 cup water

Directions:

1. Place Chicken in Crock Pot.

2. Combine Chicken soup and milk in a small bowl till blended, pour over chicken.

2. Combine Stuffing and water in small bowl and spoon over the chicken mixture.

3. Cook on Low 6-8 hours till done.

I also made a side of asparagus to eat with my chicken concoction. I placed the asparagus in a saute pan, with 1/4 water, saute till al dente and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. Delicious!

Homemade Beef & Mushroom Stew

Ahhhhh!!!!! Comfort Food!!!!!

Growing up my mom always made soups and stews and chili's to feed the family. They were always delicious and filling...so tonight I made my own in the Crockpot.

Wild Mushroom Beef Stew (serves 5)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1/2 TSP salt
1/2 TSP black pepper
1 1/2 cups of beef broth
1 TSP Worcestershire sauce
1 glove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 tsp paprika
4 shitake mushrooms, sliced*
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium red potatoes, diced
1 small white onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced

*If shitake mushrooms are unavailable, substitute other mushrooms of your choice.*

Directions:

1. Place beef in 4 1/2-quart CrockPot slow cooker. Mix together flour, salt and pepper; sprinkle over beef. Stir to coat each piece of beef with flour.

2. Add remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. Cover; cook on LOW 10-12 hours or on HIGH 4-6 hours. Stir stew before serving.

Notes:

I used regular white mushrooms and just cleaned and cut them in half for a thicker mushroom base (as I love mushrooms). Also I forgot to add the garlic which became clear when I ate it, but it was still delicious. I also added a 1/2 cup of red wine to the batch.

Tuna Pot Pie

When I was a kid my mom used to make Tuna Helper Tuna Pot Pie. I LOVED it. Then they stopped making it. It has been years since I have eaten Tuna Pot Pie. When my mom came to visit for Christmas, we decided to try and make it. I do believe we succeeded. Tonight I decided to make it on my own as I had all the ingredients for it. I must say it turned out yummy yet again, for those that wish to try:

Tuna Pot Pie (serves 4)

Ingredients for filling:

1 large pouch of Tuna or 3-4 regular cans
1 bag of Mixed Frozen Vegetables
1 can Whole Potatoes Drained and cut in 1/4's
2 can Cream of Celery soup
Salt & Pepper to Taste
Ingredients for crust:

2 cups Busquick
1 cup milk
1 TBSP Parsley Flakes
2 Eggs

Directions:

Spray 2 1/2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.
Combine all Filling ingredients in a large bowl.
Place filling in casserole dish.
Combine all Crust ingredients in a large bowl.
Pour over top of filling.
Bake 30 min @ 400 degrees.

Variations:

For a lighter filling use 1 can cream of celery soup and 1 can chicken broth.
For a lighter crust use 1 cup Bisquick, 1/2 cup milk and 1 egg.
You can also vary the type of cream of soup and vegetables to taste and/or add 1/2 cup cheese to tuna mixture.

ENJOY!