A Little Twist

Okay, the picture is not the greatest, but you have to try this. I took my two favorite squash recipes and combined them. I do not like eggs in my squash like so many casseroles call for, so I changed things up a bit.

Twisted Squash:

4-6 squash-washed and thinly sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup crushed crackers plus more for topping
2 large Tbsp. pimento cheese
dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder
1 stick butter melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil the sliced squash with chopped onion and a dash of pepper until tender. Drain thoroughly. Combine squash and onion mixture in another bowl with sour cream, 1 cup of crackers, pimento cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Pour into lightly greased casserole dish. Top with crushed crackers. Pour melted butter over cracker mixture. Bake for 35 minutes.

Dressing Up Your Chicken

My sweet cousin sent me this recipe, and it was phenomenal. James and I both loved it. I made some slight changes to accomodate for what I had. Either way, it's easy and fabulous. This is a Paula Deen recipe, and I ADORE her, as most of you likely already know. Instead of layering the ingredients like the recipe calls for, I became impatient and just mixed everything together.

Cheesy Chicken and Dressing Casserole

2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz pkg shredded mozzarella cheese-I used triple cheddar
10.75 oz can cream of mushroom soup-I used cream of chicken
1/4 cup whole milk
6 oz pkg chicken-flavored stuffing mix
5 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 and spray 9x13 baking dish with nonstick spray.

In a large skillet, heat oil over med-high heat. Add chicken and cook stirring occassionally until chicken is lightly browned and cooked through. Using a slotted spoon, remove chicken from pan and place in baking dish.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and garlic to skillet and cook 4 to 5 minutes until they are tender. Spread onion mixture evenly over chicken. Top evenly with cheese.

In a small bowl, combine soup and milk and pour mixture over cheese.

In a medium bowl, combine stuffing and melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over cheese. Bake at 25 to 30 minutes, or until hot and bubblly.

South of the Border

During a recent excursion to Florida, I found this recipe in a local newspaper. It's truly a delicious dish!

Enchilada Casserole:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cups salsa
15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup reduced fat Italian salad dressing
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
6, 8-inch flour tortillas
3/4 cup sour cream
4 ounces shredded Mexican cheese blend


Heat oven to 400. Coat a three-quart baking dish with cooking spray. In large skillet over medium heat, saute beef and onion until meat is no longer pink. Drain meat, then stir in salsa, beans, salad dressing, taco seasoning and cumin. Arrange three tortillas in prepared baking dish. Spread half of meat mixture over tortillas, then top with half each of sour cream and cheese. Top with remaining tortillas, then repeat layering with remaining meat, sour cream and cheese. Cover and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until heated through.

Mexican Meal

Does anyone else dread Sunday night and Monday morning as much as I do? I have panc attacks just thinking that Sunday night is nearing. My sweet husband has worked diligently to try and make today different from the usual Sunday in every possible way. One thing we decided to do was "throw together" a Mexican meal. We eat Mexican food quite a bit. So, this is what we ended up with.

Mexican Casserole:

2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 pkgs. taco seasoning
1 cup water
2 10oz. cans enchilada sauce
1 pkg. Mexican blend shredded cheese
1 pkg. flour tortillas
1 bag Doritos

Brown and drain the ground beef with the onion. Warm the enchilada sauce in a skillet. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking dish. Return drained meat to the dutch oven. Sprinkle in the taco seasoning and combine with water. Lightly dredge the tortillas in the enchilada sauce. Overlap 2 tortillas in botom of casserole dish. Top with meat. Add cheese. Repeat layers 3 times. Lightly spread remaining enchilada sauce on top layer. Top with crushed chips. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Be carefuil not to burn the chips.

Eat More Chicken

This is another recipe from a co-worker. She made it for one of our friends who recently had surgery. It just about can't get any easier than this! As much chicken as we eat, I just had to share this. We also love yellow rice, so it is a perfect recipe.


Yellow Rice and Chicken Casserole:

3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1 pkg. yellow rice, cooked according to directions
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 stick of butter
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed


Combine the chicken, cooked rice, sour cream, and soup. Pour into greased casserole dish. Top with crushed crackers. Pour melted butter over the cracker crumbs. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.


Double the recipe for a large family sized portion.

Viva Italia

James and I found this recipe when we were looking through a magazine. It has a nice and unusual twist. There are so many ways to make this dish. It was nice to try it a new way.

Italian Chicken Casserole:

2 3.5 oz bags quick cooking rice
1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into cubes (we used rotisserie, shredded)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning (we used more)
28 oz. can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, undrained

Cook rice according to package directions. Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Saute chicken in two batches in 2 Tbsp. hot oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Remove from skillet. Add remaining oil from skillet and saute onion 2-3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Stir together soup, sour cream, and Italian seasoning in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir soup mixture into onion mixture. Stir in the rice. Fold in the tomatoes and chicken until well combined. Spoon mixture into lightly greased 13x9 baking dish. Bake at 350 degres for 30 minutes.

Kicked Up Casserole

This recipe really screams "glorified chicken tetrazzini". It makes a ton of food.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti:

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1/4 cup butter
1 onion, finely diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 16 oz. pkg. Velveeta, cut into bite sized pieces
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 tsp. salt
1 16 oz. pkg. spaghetti

In a large Dutch oven, combine butter with onion and bell pepper. Cook until tender. Add 2 cups reserved chicken broth, cheese, tomato sauce, soups, and salt. Stir in chopped chicken. Let simmer until cheese is thoroughly melted. Combine noodles with cheese sauce, mixing well. Pour into lightly greased 13x9 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Not Just for the Holidays

The first Thanksgiving that James and I were together, we made these sweet potatoes. He doesn't like sweet potatoes too much, but he ate them.... HHHHMMM, wonder if he ate them because he liked them or just because he liked me?

Sweet Potato Casserole

5 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp. orange juice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. miniature marshmallows

Boil the sweet potatoes until tender. Mash with a potato masher, and then combine with margarine, brown sugar, orange juice, vanilla, and spices. Spread into greased 13x9 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with miniature marshmallows and return to the oven until they are melted.

I wasn't kidding

Okay, so I was really serious a while back when I said we eat chicken literally all of the time. And then I mentioned yesterday that tonight would be a late night. So, we needed something easy for tonight. We chose the following:

Chicken Rolls:

1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded
1 3oz pkg. cream cheese
1 tsp. butter
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2-1/4 cup milk
pepper and salt to taste
shredded cheddar
2 cans crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and cream cheese. Stir in chicken broth. Then add shredded chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, combine soup and milk over low heat. If mixture becomes too thick, add a little more milk. Season with sal and pepper. Unroll crescents and place 1-2 tsp. mixture on dough. Roll and place onto greased baking dish. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from oven stirring soup mixture over crescents. Top with cheese. Return to oven for 5 minutes or until cheese has melted.

To like it or not to like it

I love it when someone tells me they do not like a certain food, and come to find out they really do like it. Either they have never tried it, or they simply do not remember having had it before. This dish is one in which people have said, oh, I do not like poppyseeds, and then they try it and like it. In fact, I have never known anyone to not like this dish. It is so easy to make, too. It works great with the crunchy romaine toss.

Poppyseed Chicken

1 rotisserie chicken, meat shredded (can use 4-6 chicken breasts)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. poppyseeds
1 stick butter, melted
1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Combine shredded chicken with soup and sour cream. Stir in poppyseeds. Pour mixture into bbaking dish. Place sleeve of crackers in a plastic bag. Seal the bag and crush the crackers with your fingers. Pour melted butter into bag to coat the crumbs. Top chicken mixture with crumb mixture. Bake for 30 minutes.

The A to Z's to Ziti

Before I was married, I can almost positively say I had never made ziti before. Things changed when I was a newlywed trying to decide where our next dinner was coming from. So, we literally cooked every recipe we were ever given, trying to decide what we liked to have together for dinner on a regular basis. My mother in law's ziti made ther cut! I would not say that my husband asks for it weekly, but it is pretty frequently. However, today we used a different recipe that we recently found. Here it is! Oh yeah, it was good too! Not as good as mother in law's, but good nonetheless.

Baked Ziti:

16 oz. box ziti
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb. lean ground beef
26 oz. tomato and basil pasta sauce
3/4 tsp. salt, divided
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. all pirpose flour
3 cups milk
1 cup grated Parmesan.
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. basil and oregano
8 oz. shredded mozzarella

Brown and crumble the meat with the onion and garlic. Drain. Stir in pasta sauce, seasonings, and 1/2 tsp. salt to the meat. Simmer on low. Boil and drain the noodles according to directions. In a separate skillet, melt butter, add flour, whisk well, and add parmesan. Stir in remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and pepper. Allow mixture to thicken. Once thickened, combine white sauce with ziti noodles. Toss well. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan. Top noodles with meat mixture. Spread shredded cheese ove meat mixture. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

What's your favorite kind of pie?

When posed with this question, does it take you a while to think about it, or is the answer an instant one? Our favorite pie is chicken pot pie. I realize that was most likely not the kind of pie you were thinking about. However, there are plenty of pies that are non dessert related. I will tell you about favorite dessert pies in later posts. For now, enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

Chicken Pot Pie:

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1-32 oz. box chicken broth.
1 small bag baby carrots, diced
4 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can english peas
1 head broccoli
1/3 cup Half and Half
1 cup Bisquick
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
salt, pepper to taste

Combine the diced potatoes, carrots, and chicken broth in a pot over medium heat. Cover and simmer until tender. Meanwhile, combine the shredded chicken and both soups in a separate large bowl. Chop the broccoli and add it along with undrained peas to the broth during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking time. You do not want to wilt the broccoli. Once those are combined, stir the half and half into the broth/vegetable mixture just until warmed through. Combine chicken mixture with vegetable mixture in large bowl. Season to taste with salf and pepper. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and milk, and them combine well with Bisquick. If you prefer your mix to be thinner, add more milk. Pour over the chicken mixture, gently spreading so that it covers the top. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.