Category Archives: Dinner

Recipe Recap

I haven’t posted here on my own blog in awhile because I’ve been busy sharing recipes over at Kids VT! Here are a few of my latest yummy creations….check out the Kids VT Blog for more!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes


 Homemade Shells & Cheese

Buffalo Chicken Soup

Smothered Burritos

Recipe Link: Meat & Veggie Lasagna

Today’s recipe creation I shared on Kids VT is for a tasty and healthy lasagna!

Recipe: Southwestern Bean Casserole with Cornbread Topping

This casserole is super easy to put together and just perfect for a chilly fall night!

Ingredients:

1 Tbs butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes with juice

Topping:
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
2 Tbs butter, melted
1 cup corn kernels (thawed if frozen)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 cup chopped canned green chiles

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 2-quart casserole dish.

In a skillet, sauté the onion and garlic in 1 Tbs butter for a few minutes. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Drain off the fat. (Or do like I did and pull already prepared taco meat from the freezer and thaw!) Stir in the taco mix, beans, and tomatoes. Pour into prepared casserole dish.

In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. (Or you can use a corn muffin mix for this part). In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and sour cream. Stir in butter, corn, half the cheese, and the chiles. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until moistened.

Spoon the batter around the edges of the casserole, leaving the center uncovered. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over all. Bake uncovered for 20 – 30 minutes or until the corn muffin topping is cooked through.

Enjoy!

Adapted from The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever

Get a copy here:

*Amazon Affiliate Link and Banner

Recipe: Tortellini and Veggie Casserole

Photo Credit: BHG.com

This casserole is a delicious blend of pasta, chicken and veggies. The recipe is from Better Homes & Gardens. I found it on Pinterest and pinned for later. Well, later came and boy am I glad! It was so delicious!

I pretty much followed the recipe exactly except that I added in zucchini and squash for some extra veggie goodness. My Mom made it once and used sour cream instead of the cream cheese and that was equally delish as well!

Again, here is the link for the recipe: Tortellini and Garden Vegetable Bake from Better Homes & Gardens

Enjoy! And thanks to BHG.com! I seriously love them!

Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Pot Pie

My go-to recipe for chicken pot pie is one that I fall back on all the time. When things are busy and I need a quick meal that I know everyone will enjoy, I go to this one.

My kids love those frozen pot pies with the crust that you can get in the freezer section. (Yes, I have bought them, so what?) So I thought I’d try a recipe with the pie crust. My boys gave me Pioneer Woman’s cookbook for Christmas and I made many promises to make everything in the book so I thought it would be fun to try her version.

I’m so glad I did!

The recipe is not difficult at all, came together fairly quickly and was SO delicious!

I thought about posting my own take of her recipe but honestly I can not think of one thing I’d change. It’s a keeper!

So check out Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Chicken Pot Pie from her cookbook “Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl” .

The only one I can find close to it on her website is her Turkey Pot Pie which looks like pretty close to the same thing. The only thing I do differently is put a bottom crust in the pie pan. We love a double layer of that crust!

Here is my recipe for a very quick and easy homemade pie crust.

Let me know if you try it!

*Amazon Affiliate Links*

Recipe: Italian Chicken Pie

I found this recipe for Italian Chicken Pie from Betty Crocker. It’s super easy and quick which has been the theme to a lot of my meals lately!

The only thing I did differently from their recipe is that I used my homemade version of Bisquick.

Easy, right?! It’s like an Italian twist on chicken pot pie. A big hit with the kids!

Enjoy!

Recipe from Pinterest: Taco Pizza!

I’ve been browsing Pinterest like a fool, and pinning so many great recipes! This is a quick and easy one that everyone loved so I thought I’d share!

Taco Pizza!

It’s basically a crescent roll crust covered in taco fillings and baked! Super easy and fun for the kids to help make too! Not to mention they ate it like it was going to run off the plate.

All I did was spread crescent rolls into a cookie sheet, pressing all seams together. Sprinkle with cooked taco meat, a couple of kinds of beans so I could pretend that it was healthy and some cheese.  Bakes at 375 degrees for about 12-15 minutes, or until the dough is cooked through. Then cut into squares and sprinkle with lettuce, salsa, sour cream etc.

Easy!

It looks like the original recipe is from Pillsbury but I found it through this pin.

How To Roast a Chicken

Roasting a chicken can sound overwhelming and just plain hard if you are a beginner in the kitchen. I remember in my early days of learning to cook that I wouldn’t even try! If whole chickens were on sale, I wouldn’t know the first thing to do with it! So I thought I’d share how I do it for those of you just getting to know the kitchen.

Sometimes whole chickens (also called fryers in some places) will go on sale. The one I cooked here was only $5!! They can be frozen, of course, so if you have freezer room, stock up when they are that cheap! You will then need to let it thaw in the fridge for a good day or two, depending on the size. Mine was a little over 5 pounds and took a good two days to thaw in the fridge.

A very important thing you should know if you have never cooked a whole chicken (and all of this applies to roasting a turkey as well which I posted about here!) is it will usually come with some weird things stuffed inside. Gizzards, the neck, and all kind of gross things. Some people like to cook these things. Those people are not my friends. Pull all of that out and throw it away, please and thank you.

Prepare the bird. OK, some people say to rinse the bird and pat it dry. Some people say not to because of bacteria or whatever. I usually do. Do what you want!

Preparing the bird is not as difficult as you think! It’s very simple to get a nice moist chicken with lots of flavor!

Rub the bird down with butter or olive oil or…ahem…both. I like to make sure my roasting pan is coated so it doesn’t stick. I will then rub the bird with butter and diced garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. You can also sprinkle with other seasonings, throw in some fresh herb sprigs, whatever floats your boat! Here I used some Italian seasoning. For extra flavor, try to rub some butter under the skin too. YUM. I also like to sprinkle some lemon juice on it as well.

You can cook the bird alone if you like. I prefer to roast mine with potatoes, onions, and carrots. You can add any kind of veggies. If a veggie is tasty roasted, it’s tasty roasted with a chicken! This will also make for some extra delicious juices in the bottom of the pan. Season your veggies and drizzle with olive oil or spats of butter as well.

Bake at 350 degrees uncovered. It should take about 20-25 minutes per pound. Since mine was a little over 5 pounds, I knew it would take at least 2-2 1/2 hours. Baste the chicken with the juices at the bottom of the pan during cooking. If you don’t have a baster, just use a spoon! Use a meat thermometer to check the temperature by placing in the fattest part of the bird. Poultry is fully cooked at around 170 degrees.

Let the chicken sit for a good 5-10 minutes before carving into it. I like to serve it over rice with all of those tasty juices. Serving over rice makes the meal go even further!

What I love about this meal is that I can get a good three meals out of it. I’ll serve it over rice for one night and eat the leftovers the next day and still have enough chicken to throw into a pot pie another night that week!

See? It’s not that hard at all! Go ahead and buy some chickens on sale and have some fun with it! You’ll get plenty of meat off if it to last at least two or three meals. Have fun and enjoy!

Recipe: Spinach and Parmesan Stuffed Chicken

This is one of my go-to meals to prepare when we are having company over for dinner. It’s not too complicated or time consuming, it looks like it was, and it tastes so dang good.

Spinach and Parmesan Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup fresh baby spinach, chopped (more if you are a big fan like I am!)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
6 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
6 small boneless chicken breast halves
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cream cheese, spinach,  mozzarella cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese until well blended. Spread evenly onto chicken breasts. (If your chicken breasts are thick, you may want to flatten them out a bit by pounding them or fileting them open just a tiny bit.)

Roll the chicken up tightly. Secure with wooden toothpicks to hold them together.

Beat the egg in a bowl. Mix the remaining Parmesan cheese and all of the bread crumbs in a separate bowl. Dip chicken in the egg, then roll in the breadcrumbs. Place seam side down in a 13×9 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove toothpicks before eating!

This is perfect served with pasta covered in homemade Alfredo sauce and homemade French bread!

Enjoy!

This post linked to:
Southern Fairytale’s Mouthwatering Monday
Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday

Healthy Meal: Broiled Steak and Zucchini

Excuse the bad iPhone picture!

So it’s January. The month of healthy eating habits! Here is one of my favorite quick and easy meals that I can feel good about eating! Students earning a nutrition degree online
would approve of this quick and healthy meal.

Broiled Steak

Ingredients:
1 boneless sirloin steak
1 medium onion
1 red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive oil

Cut steak into cubes. Cut onion and pepper into chunks. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper. Place steak and veggies in a broiler pan. (If you don’t have one you could put a metal cooling rack over a rimmed cookie sheet. The point is to let the fat drain off.) Broil a few inches from the oven burner for about 10 minutes. Watch carefully!

Broiled Zucchini

Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tbs diced red pepper (it’s good with diced pimentos too!)
2 Tbs chopped black olives
1 Tbs olive oil

Brush both sides of the zucchini with olive oil. Place on a broiler pan and broil for about 5 minutes.  Sprinkle with cheese, peppers and olives. Put back under broiler until cheese melts. Watch carefully!

I like to make these together because I can put it all in one pan and it cooks within 10 minutes! So quick and easy!

Enjoy!

Linked To:

Mouthwatering Mondays