I know it’s not Thanksgiving, but I love stuffing. I just do. I serve it year round in all kinds of ways. With roasted chicken, with ham mixed in like a casserole, stuffed in a pork chop, the list goes on! So here is my favorite stuffing recipe! Forget the box, this is easy and much better for you!
Homemade Stuffing
Ingredients:
1 pound of bread – of course, I like to use whole grain and/or whole wheat
1/2 stick of butter, softened ( I almost always use unsalted butter, who need extra salt in their diets anyway?!)
1 clove of garlic, pressed
1 small onion, diced
4 stalks of celery, diced
1 1/2 cups reduced sodium, all natural chicken broth
2 tsp poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
Dry out the bread. I just lay it out all over the counter the day before or in the morning on the day I am going to make it. Flip them around about half way through. You could also toast them or stick them in the oven for a quick fix. But I like to do it this way so it doesn’t turn out too crispy. Once nice and dry, stale-like, cut into cubes. I find it’s easiest done with a serrated bread knife.
Saute onion and celery in the butter until soft and translucent. Add in garlic and cook for just a moment, don’t burn the garlic!
Toss the bread cubes into the pan with the celery, onion and garlic. Yes, you are going to want a big pan for this. Toss it around and coat it with the the seasoned veggies. Then pour in the broth and mix together well.
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Pesto Tortellini with Chicken and Veggies
 This dish is YUM. I just can’t think of anything else to say about it! It would be equally as good without the chicken for a meatless meal as well. Unfortunately for me, my husband does not know that the words meatless and meal can be used together. But anyway…. |
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| Pesto Tortellini with Chicken and Veggies | ||||
| Ingredients: | ||||
| 2 teaspoons olive oil 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces 1 cup chicken broth (or more as needed) |
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| 1 package (9 ounces) of cheese filled tortellini (I also like to use the spinach filled kind) | ||||
| 2 zucchini, sliced 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced 1/4 cup basil pesto freshly grated Parmesan cheese Heat oil in a skillet or pot (you are going to need a decent sized pan!). Cook chicken until brown then remove from skillet. (OR use chicken from your freezer that you have already cooked to save time!) Add broth and tortellini to pan, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 8 minutes or until tortellini are tender. You may need to add more broth as it simmers to keep the pasta moist.  Add in chicken, zucchini and bell pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally and adding broth if needed until the vegetables are crisp-tender and chicken is no longer pink, about 3-4 minutes.  Toss with pesto and sprinkle with cheese.  Think, man that Tasha has some good recipes, I’m going to have to send her chocolate. Enjoy!
Check out Beauty and Bedlam for more Tasty Tuesday recipes! Also linked to Blessed with Grace Tempting Tummy Tuesday |
Recipe: Mexican Lasagna
This is one of my family’s favorite meals. If you have a small family, you can freeze the uneaten half. We always end up wiping out the whole thing though! Also can be prepared and frozen to be baked at a later time!
Mexican Lasagna
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
2 cups salsa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbs taco seasoning
6 soft shelled tortillas (8 inch) I like to use whole grain ones for a healthy oomph!
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded cheese
Grease 9×13 baking dish (I use my Pampered Chef stone that is really seasoned so I don’t have to grease mine) You can also line the pan with foil instead. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown ground beef with onions in a large skillet. Drain. Add salsa, beans, seasoning; mix well.
Arrange three tortillas in a single layer on bottom of baking dish. Cover with layers of half each of the meat mixture, sour cream and cheese. Repeat all layers. Cover with foil.
Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until casserole is heated through and the cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting to serve.
Top with shredded lettuce and tomatoes.
Enjoy!
Salsa Chicken
A quick and easy way to prepare chicken is to freeze it with a marinade and then on the day you need it, take it out in the morning and let thaw in the fridge. By dinner time the chicken will be thawed and soaked in the marinade! Just pour the chicken and sauce into a baking dish and bake at 375 degrees until cooked through (the time will depend on how thick your chicken breasts are).
I use salsa, italian dressing and teriyaki sauce the most often for marinades. Here is the “recipe” I use for making Salsa Chicken.
I’ll thaw the chicken and place in a baking dish at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. I’ll then top the chicken with cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. I’ll serve with spanish rice (which is basically rice and salsa mixed together!) and a vegetable. Because the chicken is baked and the salsa is full of veggies, it can actually be quite good for you! (assuming you don’t overdo the cheese and smother it with sour cream as I sometimes do!)
One Pot Chicken, Veggies and Brown Rice
When I’m not using freezer meals for dinner and I have time to cook a more time consuming meal, this is a go-to recipe for me. But when you read how easy this recipe actually is, you might call me a liar, because it’s actually not time consuming at all, it just tastes like it!
One Pot Chicken, Veggies and Brown Rice
Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
4 chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in pieces of chicken if you like!) cut in halves or thirds
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 large onion, 2 celery stalks, 2 medium carrots, cut into chucks
A little garlic for flava
About 1 cup chicken broth
1 cup cooked brown rice
Add the vegetables and broth. You can use more or less broth depending on how you want this dish to turn out, soupish, chunky soupish or just veggies and rice. Yes, soupish is a word.
Cover and let simmer over medium-low heat for about 15-20 minutes or until the veggies are soft enough for ya.
Serve over cooked brown rice and enjoy!
Dinner Time? Put Your Freezer To Work!
One of my favorite ways to stay on top of things in the kitchen is by getting meals in the freezer. I won’t call it once a month cooking because food doesn’t last in our house for more than a couple of weeks. (I don’t know what I’ll do when our three boys are teenagers!) I get as many meals in the freezer as I can and here’s how I do it!
Crazy meat cooking: I will cook up large amounts of hamburger and chicken and then separate into meal size portions and then freeze them. When I want to make tacos, just thaw the meat and add seasonings. When I want to make homemade chicken pot pie, just thaw the meat and add veggies, etc! Easy!
If I’m feeling really ambitious, I’ll add all of the seasonings and sauces and such and put the whole meal in the freezer. So I’ll add the veggies and creamy soup with the chicken for the pot pie and put in the freezer. When pot pie night comes around, all I have to do it thaw and bake! When taco night comes, thaw and heat! Even easier!
It takes just a bit of work but so worth the time and effort! This is a must do for working Moms and Moms who spend every other night at the soccer field. HUGE time saver, Mommas!
Hamburger: Buy the highest quality hamburger you can. Organic meat is always best, but do the best you can! I know that’s not always an option for everyone. (You can also use ground turkey and I often do!) I like to put the hamburger in the oven in a nice big roasting pan with a chopped up onion and some fresh pressed garlic. Chop it up a couple of times while it’s baking and Voila! Way easier than standing over a skillet!
Here, I baked five pounds of hamburger. Then let cool a bit and separate into meal sized portions. Freeze in freezer safe containers or add ingredients for a full freezer meal!
Chicken: Be very careful when you buy chicken. Read the labels carefully and buy only chicken not treated with steroids or antibiotics and injected with solutions. On the same day that I cook the hamburger meat and puree my veggies I also put several chicken breasts in the crock pot to cook. I will usually use frozen ones so I stick them right in, turn it on, let it cook for several hours until it’s cooked through and easily shredded. (If you use fresh chicken breasts, add water or broth so it doesn’t burn and stick!) Separate into meal sized portions and/or add to meal ingredients to get a full dinner in the freezer. I love having chicken readily available to throw in a salad or add to some stir fry. It really cuts down on dinner prep time!
Here I have four containers of chicken ready to freeze. I also strained the liquid and saved the yummy slow cooked broth to add to soup! One thing I love about cooking chicken this way, you won’t believe how much further it goes! The chicken below was from FIVE chicken breasts. Yes, I got four meals out of five chicken breasts!
What you see below is eleven prepared meals and meats, one container of pancakes, two mini loaves of banana bread, beet puree, homemade pasta and homemade whip cream. How’s THAT for a stocked freezer! (We also have a freezer in the garage full of frozen veggies and meat, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to fit this much in there!)
Freezer recipes will follow soon!!