Salsa Chicken

Here's another super easy crockpot meal, it's perfect for a busy day, and seriously delicious!

Place some chicken breasts in crockpot, and pour one jar of salsa on top. Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred chicken, then put in one bar of cream cheese (regular or reduced fat, but not fat-free) and mix until the cream cheese is melted. Serve on taco shells or tortillas.

Easy Crockpot Potato Soup

Wow, I think I almost forgot how to sign in to blogger, it's been awhile! :) I've been trying lots of new recipes lately, especially crockpot recipes, since I teach piano lessons a couple of evenings a week, and it's supper time as soon as my last student leaves. This is a super easy, and very tasty new favorite of ours.

1 30 ounce bag of frozen, shredded hash browns

3 14 ounce cans of chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the 98% fat free kind)

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese ( don't use fat free, it won't melt, I do use the 1/3 less fat cream cheese, though)

Combine everything in crockpot, except for the cream cheese. Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat. About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese, and keep heated until thoroughly melted. Serve with your choice of sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, green onion, etc. I just sprinkle some real bacon bits on top.

Philly Beef-Stuffed Sandwich

1 cup green bell pepper, chopped

3/4 cup onion, chopped

1 Tblsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves, divided

2 pkgs. (10 oz. each) refrigerated pizza crust

8 oz. thinly sliced deli roast beef

8 oz. thinly sliced American cheese

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 Tblsp. water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil over medium heat until hot. Place garlic into oil, add bell pepper, onion, and 1/2 tsp. of the oregano leaves. Cook and stir until vegetables are tender. Remove pan from heat. Unroll 1 pizza crust onto lightly floured surface and roll out to 12 x 9 inch rectangle, cover with half of the beef, cheese, and vegetable mixture to within 1/2 inch of edges of dough. Starting at longest side of rectangle, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion, press seam together to seal. Repeat with remaining crust and filling ingredients. Place rolls, seam sides down, on pizza stone or baking sheet. Join ends of rolls together to form 1 large ring; press ends together to seal. Combine egg white and water, brush onto dough. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 tsp. oregano. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

I would recommend making a half batch for a small family. I made a half batch, and we still had some leftovers. This doesn't take long to make at all, and we all enjoyed it.

Double Chocolate Bars

1 pkg. (16 oz.) cream filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed

3/4 cup melted butter or margarine, melted

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips, divided

Combine cookie crumbs and butter; pat onto the bottom of an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Melt milk and 1 cup chocolate chips in the microwave, and stir until smooth. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with remaining chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until chips begin to melt but do not lose their shape.

Cowboy Casserole

1/2 pound ground beef
1 small can whole kernal corn, drained
2/3 cup cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/3 cup milk
2 Tblsp. sour cream
3/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 cups frozen tator tots

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink. Stir in the corn, soup, 1/4 cup cheese, milk, sour cream, onion powder and pepper.
Place 1 and 1/2 cups Tator Tots in a baking dish (I used an 8 x 8 dish) coated with cooking spray. Layer with beef mixture and remaining Tator Tots; sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake uncovered, at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

I just discovered this glorified version of Tator Tot Casserole in one of my Taste of Home magazines, we love it!

Dripping Roast Beef and Provolone Sandwiches

These take 13 minutes from start to finish, so easy and so good!

1 can condensed french onion soup
1 Tblsp. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 pound thinly sliced deli roast beef
Kaiser rolls
deli provolone cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat soup and Worcestershire in a saucepan over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil. Add beef and heat through, stirring occasionally. Divide beef among rolls. Top beef mixture with cheese slices and place sandwiches onto baking sheet. Bake 3-4 minutes or until sandwiches are toasted and cheese is melted. Serve sandwiches with remaining soup mixture for dipping.

Trail Mix Bars

2 and 1/2 cups pretzel sticks (broken in half)

4 cups either Corn Chex or Rice Chex

1 and 1/2 cups M & M's

Mix all dry ingredients together in large bowl.

On stove, melt:

1 stick butter or margarine

1/3 cup peanut butter

5 cups mini marshmallows

After mixture comes to a boil, pour into dry ingredients and put into greased 9 x 13 pan.

Summer Smoothies

Who doesn't love a smoothie? Though this isn't a recipe, per se, I wanted to share a favorite snack idea for these hot summer months.

June brought lots of strawberries to our freezer from our berry picking day. I froze a lot on a baking sheet and then bagged them, and we've enjoyed them as a sweetener/cooler for oatmeal, but mostly they go into smoothies. I also picked up blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries when they were on a good sale. Our freezer is holding at least one over ripe banana, too.

On Simon's third birthday, we brought out the blender. I threw in some plain yogurt, berries, a banana, fresh pineapple I had in the fridge, and a dab of strawberry jam. I would have used honey if it would have come out of the container. I might have added a bit of milk to make it less thick. You don't need to add ice cubes since the berries are frozen. It's so easy to throw in whatever you have. A few things that make it easier to whip up smoothies for breakfast are:

1. Keep your blender in an easy place to reach, not the top shelf of the hall closet.
2. Our new dishwasher makes the mess much easier to clean up.
3. When the blender is empty, pour in a little water and blend that for a second to wash out the blade before it gets sticky.

For kids who are not great at drinking out of a "real" cup yet, smoothies are great practice! Here is Simon on his birthday morning:


With the leftovers in the blender (always make more than you need so you have leftovers!), pour into a popsicle mold (or yogurt cups or ice cube trays) and put them in the freezer. A few days later, we pulled out our smoothie-sicles and enjoyed yet another tasty treat. And it's one that I can feel good about giving them for a morning snack!

Mudballs

Ever had No-Bake cookies? These are a healthier version I found on Heavenly Homemakers blog. They are really pretty good considering I'd never used wheat germ or sesame seeds:) I've heard that you can sub out the sesame seeds for sunflower or flax seed for the wheat germ. Maggie loved them and calls them her "meatballs". They keep great in the freezer too!

Ingredients

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup sesame seeds

Combine PB and honey is medium saucepan over medium heat until the two are smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and stir together well. Once chocolate chips have melted and mixture is cool enough to handle, hand roll into small balls. Wax paper is handy but not necessary. I got about 2 dozen balls out of these equivalents and it wasn't nearly enough! I'd double for sure next time.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

Blogger won't let me copy/paste so here is the link from Cooking Light. This was really easy to prepare and even though I didn't have all the ingredients on hand (didn't use the jalapeno jelly/water ) it still turned out great. I had plenty of leftovers so this would do 2 meals for a family of 4 probably. We served it with these Ranch Potato Wedges and they were yummy too! A pork tenderloin can be up to 14 dollars in Kroger but you can get 2 in a package at Costco for about 12 or 13 dollars. And since I break this meal into two, it makes it more affordable for us.

Grilled Marinated Chuck Steak

I got this out of my most recent Taste of Home Magazine. It was in a section about budget cuts of meat and such and while I didn't use the exact cut, it was still yummy!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp onion powder
2 lbs boneless chuck steak

In a medium bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients. Then place steaks into a large Ziploc bag and pour the marinade over the steaks and let it sit in the fridge at least a8 hours or overnight.

Drain marinade from steaks and discard liquid. Grill steak, covered over medium high heat for 8-10 minutes per side or until meat reaches desired doneness. 145 for medium rare, 160 for medium, and 170 for well done. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Monster Cookie Bars

1 cup corn syrup or honey

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips

4 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup mini M & M's

Boil corn syrup or honey to gentle bubbles, and remove from heat. Quickly add peanut butter, then chocolate chips until melted. Add oatmeal and M & M's. Press into lightly greased 9 x 13 pan.

Beef Taco Bake

1 pound ground beef
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 cup salsa or picante sauce
1/2 cup milk
6 flour tortillas (8 in.), cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook beef until browned. Pour off fat.

Add soup, salsa, milk, tortillas, and half the cheese. Spoon into 2 quart shallow baking dish. Cover.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Lasagna Toss

Do you love lasagna but hate the time it takes to make it? Have you ever wanted to make lasagna but hate heating up your whole house (especially in the summer time)? Well then this recipe is for you!

1 lb hamburger

2 green peppers, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jar spaghetti sauce (26 oz)

1 2/3 cups water

1/4 cup Zesty Italian Dressing

12 oven ready lasagna noodles, broken into pieces (consider who will be eating it to determine noodle size)

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Brown meat in large saucepan (I needed my dutch oven to make this recipe); drain. Stir in peppers, garlic, spaghetti sauce, water, and dressing; bring to a boil. Add noodles; stir. Cover. Cook on medium-low heat 10 to 15 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occassionally. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese; cover. Let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

This is great served with bread sticks and salad. My family really enjoyed this lasagna alternative. My notes: my box of noodles came with 16 but the recipe calls for 12 so throw in some extra water or spaghetti sauce. I like to use the chunky spaghetti sauce (it contains mushrooms, peppers, etc.--a little extra veggies has never hurt anyone!). A little extra water will not hurt. Also, this recipe would be great with cottage cheese or ricotta cheese mixed in but added before the mozzarella cheese. Again, this was AWESOME!! Dave does not care for lasagna but he really liked this.

Substitute: Substitute 12 regular lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces, for the oven ready noodles. Increase water to 2 cups and cook 30 minutes, stirring occassionally.

Chicken Pot Pie

1 can cream of celery or cream of chicken soup

1 tsp. seasoned salt

3/4 tsp. chicken bouillon granules

1/4 to 1/2 cup milk

10 oz. frozen mixed vegetables

1 and 1/2 cups cubed, cooked chicken or turkey

dash of pepper

1 tube crescent rolls (8 rolls)

Grease 8 x 8 baking dish, unroll crescent rolls. Press half of the crescent rolls on bottom of baking dish to form the crust. Combine remaining ingredients in saucepan, and cook for 5 -10 minutes, then pour over crust. Place remaining crescent roll dough on top, brush with a little butter or margarine. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

I came up with this one night a few weeks ago when I had no idea what to make. I decided to write it down as I went just in case it turned out good, and it did!

Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-up

1 lb. lean ground beef
4 slices Bacon, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 pkg. (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust

Heat oven to 400°F. Brown ground beef with bacon and onions in large skillet; drain. Return meat mixture to skillet. Add VELVEETA; cook until melted, stirring frequently. Cool 10 minutes.

Unroll dough onto baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Press into 15x8-inch rectangle; top with meat mixture. Roll up, starting at one of the long sides. Rearrange if necessary so roll is seam-side down.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

This is WONDERFUL!! Dave ranks this as one of his favorite meals. He was a little skeptical at first but he absolutely loves this. Depending on how you slice this you could serve it as an appetizer or as the main course of your meal. I usually serve this with veggies (did I say my kids love veggies) and a salad or two. MMMMMMMmmmmm!! Try it, you will love it!

Breadstick Bones

1 can of refrigerated breadsticks (either 6 breadsticks or 12 breadsticks in a can)

1 egg white, beaten

1 TBLS. grated parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. italian seasoning

1 jar of marinara sauce or 1 jar of pizza sauce (dipping breadsticks in)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough; separate at perforations into either 6 or 12 breadsticks (depending on how many come in your can). Roll each breadstick with a rolling pin until 12 inches long. Loosely tie a knot in both ends of each breadstick; place on cookie sheet. Brush breadsticks with egg white. Sprinkle with cheese and italian seasoning. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with warm dipping sauce.

Benjamin and Ada's daycare had a Halloween party so I sent these along for a snack. The kids enjoyed dipping the bones into the sauce. These tasted great warm! Plus, they were so easy to make.

Corn and Sausage Casserole

1 lb sausage, browned & drained
1 can cream-style corn
2/3 cup crushed soda crackers
1 egg
1 cup milk

Mix crackers, egg, and milk; add to other ingredients. Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

I use one sleeve of saltine crackers--we like it to feel/taste fuller. I also spray my pan with cooking oil before baking.

Bubba's Beer Biscuits

These are courtesy Ms. Paula Deen. And they are the best beer bread recipe I've found and super easy and quick. You can even do these in a loaf but the biscuits are nice for soups and stews. We had them with our Beef Stew last night!

4 cups biscuit mix (recommended: Bisquick)
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar
1 (12-ounce) can of beer 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all ingredients well, adjusting the sugar according to how sweet a biscuit you prefer. Pour into well-greased muffin tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve with honey butter.

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

This is a great meal for a cool fall day! It takes a little prep work but comes out beautifully. You can also doctor it up any way you want. For example, I omitted the onions and added corn. You can also add some red wine for richer flavor.

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut
into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black
pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef broth or chicken (I used chicken and it was just as yummy)
3 potatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
DIRECTIONS:
1.
Place meat in slow cooker. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and pepper; pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with flour mixture. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.
2.
Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.