Chicken Spaghetti Casserole

I was reading the Pioneer Woman's cookbook that my good friend Mara bought me when I ran across this recipe.  I really liked the thought of it (especially since I have tons of spaghetti in my pantry).  I liked most of the ingredients in it too, but here is my version of her recipe.  I changed it up some, of course....  Anyways, it was surprisingly really DELICIOUS!!!  A mild spice to it (which you wouldn't know by looking at the picture).  And once again, the food is so much yummier than my pictures are...hence the name of my blog!

Ingredients:

2 Big chicken breasts (or 3-4 of the bagged frozen small ones)

1 Lb spaghetti

2 Cans cream of chicken or mushroom soup (I used 2 chicken)

2 Cups shredded cheddar cheese 

1/2 Small onion

1/3-1/2 Green pepper

1 Tsp Lowry's seasoning salt (I paid $1.07 for it at Target)

Pepper to taste

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

*Put your chicken into a large skillet with water (or into a large stock pot with water...stock pot would be easier...)

*Boil the water/chicken for about 25 minutes.

*While the chicken is cooking, empty the 2 cans of soup into a large mixing bowl.  

*Add 1 1/2 cups of cheese into the soup and mix.

*Dice up your green pepper into tiny pieces.

*Chop your onion up into small pieces  too.

*Pioneer woman puts her onion and pepper into the cheese and soup mixture.  I put mine into a small pan with a bit of oil and cooked it for a minute or two to take the raw onion flavor out.  I hate raw onions.

*Put your onion/pepper mixture into the cheese and soup mixture.  Add the Lowry's salt, pepper, and cayenne to it.

*Once the chicken is done, pull it out and set the chicken on a plate off to the side.  

*Remove 2 cups of the chicken water broth.  I only had 1 cup left.  Next time I will use more water when boiling the chicken.  If you don't have 2 cups of water, open a can of chicken broth and add enough to get you to two cups.  I poured the rest of the chicken broth into my pan and then filled the pan up with water again so I could cook the pasta.  If you don't have a can of chicken broth, don't freak out, you will be fine.  

*Boil water OR rest of the chicken water if you have any OR water with the rest of the can of chicken broth (like me).  You want to cook your pasta now, so do whatever you can/need to to cook your pasta.  No need to stress about how you cook it. 

*Break your pasta into 2 inch pieces.

*Cook your pasta until al dente.  Not typically an "al dente" fan, but in this case you want your pasta to not be fully cooked.  I stopped cooking my pasta a few minutes before it was fully cooked/soft.  (I cooked my pasta in my chicken skillet.  If you want more space, put it into a bigger pot).

*Shred your chicken with two forks.

*Add the chicken and the 2 cups of chicken water/broth to the soup mixture.  Stir well.

*Add the pasta to the soup mixture and mix well.

*Spray a big casserole baking dish down with cooking spray.  (I needed to use two dishes...)

*Pour your mixture into the 1 or 2 dishes.

*Cover with the remaining shredded cheese.

*Place in a pre-heated oven at 350*F.

*Bake for 35-45 minutes.  I did mine for 40 minutes and it was perfect!  Nice and bubbly!

Rosemary and Garlic Pork Loin

Another one of Nicks recipes.  Absolutely delicious (and I don't even like rosemary usually!).

Ingredients:
4 Large garlic cloves, chopped into tiny pieces
4 tsps chopped fresh rosemary or 2 tsps dried rosemary (we used fresh)
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Pork loin (2 1/2 pounds), boneless
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
*Trim most of the fat off of your pork loin.

*Line a 13x9 glass baking dish with tin foil, then spray it down with baking spray.

*Pre-heat oven to 400*F

*In a small bowl, mix the chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, salt and pepper.  Mix well.

*Put fat side down in the baking dish (if you still have some fatty portion).

*Rub the pork loin down with oil, the rub the spice mixture over it.

*Bake for 30 minutes.

*After 30 minutes, flip the roast over so the part that was on the bottom is now on the top.

*Bake an additional 25-30 minutes  (until inside temperature is 155*F).

*Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Mexican Meatloaf

While browsing facebook yesterday I saw a post on my friend Shanda's wall.  "Mexican meatloaf....dinner...."  Wait, what?  I LOVE meatloaf...and I LOVE anything Mexican!  I had never heard of this thing before and I was super curious to find out what it was!  I instantly asked her about it and for the recipe!  She gave it to me and I made it for dinner tonight...and I will probably make it again next week...and the week after... okay, okay maybe not every single week...but you get the point!  SO GOOD!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 Egg
1/2 Onion
1/2 Green pepper
1 Pkg taco seasoning
1 Handful of crushed tortilla chips (about 1/3 of a cup of crushed pieces)
1/2 Cup or so of Salsa
1/2 Cup or so of shredded cheese

Directions:
*Cut your green pepper and onion into tiny pieces.

*Add your onions and pepper pieces into the beef mixture in a large bowl.

*Add the taco seasoning and the egg to the meat.  Mix well.

*Add your crushed tortilla chips and mix well.

*Spray a meatloaf pan down with baking spray.

*Add your meat mixture to the pan and push it down a bit to form your "meatloaf."

*Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350*F for 45 minutes.

*Once it is cooked, add  the cheese and salsa to the top.  So yummy!!!!!!!!!

Lemon Chicken with Snow Peas and Peppers

I found a new Philadelphia cooking creme this week that made me REALLY happy!  A new flavor, wahoo!  Its the "Savory Lemon and Herb" one.  YUM.  So I bought it and liked the look of the recipe on the back on the container, so here it is!

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken breasts cut into strips or pieces
1 Cup snow peas
1 Cup yellow or orange pepper cut into pieces
1 Tub Savory Lemon and Herb cooking creme
2 Tbsps milk
2 Cups white rice

Directions:
*Cook chicken in the skillet until done.

*Add the vegetables to the chicken and cook for about 4-5 minutes until they are cooked through.

*Add the milk and cooking creme to the veggie/chicken mixture (we used more milk than they called for...)

*In a pot on the stove, cook your rice.

*Pour your rice onto your plate, then place the chicken/veggie mix on top.

*Hope you like it!

Banana Roll-Ups

Cooper has been in a really "munchy" mood lately.  He wants to eat all the time.  I'm sick of grabbing crackers or a plain old banana for him.  I came up with this as a fun way for him to get a little extra "umph" in his snack...and to hopefully keep him full a little bit longer!

Ingredients:
1 Tortilla
1 Scoop peanut butter
1 Banana

Directions:
*Lay your tortilla down.

*Spread the peanut butter on it (would work better with smooth peanut butter...but Cooper ate all of it this past week so crunchy had to be used!)

*Put the peeled banana onto one side edge of the tortilla and roll it up.

Here is Cooper's "this is a crazy snack" face  :)

Chocolate Reese's Pieces Cookies

I have a couple posts on here already of cake mix cookies, but these are pretty good so I wanted to post the recipe.  Its really, really easy too...yay!  (Quick note:  Out of all the cake mix cookies we have made, the funfetti one's are still our favorite.  The red velvet one's with the white chocolate chips were great at Christmas being red and white, and these are good when you are craving peanut butter/chocolate.  BUT, as for the cookie itself, the funfetti one's are dangerously delicious).

Ingredients:
2 Boxes chocolate cake mix (with pudding inside)
2/3 Cup melted butter
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup water
1 Cup mini reese's pieces chips

Directions:
*Pre-heat oven to 375*F.

*Mix all ingredients together except for the reese's pieces bits.

*Once mixed, add the Reese's bits and mix well (I used my hands to mix it.  Its a really thick dough, no liquid at all).

*Roll small balls (about 3/4 to 1 inch in size...not very big) and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  If you don 't have parchment paper you can spray your sheet down with baking spray.

*Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Let them sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes after they have been pulled out of the oven before moving them to a cooling wrack.

Easy Lasagna

I started making dinner tonight with something else in mind....but halfway through browning up the meat and cooking some noodles I realized "huh, how bout some lasagna."  Made this recipe up off the top of my head with some things I had in the fridge.  Easy and Yummy!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 1/2 Jars spaghetti sauce
1 (15ounce) Tub ricotta cheese
1 Egg
2 - 2 1/2 Cups shredded cheese (I used mozzarella)
1/2 Tbsp italian seasoning
12 Lasagna noodles

Directions:
*Cook your meat in a pan on the stove.  Drain grease out when done.

*Cook your lasagna noodles in a big pot of water until almost done.

*Empty your meat into a large bowl.  Add your ricotta cheese, egg, and 2 cups of shredded cheese into the meat.  Stir well.  Add half a cup or so of spaghetti sauce to the meat mixture.  Stir well.

*Take two paper towels and put them onto the counter on top of one another.

*When the noodles are done, empty the boiling water out, then cool them off with cold water to lower the temperature to a temperature that is easy to pick the noodles up with your hands.

*Put a noodle onto the paper towel and dry it off.

*Spray a 9x13 dish with baking spray.  Pour a small bit of spaghetti sauce into the bottom so the noodles don't stick.

*Move the dried noodle to the dish.  Put another two dried noodle beside it.

*Pour 1/3 of the meat mixture over the noodles and move it around to cover all of the noodles.

*Dry off 3 more noodles and layer them on top of the meat mixture.

*Repeat the sauce step with another 1/3 of the sauce.

*Noodles, then remaining meat mixture, then 3 more noodles.

*Pour the remaining spaghetti sauce onto the top of the noodles.  Cover with shredded cheese.

*Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil.

*Bake at 375*F for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil for the last 10 of those minutes.