Recipe #155: Enchilada Casserole

This is a keeper.  I know that because Nick made a special "this is good" announcement while eating it.  WIN!  Another from my current issues of Cooking Light magazine.

Ingredients

• 
  Preparation1 pound ground sirloin
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup fat-free, lower-sodium beef broth
• 1 tablespoon 40%-less-sodium taco seasoning mix (such as Old El Paso)
• 1 (8-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 4 (8-inch) whole-wheat flour tortillas
• 1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeño peppers

1. 1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and onion to pan; cook 6 minutes, stirring to crumble.
2. 2. Preheat oven to 400°.
3. 3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Sprinkle with flour; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add broth, taco seasoning, and tomato sauce to pan. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 1/2 cups tomato mixture to beef mixture; reserve 1/2 cup tomato mixture.
4. 4. Place 1 tortilla in a 9-inch pie plate. Top with 1 cup beef mixture. Repeat layers, ending with tortilla. Spread reserved tomato mixture over tortilla. Top with cheese. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes or until cheese melts. Cool slightly. Cut into 4 wedges.

Recipe #154: Moroccan Chicken and Butternut Squash Soup

Well, this didn't turn out too much like soup since I went crazy and DOUBLED the cous cous.  Yeah I love cous cous, so mine was more like a thick stew.  I also used 3 more chicken thighs than it calls for.  Still turned out delicious though!  Vary the chunky ingredients as you wish!  Thank you to my Jan/Feb issue of Cooking Light!

Ingredients

• 
  Preparation1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces (I used 6)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 3 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
• 2 tablespoons no-salt-added tomato paste
• 4 cups chicken stock  (I used 5 cups)
• 1/3 cup uncooked couscous  (I doubled this)
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil
• 2 teaspoons grated orange rind

1. 1. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken; cook for 4 minutes, browning on all sides. Add cumin, cinnamon, and pepper to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add butternut squash and tomato paste; cook 1 minute. Stir in Chicken Stock, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes. Stir in couscous, salt, and zucchini; cook 5 minutes or until squash is tender. Remove pan from heat. Stir in chopped basil and orange rind.

Recipe #153: Easy Chicken Marsala

I loved this!  So easy, and the chicken is really flavorful and tender!   Here's my modified recipe- I had to add lots more mushrooms, of course.

INGREDIENTS:

1-1.5lb chicken cutlets (thin sliced chicken)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8oz fresh sliced mushrooms

1 1/4c marsala cooking wine

2tbs butter

Salt, Pepper

Egg noodles, cooked

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter in a large pan.  Brown chicken lightly on both sides.  Add soup, mushrooms, marsala, and seasonings.  Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until chicken is done.  Serve over noodles.

Recipe #152: Stuffed Peppers

I like trying different recipes for the same meal until I find one that I really like.  I am done with the search for the perfect stuffed peppers recipe: I LOVED THIS!  Nick's dinner plate barely had to be washed!  This is my modified version of one I found on allrecipes.com...  (Man I love that site...)

Ingredients

• 4 large sweet red, orange or yellow peppers  (less bitter than green!)
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more for more spice)
• 2 cups pasta sauce, plus more for topping
• 2-3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, divided

Directions

1. Cut tops off peppers; remove seeds. Place peppers cut side down on a microwave-safe plate; cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 2-3 minutes or until crisp-tender; set aside.
2. In a small skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the rice, parsley, salt, cayenne.  Add pasta sauce. Stir in the vinegar, basil and 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.  Simmer the mixture for a couple minutes.  Spoon into peppers. Place in a greased shallow 1-qt. baking dish. Top with a little more of the pasta sauce.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake for 5-10 minutes longer or until peppers are tender. Serve with remaining sauce and mashed potatoes.

Recipe #151: Chicken Cordon Bleu Rollups

I had almost all of the ingredients for this on-hand already- only had to get the chicken!  This is my adaptation of a recipe I saw on allrecipes, and the sauce is my take on another recipe.  DELICIOUS and easy!

INGREDIENTS (vary amounts according to desired servings):

Thin sliced chicken cutlets

Thin sliced deli ham

Slices of swiss cheese

Seasonings of choice (I used chicken seasoning)

Olive oil

Toothpicks

Cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup

Sour cream

Lemon juice

White wine

Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Lay a chicken cutlet out flat.  Fold a piece of deli ham in half and place on top, then fold a piece of swiss and place on top of that.  Roll the layers up, with the pointed end of the cutlet going on the inside.  Toothpick into place.  Season with desired seasonings.  Repeat for all.  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Heat olive oil in a pan, and place the rollups into the pan and brown well on all sides.

Place rollups into a lightly-oiled casserole dish.  Bake for 25 minutes or till no longer pink inside.

While rollups bake, mix soup, sour cream (about 1/2 cup per can of soup), lemon juice (to taste, about a couple tablespoons), wine (to taste/texture) and black pepper into a small sauce pan.  Heat through and serve over rollups.

Happy Birthday to my Blog!

150 recipes in 2 years- not bad, huh?  I wonder if I would have started such an endeavor if I hadn't been laid off over two years ago... and was watching a simple recipe that Rachael Ray was making (chicken riggies!) that inspired this whole thing....

Thank you to my followers, those of you who actually use these recipes and tell me how they turned out, and my husband, family and friends that try out the results of my cooking!

And thank you allrecipes.com, Food Network Magazine, Cooking Light Magazine, and all my cookbooks' authors for the inspiration :)

Recipe #150: Stuffed Mushrooms

I saw some tempting-looking stuffing mushrooms at the store the other day, so I picked them up (and no other ingredients) to make for a snack at some point.  Luckily, I found a highly-rated recipe on allrecipes.com that included ingredients I already had.  These were delicious and creamy, and definitely had a kick (I accidentally added more cayenne than I meant, so they were a little spicy).  It was also a relief that they were super easy to throw together too.  My changes are noted in red.

Ingredients

• 12 whole fresh mushrooms (I had 15)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened (I used a little less than 8oz)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool. (Mine were still moist and hot, and it turned out fine.  I didn't feel like waiting for dry and cool.)
3. When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon (I filled a ziplock bag with the mixture and cut the corner off to pipe the filling in:  MUCH EASIER!), fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.  (I also sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top of each mushroom)
4. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven (I did 15 minutes bake, 5 minutes broil, I think that is necessary), or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.

Recipe #149: Rumaki

I made these for a family gathering, but ESPECIALLY for my Uncle Jimmy!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 (5 ounce) cans water chestnuts, drained
• 10 slices bacon, cut in half

Directions

1. Combine soy sauce and sugar. Stir in water chestnuts. Marinate chestnuts overnight.
2. Wrap bacon slice around each chestnut. Fasten with a wooden pick. Place on a rack in shallow baking pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30-35 minutes. Serve hot.

Recipe #148: Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

This is NOT for someone on a diet, but oh man was it delicious.  The leftovers are possibly even better than the original!  This was Christmas morning breakfast!

Ingredients

• 1 (32 ounce) package frozen hash brown potatoes (I used the shredded kind)
• 8 ounces cooked, diced ham
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of potato soup
• 1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix hash browns, ham, cream of potato soup, sour cream, and Cheddar cheese. Spread evenly into prepared dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly brown. Serve immediately.

Recipe #147: Jenny's Apple Pie

While I was making Chicken Piccata for Christmas Eve dinner, my sister Jenny was prepping a homemade apple pie.  She used a corer/slicer from Pampered Chef that made everything a bit easier.  The pie was PERFECT, and we served it with vanilla ice cream!

For the crust:  Use a fork to mix together 2/3c shortening, 2c flour, 1tsp salt, 5-7tb water.  It should be just moist enough to roll.  Divide in half.  Roll one about 1" diameter larger than the pie pan.  Dough should cover bottom, sides, and slightly drape over edges.

For the filling:  Peel, core and thinly slice 5 large granny smith apples and place.  Mix together 1/5c sugar, 2 tbs cinnamon, 2 tbs flour.  Pour over apple slices and stir to coat.  Fill open pie shell with apple mixture.  It will be heaping.  Roll out second dough ball and cover apples.  Pinch the edges, and poke holes in top of pie with a knife.  Place pie pan on cookie sheet with edges to catch drippings.

Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.