Chicken and Macaroni Casserole

This is from Grandma Steele. I'm lazy so I just scanned in her handwritten copy of the recipe.  :)

This is easy to make and also freezes well.  I left out the peppers and pimentos for a long time, but then decided to get adventurous and give it a try.  Uh, leave them in.  They make it taste good!  Ha!!

Thanks, Grandma!

Cheeseburger Macaroni

One of my more embarrassing memories is of returning home from college one summer and excitedly telling my mom that I had found this great "new" thing at the grocery store ... Hamburger Helper.  She very graciously didn't laugh in my face and even pretended to be excited when I made it for dinner that night.

Meat, cheese and noodles.  What's not to love? 

I got this recipe from Home Ec 101.  I was mainly interested because it was one of the first cheese sauces that I've seen that didn't start with a roux.  Being a total snob, I fully expected it to taste really nasty.  It didn't.  I did cut the recipe in half and it was plenty for the three of us.  


(For the record, Dax scarfed it and Julia wouldn't even touch it when she saw the tomatoes in it.  My friend Amanda thinks it would be great with peas.  I disagree, but if you like peas, give it a try.)

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 lb elbow macaroni
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 4 TBSP butter
• 5oz evaporated milk or 1/2 cup half and half
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 10 oz sharp cheddar, shredded

In a large skillet, brown the meat over medium low until nearly done and then drain off the grease. Return to the skillet and add the diced onion and minced garlic. Continue cooking over low heat until the meat has browned and the onions are soft.  Stir in the tomatoes to heat them up.

While the meat is browning, in a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente. While the noodles are cooking, whisk together the eggs, evaporated milk OR half and half, hot sauce, dry mustard, and salt / pepper.

Drain. While the noodles are draining melt the 4 TBSP of butter in the pan, then return the pasta to the pot. Stir to make sure all of the pasta is coated evenly. (The burner should be off). Add the sauce and turn the burner to low, stir the macaroni until it is evenly coated in the sauce mixture. Then stir in the shredded cheddar cheese and stir until everything is melted and wonderful.

Dump the contents of the pot into the skillet with the ground beef. Stir to combine and serve.

Smitten Kitchen tomato sauce - my version

So, in the blogging world, there is no better tomato sauce than Smitten Kitchen's. Everyone loves it, including us!

But, I came across a different recipe that added in a can of pureed tomatoes in addition to the whole tomatoes, and really liked that one, too. I've been in a real "let's prepare for baby" mode lately, and inspired by the recent purchase of a gently used small standalone chest freezer from my boss, have decided to start stocking up on some healthy basics that will save me some time once late October/early November rolls around and the newest addition to the family arrives, and my free time goes bye-bye.

So I played around today and came up with a hybrid recipe that I really liked. I made a ton of it to freeze in two-cup servings, but this recipe is easily halved.

Jamie's Version of Smitten Kitchen Tomato Sauce

2 28 oz cans San Marzano style whole plum tomatoes (Kroger has a nice store version of these)
2 28 oz cans pureed tomatoes (again, generic Kroger has been just fine for me)
1 stick butter (we use unsalted sweet cream butter around here)
1 onion, peeled and quartered

Dump it all into a big saucepan. Bring to a simmer and let simmer on very low heat for about an hour. Take the onion out and salt to taste.

Depending on how chunky you like your sauce, either break up the tomatoes with a spoon while it's cooking, or do what I did and do a quick runthrough with an immersion blender.

This made somewhere in the neighborhood of ten cups of sauce - I divided it up into four heavy-duty freezer bags and then put some in the fridge for my immediate gratification.

Menu helper and a good tilapia recipe

I've recently subscribed to a service called "You've Got Supper." It's based out of Richmond, Virgina, and is free, free, free. My kind of menu! They send me an email once a week with five recipes, and you can choose which ones you want to make and it generates a document with all the recipes, plus a grocery list. With Chris out of town a lot, I don't cook as many full meals as I normally would, and I eat a lot of leftovers, so choosing three or four dinner recipes for a whole week is plenty for us at this time.

I made YGS' Sear-Roasted Tilapia and Tomatoes last night, and it was really, really good, so I thought I'd share.

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp capers, drained
2 tsp oregano tsp balsamic vinegar
4 tilapia fillets, 4 oz each
1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a small bowl, toss together tomatoes, capers, oregano, and balsamic vinegar. Set aside. Dredge each fillet in flour. Heat olive oil in an oven-proof skillet over high heat. Add the fish and cook until it browns (about 2 - 3 minutes per side). Add the garlic and then the tomato mixture around the fish and transfer the skillet to the oven. Cook for 4 - 5 more minutes or until the fish flakes with a fork. Serve with the tomato mixture on top.

This version obviously makes four fillets. I cut it in half and made two just for little ol' me :)

Spinach for breakfast

A friend of mine from college also has a cooking blog (Nothing Special, But It Sure Is Good) and she posted a recipe for a spinach and banana smoothie the other day.

Now, I love raw spinach. We currently have a bag and a half of it sitting in the fridge that I fully know will be gone in the next week or so. But spinach for breakfast? ... Is awesome :)

Basic Green Monster Smoothie (via Stephanie's blog and greenmonstermovement.com)

2 cups raw spinach
1 to 1.25 cups low fat or fat free milk
1 Tbsp flaxseed (optional) - I actually used wheat germ -J
1 banana
ice

Place the ingredients into the blender in the following order: 1) Flax, 2) spinach, 3) banana, 4) milk. The reason for this order is so the heavier ingredients weigh down the flax and spinach and keep it from flying up around the blender and sticking to the side. Blend everything on the highest setting for 1 minute or so. Finally, add ice and blend on the ice setting.

Another easy pasta lunch

As I've mentioned before on here, I'm big on pasta dishes for lunch that I can put together easily, either to take with me to work or when I come home for my lunch break.

Rather than do my traditional mix, I opted for a more vegetable rich take and really liked the end result!

Penne pasta (my go-to brand is Barilla Whole Grain - costs the same but it's half whole grains)
Yellow, red and/or orange bell peppers
Feta cheese (I like the feta that has some basil and sun-dried tomato in it)
Raw spinach
Olive oil
Kosher salt

Put two good handfuls of spinach in your bowl. Top with two good ladlefulls of pasta, sliced or chopped bell peppers and feta. Drizzle some olive oil on top, and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Microwave for about 30 seconds to a minute - just enough to warm the oil, melt the cheese a bit, and wilt the spinach. Stir and enjoy!

Chicken Caesar Wraps

We're trying a whole No Eating Out thing for September. Six days in we've done pretty well :) I went out with my friends during our shopping extravaganza yesterday, but since it came out of my money and not the family budget, I didn't count that. This plan means coming up with some quick lunches for after church on Sundays. (This is usually our weak spot. We sit in the car and talk ourselves into Salsarita's or Firehouse instead of heading home to cook.)

I thought this would be pretty easy to throw together, and it would have been with a bit more planning on my part: cooking the bacon and chicken the night before would have really helped. I'll do that next time ... because these things were awesome. Way better than the ones at McAlister's. (Oh, I got the recipe from Food & Family, the free(!) magazine from Kraft.)


3 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (marinated in Lawry's Herb & Garlic marinade and broiled)
4 slices bacon, cooked, crumbled (used Oscar Meyer Hearty Thick Cut ... man, that was some GOOD bacon)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (used Sargento shredded)
1/4 cup croutons
1/2 cup Caesar dressing (used Ken's Creamy Caesar)
4 flour tortillas (8 inch)


Place first 5 ingredients in large bowl.

Add dressing; toss lightly.

Spoon onto tortillas; roll up tightly.

Honey Almond Rice

This was a case of putting off grocery shopping as long as possible. We're really pinching pennies these days, so I'm in the habit now of totally cleaning out our fridge, freezer and pantry before going to the store. We made use out of all we can. So, in a Google search for "budget friendly meals" I came across this. We always have instant rice on hand, and we had leftover almonds from the granola bars and just a tiny bit of honey left. This was perfect, and even though Chris usually doesn't like much on his rice, he really liked this recipe.

Honey Almond Rice

1/2 cup white rice
1 cup water
12 almonds (shelled, whole)
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon honey

Cook the rice according to the instructions on whatever variety you have. While the rice cooks, take the almonds and chop them up, slivers are best (if you prefer to purchase them prepared slivered almonds will do fine). Melt the butter over low heat and stir in the honey. You should get a sauce that is thicker than melted butter alone but still thin enough to pour. If necessary you can add additional butter to the mixture. After the rice is completely cooked and has absorbed all the liquid, stir in the almonds and the sauce. The sauce will thicken up in the pan after the heat's off, so just stir it all in to avoid wasting any.

Easily modified for more servings.

Granola "Bars"

This is an Alton Brown recipe that we've wanted to do FOREVER. I have been moving us away from processed foods for years, so I thought making our own granola would be kind of awesome.

However, I'm not sure how to actually get this to be granola bars. Ours fell apart after I cut them into squares, so we just ended up with granola. However, it's delicious.

Alton Brown's Granola Bars

8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F.
Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine.

Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Notes: When it says press down, press down HARD. We used a smaller baking dish and I put all my weight into pushing down, and ours still did not retain the shape. However, we made a couple of changes to the recipe - we used different dried fruit (raisins, apricots and dried apples that I ran through the food processor) and we also used more than he says in the recipe. This may have contributed to the change in consistency. Maybe if you stick with just one cup, it would help.

Pestos

For two years or more, my pesto has been an ongoing topic of discussion between Joanna and I. I claim it is way better than any storebought pesto (which it is).

So, thanks to a comment from Jo on my other blog prompting me to post this, here it is, ripped completely from Rachael Ray's original Thirty Minute Meals (p. 46, if you must know):

Classic Basil Pesto

1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/4 lb. grated Parmesan cheese
3 oz pine nuts (a handful)
2 cloves garlic, popped from skin
1 bunch basil (40-50 leaves)

Heat garlic and oil in microwave for 20 seconds.

Pulse all ingredients in food processor until paste forms.

Serve pestos at room temperature over hot pasta. A little goes a long way. Definitely don't dole it out like you would tomato-based sauce. I use about a tablespoon for a whole plate of pasta. Just mix it up well.

If you're tempted to buy basil in the produce section, trust me, just skip that and buy a basil plant in the garden section. Gives you all the leaves you need for cheaper, and you can plant the plant to boot.

To change it up a bit, use half the amount of basil leaves and replace it with a handful of sun-dried tomatoes. This is actually my favorite way of doing it.

Beefy Cheese Cups

This is another one from my mom's cookbook and Dave's favorite use of a muffin tin. Yum. Meat muffins.


1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup cheese crackers, crushed
2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 Tablespoon finely chopped bell pepper
2 Tablespoons chili sauce
2 drops Tabasco sauce
1/3 cup skim milk
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in bowl.

Grease muffin pan (8-muffin capacity) and divide meat into the eight cups.

Bake 40 minutes.

Couscous with Feta and Spinach

This is a side dish inspired by a super expensive by-the-pound dish we saw at Central Market's deli. We happened to have all ingredients around so I threw it together last night.

Couscous with Feta and Spinach

1 c. uncooked couscous
2 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
salt
1 1/2 c. boiling water
A few handfuls of green leafy spinach leaves, chopped coarsely
3/4 c. feta

Put the oil and a little salt into a pan and heat up. Add the couscous and let it brown for about three minutes in the oil, stirring often to avoid burning.

Add the boiling water and take off the heat. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes to absorb all the water. Mix in the spinach and feta (to taste - we LOVE cheese and so we put in about 3/4 c. but it's up to you). Add more salt to taste. Serve. Makes about 3 servings. Easily doubled.

Added note: We actually used lemon salt for this - we picked up a packet at IKEA and it's really good in small doses, and the flavor was perfect for this dish. However, regular salt will do nicely, though we always use kosher salt! We also plan to use some basil next time in place of some of the spinach.

Penzey favorite

I bought a sampler pack from Penzey's with a gift card that my children gave me for Christmas. I've found a favorite. I use the Rocky Mountain seasoning on pork chops or chicken breasts and pan-grill them. Easy-cheesy and I love the taste. I also like the Salad Elegant seasoning used like this too. It is also very good on hamburgers. I haven't been eating a lot of pasta lately but they would probably be very good on that with a little olive oil...

Artichoke Chicken

We made this last night, and it was the best meal I've ever made with so few ingredients.

Artichoke Cream Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small jar of marinated artichoke hearts (6 oz or so)
5 tbsp butter
Flour
1 c. milk
4 c. prepared instant white rice

Serves 4 (or 2 with leftovers for lunch, which is generally how we roll) from The Best of Mr. Food - Quick and Easy Recipes - Volume 2.

Put the chicken breasts between sheets of plastic wrap and go to town on them with a mallet (Christopher's weapon of choice) or a meat tenderizer (which we don't own). Pound them out until they're good and tender. On a plate or in a small casserole dish, put some flour. I added some salt, pepper, and ground oregano to my flour for some added flavor. Dredge the chicken on both sides, generously, with flour.

Melt 2 tbsps. butter in a large saucepan (you can use a large skillet, but ours is not big enough, so I use our pan that looks sort of like this - I find this helps with splatter as well). Put the chicken in and let it cook for about five minutes on each side on a medium-high heat. Don't move the chicken a lot or turn it over much, because you want to let the flour cook up nice and crispy and really stick to the chicken. Add more butter if you need it.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, begin melting the rest of your butter. Add three tablespoons of flour, and cook those together for a little bit. Then, slowly add the marinade from the jar of artichoke hearts and the milk. Stir together and let it cook until it gets bubbly and thickens, stirring occassionally to keep it from sticking. It should have the consistency of white gravy, pretty much. Add the artichokes and let it sit for a few minutes, and then serve over the chicken and over the white rice.

This was AWESOME. I couldn't wait to go home and eat the leftovers for lunch with Chris today. I would make this weekly - all we really had to buy special was the small jar of artichoke hearts, which I believe cost $1.50, and the meal fed us for two meals.

My go-to quick lunch

My inaugural post for the website! Until recently, we have not had a dishwasher (living on a university campus will do that for you) and we had a meal plan, so cooking wasn't big for us. Now that we live in an off-campus apartment, we've started cooking a lot more.

That said, I don't like to mess with much for my lunches. I want something that I don't have to do much with besides heat up, but I don't do processed food lunches.

Jamie's Lunch Pasta

Cook up a bunch of penne pasta. I use whole grain, and half a box lasts me for about three meals, with fairly reasonable portions. Generally, I cook it and then just put all of it in the fridge.

The night before, I put about a third of the penne into a microwave safe container, put in a big handful of leafy spinach, and a combination of these ingredients:

leftover chicken breast, cut into pieces
sundried tomatoes
pine nuts
blue cheese
feta cheese
shaved parmesan cheese
olives
etc.

The key to this is that you can put in whatever, and provide a little variety each day with little to no effort.

In the morning, I put a little olive oil and some kosher salt in with it, seal it up, and bring it to work. A minute in the microwave heats the pasta and the oil, wilts the spinach leaves, and melts the cheese, giving you a cheesy olive oil sauce to mix up with it.

Easiest lunch I've ever made.