Chicken and Bisquits

Chicken and veggie stew topped with biscuits. Can a meal get any more comforting? Serve this one-dish casserole as-is, with a simple green salad, or a bowl of warm cinnamon applesauce, and you’ve got dinner. Pass the napkins, please.

Chicken and Biscuits

Author/Source:

Pam @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked, chopped chicken
• 2 cups cubed frozen hashbrowns
• 12 ounces frozen mixed vegetables
• 10.75 ounces cream of chicken soup
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can refrigerated biscuits

Directions:

In a bowl, mix chicken, potatoes, veggies, soup, and seasonings. Place in deep 8×8 baking dish. Arrange biscuits on top of casserole. Bake covered with foil at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes or until biscuits are cooked and golden brown.

Freezing Directions:

In a bowl, mix chicken, potatoes, veggies, soup, and seasonings. Place in deep 8×8 baking dish. Arrange biscuits on top of casserole.  Cover with foil, label, and freeze. To serve: Do NOT thaw. Bake covered with foil at 375 degrees for 1 hour. Remove foil and continue baking for another 20 minutes or until biscuits are cooked and golden brown.

Spasagna

Is it spaghetti? Is it lasagna? It's Spasagna! 

Basically, it is cooked spaghetti noodles tossed with alfredo sauce, baked in the oven, and then topped with a meaty red sauce. 

Ingredients:

1 (26 oz) Jar of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce

1 (16 oz.) Jar Garlic Alfredo Sauce

1 lb. spaghetti noodles

1 pound of ground beef

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup milk (2% or higher)

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried parsley

Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions; drain very well. 

Spray baking dishes with nonstick spray. 

In a large bowl, combine alfredo sauce, mozzarella, milk, oregano, and parsley. 

Stir well to combine. 

Add cooked and drained spaghetti noodles and toss to coat completely. 

Place noodle mixture in baking dishes.

 Mix ground beef with spaghetti sauce. 

Top noodle mixture with meat sauce. 

Cover with foil, label, and freeze. 

To serve: Thaw. Bake at 350F 30 minutes or until heated through. Allow to sit 10 minutes before cutting. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Italian Meatball Soup

Another yummy recipe from Our Best Bites. Begin by making Italian Meatballs:

1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage
(note: I made mine with ground turkey and hot chicken sausage. I just wanted to be a little healthier and spicier. In all honesty, I think the meatballs would have been better with beef, but they were pretty good and I felt good about the turkey.)
2 eggs, beaten (in the future, I would only use one egg, as 2 seemed too slimy)
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon basil
1/2 teaspoon parsley
1/4 cup dehydrated onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Turn on the oven broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray (or use a Silpat like Brooke). Set aside.

2. Gently combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Shape the meat mixture into meatballs.
I doubled the recipe and used a 1/2 tablespoon for a scoop and it made 90 (yes, 90! yes, I counted) meatballs! Whew!
Place the meatballs on the prepared baking sheet.

3. Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook for 7-10 minutes or until the meatballs are becoming brown and fragrant.
The recipe says to stop cooking them early as they will finish cooking in the soup, but I cooked them all the way through since I was using poultry and wanted to be safe that they were for sure cooked well.

Now time to make the soup!

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
5 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth
1 cup water
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (I used salt free---again trying to be healthy!)
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup small pasta, uncooked
3 cups spinach, thinly sliced

1. While the meatballs are cooking, heat 1-2 tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot. Saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Add broth, water, tomatoes, and Italian seasoning. Heat to boiling. Gently add the meatballs, carrots, and spinach. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until the carrots are tender.

2. a) cook the pasta separately or in the soup and eat now, or.....
b) freeze the soup without the pasta, then reheat soup in a slow cooker (low for 8-10 hours or high 4-6 hours), cook the pasta and add to the soup just before serving.

The cookbook authors said that the meatballs could also be used for spaghetti and meatballs or a meatball sandwich.

Chipotle Beef Taquitos

I got this recipe from my Our Best Bites cookbook. These yummy taquitos begin with a basic roast beef. The authors used the same recipe for French Dip Sandwiches and suggested simply using the leftovers for the taquitos, but I just used the whole roast for the taquitos.
Here's how they said to make the roast:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (2 1/2 to 3 pounds) beef roast
kosher salt
black pepper
2 (1-ounce) packages dry onion soup----but since I knew I was going to use this only for the taquitos and that they would be seasoned well with other seasonings, I only used one packet of onion soup
2 cups water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans beef broth

By the way.....this seemed like a ton of liquid to me. I think you could do this with way less liquid. I'll have to try it next time.

Anyway:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. While oil is heating, sprinkle all sides of the roast with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

2. When the oil is very hot, carefully place the roast in the pan and sear it on all sides. This shouldn't take more than a few minutes--you just want to quickly brown the roast to add flavor and seal in the juices.

3. Transfer the roast to your slow cooker. Sprinkle onion soup mix over the roast and add water and beef broth.

4. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hour or on low for 8 to 10 hours.

5. Shred the meat then follow the directions below for taquitos (or you can stop here and put on a roll with swiss cheese for a french dip sandwich)

3 C cooked, shredded beef roast
4oz green chilies, undrained
1/4-1/2 t minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (1/4 for mild spiciness)
3 t adobo sauce from the canned chipotle peppers
1 t garlic powder
1 t coriander
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
zest from one lime
1 T fresh lime juice
1 package Queso Fresco (about 12 oz)
6″ white corn tortillas (about 20-30)
olive oil or cooking spray
kosher salt

Note: If you don’t want to work with the chipotle peppers, or can’t find them, try adding some Chipotle Chili Powder. You can find it by the other spices in the grocery store. It will still give you a smoky spice, so start with a little and increase to taste.

Combine chilies, chipotle pepper, adobo sauce, garlic, coriander, cumin, chili powder and lime zest and juice in a bowl. After stirring to combine, gently toss together with shredded beef.

Wrap a pile of about 10 tortillas in damp paper towels and microwave for 1 minute to soften. (after those are used, do the next 10). Or you can be like Brooke and no matter what you do, you get cracked tortillas....but they taste good anyway.

Working with one tortilla at a time, crumble about 1T queso fresco in a line across the center of the tortilla. Top with 1-2 T shredded beef mixture and roll that baby up.

Place seam-side down on a lightly oiled/sprayed baking sheet. Use cooking spray or lightly brush olive oil on the top of each one. (I use olive oil in a mister and it works perfect.) Lightly sprinkle kosher salt on the top of each one.

You can bake them now, or put the baking sheet in the freezer. After they are frozen, place in freezer bags to bake later. The instructions say to bake at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes, but Haylee and I both burned ours, so this can't be right. We'll figure out how to make them golden brown someday.

Serve them hot with your choice of dips: sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.

BBQ Pulled Pork

Ok, so....I've never done pulled pork before and I found lots of recipes but none of them were real recipes, more like methods. Basically you get a 3ish pound pork shoulder, rinse it in cold water, trim off excess fat (yes, I cut myself doing this), then pat dry. Sprinkle the roast with:

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Kosher salt

Black pepper

Smoked paprika

Place seasoned roast in your slow cooker. Add about 1/2 inch of water and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

When the roast has cooked, drain liquid, shred the meat, and add about 12 ounces of BBQ sauce. Return the lid to the crockpot and heat through.

Serve on your favorite rolls.

No real freezer instructions here.....just freeze in a well sealed container, heat through when ready to eat, then place on rolls and hopefully it will be tasty!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

I originally got this recipe from allrecipes.com, but I've never made it the same way twice! Listed below is the last way I made it. I think the base is pretty good and I've added all sorts of vegetables. You could add a lot to make it spicier or less spicy. The original recipe is more complicated than I like. For example, I never make my own tortilla strips, I just use tortilla chips, and I don't see the point in cooking the chicken before putting it in the crock pot, so I just use raw chicken.

1 1/2 pounds raw chicken breasts
2 (10 ounce) cans Rotel tomatoes with chili peppers
1 (14 ounce) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chili peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
32 ounces chicken broth (can add more and/or some water if needed)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 (16 ounce) package frozen corn

toppings (all optional):
chopped cilantro
tortilla chips or striops (make your own if you want)
cheese
lime
sour cream

can also add all sorts of vegetables or beans

1. Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chilis, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn. Cover, and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

2. Toward the end of cooking time, take the chicken breasts out, shred them, then place back in soup for the remainder of cooking time.

3. a) Serve with your choice of toppings and enjoy!
or....b) freeze in a sealed container and enjoy another day!

Eggplant Jumbolia

Meat mixture: (cook over med heat)

1 pound ground lean hamburger
1 pound spicy/hot Jimmy Dean sausage
1 onion (diced)
3 fresh garlic cloves (minced)
1 tbls steak seasonings

2 eggplant (peeled and cut into chunky pieces).  boil until fork tender.  Mash and add to meat mixture. 

Optional:
2 celery stalks (diced)
1/2 bell pepper (diced...I didn't add this one.)
Add to meat mixture. 

Mix the meat and egglant with 4 cups cooked rice and serve.