Chicken Stuffing Bake:Thanksgiving in a Casserole

This is delicious and reminds me of the holiday! Because the chicken is boiled, it's very moist and tastes great.

Ingredients:

5 chicken breasts, boiled and cut into bite size pieces

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

1/2 cup melted butter

1 box stuffing mix

About 9 slices of Swiss cheese

Heat oven to 350

Place the cut up, cooked chicken on the bottom of a 13" x 11" pan. 

In separate bowl, mix the cream of chicken and broth.

Pour soup mix over chicken. 

(As shown in photo to the left)

Next, place the slices of Swiss cheese over the chicken mixture.

 

Prepare the stuffing mix as stated on the box, and add the 1/2 cup of melted butter to it. Spread on top of the cheese. Place aluminum foil over the dish and bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 15 minutes. Serves 6. Enjoy!

And Everyone Loves Desert...

Apple Crisp:

This is my Mother's recipe and a fall favorite of mine. It's apple season and time to make the most of it!I use Golden Delicious apples, but you can use any apple you enjoy. This apple bakes faster, so you may need to adjust baking time if you use a thicker apple like a honey crisp.

Ingredients:

6 Golden Delicious apples

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup oatmeal

1/2 stick butter

Heat oven to 350

Grease an 8"x8" glass pan

Cut up apples into 1/2 inch chunks

Fill glass pan with apple chunks and set aside

For the topping, cut butter into flour, sugar, oatmeal, cinnamon mix and crumble over apples. 

Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Serve while hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Monkey Bread:

This treat perfect for fall. It's warm, gooey and delicious. It is very simple also. 

Ingredients:

 2 pkg Pillsbury biscuits

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon 

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease your tube pan. I place a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil under the pan in case of drips.

2. Mix cinnamon and white sugar in a bowl. You can also mix in a large ziplock bag but I found that it was easier for me to either dip the pieces into the sugar or sprinkle the sugar over the layers.

3. Cut your biscuits into 4's. 

4. Dip each piece into the sugar in the bowl. 

5. Arrange them in the tube pan, I interwove mine so that my finished bread would stay together when out of the pan. 

6. In a saucepan over medium/low, heat up your butter, brown sugar and vanilla until melted and smooth being careful not to burn it. 

7. Pour it gently over your bread in the pan.

8. Bake for 35 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure it doesn't burn. 

9. When you take it out, the sugar mixture will be VERY HOT so try not to touch it. I know it's hard not to pull a piece off and eat it right away :)

Pound Cake with Lemon Frosting and Strawberry Garnish

Ingredients for pound cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter

3 cups white sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F . Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube pan. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar. Mix in the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon and the vanilla extracts. Gently mix in flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Pour batter into the prepared pan. 

Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes. Do not open oven door until after one hour. When cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan it is done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

 Frosting:

I used a lemon and some powdered sugar and butter. I don't measure them, just eye the texture and flavor. I sliced up some fresh fruit and drizzled the frosting over top. 

Fast and Easy Meals

Tuna Casserole                                        Tuna casserole before baking and topping

Ingredients:

2 cups egg noodles

2 cans chunk tuna in water

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

1 cup frozen peas 

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Salt to taste

About 1/2 pkg Ritz crackers

 Preheat oven to 375

 Cook noodles according to packaging and   add frozen peas  for the last 2-3 minutes of cooking. Drain. 

In the 8" x 8" glass pan mix the soup, milk, and garlic powder. I also add some salt for flavor. Stir in noodles, peas and tuna. 

Bake 15 minutes, take out of oven and crumble lots of Ritz crackers over the top. Continue baking for 5-10 minutes. 

Enjoy! Serves 4.                                                                         

Finished tuna casserole

 Cornbread Pot Pie

I was surprised by how tasty this was! It's got a sweetness to it that I really enjoyed and was so easy to make.

Ingredients:

1 pkg Jiffy corn muffin mix

1 egg

1 /4 cup milk

1 chicken breast, cut up and cooked

1 small can of whole kernel corn

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Stir soup, corn and  chicken into 9" pie plate

Stir the muffin mix, milk and egg in a small bowl. Spoon evenly over mixture. 

Bake for 20 minutes and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 more minutes to melt the cheese. 

Serves 4.

Salads

French Style Salad:  

This salad has a great texture and flavor variety. 

Ingredients:

1 tomato

Hard boiled egg

6-10 whole, fresh green beans

1 can solid albacore tuna in water

1 head of butter lettuce

Building this salad is pretty straight forward; wash each piece of butter lettuce and lay down a good thick base. Empty water from tuna and scoop on top. Peel and slice hard boiled egg. Clean green beans and lay on the side. Slice tomato and add to finished salad.  

 Arugula/Spinach Salad with Feta:

Ingredients:

About 1 cup arugula

2 cups baby spinach

About 1/3 cup herb and basil feta cheese, crumbled

2 small to medium tomatoes

Vinaigrette of your choice

Mix arugula, spinach and tomatoes together, crumble feta cheese over it and dress with a vinaigrette. It is very simple but packed with wonderful flavor. 

Fresh Summer Salad

Ingredients:

3-4 baby carrots, cut into little chunks

1 medium tomato

Spring mix lettuces

Ranch dressing

I served this salad with a Cajun seasoned chicken breast in order to have a nice contrast between the warm and spicy chicken and the cool salad.

Another example of the salad below with chicken and corn on the cob.

Some Breakfast Ideas I love

A red, white and blue breakfast! I make this often in the summer because of the variety of fresh fruit available.

Pancakes:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup oatmeal

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oatmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix in the milk and egg.
2. Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or the batter onto the pan, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides.
3. Slice up 1 strawberry for each pancake and add several blueberries. 
4. Enjoy!

Crepes:

       

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt, vanilla and butter; beat until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
3. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side.
4. You can fill the crepe with whipped cream if and slice up a few strawberries for the topping.  

Another variety shown to the right, is a peanut butter and 

banana crepe. I put about a tablespoon of peanut butter inside the crepe, wrap it up and slice a banana over the top.

 Parfait:

For this healthy breakfast, I layered greek yogurt, granola with a dash of cinnamon, blueberries and strawberries.

If you find the greek yogurt a little too tart for your taste, try adding some light maple syrup to it, just a little bit will sweeten it up.

Welcome!

Thank you for stopping by my blog, feel free to leave comments. This is a place for me to post recipes that I come along with photos and instructions for others to follow. I'm starting off with pretty simple meals and learning more variety as I go.