Baked Ziti

I made this baked ziti a couple of weeks ago from Family feasts for $75 a week.  I thought it would be a tasty vegetarian dinner, but I just wasn't impressed.  It was made with a home-made spaghetti seasoning mix and even adding an extra Tablespoon of Italian seasoning, I thought it lacked in flavor.  I also used tomato puree and I think it made the sauce a bit thick.  I'd probably use tomato sauce next time.  I've made baked ziti before and liked it a lot more than this recipe - I could use it again, but would definitely make the changes mentioned above and add some pepper, and probably a bit more garlic.

$75 feasts p. 107

Meat and Potato Lasagna

This recipe is from $5 dinner mom.  I made it a while ago and can't remember everything about it.  I do remember that the potatoes seemed overcooked - I seemed to have boiled them too long or something.    I also didn't like the way the the sauce was.  It was put on top.  I wanted it to sink through the whole "lasagna" and it didn't.  It just kind of sat there.  I also added some Italian seasoning because it didn't have very much flavor.  Even with all the changes, this wasn't a favorite of ours.  I didn't mind the concept - potatoes instead of noodles, but I wasn't very impressed with the end result, so I'm not posting the recipe.  

$5 dinner mom p. 153

Italian sausage mashed potato pie

This was not one of my favorite things to make.  I think I've made it before and thought the same thing, but it looks like it would be good in the picture.  (not my picture - one problem is I can't ever get it out of the pan looking like anything but a mess. I also wasn't a fan of the flavor of the sausage with the plain pizza sauce.  I did use our chicken sausage, but it has been good in other things.  I just think I don't like the combination of flavors on this one.  Maybe making it with hamburger instead of sausage, or a homemade sauce rather than bottled, but more than anything, this is to remind me not to be swayed by the picture and make this again without some changes. (yet another sad picture.  I really ought to get my camera fixed.)

Ingredients

• 1 pouch (from 7.2 oz. box) roasted garlic mashed potatoes
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 lb milk Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, chopped 1/2 cup
• 1 cup tomato pasta sauce (I used a marinara)
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (I didn't measure)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375.  Spray a 9 inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.  Cook 1 pouch potatoes as directed on box - except use 3/4 cup milk and 1/2 cup water - omit margarine.  After 5 minute stand time, stir in eggs.  Spread cooked potatoes in bottom and up sides of pie plate, forming a crust.
2. Meanwhile, cook sausage and onion in a skillet until no longer pink;  drain.  Stir in pasta sauce and Italian seasoning.  Reduce heat to low; cook about 2 minutes stirring occasionally, until hot.  Pour into potato-lined pie plate.
3. Bake about 25 minutes or until crust edges just begin to turn golden brown.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake about 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
4. 
   

Enchiladas Verdes

Today's meal was another one of those why did I bother trying to cook days where everything wanted to go wrong.  I was making Enchiladas Verdes from the slow cooker book I've been using this week.  They called for a medium onion.  I didn't have one - I always have onions - Luckily I found a purple onion in the fridge with only a small chunk out of it.  Good.

chick pea stew

This was my lunch as per sparkpeople's nutrition tracker. It was very lacking in anything for flavor so I spiced it up a little bit. I doubled it, added onion, bell pepper, Mrs. Dash garlic blend and chipotle seasoning. It still wasn't my favorite.


Ingredients

• 1 potato, diced
• 2 teaspoons oil
• 2 Tablespoons diced onions
• 2 Tablespoons diced green pepper
• seasonings of choice - I used Mrs. Dash garlic blend and a bit of chipotle powder.
  
• 2 roma tomatoes, pureed
  
• 1 cup chick peas
• Reduced fat colby jack cheese
  

Directions
Saute potato, onions, green pepper and spices in oil until browned. Add pureed tomatoes and simmer until potatoes are soft. Stir in chick peas and heat through. I stirred in 1 ounce of cheese and topped it with another 1/2 ounce to add a bit more flavor.

sloppy joes

Had to make these this evening for blue and gold. Not my favorite recipe. It had a bit of a tang from the brown mustard, but mostly it was just really sweet for a sloppy joe. I also didn't think it was "sloppy" enough, and I even added extra Ketchup. I'd definitely go with my mom's sloppy joe recipe (I'll post this on the weekend) or just buy Mamwich. But I post it just because maybe someone likes a sweet and a bit tangy sloppy joe.

Sloppy Joes
By Christy's Clipart
Description:
This is Mac's favorite and it is great to freeze to:)
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped (I use 1/3 Cup dried minced onion to make it quicker) 1/2 cup ketchup 1 Tablespoon brown sugar 1 Tablespoon vinegar 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon brown mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions:
TO Freeze: I brown and drain the ground beef, you can either sauté the onion with the beef or just add the minced dried onion without cooking it. I let the ground beef cool, toss in a freezer Ziploc bag, add the minced onion, and all the other ingredients, and freeze. When you're ready to eat it, thaw it, and reheat in a pan until it's warmed up. If you're just making it without freezing it, you would brown the beef and sauté the onion. Then add all the other ingredients and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until sauce has thickened and divide between 4 hamburger buns and serve. (We like it over "homemade" bread machine bread, instead of worrying about having hamburger buns around). Nice and easy! I like that! =) Hope you enjoy! =)Karinna
Prep Time: 10 minutes	Cook Time: 20 minutes
Category: Main Meals	Servings: 4

chicken tostadas with mango salsa

This recipe is from a taste of home recipe card booklet I picked up at the grocery store. It was different. I was afraid that it would be too spicy with the serrano pepper so I made the salsa, divided it in half and only added it to half. I ate the peppered half and it wasn't too spicy. I wasn't overly impressed with this meal. I didn't care for the ginger flavor of the salsa. It didn't taste bad or anything, it just wasn't what I'm used to in a salsa, and I didn't care for it. It also seemed to be the biggest flavor of the meal (not that it was super powerful flavor, but I also only added 1 1/2 Tablespoons.) Anyway, it only rated 2.5 stars overall.


Ingredients

• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 5 Tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 medium mangoes, peeled and diced
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
• 1 serrano pepper, seeded and minced
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 corn tortillas (6 inch)
• 3 cups coleslaw mix
• 6 Tablespoons fat free sour cream

Directions

1. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the orange juice, 3 tablespoons lime juice, garlic powder and cumin; Add chicken. Seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
2. For salsa, in a small bowl, combine mangoes, onion, cilantro, serrano pepper, ginger, brown sugar, salt, and remaining lime juice. Cover and chill until serving
3. Drain and discard marinade. Place chicken on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 4-6 inches from heat for 5-7 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 170. Cut into thin strips.
4. In a nonstick skillet, cook tortillas over medium heat for 1-2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Top each with coleslaw mix, chicken, mango salsa and sour cream.
   

rice pilaf

This is from my food nanny cookbook as well. It seemed quite similar to her parmesan risotto. However, it was WAY too peppery. No one liked the amount of pepper in it, even those who like spicier foods. I like this way of making rice - sauteeing onions in butter, then adding the rice, and cooking the chicken in the broth, but I wanted more flavor or texture to my rice. I'd do this recipe again if I added diced carrots or something, and cut the pepper at least in half. Surprisingly - the baby ate it and would only eat this. Go figure. I had to mix the chicken in with rice to get him to accidentally get some chicken in him.


Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter.
• 1/2 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 to 4 medium garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt (I'd reduce this next time.)
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper (definitely reduce next time.)
• 1 1/4 cups long-grain white rice
• 2 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used stock)

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir until the onion is soft but not brown. Stir in the rice until it is well-coated. Add teh broth and bring to a boil.
2. Cover, decrease the heat, and simmer until the rice is tender and teh liquid is absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes.
   

Chickne noodle amandine

Made a chicken cacciatore in the crock pot this week that was a mess because I managed to have a bad piece of chicken in the bunch. It got tossed and I ended up using the noodles to make something I had planned for this week where I was going to use homemade noodles. It came from the kitchenaide manual/cookbook. I didn't have the mushrooms it called for either. It really wasn't my favorite food. Edible, but not great. I needed more orange peel, but didn't have the 2 Tablespoons it called for even after using 3 oranges. I also think the homemade noodles would have been a bit better, and it probably needed the flavor of the mushrooms. I also forgot to take a picture. It wasn't much to look at though- white noodles in white sauce, with white chicken and white almonds on top. On the plus side, the almonds toasted in the butter were quite tasty.


Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
  
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced (didn't have these)
  
• 2 Tablespoons grated orange peel (I think I ended up with about 1 1/3 Tablespoons)
  
• 3 teaspoons salt (quite sure I didn't use this full Tablespoon of salt)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 4 cups cooked chicken, cut into cubes (I used 2-3 cups pre-cooked)
• 3 cups sour cream
• 1 past recipe of flat noodles, cooked and drained (I used the linguini I had cooked for the Chicken Cacciatore that didn't turn out.)

Directions

1. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add almonds and stir until lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Melt remaining butter in a clean saucepan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute 3 minutes. Add orange peel, salt, pepper, chicken broth, and chicken. Continue cooking an additional minute. Stir sour cream into chicken mixture, heat through, but do not boil. Server immediately over hot noodles. Sprinkle with almonds.
   

Baked sweet potatoes and pork chops

This recipe came from the saving dinner book. It was meant to be a freezer meal, but I didn't make it as a freezer meal. It wasn't my favorite. The flavor was good, I liked the pineapple with the syrup and cinnamon, and sweet potatoes, but I wasn't a fan of the sweet potatoes being mashed. I think it may be better with diced sweet potatoes on top. The potatoes on top were not to watery, but the stuff on the bottom were way to watery, and that is where the flavor was. I wouldn't try it again unless I did something different like dice the sweet potatoes.



Ingredients:

• 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes (I used more like 3 - 2 didn't cover it, and I had made more than that.)
• 6 boneless loin pork chops
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple
• 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions.

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place all ingredients except sweet potatoes in a zip-top bag and mix. Place in the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan. Top with sweet potatoes. Bake for 30 minutes or until pork chops are cooked through.
   

Baked Chicken with a twist

This came from a ward cookbook. It was not a favorite recipe. I probably wouldn't make it again without some sort of modifications. The chicken flavor was good, but I wasn't impressed with the noodles. I thought of adding pepper, but didn't think that would help much. They were too greasy for my taste, and we did drain all of the fat off after the first 45 min of cooking.



Ingredients

• 3 lb. chicken pieces. We used 3 large split breasts
• 6 slices bacon
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 8 oz twost macaroni (we had shells)

Directions
Arrange chicken in 9X13 pan. Cut bacon in 2 inch lengths; lay over chicken. Bake, uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes. Pour off some of the drippings if desired. (we poured them all off and it was still way too greasy for me.) Blend soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Continue baking another 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.
Meanwhile, cook macaroni as directed; drain. Transfer chicken pieces to a serving dish. Mix macaroni with the mushroom soup sauce; arrange on dish with chicken. Makes at least 6 servings.

Crock frijoles

The thing I liked about this recipe is that it was the first time I had actually made some decent textured beans from hard beans. I also finally went and bought myself a new crock pot. DH made me throw the one I hated away after I kept complaining about it each week. Had to go to the store on crock pot day this day. Unfortunately, this was too spicy for the whole family even though I thoroughly seeded the chipoltes and cut the cayenne down from 1/2 Tablespoon to 1/2 teaspoon. Duncan did love it though and has taken it in a thermos to lunch for the last week. I didn't even make the other boys try it. I thought it was OK. The beans could have been more flavorful, and although not too spicy at first bite, it did have a bit of an afterburn.The idea is originally from Saving dinner, but I made some changes. This is of course the way I made it. She did have good suggestions on making beans. She also always gives nutritional info. Most recipes are pretty simple as well. Not a bad cookbook. No pictures though, and I usually find I like to modify spices, but not always.

Ingredients

• 3 slices bacon
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 small onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 chipolte peppers
• 5 cups chicken broth. (I used 1 container of stock that had 3 cups and 1 can of broth.)
• 1 14 or 15 oz. can tomato puree
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 pound pinto beans

Directions
1. Soak beans the night before.
2. Thoroughly seed the chipolte peppers. Chop peppers (red, green, and chipolte) and onion in the food processor. In a large skillet, cook bacon. Remove from pan and crumble. Drain all but 1 Tablespoon of the bacon grease. Add vegetables to the pan and saute 5 minutes. Add garlic, chicken broth/stock, tomato puree, cayenne, salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce to taste; add beans. Transfer everything to crock pto and cook on low 8 hours. When beans are tender salt to taste.
Since this was spicy, I added sour cream. I also topped them with cheddar. Bought cilantro to throw on there and then forgot to. :(

I know chipoltes are hot, but I like their flavor. If I made this again, I'd probably add a bit of the adobo sauce that they come in and maybe sub chili powder for the cayenne and add some cumin, maybe a bit or coriander.

Lion House rolls

OK, we used the recipe we found for lion house rolls and I was totally unimpressed. I'm sure we overcooked them because they were dryish, but I also was unimpressed with the flavor. I'm curious to try it again because DH made it this time so I'm not sure if he did something different, but since the flavor wasn't there, I'm not sure I will. It did leave me wanting to make the recipe for rolls my mom gave me but I haven't found time to do it yet. I will publish that next though once I go find it. I got the recipe at realmomkitchen. I've just copied and pasted since DH made the rolls there is no commentary. I did have fun shaping them. She has a good link for shaping rolls here.

Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
• 2/3 cup nonfat dry milk (instant or non-instant)
• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup butter, shortening, or margarine (I use canola oil)
• 1 egg
• 5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour, or bread flour

Directions:

In large bowl or electric mixer, combine water and yeast; let sit 5 minutes. Add dry milk yeast, then sugar, salt, butter, egg, and 2 cups flour. Mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add 2 cups flour; mix on low speed until ingredients are wet, then for 2 minutes at medium speed. (Dough will be getting stiff and remaining flour may need to be mixed in by hand). Add about ½ cup flour and mix again, by hand or mixer. Dough should be soft, not overly sticky, and not stiff (It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour).
Scrape dough off sides of bowl and pour about one tablespoon of vegetable oil all around sides of bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so it is covered with oil. (This helps prevent dough from drying out). Cover with plastic and allow to rise in warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes.
Scrape dough out onto floured board. Shape as desired. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until light to medium golden brown. Brush tops of rolls with melted butter. Makes 2 dozen rolls.

Helpful Tips for Making Rolls

Always add flour gradually and keep dough as soft as you can handle. A soft dough will produce a lighter roll.
It is not necessary to use the entire amount of flour called for in the recipe—add only enough flour to make dough manageable.

Caterpillar meatballs, Mummy Sandwich

Here is what I actually made for Halloween. They turned out cute. I didn't like the caterpillar much,(2 star) ( but I knew I wouldn't because I used store bought frozen meatballs and I don't like those. DS2 loved those though. However, the mummy sandwich turned out really good. (5 star) I had the leftovers the next day and was actually happy when DH didn't eat the section I left for him and I got to eat it again the next day.

Caterpillar meatballs

1 tube of flaky layer biscuits
20 frozen meatballs
chow mein noodles, and olives etc. for decoration.

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray or cover with parchment paper.
2. Divide each biscuit into 2 layers. Cover each meatball with biscuit. Line up on a cookie sheet to form 2 caterpillers. Poke in chow mein noodles to make legs, antenna and tongue.
3. Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown. Add olives for eyes and mouth.



Mummy Sandwich

• 1 can refrigerated pizza crust
• 2 Tbs. onion and chive cream cheese
• 4 oz. deli sliced ham
• 4 slices swiss cheese
• 1 jar (7 oz) roasted red bell pepper
• sliced black olives
• precooked chicken (original recipe called for 6 oz deli chicken)

1. Heat oven to 400. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough onto cookie sheet. Stretch and lightly press 1 short side of rectangle to about 11 inches wide. (the top.) Stretch to about 14 inches long pressing in the sides so the bottom is about 6 inches. (mine was a bit wider than that at the bottom.
2. Spread cream cheese down the center in a 3-4 inch strip leaving 1/2 inch at the top and bottom with no cream cheese.
3. From the wide end, leave about 3 inches space for the head. From there, start layering 2/3 of the ham, peppers, chicken, and cheese on the cream cheese. Starting in top corners, make cuts at an angle 1 inch apart down the long sides of the dough to within 1/2 inch of the filling. (the first cut should be from the top corners down to where you started layering ingredients for the body. Continue with parallel cuts down the side.) To form headplace remaining 1/3 of filling ingredients ending with bell pepper in circular pile over the cream cheese leaving 1/2 inch space from body filling. Fold and shape 3 in section of dough over filling to make rounded head leaving an opening for the eyes, exposing bell pepper. Starting at mummy's neck, alternately cross remaining strips over filling; folding bottom 1/2 inch up before crossing last 2 strips. (This part was hard for me. Their picture looked like they had plenty of dough. I felt like mine was running out, but that is probably because I used chopped cooked chicken so mine was a little fuller than it would have been with deli sliced chicken.)
4. I totally forgot this step, but I'm sure it would be yummy to do an egg wash here and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese
5. Bake 15-20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Place olives on mummy face for eyes.