Hashbrown Casserole

This recipe has always been one of my go-to dishes for potlucks. We had a girls movie night this week and boy did we have a smorgasbord of tasty treats. I love pot luck! So anyway, I took some pictures of the hashbrown casserole while I made it so enjoy! It's definitely one of my favs!

You will need:
30 oz bag frozen shredded hashbrowns
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz sour cream
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 sleeve Ritz crackers
4 tbls butter, melted (optional)

Mix first four ingredients until completely combined. I also add the melted butter to give it a little more flavor but this is completely optional. I also add salt and pepper to taste. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 casserole dish. Crush Ritz crackers and sprinkle over the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Side note: I have also made this without the Ritz crackers and it's still delicious, just a little creamier without the crunchy topping.

Bunko Menu & Recipes

I hosted Bunko at my house last night for my awesome group of girls and I wanted to share the menu and recipes. It was about 40 degrees last night (kind of crazy this early into fall) and we played outside. So under the circumstances I wanted to make sure we had some warm comfort food to "stick to our bones."

Our menu consisted of:
Chicken Spaghetti
Oven-Baked Green Beans
Legendary Lionhouse Rolls
Blackberry Cobbler


Chicken Spaghetti - I tried the Chicken Spaghetti recipe from Mommy's Kitchen and it was fabulous! It's a lot easier to just give you the link to her recipe instead of me typing it all again so here it is! Chicken Spaghetti

Oven-Baked Green Beans - I used a recipe that a friend and fellow bunko player made for us one night and it's still my favorite! And so easy! This is not an exact measurement kind of recipe. You just add to your taste.

You will need:
Canned Green Beans
Brown Sugar
Bacon Bits
Butter

Rinse and drain greens beans. Add to casserole dish. Add remaining ingredients to your taste. I usually add a few tbls of each per can of green beans. Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Stir and serve!

Legendary Lionhouse Rolls - This is also a recipe from Mommy's Kitchen. Can you tell I love her blog? This was my first time making homemade rolls and it was a long but fun experience. It's not hard, you just have to allow time for the dough to rise a few times. I made the dough and rolls early in the day and then put them in the refrigerator until time to bake. My first mistake was not taking them out in time to rise back up before baking. My second mistake was baking them on the lower rack of the oven (the top was full of chicken spaghetti). Therefore my rolls ended up a little less puffy and a little too brown on the bottom. HOWEVER, they still tasted great and I would definitely recommend the recipe. Next time I think they will be just perfect! Here's the link Legendary Lionhouse Rolls

Blackberry Cobbler - This has become my husband's favorite dessert since I made it the first time a few months ago. He made me promise to save him some to eat after Bunko was over. This is a great recipe for this fall and winter. I found it over at Allrecipes - love that website too. However, I did tweak the "putting together" process which I think is lots easier. I have included the original directions as well as my own notes on how I did it.

You will need:
1 cup butter or margarine, divided
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour*
1/3 cup milk, room temperature
2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

In a 10-in. round or oval baking dish, melt 1/2 cup butter; set aside. In a saucepan, heat sugar and water until sugar melts; set aside. Place flour in a mixing bowl; cut in remaining butter until fine crumbs form. Add milk, stirring with a fork until dough leaves sides of bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface; knead three or four times. Roll out to an 11-in. x 9-in. rectangle 1/4 in. thick. Spread berries over dough; sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll up, jelly-roll style. Cut into 1/4-in. thick slices. Carefully lay slices in baking dish over butter. Pour sugar syrup around slices (syrup will be absorbed). Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes. Sprinkle sugar over top and bake 15 minutes more. Serve warm or cold. (*If self-rising flour is not available, use 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder.)

My Notes: I only melted 1/4 cup of butter in the pan and it is plenty. Instead of doing the jelly-roll style method, I opted for rolling out my dough into two sheets of dough the size of the pan. I put one sheet of dough on top of the melted butter in the pan, added the blackberres and cinnamon, topped it with the second sheet of dough and then poured the sugar syrup on top.

I hope you enjoy!

Cheeseburger Pockets

We tried this one tonight and it was incredibly yummy! The recipe makes a lot so if you have a small family, I recommend cutting it in half. This is a very inexpensive meal so it would be a great for a crowd when you have a small budget.

You will need:

1 lb ground beef
2 cans Grands Biscuits (8 biscuits in each can)
8 slices American Cheese

Preheat oven according to biscuit package directions. Brown meat and season as desired. I used seasoning salt, black pepper, garlic powder and dried thyme. Roll out biscuits. Spoon a few tablespoons of meat onto one half of the biscuit. Top with 1/2 slice of cheese. Fold over the remaining half of the biscuit and seal with a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Tips/Suggestions:
Chopped onion is an option to add while browning the meat
I used sliced cheddar cheese instead of American. It's your preference.
I used homestyle biscuits instead of flaky. They may not hold the pocket together as well.

Taco Pasta Salad

I found this recipe on the KitchenMonki website. It's a great site that has a huge inventory of recipes as well as a meal planning guide and grocery shopping tips. This recipe sounded delicious and that's exactly how it turned out. It's a twist on your typical taco salad, using noodles instead of chips. I definitely recommend this one!

You will need:

1 lb ground chuck
8 oz. rotini noodles
1 pkg taco seasoning
3/4 c. water
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
Shredded cheddar cheese
Salsa
Sour Cream

Boil noodles according to package instructions. Meanwhile, brown the ground chuck until cooked through. Drain excess grease and add chopped onion and bell pepper. Saute for a few minutes and then add the taco seasoning and water. Simmer until sauce thickens. The original recipe says to layer your plate, noodles, meat mixture and then a mix of the salsa and sour cream. I decided to add my noodles into the skillet with the meat mixture to coat them all evenly. We topped our bowls individually with cheese, salsa and sour cream. Very good!

Two more recipes below!

Rice Bowl

This is a new one we tried out this week. Blake loves rice bowls and he gave me some ideas as to what to add to ours. It turned out very tasty. These ingredients can be changed depending on your likes/dislikes.

You will need:

1 lb. boneless/skinless chicken tenderloins (I use pre-trimmed ones)
Brown or White Rice (enough for six servings). I use Uncle Ben's brown rice. It takes 30 minutes to cook but it's better than instant.
1 small onion or 1/2 of a large onion
1/2 bell pepper
1 can yellow corn, drained
1 tsp minced garlic
Olive oil and seasonings for chicken
Salsa (optional)

Prepare rice according to the package instructions. While rice is cooking, begin cooking the chicken tenders in a large skillet, along with 2 tbsp olive oil and garlic. In addition, I added some seasoning salt, garlic powder, black pepper, dried basil and about 1/4 c. fat-free Italian dressing. It was incredibly flavorful! Once the chicken is done, remove and set aside. Using the same pan, add 2 more tbsp olive oil and saute the onion and bell pepper until tender. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Return the chicken to the pan of sauted veggies and add cooked rice and corn. Mix well and heat through. You may want to add a little more salt and pepper during this process. My husband likes to add salsa to his but I preferred mine without. The picture is without salsa. I apologize for the bad picture. I took it when I packed up the leftovers.

This recipe is about 4 servings.

Trail Mix

Blake and I have been trying to eat healthier in addition to exercising daily (we're doing the P90X program and whew...it's tough but rewarding). We had some store-bought trail mix the other day and I thought it would be nice to have some home-made. That way it would have everything we like instead of picking through the pre-packaged stuff. Not to mention you get a ton more for the same price. And while this recipe is not completely non-fatty, it is a lot healthier than grabbing some chips or cookies. It's very versatile so feel free to substitute with one of your favorites.

4 c. Corn Chex cereal (you can also use Rice Chex or Wheat Chex)
4 c. Cheerios
2 c. raisins
2 c. peanuts
2 c. M&M's

Mix together and enjoy!

I think next time I may add some pretzel sticks and maybe Cheez-Its. If you don't want chocolate, mini marshmallows would be a nice sweet contrast instead. There are endless combinations to this yummy snack!

Fruit Pizza

This recipe is from one of my awesome bunko girls and it's too yummy not to share. It's a great summer treat. I geared mine towards the 4th of July theme but you can use any fruit you like. Enjoy!

You will need:

20 oz pkg sugar cookie dough
8 oz. block cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Fruit of your choice (Favorites are strawberries, pineapple, kiwi and blueberries)
1/3 c. orange marmalade plus 2 tsp water (You could also use peach or apricot preserves)

Freeze cookie dough for one hour. Cut package open and slice the cookie dough into 1/8 inch slices. Lay slices on a round pizza pan, slightly overlapping each other. Bake at 375 for 12-13 minutes or until golden brown. While the cookie cools, blend the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the cooled cookie. Arrange the fruit as you like. Mix the marmalade with 2 tsp. water to make a glaze and spread over the fruit and cookie. Cut into wedges and chill.

Keeping with the 4th of July theme, I only used strawberries and blueberries. I also used a square pan and cut into squares instead of pizza slices.

Crock-Pot Chicken

Well here we go. As mentioned in a previous post, I am going to start sharing some of my favorite recipes on the blog. They will most likely be tossed in sporadically with my other posts but I promise to try and organize them somehow. As for this first recipe, I came up with it last week, kind of spur of the moment. Blake and I have been grilling chicken like crazy during this summer season and I was so sick of it! I had some chicken tenders on hand so I started raiding the pantry. This is a very simple recipe but it is so delicious. I was pleasantly surprised at how tender and moist it turned out. Blake usually turns his nose up to Crock-Pot dishes because a lot of the meats come out dry. However, he loved this one and I will definitely be making it often. I've shared this one already with a few friends via Facebook so I thought I would kick-start my recipe blogs with it. Enjoy!

Crock-Pot Chicken

You will need:
1 package (about one pound) chicken tenders, pre-trimmed
1 can Cream of Mushroom Condensed soup
1 can Chicken Broth

Place tenders in the bottom of your Crock-Pot. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Add the Cream of Mushroom soup and spread over the tenders. Add enough chicken broth to cover the chicken. You will probably only use half of the can of broth. Cover and cook on high for 4-5 hours.