Grandpa D's Beef Enchiladas

About 4 years ago Kurt and I were visiting his Grandma and Grandpa in Illinois and staying over for dinner. Kurt's grandpa is one amazing cook and he made us these beef enchiladas. I don't think it took Kurt more than a few days to request them in the rotation. Luckily I got the recipe from Grandpa before we left that weekend. Sadly Kurt's grandpa passed last year but we will always have the fond memories of him and his amazing meals!!

Chicken Pot Pie

Now that it's going to be amazing weather, I've finally decided to jump back on the blog bandwagon and I'm going to start with a favorite winter comfort food, Chicken Pot Pie! Now, my mama always made the absolute best chicken pot pie when I was growing up. When I went to college she gave me her recipe and I always tried to replicate it and it was always delicious but never quite "mama's chicken pot pie." I think it has to do with her special ingredient...she always said it was love but I'm guessing she put a little something else in it and just never told me what it was ;)! 

Christmas 2011 Feast

As some of you may know, Kurt and I stay at our house on Christmas. Our parents did such a great job making Christmas so special for us as kids, we want Riglee (and any future children) to have that same Christmas morning excitement! So we literally hunker down, lock the doors, stay in our jammies, and eat all day long. Like last year, we had a feast of appetizers on Christmas day. We pretty much leave the food out all day and just eat as we please. Here is a taste of our day:

Tater Tot Casserole

First, it is really hard to take a good picture of this casserole...of most casseroles actually! Second, this is one of those comfort food dishes that sticks to your ribs and fills you up. You probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry too! Tater Tot Casserole is just one of those yummy meals that I make when the weather starts to get cold and when I know I will want leftovers for awhile. Kurt loves this meal too and he is always satisfied when I make it. I should add that this is not a healthy dinner but it is quick, easy, and totally YUM!

Tater Tot Casserole

Source: Jenny, a Friend

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen tater tots

1 lb. ground beef

16 oz. reduced fat sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Add ins (I use 1 can of corn and 2 small cans of mushrooms)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour bag of tater tots on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. 

2. Brown the ground beef. While beef is browning, mix the sour cream, chicken soup, any add-ins, and 1 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese in a large bowl. When beef is cooked add it to the mixture and mix well.

3. Pour beef mixture over tater tots and spread out evenly. Sprinkle remaining shredded cheddar on top.

4. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and cheese is melted.

Easiest Pumpkin Muffins Ever. Period!

(So I totally ate all these muffins before I got a picture so next time I make them I'll update the post...sorry!)


 Interested in making something so simple it only has 2 ingredients? No? Well how about if I told you it's also unbelievably delicious? Yes! Can I have an AMEN?!

If you haven't heard the word on the street yet, it's all about these pumpkin muffins. You can find them on many food bloggers sites and for good reason. All you need is a box of cake mix and a can of pumpkin. Yes, I know, we are past the traditional "pumpkin season" since Thanksgiving is over. Well too darn bad because these puppies are a must-make! They are moist and dense and just plain old delicious. A hot tip from one of my co-workers said that if you have applesauce you can also add a heaping tablespoon of it to the mix for an added softness. I'm sure I say this a lot but trust me, these you just gotta try!!

Easiest Pumpkin Muffins Ever
Source: Food Blogs, Friends, Family

Ingredients:
1 box cake mix (yellow, spice cake, chocolate cake, white cake)
1 15 oz. can of pumpkin

Directions:
1. Mix box of cake mix (I used spice cake) with the can of pumpkin. Optional - add heaping tablespoon of applesauce.
2. Scoop with an ice cream scoop (if you have one) into muffin tin. This made 12 muffins for me.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the tops have started to brown.
4. Serve! I've been told that cream cheese frosting on these muffins is sinful or you can dust them with powdered sugar...or just eat them plain!!

Teryaki Chicken All Grown Up

Sorry the picture sucks, I was so hungry and it smelled so good I couldn't wait!!

If you have looked back on some of my early posts you may have seen my Teriyaki Chicken Nuggets recipe. I was feeling exceptionally lazy last Sunday night but still wanted to make a nice dinner for my hardworking husband. I knew that my Teriyaki Chicken Nuggets are one of his favorite meals and I rarely make them because I hate how my house smells after frying up chicken not to mention the work it takes to cut up and bread all the nuggets. I decided that I could probably use the same sauce recipe and instead of cutting up the chicken into little nuggets I could just pound them out thinner and use the whole chicken breast!


My idea worked like a charm (obviously ;) and the chicken was delicious! This method was so simple and so tasty that I will definitely have to work this into the rotation more often. I would suggest cooking the chicken just a little short of done because you will stick it in the oven for about 10 minutes. I always serve this dish with white rice and spoon some extra sauce over the rice because it is sooooo tasty!! I hope you can give this recipe a whirl and if you do, let me know what you think!


Teriyaki Chicken All Grown Up
Souce: Me and My Mama


Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp. Lawry's Seasoned Salt
1-2 eggs beaten
oil for frying
Glaze (I personally double this recipe as I like a lot of extra sauce for dipping):
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. honey
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce or teriyaki marinade
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger (fresh is best but powder is good too)


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix soy sauce, teriyaki marinade or sauce, ginger, honey, and garlic in a pan and heat on medium heat.
2. Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in a frying pan. Slice chicken breast in half horizontally or pound out your chicken breast to desired thickness (mine were about 1/4-1/2 inch).
3. Mix flour, salt, pepper and Lawrys in one bowl. In another bowl beat 1 egg. Dip each chicken breast in egg then in flour mixture then place on a plate.
4. When oil is hot add all chicken breast, or as many as can fit, into the frying pan. Fry on both sides just short of doneness. Immediately transfer to teriyaki mixture and make sure both sides are coated in the teriyaki sauce.
5. Place chicken on a wire rack on a baking sheet and put in oven for 10 minutes, basting chicken with teriyaki mixture halfway through.
6. Serve with white rice and a vegetable. I use the extra sauce to dip my chicken in as well!!

Hot Hammie Sammies

Now, what would you expect a pasta lover to eat on National Pasta Day (which was yesterday, 10/17, by the way)?!! Probably not Hot Hammie Sammies huh? I have failed as a blogger and on National Pasta Day I failed to find a recipe to make in time. It's been hectic in our household lately and I just haven't had the time I want and need to read my food blogs and scour for new recipes to try. So I used what we had on hand and made this hot little number.

Hot Hammie Sammies are pretty freaking awesome sandwiches! They are quick, easy, delicious, and can be made ahead of time and popped in the oven when you are ready to eat. The sauce is buttery and mustardy (is that even a word?) and the bun is sweet and it really is a perfect combination. Normally I make these on little hawaiian rolls and they are great as an appetizer or to eat a couple (or 3 or 4) for a main dinner sandwich. Last night I didn't have those sweet hawaiian rolls so I just made them on kaiser rolls. And, to make sure I had something pasta related, I made a boxed pasta salad to go along with it. I never said I cook fancy food, just easy and delcious meals! ;)

Next time you have a party or need an easy dinner, try these out and let me know what you thought!

Hot Hammie Sammies

Source: Tee, a friend

Ingredients:

Sauce:

1 stick of butter

1.5 tbsps of yellow mustard

1 tbsp of minced onion

1/2 tsp of Worchestershire sauce

Poppy seeds

Sammies:

1 1b. ham

1 lb. swiss cheese (or about that much)

Buns or rolls (hawaiian rolls if you can find them or any small to medium sized roll that is sweeater)

Aluminum foil

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a small bowl. Once melted, add mustard, onion and Worchestershire.

2. Slice rolls in half. Spread some sauce on each side of the bun (I used a spoon and spread it around). Sprinkle poppy seeds on one or both sides of bun to your liking. 

3. Layer cheese and ham on bottom bun and replace the top bun.

4. Wrap each sammie in foil and bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and serve warm!

**You can also leave them wrapped in the foil and they will stay warm for quite some time. Or you can wrap them up and put them in the freezer instead of baking them. They last about a month in the freezer before they get hit with freezer burn. When you want to bake them I just take them out of the freezer and bake them 12-15 minutes.

Creamy Roasted Tomato Pasta

The other night Kurt was going to be at the UW Badger football game so I had a free night where I didn't need to worry about dinner for him. And as the saying goes, "when the cat's away the mouse will play!" When Kurt is gone I usually make pasta (duh) because I honestly could eat pasta every.single.night. One of my favorite blogs is Stephanie Cooks and she is as big of a fan of pasta as I am, probably one of the reasons I like to read her blog so much! She made this delicious Pasta with Marscapone and Roasted Grape Tomatoes that I had been eyeing up and figured that, since Kurt wasn't home, it was probably a good night to make it. So I picked Riglee up from daycare and stopped by the grocery store on the way home. Well, this is not my typical grocery store and when I went in there I found pasta that would work but I could not find marscapone cheese! Sadly this store did not carry marscapone cheese and the confused worker looked at me like I was from out of space asking for this "specialty" cheese. So I improvised on this recipe and used cheeses that I had at home instead.


I was actually surprised at how yummy this turned out and I am even more excited to try the Pasta with Marscapone and Roasted Grape Tomatoes now! This dish was very creamy with an underlying tomato flavor that was just delicious! I didn't have a full pint of tomatoes and I think having the full amount of tomatoes would have really kicked it up a notch. The cream cheese made this really creamy and the goat cheese added just enough tang to the sauce. The flavors really went well together, so well in fact that I had 2 full bowls and went back for thirds only to realize I should probably stop since I've eaten over half a pound of pasta by myself! Give it a try and let me know what you think!


Creamy Roasted Tomato Pasta
Source: Me, Adapted from Stephanie Cooks


Ingredients:
12 oz uncooked smaller pasta (I used Barilla tri-color rotini)
4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
2 oz. goat cheese
1/4 cup white wine
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
olive oil (EVOO)
salt & pepper
garlic salt


Directions:
1. Halve tomatoes and place on a foil liked baking sheet. Drizzle with EVOO and add salt, pepper and garlic salt to your liking. Roast in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through.
2. While the tomatoes are roasting, bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling add pasta and cook as directed to al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water and drain pasta.
3. When the tomatoes are done roasting, pour them and any EVOO into a big bowl. Mash them with a fork or a potato masher.
4. Add white wine to the tomatoes. Then add cream cheese and goat cheese and stir to get the cheeses to start melting. Add pasta to the pasta/cheese mixture and stir until both cheeses are completely melted and serve!


**You can add parmesan cheese to the mixture or sprinkle some on top for serving. Being as I'm from Wisconsin I firmly believe the more cheese the better!

Noodles & Company Pesto Cavatappi (Copycat Recipe)

My husband definitely does NOT love pasta dishes like I do. I have to limit myself to one pasta dish every week at most or else he gets sick of eating pasta. Seriously, who gets sick of eating pasta? And how did I marry such a man?!!! Luckily, he has other redeeming qualities and I can overlook this one tiny flaw.

Imagine my surprise when Kurt asked me to make Pesto Cavatappi like he gets at Noodles & Company! I was stoked for two reasons: 1) Kurt was asking me to make a pasta dish and 2) I got to try a new recipe! I didn't have this recipe handy so I first went to the Noodles & Co. website and saw what was in the dish which looked simple enough. Next I did what any good super sleuth would do, I googled the recipe! I found the recipe at Yahoo Answers where a former Noodles & Co. cook posted his recipe and it looked very simple (yay!). The only issue is that he posted the recipe for a one person serving, I wanted to make a whole bunch of pasta. I ended up guestimating on the quantities and was lucky because it tastes pretty much exactly like it does at Noodles & Co.!! I made a side of shrimp for Kurt to add to his dish and he said it was absolutely perfect....he even went back for thirds!! There is nothing as exciting and fulfilling as trying a new recipe and it working out beautifully! 

Noodles & Company Pesto Cavatappi (Copycat Recipe)

Source: Yahoo Answers

Ingredients:

3/4 box cavatappi noodles (you can use any shapes you like but use a hearty noodle)

1/2 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise

1/2 pint sliced mushrooms

1/3 cup white wine

1/4 cup cream

7 oz. pesto (I used store bought but I bet it would be amazing with homemade)

EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil - hellooo, Amy!)

shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Cook pasta as directed on packaging.
2. While pasta is cooking, saute the tomatoes and mushrooms in about a tablespoon of EVOO.
3. When the pasta is almost done, add the wine to the tomatoes and mushrooms and reduce for 2 minutes. Then add the cream to the tomatoes and mushrooms and reduce for another 1-2 minutes. Add the pesto and stir well.
4. Drain pasta and add to the pesto mixture. Stir very well and let sit a minute to soak up the pesto.
5. Plate and top with shredded parmesan cheese!

Penne with Peas, Bacon & Goat Cheese

Wowza, this was amazing! Like, I think I want to make it again tonight and tomorrow night amazing! Kurt was out of town on Friday night and I spent all day at home babysitting my niece and Riglee since daycare was closed. Do you know there is really not a lot on tv during the day? Well I do now. Luckily Food Network and the Cooking Channel had a few good shows on. I caught a glimpse of a couple pieces of an Everyday Italian episode and Giada made this Penne with Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese dish. It looked pretty darn good. So at 4:00pm when I was trying to decide what to make myself for dinner I thought about this dish. I definitely did NOT want to spend an hour prepping and roasting butternut squash but I definitely DID want this goat cheese sauce she made.

I picked my brain for what might be simple and delicious to go with this creamy goat cheese penne and the first thing that came to mind was panchetta and peas! Well panchetta costs and arm and a leg so I scratched that and cheaped it down to bacon. Don't worry, the bacon was a perfect match to the dish. The bacon was perfectly salty and crunchy, the peas were a sweet pop in your mouth and the goat cheese was tangy and creamy to tie it all together. Not to bad for the first meal I've really every just "thrown" together! Not only is this Kurt approved but my sister-in-law, who swears she DOES NOT like goat cheese, couldn't get enough of this pasta!! This is a quick and easy go-to meal when you want something simple with a gourmet feel. Yum-O!!

Penne with Peas, Bacon & Goat Cheese
Source: All Me!

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. mini-penne noodles
4 oz. goat cheese at room temperature
5 slices thick cut bacon (or panchetta)
1/4 cup onion
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup starchy cooking water, reserved

Directions:
1. Boil the water and start cooking the penne. When penne is almost done add peas to the water to heat up.
2. While the penne is cooking, slice bacon into about half inch strips and dice the onion. Saute bacon and when bacon is halfway done add the onion to cook. When the bacon is crispy and finished cooking, remove to a plate with a couple paper towel on it to get soak up the grease.
3. Put goat cheese in the bottom of a big bowl. When the penne is done, reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water. Spoon penne and peas into bowl with goat cheese. Add a little cooking water (maybe 1/4 cup) to help soften the goat cheese and make it creamier.
4. Add the bacon and onion and mix until the goat cheese is creamy and coating everything. Add more starchy cooking water if the goat cheese isn't melting or you want it creamier. Serve and enjoy!