Nacho Stuffed Shells

This has been a favorite for years. It's a little labor intensive, but worth it. I planned it last night, when I actually felt like cooking. Unlike today. Blah. Oh, well. Hubby offered to pick up Chinese, but damn that gets expensive with four of us! So...our oldest son is going to a concert at the state fair tomorrow. Guess what the rest of us are having for dinner ;)

Speaking of my oldest, he finally, after sitting on his butt all summer and twanging my last nerve repeatedly, contacted the college he wants to attend. Went in and started the ball rolling. Yay! And my youngest is now a mere 8 pounds from enlisting. With all that's now going on, I'm not as enthusiastic as I otherwise would have been, but it's what he wants. Hey, maybe, in another 5-10 years, hubby and I will have the house to ourselves!

Anyway...

Nacho Stuffed Shells

16 oz. Box jumbo shells
1 lb ground beef
16 oz. Can refried beans
1 C. Salsa
16 oz. Can tomato sauce
2 C. Shredded cheese of your choice
1 packet taco meat seasoning
1 C. Water

Cook shells according to package directions.
While pasta cooks, brown beef in a large skillet.
Drain both meat and pasta. Cover shells with cold water. Stir water and seasoning into meat, simmer 10 minutes. Stir in beans and half of cheese. Heat to melt cheese.
Combine tomato sauce and salsa.
Heat oven to 350.
Spread 1 C. Salsa mixture over bottom of 10x14" baking dish. Fill each shell with about 2 T meat mixture and arrange in the baking dish. Pour remaining sauce over filled shells and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Cover with foil and bake 25-30 minutes.

Chicken Parmesan

This is such an easy meal and sooooo good! It's nice when the store has chicken breast on sale and I can stock up. I actually prefer the bone in breasts. It's not hard to de-bone it and as a bonus, you get the tenders, too. Not to mention, the bone in is usually cheaper than the boneless even when the boneless is n sale.

So, they had the bone n breasts for 99¢ a pound, so I bought like 15 pounds. When your freezer is full of the all the same meat, you have to get creative! And I have, but this is a favorite.

Now, my husband is NOT a fan of chicken breast. In fact, if I cook them as is, he won't touch them. They have to be cut up or shredded in some kind of dish or pounded thin. So, I pound them down to about 1/2" thick before I use them. The also cook faster this way, so if you want to skip this step, you'll have to adjust the cooking time. Also, he doesn't like the meat smothered in the pasta sauce and baked, so that's another option.  We also like a lot of sauce, so if you don't, one jar will do.

Chicken Parmesan

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 C. Breadcrumbs
1/2 C. Grated Parmesan
1/2 C. Shredded mozzarella
16 oz. Pasta, whatever shape you like
2 jars pasta sauce

Heat oven to 250.

Place each chicken breast half between layers of plastic wrap and pound to 1/2" thick.
In a plate, combine Parmesan and breadcrumbs. Coat each breast in this mixture.
Heat oil in a large skillet and cook chicken until juices run clear and it is no longer pink.

While the chicken is cooking, heat a large pot of water to boiling and cook pasta according to package directions.

When chicken is done, place it in a baking dish, sprinkle with mozzarella, then with extra breadcrumbs and cover with foil. Place in oven.

In the same skillet, heat pasta sauce until heated through. You can pour some or all of this over the chicken if you like, cover, and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Serve chicken with pasta and sauce.

Spicy Bowties and Sausage

It was a busy day today, so for dinner, I wanted something quick that I had all the ingredients for.   Didn't do too bad!  The sauce wasn't too heavy and it had just enough spice.
Think this is going to be a short entry because I'm just too pooped to pop.

Spicy Bowties with Sausage

1 pound. Italian sausage
1 small onion,  chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
16 oz. Bowtie pasta, cooked and drained
2 cans (14.5 oz each) stewed tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 C. Heavy cream
1 T red pepper flakes

In a large skillet, cook sausage, onion, and garlic until sausage is no longer pink.  Drain
Add pepper flakes, tomatoes, and cream.  Heat. to boiling, reduce to medium and simmer until thickened. Pour over pasta and toss to coat.

Beef Tips

OK, I have pictures this time! Picked up some tri tip steak for cheap.  It was on its sell-by date, so they had it marked down, and I'm all for saving money!  Which is also why, rather than using it as steak, I decided to get 2 meals out of it.  Tonight is beef tips, and the rest can stay in the freezer for a few days when I think I'll make some Oriental beef of some type.  Haven't yet found a recipe I like as much as my old tried and true...and VERY sweet...recipe.  May have to experiment on my own.

Anyway!  Usually, when I make a recipe for the first time, I follow the directions pretty closely, but this time, not so much.  Some of the steps seemed silly and after tasting the meat, it was a little bland, so...yeah.


Beef Tips

1 1/2 lbs. cubed beef (the type doesn't matter as they simmer long enough to tenderize any cut)
1 T garlic powder
1 T. onion powder (I was out so I used dried minced)
1/4 C. red wine, divided (optional)
3 C. water
1 T. beef bouillon or 3 cubes
3 T. Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 T. cornstarch
3-4 T. water
Hot buttery egg noodles

Season meat with garlic and onion powders.  Brown in a large skillet with 1/8 C. wine until cooked through.

Add water, bouillon, onions, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.  Simmer over medium heat 45-60 minutes, or until meat is very tender.
Combine water and cornstarch and stir until cornstarch is dissolved.  Add slowly to skillet while stirring.  Bring skillet to a boil, boil about a minute then turn heat off and allow to cool slightly so it thickens.
Serve over egg noodles.

Cajun Pasta Alfredo

This work thing takes up way too much of my time!  I've been working on the same afghan for almost a month now and I'm only about 2/3 done!  Granted it's queen sized, but still.  Between now and mid July I have to make a baby blanket for a friend.  Her first grandchild is due in early August...she's my age and her daughter is my son's age...makes me fell soooo old!  Then between now and November, I have this afghan and one for another of my in-laws.  I want it done in time to mail it to Utah and have it there before Christmas.  And when I'm done with this one, I have a cousin who wants one!  Glad I don't have to work in the summer!

I had some of those mini smoked sausages and wanted to make something for dinner with them.  I could really only find recipes for snacks and such, sooo...I got creative.

Cajun Pasta Alfredo

16 oz. rotini pasta
15 oz jar Alfredo sauce (this makes it a little dry, so if you like it saucy, use 2)
1 T. Cajun seasoning (I like Tony Chachere's) (use more if you like a lot of spice)
1 package mini smoked sausages cut into 4 pieces (or sliced and quartered regular sized)
dry bread crumbs

Heat oven to 350.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain.
Stir in sauce, sausage, and seasoning.  Mix well.
Spoon pasta into a 9 x 13" baking pan, sprinkle with bread crumbs, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

 

 

Made this again tonight (5/10) but this time I used 2 jars of sauce...we like it saucy and last time was a little dry for our tastes.  Also, there was some pork and chicken Italian sausage on sale that I used instead of smoked sausage and it was AMAZING!!  The chicken in it, kept the sausage from being greasy and the spice in it (it was mild, but still had TONS of flavor!) meant I only needed a little Cajun seasoning.  VERY GOOD!!!

Chicken Alfredo

I've made this before, but the sauce always came out really thick and gluey, so I decided to play around in the kitchen and see what I could come up with...and pray it came out OK, so dinner didn't suck!  It didn't!  I finally found an Alfredo sauce keeper!  Best of all, no cream cheese! 

I had a box of whole wheat linguine and one of regular linguine.  My son and husband insist that they don't like the whole wheat stuff, but I really can't taste a difference, especially when it has a good sauce on it, so I get a box of each and use half of each.  They still gripe, but tough crunchies! 

So, here was the menu:  linguine with chicken Alfredo sauce, asparagus (I forgot I still had some in the fridge and wanted to make it while it was still good!  I had planned a salad, but...), and garlic toast.  The toast was a loaf of Italian bread sliced, buttered and sprinkled with garlic powder.  I don't like using the broiler for this because I can never get it the way I want it.  It's either untoasted or burnt, so I turn the oven on bake and set it as high as it will go before broil.  Then I flip the slices of bread over, butter side down, and in about 8 minutes, it's perfectly toasted!

Linguine with Chicken Alfredo Sauce

16 oz. linguine
2 C. half and half
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/4 C. flour
1/4 C. butter
1/3 C. grated parmesan
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast half, thinly sliced
1/8 t. garlic powder
1/8 t. basil
1/4 t. onion powder
1/4 C. white wine
2 T. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle chicken with 1/8 t. garlic powder, onion powder, and basil.  Heat olive oil and white wine in a skillet, add chicken and cook until no longer pink.  Remove from skillet and set aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.  Add flour and garlic powder.  Whisk together until completely combined.  Gradually add half and half, whisking until smooth between each addition.  When all half and half has been added, add parmesan and whisk together.  Add salt and pepper as you like.  Increase heat to medium high until sauce comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium, simmer while stirring until sauce has thickened, about 8-10 minutes.  Keep in mind, sauce will thicken as it cools.  When sauce is thickened, but still a bit thin, add chicken, stir together, and allow to rest to cool and thicken sauce and warm up chicken.

When the pasta is done, drain.  Serve with sauce.

Sausage and Pepperoni Pasta Bake

I picked up some ground sausage intending to make biscuits and gravy for breakfast over the weekend, but everyone slept late and it never happened.  The sausage was thawed, so I needed to use it, which is where dinner tonight came from.

I may post a carrot cake recipe tonight or tomorrow, depending on whether or not I still feel like making it later =P.  I bought a 2 pound bag of carrots the other day and I need to use them before they're all fed to the dogs.  Yes, my dogs love carrots and, after finding out that they were not only good for them as food, but that they helped keep their teeth clean, too, I give them as treats every other day or so.  But, I do want to make that cake...

The pepperoni is optional, I just had a opened pack in the fridge and wanted to use it up.  I used my quick spaghetti sauce, which is a can or jar of store bought sauce with diced tomatoes and tomato sauce added, then I add the spices, wine, and olive oil.  If you have a sauce you like as is, you can omit all the rest.

Sausage and Pepperoni Pasta Bake

1 pound ground sausage, browned, drained, and rinsed
3 oz. sliced pepperoni
16 oz. penne pasta, cooked according to package directions and drained
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can-16 oz- diced tomatoes
1 can-16 oz- tomato sauce
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. onion powder
1 t. dry minced onion
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. dried basil
1/2 t. dried Italian seasoning
1 T. olive oil
1/4 C. red wine
2 C. shredded mozzarella

Heat oven to 350

In a large sauce pan, combine the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, all spices and seasonings, the oil and wine.  Mix well and simmer over medium-low heat for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta and sausage.  Drain both and mix into the sauce along with the pepperoni.  Mix well.

Pour into a large casserole dish (I use a 10x14" pan), top with mozzarella and bake 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and everything is nice and hot.