Baked Macaroni Casserole with Smoked Turkey Sausage

Tonights dinner was inspired by a dear friend's macaroni casserole. I was going to make it the way she does, but I had to use of some of the stuff in my refrigerator since we are leaving for vacation in a couple of days. So I wanted to use what I had on hand.

I used similar measurements except doubled them since I have 5 people to feed. And they love mac and cheese things. This smells heavenly, and alas, I have yet to try it. It is sitting on my stove, waiting for my dear husband to come home so we can dig in to dinner. I know I'm such a good wife I'm waiting for him. I cooked it in my pampered chef 13X9 stoneware dish. So it will stay warm for 30 minutes. He should be home shortly.

This dish has my kids swarming in the kitchen. Their cheese and noodle detectors must have gone off and are now impatiently waiting for their cheesy noodle dinner.

Ingredients:
Preheat oven 350F

4 cups dried pasta (macaroni, medium shells, penne)
1 pkg smoked sausage (I used turkey)
2 cups shredded cheese
4 cups milk (I used prepared non fat dry milk)
1 can cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 vidalia onion
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together, dump in a greased (non-stick cooking spray) 13X9 baking dish, Place in 350F oven bake for 40 minutes.

*Optional - place extra cheese on top 5-10 min before finished baking.

Scalloped Au gratin Potato Chicken Casserole (Slow Cooker)

Tonight is a busy night for us. We have Cub Scout Pack Meeting tonight. We will be trying to get everything done, to get ready to be there, plus we still need to make a healthy snack to bring with us to share. I'm trying to use what I have in my pantry, fridge, freezer and food storage for the next two months. To see if I have enough for a whole two months supply, and then we will work on restocking our food supply. Therefore, I have a few odd  ball items that by themselves would not be enough for my family of 5. So I'm trying to be creative and add similar things together to make enough for our family. I know this isn't easy, and I'm sure this never happens to you. I have at one point enough boxes of things (I thought) for meals. But, I'm realizing that one box of scalloped potatoes is not enough as a side dish for my family. We each have about 4 potato slices and that's it. So, that doesn't work as a side dish, unless Bill and I are eating it as a date dinner side, and the boys don't get any. They don't like it when we do that. With that said. I first googled to see if other people had ever done a box potato mix in the slow cooker. I found a few that had. So I when with my plan. I know exciting right! :)

Ingredients:
1 box Scalloped Potatoes
1 box Au gratin Potatoes
1 bag frozen mixed veggies
6 chicken tenderloins cut into bite size pieces
4 cups of water (HOT)
4 Tbsp butter

Directions:
In the slow cooker, add the HOT water, mix in the seasoning packages from the boxed potatoes, then add the potatoes, and mixed veggies and stir. Cut up the tenderloins and add to the potato/veggie mixture. Drop the butter on top of the chicken and then stir to incorporate into the dish. Set on low for 8 hours, Stirring periodically to mix in all the ingredients.

Serve warm.

Broccoli Cauliflower Artichoke Casserole

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I can hardly believe that it's March already. I love the color green. I am part Irish, and I love thinking of today as GREEN DAY! :) I love that band too. :) Well, I'm trying my hand at theme cooking. I know shocker! I don't usually do anything for St. Patricks day except wear green. Today however, I feel more in the spirit of St. Patricks Day so today I am having a Green Meal planned for dinner tonight. Well, all except for the meat, it's marinated chicken legs (store bought). I participate in something called Bountiful Baskets and I got some green colored cauliflower and I thought to my self, what am I going to do with this? I had bought some broccoli earlier in the week so it was still good. Realizing today was GREEN DAY! I thought, "why don't I make a green dish for dinner". So that's just what I did. I searched online for broccoli casseroles, I didn't find one that I thought I had everything for, so I combined two with ingredients that I already had on hand. So here's hoping it turns out. I also made a green jello cake for dessert. Fun huh!? I think so.

Ingredients:

2 heads of fresh broccoli

1 head of cauliflower (mine was colored green)

1/4 of a red onion (I would have used yellow if I had any)

1 can artichoke hearts (rinsed and chopped)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can cream of broccoli cheese soup

1 cup sour cream

salt, pepper and paprika to taste

1/8 tsp celery salt

2 tsp butter (melted)

2 cups herb stuffing mix or (8 oz)

Directions:

Boil the broccoli and cauliflower to desired tenderness, then chop. Add the chopped red onion, artichoke hearts 1 cup cheddar cheese sour cream, salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir in the broccoli and cauliflower. In a 9X9X2 pan, spread mixture in the pan.

Then melt the butter and stir in the stuffing mix to incorporate, the sprinkle or spread on top of the broccoli mix the stuffing and butter mixture.

Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of stuffing mixture and bake an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve warm.

Enchirito's

Tonight I am making Enchirito's. Your probably thinking to yourself, "what the heck is an enchirito?". Well, I'll tell you. Back when I lived in West Virginia I used to buy this box mix that was from Taco Bell that was enchirito's. It came with refried beans, taco seasoning, flour tortillas and sauce. All I had to do was add beef or chicken. Then you would assemble and bake in the oven. I loved them, and then they stopped selling them. :( very sad! So now I have made my own. I am adding a few other ingredients to make it mine.

Ingredients:

10 flour tortillas (you may use less)

1 lb ground beef

1 can refried beans

1 can red or green enchilada sauce

1 can green chili's (optional)

1 medium onion

1-2 veggie pucks(optional - recipe for veggie puck can be found here)

1 package taco seasoning

2-3 cups shredded cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven 350F.

Brown the ground beef, and onion. Then add the taco seasoning (like you were making taco's). Then add the veggie puck and green chili's. Set mixture aside.

On the flour tortillas spread 1-2 tbsp refried beans on the tortilla (enough to cover surface).

Then add 2-3 spoons of beef mixture. (enough to fill the middle of the tortilla,

then add a couple sprinkles of cheese.

Roll and set in a 13X9 pan. Repeat until full, may take 8-10 tortilla's depending on how full you make the tortillas.

Next, pour enchilada sauce on top. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 350F oven for 25-30 minutes. Till bubbly and cheese has melted.

Serve Warm. with sour cream and other toppings such as lettuce, tomato, onion, olives, even guacamole. This is a yummy dish. Adding the veggie puck adds a nice added veggie and vitamin punch to the dish, they won't be able to tell.

I was able to make enough for two families=2 pans. I could have put them all in one pan, but realized I would have way too many leftovers. So I'm going to share the love. Give one pan away.

Broccoli Cheeseburger Mac

Tonight, my kids asked if they could have cheeseburger mac. I tried to think of some way to sneak in veggies into dinner that were not corn. Since that was the side dish they requested. I had some broccoli that I needed to use up from Bountiful Baskets. I had some bulk breakfast sausage and half an onion that I thought would be good and add flavor to the mac instead of just plain hamburger meat.

This was a delicious dinner, that had all the basic food groups in one dish. So yummy! I'm heading back for bowl number 2... Mind you, I didn't have lunch... So I'm a little hungry. This makes enough for company if your kids have friends over for dinner, and it's also good if you want leftovers for your spouses lunch the next day. This would be good re-heated and the next day. :)

Ingredients:

2 boxes Mac N Cheese

1 stick of butter

1/2 cup milk

4 oz velvetta cheese, cubed

3-4 cups fresh or one frozen bag of broccoli

1/2 onion

1 lb bulk sausage or ground beef

Directions:

Boil water in a large pot on the stove. As the water is boiling, dice the onion and cut up the broccoli... in a medium skillet add the bulk sausage and onions and cook until meat is browned and the onions are slightly transparent. Then set aside. In the water pot once it's boiling add the noodles from the mac n cheese box, holding out the powdered cheese to add later. Cook the pasta, about 2 minutes after you add the pasta, add the fresh or frozen broccoli to the same pot. Once the pasta is al dente or til desired tenderness drain the broccoli and pasta together. Then add the milk, velvetta cheese, powdered cheese, and all other ingredients including the sausage onion mixture and pasta broccoli. Stir until all incorporated and the velvetta is melted. Then serve.

This is SO DELICIOUS full of yummy vitamins from the broccoli and onions. Great flavor! no added salt, or pepper needed. Except to cook the noodles which adds flavor to the pasta.

* Make sure you salt the noodles when cooking them.

Shepherds Pie

I love, love, love shepherds pie! It is such an easy thing to make, and so delicious. My mom used to make this when I was a kid. It was different every time, but still so familiar. For me, it depends on the cheese I have on hand, or decide if I want to make a white sauce or a red sauce... If I make it with a white sauce, I skip the green beans and substitute mixed veggies. If I use red sauce it's the green beans for the veggie. I've made this several ways, the olives are optional with the red sauce, as my family doesn't like olives, but I do, so when I'm feeling a little frisky I add the olives to shake it up a bit. I try not to tell them it is in there. Or I end up with none of them eating, and i have a 13X9 dish of shepherds pie to eat all by my self... is that bad?! I don't think so, I will eat it for lunch for a whole week. :)) Lucky me! :)

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 jar/can spaghetti sauce or alfredo sauce

1-2 cans of green beans or mixed veggies

6-8 potatoes (made into mashed potatoes) or 2 bags of instant mashed potatoes

1-2 cups of shredded cheese, or 6-8 slices of cheese

1 can minced black olives (optional)

brown ground beef with minced onions or just seasoned with salt and pepper. Mix in the spaghetti sauce. Pour into a 13X9 pan adding the olives (optional)

then sprinkle the cans of drained green beans on top.

Next Layer the mashed potatoes on top of the green beans.

then sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.

Bake in the oven preheated to 350F for 30-35 min. Till heated through and bubbly. Remove, serve warm. Dig in! and yummy :)

Creamy Shepherds Pie

Ok, So tonight is shepherds pie. My husband had bad acid reflux. So, I try to limit the items I make with a tomato based sauce. Here is a good alternative for tomato sauce in your shepherds pie. I've used one can of cream of celery and one can of cream of broccoli. Cream of chicken or cream of mushroom as well as Alfredo sauce is good in it too. :)

Ingredients:

1 can cream of celery

1 can cream of broccoli

2 cans green beans

2 pkg instant potatoes (or 7 red potatoes boiled and smashed)

1 cup shredded cheese

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion

This is a really simple and easy meal. You can substitute mixed veggies for the cans of green beans, to add more veggie value.

Directions:

Brown ground beef and onion in a skillet, drain excess fat, set aside. Make instant potatoes or boiled potatoes. set aside. In a 13x9x2 pan, mix the cream soups, the ground beef and onion together. Once mixed well, layer the green beans (or mixed veggies) on top of the creamy mixture in the pan. Then layer the prepared mashed potatoes on top of the green beans. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake in a 350F preheated oven for 30-45 min, till bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand 5 min. Then eat.

This is a tasty meal, good on a cold day. Serve with salad, buttered bread, or with no side dish. If wanting for smaller meals. Make up and divide into two square pans or small casserole dishes. Set one in the Freezer for a later date, and cook one for now. Two meals in one :)

Overnight egg casserole

Overnight Egg Casserole

I wanted to make something for breakfast, but we usually make quick easy pancakes. so I wanted to try something different. I created this casserole with items we had in the house. I looked online for other egg casseroles, and so I took some of their ideas, and incorporated some in to here.

Ingredients:

1 lb breakfast bulk sausage (browned)

10 eggs

1 bag potatoes o brien

1 cup sour cream

1 can cream of chicken with herbs soup

1 tbsp prepared mustard

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown sausage and drain. set aside. in a separate bowl beat eggs with salt and pepper til mixed well. Add sour cream, soup, prepared mustard, and ricotta cheese. Once mixed in with the egg stir in the cheese, sausage and potatoes. Pour mixture into lightly greased 13x9x2 pan. Refrigerate overnight covered.

Remove from refrigerator 30 min before baking. Bake uncovered, 350F for 50-60 min or until set. Let stand 5 min before cutting.

I will let you know how this turns out. It looked good before I put it in the fridge. I like easy weekend breakfasts. It makes the weekend get off on a great start. :)

Verdict:

This was very tasty, It took longer than 60 min. more like 1 1/2 hrs to cook. I topped mine with some salsa and sour cream. It was good. I think next time I will sprinkle some extra cheese on the top. But not sure yet. The kids got into other things before this was done, and even before I woke this morning, so they didn't get any (but the leftovers will be used in Breakfast burritos). Bill said it was good, but we were in a hurry at that point to make our appointments. So he had half of his serving. He did say it was good, too. so he won't mind if I use it in Breakfast burritos either. :) Stay tuned for that.