Balsamic Chicken Mushroom Pasta

Not entirely from scratch.  Taking the Campbells shortcut to cut down on ingredients and time.  Brine the chicken beforehand if you like extra juicy and tender chicken chunks.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 can Cream of mushroom soup
• ½ – 1 cup Half and half
• 4-6 cups cooked pasta
• 2 chicken breasts (diced)
• 2 PKGS mushrooms (sliced)
• ½ TBSP dried thyme
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1-2 TBSP oil (coconut or olive)
• 2-3 TBSP balsamic vinegar (reduced)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook pasta.
3. Cook chicken.  Set aside to cool a few minutes, then dice into big chunks.
4. Brown mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat.
5. Mix together together the soup, half and half, thyme, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.
6. Pour the mix over orzo, add chicken and mushrooms, and stir together.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes to bring all the flavors together.  Or don’t.  If you’re starving, dump it on a plate and dive in.

MamaBean’s Chili

Especially satisfying in the wintertime.  Freezes very well.  Mix in sour cream for a creamy, tangy chili (my fav).  Or toss in some shredded cheddar cheese.  I’ve been making this version for a few years now and no longer tempted to tweak it.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 LB ground turkey (or beef)
• 2 medium onions (diced)
• 2 green bell peppers (roughly chopped)
• 1-15.5 oz can dark red kidney beans (drained)
• 1-15.5 oz can light red kidney beans (drained)
• 1-10 oz can  Ro*Tel (mild or original, depending on your spicy sensitivity)
• 1-14.5 oz can Hunts Petite Diced Tomatoes
• 2-15 oz cans Hunts Tomato Sauce
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1-½ TBSP chili powder
• 1 TSP salt
• 1 TSP white pepper
• 1-½ TSP cumin
• ⅛ TSP cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. Brown ground turkey/beef with onions and green bell peppers.
2. Combine seasoning in a small bowl:  garlic, chili powder, salt, white pepper, cumin, cinnamon.
3. Once turkey/beef is browned and crumbled, start dumping in… beans, Ro*Tel, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasoning.
4. Stir it up, cover and bring to boil.  Turn heat back and simmer on low for 30 minutes.

Gramma’s Mexican Lasagna

An midwestern American Gramma’s Mexican interpretation of an Italian favorite.  Say that 10 times really fast.  Not for bean-haters.  Make a pan of this on Sunday and pack it up for lunches the rest of the week.*

INGREDIENTS

• 15-6″ corn tortillas (avoid the extra soft variety)
• 1 LB ground turkey (or beef… but DRAIN THE BEEF)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1 TSP kosher salt
• 1-15 oz can black beans (drained)
• 1-10.75 oz can Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup
• 1-10 oz can Ro*Tel (mild or original, depending on your spicy sensitivity)
• 2-8 oz bags shredded cheddar cheese (1 LB total)
• 1 LB sour cream
• PAM Original

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grab a 9″x13″x2″ pan and spray with PAM.
2. Brown the ground turkey along with the chopped onions and salt.  Crumble then add the black beans.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the soup and Ro*Tel.
4. It’s time to assemble three layers:
5. FIRST – Tear apart the tortillas into pieces approximately 1.5″x1.5″ and cover up the bottom of the pan with ’em.  Or enlist the help of your toddler’s great white shark toy named Bruce who apparently just LOVES to bite corn tortillas into pieces!  Woo hoo!
6. SECOND – Add ⅓ of the meat and bean mixture.
7. THIRD – Follow with ¼ of the shredded cheddar cheese.
8. Repeat 2 more times.
9. Now dump and spread the Ro*Tel soup over the whole thing.
10. Top it off with what’s left of the cheese.
11. Cover with foil and toss it in the oven for 35-45 minutes.  Remove the foil for the last 5-10 minutes.
12. Pull it out of the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving.

*Gotta call out that this dish isn’t appropriate for freezing.  The corn tortillas get soggy and icky.

Kickin’ Taco Soup

Tasty, thick and hearty soup.  Each ingredient is same amount, so it’s ridiculously simple to double, triple, etc.  Make a ton of the stuff, then freeze a bunch in individual containers to take to work for lunch.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 LB ground turkey or hamburger
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 1-15 oz can black beans (undrained)
• 1-15 oz can pinto beans (drained)
• 1-10 oz can Ro*Tel (mild or original, depending on your spicy sensitivity)
• 1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1-14.5 oz can whole kernel corn
• 1 pack Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning Mix
• 1 pack Ortega Taco Seasoning Mix
• 1-12 oz bottle/can of beer (your choice… we’re a Bud Lite household)

DIRECTIONS

1. Grab a big pot.  Brown the turkey/hamburger with the diced onion.  I’d feel obligated to drain if I used ground beef, so I don’t.  Drain is wasting flavor.  
2. Dump everything else into the pot and mix it up.
3. Bring to a boil, then simmer on medium low for 20 minutes.
4. Scoop into bowls and serve with anything that makes sense (corn chips, shredded cheddar cheese, diced green onions, sour cream, etc.)

Baked Acorn Squash

INGREDIENTS

• Acorn squash
• Kosher salt
• Butter
• Brown Sugar
• Maple Syrup

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cut squash and scoop out the guts.  Great demo video HERE.
3. Put ’em flesh side down on a sheet pan and toss ’em in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
4. Pull ’em out of the oven and flip ’em over.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and put a pat of butter in the crater.  Follow it with 2 or 3 TBSP of brown sugar and a drizzle of maple syrup.
5. Bake in the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until poking it with a fork is like poking soft butter.
6. Remove and let cool for a few minutes before digging in.

Healthier Option:  Skip the salt, butter, and brown sugar.  Just drizzle with honey when you pull ’em out of the oven.  Still NOM NOM!

NOT Healthy Option:  Before you add the goodies in the “crater” add some breakfast sausage.  OMG NOM NOM!  

Chili Garlic Chicken Wings

My husband’s comment as he ate off the last one:  “ Seriously, if it weren’t for chickens, our world would be such a different place.”

INGREDIENTS

• Chicken wings (roughly 20 of ’em after separating)
• 1 TBSP Olive Oil
• 1 TBSP Chili Powder
• 1 TBSP Garlic Powder
• 1 TSP Salt & Pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Brine wings for 30-60 minutes.  (Brine = 2 TBSP kosher salt in ice cold water.)
3. Pat dry wings with a paper towel.
4. Prep wings by cutting into wingettes and drummettes.  Helpful video HERE.
5. Throw ’em into a gallon size plastic ziploc bag, then dump in the rest of the ingredients and massage until wings evenly covered.
6. Optional:  Let ’em marinate in the fridge for a bit.
7. Pour it all on a sheet pan and toss in the oven for about 45-50 minutes or until done.

Really no need for a ton of olive oil since you’re cooking these suckers in the skin.  Plenty of greasy goodness for flavor but I can’t bring myself to eat it.  The skin comes off before I feast.

Also, the recipe calls for chili powder but these are NOT SPICY.  Just flavorful!

Whole Wheat Taco Pizza

INGREDIENTS

• Old El Paso 25% less sodium Taco seasoning mix
• 5.5 fl oz can V8 Original
• 1 Archer Farms whole wheat thin pizza crust
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
• 1-2 cups shredded lettuce
• 1-2 cups cheddar jack finely shredded cheese
• PAM Original
• Tostito’s Multigrain chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line the cookie sheet with foil and spray with PAM.
2. Mix taco seasoning mix with V8 and whisk.
3. Place one pizza crust on the cookie sheet.
4. Spread as much of the taco seasoning mix on the pizza crust as you’d like.  I used about a 1/4 cup.
5. Top with about 3/4 cup of seasoned, crumbled ground turkey, then some halved cherry tomatoes.
6. Toss in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
7. Remove from oven at garnish with more cheese (if you’d like), shredded lettuce, and broken multigrain chips.

You-Name-It Stir Fry (faster version)

This is the microwave version.  More to come on the “fast” (i.e. oven roasted) alternative as well as other possible versions of this template recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 12 oz bag medium or large frozen shrimp
• 2 cups jasmine rice
• 9 oz box Green Giant Simply Steam® Asparagus Cuts
• 3/4 cup Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki
• PAM Original

DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare rice.  Mix one cup of rice with 1-3/4 cup of water, and add a dash of salt.  Cover.
2. Microwave for 5 minutes at 100% power, immediately followed by 10 minutes on 50% power.  Let stand in microwave for 5 minutes, then remove, take off cover and fluff.
3. Cook asparagus according to package instructions, then drain.
4. While rice is cooking, dump the shrimp in some cold water to thaw.
5. After shrimp have thawed, drain, remove tails, finish deveining* (if needed), and pat dry with a paper towel.
6. Preheat pan to medium/medium high.  Once preheated, spray with PAM.
7. Dump the shrimp in the pan and cook, flipping ’em around with a spatula, for 2-3 minutes.
8. Throw the asparagus on top, then the rice.  Pour the Veri Veri Teriyaki over the mountain of goodness in your saucepan and toss it all around until thoroughly mixed.

* Anyone wondering what the black “vein” running up the back of a shrimp is?  Or… exactly why you devein it?  This is why.

Mama Bean’s Baked Ham

 

INGREDIENTS

• 10 LB bone-in (or semi-boneless) ham
• 1 – 32 oz can of pineapple juice
• 2 cups brown sugar (or 1 cup Splenda brown sugar)
• 2 TSP ground cloves
• 2 TSP ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Dump pineapple juice into the roaster.  Add the brown sugar, ground cloves and cinnamon.  Whisk.
3. Trim fat from ham.  Use knife to make a few slices into the ham (side, top, bottom).
4. Place ham in the middle of the mixture in the roaster.  Do not cover.
5. Throw that beauty in the oven and cook for 20 minutes per pound.  A 10 LB ham needs approximately 3.5 hours in the oven.
6. Baste every 30 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and attack with an electric knife.

Egg Sandwich

INGREDIENTS

• 2 slices bread
• Mayo
• 1 Egg
• 1 slice Pepperjack cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Slather mayo on the bread.  Toast it first (or not).
2. Prepare egg as you wish.  I prefer a gooey yolk, but still flip the egg to cook it on both sides.
3. Flip sides of eggs to make it as rectangular-shaped as possible.
4. Place slice of cheese on top on egg (still in skillet) and cover long enough to melt.
5. Place egg/cheese on toast/mayo.  Eat immediately.

Source/Inspired by:  Papa Schulte

Healthy/Healthier Options

• Lite or fat free mayo
• Egg white only
• Fat free cheese