Tator Tot Casserole

This is one of those meals I'd call comfort food. I got it from my mother-in-law. It's easy and delicious. I made some the other night, and scooped some out to take a picture of, then changed my mind. It isn't the most photogenic food I've ever seen but it sure is yummy!
**
Tator Tot Casserole
**
1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 bag (2 lbs.) frozen tator tots
3 cans cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper, to taste
shredded cheese
**
Cook beef with onion. Add soup and salt/pepper and mix. Spray 9x13, and layer tots on bottom. Cover with beef/soup mixture. Top with cheese. Cover with foil and bake on 350 for 1 hour.

Crescent Chicken

Some people call these chicken pillows or bundles. We've always just called them crescent chicken. When I was younger, I always asked for these for my birthday meal...and they're still a favorite although a little labor intensive!
**
Crescent Chicken
**
3-4 chicken breasts (boiled with a little dried onion, cut in bite size pieces once cooked, reserve 1 c. broth)
2 pkg. crescent rolls
1/4 c. butter
1/2 onion, diced fine
2 stalks celery, diced fine
1 pkg. cream cheese
1/2 c. milk
pepper to taste
additional milk for dipping
bread crumbs (I used Italian Style or Pepperidge Farm)
2 cans cream of chicken soup + 1 c. broth for gravy
**
Saute butter, onion and celery until veggies soften. Add cream cheese, milk, pepper, and chicken. Combine well. Lay out and seperate crescent rolls (triangle shaped). Fold pointy end down towards one corner of the base so it makes more of a square shape and flatten out. Fill crescent rolls with chicken mixture. Tuck and seal corners underneath. Roll in additional milk, then crumbs. Lay on greased cookie sheet. Bake 350, 20-30 minutes, until tops are golden brown. Serve with gravy (2 cans cream of chicken soup + 1 c. broth, heated and mixed well). DELICIOUS!!!
**
This makes 16 rolls. If you don't need that many, you can freeze half the chicken mixture, and only use one package of rolls. Then another night you can thaw the mixture and use a new package of crescent rolls for a fast dinner!!

Thai Pork and Vegetable Curry

This is a winner. Super easy...and tasty. I found red curry paste at Dick's Market (Walmart doesn't have it!)
**
Thai Pork and Vegetable Curry
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
**
1 lb. pork tenderloin or lean boneless pork, thinly sliced into bite size pieces
2 T. cooking oil (I used olive oil)
8 oz. (about 2 c.) fresh green beans, sliced into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 red pepper, cut into thin bite-size pieces
2 green onions, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 14-oz. can reduced-fat unsweetened coconut milk (NOT cream of coconut!)
4 tsp. bottled red curry paste
2 tsp. sugar
2 T. lime juice
orzo pasta (looks kind of like rice but it's pasta!)
**
Pour 1 T. oil into large skillet. Add pork, cook until no longer pink. (P.S. Totally worth using the tenderloin! It's so tender and delicious!) Remove from skillet. Add 1 T. oil to skillet, add green beans, cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add red pepper and green onion. Cook about 2 minutes more, or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Add coconut milk, curry paste, and sugar. Stir until combined. Stir in cooked pork and lime juice. Heat through. Serve over hot, cooked orzo! So delicious!!

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

The best chocolate chip cookie recipe. Ever.

**

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

**

2 sticks butter

1/4 c. sugar

1 1/4 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 T. cream (or milk)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

**

Brown the butter in a sauce pan. (If you've never done this before, basically put it in a pan, let it boil and watch it the whole time. Stir occasionally. It'll start to foam and rise, and that's when it has browned, so remove it from the heat. It should be carmel colored and have little brown bits in the bottom.) Pour browned butter into mixer (make sure you get all those brown bits... that is the flavor), add sugars and mix well. Add egg, yolk, cream, and vanilla. Mix. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix in chocolate chips. Bake 375, 10-15 min. until tops are golden brown. Yields: not enough cookies, double it!

**

Here are some tips I learned when making these cookies. First, I double the recipe for sure and cut out a half stick of butter, and it's still plenty of butter - so no worries! Also, I found it needs a little more flour than this recipe calls for, so I add more slowly until its thicker like cookie dough should be (it also thickens as it cools so be careful!) Last, before you add the chocolate chips, cool the dough completely. I usually pop my Bosch bowl in the fridge for about 10 minutes. Otherwise the chocolate chips start melting into the dough.

Fajita's!!!

So this is still in the pan...but hopefully you can imagine how tasty they are from this horrible picture :). And I'm just going to warn you now...this is the cheater (and much easier) version of fajita's...but they're so delicious!!
**
Fajita's
**
3 large chicken breasts (or steak)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 onion
1 packet fajita seasoning (I used Lawry's but any kind is good)
*
Cut chicken, peppers and onions into strips. Put a little olive in pan and cook chicken for about 2 minutes. Add peppers and onions. Cook, stirring often, until crisp tender. Sprinkle fajita seasoning on and add about 1/4 c. water. Continue cooking until the veggies are done as much as you like. Just make sure the chicken is done. And that's it! Serve wrapped in tortillas with cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, or whatever you want! They're delicious! Enjoy!!

Meatloaf and Baked Potatoes!!

I have a few recipes I consider "staples" and this is one of them. When I have nothing else to make for dinner, this is one of my go-to's! It is really easy to keep the ingredients on hand, and it's the most delicious meatloaf ever. I'm also going to tell you the secret to delicious, moist baked potatoes. Read on my friends!!
**
Meatloaf
(recipe adapted from Lipton)
**
2 lbs ground beef
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup (powder)
1 slice bread (I usually use the end which helps it not go to waste!)
2 eggs
3/4 c. water
1/3 c. ketchup
(plus more ketchup and brown sugar for topping)
*
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients (except topping) in a bowl until well combined. Pat mixture into loaf pan. Combine about 2-3 T. ketchup and 2 T. brown sugar and spread over top of meatloaf. Bake uncovered 1 hour on 350.
**
Perfect Baked Potatoes
**
Now in my picture, Aaron used the potato ricer (really cool kitchen gadget, if you don't have one, they have them at Bed, Bath and Beyond for under $10) and then smothered his potato with cheese and ranch. However, here is the secret to perfect potatoes!
*
If I'm in a hurry, I will start by scrubbing, poking, then microwaving them. If they are large (Costco potatoes) I usually do 5 minutes, flip them, and do another 5 minutes. If they are smaller, I usually do about 3 minutes on each side, then bake. Or you can just skip microwaving them if you have more time, it just helps get them started and bake a little faster. Anyway, here is the secret. As you're wrapping them in tinfoil before you bake them, add a tablespoon or so of water into the foil with the potato. You don't need to measure, just dump some in there! Then bake as usual! They come out moist and delicious every time!! :)

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Alright so I haven't posted in a while...sorry! We recently bought a house, and have spent the last month and a half remodeling. I honestly feel like I haven't cooked in ages, therefore I have no pictures to add to my recipes to share. However, today I made Chicken Salad Sandwiches - recipe compliments of my mother-in-law!! I figured this didn't need a picture because, let's be honest, all chicken salad sandwiches basically look the same. However, they don't TASTE the same. I have been on a quest for the best chicken salad sandwich recipe, and this is it! Enjoy!
..
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
recipe from Debbie Everett
..
24 oz. (3 C.) cooked chicken, shredded (I use 2 cans of chicken and it works great!)
1 package slivered almonds
2 c. grapes, sliced
1 c. celery, chopped
2/3 c. mayo (I use light)
1 carton lemon yogurt (6-8 oz.)
1 tsp. mustard (prepared)
1 T. minced onion
2-3 good shakes garlic salt
..
Put chicken, almonds, grapes and celery in bowl. In seperate bowl, combine and mix mayo, yogurt, mustard, minced onion and garlic salt. Stir sauce into chicken mixture. Mix well. Serve on rolls, bread, or croissants. Refrigerate leftovers (if you have any). YUMMY!!!