Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

Do you feel like you are always on the go at the time you need to be putting dinner together? Try this great one-dish meal that the family will love and you will too - you can prepare it earlier in the afternoon, keep it in the fridge and then bake it off when you get home!!! This is a slight variation on those great Campbell's Soup recipes!!! Enjoy!!!

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

1 can (10 3/4 oz) Cream of Chicken Soup

1 1/3 cups of chicken stock (or you can use water if you don't have any stock on hand)

3/4 cup of uncooked regular long grain rice (we use brown rice)

1 Tbspn Tastefully Simple Onion Onion

1 teaspoon Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Stir soup, stock, rice, seasoning and veggies in bowl and pour into an 11x8 (2 qt. baking dish)

2. Top with chicken breasts - season chicken as desired - I used a little more Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt. Cover with foil.

(You may refrigerate at this point for baking off later in the day)

3. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes (unless you prepare it ahead of time, then I would bake for 60 minutes). Then top with cheese and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir rice before serving. Enjoy!!!

Heather's Scrumptious Sloppy Joes

A friend just asked for a good sloppy joe recipe, so here is one that always brings compliments:

Heather's Scrumptious Sloppy Joes

2 lbs. ground beef
3/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped green pepper
1/4 c. chopped celery
1/2 c. ketchup
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. chili powder
2 - 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes
2 Tbspn. Worcesteshire Sauce
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 Tbspn. molasses

Begin browning ground beef and add onions, green peppers and celery. Drain meat, then add canned diced tomatoes and balance of ingredients. Simmer 1/2 hour or longer, or leave in slow cooker/crock pot. Taste after 1/2 hr - 45 minutes, then can adjust seasonings to make sweeter or more spicey. Enjoy!!!

The recipe can definitely be doubled or tripled for a large crowd, or cut in half, if you don't want leftovers, but it freezes really well!!! Then you have dinner for any night of the week by just tossing it into the crock pot and the gang can eat whenever they are home!!!

Variations - you could definitely luse very lean ground beef or use ground turkey because there is so much moisture from the other ingredients, so feel free to take advantage of that to make it more healthy.

Tastefully Simple Tomato Pie

This dish is requested so often, and is so easy to make!!! It makes a fantastic lunch with a salad, or great side dish with dinner. It has been brought to many potlucks, lunches with girlfriends and showers of all types. Don't be afraid to try something new...you never know what you might create!!!

Dried Tomato & Garlic Pesto Tart (courtesy of Karen Huftalin (IL) and the Tastefully Simple Cookbook)

1 unbaked pie crust (we use the refrigerated pie crusts)

1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

9 medium Roma tomatoes, quartered

2 Tbsp. Tastefully Simple Dried Tomato Garlic Pesto (prepared with oil and water)

1/2 cup mayonaise

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1/8 tsp. white pepper (I have often omitted this and it tastes great without it too)

Bake pie crust as directed on package, for one crust pie shell. While hot, sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Arrange tomatoes on top of melted cheese. Sprinkle Dried Tomato and Garlic Pesto over tomatoes. In medium bowl, mix 1 cup mozzarella cheese, mayonaise, Parmesan cheese and pepper. Spread over tomatoes, covering as much as possible. Bake at 375 for additional 35-40 minutes. Serve hot or cold. Delicious!!!!

Mom's Mini Quiche Lorraine

These little quiches are great for breakfast, brunch, lunch or with soup for dinner - they are easy, delicious and can be changed to make different flavors very easily. We had them for brunch this morning with some Tastefully Simple Berry Sunrise Pancakes and raspberry syrup. Enjoy!!!

Mom's Mini Quiche Lorraine

3 sleeves (1 and 1/2 boxes) of Pillsbury (or store-brand) refrigerated pie crusts

2 cups shredded cheese (I use a blend of cheddar and jack or cheddar and swiss)

2/3 cup of bacon or ham (or I substitute a few Tablespoons of Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon)

1/4 cup chopped green onion

4 eggs

1 1/3 cup of sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Worcesteshire Sauce

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut 3" round circles out of pastry dough (we use the base of a glass/cup to cut) and place into tart pans or mini muffin pans. In one small bowl, combine shredded cheese and green onion as well as bacon/ham (if using Bacon Bacon, do not add it, keep it to the side to be added on its own later). In separate bowl whisk eggs, sour cream, Worcesteshire and salt until smooth. Place a good size pinch of cheese/onion mixture into bottom of pastry circles in pans, (if using Bacon Bacon, put a pinch on top of the cheese on each) then gently spoon 1 Tablespoon of the egg mixture down on top of the cheese. Remove when they are slightly brown on the top, remove and put on cooling racks. Best served warm or room temperature. Store in airtight containers, once they are cooled, and place in refrigerator.

Makes about 3 1/2 - 4 dozen mini quiches.

Variations: You can use any type of veggie/meat/cheese combination you would like for these, just use the same process and they will turn out great. You could try some crab meat and cheese, artichokes and chicken, broccoli, make pizza quiches!!! Your only limitation is your imagination!!! Dont' forget a few with just jam if you have some leftover (no egg on these) :)

My mom always used to make a few jam tarts with the leftover dough - yummy!!!

Crock Pot Creamy Artichoke Chicken

Here's a great crock pot recipe, courtesy of Tastefully Simple. It is especially great if you only have a few hours lead time before dinner. This one only takes 3-4 hours on low. These are nice mild flavors, but very satisfying!!! We had it tonight with just a side of steamed veggies - yummy!!!



1 packet Tastefully Simple Artichoke & Spinach Warm Dip Mix
8 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
1/2 cup chicken broth
4 oz. shredded swiss cheese (I used 6 oz.)

prepared baked potatoes, pasta or rice (We used linguini)

Combine first four ingredients in a greased crock pot/slow cooker. Cover; cook on low for 3-4 hours. During the last 30 minutes of cooking, stir in Swiss cheese. Serve over hot baked potatoes, pasta or rice. Makes about 4 servings.

Crock Pot Chicken and Rice

Mmmmm...sometimes you just want a "stick-to-your-ribs" sort of meal and this one is it!!! Of course, to make things better, it is easy and can be cooking while you are off running errands, playing taxi or at work. The chicken will be tender and juicy and the rice cooked perfectly. I hope you enjoy this family pleaser!!!

Crock Pot Chicken and Rice

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (uncooked, but thawed)
1 can cream of chicken soup (use reduced fat if you prefer)
1 can cream of celery soup (use reduced fat if you prefer)
1 can chicken broth (we use reduced sodium)
3/4 c. dry brown rice (uncooked)
1 tsp. Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt (or your own favorite seasoned salt)
1 tsp. Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
1 Tbspn. Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
1 small jar sliced mushrooms
1/4 c. chopped onion (or extra Onion Onion)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Place chicken breasts on the bottom of the crock pot. Mix all remaining ingredients (except the cheese - that is for the top) together in a bowl. Once ingredients are combined pour them over the top of the chicken, then top everything with the shredded cheese. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Variations: you could certainly add some frozen veggies to the pot and have everything in one dish - broccoli or mixed veggies would be great.

If you would like to add some crunch - try crushing your favorite cracker up over the top of the cheese - like Saltines, Ritz or even Cheez-Its!!!

You could also add some chopped celery to the soup mixture or some sliced waterchestnuts.

Baked Pork Chops over Sweet Potato and Apple Hash

Ahhh...the simple tastes of fall!!! We enjoyed a meal of delicious fall tastes tonight using some of the fresh produce from our co-op...it was delicious and even my daughter loved the sweet potatoes (that normally she won't touch!!!) You could even substitute another fall squash in the place of the sweet potatoes, if you have them on hand. I hope you enjoy it!!!

Baked Pork Chops over Sweet Potato and Apple Hash

4 boneless loin chops (approx. 1/2 inch thick)
2 sweet potatoes (or 4 small sweet potatoes)
4-5 apples (we used Honey Crisp because we had them fresh from our co-op, but you could use any apple you have on hand)
2 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons brown sugar (we use brown sugar Splenda blend)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Peel and chop sweet potatoes and apples into approximately 1 inch cubes each (if you keep the size of the items about the same, they will cook more evenly); saute them in the butter/olive oil on medium-low heat. (The reason for using both olive oil and butter is that olive oil will preven the butter from burning because olive oil's burning temperature is much higher than butter).

Saute the potatoes and apples for about 5-10 minutes until they are tender, but not mushy. Transfer the potato and apple mixture to a baking dish (you could use oblong or rectangular - approximately 9 x 13 will be fine.

Raise the heat on your pan to medium and put your pork chops in for a quick sear to seal in the juices - about 3 minutes per side, just long enough to give it a bit of golden brown color on each side - but they will not be fully cooked at this point.

Place the pork chops on top of the potato/apple hash, then cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. The pork chops should be nice and moist and have some of the flavors of the cinnamon and apples infused into them - delish!!! Enjoy!!!

Easy Family Dinner - TACO NIGHT!!!

Don't underestimate the power of something as basic as taco night. My experience has been that most adults and kids alike enjoy tacos. You can adjust it to whatever nutritional focus you and your families may have. In our house, we use very lean ground beef, and low-carb tortillas, but you could certainly use ground turkey, ground chicken, grilled chicken strips or pieces of nice white fish or grilled veggies!!! Your family on the go? Make the meat/seasoned veggie mix ahead of time and keep it warm on low in a crock pot, have the rest of your toppings cut and ready to go in the fridge and then they can eat whenever they are home. It's a fast and quick way to have a delicious meal ready on the fly....Enjoy!!! :)

Heather's Farmhouse Chicken

This one is a long standing favorite at our house and is a tweaked version of Kraft Foods Farmhouse Chicken Dinner recipe. I simplified it and lowered the carb content as well. We like to serve this over brown rice and our whole dinner is ready in under 30 minutes!!!

Heather’s “Farmhouse Chicken”

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

¼ cup Italian Salad Dressing (I use Kraft Zesty Italian)

1 bag of baby carrots (approx. 12 oz.)

1 medium onion, cut into wedges

1 can (14 ½ oz) can chicken broth, divided

8 oz. cream cheese

(substitute 1/3 less fat Neufchatel Cheese and/or use 4 oz. to keep lower fat content)

Heat salad dressing in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken and cook approximately 4-5 minutes, or until just a little color appears. Turn chicken over, add carrots, onion and half of the can of broth. Cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes or until carrots are tender (may take a little longer if you have really big carrots).

Meanwhile, prepare your brown rice (remember for more flavor cook your rice in broth instead of water)

Use a slotted spoon to remove chicken and veggies from skillet and onto a plate (I then put the lid from my skillet over the plate to keep everything warm while I make the sauce). Increase the heat under the skillet to high, and add the cream cheese along with the remaining broth from the can. Heat sauce, stirring constantly (I use a wire whisk), until well blended, then reduce heat to medium-low; simmer approximately 5 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened, then return chicken/veggies to the skillet and incorporate into sauce, then serve over your brown rice. Sprinkle with some parsley, if desired. Enjoy!!!

Heather/Holly's Cabbage Roll Recipe

Here is a recipe that we have used before that I LOVE!!! I just wanted to share it...more to come tonight on our dinner...a take on a Kraft Foods Recipe...Farmhouse Chicken!!!

Heather/Holly's Cabbage Rolls

(this is kind of our recipe that started by looking at a few others and adding things we like and taking out things we don't to make it our own and keep it low-carb)

Filling:
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion chopped
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Garlic
1 tsp Onion Onion
1/2 tsp Seasoned Salt
2 Tbspn Worcesteshire Sauce
1 cup of COOKED brown rice
1/2 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese (optional)

1 head of cabbage - cored

Sauce
1- 15oz. can tomato sauce (We used Wal-mart brand - it is low-carb)
2-3 Tbspns Splenda brown sugar blend
1 Tbspn lemon juice
2 Tbspn Worcesteshire sauce

Bring a large pot of water to a boil (leave enough space so that it won't overflow when you add the head of cabbage); wait until it comes to a full boil before gently adding the head of cabbage

While the water comes to a boil; cook your rice and brown the ground beef along with the onions; add Seasoned Salt, Garlic Garlic, Onion Onion. Drain meat when browned to remove excess fat. In small bowl combine egg, milk, chili powder and Worcesteshire sauce.

Remove meat from heat add the cooked rice and allow to cool slightly (Holly's touch was to add 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar/jack cheese to the meat/rice mixture as well - it was good!!!) Add the egg/milk mixture to the meat and combine thoroughly.

The large pot of water should have come to a rolling boil by now, so gently add the head of cabbage and allow to boil for about 3 minutes, or until you start to see the first couple of leaves loosen slightly. Remove it from the water and carefully pull back one leaf at a time; you will want to trim out the main vein of the cabbage leaf - it can be rubbery and tough; You can return the cabbage to the water if you need to be able to loosen the layers further in. You will want about 12 cabbage leaves.

Take one leaf, slightly overlap the part where you removed the vein, add approx 1/4 cup of the filling mixture to the middle of the cabbage leaf; fold each side into the middle one over the next, then holding it together, roll from the end closest to you up to the top and use the top flap of the leaf to tuck over. You may want to use a toothpick as well, and carefully place in a crock pot or baking dish. Repeat for all leaves.

Combine the sauce, lemon juice, Splenda- brown sugar blend and Worcesteshire and pour over all of the rolls.

Cook in crock pot on low, for at least 4 hours - can go longer; or you can bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Enjoy!!!

It seems like a lot of work, but it is worth it, and it's a great crock pot meal for those dance nights or any other night when you want to walk in and have dinner ready to go.

Serves 4 (approx).

Low-Carb Stuffed Green Peppers

Here we go!!! The first of what I hope will be many entries in this...my new food blog!!! My approach to recipes, is to research a number of different cookbooks and on-line sites, look over the various approaches and then using my own culinary knowledge, come up with a simple and delicious recipe that is easy for people to make themselves. I plan to share these recipes with you as well as menu-planning, every day cook tips, entertaining ideas, and low-carb variations. Whether you like to cook or not, we all like to eat, and I want to encourage you to try new things and hope to help you have many kitchen successes which will inspire you to keep cooking!!


Tonight I made a classic, Stuffed Green Peppers...I try to make use of produce that is in season since it tastes so great and is typically less expensive. We belong to a produce co-op group and received some fantastic-looking peppers this weekend, so I wanted to make sure I took advantage of it!!!



Heather's Stuffed Green Peppers

4 large green peppers (you could certainly substitute another color)
1-1 1/4 pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup cooked rice (we use brown rice)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (divided)
1/2 - 3/4 c. thawed frozen corn or fresh (optional)
1 teaspoon Chili Powder

14 oz. can plain tomato sauce (not pasta sauce)
Worcestershire Sauce
Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic (you may use Garlic Powder)
Lemon juice
Splenda Brown Sugar Blend

Begin by cleaning the peppers...rinse off the outside of the peppers and then carefully cut around the top of each of the peppers so that you will be able to just lift the top off and most all of the seeds will come out with it. Drop each of the peppers into a pot of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. (This is just long enough to soften it slightly and start the release of some of the peppers fantastic seasoning juices). Remove the peppers and rinse with cold water, then turn upside down on a piece of paper towel to allow any excess water to escape.

While peppers are cooling, saute ground beef and chopped onion in a pan until beef is no longer pink and onions are clear...drain meat of any rendered fat. Add 2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce, 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Garlic seasoning,1/2 teaspoon of Seasoned Salt, 1 teaspoon Chili Powder, cooked rice and 3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese to meat mixture and combine thoroughly.

In a bowl, combine tomato sauce, with 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and 2 Tablespoons of Splenda Brown Sugar Blend.

Add approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cup of tomato sauce blend to the meat mixture until it looks moist.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and place green peppers in 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish, fill each pepper with meat mixture until just full to the rim of the pepper. Bake peppers uncovered at 350 for 25 minutes...then add the remaining 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese to sprinkle on the top of each pepper and bake 5 minutes further at 350.

Serves 4.

***COOK'S TIP*** When making your rice, try cooking your rice in broth/stock instead of water...it makes for much better tasting rice. I used beef broth in this particular recipe, but often times I will use chicken stock.

VARIATIONS - depending on your family's preferences, you could certainly change this up to give it more spice by increasing the amount of chili powder used, or add a few green chilis to the meat mixture. This could be made into more of an Italian style dish by adding Italian Seasonings, like oregano or a blend, instead of Chili Powder and using mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar.