English Muffin Pizzas

One of our FAVORITE meals around here, because Luc LOVES to help cook and it's so simple he can make his own! Plus it is a really fast meal for nights when you don't have much time.

You'll need:
-English muffins
-pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce (whatever your preference)
-shredded cheese (again, your preference. we like mozzarella)
-toppings like pepperoni, olives, chopped ham, pineapple, green peppers, bacon, etc. Whatever you like on your pizzas!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice English muffins in half, and place on  your baking sheet.
Spoon the sauce on to each muffin and then top with the cheese and desired toppings. Toddlers love making their own, so let them go crazy!

Bake for ten minutes, or until edges are brown and cheese is melted. I toss a salad and call it a good meal!

HOMEMADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP

Recipe from my mom!

You'll need:
4 cans chicken broth
2-3 chicken breasts
Noodles- you can use any kind you want. I like regular fettucini noodles, my mom likes to use the bowtie kind- whatever you like will work! Also, I never measure these, I just eyeball them.  I do about 4-5 cups cooked.
Carrots- I use 3/4 bag of baby carrots
1 small onion
1 cup sour cream
salt and pepper

Pour in your crockpot the cans of chicken broth and 1 can of water. Chop the carrots and onion and add to the broth. Boil chicken, dice, and add to the broth. Simmer on low for 4 hours or until carrots and onions are soft.

Boil the noodles until they are ALMOST done but not quite. Drain and add to your crockpot. Turn crockpot to high and let cook for 1 hour or until noodles are soft and done- i left mine cooking for over two hours last time and they were way too mushy. So check them periodically, stirring and testing softness.

At the very end, right before you're ready to serve it, salt and pepper to taste {not much salt needed} and stir in the sour cream. You can't add it earlier or it separates as it cooks. This add a bit of creaminess without making it heavy and it's so good!

Serve hot, and it's best with warm rolls of course. Enjoy!

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

This is a Thanksgiving classic, but it's so delicious, we like to eat it year round!

You'll need:

about 30-36 oz frozen whole green beans
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or milk
1 container French's onions
Salt and pepper to taste

Thaw your green beans in a strainer under hot water. Let them sit to dry.

In a large bowl, mix your two cans of cream of mushroom soup, soy sauce, and heavy cream or milk. (NOTE: I've made this recipe with either one and it always turns out yummy. Milk is, of course, the healthier of the two options so I use it most often.) Mix these together until you have a smooth, creamy sauce. Add salt and pepper generously, and stir some more.

When your beans are dry and thawed, stir them into your sauce until they are all covered. Then dump them into a 9x13 glass dish and cover with tinfoil.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 min or until bubbly.

Remove from the oven and generously sprinkle French's onions on top, covering the entire dish. Leave the tinfoil off and bake for an additional 5-10 min or until onions are crispy and browning in places. Remove and EAT!


P.S. This is a really easy recipe to make smaller or bigger:
For every bag of frozen green beans, it's 1 can of soup, 1 TBSP of soy sauce, and 3/4 cup milk.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

We have an obsession with this soup at our house, we eat it at least twice a month during the winter. It is delicious, and extremely easy to make.

I'm posting two recipes because they are both delicious. The first is amazing but I don't always have all the ingredients on hand (I never have half and half,Velveeta, or fresh broccoli) so I have simplified the recipe so I can make it whenever we want.

Here is the link to the first recipe:

http://southerncolor.blogspot.com/2011/11/panera-broccoli-cheese-soup.html


Simplified Recipe:

Broccoli Cheese Soup
1/4 c Butter
1/2 chopped onion
1/4 flour
2 c chicken stock or broth
2-3 c Milk (depends on how much you're making)
1/2- 1 lb frozen broccoli
1/2 c chopped carrot (optional)
2 c cheddar cheese (or more if you like it extra cheesy)
Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper

In a small saute pan cook onions and carrots in a little butter until tender.

In large pot: Melt 1/4 c butter. Add flour and stir until incorporated. Continue stirring and cooking flour and butter for a few min. Don't brown the flour.

Add chicken stock and milk to the butter/flour mixture. Add seasoning. Cook for about 5-10 min.

While base is cooking, de-frost broccoli in microwave or under warm water. If desire break broccoli pieces up into small bite size pieces.

Add onions, carrots, and broccoli to pot and cook for about 20 min.

Add cheese and stir until incorporated.

Taste, add more cheese and seasoning if desired.

Enjoy!

This recipe is easily adjustable to your taste buds. Add other seasonings if you want, add more cheese, add more milk to make it thinner. Play around with it and figure out what your family like! :) 

HOLIDAY HAM

Tis the season! You cannot mess this one up!

Cover the bottom of the crockpot with brown sugar. 
Place ham on top of the brown sugar and add pineapple tidbits with the juice. 
Cover that ham with the whole can of pineapple and juice! 
Sprinkle a few whole cloves in the crockpot too. 
Sprinkle ham with more brown sugar. Be generous!
Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. 

Voila!

BROWN SUGAR GARLIC CHICKEN

Another easy crock-pot dinner that is delicious! This dish can be as spicy or mild as you wish. It's tangy and sweet all at the same time. It's a staple in our house.

Ingredients:
4 Chicken breasts
1 C brown sugar
2/3 C vinegar
1/4 C Lemon Lime Soda
2-3 T minced garlic
2 T soy sauce
1 t pepper
2 T cornstarch
2 T water

Rice or noodles cooked
Red pepper flakes

Instructions:
1) Spray slow cooker with cooking spray, place chicken breasts inside

2) Mix brown sugar, vinegar, soda, garlic, soy sauce, pepper together and pour over chicken.

3) Cook low 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

4) Take chicken out, poor sauce into saucepan

5) Add cornstarch to water (mix well), add to sauce and bring to boil. Cook until a glaze. Shred chicken if desired. Serve over rice or noodles (we always do rice). Add red pepper flakes on top if desired. 

**My husband and I like our food spicy so I always add about 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes to step 2, and let it cook with everything else.

Enjoy!


This recipe originally came from Six Sister's Stuff. They have lots of delicious recipes, check them out! 

SMASHED POTATOES

picture via the pioneer woman

YOU GUYS!

I made these for the Elders last week and they seriously licked their plates. They were SO GOOD!

Find detailed instructions HERE

You'll need:

• 12 whole New Potatoes (or Other Small Round Potatoes)
• 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Kosher Salt To Taste
• Black Pepper To Taste
• Rosemary (or Other Herbs Of Choice) To Taste {I used a garlic herb mix I had on hand}

Instructions:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.

On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet leaving plenty of room between each potato.

With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes, rotate the potato masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with more olive oil.

Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available.)

Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

CROCKPOT CHICKEN CORDON BLEU

Chicken Cordon Bleu made easy! A delicious dinner that cooks itself.

You'll need:
6 Skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 can (10.75 oz) Cream of Chicken
1 C milk
4 ounces sliced ham
4 ounces sliced swiss cheese
1 (8 ounce) pkg bread stuffing mix
1/4 C butter melted

Instructions:
1) Mix Cream of Chicken & milk in small bowl. Pour enough mixture in crockpot to cover bottom.

2) Layer Chicken breast in crockpot.

3) Cover with ham then swiss cheese.

4) Pour remaining soup-stirring a little to distribute evenly.

5) Sprinkle stuffing on top- drizzle butter over stuffing.

Cook on low for 4 hours, High for 2-3 hours.

Enjoy!

BAKED CHICKEN PASTA

In Utah there is a restaurant called Firehouse Pizza. They are famous around Logan for their Baked Chicken Pasta. This recipe isn't a spot on copy-cat but it is the same idea and just as delicious! 

You'll need:

1/2 lb. Bacon
3 Chicken Breasts
1 lb. penne pasta
1 C swiss cheese
1 C mushrooms (fresh or canned)
1/2 lb ham
2 Jars Classico Alfredo Sauce
     -1 Garlic
     -1 Classic Alfredo

Instructions:
1) Slice & cook bacon, remove from greese.

2) Slice Chicken and cook in bacon greese until done.

3) Boil Pasta

4) In a seperate bowl combine cheese, ham, mushrooms, & Alfredo sauces. Stir.

5) Add chicken & noodles when cooked.

6) Poor in baking dish

7) Sprinkle bacon pieces on top

8) Bake at 375 degrees for 30 min.

Enjoy!

SALSA CHICKEN

Another crockpot favorite of mine, this one is so yummy and super easy!

you'll need:

2 chicken breasts
1 jar of your favorite salsa
1/2 cup lime juice
taco seasoning

Dump the chicken breasts in your crockpot and cover with the lime juice and the whole jar of salsa. I usually put a little water in my salsa jar to rinse it out and dump that in the crockpot too. Then sprinkle a generous amount of taco seasoning on top- probably about 2 tbsp {I never measure!} and turn your crockpot on- high for 4 hours, low for 6 hours or more. Your salsa chicken is done when it falls apart in the crockpot.

You can do just about ANYTHING with salsa chicken- we like it in quesadillas, taco salad, nachos, and all by itself with a side of rice and black beans {slice an avocado on top and it's heavenly!}.

BLACK BEAN SOUP

this soup is hands down, the best crockpot soup in my arsenal. it's amazing, especially on those freezing cold winter evenings that call for a little mexican food heaven.

trust me on this one, and make extra.

dump into your crockpot:

2 {15.5oz} cans black beans {don't drain}

1 can water

1 {14.5oz} can diced tomatoes

1 green pepper, chopped

1/4 chopped onion

2 shredded chicken breasts

1/2 packet fajita seasoning {or season to taste, however strong you want the flavor}

lime juice to taste

stir well and simmer on low for 4-6 hours

serve with shredded cheese and fresh avocado on top, or break out the tortilla chips

{makes about 4 servings}

FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

i think this is better than olive garden's- try it and let me know if you agree!

you'll need:

-1 pint heavy cream
-1 stick of butter (=1/2 cup)
-2 or 3 tablespoons cream cheese
-3/4 cup parmesan cheese (real shredded parmesan,not powder)
-1 teaspoon garlic powder or garlic salt
-salt and pepper to taste
-fettuccini noodles (i eyeball this)

in a saucepan, combine butter, heavy cream and cream cheese (sounds delicious already, no?). simmer until all is melted and mixed well- DO NOT allow it to boil. add the parmesan cheese and garlic powder. simmer for 15 min on low heat, stirring often. again, DO NOT boil it. the sauce separates when it boils.

pour the sauce over your cooked noodles and toss together until everything is coated in the deliciousness you just created FROM SCRATCH. salt and pepper if desired (i find salt isn't really needed, but pepper is lovely)

eat.

swoon.

eat more.

you're welcome!