Chili Mac with corn and green chilis

• Chili Mac with Corn and Green Chilis
• from:  Mel's Kitchen Cafe
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 pound ground beef or lean ground turkey
• 1 onion, minced
• 3/4 tablespoon chili powder (add more if you want more heat)
• 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander (substitute ground cumin for a smokier flavor)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• 8 ounces (2 cups) elbow macaroni
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 4.5-oz can chopped green chiles
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of cheddar and monterey jack but you can use pepper jack or a mexican shredded cheese blend)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef, onion, chili powder, coriander, cumin and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook the ground beef until it is no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat or grease (the amount will depend on how lean your beef is). Stir in garlic and brown sugar and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato sauce, water, and macaroni. Cover and cook, stirring often and keeping the heat at a steady simmer, until the macaroni is tender, about 12-15 minutes.
2. Stir in 1 cup of the cheese, frozen corn, green chiles and cilantro and sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese over the top. Cover and let sit off the heat until the cheese melts, about 2 minutes.

Slow Cooker Lemon Chicken

Slow Cooker Lemon Pepper Chicken

{makes 8 servings}

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon lemon pepper seasoning

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

Directions

Prepare your chicken by rinsing it and trimming the fat. I cut each breast into 2 pieces to make them more like large tenders.

In a shallow dish, combine the flour and 1 teaspoon of lemon pepper seasoning. Coat each piece of chicken in flour.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Once melted, brown each side of the chicken. You want them to be golden brown, but not cooked through because you’ll be cooking them in the slow cooker.

Spray the slow cooker (crockpot) with cooking spray and place the browned chicken into the bottom. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of lemon pepper seasoning on top of the chicken.

Mix together the lemon juice and chicken broth. Pour over the chicken and seasoning.

Cook on low for 3-4 hours. Enjoy!

Nutrition Information

{serving size = 1 chicken tender – recipe makes 8 servings}

125 calories, 4.1g fat, 4.1g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 19.5g protein

*Actual nutrition info may vary based on exact ingredients used. Recipe in MyFitnessPal as FG8 Slow Cooker Lemon Pepper Chicken.

Spaghetti Sauce with Ground Beef

This was so good and easy to put together.  I did not let it simmer for the full hour (I believe I only did it for 40 minutes) and it was still delicious.  And the kids loved it too.  Serve over cooked whole wheat pasta.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/158140/spaghetti-sauce-with-ground-beef/print/?recipeType=Recipe&servings=8

Recipe By:Hank's Mom

"This recipe has been handed down from my mother. It is a family favorite and will not be replaced! (Definite husband pleaser!)"

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small green bell pepper, diced
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (16 ounce) can tomato sauce

• 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Combine ground beef, onion, garlic, and green pepper in a large saucepan. Cook and stir until meat is brown and vegetables are tender. Drain grease.
2. Stir diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste into the pan. Season with oregano, basil, salt, and pepper. Simmer spaghetti sauce for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2016 Allrecipes.com 
Printed From Allrecipes.com 8/29/2016

White Chicken Chili

This White Chicken Chili is so flavorful.  Link here.

White Chicken Chili

Recipe by Our Best Bites

I call this a chili, but it’s really a soup consistency.
If you want it thicker, just reduce the amount of broth.

1 T Extra virgin Olive Oil
1 lb boneless chicken, cubed (about 3-4 boneless, skinless breasts)
1 medium onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans Great Northern Beans
1 3.5 oz can green chilies
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t dried oregano leaves
1/2 t coriander
1/2 t salt
fresh cracked pepper
1 lime
1/2 C chopped cilantro

1 32oz box chicken brothCondiments: (in addition to measurements above)
Sour cream
Chopped cilantro
Pepperjack or Jack cheese, shredded
Avocado
Tortilla Chips or make your own tortilla strips

In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion and cook for about 2 minutes- just until it starts to become translucent. While onions are cooking, drain beans and rinse with cold water and set aside. Sprinkle chopped chicken with a little salt and pepper and add to pot. Add garlic as well. Cook until there’s no more visible pink on the chicken, probably 3-4 minutes.Then add green chills- along with all of the juices in the can. Add beans, cumin, oregano, coriander, salt, and a few turns of fresh cracked pepper. Stir to combine and then add chicken broth.Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and add the juice from one lime and the 1/2 C chopped cilantro. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls and top with sour cream. Serve with condiments. If you don’t have all those condiments- at least have sour cream! But honestly, it’s best with everything 

Makes about 8 cups of soup.

Cowboy Quesadillas from Our Best Bites

Cowboy quesadillas
quick ,easy, delicious

Cowboy Quesadillas
Recipe by Our Best Bites

1/2 C white rice
1/3 C black beans
1 cup diced cooked chicken
1/3 C fresh frozen corn kernels (no need to thaw)
2/3 C diced tomato
3 Tbs sliced green onion
1 1/2 C shredded cheese (any type or combo you like)
1/4 C bbq sauce
6 small tortillas (fajita size, about 6″)

Dipping Sauce
equal parts bbq sauce and ranch dressing (here’s our favorite)

Combine rice, beans, chicken, corn, tomato, green onion and shredded cheese.  Add bbq sauce and stir to combine.  Place about 1/3 C of mixture on half of each tortilla and fold over to close.

Heat a skillet to medium heat on the stove top.  When hot, spray lightly with cooking spray, or drizzle with canola or olive oil.  Place quesadillas in pan and cook for 2-4 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crisp.  Flip and repeat on opposite side.  Cool for a few minutes and then serve with BBQ-Ranch dipping sauce.

Can be modified to gluten free by using gluten free bbq sauce, and corn tortillas

Slow Cooker Taco Chicken from Our Best Bites**

recipe to come

Chicken Stir Fry (Sunbird packet)**

recipe to come

Chicken Fajitas (Seasoning Mix)**

recipe to come

Creamy Potato Crockpot Soup

Creamy Potato Crockpot Soup
from: Nikki Holmstead

5 lbs of Russet potatoes, washed but not peeled. Diced into 1/2 in cubes
1 large yellow onion, diced (use as much or little onion as you like)
4 cloves of garlic minced (feel free to add more if you love garlic)
8 cups of chicken stock
16 oz cream cheese (low fat works great)
1 tbs seasoned salt or all purpose seasoning

Garnishes:

Crumbled Bacon
Shredded Cheese
Green Onions

Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning and chicken stock to slow cooker. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours. (When I halved this reciped it took less time to cook about 1-2 hours less.)
Remove 1/2 to 1/3 of the soup and puree. An immersion blender works great for this, but a potato masher would work or a hand mixer. Return pureed portion to the crockpot with the cream cheese.
Stir until the soup is well blended. Allow cream cheese to melt and heat through.
Serve with your choice of garnishes. Tastes great in bread bowl.

Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce

I love this one from Our Best Bites.

Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce
Recipe by Our Best Bites

12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)
4 oz bacon or pancetta, (about 4 strips bacon)*
3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced
2 Tbs flour
2 C milk
¾ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.

Place bacon in a medium sized skillet on the stove-top at medium-high heat. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and set on paper towels to drain. Reserve two tablespoons bacon drippings in pan and discard the rest. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice. Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce. (Note: I really love lemon so I added this to my tastes. If you don’t want as strong of a lemon flavor, I suggest cutting it down to 1 teaspoon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice) . Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

* For a vegetarian meal, omit bacon.

Serves 4-6

Burrito Surpremo

This is not healthy in my opinion, at all. But Brent loves it (probably because it's not healthy) and it is so easy and I think it tastes yummy.

Burrito Supremo
from Relief Society Activity, Glendale Stake

Ingredients:
-1 pkg. frozen burritos, thawed
-1 can green enchilada sauce
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-1 8 oz. container sour cream, light is good

Place burritos in 9x13 pan. Mix together enchilada sauce, soup, and sour cream. Pour over burritos. Sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until bubbly. Garnish with slice olives, green onions, or tomatoes.

Simple Salisbury Steak

Simple Salisbury Steak

-1 lb. Ground beef
-1 can cream of mushroom soup
-1/3 c bread crumbs
-1 egg, beaten
-1 small onion, finely chopped
-1 TBSP vegetable oil
-1 ½ c sliced mushrooms ( or 2 – 4 oz. Cans)

-thoroughly mix the beef, ¼ c of soup, bread crumbs, egg, and onion in medium bowl. Shape the mixture into 4 (½ in. thick) burgers.
-heat oil in a 10 in. skillet over medium high heat. Add the burgers and cook until well browned on both sides. Remove the burgers with slotted spatula and set aside.
-stir the remaining soup and mushrooms into the skillet. Heat to a boil. Return the burgers to the skillet and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 minute or until the burgers are cooked through.

Ranchers Sloppy Joes

Rancher's Sloppy Joes (from Make A Mix)

-1 - 1 1/4 lb. -1/2 c ketchup. + some extra to add moisture
-1/4 c brown sugar -1 TBSP mustard
-2 TBSP vinegar -6 hamburger buns

In a medium saucepan, combine Meat Sauce Mix, brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, and mustard. Cover and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, until heated through. Serve over hamburger buns. Serves 6


**Kat's Notes: unlike my other sloppy joe recipe these are not healthified but they taste so good.

Easy Way Lasagna

My all time favorite lasagna recipe to make. It tastes just how mom used to make.

Easy Way Lasagna

by MizzNezz from Food.com, slightly adapted
1¼ hours | 10 min prep
SERVES 8
- 9 lasagna noodles
• 1 (26 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 16 ounces cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 3 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
1. In 13x9 pan, spoon a little of the sauce.
2. Place 3 lasagna noodles on the sauce.
3. Mix cottage cheese, egg, and parmesan cheese in a bowl.
4. Spread 1/3 of this over noodles.
5. Add 1/3 of the sauce.
6. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella.
7. Now, add 3 more noodles, 1/3 more cottage cheese mixture, 1/3 more sauce.
8. Add 1 cup more mozzarella cheese.
9. One more time, do the layers.
10. Bake in 350°F oven for about 1 hour.
11. Top should be light brown and bubbly.

Chicken Roll Ups

Another favorite comfort recipe.

Chicken Roll-Ups
by peppermintkitty from Food.com
1¼ hours | 50 min prep
SERVES 4
• 2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons onions or chives, chopped
• 2 tablespoons pimientos
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash pepper
• 1 (8 ounce) can crescent rolls
• crouton (optional) or corn flakes, crushed (optional)
• butter or margarine, melted
1. Boil chicken until done and no pink remains.
2. Cool and chop into small cubes.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the cream cheese, butter, onion, pimento, milk, salt, and pepper.
4. Stir in chicken and set aside. Open crescent rolls and place each piece of dough flat on a lightly greased baking sheet. Place several tablespoons of chicken mixture on the center of each piece of dough.
5. Roll up dough around the chicken mixture making sure are edges are sealed.
6. Dip each chicken roll in melted butter and roll in the crushed croutons or corn flakes (optional). Place on baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Serve with chicken gravy if desired.
8. To make chicken gravy add 1 can cream of chicken soup to a small saucepan.
9. Add 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice and stir well.
10. Add milk or sour cream to thin to desired consistency.
11. Cook over low heat until hot. Serve over chicken roll-ups.

Self Crust Cheese Tart

Self Crust Cheese Tart
from Make-A-Mix by Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, and Madeline Westover

Technically not vegetarian because of the bacon but it can easily be vegetarian.

Ingredients:
4 oz. (1 cup) shredded cheese (I’ve used swiss and cheddar both are good)
4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 eggs
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg, optional (but I recommend it)
1 ½ cups milk
1 tsp. dried minced onion
1/3 cup Bisquick mix (or other baking mix of choice, similar to Bisquick).

Preheat oven to 350. (original recipe says 325 but this would yield uncooked eggs and/or take forever to cook). Generously spray 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Sprinkle bottom and sides of pie plate with paprika. Layer cheese and bacon on bottom of pie plate. Combine eggs, salt, nutmeg, milk, onion, and baking mix in a blender. Blend at medium speed about 1 minute, until thoroughly mixed. Pour over cheese and bacon in pie plate. Bake at 30-40 minutes (40 is what I need, even at the higher temperature), until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve hot. Yield 6 servings.

Another option: substitute fresh sliced tomatoes for the bacon and add 2-3 tsps. Of dried basil or tarragon leaves

BBQ Cups

BBQ cups (from the Four Ingredient Cookbook)

-1 lb. ground beef, cooked -1 -2 cans refrigerater biscuits ( 10 ct )
-BBQ sauce to taste - ¾ c grated cheddar cheese

Combine ground beef and BBQ sauce in a sauce pan and heat on medium for 10 minutes, till heated through. Place biscuits in lightly greased muffin cups, pressing dough up the side edge of cup. Spoon meat mixture into cups. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or when biscuits are golden.

**Kat’s note: I also like to add red and green bell pepper when I cook the ground beef, or celery and sometimes even spinach. Just to sneak some extra veggies in there.

Ranae's Chicken Casserole

From my old roomie Ranae, adapted for pre-cooked chicken.


Ranae's Chicken Casserole

-8 TBSP butter, divided
-2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
-4-6 slices swiss cheese
-1 can cream of chicken soup
-1/2 can milk
-1 pkg. Seasoned croutons, crushed.

Put 6 TBSP butter in 9x13 pan. Add chicken. Place cheese squared on top of chicken. Mix soup and milk completely and pour over cheese and chicken. Sprinkle croutons on top. Melt remaining 2 TBSP butter and drizzle over top. Bake at 325 degrees for 30-45 min, or until hot and bubbly

Tex-Mex Cavatappi

Tex-Mex Cavatappi (from the kitchen of Nikki Holmstead)

½ lb. ground beef ¼ c chopped cilantro
1 ½ tsp chili powder 1 ½ c shredded cheddar cheese
2 c chunky red salsa salt and pepper to taste
¾ lb. Cavatappi pasta
2 tsp lime juice

Combine ground beef, chili powder, salt and pepper in a large frying pan on medium heat for 3 minutes. Add salsa and simmer over low about 10 minutes. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and toss with hamburger mixture, lime juice, cilantro and 1 c of cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with remaining ½ c heese and serve with lime wedges if desired.

Tater Tot Casserole

One of my favorite comfort meals. I always half this for us since we're a small family.

Tater Tot Casserole

2 lb. ground beef, cooked
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1(2 lb) bag frozen tater tots

Place ingredients in a 13x9 pan in the order listed above, making sure to spread the soup throughout. Bake at 350 degrees covered 45 minutes and uncovered for 15 minutes.  Can be halved easily.