Tuna Noodle Casserole

This is one of those meals that I throw together when all of the sudden out of nowhere the clock says 5:45 PM and I haven't given supper the teeniest tiniest thought.  It is very fast to prepare and doesn't really need to bake for too long at all.  Just about anyone would have every one of these ingredients at any given time as well.

You will need:

•  2 1/2 cups Egg Noodles (If I don't have egg noodles I just use whatever kind of pasta I have and it works just as well)
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 4 Tablespoons Flour
• Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 2 cups Milk
• 2 cups Colby Jack Cheese
• 2 or 3 cans (small cans) Chunk White Tuna
• Plain Potato Chips Or Ritz style Crackers, Crushed

Preheat oven to 400. Boil noodles until nice and tender. 
In a medium sauce pan on medium heat melt the butter then add the flour and whisk well.  Be sure to incorporate them as soon as you put the flour in. Then add the other seasonings and continue to whisk.  Once well incorporated, pour in the milk, increase heat a medium high and whisk some more.  -I sound like a broken record I know but it truly is important, you want the butter, flour, and milk to become one ingredient and it will also burn quickly-
Once the mixture starts to boil it will start to thicken.  Once thick remove from heat and stir in cheese and tuna. 
Drain noodles and pour into a sprayed 9x9 baking dish. Pour the cheesy tuna mixture over the top and mix through it a little. 
Now, crumble an even layer of potato chips or crackers over the top and bake uncovered for about twenty minutes or so. 
Serve with a green salad and garlic bread.

...

I think this crazy chapter in my life is slowing down (((KNOCK ON WOOD))) and I hope to get back to some of the things I enjoy. 

I have accutally been making my family decent meals!  This is something that truely makes me happy.  A local grocery store had a killer deal on chicken wings, thighs, and drumbsticks so I got 5 packages.  Which means I had to do some recipe searching because I have never cooked with any of these cuts before.  I made the obvious Fried Chicken on Tuesday night.  I used the recipe out of  The Pionee Woman's cookbook. I also made these delicious Popovers they were so easy and good.  They are like my Hoot-N-Nanny Pancakes but a dinner roll vergan.  YUM

For those of you Utahians I am thinking about hosting a few Food Canning/Preseving classes. Leave me a comment if you might be interested or know someone that would be.

I have so many things I need to sew and so many things I want to make for my new home but so little time.  My list is getting longer and longer.  Here are some ideas that are on my list...

Knot So Hard Flip Flops

Drunken Gummie Bears

I am also going to be making very easy shmeazy citronella oil out door lanterns for my new patio... My next tutorial.  COMING VERY SOON!!!

Shepherd's Pie

This Shepherd's Pie is very normal... I just searched through other recipes for Shepherd's Pie and all of them that I saw was... I'm not gonna lie... a bit weird.  This is a recipe my mother in law has made for years and years and I have never heard anyone complain about anything she has ever made.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups mashed potatoes (about 10-12 medium sized potatoes) skinned or not its up to you
• 1 lbs ground beef
• onion (optional)
• about 3 cups frozen green beans
• about 2 cups frozen corn
• 2 cans tomato sauce or soup (I like the sauce)
• 2 cups grated cheese (I always keep Colby Jack cheese in my house so that's what I use)

Here are my mashed potatoes...  kinda a wierd picture, sorry, but that is my masher if you were wondering.

Now brown the ground beef in a medium sized skillet over medium heat.  If you are choosing to use onions, chop them and put them in with the hamburger to cook while browning.  At this point I also like to season the burger with salt, pepper, & garlic powder.

In a medium sized pot fill it with hot water about 1/2 full. Bring to boil.  Once boiling add beans & corn, cover, and bring to boil again stirring a few times.  Once the water begins to boil let cook for about 1 minute and remove from heat. Drain. And cover again to keep warm.

In a dutch oven or a 9x13 baking dish you will add all the ingredients in layers in this order...
First the ground beef then the green beans and corn.  Now you will pour the tomato over the mixture.

 Now spoon the mashed taters on top of that.  The first time I made this I spread them over the top but quickly learned that you DO NOT SPREAD the taters... the correct way would be to spoon globs of taters over the top of the beans and corn.  There is no scientific 'nor logical reason to spoon globs instead spread.  But if you ask my husband life would never be the same, it would knock the earth off it's axis.

Now just sprinkle the cheese over the potatoes and bake for about 15 (if all the ingredients were still good and hot) and until the cheese is ooy gooy and looks delicious...

Serve and be very cautious this stuff is HOT!

Family Sized Baked Burrito

Oh how I love this...

3 cups cooked chicken, cubed

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 lime, juiced

3/4 cup salsa, thick & chunky

1 clove garlic, pressed
1 1/2 cups Colby Jack cheese, shredded & divided
4 burrito-sized flour tortillas (11-11 1/2 inches)
3/4 can refried beans
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
Optional: Lettuce, Avacodo, salsa, Sour Cream...

Preheat oven to 425. In medium sized microwaveable bowl mix chicken, onion, lime juice, salsa & garlic together.

 Microwave this mixture for about 3 minutes.
Start heating the beans in a small sauce pan.

Arrange tortillas like a plus sign. Starting with the left one, work in a clockwise fashion.  I don't know how else to describe it.  I hope this picture help you.  Be sure to over lap them!

Take your chicken mixture out of the microwave and mix in about a 1/2 cup cheese.

Spread your hot beans over the tortillas in a square shape. Then your chicken mixture over that.

Now close up your burrito starting with the first on the left and work clockwise as well.

 *** Be sure your wee little one is helping!  It makes it taste that much better.



Top it with your sliced tomatoes and the rest of the cheese.

Place it in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges of the tortilla starts to brown and the cheese is melted.

Cut with a pizza cutter and serve.

"Gourmet" Salmon

Now, I am all but gourmet but this salmon is SO gourmet... meaning it is SO SO SO delicious!  But oh so simple and quick!  Really, give it 15 minutes to be on your plate.

Ingredients: 

Salmon ( I buy this individually wrapped "steaks")

Fish & Seafood Seasoning I HIGHLY recommend Spade L Ranch. In my area I find it in Smiths or Albertsons 

Sesame Seed Oil (near the asian food in any grocery store) 

Here is a link to find this amazing seasoning in your area. No, I'm not being reimbursed at all for this I just REALLY like every one of their seasonings!  Click here to find it Spade L Ranch Seasonings

 If you are like me, for whatever reason I have a terribly hard time getting my meat out of the freezer in the morning to thaw it out for dinner and always end up doing it the speedy quick "not recommended" way.  With fish you NEVER want to defrost it in the microwave!  Grab a large bowl, place the fish in it and fill it with luke warm to cool water.  Do not use hot water.  The hot water can cook the fish instead of thawing.  You can thaw a chunck of fish in about ten minutes doing it this way... you may want to add new luke warm water a few different times to speed the process up even more.

Season one side of the salmon.  With this seasoning it takes about 1 1/2 Tablespoons.  Really just a guess though.

 Now drizzle about a Tablespoon of Sesame Seed Oil into a frying pan... this oil has loads & loads of flavor so go easy.  If you think you need more while the fish is cooking I would probably use some olive oil.

 Heat the pan on a medium high heat.  Let it get good and hot before you place the fillets in it.  For beauty purposes set the salmon in with the seasoned side up.

 Depending on the thickness you should let these cook for about four minutes on this side before turning.  You can check the ends to see how it's cooking.  As it cooks the meat will become a light/pale pink.  Wait to turn it until it is just more than half way up.

 To make sure it is thoroughly cooked; check the ends once again it should be that pretty pink color throughout.  Also, it should flake when a fork is inserted into it and pulled back a bit with the grain of the meat.  You do not want to over cook fish, stay close!

Serve with this Pecan Rice  and Cheesy Green Beans.

Thanks!

Orange Chicken

Okay, I was standing in my kitchen last night wondering what in the world I was going to make for dinner.  I didn't want one of the usuals that I always make.  I wanted something new I wanted something with fllaaavvoor... I wanted Orange Chicken!
So what did I do?  I got on my favorite recipe website Tasty Kitchen and found me a flavor packed recipe.
And look!  There was a blog link attached to the recipe so CHECK IT OUT... Better Than Takeout Orange Chicken.  I don't know about you but when I think of Asian food it kinda intimidates me, okay okay it really intimidates me.  No need to be scared with this one, it's easy shmeazy!  And it has "normal" ingredients, meaning I had almost everything in my house and what I didn't have I improvised.
I always have ginger seasoning in my spice cupboard but must have ran out.  Cause I didn't have any so I just left it out, I think it's needed though and I'm sure fresh ginger root would be best like the recipe calls for.  I didn't have panko crumbs either, so I used flour instead. The chicken turned out great and even had a good crunch but the panko would have a better crunch.
Now, I have a confession to make... I have a problem... dun dun duuuunnnn...  I tend to add more of my favorite ingredients/spices than recipes call for. I do this all the time and sometimes it gets me into trouble.  I added WAY TO MUCH Orange Zest :-(  My husband couldn't get past my orange flavoring... So I had to confess to him my problem. 
He fixed his plate by putting Worcestershire Sauce on his orange chicken Y U C K uggh, SO weird! (That's how he "fixes" anything he doesn't like.) 
It really wasn't t h a t   b a d but next time I make this recipe, and I will make it again and again and probably again and again I will refrain and just use one tablespoon of orange zest and show my silly husband that YOU DON'T PUT WORCESTER ON ORANGE CHICKEN! 

Whiskey Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Oh My Heck! These are Soooooooo good! Really, you have got to try these. I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, & dinner.
The alcohol cooks out before you even put the sweet potatoes in the pan so don't be worried about feeding them to grandma or kids, it just adds such an amazing flavor.

You will need:
■1 stick of butter, divided
■2 -3 lbs Sweet Potato, cubed
■1/2 cup your favorite Whiskey
■1 cup Brown Sugar
■1 teaspoon salt
■black pepper to taste

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add sweet potatoes to brown just a little, do not stir around. Remove from skillet.

Pour in whiskey and allow to evaporate 30 seconds (WARNING: if you are using a gas stove remove from burner to pour and never pour directly from bottle. Alcohol is very flammable!).

Reduce heat to medium, and add remaining butter. When butter melts, sprinkle brown sugar over the top. Stir together, then add potatoes to skillet. Cover, and continue cooking for 5 minutes.

Remove lid and add salt and pepper. Continue cooking until potatoes are done and glaze is thick, about 5 more minutes.

Pour into serving dish and enjoy.

I've found a few similar recipes that use carrots instead of sweet potatoes, so I tried it.  It is very good too!!!

Tin Foil Dinners

Okay here is a super easy dinner for you. It's pretty common around here but I know I forget about my favorite meals all the time.
Servings 4
You will need:
■1 lbs Ground Beef, into 4 patties
■1 bag Baby Carrots
■4 Potatoes, cubed into fairly small bite sized pieces
■1 Onion, sliced
■1 Bell Pepper, cleaned out and sliced
■1 package Lil Smokies
■Pepper
■Salt
■Garlic Powder
■Butter
■Tin Foil

*Keep in mind any of this is optional. That is except for the tin foil, it wouldn't be a tin foil dinner if you didn't use the tin foil. You can always add any favorite veggies in with it. The Bell Pepper and Onion give it such a great flavor though.

1.Preheat oven to 400.

2.Rip off 4 good sized pieces of Tin Foil. Don't be afaid to have a little extra, it will be much better than not having enough.

3.Place each hamburger pattie on seperate foils and season. Make a mountain of veggies and Lil Smokies on top of the burger.

4.Season.

5.Place about 1/2 Tablespoon of butter on each mountain.

6.Now your going to fold the foil in half length wise and fold the edges over several times to seal it.

7.Fold the ends very tightly.

8.Place on cookie sheet and place in oven.  Or place directly onto hot BBQ Grill or hot coals of a fire, you choose.

9.Bake for about 40 minutes or so. Cook time depends on the size of you potatoes and carrots so if you need it done quicker cut them smaller.

10.Carefully unfold one end of foil and check potatoes with a fork. Make sure to cook until tender.


See... Very Simple.

Five Can Casserole

Mmmmmm.... This is a recipe that may seem to be a bit weird and unusual but it is SO delicious.  You will love it!  It's very simple and also quite fast.  It's called five can casserole I am assuming because it is supposed to use five cans of ingredients to build... but it's not exactly five cans.

You will need:

1 or 2 cans of chicken, drained (found by tuna in your supermarket) or 2 chicken breasts boiled and cut into chunks
2 cans Cream of Chicken or substitue 1 can Chicken & Rice soup
1 bag Hard Chinese Noddles
1 can Mushrooms, sliced or chopped (OPTIONAL)
1/2 cup milk
Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In dutch oven or casserole dish combine soup and chicken.

Add Chinese Noddles

Pepper

Now add about 1/2 cup of milk, the milk is only to moisten the dish so if you feel like you need more then just add more milk.

Bake covered for about 30 minutes or until heated thoroughly. 

Salt & Pepper to taste and enjoy one of my favorite simple dishes.

Tater Tot Casserole

This is another very easy and fast dinner that ANYONE can do. It's one that I grew up on as well. I would have to call my best friend every time my mom made this so she could come over for dinner. It was her favorite.

You will need:
1 lbs ground beef
1/2 medium onion or dehydrated onion
2 cream of mushroom soup
1 lbs frozen tater tots
1/2 cup milk
pepper
1 cup colby jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 Brown 1 lbs of burger with onion on a medium heat.  If you have a dutch oven or pot that can be used on the stove and baked in the oven that would be best!  If not no worries.  Use whatever pan you normally brown burger in.

 While still on the stove stir in Mushroom Soup.

 Then dump the Tater Tots in.

 Now have your three year old man cub stir it really really really good (if you don't have a three year old man cub use some kind of substitution,  this is what works best at my home!)

 Okay stir a little better that this picture shows.  Cover and place in oven.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until Tots are thoroughly hot. 

Sprinkle cheese over the top, let melt, and serve. 

If you enjoy this only half as much as my dear friend does, you will love me!

Slow Cooker Roast

Okay, I know that most people only cook beef and I love beef but I had an inquiry about preparing Elk. I also love Elk. I've heard all my life, Elk & Deer (game meat) are so "gamey" and hard to cook and taste good. Well, I've a lot of both. Elk is far less "gamey" than deer and I've substituted it in every meal I make. If it calls for beef I've tried it with Elk and you can too. "Why would I want to use Elk in place of beef?", you ask... Elks fat percentage is naturally almost nothing! And you and or your husband, father, brother may enjoy hunting which makes it very inexpensive. So, feel fee to use elk our beef for this. You will need: 1 elk or beef roast, thawed Water French onion soup mix Beef bullion Garlic Powder Onion Salt Pepper Carrots Potatoes Brown the outside of the roast in a frying pan sprayed with cooking spay on high, so the entire outside of the roast is brown. Place in slow cooker with about 24 oz. of water. Sprinkle onion soup mix, garlic powder, and a bit of salt and pepper over the roast. And let cook for an hour or two.

Next slice up some onion and place over the roast then let them cook until transparent. At this point make sure you still have enough liquid in the pot, if not add more water.

Now put the largely chopped potatoes & carrots in and cook for about an hour or until done but not mushy.

Slice roast and place on serving dish with potatoes and carrots and enjoy.

Stuffed French Bread

This is something my mom made growing up and now I make for my family.  It is easy & pretty fast as long as you're not having a night like I did making this... you will see I had a few issues.

Ingredients needed:

1 loaf of French Bread (the fatter the better!)

1/2 medium Onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon butter

1 lbs. Ground Beef

Garlic Powder to taste

Season Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 cup Evaporated Milk

1 can Mushrooms (OPTIONAL!!!)

1 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat your oven to 350.  Start out by Sauteing your Onion in the butter over a medium high heat.  Once you have the onions going good add your burger and start breaking up.  When it starts browning season with Garlic Powder, Season Salt, & Pepper.

While the meat is cooking cut the end off of the French Bread then with your fingers begin to hallow it by pulling out the insides.  The entire loaf needs to be empty.  This is why the fatter the loaf the better.  This loaf was not so thick so I ended up cutting it in half to be able to hallow it entirely.

When the meat is fully cooked mix in the Cream of Mushroom Soup, Evaporated Milk, & Mushrooms if you wish... I DO NOT WISH.  Also, break up some of the bread's guts you have pulled out and mix them in the meat mixture.

 I will tell you something that I wish my family did not know about me... I have a phobia.  Apparently it is called Mycophobia, it is the fear of mushrooms.  Why do I wish my family didn't know about this??? Because they are ruthless and chase me around with them or stick them in my face to make me cry... this does NOT help with my fear, it only makes it worse.

 Now, please, please, please add the cheese! I forgot to add the cheese and started stuffing the bread.  But I did notice and had to dump it out into the pan, add the cheese, and re stuff the bread.

 This is when you will want to start stuffing the loaf.  Use a large spoon, it's not too hard.

 This is what you don't want to see! My husband made a MESS in my oven (I know it's gross!) and I forgot about it.  There was smoke billowing out of the vent and door... So, I turned the oven off, opened a window, and started the BBQ.

Now once the loaf is stuffed wrap it in tinfoil and stick it in your oven (or BBQ).  You're not cooking it you're just warming the bread. 

 While it's in the oven clean up... start out with what is left in the pan.

It's quite yummy so make it disappear!

Yep, lick the spoon.

Viola!

About 10 -15 minutes is good in the oven.  Serve with some cooked veggies!

Turkey Taquitos

Last night was a super easy dinner night.  I took out the bag of leftover turkey, some corn tortillas, and a box of Spanish Style Rice A Roni (shhh... don't tell I used a box).  I started the rice first according to the directions and then got another pan on the stove and poured vegetable oil in the bottom, about a 1/2 inch is enough.  Turn the burner to a high medium.  Then I started to roll a little turkey into the tortillas.  It only takes a little bit, if you use too much meat the tortillas will rip and break apart.  When the oil is hot (you can test by dropping a piece of meat or tortilla in it.  If its hot enough it will sizzle rapidly.) use two sets of tongs to place the taquitos into the oil with the "seam" down.  Line a plate with paper towel.  You may need to turn the taquitos to cook the other side depending on how much oil you poured.  When taquitos are crispy, use tongs to remove from the oil.  Tilt over the pan and let any excess oil drain out then set on paper towel and soak up extra oil. 
Set the table with sour cream, salsa or hot sauce and the rice.  Enjoy!

Turkey Pot Pie

Okay, the first pot pie recipe I ever tried to make was The Pioneer Woman's pot pie.  Yes, I do like her... I really really do! ALOT!  I've never tried a recipe I didn't love of hers.  So this is very close to her recipe, though it does have a few variations.  I will be making this in single serving pie tins this time. But the recipe is perfect for a 9" pie dish or an 8x8 baking dish. 
Before you get too carried away with the pot pie... what will you do for a crust?  You have a couple options, I guess you could buy an already made crust in the freezer section of your supermarket or  you could make an amazing crust that you could really be proud of.  And here is how... The Perfect Pie Crust (click on this link).

You will need:

• 3 celery stalks, finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups)    
• 3 medium carrots, peeled & diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 5 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)
• 2-3 cups fully cooked turkey, shredded or cut into bitesized pieces (I like more than less)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon ground thyme
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• Perfect Pie Crust

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Saute your diced celery, carrots, onion, & peas until they start turning translucent.  This should take just a few minutes.
3. Add the turkey and stir to combine.  Sprinkle the flour over the mixture evenly and stir to combine.  Cook for a few minutes stirring gently.
4. Pour in chicken broth stirring constantly, add the bouillon cube. This will make a gravy.
5. Stir in cream and reduce your heat to low.  Allow the cream to thcken your mixture for 4-5 minutes.  Season with Thyme, Salt, & Pepper.  Remove from heat and make sure it is adequately seasoned especcially with salt.
6. Now pour into a pie dish.
7. Roll out the crust about an inch larger than the pie dish.  Place ontop of chicken, tuck excess dough underneath, and press into dish along the edges a little. 
8. Cut slits into crust to vent while baking.  I like to make hearts or other shapes.
9.   Remove from oven when crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes. 
10. Let stand for ten minutes and serve.

Note: Double this recipe to make two seperate pies. Line two pie dishes with plastic wrap, 2 layers puts me at ease.  Assemble pies as usual.  Instead of baking, freeze.  When pie is completely frozen remove pies from dishes with help from the plastic wrap.  Wrap pies with more plastic wrap and place in seperate gallon freezer bag and freeze for another day. Don't forget to use a marker and write the contents of the bag and the date on the bag.