Crockpot Chicken Asparagus Macaroni

I really wanted to go out to dinner. There is something so nice about, someone else's kitchen getting messed up and someone else getting to do the dishes. However, a home cooked meal is safe and can be healthy. Safe because you control what goes into it and how it is prepared. Healthy because you can can make it lower in fat and you choose the quality of your ingredients.


Crockpot Chicken Asparagus Macaroni

2 10 3/4 ounce cans Campbell's 98 percent Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup
8 ounces Light Sour Cream
8 ounces low fat milk
A few shakes Lawry's Garlic Salt
A few shakes ground red pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard seed
2 cups cooked and diced chicken (breast or thigh meat)
1 cup cooked asparagus
1/2 cup diced red, green and yellow bell pepper
3 green onions diced
1 16 ounce bag of large elbow macaroni
1 cup mozzarella
2 cups cheddar cheese

Spray your crockpot bowl with oil. Combine soup, sour cream and milk in the crockpot bowl. Add seasonings, stir and set aside. Boil the macaroni for six minutes. Drain and set aside. Add chicken and vegetables to the soup mixture. Now add hot macaroni and stir. Add Cheeses and stir. Put the lid on the crockpot and set the temp to high. Cook in the crockpot for tow hours. Serve Crockpot Chicken Asparagus Macaroni with a healthy lettuce salad.

Twisted Overnight Casserole

When I started this blog a couple years ago, my first post was in January and it featured casseroles. My Grandma John's Overnight Casserole. Below you will find a twist on GJ's Casserole.

Twisted Overnight Casserole

2 cups Rotelle Pasta
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Celery Soup
One and a half soup cans of Low fat milk
2 teaspoons pimento
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried chives
1 tablespoon minced onion
A few shakes Lawry's Garlic Salt
a couple shakes ground red pepper
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
2 cooked chicken breasts shredded

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese to top casserole and
1/2 cup buttered bread crumbs, crushed croutons, buttered cornflakes or smashed up cheese it. Use to top casserole the last 15-20 minutes of cooking time.

Combine soups, milk, pimentos, seasoning and cheeses in a medium bowl and stir. Add pasta and stir. Spray the bottom of a medium/large casserole dish with no stick cooking oil spray. Layer some pieces of chicken on the bottom. Spoon some of the soup mixture over chicken. Layer more chicken and then soup until all ingredients are used up.

Refrigerate overnight! Take out when ready to cook. Bake at 375 degrees F for an hour or until casserole is bubbly and cheese topping is melted.

Crispy Faux Fried Chicken Nuggets Or Strips

A day ago, I took some chicken out of the freezer. I thawed it in the fridge a day. It was still frozen. So I bathed it in a bath of buttermilk and some spices and created something wonderful.

Crispy Faux Fried Chicken Nuggets or Strips

Chicken breast (boneless and skinless) cut into bite size pieces
buttermilk
Lawrys Seasoning salt
ground red pepper

Panko Bread crumbs or crushed crackers
salt and pepper

Put your chicken pieces in a bowl. Sprinkle chicken with the seasonings. Pour enough buttermilk to cover and stir until pieces are bathing in the milk. Cover and put bowl in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to cook your Crispy Faux Fried Chicken Nuggets or Strips. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Remove chicken from the fridge. On a plate pour a mound of Panko Bread crumbs or crushed crackers. Use a fork and remove a piece of chicken from the buttermilk bath. Coat both sides of chicken in crumbs and place on a baking sheet. Do this to all of your chicken pieces, adding more crumbs as needed to the mound on the plate to coat pieces. Sprinkle the tops of crumbed chicken pieces with a little salt and pepper.

Pop the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes until pieces of chicken are cooked.

Serve with Seasoned corn and Mashed potatos or baked potatos. Enjoy.

Ode To Fall Crockpot Roast

For some, fall has come. Yesterday it was 103 degrees F. YUCK. Too hot. Way too hot. One of my co-workers had her husband pull out her fall harvest decorations. She is ready to decorate and make her house FALL-tastic. I am still trying to cool off from yesterday. At LifeasMom.com she is having her Thursday Ultimate Recipe Swap. You must check it out. This happens each week and you won't be disappointed. Last week's swap was featuring FOOTBALL foods. This week is Favorite Fall foods.

Ode To Fall~ Crockpot Roast

4 small Russets potatoes
4 small yukon gold potatoes
1 cup chunks of carrots
1/2 purple onion cut in sixths (wedged)
3 Celery stalks chopped in bite size pieces
2 pounds pork butt or Beef Round Roast or One whole chicken
Lawrys Seasoning Salt, Lawrys Garlic Salt, Fresh cracked pepper
Sweet Baby Ray's Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce

Take the Crockpot out of your cabinet or storage facility. Rinse it off or clean it. Season the bottom of your crock pot. Season your choice of protein by rubbing it with dry seasonings. Then massage it with some barbecue sauce and place that in the bottom of the crock. Arrange potatoes, carrots, onion and celery around that. Put the top on the crockpot. Set it for the right amount of time and heat according to when you start preparing your dinner. I usually put mine on in the morning before I go to work, set on low for 10 hours. Everything is perfectly cooked when I get home. Oh and does the house smell amazing.

Serve with a crusty baguette and a little lettuce salad.

It's Not Just for Steak

Just got home from camping in the Sierras. This weekend while camping, I experimented with condiments to make a marinade. Ingredients were limited as the Men did the shopping. The guys bought two large packages of chicken. 6 bone in breasts and about a dozen boneless skinless chicken breasts. They must have thought they were serving an army. Anyhow, using a few simple ingredients I whipped up a tasty marinade.

Grant Lake Chicken

Chicken Breasts
A-1 Steak Sauce
Lawry's Seasoning salt
Barbecue Sauce
Fresh cracked pepper

Clean chicken. Sprinkle both sides with Lawry's Seasoning Salt. Pour a little A-1 over the chicken. Stir. Pour a little Barbecue Sauce over the chicken. Stir again. Sprinkle a little fresh cracked pepper over the chicken. Stir and allow chicken to marinate for a little while.

Barbecue until juices run clear. Enjoy

Crockpot Barbecue Chicken

A long long time ago on the other side of Bouquet Canyon lived one of my friends. Her Mom was always going the extra mile for her only daughter, Kimberly. One day after softball practice, I was lucky enough to be invited to have dinner at Kim's house. I had never had barbecued chicken with barbecue sauce. We would barbecue but rarely were things basted with BBQ sauce. It just wasn't something my Dad did. Kim's Mom served the Sweet and Savory Barbecue Chicken over rice. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted. Kim did not like it. I was in heaven and begged her Mom for the recipe. She said it was really easy.

Bernie's Barbecue Chicken on Nicki Lane

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 bottle of your favorite Barbecue sauce
salt and pepper

In the bottom of your Crockpot place 2 chicken breasts and season with salt and pepper. Pour barbecue sauce over breasts. Add the other two on top of that, season and pour more sauce on top. Place the lid on Crockpot and cook on low for most of the day. Easy enough?

Shred chicken a bit and stir so BBQ sauce covers. Serve Barbecue Chicken over a bed of rice.

Thanks Bernie!

Mini Tornado Skewers

What is a Tornado? At a local meat market/restaurant you could pick up these savory chicken preparations called a Tornado. Sadly, the meat market/restaurant is gone. But, for the past few years since its closing I have been able to recreate the Tornados.

This is my rendition in smaller scale.

Mini Tornado Skewers
serves 4

4 skinless boneless chicken breast each cut into 4 pieces (16 chicken chunks)
Lawry's Garlic salt
Cajun Seasoning
8 slices of bacon cut in half
4 skewers

Sprinkle chicken chunks with garlic and Cajun seasoning. Take slice of bacon and wrap it around the chicken. Pierce with skewer so that bacon ends are fastened. Put 4 Tornados on each skewer. Repeat until all ingredients are used up.

These can be frozen at this point for later use. Or you can bake them in a 350 degree F oven for 30-45 minutes. Check with a meat thermometer to make sure it is cooked properly. If bacon is not browned enough you can nuke each skewer for 30 seconds.

I serve these with rice and seasoned corn off the cob. See the post under sides for Herb Corn. Yummy

Honey Mustard Chicken

Von's had a sale on salad dressing. Personally, I am a fan of homemade Italian salad dressing. Homemade dressings are not always easy to transport while camping. So I purchased a Roka Blue Cheese for veggies. Ranch for just about everything else. Honey Mustard because I wanted to give it a try as a marinade. The bottle reads Honey Dijon ("that's a fancy word for mustard" hee hee) Vinaigrette dressing and marinade. I used it as a marinade and created this.

Honey Mustard Chicken

Skinless, boneless chicken chopped into square like chunks
salt
pepper
Lawry's Garlic Salt
Kraft's Honey Dijon Vinaigrette dressing and marinade

Salt and pepper chicken chunks. Place chunks in a Ziploc bag. Pour some Honey Dijon onto chicken and massage bag contents until all pieces have been bathed in marinade. Zip the bag removing excess air. At this point put in the 'fridge or pop in the freezer.

When I prepared mine, I took a bag of HM Chicken out of the freezer, allowed it to thaw in the 'frige. I doubled up some heavy duty aluminum foil and made my own make shift tray. I heated up the grill and put my marinated chicken in the foil tray and cooked the chicken over the grill. I cooked it for 10 minutes and then stirred and sort of flipped the pieces of chicken around. I cooked it for an additional 10 minutes and served the HM Chicken over Trader Joe's Rice Medley. YUMMY and very moist chicken!

Buffalo Chicken Taquitos!!!

Yum, Yum and YUM! People will go nuts with this twist on Buffalo Wings. I tried this about a year ago and our the garage guests went wild. Less mess and less finger licking.

Buffalo Chicken Taquitos

36 corn tortillas softened in heated oil set aside on paper towels
3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 6 oz. Red Rooster Louisiana Hot Sauce
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl combine, chicken, cheese and sauce. Stir. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the chicken mix onto the corn tortilla. Roll the tortilla and fix it with a toothpick. Keep rolling and tooth picking until all of your ingredients are used up.

Bake on cookie sheets for 15-20 or until flautas are browned and crispy. Allow to cool a bit and serve with celerey sticks and ranch dressing. Be sure to remove toothpicks from the flautas before serving.

We double and triple this recipe. (Uncooked flautas can be frozen. I did this and sprayed some with oil spray and cooked them. They were perfect)

Refrigerate leftover flautas. They are fabulous nuked in the micro for 15 seconds.

Cut these flautas in half to make appetizers.

Football Foods

Football Season is here! Football Foods are a necessity. There are plenty of things you can toss in the crock pot, that will be ready in a few hours that are out of this world delish! Below you will find a few recipes for Good Eats! These will get you to Superbowl!

Buffalo Chicken Legs

One dozen Chicken Legs (or more depending on the size of your Crock Pot.)
Lawry's Garlic Salt
Pepper

Sprinkle the bottom of the Crock pot with the seasonings. Put the Chicken Legs, meaty end down in the Crock pot. Sprinkle with more seasonings. Depending on how much time you have cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours. The legs will cook and skin will turn golden in the crock pot. When legs are cooked, drain broth from pot. (Reserve broth to make soup with or toss it) Mix the 2 ingredients below.

Red Rooster Hot Louisiana Sauce
1/4 - 1/2 cup melted Butter

Pour sauce over legs in the crock pot. Make sure legs get covered in the spicy stuff. Leave them in the crock pot until ready to serve. Turn crock pot to warm or low.

Serve with Ranch dressing and a few celery or carrot sticks.

Sweet and Spicy Meatballs

3 bags Papa Luigi's Meatballs (12 per bag) or 36 homemade pre-cooked Meatballs
1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet Vidalia Onion barbecue sauce
1/4 cup Wilcox honey (our friends keep bees and their bees make the best honey)
3 Tablespoons Knott's Boysenberry Jam

Put Meatballs in the crock pot. In a bowl combine the BBQ sauce, honey and jam. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 30 seconds. Stir. Repeat until sauce is well combined and the pour over meatballs. Stir until all meatballs are sauced. Keep on low heat for about 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 hours. These are delish! Serve with fun toothpicks.

Spicy Chicken Noodle SOUP

It was hotter than heck today. 99 degrees, walking on the asphalt felt like you were walking in an oven. HOT!

One of the local markets had Campbell's Soup on sale. I stocked up on a few cans. Soup is good for the soul sometimes. I bought a potato one and a chicken noodle one. NO soup from a can tastes like a homemade soup. Sorry, sometimes close but not really.

This soup is one of my favorites. I actually love it. It is a twist on a traditional soup.

SPICY Chicken Noodle

One Rotisserie Chicken with broth in the container or 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cooked and shredded
5 tablespoons of Better than Bouillon Chicken Broth base
5 cups Hot water
1 tsp. chopped jalapeno
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1 Tbs. Italian herbs
1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Green Chilis
Sliced carrots
sliced celery
chopped onion
1 bell pepper chopped (optional)
1/2 cup corn (optional)
1 pound pasta, (bowties, fusilli, penne, whatever you like) cooked put in a Ziploc and refrigerate.

Take out the crockpot. Set pot to low. Remove the chicken from the whole rotisserie chicken (use light and dark meat) and place in crockpot or put your shredded chicken in the crockpot. Combine bouillon and water, add to crockpot. Stir in jalapeno, garlic and Italian herbs. Add your tomatoes, chopped or sliced veggies. Cover pot and do what your need to do. The smell of this soup is amazing. If you are sick or have allergies, this soup will help clear your sinuses. It truly is a tasty soup. I crave it sometimes.

When ready to serve, pull the pasta from the fridge or from your drained pot if you prepare the pasta just before serving. Place some noodles in your bowl. Nuke them for 10 seconds if you want. Then ladle some of your Spicy Chicken Soup over your noodles. Sprinkle a little cheese over it if you would like to. Eat and Enjoy and if you are sick FEEL BETTER!

Tequila Chicken Marinade

Uum. Yummy, spicy, sweet with a bite. Tequila Chicken. I have marinated chicken in a Tequila Chicken Marinade that my friend Katie told me about before. I adjusted the marinade a bit and here is the recipe.

Tequila Chicken Marinade

1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice
1/2 cup Bols triple sec
1/2 cup Margaritaville Silver Tequila
1/4 cup Wilcox honey
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cracked red pepper
1 tsp diced jalapeno
1/2 tsp Lawry's garlic salt
1 tsp minced garlic

Mix and set aside.

2-3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast cut into 1 1/2 inch strips
Shaker of Watkins Cilantro flakes or fresh
1 Tbs. Kosher salt

Sprinkle chicken strips with Cilantro and kosher salt. Put strips in Ziploc bag. Pour 2/3 of the Marinade over chicken. Seal bag and place in the refrigerator.

Add 1/2 cup olive oil to the remaining marinade to use on vegetables.

Sliced zucchini, onions, bell pepper...

You can marinate the vegetables in the marinade in a Ziploc too, if you would like to.

When ready to serve you can heat your grill to medium flame. Put veggies in a basket or aluminum pan and grill. Place chicken strips on grill and cook 5-6 minutes on each side or until juices run clear.

Serve over pasta, rice, or mashed potatoes.

You can serve with cheese and sour cream if you would like to.

Prepare it, grill it and enjoy it. This is what We are having for dinner tonite!

Grandma John's Overnight Casserole and Jamie's Overnight Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Grandma John would come to California every couple of years and spend time with us. What fun times, in the car, in the kitchen, at restaurants, and playing card games. Grandma John had a fun sense of humor, a mean poker face and one heck of culinary background. Was it cooking for 8 kids that made her a wiz in the kitchen, passion, or just really good taste buds? She could cook or bake anything. She didn't use the fanciest of ingredients but she would have given any celebrity chef a run for their chef hat!


Grandma John's Overnight Casserole (previously posted)


1 3/4 cup cooked elbow macaroni
2 cups cooked and diced chicken
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup shredded cheese
2 cups milk
buttered bread crumbs


Put macaroni in a large bowl. Add chicken and cheese. In a separate bowl combine soups and milk. Pour soup over macaroni, chicken and cheese. Mix well and pour into a greased casserole dish. Cover casserole dish and put container in refrigerator overnight. When ready to cook, put in oven for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees F.




Jamie's Overnight Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Similar to Grandma John's, just a bit Jami-fied.

One pound cooked pasta any kind (I used Trader Joe's Whole wheat flax fusilli)

2 cups cooked chicken tenderloins chopped

1 cup frozen or fresh broccoli

1 cup shredded mozzarella

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cups milk

a few shakes Lawry's Garlic Salt

a few shakes black pepper

Put fusilli in a large bowl. Add chicken, broccoli and mozzarella to the bowl. In another combine the two cans of soup and milk. Pour soup mixture over pasta mixture and stir. Pour mixture into a greased casserole, cover and place in the refrigerator over night. When ready to cook, pull casserole from refrigerator and bake for an hour and a half in a 350 degree oven.

This is way good. SO, go the market, buy all this stuff and make it and bake it! Pioneer Woman has a fancy spaghetti pasta with cream of chicken soup. Check hers out at http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/!

Chicken Curry Style Pot Pie a la Crescent... no curry

This is an experiment. I have been craving Chicken Curry. So I bought chicken and broccoli at Trader Joe's last night. I baked my chicken in the oven with Garlic Salt and Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle. I steamed my broccoli over the stove and I below is what I made.

Chicken Curry Style Pot Pie a la Crescent... no curry, no mayo, no lemon juice

2 cooked chicken breasts shredded or chopped into bite size pieces
1 bag broccoli steamed
4-8 oz cubed Pepper Jack Cheese
2 cans 98% fat free cream of chicken soup

One roll Pillsbury Crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Spray the bottom of a pie plate with oil. Layer chicken and then broccoli, chicken and then broccoli until you have used up those ingredients. Strategically place cheese cubes where you thing a cheese part need to be. Bury all of that with two cans of cream of chicken soup. Place in the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes or cheat and microwave for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven or microwave. Open crescent rolls and separate. Start with the wider end of triangle place rolls like slices of pizza around the pie plate as if making the shape of a pizza, sealing the first four ingredients in. Use all the rolls as long as top covers. Bake left over rolls or use them for Pioneer Woman's Apple Dumplings at thepioneerwomancooks.com for dessert. Bake an additional 15 minutes until top has browned.

Remove from oven and serve and eat it and like it!

Flautas! ! !

What exactly is a flauta? A flauta is much like a taquito, except the fillings differ a bit. My sister Jessica first found this amazing recipe while working at Lucky's Supermarkets which over the years have turned into Albertson's Supermarkets. When she worked at the market she would always hear about amazing foods. I will never forget the day when she bought the ingredients, came home, slaved in the kitchen and created for us, one of the best dinners ever! To this day, our entire family loves them and will painstakingly stand in the kitchen for hours and make them. The ingredients are simple but they do require prep work and assembly.

The original recipe calls for Pace Picante Sauce, any flavor will do. I recently tried Herdez Salsa Verde and it was amazing!

Chicken Flautas

36 corn tortillas softened in heated oil set aside on paper towels
3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded
1 (16 oz) jar Herdez Salsa Verde (use whatever you like)
2 cups Tillamook Pepper Jack cheese shredded (use whichever cheese you like)
toothpicks

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl combine, chicken, cheese and salsa. Stir. Spoon 1-2 tablespoons of the chicken mix onto the corn tortilla. Roll the tortilla and fix it with a toothpick. Keep rolling and tooth picking until all of your ingredients are used up.

Bake on cookie sheets for 15-20 or until flautas are browned and crispy. Allow to cool a bit and serve with guacamole and or sour cream. We double and triple this recipe. (Uncooked flautas can be frozen. I did this and sprayed some with oil spray and cooked them. They were perfect)
Refrigerate leftover flautas. They are fabulous nuked in the micro for 15 seconds.

Make it a combo meal and serve flautas with Spanish rice and beans. YUMMMMM

PLEASE NOTE: If you freeze your flautas they will take more time to cook. Maybe double the time. Just bake them until the ends are crispy and centers are warmed through.

Marinades for Meat or Chicken

I bought two Tri-tips at the market. One was $5.33 and the other $5.01! Only $1.99 a pound!!! Thank you Ralph's Markets! If only gasoline and diesel were that price again! );

I have been making my own Teriyaki sauce for the last decade or so. I love it! It is good on Meat or Chicken.

Teriyaki Marinade

3/4 cup Soy sauce
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 1/2 tablespoons Clover Honey

Mix together and use as marinade. I put my Tri-tip in a Ziploc bag and pour marinade over. I press all air out of bag, zip it, and refrigerate overnight or put it in the freezer.

One of the gals I used to work with made marinades with Orange juice. She rattled off how she did it. I never did get the exact recipe written down, but have tried many an OJ creation. This is one I like to use.

Orange Maple Marinade

3/4 cup orange juice
1/8 cup Maple syrup
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Cajun Seasonings
one small onion sliced thin

Mix above together and use as marinade. Place Meat or chicken in a Ziploc, pour marinade over. Place the onion slices over meat or chicken Press the air out the bag and refrigerate overnight or freeze for a later use.

Chicken Tamale Casserole/Pie?

I had one of these types of meals at one of my high school friend's house back in the early 90's. It was so good. I got my friend's Mom's recipe. Tried to make it and it was totally disgusting. Her recipe called for cornmeal. I made it wrong, apparently all wrong.

When one of my friend's was on Maternity leave I created this as one of the meals to put in her freezer. So at a moment's notice she could just pop one of the frozen meals in the oven and wha-la dinner is ready. I was also inspired by that yummy concoction from the 90's and The Green Corn Tamales from El Cholo (they are only available like 3 months out of the year). This is my combo/dream creation of the two.

Chicken Cheese Tamale Casserole

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 small can green chiles or jalapenos (if you like it spicy hot)
a few shapes garlic salt
3/4 cup buttermilk or milk
2 eggs
2 chicken breasts cooked, seasoned and shredded
3/4 pound cheddar cheese or Spicy Jack (if you like it spicy) cubed
Save a 1/4 pound of cubes to top the Casserole/Pie

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease the bottom of a medium sized casserole dish or two smaller oven safe containers.

Pour contents of the two Jiffy boxes into a medium sized bowl. Add corn and chiles or jalapenos. Sprinkle salt. Pour buttermilk or milk onto the above mentioned and begin to stir. Stir until all ingredients are mixed. Spread 1/2 the mixture for one or a 1/4 of the mixture for two on the bottom of dish.

Sprinkle chicken on the muffin mix layer. Then press cheese cubes into mix. Spread remaining batter over chicken and cheese layer. Press remaining cubes into the top layer of muffin mix.

Bake 30-45 minutes until Casserole/Pie passes the toothpick test. I make this recipe into two, cook one and double wrap one to freeze to use at a later date. Bon Appetit!

New Year... New old school FOOD

Do you ever get tired of making the same old things for dinner all the time? Or do you ever get sick of paying the high price for mediocre food at a restaurant? Don't be afraid. YOU CAN COOK! Cook at home and save money. With all the money you will save eating at home, when you want to splurge at a restaurant you can afford to and the price of gas it takes to get you there.



It seems as though in our busy lives, convenience is key. We eat what is convenient. But those foods are not always the best for us. For some of us, it is easier to make reservations than open the refrigerator or pantry. Dust off those cookbooks or search the web for something that tempts your palette. One meal we can make convenient is CASSEROLES!



Crazy to think that the word casserole entered the English language in 1708. Casseroles have been around for a long time. They are a great way to incorporate leftovers into a new meal. Try an old family classic for a new meal.


Casseroles are awesome! They can even be made ahead and frozen to be used for a night when you don't want to prepare a meal. You can even make them in disposable tins so you don't have to do any caked on casserole dishes. The two casseroles below can be made ahead using one main ingredient, chicken. On a weekend mess up the kitchen and make a few meals to freeze.



This casserole is one from my Grandma Esther Getskow Johnson. She made this for us when she would visit from the Midwest. It is excellent comfort food.



Overnight Casserole



1 3/4 cups cooked macaroni noodles

2 cups shredded cooked chicken (or cooked hamburger)

1 can Campbell's Cream of Celery Soup

1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup (I use Cream of Chicken)

2 cups milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Buttered bread crumbs or croutons



Combine soups and milk in a large bowl. Add macaroni, chicken and cheese, stir until mixed. Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, place casserole in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. Serve with crusty bread and a fresh lettuce salad.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

from the kitchen of Bonnie Olson

4 chicken breasts cooked and shredded

1 can Campbell's Cream of Chicken

1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom (I use another Cream of Chicken)

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 cup milk

1 cup sour cream

1- 4 oz can diced green chilis

10-12 corn tortillas (cut into bite size pieces)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

Combine milk, soup, onions, sour cream and green chilis and set aside. Spray bottom of 9 x 13 pan or smaller pans with cooking oil spray. Layer tortillas, sauce mix, chicken and cheese. Repeat until all ingredients are used up. Refrigerate 12-24 hours. Bake for 1 hour in a 350 degree oven.

These two casseroles are tasty and easy to make.