Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

Its a cold, snowy day today in the Pacific Northwest. I hate the snow. It makes me cold and makes me think about comfort food. Good thing this recipe was on the rotating menu. 

This recipe was good. No need to salt anything in this dish though. I think the stuffing mix has enough. I added a pinch and it was a little too salty for me. (My BFF would have loved it). 

I wouldn't make this again, but only because I have WAY too many new recipes to try. This recipe was easy to throw together and would feed a bunch of people. I bet the leftovers are good too. We'll find out tomorrow on that one.

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

Recipe from Cincyshopper.com

Serves 4

6 oz Stuffing Mix

1 1/4 c hot Water

1/2 c Milk

10.5 oz Cream of Chicken Soup

2 c Chicken cooked and diced

12 oz frozen Mixed Vegetables thawed

1/4 tsp Pepper

1/8 tsp Salt

Preheat oven to 400.

Grease a casserole dish (9x13" or equivalent) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine stuffing mix and hot water. Set aside.

In another bowl, add soup and milk. Whisk to combine.

Add chicken, vegetables, salt and pepper.

Stir and add to prepared casserole dish.

Top with stuffing mixture.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until filling is bubbling and topping is browned.

Easy Slow Cooked Smothered Cubed Steak

Photo from Melissa
Southern Style Kitchen

Winter is back. It was blustery and cold today. Which makes for a perfect crock pot, comfort food kinda meal.

I have made several cube steak in gravy types of slow cooker meals. They all really call for the same type of ingredients. This recipe included an ingredient I've only used once, maybe twice before, Cream of Mushroom and Roasted Garlic soup. Whoa. I may start using that anytime a recipe calls for Cream of Mushroom soup. Surprisingly flavorful.

What I changed or didn't do?

1. No bell peppers. Blech.
2. I misread the ingredient for the au jous pack. I didn't know there was a "gravy" version of au jous. And maybe there isn't a difference from regular au jous mix. Do be careful though when salting your food when using a packet like this. They usually contain a lot of salt in them. I didn't add any extra salt at all to the mixture. I used season salt on the cube steaks; sparingly. 

Easy Slow Cooked Smothered Cubed Steak

Recipe from Melissas Southern Style Kitchen

Serves 8

• 2 1/2 lb cubed sirloin steak (6-8 medium-size pieces)
• 1/3 c all-purpose flour (Season with 1/4 tsp each salt, black pepper and smoked paprika)
• olive oil
• 1 medium green bell pepper seeded and sliced
• 1 medium sweet onion sliced
• 1 8 oz container sliced baby portabella mushrooms
• 1 10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom and roasted garlic soup OR classic cream of mushroom soup
• 1 1/2 c low sodium beef broth
• 1 0.6 oz packet Knorr Au Jus gravy mix
• 2 Tbsp A-1 steak sauce
• 1 Tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 tsp steak seasoning blend i.e. Chicago, Montreal, Meat Magic
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp flour, plus additional as needed to thicken sauce

Spray the crock of a 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray.

Dust the cube steaks with flour seasoned with salt, pepper and paprika.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown both sides of the steaks in olive oil for 1 minute per side then arrange in the bottom of the slow cooker. Do not cook through.

To the pan, add soup, beef broth, au jus packet, steak sauce, parsley, steak seasoning and thyme. Whisk off the heat scraping all of the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Whisk in 1 Tbsp of flour. Taste and adjust the salt and black pepper, if needed.

Arrange vegetables on top of steak, then drizzle gravy on top. Cover and cook on low for 6 -7 hours or until fork tender.

Serve immediately over rice, egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

Small-Batch Chocolate Banana Muffins (One-Banana, One-Bowl)

When life gives you this...

You make this...

That's right. A small batch of chocolate banana muffins. I found this blog that has a ton of "small batch" recipes. It's super helpful when you're cooking for one. 

I had two small problems with this recipe. User errors really. 

1. I didn't have vanilla

2. I didn't have any chocolate chips

No worry, they taste fine. Good even.

Small-Batch Chocolate Banana Muffins (One-Banana, One-Bowl)

Recipe from Baking Mischief

Makes 5 muffins (it only made 4 for me)

• 1 medium-to-large over-ripe banana
• 3 T unsalted butter melted
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 c all-purpose flour
• 3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chopped or 1/3 cup chocolate chips, plus more for topping

Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a muffin tin with 5 liners.

Place peeled banana in a medium bowl and mash it well with a fork or potato masher. Add melted butter and whisk until well combined. Add brown sugar, egg white, and vanilla. Mix well.

Place a fine-mesh strainer over the bowl and add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt to the strainer. Sift dry ingredients into the wet and use a spoon to mix until just combined. Stir in chopped chocolate or chocolate chips. Divide batter between prepared muffin cups, filling about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 8 minutes at 425°F before turning the oven temperature down to 350°F. Bake for an additional 6 to 9 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out with just a few crumbs.

Sprinkle extra chocolate over the top if desired. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, and enjoy.

Easy Roasted Green Beans

Photo from Baking Mischief

There are very few veggies I like, that aren't carbalicious. That makes it hard to try to eat more veggies.
 

Green beans are on the list of like. I prefer the French green beans (skinny ones) over regular green beans. I couldn't really tell you why other than it's a textual thing I think. 

This recipe is super easy and very basic. In fact, I am almost embarrassed to count this as a new recipe. What's different than how I normally make green beans is the garlic powder. I had no idea that adding something as simple as that would make these go from meh to yummy. 

I also topped them with some grated parmesan cheese. That could have helped too.

Easy Roasted Green Beans

Recipe from Baking Mischief

Serves 4

• 1 pound fresh green beans washed, dried, and trimmed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (approximately)

Preheat your oven to 425°F.

In a bowl or on a baking sheet, toss green beans with olive oil. Spread beans in a single layer on baking sheet.

Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Bake for 8 minutes and shake pan a couple of times.

Bake for an additional 4 to 6 minutes, until green beans are tender-crisp or reach your desired level of doneness.

Serve and enjoy!

Chef Salad

I've been trying to eat better at lunch time. Its the hardest meal for me to prepare because I rarely plan for it and end up eating crap. 

This week I decided a chef salad would be a good option for lunch. I can prep ahead of the time and have everything ready to throw together at lunch. 

Photo from Jo Cooks

Chef salads are easy to make. Having everything chopped ahead of time means I'm most likely to eat it. I chopped up some ham, had hard boiled eggs ready, chopped lettuce, had cheese, etc. 

I didn't care for the dressing for this salad. The second day I used ranch instead of the dressing recipe. I also didn't use butter lettuce. I use regular old Romain.

I didn't have any carrots, which is fine too. That's the beauty of chef salads, they are kinda the "kitchen sink" of salads. 

Chef Salad

Recipe from Jo Cooks

Serves 4

For Dressing:

• ½ c mayonnaise
• 1 T vinegar
• ½ T sugar (granulated)
• ½ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp black pepper (freshly ground)
• ¼ tsp salt (or to taste)

For Salad:

• 1 Boston lettuce (chopped)
• ½ c peas
• ½ c carrots (grated)
• ¾ c cheddar cheese (shredded)
• ¾ c ham (chopped)
• 4 slices bacon (fried and chopped)
• ½ English cucumber (sliced)
• 6 green onions (chopped)
• 6 cherry tomatoes (quartered or halved)
• 4 eggs (hard boiled)

Make the dressing: Add all the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Finish the salad: Add all the salad ingredients to a bowl and toss everything together. Drizzle with the dressing, toss and serve. Alternatively, you can arrange the ingredients in rows as seen in the pictures with the lettuce as a base.

Almond Flour, Garlic, Parmesan Chicken

Tonight I made up my own recipe. I took it from a recent recipe I read that had the same concept but with fish and with panko. I'm trying to eat a little healthier so almond flour seemed like a good alternative. And I was right. 

This recipe really gets its flavor from the butter in the dish and the parmesan, garlic mixture you put on top. It gets crispy in the oven. 

The mixture adheres to the chicken by using mayo. It adds to the moisture of the chicken and does a great job of keeping the parmesan/garlic mixture attached.

I put this along side of baked green beans with the leftover parmesan cheese on top. 

Almond Flour, Garlic, Parmesan Chicken

Recipe from... ME!

Serves 1

• 1 package chicken tenders; trimmed
• 2 T butter
• 2 T Almond Flour
• 2 T Parmesan cheese; grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced fine (I used jarred garlic so it wasn't so potent)
• 2 T mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. When it's heated, put the 2 T butter in a Pyrex baking dish and put that into the oven as it preheats. You want the butter hot for putting the chicken in later. 

In a separate bowl, mix the almond flour, parmesan and garlic. 

With each trimmed chicken tender, brush mayo over the top only. Press it into the almond flour, parmesan garlic mixture. Set aside. 

When the butter is melted and the oven heated, put each chicken tender in the dish with the almond flour mixture on top. 

Cook until chicken is done.

Breakfast Cookies

Breakfast is the hardest meal for me to plan. I get stuck in a rut of things to eat and then I get bored. I've
been eating cheese and apples for months now and decided to mix it up some. 

Today I made these breakfast cookies. The are super easy to make. In fact, I made them between meetings today. 

I used chocolate chips this round, but that made them a littler sweeter than I like. I would make them again with some nuts and fresh blue berries or something similar. Don't get me wrong, they are delicious. 

I only got 6 cookies out of this batch. I think I may have made them too big. No matter, I only was able to eat half because they are too sweet for breakfast. 

Breakfast Cookies

Recipe from Yellow Bliss Road

Makes 12 cookies

• 2 large brown bananas
• 1 c peanut butter or your favorite nut butter
• 1/4 c maple syrup or honey
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 c old-fashioned oats or quick oats
• 1/2 c chocolate chips or your favorite mix-ins - like dried cranberries, fresh blueberries or raisins

Preheat the oven to 325F degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas.

Mix together the mashed bananas, peanut butter, vanilla extract and cinnamon until smooth.

Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. The dough will be very sticky and wet.

Form the dough into balls with about ⅓ - ¼ cup of batter each and place on the lined cookie sheets. Flatten them down slightly (they won't spread as they bake).

Bake in the preheated oven for 14-18 minutes, or until the tops are set.

Cool on the cookie sheets fully.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Soup! Soup! Soup! I do love a good soup. I feel like when I cook soup that I'm channeling Dad. He LOVED soup. Any soup. Any time. 

Tonight's soup was a Vegetable Beef Soup. I feel like I don't really need a recipe to make this type of soup, but sometimes they have some interesting ingredient that I wouldn't have thought of. That's not the case here. Pretty typical soup recipe. 

It's hearty, warm, and filling. It's a perfect soup for a winter day. 

I made a couple of modifications. First, I didn't bother with the bay leaves. I'm now more and more convinced that they do nothing in soups and stews so I forgo them almost every time. The second thing I did was add a splash of Worcestershire sauce. It really helps with the savory flavor I think. And lastly, I didn't put the potatoes in. I don't need them and I'm not always a fan of potatoes in soups.

My version wasn't as thick as Little Sunny Kitchen's version. That's primarily due to me being hungry and I prefer a brothy soup over a thick soup. 

I'd make this again. It's simple and delicious. I plan on having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Vegetable Beef Soup

Recipe from Little Sunny Kitchen

Serves 4

• 1 pound stew meat
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil divided – or avocado oil
• 1 large onion diced
• 1 large carrot diced
• 2 celery stalks chopped
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 4 cups beef broth
• 14.5 ounces (400 g) canned diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium potatoes diced
• 1 cup green beans trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup corn kernels (frozen or fresh)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the stew meat. Season the beef with salt and pepper and brown the beef in batches to avoid overcrowding. Once browned, transfer the beef to a plate and set aside.

In the same pot, add another tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions, carrots, and celery. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes or until the onions become translucent. Add the minced garlic and sauté for an additional minute.

Pour the beef broth and diced tomatoes (with their juice) into the pot. Return the browned beef to the pot. Add the Italian seasoning, bay leaves, and season with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and let it simmer for about 25 minutes.

Incorporate the diced potatoes into the pot. Let it simmer, covered, for an additional 15 minutes.

Add the green beans to the pot and let it simmer for another 10 minutes or until the green beans are tender but still vibrant in color. Stir in the corn and let it cook for 5 more minutes or until heated through.

Turn off the heat. Stir in the freshly chopped parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve warm with crusty bread or a side salad if desired.

Spicy Bourbon Bbq Steak Kabobs

Photo from
Kitchen Fun with me 3 Sons

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I'm a sucker for steak on Valentine's Day for some reason. Dad used to cook Mom up a steak on VD so I guess maybe that's why I do it. I'm not a sucker for VD though. Hate the holiday personally. 

This recipe take a little planning. You need to make the BBQ sauce ahead of time and let it cool. The BBQ sauce was good. It needed a bit more spice and a bit more sweet for me. I added an extra T of brown sugar as it was cooking down. When it was done I added another 1/2 Tablespoon of red pepper flakes. Follow the recipe and taste as you go. Adjust as you like. 

I didn't kebab these either. Oddly. I almost always kebab meats when grilling. But I found a nice NY strip steak at the store and it just screamed to stay as a steak. 

Spicy Bourbon Bbq Steak Kabobs

Recipe from Kitchen Fun with me 3 Sons

Serves 5

• 2 pounds sirloin steak cut in 1-inch cubes
• 1 red bell pepper seeded and cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 orange bell pepper seeded and cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 yellow bell pepper seeded and cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 green bell pepper seeded and cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 red onion cut in 1-inch pieces
• 4 T brown sugar bourbon seasoning

BBQ Sauce ingredients:

• 1 c whiskey
• 1 c finely chopped onion
• 1/2 c water
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 ½ c ketchup
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1 T crushed red pepper
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 4 T molasses
• 1/8 c Worcestershire sauce
• ½ tsp liquid smoke

In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the BBQ sauce ingredients.

Pour your BBQ mixture in a small saucepan on medium heat.

Cook for 20 min. stirring often.

Store in an airtight container.

Directions to make Spicy Bourbon BBQ Steak Kabobs

Thread your meat onto the skewers alternating with pieces of bell peppers and onion.

Place the kabobs in a casserole dish or a foil lined baking pan.

Season the kabobs with the bourbon seasoning.

Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Turn the heat on medium.

Grill kebabs, turning often, until all sides of the meat is well brown and vegetables are tender.

Cook for 12 to 14 minutes.

Coat your kabobs with the bbq sauce and cook for additional 4 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Chinese Hamburger

Tonight I'm trying a recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe box. This one I was amused at just based on the spelling of "soup" as "soap". The back of the card Barb White. I have no idea who that is or how long this recipe was in Mom's recipe file. 

The recipe doesn't say what temperature to cook it so I guessed 350F. That turned out ok. It was very done and the rice was cooked through. 

I also realized as I was eating it and looking at the recipe that I completely forgot to put the celery in. I cut it and everything. Sheesh. It would have been way better with celery. 

Chinese Hamburger

Recipe from Mom's Gray Recipe box

Serves - I have no idea

• 1 1/2 lbs hamburger
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 c celery, diced
• 1/2 c uncooked rice
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 1/2 soup can water
• 1/4 c soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 8 oz Chinese Fried Noodles

Fry burger and onions. Sauté in the celery and cook it slightly. 

Drain off any fat/liquid. Mix in the cans of soup, rice, soy sauce, and water. 

Put in a baking dish and bake at 350F for 1 hour covered.

Uncover it, cover with Chinese fried noodles and bake for another 15 minutes. 

Witches Brew Soup / Stew

Having made this recipe now, I realize it's designed for Halloween, but I really don't care. 

This was delicious. At least the version I made. I completely missed the Italian Sausage and didn't have that to add. Which, I guess is ultimately ok because I'm not a huge fan of Italian sausage. 

What really made this recipe was the onion soup mix. It never occurred to me to add that to soup! I'll do that more often now. Such a great flavor. But, be careful! It can be a bit salty. I highly recommend not salting your soup until you've tasted it after you add the soup mix. 

I also missed that this was a slow cooker recipe. I didn't start it until 5pm tonight and, well, no time for slow cooking. I'm not sure it needs a slow cooker though. I let it simmer for 45 minutes and it was just fine. 

I'm going to add this to my favorites list! It was that good. And on a cold, wet, rainy day it was darn near perfect. 

Witches Brew Soup / Stew

Recipe from My Incredible Recipes

Serves 6

• 1 pound Italian sausage
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 3-ounce package of shallots, diced
• 2 1 ounce packets of onion soup mix, divided
• 1 8-ounce package of large white mushrooms
• 4 large carrots peeled
• 1 c celery chopped
• ½ 1.5 pounds bag of baby gemstone potatoes, halved
• 5 c beef broth
• 1 14-ounce can Italian- style petite diced tomatoes
• 3 T red wine vinegar
  

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown the Italian sausage and lean ground beef with the diced shallots and one packet of onion mix until cooked through, about 5-8 minutes.

As the meat cooks, slice the mushrooms in half and poke eyes into each rounded side with a chopstick or toothpick.

Cut two triangular wedges out of one side of each carrot and discard. Slice each carrot, forming “pumpkin” shapes.

Once the meat has finished cooking, transfer it to a large slow cooker, leaving behind any extra grease in the pan.

Mix the mushrooms, carrots, celery, and potatoes in the large skillet with the extra grease and heat over medium-high heat for 3-5 minutes to begin searing the vegetables. Be sure to stir frequently.

Transfer the vegetables into the large slow cooker with the meat and sprinkle the second packet of onion soup mix all over the vegetables.

Add the beef broth, diced tomatoes, and red wine vinegar and stir until well combined.

Cover with a lid and cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours or until the vegetables are softened enough to pierce easily with a fork.

Enjoy your Witches Brew Stew hot.

Cuban Picadillo

I've had my fair share of picadillo in my time. And each time I think it's just ok. I'm not sure why I keep trying new recipes of it. 

This time I know EXACTLY why I tried it. Because I read "picadillo" and I thought Ropa Vieja. 

Cuban Picadillo is a classic comfort food and made of ground meat, and other flavorful things like olives, capers, and in some cases, raisins. 

Ropa Vieja (literally "old clothes) - is also a Cuban classic comfort food. It's usually shredded beef that is slowly cooked with onions, peppers, olives and tomato sauce. 

So you see, they're similar - it's an honest mistake. I prefer the shredded beef to the ground beef and I think that's why I'm always just ok with picadillo. 

Beside my weirdness, this is a good dish. Serve it over rice and its even better. 

Cuban Picadillo

Recipe from Skinny Taste

Serves 6

• 1/2 large chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 pepper, finely chopped
• 2 T cilantro
• 1-1/2 lb 93% lean ground beef
• 4 oz 1/2 can tomato sauce (I like Goya, check label for Keto)
• kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1-2 bay leaf
• 2 T alcaparrado, capers or green olives would work too

Brown meat on high heat in large sauté pan and season with salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up into small pieces. When meat is no longer pink, drain all juice from pan.

Meanwhile, while meat is cooking, chop onion, garlic, pepper, tomato and cilantro.

Add to the meat and continue cooking on a low flame. Add alcaparrado and about 2 tbsp of the brine (the juice from the olives, this adds great flavor) cumin, bay leaf, and more salt if needed. Add tomato sauce and 1/4 cup of water and mix well. Reduce heat and simmer covered about 20 minutes.