Chop Suey Casserole

Chop Suey Casserole

1 pound ground beef
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2/3 soup can of water
1/2 c. uncooked rice
1 cup chopped celery
1 onion, chopped
3 T. soy sauce
1 can chow mein noodles

Brown and drain beef. Combine all ingredients except noodles in a casserole. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cover with noodles for the last 10 minutes of baking.

Notes:

This recipe was a favorite of my dear friend Flossie and was taken from the cookbook in the parish I grew up in, submitted by Pat Vaughn.

I am going to substitute chopped water chestnuts for part or all of the onion when I make it because I really do not like onions.

Red Beans and Rice

Red Beans and Rice

1 onion, chopped
1 pound small red beans
1 cup chopped celery
3 quarts stock
1 pound smoked sausage
1 small ham hock
2 T. minced garlic
2 bay leaves
2 T. Joe's Stuff seasoning

6 cups cooked rice

Soak beans in water overnight to soften. Drain beans and place in crock pot with all other ingredients except smoked sausage. Cook for 8 hours or until thickened. Grill or saute smoked sausage and add to beans in small chunks. Remove bay leaves before serving over rice.

Notes:

This recipe is adapted from Class Act, Simple, Authentic Recipes from the New Orleans School of Cooking. It is cooked on the stove in the original recipe, but the crockpot works better for me. But, it did not thicken as much as it should have, so I put it on the stove for an hour or so.

You could probably substitute any Cajun type seasoning for the Joe's Stuff.

It is not overly spicy at all, and was fantastic with the Smoked Tobassco sauce added at the table.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf

3 stalks celery chopped (about 2/3 cup)
1 pound ground beef
1 pound sausage
3 eggs
3/4 cup catsup
4 T. Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup oats
2/3 Italian bread crumbs
black pepper
salt (if desired)

Combine the eggs, catsup and Worcestershire sauce. Place all other ingredients in a medium bowl. Add egg mixture and using your hands gently but thoroughly combine. Do not overmix.

Bake at 350 for 50 - 60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160. Drain grease and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Menu Plan, Week 3

I didn't get to the Poppy Seed Chicken or the Italian Noodle Bake last week, so they moved to this week and are pretty much going to sustain us through today. Not sure about tomorrow or Saturday at this point, but have some ideas, just using up stuff around the house, running through my mind.

Pork Chops and Stuffing

Pork Chops and Stuffing

4 small to medium pork chops or pork loin chops
butter
1 package pork stuffing mix (ex. Stove Top)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 soup can of milk

Lightly brown pork chops in a small amount of butter. They do not have to cook through, just brown them.

Prepare the stuffing mix according to package directions, but do not cook, just mix the ingredients together.

Combine the soup and the milk.

Spray a casserole dish with Pam. Pour enough of the soup mix in the pan to coat it thoroughly. Add the pork chops, then cover them with the stuffing mix. Pour the remaining soup mixture over the stuffing.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Notes:

This works great with chicken too.

Olivia really like it.

Poppy Seed Chicken

Poppy Seed Chicken

1 1/4 - 1 1/2 pounds cooked chicken, shredded
1 16 ounce container sour cream
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 T. butter
1 sleeve Ritz style crackers, crushed
2 T. poppy seeds

Heat oven to 350. Spray casserole dish (see notes) with Pam. Place cooked chicken in the dish.

Combine sour cream and cream of mushroom soup and place over chicken, spreading evenly.

Melt the butter in a medium skillet. Remove from heat, add the cracker crumbs and poppy seeds and stir to combine. Pour over sour cream mixture in casserole and spread evenly.

Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly and heated through.

Serve over cooked rice.

Notes:
I used an 8 1/2 by 10 inch casserole dish. You could easily use something larger, but not smaller.

This is one of our favorite super easy dishes.

Easy Mock Lasagna (aka Italian Noodle Bake)

Easy Mock Lasagna

1 pound Italian sausage (hot or sweet to preference), browned and drained
15 ounce container ricotta
1 egg
3 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/8 tea. nutmeg
black pepper
8 ounces small egg noodles (or pasta of your choice - see notes), cooked to package instructions
1 25.6 ounce jar pasta sauce

Combine ricotta, egg, 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, nutmeg and black pepper to taste in a bowl.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with Pam (see notes). Place cooked noodles covering the bottom of dish. Top with ricotta mixture.

Combine sausage and pasta sauce and put it on the ricotta in casserole dish. Top with remaining 2 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 45 - 55 minutes or until cheese begins to brown and is hot all the way through.

Notes:

The little egg noodles worked great in the dish because they were nice and soft and did not add a distinct flavor, like a wheat penne or the like would. But, the instruction said to cook them 10 minutes. They were PLENTY done at 6, so if you use them, watch them closely. I would recommend cooking any noodle you use no longer than the short end of the cooking time because they will cook more in the oven.

I used my 8 1/2 by 10 inch dish for this recipe. It would work in something slightly bigger, but I would not go smaller. If you go a lot bigger, you may want more cheese on top.

We really like this - it had all the flavor of lasagna with MUCH less work and mess. I would make this again in place of lasagna any time.

I might add some Parmesan cheese next time for a little stronger cheese flavor.

Baked Potato Soup

Baked Potato Soup

From Mary Harke, from LCJ cookbook

• 2/3 cup butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 4 large baking potatoes (baked, cooled, peeled and cubed – can use left over baked potatoes)
• 7 cups milk
• 4 green onions chopped
• 12 bacon strips, cooked crisp and crumbled
• 1 ¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Melt butter in a large pot. Stir in flour and whisk until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly over medium heat until thickened. Add potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper and stir until cheese is melted.

Baked Potato Soup Kevin & Joanie Style

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup all purpose flour

12 cups raw potatoes diced (10-12 Russets)

10 ½ cups milk

6 green onions chopped

1 ½ - 2 cups cooked bacon

1 8oz package of Hoffman’s Super Sharp Cheddar Cheese Shredded

½ 8 oz package of Hoffman’s Vermont Cheddar Cheese Shredded

1 ½ cups sour cream

1 – 2 teaspoons garlic depending on your taste

Salt

Pepper

Peal and dice potatoes – rinse under running water for 3-5 minutes, then let soak in cold water for at least ½ hour.

Melt butter in a large pot, slowly add flour and stir until smooth. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly over medium heat until thickened (will have to boil). Remove from heat and add onions, pepper, garlic & bacon

Drain potatoes and put in bottom of crock pot

Pour hot milk mixture over potatoes, stir and cover.

Cook on high for 2 ½ - 3 ½ hours, depending on crockpot.

Once potatoes are done, stir in sour cream and cheese, add cheese slowing stirring constantly to make sure it melts. Let simmer for 10 minutes after cheese is melted.

Serve and enjoy.

You can garnish with bacon, green onions, and/or shredded cheese (garnish items are extra for above ingredients)

North Woods Wild Rice Soup

North Woods Wild Rice Soup

Recipe By : posted by Lisa W at cl bb
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Low-Fat Soup


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion -- chopped (1/2 cup)
2 medium stalks celery -- diced (1 cup)
2 medium carrots -- diced (1 cup)
1 cup diced smoked turkey
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
1 tsp dried tarragon leaves
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cans chicken broth -- (14 1/2 oz ea.)
1 can evaporated fat-free milk -- (12 oz)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup frozen green peas -- thawed
2 tbsp dry sherry -- if desired

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook onion in oil about 4 minutes, stirring occassionally, until tender.

Place onion, celery, carrots, turkey, wild rice, tarragon and pepper in 3 1/2 - 6 quart slow cooker. Pour broth over top.

Cover and cook on low heat setting 6-8 hours or until wild rice and vegetables are tender.

Mix milk and flour; stir into soup. Cover and cook about 20 minutes or until thickened. Stir in peas and sherry during last 15 minutes of cooking.

Calories 225 (Calories from Fat 2.5); Fat 3g (Saturated 1g); Cholesterol 25mg; Sodium 750mg; Carbohydrate 32g (Dietary Fiber 3g); Protein 21g10

Chipped Beef on Toast

Chipped Beef on Toast

2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 1/2 c. warm milk
2 2.25 ounce jars dried beef, rinsed, drained and chopped
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch cayenne pepper

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Whisk in flour to form a roux. Whisk in milk gradually and increase heat to medium. Bring to a boil and add beef, Worcestershire sauce and cayenne, stirring until thickened and heated through.

Serve over toast.

Note: the directions for the beef say to rinse and drain it before using, which I did.

Menu Planning, Weeks 1 & 2

As Michael and I have been making a huge effort not to eat out as much, I have also been making an effort at menu planning. Last Saturday I picked out some dinners for that week and we did quite well. The problem was, I only picked out 4 dinners, so we ran out around Wednesday and it kinda went downhill from there. Here is what we had:

Sausage, Cabbage and Apples

Chicken with Finger Licking Peanut Sauce

Chipped Beef on Toast

Tomato and White Bean Soup

Everything turned out good, and Olivia ate it all. My least favorite was the soup, it was too oniony for me, but it had good flavor.

This week, we have in the lineup:

North Woods Wild Rice Soup

Pasta with Asiago Cheese and Spinach

Italian Noodle Casserole Turned out great, but I changed the name to Easy Mock Lasagna - see the link!

Poppy-seed Chicken - this is a tried and true. If I have given you this recipe previously, you may want to compare it to this one - I may have made some changes.

Pork Chops with Stuffing - this is super easy and Olivia REALLY like it. She seems to love pork in almost any fashion.

Sausage, Cabbage and Apples

As part of this weeks menu plan, I looked around and found a half a head of cabbage that needed to be used up. We also have some "church" sausage still from last year and the sausage dinner is less than a month away, so our old supply must be gone by March 1. So, this was the result

Sausage, Cabbage and Apples in the Crockpot

1 pound home style sausage links (or bratwurst)
1/2 a medium head of cabbage, wedged
3 apples, quartered and cored
1/2 onion
1 tea. Penzey's bratwurst seasoning

Put everything in a Crockpot and cook on low for 6-7 hours.

Notes: I thought this turned out very good for something simple and with few ingredients. Of course, I love cabbage, so you could hardly go wrong. The sausage was pretty well done, but it still tasted really good.

You could substitute salt, pepper and your favorite seasoning for the bratwurst seasoning.

Chicken with Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce

If I had to pick my one, absolutely favorite recipe this would be it. I have made it numerous times for lots of different people and nearly everyone raves about it - adults and children alike.

It originated as Fettuccine and Tofu with Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce in Cooking Light magazine in April, 2001. My version uses most of the same ingredients, but in different amounts.

Chicken with Finger-Licking Peanut Sauce

2/3 C. chicken broth
1/2 peanut butter (I use natural, smooth but chunky works good as well)
1/2 low sodium soy sauce
5 T. brown sugar (4 if you use regular peanut butter)
3 T. rice vinegar
3 tea. fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 - 2 tea. of chili paste (sambal oelek) (see notes)
5 garlic cloves minced
8 ounces soba noodles (can use any long, thin pasta)
1 1/3 c. shredded carrots
3/4 pound chicken breast, cooked and shredded

Combine first 8 ingredients (chicken broth through garlic) in a medium sauce pan and cook over medium heat 7-10 minutes until smooth and slightly thickened. Add chicken to warm it. Remove from heat.

Cook the soba noodles according to package directions, adding the carrots during the last minute of cooking.

Drain the noodles and carrots and place in a large bowl. Add peanut/chicken sauce and stir gently to combine.

Notes:
The chicken works best if it is shredded, otherwise it won't incorporate well into the noodles.

If you use 1/2 tea. of the sambal oelek, it will give it a very mildly spicy taste. Use the full amount and it will be HOT. I use the 1/2 tea. then put it on the table to add more as desired.

Grandma's Potato Salad

I am taking a main dish break and putting this up. This is my grandmother's wonderful potato salad and really the only potato salad that I like. It is rich and creamy and amazing. Come by some time, I will make it for you, and you will see just how good it is.

6 medium potatoes, cooked, peeled and cubed
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 bacon slices
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
3 large eggs
1 tea. dry mustard
1/2 tea. salt
2 tea. celery seed
1/2 tea. black pepper
2 large eggs, hard boiled, peeled and sliced

Place potatoes and celery in a large serving bowl.

Fry bacon in a medium frying pan until crisp. Remove, drain and crumble bacon then add to bowl with potatoes. Leave 1 - 1 1/2 T. bacon drippings in pan.

Combine well sugar, vinegar, 3 eggs, dry mustard, salt, celery seed and black pepper in a medium bowl. Pour into pan with bacon grease and heat over low medium heat. Stir and scrape frequently until sauce thickens and just barely begins to boil. Sauce will be very thick.

Pour sauce over potatoes and stir gently to combine.

Garish with sliced eggs.

Edamame Succotash with Shrimp

Another Cooking Light recipe that is perfect just the way it is!

Edamame Succotash with Shrimp

Edamame stand in for lima beans in this one-dish meal. If you like your food spicy, use 2 jalapeño peppers.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups frozen blanched shelled edamame (green soybeans)
• 3 bacon slices
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 to 2 jalapeño peppers, split lengthwise and cut crosswise into thin strips
• 2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
• 3 tablespoons white wine
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Prepare edamame according to package directions, omitting salt. Drain.

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from pan, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan; crumble bacon.

Reduce heat to medium; add celery, onion, garlic, and jalapeño to pan; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in edamame, corn, and wine; cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add shrimp; cook 5 minutes or until shrimp are done, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Stir in salt and pepper; sprinkle with crumbled bacon and parsley. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

292 (28% from fat)

Fat:

11.2g (sat 2.9g,mono 4g,poly 3.7g)

Protein:

365g

Carbohydrate:

31.7g

Fiber:

6.2g

Cholesterol:

180mg

Iron:

5.4mg

Sodium:

599mg

Calcium:

118mg

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2003