Creamy Chicken -n- Noodle Casserole Revised

I posted the original recipe HERE, but I've tweaked it over the last year or so to be a bit healthier and budget conscious. 

Creamy Chicken -n- Noodle Casserole

16 oz. egg noodles (cooked)
1 can cream of chicken soup (or use my homemade version HERE, just cut the recipe in half)
3/4 can of milk (I'm into dirtying as few dishes as possible! -- just use the can from the cream of chicken soup to measure...or about 1 cup will do fine)
1/4 c. butter
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. shredded colby-jack cheese
1 can of cooked chunk chicken (or 1/2 - 1 lb. cooked, chopped chicken -- depends on your preference)

Cook the egg noodles. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large saucepan.  Stir until the mixture is nice and creamy. Stir in the chicken and combine with the noodles.

Notes: You can put this in a baking dish and add cracker crumbles or crumbled chips as a topping and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Or you can skip that step and just add the noodles to the bowl and serve from there. *whisper* That's what I do. They don't care about the fancy-schmancy presentation. But don't tell them there's an option. *wink*

Or...you can make this mid-afternoon and then put it in a crock pot on warm to keep it warm. This is such a versatile dish! Oh so many options!

Also there are no leftovers with this meal. If I make a double batch then there might be a little bit for lunch the next day but the more I make the more they eat. I guess it's a good problem to have, eh?

Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits

I found this recipe over at Suzanne's blog Chickens in the Road.  Yes, these are like the biscuits from that seafood restaurant that starts with Red and ends in Lobster...but better.  *wink*  I made them to accompany our Sunday afternoon chili.  And what a lovely companion it was!  These biscuits are sooo good!  It definitely passed the taste test of the whole family!  I even drizzled some of the butter topping over my mom's gluten free bread and popped that in the oven. She loved it!  I made a few tweaks to the recipe so it's a bit different than what you'll find at Suzanne's site.  Feel free to do some tweaking of your own.  That's the fun part of cooking! *wink*

Ultimate Cheddar Bay Biscuits

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
2 t. sugar
1/2 t. cream of tartar
1/4 t. salt
1/4 heaping t. ground cayenne pepper
1 t. garlic powder
1/2 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. grated mild cheddar cheese
3/4 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups milk

Topping
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/4 t. garlic powder
1 teaspoon parsley
dash of salt

Mix first 7 ingredients in a large bowl.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter. Stir in cheese then add sour cream and milk. Scoop large spoonfuls of biscuit dough in a greased 9 x 13 casserole pan.  (Not a cookie sheet...you need an edge to catch the butter!) 

For the topping: Melt butter. Stir in garlic powder, parsley, and a dash of salt. Spoon half of the topping over unbaked biscuits.  Bake at 450 degrees for 20-ish minutes.  (Mine made 15 biscuits, but you can get more if you make smaller scoops.)  After removing biscuits from the oven, spoon the rest of the topping over them.  These are sooo good!  (Did I say that already? *wink*) Enjoy! 

Old House Kitchen Breakfast Cups

Disclaimer-- I'm still tweaking this recipe, but I thought I'd share it with you and see if you had any tweaks you'd make yourselves.  Kind of like learning together. How's that sound?  

32 oz. shredded hashbrowns (I used the frozen kind, but thawed them first -- in the fridge)
1 lb. cooked and crumbled bacon (For a tutorial on how to bake them go HERE.)
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (set 1/2 c. aside)
6 eggs (beaten)
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. pepper
48 Biscuits (My recipe is HERE.)

Make roll out biscuits or use the bang-on-the-counter kind.  Cut them out about the size of a pint canning jar opening (really scientific, I know).  Then press them into the bottom of lightly sprayed muffin tins so that the dough goes up the sides.  Fold together hashbrowns, bacon, 1 1/2 c. cheese, eggs, sour cream, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper together.  Scoop into muffin tins until it's all evenly doled out. Top with 1/2 cup cheese and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Serve with pancakes and syrup or all by themselves for busy mornings.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Mac & Cheese

My husband absolutely loves this recipe!  It's his first pick of any macaroni and cheese recipe that I make.  The kids are kind of partial to it, too!  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Crock Pot Mac & Cheese

16-oz. pkg. elbow macaroni, cooked
12-oz. can evaporated milk
10.5-oz. can cream of chicken soup
2 c. sharp cheddar cheese shredded
2 c. five cheese blend shredded (or mozzarella)
2 c. co-jack cheese shredded
1 - 2 sticks of butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a slightly greased slow cooker. Cover and cook on low setting for 3 to 4 hours. Makes 12-16 servings.

Baked Mushrooms

While at a restaurant a while ago I tried an appetizer that was wonderful! I loved it so much that I had to try to make it at home. I think I succeeded. I'll share it with you!

Baked Mushrooms

1/2 stick butter
1 lb. container mushrooms (sliced)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 block cream cheese (softened)
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Melt butter in a skillet. Saute mushrooms with salt and pepper until tender. Stir in cream cheese until melted and carefully blended well with the mushrooms. Pour into a small baking dish. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until melted, bubbly and slightly browned. Enjoy!

Huntington Chicken

A friend gave me the In the Kitchen with Mary and Martha: A Cookbook Featuring Oodles of Inspiration, Recipes and Tips (Cookbook Series)
cookbook. We had Huntington Chicken for dinner last night and it was delicious!


Huntington Chicken

4 cups chicken broth
8 tablespoons flour
1/2 pound grate cheese (Colby)
2 cups cooked macaroni
1 (4-5 pound) whole chicken, stewed and deboned
butter crackers crushed (1/2 tube)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat broth. Take 1 cup of broth and blend with the flour to make a paste. Add to pan of broth to create a gravy. Stir in cheese until melted. Add macaroni and chicken. Place in a large baking dish. Cover with cracker crumbs. sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly and browned.

*Note: you can freeze this casserole without the crumb topping.

Ranch Cheddar Chicken

I bought a lot of split chicken breasts a few weeks ago that were super cheap and put them in the fridge. I had my husband (aka Hubster, not-the-Hubster...hehe) grill some the other day and to get them thoroughly cooked they had to be...um...charred, let's say. So I'm thinking grilling these puppies is not a great idea. I dug up this recipe that I haven't used in a long time and it's a hit!

Ranch Cheddar Chicken

8 chicken breasts (split with skin removed or boneless)
1 cup ranch dressing
2 T flour
1/2 c. cheddar cheese

Combine ranch, flour, and cheddar cheese and spread on top of the chicken. Bake at 375 degrees covered with aluminum foil for 10 minutes. Remove aluminum foil, bake for 25 minutes. Check for doneness.

Enjoy!

*drawing from kitchentablecomix.com

Kitchen Tip Tuesday: Simple Dough

If you are afraid of making your own bread dough, pizza dough, garlic sticks, etc. Fear no more! This recipe is adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. I've made it an easy process.

Here are the ingredients:
6 c. warm water
3 T yeast
8 tsp. salt
13 c. flour (I use all-purpose unbleached)

All you need is a large 10 quart container. I mix the yeast and salt in warm water with a spoon. (Not hot, because you'll kill the yeast, but not cold because you want the water warm enough to activate the yeast. Think of it as warm enough for a baby's bath.) Add in the flour all at once. Mix it around with a spoon or your hands. (I remove my rings...picking dough out of the nooks and crannies is no fun!) Place the cover on top loosely and let it rise for about 2 hours. You can then either use it or place the lid on tight and refrigerate it for up to 2 weeks.

If you're going to bake it right after the 2 hour rising process then preheat the oven to 450 degrees. The important part is to bake w/steam. That means put a pie pan on the bottom rack with about 1/2 inch water in it. Be careful when opening up the oven, though...that steam likes to escape and it's a bit hot! (I don't use steam when baking pizza, though.)

This is the container I use..


This is the label that I have on it so I remember the directions...


This recipe will make about 4-6 pizza crusts (thinner is better)...or various amounts of bread sticks, or rolls. The easiest thing I do is pat it out onto a greased cookie sheet and bake it for about 15 minutes until slightly golden on top. When it's done I cut it up with a pizza cutter and serve with butter.

For garlic cheese bread I press dough into a pizza pan. I cut it in strips with the pizza cutter. Then I pour melted butter over the top. Sprinkle on garlic powder, basil, oregano, parmesan cheese, mozzarella, colby-jack and a little bit of cheddar. Bake for about 15 minutes. Enjoy!!

Easy Cheesy Bean Dip

1 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 can bean dip
1 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 package taco seasoning mix
1/2 lb. shredded colby-jack cheese

Mix all ingredients except the cheese. Layer in a crock pot or a casserole dish 1/2 the mixture and 1/2 the cheese; repeat. Cook on low for 4 hours or so or bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with nacho chips, chopped tomatoes, black olives, guacamole, etc.!

Notes: Sometimes I add 1/2 pound browned, ground beef to the mixture to give it a little more protein. A lot of times when we go camping I'll take a crock pot with us and the ingredients. I'll pop it all in the crock pot after breakfast and it's ready by lunchtime!

Creamy Chicken -n- Noodle Casserole

This recipe came from a friend many years ago. I think my family would eat it every day if I served it. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken -n- Noodle Casserole
16 oz. egg noodles (cooked)
1 can cream of chicken soup
3/4 can of milk (I'm into dirtying as few dishes as possible!)
1/4 c. butter
1/2 lb. Velveeta
1 can of cooked chunk chicken (or 1/2 - 1 lb. cooked, chopped chicken -- depends on your preference)

Cook the egg noodles. Combine the remaining ingredients in a large saucepan.  Stir until the mixture is nice and creamy. Stir in the chicken and combine with the noodles.

Notes: You can put this in a baking dish and add cracker crumbles or crumbled chips as a topping and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Or you can skip that step and just add the noodles to the bowl and serve from there. *whisper* That's what I do. They don't care about the fancy-schmancy presentation. But don't tell them there's an option. ; )

Or...you can make this mid-afternoon and then put it in a crock pot on warm to keep it warm. This is such a versatile dish! Oh so many options!

Also there are no leftovers with this meal. If I make a double batch then there might be a little bit for lunch the next day but the more I make the more they eat. I guess it's a good problem to have, eh?

Sausage Rolls

As I mentioned before I have a lot of Pillsbury crescent rolls in the fridge and I made these again this week so I thought I'd post the recipe...

Sausage Rolls

1 lb. breakfast sausage (I buy Bob Evans when there's a good sale and I have a coupon.)
3 tubes of crescent rolls
shredded cheddar cheese or any other filler you'd like to add...eggs, veggies, etc.

Brown, drain and crumble sausage
Unroll crescent roll dough and seal two triangles together to make a rectangle (Betcha didn't know we were covering geometry in the kitchen today, did ya?) Continue until they're all connected and laying on baking sheets.
On one side of the rectangle of the crescent roll dough put a heaping tablespoons of meat on each dough rectangle. If you have more meat left over distribute it evenly among the dough rectangles. Top with cheese, fold the dough over and pinch it around the edges. Bake at 350 degrees about 10 minutes or until they are slightly brown on top.

Note: You can bake these ahead of time, cool, then store in the fridge for a few days for quick breakfast pockets (especially if you put egg in them too!). Just pop them in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

Chicken Burritos

We have a certain child who really doesn't like anything made with sour cream in it. I made this and didn't reveal what was in it. He loved it. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, right? (This recipe is from Gooseberry Patch.)


Chicken Burritos
2 lb. cooked and shredded (or chopped) chicken

1 1/2 c. salsa (divided)

1 c. sour cream

8 (10-inch) flour tortillas

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 c. shredded colby-jack cheese (or mexican blend kind)

Combine chicken, 1/2 cup salsa and sour cream in a large bow. Spoon chicken mixture evenly onto tortillas. Fold up sides and roll up, burrito-style; place in an ungreased 9x13 baking dish. Mix together soup and remaining salsa (1 c.); pour over burritoes.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese melts. Serve with chopped black olives, tomatoes, sour cream, baked beans, mexican rice, etc.

Note: When I bake this I double the recipe (using my BigOven program!) and bake in two dishes. I put them in the oven together and rotate the pans half-way. I find that the bottom of the burritos aren't as crunchy and easier to cut this way. When baking together the bottom dish shields the top dish from the intense heat. Make sense?

Rigatoni Casserole

This recipe does well in the crock pot or baked in the oven! Even my children who don't care for spaghetti like this recipe! Enjoy!

1 16 oz. package of rigatoni noodles, cooked
1/2 lb. Italian sausage
26 oz. can spaghetti sauce
4 oz. pepperoni (cut pepperoni in quarters)
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (canned kind is fine)

Brown sausage (drain), add sauce and pepperoni. Add cooked noodles and 1 1/2 cups cheese to meat mixture and stir. Place in a large casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Or: Crockpot on low for approx. 3-4 hours. The only thing is the cheese on top won't get bubbly and brown.

Grandma Frays' Macaroni & Cheese

She was a cooking icon in our family. Grandma Frays made THE best macaroni and cheese. She also made the best Ham and Popeye (recipe to come--and no, it's not "pot pie", it's called "popeye"...you'll see!). She passed away almost 10 years ago. I loved Grandma like she was my own. She was, by marriage, but I always called her Grandma and loved her so much. I felt equally loved by her. She was one of my go-to gals for help when cooking. She giggled when I'd ask her the silliest cooking question but always followed it with good advice! Grandpa and Grandma and Nathan's aunt came out to Maryland to visit us one weekend. Grandma showed me how to make this wonderful macaroni and cheese. Since then I bring it to every family function. It's expected of me. I'd have to enroll in the witness protection program if I ever forgot to bring it! So without further adieu I give you...

Grandma Frays' Macaroni & Cheese

4 c. dry elbow macaroni (boil and cook 7 minutes)

2 c. shredded mild cheddar cheese (divided)

2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (divided)

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. colby jack cheese

1/2 tube butter crackers (crushed)

1 can evaporated milk

1/2 - 1 can reg. milk (used the evap. milk can)

Place 1/2 macaroni in the bottom of a large baking dish (I use a 9x13 for this). Top with 1 c. mild cheddar, and 1 c. sharp cheddar. Sprinkle all of the crackers on top followed by all of the mozzarella cheese. Layer the rest of the macaroni and then the cheese on top. Sprinkle with colby jack cheese. Pour evap. milk over the top (Be careful...it'll splatter if it hits a noodle just right). Pour remaining milk over the top. I use 2% milk, you can use that or whole milk. Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes. (Until the top is a little brown and bubbly.)

Note: The milk needs to reach about 1/2 way up the dish so all the noodles get some of the milk with them. I use a glass dish so I can see where it's at. Also, don't overcook the noodles before you assemble the dish. They need to absorb some of the milk for the best flavor.