Main Dishes

Italian Oven-Fried Chicken

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This take on parmesan crusted chicken comes out wonderfully juicy every time. It is delicious on it’s own or on a bed of pasta and marinara sauce. Use bone-in chicken thighs, or go boneless and skinless, it works well with both. Just mind the cooking time for boneless.

Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1/2 C. margarine or butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 C. dry bread crumbs
1/4 C. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 C. finely chopped almonds
2 T. chopped fresh parsley (or dry)
1 tsp. thyme leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
6 chicken thighs
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a 13×9 inch pan, melt margarine/butter with garlic.
2. In a medium bowl combine bread crumbs, cheese, almonds, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper; mix well.
3. Dip chicken pieces in garlic butter, then coat with crumb mixture on all sides. (use the “shake n’ bake method….Ziploc bags work great!)
4. Place skin side up in pan containing garlic butter. Bake at 400 degrees for *1 hour or until chicken is tender, basting occasionally with pan drippings.
*If you are using boneless, skinless chicken thighs, bake for 40 minutes.
Source: My collection of old family recipes

Hungry Jack Casserole

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I made this hearty dish for a “Girls Night In” I hosted a few weeks ago and everyone seemed to like it (because a few actually said so). I recommend sides that go well with BBQ–like broccoli slaw and potato salad.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 t salt

16-oz. can pork and beans

3/4 C Kraft BBQ sauce

2 T brown sugar

1 T instant minced onion (I used dehydrated)

1 can flaky biscuits

1 C grated cheese (I used cheddar)

1. Preheat oven to 375. Brown beef; drain. (Remember not to pour the grease down your sink!)

2. Stir in salt, beans, BBQ sauce, sugar, and onion. Heat until bubbly; pour into a 2-quart casserole dish.

3. Cut biscuits in half. Place cut side down around edge of casserole.

4. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until biscuits are golden (20-30 minutes).

Source: my mom

Ranch Slow Cooker Chicken

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I love my crock pot.  I love how easy it is to throw a few ingredients in it in the morning and have a yummy dinner that night. I love how ‘homey’ this dish tastes. I know you’ll enjoy it too!

Ranch Slow Cooker Chicken
Ingredients:
2 pounds chicken (you could easily substitute with pork chops)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 ranch dressing packet (or 3 Tbsp. if you have the shaker)

Directions:
1. Combine soups and seasoning in your slow cooker.
2. Add chicken, mix until chicken is coated.
3. Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.

To serve, prepare some mashed potatoes, make your little pool in the potatoes and fill it with this yummy goodness. Enjoy!

Fried Rice

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This is my fried rice recipe. It is still a work in progress. But, I thought I’d share it now since it was especially yummy this go round. I think the trick was cooking my rice in beef broth. We love this stuff. Its easy and filling!

3 cups rice, cooked and cooled
1-2 cups of beef broth

3-4 slices of bacon
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
2-3 Tbsp. onion, chopped fine
1/3 c. carrots, chopped into pea size pieces
1/3 c. frozen peas
1/2 cup ham, chopped pea size pieces
(or package of chopped ham for salads and use half)
1-2 eggs, (your preference)
low sodium soy sauce, to taste
1-2 scallions, chopped
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder

Cook rice according to directions of package. BUT, use beef broth for part (or all) of the liquid when cooking the rice. Set aside, and leave the lid off of the pot. You want the rice to cool! You could even dump it into a baking dish and spread it out so it cools quicker.

Prepare all ingredients and have them ready to add to the pan.

Cook bacon in a BIG pan. Remove the bacon and set aside. Lower temperature and add the garlic and onion. Saute. Then add the rice to the pan. (if you need to, add a bit of extra bacon grease so it doesn’t stick) Stir the rice, incorporating the garlic and onion. Add in the carrots, peas, and ham. Stir. Push all ingredients to one side of the pan, making room to scramble your egg. Add egg to the space provided and stir quickly. When done, stir all the rice mixture together. Add some salt, pepper to taste and stir. Add in a sprinkling of garlic powder, and onion powder and stir. (just sprinkle them over the top…but easy! not too much!) Also, add in some soy sauce to taste. You can continue to stir this in the pan on low until the carrots and peas are to your liking. We like them with a bite to them. Serve with a bit of scallions on top! Delicous!

This is even better as leftovers!

Niki’s Beans and Dawgs

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This is one of my kids favorite meals. And mine too… because its super easy.

2 packages of all beef Hotdogs
8 slices of bacon, cut in 1/2
2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 -2 cans of baked beans (depends on how many people you are feeding)
1-2 cans stewed tomatoes, pour into dish and cut them in small pieces
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
molasses
1/2 c brown sugar
Pepper
kosher salt

Mix together all ingredients and pour into a baking dish. Season to taste, sweeter or saltier. Cut bacon strips in half. Wrap a half piece of bacon around a hotdog and place ontop of beans. Continue with all bacon and dawgs.

Sprinkle with kosher salt and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes …or until desired crispiness of bacon and dawgs are reached.

Spring Green Risotto

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Whenever I heard “risotto” I always figured it meant “super complicated fancy food”.  But when I saw Ina Garten make it on Barefoot Contessa, I knew it was as easy as it looked.  It just takes a little babysitting on the stove.  And it is SO worth it!  Such an amazing comfort food.  It’s one of my favorite dishes EVER! We eat it as a meal, but you could have smaller portions and use it as a side.  The key ingredient, in my opinion, is homemade chicken stock.  It just improves this dish so much, giving it a depth of flavor unequaled in any store-bought stock, broth, or bouillon cube!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
3 cups chopped leeks (about 2 leeks, using white and green parts)
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
2 quarts simmering chicken stock (homemade if you can at all help it!)
1 pound thin asparagus, tough ends removed and cut into 1 1/2″ lengths
10 ounces frozen peas
1 tsp. fresh lemon zest
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (plus more for serving if desired)
3 Tbsp. minced fresh chives

1.  Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the leeks and saute for 5-6 minutes until tender.  Add the rice and stir till all the rice has been coated with oil/butter.
2.  Add a ladle of chicken stock and simmer over medium to low heat, stirring constantly, until most of the stock has been absorbed.  Continue adding chicken stock, 2 ladles at a time, stirring almost constantly and waiting for the stock to be nearly absorbed before adding more.
3.  When the risotto has been cooking for 15 minutes, add the asparagus, peas, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking and adding stock, until rice is tender but still firm (another 10-15 minutes).
4.  Whisk lemon juice and mascarpone cheese together in a small bowl.  When the risotto is done, turn off the heat and stir in the mascarpone mixture, Parmesan cheese, and chives.  Allow to set aside a few minutes before serving.

Source:  adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe

Meatball Subs

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Mr. Blue Eyes and I love these sandwiches! The meatballs are pretty run of the mill, but I love something that can be used in many recipes and stores or freezes easily. Sometimes I make the meatballs and freeze them for later use. SO great!
Ingredients for the Meatballs:
1 lb Ground Beef
1/4 C Bread Crumbs (we use Italian Seasoned)
1 egg
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground pepper
Additions for the Sandwiches:
1 (32 oz) Jar of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce (We use Classico, Tomato and Basil)
3-6 Hoagie Rolls (We slice three, and eat them open)
Shredded Cheddar Cheese (Mozzarella is great, too!)
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a Medium sized mixing bowl, mix all the Meatball ingredients together by hand.
3. Roll into balls. I make mine with a cookie scoop–heaping.
4. Place about 1″ apart on a cookie sheet. (We use lean meat. If you use higher fat content, you may want to put these in a cake pan.)
5. Bake for 10 – 13 minutes.
6. After removing the meatballs from the oven, turn it to Broil–500 degrees–and move your rack up to the highest setting.
7. After letting them cool a bit (or not–depending how rushed you are. Just be aware that they may break a little if you handle them too much when they’re hot.), add them with your spaghetti sauce in a sauce pan. Warm them up over Medium heat, about 3 – 5 minutes, stirring gently.
8. Halve your hoagie rolls lengthwise, place them on a cookie sheet, and spoon some meatballs over the bread BOTTOMS (if you’re going to Sandwich it. We do tops and bottoms because we eat them open)–enough to get a bite of meat when you chomp into it.
9. Sprinkle some cheese over each sandwich half and place on the top rack under the broiler until the cheese is nice and melted, about 3 minutes. (Don’t over bake!!) Serve hot.

Source: A family recipe

~Kara

Salisbury Steak

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I can probably count on one hand just how many school luches I actually consumed. I was convinced that they were all “icky!” I can even remember how terrible the cafeteria smelled on salisbury steak day. Now that I’m a grown-up, I have decided to give certain foods another try. I found this recipe while searching through food blogs one day and after reading over the list of ingredients, I figured I was brave enough to give it a try. I was completely surprised that it was actually good, very good!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 package Lipton’s Onion Soup mix
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 package brown gravy mix, plus the required amount of water called for on the back
1/2 cup sour cream
1, 8 oz. package fresh mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1. Mix together ground beef, onion soup mix, bread crumbs and egg. Shape into 5 patties.
2. Fry patties in a skillet until brown, about 10 minutes on each side.
3. While the patties are cooking, mix together the dry gravy mix, water and sour cream.
4. Spray a 9×9 inch baking dish (or whatever you may have that’s about that size) with nonstick spray and arrange patties in a pan.
5. Cover patties with gravy mixture and sliced mushrooms.
6. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, turning patties halfway through.

* These are best served with rice or mashed potatoes.

Source: Mommy’s Kitchen

Wiener Schnitzel

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This is a German dish my father learned how to make on his mission to Austria. I ate it frequently at my house as a child, and recently rediscovered it.

Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 pork loin cutlets (or boneless pork chops)
1/4 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 egg, beaten
2 T. milk
3/4 C. dry breadcrumbs
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. shortening
Directions:
1. Pound pork thin to about 1/2 to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut small slits around the edges to prevent curling as it cooks.
2. In a shallow dish, combine the flour, salt, and pepper.
3. In a second dish, combine the egg and milk.
4. In a third dish, combine the breadcrumbs and paprika.
5. Coat both sides of the pork cutlets with flour mix, then egg mix, then breadcrumb mix.
6. Heat the shortening in a large skillet on medium heat. Cook the coated cutlets in the skillet 2-3 minutes each side. Remove from pan and serve immediately.
Source: My father, who has been known to wear a lederhosen.

EASY Alfredo Sauce

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My husband loves Chicken Alfredo. I rarely make it due to it’s richness and HIGH calorie/fat content. I came across this recipe earlier this week and new I had to give it a shot.

Creamy Garlic Alfredo Sauce

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into 6 pieces (see note above)
1 cup milk (see note above)
3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1 cup)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste, if needed

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium pot or skillet, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, taking care not to let the garlic burn.
Add the cream cheese, stirring with a whisk until the mixture is smooth. It will look curdled at first, but with constant whisking for 2-3 minutes, it should come together to form a smooth, creamy paste.
Add the milk gradually, about 1/4 cup at a time, whisking quickly and constantly until each addition is incorporated fully into the sauce.
Stir in the Parmesan cheese, pepper and salt. Stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is the desired consistency.
Cook for 2-3 minutes for a thicker sauce or remove right after the cheese is melted for a thinner sauce.
Serve immediately over hot, cooked noodles.

Comments: I opted to use skim milk and low fat cream cheese. There was a very slight grittiness to the sauce, but it was worth it to me to not have the extra calories and fat. While the sauce was cooking I had noodles boiling, chicken baking in the oven, and some broccoli steaming. Throw it all together…. and you have one yummy meal!

Source: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe