Easy Baked Ziti

1 package Ziti noodles (or Rotini or Penne) (1 lb.)
1-2 jars pasta sauce (depending on how saucy you like it)
1 package sliced provolone cheese (not the processed kind)
Ground beef (desired amount- 1 lb. or more)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried parsley
Cottage cheese (about 8 ounces)

Parmesan cheese

Cook the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat, drain then add the garlic and parsley and sauté a minute or two longer. Cook the pasta, drain then add half the noodles to a dish smeared with pasta sauce. Spread a small amount of cottage cheese on the noodles, then layer with ½ of the ground beef, one jar of sauce and a layer of sliced provolone. Repeat the layer with the remaining ingredients. Top with the remaining cheese slices, sprinkle with parmesan and parsley. Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is lightly brown.

Mashed Potato Casserole

Mashed Potato Casserole

2-3 pounds potatoes
4 oz. cream cheese
1 t. garlic salt
¼ t. pepper
½ cup sour cream
2 T. butter
Paprika

Make mashed potatoes however you usually make them – you can use instant, if you want to. Beat into mashed potatoes the cream cheese, sour cream, garlic salt and pepper (use some sort of blender to get out the lumps). Pour into baking dish, dot with small pieces of butter and sprinkle with paprika.

Bake at 400° for about 15-20 minutes (until top is golden brown).

* Yummy, yummy. I always serve as a side dish to porcupine meatballs, along with a salad *

Mexican Casserole

My son was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease so my cooking world has been turned upside down as I learn how to cook without wheat. Here is a recipe I've used a few times and it's always been a hit. It's great because you can substitute ingredients for whatever you have on hand and it still tastes great!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 lb. ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 green pepper chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans drained (or whatever beans on hand)
1 can corn drained
1 packet Taco seasoning
2 cups cheddar cheese
10-12 white corn tortillas cut into strips
Sour Cream
Olives
Lettuce

Brown beef and add onions and pepper, cook until soft. Add seasoning and stir well. Add tomatoes, beans, and corn, let simmer for 5 minutes.

Cover bottom of 9X12 casserole dish with 1/2 of tortilla strips. Spoon half of hamburger mixture over tortillas. Sprinkle half of shredded cheese over top and repeat layers.

Cook 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

Serve with chopped olives, lettuce and sour cream.

Chicken Potato Casserole

This super simple and delicious recipe is perfect to freeze ahead of time, then thaw and bake on nights when you just can't face the kitchen.


Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes


Ingredients:
10 oz. can condensed reduced fat and sodium cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1-1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3-1/2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
1-1/2 cups frozen peppers and onions, thawed
1-1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1-1/2 cups crushed potato chips

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine soup, sour cream, milk, chicken and 1-1/4 cups cheese. Spread three-quarters of this mixture in a greased 2-quart baking dish.
Sprinkle hash browns and peppers and onions over the top of the casserole and press down lightly, then top vegetables with remaining soup mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and potato chips.
Bake casserole, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving. 8 servings
To freeze, assemble casserole as directed, except do not thaw potatoes, peppers, or onions and do not sprinkle with potato chips. Wrap casserole in freezer wrap or heavy duty foil and freeze. Reserve potato chips in pantry. To thaw and bake, let thaw overnight in refrigerator. Uncover and bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes until bubbly. Then top with crushed potato chips and bake 5-10 minutes longer.

Best Ever Mac & Cheese

This is not a super cheap meal, nor is it for those who are on a diet. But man is it GOOD!

Ingredients:
12 oz. Wide egg noodles
3 C. Whipping cream
1 1/2 C. Whole Milk
1 T. Flour
1/2 t. Salt
1/4 t. Black pepper
1/2 T. Italian seasoning
1-8 oz. Bag Italian 5 cheese blend
4 oz. Cooked diced ham (optional, and yes, you may add more or less.)

Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 in. pan, set aside. Cook noodles in salted water until tender, but still a little firm, approx. 5 min. Drain.
Whisk cream, milk, flour, and spices. Mix in Cheese 1/2 the bag of cheese. Add noodles until coated. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle noodles with ham and remaining cheese. Bake until cheese melts, and sauce bubbles, approx 15-20 min. Let stand 10 min. before serving.

I'm not kidding when I say that this is so good. My Grandma use to make this when we lived with her. 4 of us would finish off the entire pan. The leftovers are great to. I always like to add extra milk to the leftovers so that they are still juicy. Enjoy!

Shepards Pie

1 Lb. Hamburger
1/2 Cup Onions (chopped)
1/4 tsp. Thyme
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Can Tomato Soup
1 Can Green Beans or Corn
2-4 Lrg. Potatoes (cooked and mashed)
1 1/2 Cups Grated Cheese

Brown hamburger and onions. Drain. Put hamburger, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, soup and veggies into a bowl. Mix and pour into a greased 9x13 dish. Mash potatoes and spread over the top. Cook for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Sprinkle cheese over potatoes. Put back in the oven for about 5 mins or until cheese is melted.

Gingered Chicken Dinner

This is another good recipe for two, but doubles well. I wouldn't say it makes the best leftovers, and if anyone knows how to alter the recipe to use regular rice, let me know!

1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger (or less. My husband thought it was too spicy, but I liked it.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 oz. each)
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup uncooked instant rice
1 cup (or more) frozen broccoli florets, thawed

In a bowl, combine first six ingredients. Pour half into a large resealable plastic bag; add the chicken to the bag and turn to coat; refrigerate over night. Cover and refrigerate remaining marinade.
Drain and discard the marinade from the chicken. In a skillet over medium heat, brown chicken in butter for 2-3 minutes on each side. In a greased 8 inch square baking dish (use a 9x13 if you are doubling the recipe), combine the rice with the reserved marinade; top with the chicken.
Cover and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Top with the broccoli; cover and bake 10-15 minutes longer or until chicken juices run clear (or chicken temps at 170 with thermometer*).

* I always use a meat thermometer when I cook. I think it is the best kitchen tool I have. It has the right temperature for each type of meat written on the side, and cooking meat just enough and not too much makes all the difference in how a meal turns out.

Chicken Delight

3-4 chicken breasts
2 boxes chicken flavored stuffing
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
2 cubes butter

Cook chicken until done. Mix 1 box stuffing with 1 cube of butter (melt then mix). Put stuffing in a 9x13 dish, spread across the bottom evenly. Cut chicken up, and mix with soup and sour cream. Spread across stuffing in casserole dish. Mix second box of stuffing with second cube of melted butter and spread over the chicken. Heat the chicken broth and pour over the entire casserole. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cheesy Potato and Ham Casserole

We made this for dinner the other night and it was GOOD!

Bottom Layer:

32 ounces- frozen hashbrowns (cubed)
1 tablespoon- dried chopped onion
1 teaspoon- salt
8 ounces- sour cream
1 can- cream of chicken soup
2 cups- grated cheddar cheese
2 cups- chopped cook ham (we just bought the chopped ham in a package)

Combine these ingredients in a greased 4 1/2- 6 quart crockpot.

Top Layer:

1/4 cup butter (melted)
1 box of pork stove top stuffing

Sprinkle stuffing mix over top, drizzle the butter over that. Cover and cook on low 5-6 hours or on high for 2 1/2-4 hours. This makes about 10-12 servings.

We served green beans, salad, and rolls with this. ENJOY!

Apple Cinnamon French toast Casserole

1C. Brown Sugar
1tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2C. Melted butter
1 Apple peeled and grated, or chopped.
1/2C. Raisins (optional)
6 Sliced bread cut into cubes
6-8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2C. Milk
1T. Vanilla
2tsp. Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 13x9 pan. In bowl mix together: brown sugar, 1tsp. Cinnamon, butter, apples and raisins. Spread on bottom of pan. Arrange bread over apple mix.
Mix together: Eggs, milk, vanilla and remaining Cinnamon. Pour over bread. Make sure all slices are soaked through. Sprinkle bacon over top.
Cook for 45-50 min.

Another option is to add small cubes of cream cheese and place that over apple spread before you add the bread.
You can also make this the night before. Just cover with foil and place it in the fridge overnight. Cook for 40 min. covered, and then take the foil off for the last 5-10 minutes.

Mexican Chicken Bake

I kind of just made this up so none of the spices were measured. Just do to taste.
This is one of my husbands Favorites.

1 C. Rice
1 chicken breast per person
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/4 C. Sour Cream
1/2 C. Milk
1 Can black beans
1/2 jar Salsa
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Cheese

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9 pan.
Cook Rice, spread into bottom of pan.
Cube and cook chicken with spices
place over rice
Mix together soup, sour cream, milk and beans. Spread over top chicken
Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake in oven for 20 min.

-Like I said, I kind of made this up. You can use whatever beans you like. The chicken can be seasoned with taco seasoning, or fajita seasoning if you'd prefer. I added some lemon juice because my husband loves it.
If you wanted to you could leave the chicken breasts whole and then just add about 1/2-1 C. of water and cook it all in the oven for about 1 hr.

Zucchini Casserole

1 Pound Hamburger
7 Cups chopped Zucchini (add yellow squash, carrots, broccoli, or other veggies you have on hand)
¼ Cup Onion chopped
1 Can Cream of Chicken soup
1 Cup Sour Cream (you can sub. with Mayo or mix half and half)
1/4 Cup Butter
3 Cups Herb Stuffing Mix (or whatever you have on hand)

Cook Zucchini with onion in boiling salted water 5-10 minutes. Drain well, combine soup, sour cream and hamburger. Stir in zucchini and onions. Melt butter and toss with stuffing mix. Spread half of stuffing in 9X13 casserole dish. Spoon soup mixture on top. Sprinkle with remaining stuffing mix. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Fajita Bake

I stole this from Good Things Utah and changed it a bit, but it was sooo good!

1 Pound Ground Turkey (or beef if that's what you have)
1/2 Green Pepper chopped
1/4 Onion chopped
1 Packet Fajita Seasoning (You could use Taco as well)
1 Small Can crushed tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
1/3 Bag Egg Noodles cooked and drained
Shredded Cheese
Sour Cream

Cook ground meat, add vegetables and cook until tender. Add seasoning and tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes. Place cooked noodles in 9X9 casserole dish, pour meat mixture over noodles. Top with Shredded cheese. Place in 350 degree oven for a few minutes to melt cheese. Serve with sour cream on top and a salad on the side!

Easy Chicken Casserole

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law in New York and it is absolutely delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients:
2 cans cream of chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
4-5 cooked chicken cubes or a quart of canned chicken
2 stacks ritz crackers
1 stick melted butter

Mix cream of chicken soup and sour cream together. Spread a thin layer of this into 9x13 pan. Spread cooked chicken over this. Pour the rest of chicken soup mix over the chicken. Crush ritz crackers and mix with butter. Spread this mixture on top. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Take foil off and cook for additional 5 minutes. This is great over rice.