Italian Crockpot Chicken

We just had this last night so yummy!
This fed my family of 4, with no leftovers.

Ingredients:
3lb bag frozen boneless/skinless chicken
2- 10.5oz cans Cream of Chicken/Celery Soup
1- 8oz pkg Cream Cheese- softened
1 pkg Dry Italian Dressing
4oz Shredded Cheese (optional)

Directions:
-Place Chicken in Crockpot
-Pour soup over top Chicken (don't add water)
-Sprinkle Dry Italian Dressing over everything
-No need to stir at this point, spices will mix in as the soup cooks down
-Cook on Low for 5-6 hours.
-Serve over Pasta or Rice,
-If desired sprinkle shredded cheese over each individual dish.

**I love to use Crockpot Liners- Makes cleanup so easy!
**We like to add Cooked Mixed Vegetables in at the time of serving.
**I like to use the Cream of Celery Soup it has a nice mild flavor.
**This calls for Cream Cheese but I have never tried it,
    because my son is allergic to milk.

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1- 28oz jar spaghetti sauce
2 green or red bell pepper, seeded and Cubed
8oz fresh sliced mushrooms
1 onion, finely diced
2 TBs minced garlic

Directions:
Put the chicken in the slow cooker.
Top with the spaghetti sauce, bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, and garlic.  Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.  Use fork to shred chicken & Serve over your favorite Pasta or Rice.  Goes well with Angel Hair.  I've even done this several times with just the Chicken & sauce, because we didn't have the other ingredients & it still came out pretty good!

Cold Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:
6 cups cooked Macaroni
2 cups Miracle Whip
A little Mustard
1/2 to 1 can Evaporated Milk
Salt and Pepper
Ham Chunks
Cheese Cubes
Celery Cubes
Onion Chunks (optional)
Regular Milk (extra if needed)

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the Miracle Whip, mustard, evaporated milk, salt and pepper. Add in the macaroni, cheese cubes, ham chunks, celery cubes and onion chunks. Mix together and serve.

Chel's Ziti Pasta

I was going to make the Party Pasta Bowl recipe from Pampered Chef but decided to change it just a bit. Although some of my kids were skeptical to try it (because it was something new), they loved it. It did turn out quite yummy!

Chel's Ziti Pasta

1 package uncooked ziti pasta

1/4 c. chopped onion

1 lb. lean ground beef (I always get the leanest ground beef I can find)

3 garlic cloves, pressed

2 ts. Italian Seasoning

1 jar/can (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained (I like to get the ones with seasoning in them)

1 egg

2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 ts. parsley

1/4 ts. black pepper

2 Tbs. Parmesan cheese

1. Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain when fully cooked. Cook ground beef, add chopped onion and pressed garlic.  Cook until beef is fully cooked.  Remove from heat.  Add Italian seasoning, tomatoes and spaghetti sauce.  Lightly beat egg, then add to meat mixture.  Add mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, parsley and pepper.  Mix sauce with pasta in large bowl, pour into 9x13 stone baker and add more mozzarella cheese on top.  Bake at 450 degrees for 25 min.

Darin's Super Scrumptious Spaghetti

Darin made this spaghetti for me on our second date & I joke with him that I fell in love with him for his spaghetti. (which of course isn't true - I love the man and the sketti)


Ingredients:

1 - 16 oz package Spaghetti

1 - can Spaghetti sauce any flavor

1 - can Italian diced tomatoes

1 - green bell pepper (diced)

1 -red bell pepper (diced)

1 - med. onion (diced) - I prefer a sweet onions or the purple kind

1 lb Mild Italian Sausage (you can use hamburger if you prefer)

Directions:

Brown Sausage in a skillet.

In a separate skillet grill the onion and peppers till slightly caramelized.

Add them to Sausage after it is fully cooked.

Add Sauce and Tomatoes. Mix Well. Let simmer while you boil spaghetti

I usually add a little salt to the water and 1 tsp E.V.O.O. while spaghetti cooks.

Drain but don't rinse (helps the pasta absorb more of the sauce).  You can either add spaghetti directly to sauce or put back into pot with 1 tsp of E.V.O.O. mixed in and serve separately.  I was cooking for a large group when taking these photos so I missed getting the pasta (maybe I'll add later) - that is also why it appears to be more in skillet then what recipe calls for.

Baked Mac-n-Cheese

My hubby hates the boxed Mac-n-Cheese, but he loves it when I make my baked version.


Ingredients:
3 - boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (I like the Rotini style)
1 - 8 oz bag of Shredded Cheese
1 - 11 oz bag of Potato Chips (I like the Wavy Lays for this dish)
1 - pkg bacon (optional)
Butter & Milk (I don't measure so you'll have to eyeball it)

Directions:
Preheat Oven
Boil Pasta - Turn off burner, then drain (don't rinse - a little tip I learned from Alton Brown - this will help the sauce cling to the pasta), let pasta sit in strainer. Rinse out sauce pot, place back on warmed burner and add about 2 Tablespoons of butter - once melted add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk. Stir in all three cheese packets. Whisk until smooth. Pour Pasta back into pot and stir cheese sauce with pasta until well blended. Spray Pam into 9x13 casserole dish. Pour 1/2 pasta into dish and spread evenly in dish.

Sprinkle 1/3 of cheese over pasta. Spoon remainder of pasta over cheese and spread in dish. Sprinkle the last 2/3 of cheese evenly over pasta. Use about 3/4 of the Potato chips and crumble them over all the cheese. Bake at 350' for 25 minutes - Cheese should be melted and chips slightly browned.

Extra: My hubby likes his with Bacon. I prefer mine without.
I cook bacon in the oven to help take some of the grease away from it. Use a cooling rack ontop of a cookie sheet - lay bacon across cooling rack. Bake at 350' for about 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on it - it wont take much for it to burn. Take it out when it looks browned and crispy. Once bacon is done and cooled down. Blot with Paper towels, then crumble about 8 slices over 1/2 of the casserole before baking.

Enjoy!

Bow Tie Alfredo

This is a very simple recipe. I'll tell you right up front that I don't make my alfredo sauce from scratch.

12 oz. bow tie pasta

15 oz. bottle of Bertoli Garlic Alfredo sauce

Garlic powder

Salt & pepper

Boil pasta. Warm Alfredo sauce. The sauce is a little bland so I add a little bit of garlic powder, salt & pepper. The sauce I buy does say garlic alfredo but I still add more. It would probably be better to add a clove of fresh garlic pressed. I'll have to try that next time. Once pasta is done, drain it & pour it back in pot. Add sauce to pasta & your done. Most of my family loves this one, especially my 7 yr. old.

Tuna Casserole

Tuna Noodle Casserole

2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 sm. or 1 lg. can tuna

1-16 oz. bag of egg noodles

1 c. miracle whip ( or mayo)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

more cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 450°

Boil noodles until they are soft. While they are boiling, mix soup & milk in a microwaveable bowl & microwave for 1-1/2 minutes then add 1 c. cheese to mixture & microwave another 1-1/2 minutes. Mix tuna & miracle whip in an extra large mixing bowl. Add soup/milk mixture to tuna mixture & mix well. When noodles are finished boiling add them to this mixture & mix well. Then pour half of mixture in a 9x13 baker & sprinkle cheese on top. Add the rest of the mixture & sprinkle a lot of cheese on top. Bake at 450° for 20 minutes.

I don't add any seasonings in the casserole, but I do like to salt & pepper it after. This is one of my families favorite recipes, it is the creamiest recipe I've ever had. I also like to make homemade rolls to go with this. My sisters like to add slivered nuts to the top, so that's an option if you like those.

Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti

(this recipe is from our sis Kristi!)

3-4 chicken breasts (cooked)

1 pkg. spaghetti (cooked)

1 lg. can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cheddar cheese soup

shredded cheddar cheese

salt & pepper to taste

You can substitue any cream soups for the ones listed above. My family doesn't like mushrooms so I just added another small can of cream of chicken to substitute for the mushroom soup.

Boil the spaghetti as directed. Cut the chicken into cubes, cooked them in a pan on the stove & seasoned with Lawry's chicken/poultry seasoning or any of your favorite seasoning. While spaghetti & chicken are cooking, in a large bowl mix all the soups together, add some salt & pepper for more flavoring & about 1/2 cup. of cheddar cheese.

When chicken & spaghetti are finished cooking add them to the soup mixture. Then pour about half of this mixture in a 9x13 pan & sprinkle cheese over, then add the rest of the mixture & sprinkle more cheese over the top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

I advise you not to do what I did and accidently buy the Fiesta Nacho Cheese soup, instead of the cheddar cheese soup. The nacho taste really didn't appeal to anyone in our family although they have loved this recipe when my sil, Kristi has made it for family dinners, so I'm pretty sure it was that nacho flavor that we didn't like.

Pizza Casserole

This is one of my husbands favorite Dishes and I'm making it for dinner tonight. Most of the time I make it with Pepperoni. I've tried it once with Italian Sausage when I didn't have pepperoni and it was pretty good. Not as good but both would be nice to try. Darin likes Salami so tonight I decided to add it with the pepperoni. I used 20 slices pepperoni and 8 slices Salami since they are bigger. I personally didnt care for it with the Salami and probably wouldn't use it again.

PIZZA CASSEROLE

1 pkg Rotini Pasta
1 to 2 - 26.5 oz can - of Spaghetti sauce
1 14.5 oz can - Diced Tomatoes
1 - 8 oz pkg - of favorite shredded cheese
½ pkg of Hormel Pepperoni Mini’s
OR 20-30 slices Pepperoni from 8oz pkg
(only use this if you want less fat in the dish)
1 lb - Italian Sausage

Add Spaghetti Sauce (I use 2 cans because we like it saucy) and diced tomatoes to a skillet and heat up on medium - when sauce starts to bubble turn down to low. If you want to use Sausage, cook it first then add the sauce and tomatoes to it and keep on warm.

Cook Rotini Pasta and Drain.

While pasta is cooking, if you are degreasing pepperoni, do that now (see directions below). This won't take all the fat out but it will at least cut down on the fat content. It also gives it more of a crispy taste (which I like). Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. Pour the cooked pasta into skillet with the sauce and stir. Leave on warm until pepperoni is done.

If using the minis add them here or when Pepperoni slices are cool enough to touch, tear them into 4 pieces and sprinkle them around in the sauce and then stir them in. Pour mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish and spread evenly. If you like you can add a few more pepperoni pieces or minis on top of dish.

Then pour the package of grated cheese over the top and spread evenly over the dish. Bake @ 350' for 15 minutes, until cheese is melted.

To Degrease Pepperoni:

2 ways to do this: Microwave or Oven

1 - Microwave Oven

Lay at least 2 Paper towels on a paper plate and then arrange 10 slices over the paper towels. Lay another paper towel or 2 over the pepperoni and cook for only 30 seconds. Repeat until all slices are cooked. Don't cook longer than 30 seconds or the pepperoni will get too hard. Let cool to touch then tear into 4 pieces. Tearing is easier than cutting after they are cooked.

2 - Preheat Oven to 300' put cooling rake on a cookie sheet and place 20 slices on top cooling rake. Make sure oven is preheated and it should only take 8 minutes to cook the pepperoni. Don’t over cook they will get to hard. Let cool to touch then tear slices into 4 triangular pieces.