Saturday, October 3, 2009

Quick and easy recipes

Another responsibility of the stay at home mom's job is cooking.  As most of you know, it's extremely difficult to plan gourmet dinners while juggling kids, laundry, and other housework.  My husband and I have gotten our fair share of take-out food, but that gets expensive, fast!  Now, I'll be the first to admit how spoiled I was growing up.  My amazing mother would go work her 9-5 job and then come home and make dinner for my father, brother, and myself.  I never had to learn how to cook until I got married.  My poor husband settled for a lot of grilled cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at first.  Slowly I learned some new recipes and would try my hardest to put a decent meal on the table.  I am by NO means an expert at cooking, but I have learned to enjoy it and I look forward to trying new recipes.


Here you can find a list of recipes that are generally easy and are not time consuming.  I've collected these recipes from numerous places, and tweaked them a little bit to my liking.  As I find new ones I'll post them here, so check back often!  Enjoy!



Impossibly Easy Ham and Cheese Pie

 













Ingredients:
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup Bisquick
1 cup of milk
4 green onions, chopped
1 cup of shredded cheese (whatever you prefer)
1 and 1/2 cups of chopped fully cooked ham

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie pan.  Sprinkle chopped ham, shredded cheese, and chopped onion in pie pan.  
 
In a separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients and whisk with a fork until blendedPour batter into pie pan. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  



Enjoy!  

Tip:  My husband and I polished off this dish in one sitting, so if you are cooking for more than 2 people I suggest doubling the recipe :)

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Crock Pot Chicken Casserole



Ingredients:

1-2lbs of chicken breasts
2 cups of shredded cheese of your choice
1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (I use Cambell's lower sodium)
1/3 cup of milk
1 cup of chicken flavored stuffing mix
garlic powder
onion powder


Directions:
Spray crock pot with non-stick spray.  Rinse and trim fat from chicken breasts.  Place chicken on the bottom of the crock pot.  Sprinkle chicken breasts with garlic and onion powder.  


In a bowl, mix mushroom soup and milk.  Whisk until blended with a fork and then pour mixture over chicken breasts.  


Top with cheese and stuffing mix (stuffing mix should be dry, not prepared).  


Cook on low for 3-6 hours depending on your crock pot.  Mine can cook chicken on low in 2-3 hours.  Adjust your time accordingly.  Serves 2-3 people.  




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Cheesy Chicken Alfredo



 











Ingredients:
1-1 1/2lbs of chicken breasts
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup of Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 jar of cheesy alfredo sauce
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Dip chicken in egg, then bread crumbs and coat fully.  Place chicken in a greased 13x9 pan and bake for 20 minutes.  

While chicken is baking, sautee mushrooms in skillet with olive oil until done.  

Remove chicken from oven and cover with 1 cup of cheesy alfredo sauce.  Top with mozzarella cheese, tomato, and mushrooms.  

Bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.  Serves 2-3 people.  


Tip: To save time, exclude the mushrooms.  The recipe is just as delicious!

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Cheesy Tomato-Beef Bake
















Ingredients:
1lb lean ground beef
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons of chopped green onion
2 cups of Original Bisquick mix
2 or 3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
3/4 cup of chopped bell pepper


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray.  In a skillet, cook beef and chili powder until ground beef is thoroughly cooked.  Drain.

In a small bowl, stir sour cream, mayonnaise, cheese and onion until well mixed.  

In a medium bowl stir Bisquick mix and cold water until soft dough forms.  Press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of the pan, using fingers dipped in Bisquick mix.  Layer beef, tomatoes and bell pepper on dough.  Spoon sour cream mixture over top; spread evenly over vegetables to cover.  

Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes until edges of dough are light golden brown.  Serves 4. 



* This dish requires a bit more time than some of the other recipes I have posted (because of the chopping of veggies and browning the ground beef).  However, I still wanted to include this one because it's so declicious!  


Enjoy! 

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