Tomato Tortelline Soup - with chicken!

Another pinterest find we adjusted to our tastes and it was delicious!  Bryker declared it REALLY good and claimed he's "in love with it"...I'd take that as a compliment.

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil (or butter or whatever)
• 1 pkg frozen cheese tortellini
• 2 cans condensed tomato soup (I did one healthy recipe and one regular)
• 2 cups chicken broth (I used 3-4 cups to make it a little less creamy)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 pint half-and-half
• 1/2 cup tomato paste (plain, seasoned, sun-dried - whatever you like)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
• 1 cup shredded chicken (or diced or none at all)

1. Saute garlic, don't burn
2. Add soup, milk, half-and-half, chicken stock and spices
3. Bring to a simmer
4. Drop in pasta and chicken
5. Simmer another 10-15 minutes, until pasta is done
6. Serve with shredded parmesan and garlic bread

(This picture is from someone else's blog - not my kitchen...but it looks so delicious!)

Pretzel Bites

We love soft pretzels and cheese so it made perfect sense that I at least try to make some on my own...turns out...it isn't that hard!  And it was a fun recipe for Bryker to help with!

I actually only did half of the recipe the time I made it...and while delicious they were salty.  So next time I will probably eliminate the salt from the dough and just do salt for topping.

• 4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup + 1 tsp white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 5 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup baking soda
• 4 cups hot water
• 1/4 cup kosher salt, for topping

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 tsp sugar in warm water, let stand about 10 minutes
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, rest of the sugar and salt (as mentioned, I'd skip the salt here)
3. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in the oil and yeast mixture - mix and form into dough
4. If dry, add a little water
5. Knead until smooth, about 7-8 minutes
6. Lightly oil a large bowl (I'm going to do melted butter next time), place dough in bowl and turn to coat
7. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour
8. Preheat oven to 450-degrees
9. Dissolve baking soda into hot water in a large bowl
10. When risen, turn dough out onto floured surface and divide into ropes, cut into bite sizes
11. Dip each piece into soda water mixture
12. Place on greased baking sheet, sprinkle with kosher salt
13. Bake for 8-10 minutes
14. Serve with nacho cheese!

(This picture is from all recipes, not my kitchen...)

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

This one was tasty but requires cooked chicken...so it's more of a leftover casserole :)

2 cups cooked rice
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
6 slices of cheese, whatever kind you like
10 slices of ham, diced
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 cup of panko crumbs
garlic salt to taste
parsley to taste


Spray 9x13 with Pam.

Spread cooked rice on the bottom.

Spread chicken on the rice.

Lay 6 slices of cheese on top of the chicken (I used provolone).

Then sprinkle cut up ham slices on top of the cheese.

Mix cream of chicken soup, milk and sour cream together.


Add garlic salt and parsley to panko crumbs.


Sprinkle on top of casserole.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Breakfast Enchiladas

1 pkg of cooked bacon
1 can chiles, drained
1.5 cups shredded cheese
6-8 flour tortillas
8-10 eggs
1.5 cups milk
1 Tbsp flour

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with Pam - trust me.  I failed to do this on my first attempt and regretted it for days...

Mix chiles with 1 cup of the cheese.

In each tortilla fill with 1-2 slices of bacon and cheese mixture.  Set seam side down into 9x13 baking dish.

Scramble eggs with milk and flour.  Pour over rolled tortillas. 

Bake at 350-degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Pull out and top with remaining cheese, continue baking until melted.

You can prepare this the night before or right before baking - makes no difference - yum!

Green Pepper Casserole

This is a play on a favorite - only with stuffing!  Who can resist stuffing!?

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, diced
2-3 green peppers, diced
1 pkg chicken stuffing
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup shredded cheese

Brown ground beef and onion together.

Steam green peppers in microwave so they aren't crunchy in the casserole.

Mix 1/4 cup of stuffing with the melted butter, set aside.

Once the ground beef is browned, add green peppers, corn and tomatoes and mix.  Once mixed, add remaining stuffing that isn't set aside.  Pour into 9x13 baking dish, cover and bake 25 minutes at 400-degrees.

Remove cover, top with reserved stuffing and cheese and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Easy Everything Chicken

So easy - so simple...throw it all together, cover and bake.

2-3 chicken breasts
1 pkg frozen green beans (or whatever veggie you like)
3 medium sized potatoes, diced into 1" chunks
1 stick of butter, melted
1 pkg of italian dressing seasoning mix

Spray a 9x13 baking dish, make three sections - one for chicken, one for veggies, one for potatoes.  Pour melted butter on top of everything.  Sprinkle seasoning packet on top of everything.  Cover with foil and bake at 350-degrees for 1 hour.

Burritos

It was delicious and a keeper!

2lbs stew meat
1 medium sized can of red enchilada sauce
2 beef bouillon cubes

Put these things into a crock pot for 8 hours on low.

4-6 flour tortillas
1 can refried beans, black beans, whatever
1 small pkg of rice (whatever flavor you like), prepared
1 cup of shredded cheese

Put meat into tortilla with beans and rice (optional), roll into burrito with seam side down in a baking dish.  Once you have all the tortillas filled, rolled and placed in the dish spoon the sauce from the crock pot on top, sprinkle with cheese and bake at 375-degrees for 5-10 minutes, until the cheese is melted.