Beefy Hashbrown Potato Casserole

I forgot to take pictures of this one until after we’d finished eating. This was tasty, but my boyfriend, Kevin, and I decided that it needed something, like cheese. He’s thinking cream cheese and I’m thinking Velveeta.

Ingredients

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped; about 1/2 cup (I didn’t include this)

1 10 3/4 ounces can condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used cream of chicken)

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 cups frozen fried potato nuggets

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Cook beef and onion in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the beef is well browned, stirring to separate meat. Pour off the fat.

Stir the soup, ketchup, and Worcestershire in the skillet.

Spoon the beef mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Arrange the potatoes around the inside edge of the baking dish. (I coated the top of the beef mixture with the tater tots.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are golden brown.

Source: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/recipes/recipedetails?recipeid=50382&fm=internal_search&sf10042417=1

Spicy Sausage Meatballs

This is the appetizer that I made for dinner tonight, the one that I shared before and after oven photos of. Now, they’re called “spicy,” but I didn’t include the spicy ingredients because two out of the four of us don’t do spicy foods.

These were super tasty, but slightly high maintenance. It takes a little while to make sure that the sausage mixture is well blended; I suggest using a larger bowl to have more room to do so.

Ingredients

1 pound Owens Hot Sausage (I used Mild Tennessee Pride sausage)

2 cups Bisquick

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese, Monterrey jack, or mixed

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon dried sage

1 tablespoon dreid parsley

2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno, chopped (I didn’t include this)

2 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray 2 cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray.

Put all ingredients in a large bowl and mix with your hands.

Form into 1 inch balls and place them on baking sheets, leaving some space between them so you can turn them over.

Bake 15 minutes and then turn them over. Bake an additional 15 minutes and transfer to serving dish. (This depends on how hot your oven gets; I cooked mine for 12 minutes, flipped them, and then cooked for another 12 minutes).

If you have leftovers, they are good reheated in the microwave.

Cheesy Chicken and Pasta Casserole

This was also super delicious! But my boyfriend said it had too much cheese, while I secretly thought that it could always use more cheese…

Ingredients

8oz medium pasta shells, uncooked

no-stick cooking spray

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper = 1 medium bell pepper (I didn’t include this)

1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, undrained (I didn’t use this)

1 15oz can tomato sauce (since I didn’t use the above, I put extra sauce on the top of the casserole to make sure it wasn’t dry)

1 1/2 cups shredded Italian blend cheese, divided (I think it would be nice to use just a bag of mozzerela)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt.

Meanwhile, spray 8×8” baking disk with cooking spray.

Spray large skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sprinkle with garlic powder. Cook 2-3 minutes and then add bell pepper. Cook until pepper is tender and chicken is no longer pink in centers.

Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, 3/4 cup cheese, and cooked pasta.

Transfer mixture to prepared dish and sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.

Bake 15 minutes or until cheese melts and mixture is bubbly.

Source: Walmart Meal Solutions magazine in the paper.

Crab Filled Crescent Wontons

These are super delicious and super easy to make. My family and I scarfed them down.

Since one member of our dinner party can’t get here until 6:00 pm, the rest of us get hungry waiting until dinner time. So, I thought that I’d make appetizers this weekend.

Ingredients

1 8oz tube crescent roll dough

3oz cream cheese, softened (I missed the “softened” part, so it took lots and lots of stirring to get the filling to the consistency that I wanted it to be)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup cooked crabmeat, chopped (I used lump crabmeat, which I haven’t had before, and it was amazing quality)

2 green onions, chopped (I didn’t include this because, well, I don’t like onions)

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I put 1/4 teaspoon, but couldn’t taste it at all; on the other hand, everybody could tell it was there, so it depends on your spice tolerance)

salt and pepper, to taste (I didn’t put this in there either)

Directions

Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray, or put parchment paper on your cookie sheet like I did.

Unroll the dough on your work surface. Pinch seams to seal them up, and roll with a rolling pin to create an even rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 6×4 rows to make 24 squares.

Mix cream cheese, mayo, crabmeat, onion, red pepper, and salt and pepper (if you want the later two).

Divide crab mixture evenly among the squares, dropping it by spoonfuls that are 1/2 inch from one corner of each square.

Starting with the same corner, fold dough over filling, and tuck end tightly underneath filling; continue rolling to within 1/2 inch of opposite corner. Roll opposite corner of dough over roll; press to seal. Don’t be disappointed if your wontons don’t look like wontons; mine were tasty pockets.

Place on cookie sheet and brush with egg white, if desired. (I didn’t do the later).

Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from cookie sheet.

Serve warm.

Source

Loaded Potato and Buffalo Chicken Casserole

Dinner last night was wonderful! I’ve found that I like cooking and feeding people. I’ve also discovered that I have a secret longing to spell “potato” with an “e” at the end.

The first time I had this dish was when a friend of mine made it for the two of us to eat while she was introducing me to Dr. Who, which is amazing, by the way!

Alrighty, the recipe is as follows…

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoons freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons garlic powder

6 tablespoons hot sauce (since only two out of five of the people eating this enjoy hot sauce [my boyfriend and I], I didn’t include the hot sauce in the sauce; I had it on the table in case anyone wanted it)

double the above ingredients to have two sauces; see directions below

10 whole medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (the recipe suggests you leave the skins on, so I did, and it was tasty)

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (this was my first experience cutting raw chicken; Grandma helped me, actually she took pity on me and did much of the chicken cutting)

2 cups fiesta blend cheese or a mix of cheddar and Monterey jack (2 cups of shredded cheese = one standard sized bag; depending on how much of a cheese person you are, I’d suggest that you put two bags on there)

1 cup diced green onion (I don’t like onions, so I didn’t include this)

1 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (I adore bacon, but didn’t include it; I think it was primarily out of laziness)

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. (Yes, you really do have to turn the oven on that high.)

Coat an 9×13 inch baking dish with non-stick baking spray and set it aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and hot sauce. Add the cubed potatoes and stir to coat. (I mixed this by hand because it was easier to manage than with a spoon.)

Carefully scoop the potatoes into the prepared baking dish, leaving behind as much of the sauce as possible.

Bake the potatoes for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes until cooked through and crispy and browned on the outside.

While the potatoes are cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the leftover sauce to coat. Put it in the refrigerator to marinate until the potatoes are ready. (Realistically, there won’t be any sauce left after you’ve coated the potatoes, so make a second, separate sauce for the chicken.)

When the potatoes are fully cooked, remove them from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Top the cooked potatoes with the raw marinated chicken.

In a bowl, mix together the cheese, bacon, and green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mix.

Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly.

Serve with extra hot sauce, ranch dressing, or sour cream

Irish Potato Cakes

I made Irish potato cakes and cheesy scrambled eggs for dinner.

This recipe, like the one for Italian sausage meatballs, comes from Food Network Magazine.

A note on cheesy scrambled eggs: add a little water to the eggs while you’re whisking them to make them extra fluffy. And, when adding cheese, American gets really melty and tasty. I’ve found that an awesome egg to cheese ratio is 2 eggs:1 slice of cheese.

Here’s the recipe for the Irish potato cakes:

Ingredients

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes (I made instant mashed potatoes last night to used, and they wound up making the pancake dough super sticky, so I wouldn’t suggest you do the same)

a heaping 1/3 cup flour

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon mixed herbs (I didn’t have any mixed herbs, so I put in a couple pinches of red pepper flakes; I couldn’t really taste this, but my mom, who has a low tolerance for spicy foods, thought it was way too hot with those in there)

Directions

Combine the mashed potatoes, flour, milk, and mixed herbs in a bowl (I attempted to use a blender to mix these; do not do this)

Knead until smooth

Season with salt and pepper (I didn’t do this; I’m of a mind set that people can add how much salt/pepper they want at the table)

Divide into four balls on a floured surface and flatten each into a 3-inch patty (I actually managed to make 6 potato cakes)

Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat (I used oil instead, which works, but, whichever you use, make sure that you keep the bottoms of the potato pancakes wet to prevent them from burning or sticking)

Cook the potato cakes until golden brown, 4-5 minutes per side

Italian Sausage Meatballs

Yes, I’ve decided that this blog will also feature recipes. I’m discovering how much I love cooking, so this will be a great way to catalogue my successes and failures along with sharing these noms with you.

In the future, I’m planning on taking pictures of my creations to share along with the recipe.

Anyways, I made these awesome meatballs for dinner tonight with spaghetti and original Ragu sauce. And, this recipe came from Food Network Magazine.

Ingredients

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup dry breadcrumbs

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup finely chopped onion (which I didn’t actually use in my recipe)

1 package Johnsonville mild Italian sausage links or ground sausage (it’s easier if you buy the ground sausage; that way, you don’t have to worry about removing the meat from the casings)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, milk, and onion.

Add sausage to this mixture and mix well. Shape into 20 meatballs and arrange them on a shallow baking pan. (I actually made 8 good sized meatballs, so it depends on personal preference)

Bake for 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked throughly