Pasta Fagioli

This delicious soup was such a welcome change from my norm. Super filling with both beans and pasta, just pair with a slice of crusty bread and you're good to go!

Pasta Fagioli Ingredients:

1 pound Italian sausage

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

4 cups chicken broth (1 carton)

1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 can canellini beans

1 can kidney beans

1 1/2 cup ditalini pasta

1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese

Brown sausage in a large stock pot.

Add onions to the pan and cook until translucent.

Add chicken broth and tomatoes.

Smash 1/2 can canelleni beans and add to the pot.

Add remaining canelleni beans and can of kidney beans.

(Drain and rinse both beans before adding to soup.)

Add pasta and Italian seasoning.

Cook until pasta is tender.

Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Green Chile Beef Enchiladas

I consider this a "healthy" Mexican dish. Although my dad will be the first to point out that, if you're going to rank cuisine, that Mexican is about as bad as you can go. Kansas City does spoil residents with free AMAZING white cheese dip. (I need to blog my copycat recipe!) These enchiladas are made with fat free cream cheese, something I don't usually turn to, but definitely did not miss the extra"ness" of full fat cream cheese.

Green Chile Beef Enchiladas Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef

1 package (8 oz.) fat free cream cheese

1 can (4.5 oz.) chopped green chilies

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

6-8 flour tortillas

1 can green chile enchilada sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef.

Add canned chilies and cream cheese.

Let melt and stir together.

I have recently fallen in love with black beans and am creating recipes just so I can eat more of them! :)

Create enchiladas by spooning beef mixture and a small handful of beans into flour tortillas.

Spread 1/4 cup enchilada sauce onto bottom of greased 9x13 baking dish.

Roll up enchilada, place in dish.

Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas.

Top with shredded cheese.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until warm and bubbly.

Buffalo Chicken Wrap: Round 2 Recipe

There's a restaurant about one mile from our new home we teachers from my school love to frequent. Blue Sky has by far the most amazing Buffalo Chicken Wrap known to man. And while I might still prefer their version, this at home one lets us stay home and still splurge on a meal that has quickly made its way to the top of my chart.

The Bisquick chicken fingers are used in this recipe and, by using the leftovers, I pulled this meal together in about 5 minutes. Pop some frozen curly fries into the oven, and you've got yourself some serious bar and grill food!

Buffalo Chicken Wrap Ingredients:

Leftover Bisquick chicken fingers

Franks Buffalo Hot Wing Sauce

Chopped Iceberg lettuce

Shredded cheddar cheese

LARGE flour tortillas

Ranch Dressing

Chop and microwave leftover chicken fingers until warmed through.

Toss with buffalo wing sauce.

Make wrap by layering lettuce, chicken, cheese, and ranch on tortilla.

Fold into wrap.

Good luck with that. Any tips out there? Mine would not stay wrapped for anything!

Bisquick Chicken Fingers

Baked not fried. I love making Bisquick Chicken Fingers and pairing it with homemade macaroni and cheese...bring back the childhood faves!

Leftovers make one of my favorite bar and grill type meals...that recipe is coming up next!

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb.) cut into 1/2 inch strips

2/3 cup Bisquick mix

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. paprika

1 egg, slightly beaten

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.

In a gallon Ziploc bag, mix Bisquick mix, cheese, salt, and paprika.

Dip half the chicken strips into egg, place in bag.

Seal bag, shake to coat.

Place chicken strips on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken.

Drizzle butter over chicken.

Bake 12-14 minutes, turning halfway though baking time, until no longer pink in the center.

Scalloped Pineapple

Is it dessert or a side dish? Well, technically, it is a side dish, although it would pass for either. So sweet, it's like candy and the perfect way to serve fruit...with a whole lot of sugar. This is another staple that is at many family gatherings. It may look funny before you bake it, but the oven does something magical and it comes out as perfection.

Scalloped Pineapple

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1/2 lb. margarine (1 stick)

Pinch of salt

1 quart bread crumbs

20 oz. can crushed pineapple

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 9x13 baking dish with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Beat eggs.

Cream together sugar and margarine.

Stir in eggs and salt.

Mix well.

Fold in bread cubes and pineapple.

Spread in foil-lined baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

See? Perfection!

Onion Pork Tenderloin

This one's for the working days! I definitely steer clear of this recipe when I know I'll be home all day. The aroma gets my taste buds all salivating and I seem to eat everything I can get my hands on! I love to use a slow cooker liner (I think by Reynolds) so that cleanup is slim-to-none as well! :)

Ingredients:

2-4 pound pork tenderloin or other cut of meat

1 Pkg. Lipton Onion Soup Mix

3 or 4 Potatoes (Russet, Idaho, or Yukon)

1 Large Yellow Onion

2-3 Cups Chicken Broth

Salt and Pepper

1. Clean potatoes and cut into large chunks, leaving peal on.

2. Cut onion into quarters.

3. Place potatoes, onion, and whole pork into slow cooker.

4. Season generously with salt and pepper.

5. Sprinkle soup mix over potatoes, onion, and pork.

6. Fill slow cooker up with chicken broth (enough to come at least halfway up the pork.

7. Set on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

8. Meal will be ready when pork and potatoes are fork-tender.

Tater-Tot Casserole

The quintessential comfort food...Tater-Tot Casserole!

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 can condensed cream of celery soup

1 16 oz. package frozen tater tots

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Brown ground beef and season with salt and pepper.

Add the onion and cook until tender.

Mix in cream of celery soup and spread in casserole dish.

Top mixture with tater tots.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until tater tots are golden brown and mixture is bubbly.

Remove from oven, top with cheese, and return to oven until cheese is melted.

I have to ask, are you the type to organize the tots into concentric circles, perfect rows, or do you just haphazardly pile them on?