Chicken Stuffing Bake

Tonight one of my kiddos asked me why I always take pictures of our food. Another one responded, "She is a foodie photographer."  I had to laugh. I told them that I don't have enough time or patience to be a food photographer. Once it is out of the oven, we are ready to eat.  So this is the best I can do under such circumstances.

I have still been cooking. Just lax about blogging lately. :)

This recipe is an old family favorite.

Tonight I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner, which is rare for me. I usually have my menu planned by Sunday.

I knew I had chicken, that I wanted to avoid pasta, and that we had no potatoes.

What to do, what to do.

It just so happened I had some stuffing and some Swiss cheese on hand.

Perfect.

Chicken stuffing bake.

It is a simple recipe (my favorite kind) and easy.

Just what I needed.

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts or tenderloins (skinless, boneless)

Swiss Cheese, sliced

1 container of cream of mushroom soup

1 package stuffing

1/4 cup white wine OR chicken broth

1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:
Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray.  Okay, I totally didn't do that, and it worked just fine.

Spread the Swiss cheese slice on top of the chicken. 

Mix together the cream of mushroom soup, the stuffing, the white wine OR chicken broth, and the melted butter.

Spread over the top of the chicken/cheese.

Cover with foil.

Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.

I served this with green beans and rolls.

Enjoy!

Reba

Coming Soon...

A real blog post.

I promise.

I have been cooking.

Really, I have.

I have just been dealing with the "gunk/junk" that comes with winter. And renovating your house.

You know...coughing, sneezing, gasping for air.

Fun stuff.

But I hope to be back by week's end.

Really.

Reba

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

For Super Bowl Sunday, we were supposed to go to my parents' house.

Except it snowed.

A lot.

Well, a lot for us. 

So suddenly we were having our own Super Bowl party at home.

Thankfully I had some Taco Soup in the crockpot already. 

What I didn't have was a plan for dessert. 

My mom was going to make brownies.

And I love brownies.

But I decided we would try something new.

I hit Pinterest and was reunited with this recipe.

Seemed easy enough.

During halftime, I ran to the kitchen to whip these up.

A little while later, we were enjoying these chocolate chip cookie bars. Thoroughly.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup salted butter, softened
3 eggs whisked
2 1/2 cups flour (all-purpose works fine)
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together the brown sugar and the softened butter.  Add in the whisked eggs.

In another bowl, mix the baking powder and salt with one cup of flour.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix.

Add in the remaining flour as well as the vanilla.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Grease a 13 x 9 inch pan.  Spread batter in the pan, pressing down.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, until lightly browned.

Let them cool off for a few minutes.

Enjoy!

Happy cooking!
Reba

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

I really need to make this again and take a better picture. I will just say it was a really hectic day when I made this and I was just happy we were finally sitting down to eat.  I didn't have time to do much photography...

So the other night I wanted to try a recipe I had pinned for chicken Alfredo roll ups.  I mean, it had Alfredo sauce, cheese, and pasta. How could I go wrong?

Except like I said, it was a bit of a hectic day.

And I started thinking, "Why do I have to roll up anything? That is more time than I have..."  So I decided to go for more of a lasagna instead.  And thought it wasn't beautiful (as noted above), it was well-received.  And almost all of it was gone before the night ended.

Best of all, it really was easy (especially since I didn't roll anything).

Ingredients:
9-12 lasagna noodles (I did 12)
2 1/2 cups Alfredo sauce (I make a homemade version...YUM)
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
oregano
garlic salt
2-3 cups shredded Mozzarella

Directions:
Boil lasagna noodles according to directions on package.

Spray a 9 x 12 inch pan with cooking spray or olive oil.

Heat oven to 350.

Spread a small amount of the Alfredo sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Lay 4 lasagna noodles down on top of the sauce.

Mix the chicken and the Alfredo sauce together.

Spread 1/2 of the chicken/Alfredo sauce over the noodles.

Lay down 4 more lasagna noodles.

Again, spread 1/2 the chicken/Alfredo sauce on top of the noodles.

Place the remaining four noodles on top.

Sprinkle the shredded Mozzarella on top.

Sprinkle the oregano and garlic salt over the top.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

We ate ours with breadsticks.  I would have thrown in some corn or a salad but once again, it was a bit of a crazy night. So we just ate a simple meal.  And loved every bite!

More later,
Reba

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I cannot believe it has been a month since I posted!

It isn't that I am not cooking. I really am.

Or that I haven't made recipes that we liked. I really have.

My life is just a bit chaotic right now.

As in seriously chaotic.

There is dust everywhere. Carpet pulled up. And I now have a stairwell I didn't have a few weeks ago.

We are adding on to our house.

Which hasn't really stopped my cooking, though we have had to call the builder a time or two to say, "Please get my stove turned back on!" (which thankfully he has).

It is just tiring to me.

I come home after a busy day, do the normal stuff like help kids with homework or cook dinner, and then there is extra stuff like vacuuming the kitchen and countertops which is truly futile but I feel like I must do anyway.

So when it is finally time to sit down, I can't stay awake. I am spent for the day.

I guess I have been on hiatus.

But I am back.  At least some.

When I am awake anyway.

So the other day I saw a recipe for a cinnamon roll cake.

I love cinnamon rolls.  And I have made several different kinds.

But they can be kind of a pain to make.

So a cake?

That sounded perfect.

The taste of cinnamon roll but not the work.

Okay, a little work.

But not as much work.

Yet just as much taste.

Between my family and the workers at our house, TWO cakes were gone before 10.

Delicious.

Here is the original recipe. I really didn't change much.  I actually didn't change anything on purpose, just forgot a thing or two and didn't always follow directions (accidentally).

Ingredients:
3 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp divided  Okay, totally forgot to add the 2 Tbsp later. But it still worked.


1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1 1/2 Tbsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup butter melted

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp cinnamon

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease two 8-inch cake pans, then line with parchment paper. Okay, I technically used pie plates because I don't have good cake pans, AND I didn't bother with the parchment paper. I just "greased" (with cooking spray) really well.

Use the mixer to blend the 3 cups of flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, milk, eggs, and melted butter.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.

In another bowl, beat (with a mixer) the softened butter, the brown sugar, the cinnamon, and the 2 Tbsp flour (which I forgot).

Use a tablespoon to drop the butter mixture onto the cake batter, alternating between the two cake pans.  Or pie pans. However you roll. :)

Swirl in with a knife.

Bake for 25-30.

Remove from oven and let them cool for 10 minutes in the pan.

Flip cakes out onto serving plates. Which I discovered I had none of. :( Not big enough for this anyway.  I just improvised. Story of my life.

Whisk the icing ingredients and drizzle over warm cakes.

Enjoy!

The original recipe states that one cake can be frozen (pre-icing) then re-heated later.

In my house, we are not likely to have ever have any leftover cakes. :)

But it is a good suggestion.

Happy cooking!

Reba

Creamy Spaghetti Bake

I am still alive.

Still cooking.

Still snowed in.

For five days now.

And apparently I'm not too motivated to blog this week.  Or last. :)

But I am going to break the dry spell.  And at least try to look productive.

I have seen a recipe like this all over Pinterest, so I decided it was time to try it. I mean, it is pasta and cheese.  How can I go wrong?

What I liked about this recipe (other than the pasta and cheese and creamy taste) is that it was easy.

And I like easy so much.

Even on snow days.

Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti, cooked and drained
1 pound ground beef, browned (or in our case, 1 1/2 pounds)
1 jar spaghetti sauce (or homemade sauce in our case)
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (that part is important...mine wasn't quite room temperature)
8 oz sour cream
8 oz cottage cheese (I omitted this part...it was just too much for me)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350.

Mix meat and sauce together.

Mix the cream cheese and sour cream (and cottage cheese if desired) together. I would recommend using a mixer for this. By hand, it is hard to mix it well.

Layer in a 9 x 13:
spaghetti (1/2)

cream cheese mixture (1/2)

meat mixture (1/2)

spaghetti (1/2)

cream cheese mixture (1/2)

meat mixture (1/2)

Top with shredded cheese.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

It makes a LOT.

We ate ours with Rhodes bread (garlic salt/butter on top) and corn.  A salad would have been nice but I didn't have any on hand.

Happy Cooking!

Reba

Hamburger Buns

Oh wow.

I don't think I have ever had this much time between posts.

I am still alive. I am still cooking. I am just not posting much at this moment. No reason other than life. :)

I have actually made these before but haven't blogged about them.

(Note:  I have made other buns such as these but I find that this recipe is just a little quicker and just as tasty.)

These are called 40 minute buns.  And they can be made in 40 minutes.  BUT if I have time, I try to let them rise a little bit longer.

Oh, and you haven't had homemade buns, you need to know that the texture is a little different. They tend to crumble a little easier.  But they are also delicious and worth the effort.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp active dry yeast (I use rapid rise)
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp warm water (not too hot, not too cold)
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil after reading some of the suggestions on the original recipe)
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
3-3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (more as needed)

Directions:
Dissolve yeast in the warm water in a bowl.  Add the oil and sugar and let it rest for about five minutes.

Add the egg, flour, and salt to form a soft dough.  If it is too sticky, add more flour.

Knead for about 3-5 minutes. 

Divide into 12 pieces.  The buns will be fairly small so if you want bigger buns, divide into fewer pieces (8-10).  Shape into balls.  Place about 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet.

Cover and let rest for about 10 minutes.  As I said, I usually let them sit longer if possible.

Preheat oven to 425.

If desired, brush the top with olive oil or melted butter and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

When ready, bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.

Split in middle when cooked/cooled.

Enjoy!

Reba
PS I read that these can be formed into hot dog buns but I haven't tried those yet...