If you love to cook, you've come to the right place! Every recipe you'll find here has been made by one of us in our home kitchen. Each one is good enough to share with our friends.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Homemade Rotisserie Chicken

The second time I made it, I baked it in the oven.  It came out just like the ones you buy at the store!  But they are cheaper in the long run, because those chickens are always teeny.  We boiled this one for soup and it made a delicious chicken stock too.
This recipe smells and tastes just like a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store! 

The only thing missing is the crunchy skin, since you make it in the crock pot.  You could probably use the same spice blend and roast the chicken to get that skin though.  Next time I'll try it in the oven in a Reynolds bag.  (UPDATE:  I did -- see photo.  It was fabulous!!)

I didn't flip it like the recipe suggests -- I put it breast side down to begin with, to keep the white meat moist.  For the spice blend, I skipped the cayenne and I used dried minced onion because I didn't have any onion powder.

Make sure the chicken is REALLY dry.  And don't overpat the spices.  I ended up with more on my hands than on the chicken at one point!

This recipe comes from one of the Food Wrtiers at the Canton Repository.  (The first person comments are hers, not mine)

Slow-Cooker Roast Chicken

3 tablespoons spice blend*

1 (5-pound) chicken

Large onion

Remove packet from inside chicken, rinse. Rub spices over skin. Pull up skin over breast a bit and rub spices under it. Let sit, refrigerated, for one to 12 hours.

Slice onion and cover bottom of slow cooker. Set chicken on top; cook on low for five to seven hours, depending on how hot your slow cooker gets and how many times you lift the lid. Do not add water.
I turned the chicken breast-side-down halfway through the cooking time to ensure it didn’t get dry, but don’t do this if you want a crisp skin. Use thermometer to determine if chicken is done.

If desired, add a slurry of flour and water to the juices and onion, and bring to boil, stirring, to create gravy.

Variations: Add carrots to the onions on the bottom of slow cooker, or tuck half a lemon inside chicken.

* Spice blend: This recipe makes enough for three chickens. Measure out what you need and store the rest in a container with a tight lid.

Blend 3 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons paprika, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons garlic powder, 1 teaspoon ground rosemary. You can adapt this to fit your own tastes.  [I also add celery seeds]

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Super Sausage Gravy


The boyfriend requested biscuits and gravy, so I went looking on yummly.com (my new favorite way to search for recipes - meta search type of thing!) and found this version from Bob Evans on allrecipes.com. We both thought the gravy could be a bit thinner, but overall, very tasty and satisfying. And I feel all southern now. And I cheated and used Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits.

Ingredients:
1 pound Bob Evans® Original Recipe
Sausage Roll
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk
Salt and black pepper to taste
8 prepared biscuits
Directions:
1. Crumble and cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat until browned. Stir in flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in milk. Cook gravy until thick and bubbly. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot over biscuits. Refrigerate leftovers.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Quesadilla Casserole

We first tried this about three months ago, and I thought it was time to have it again. I made it this time, and I used the spices we had on hand instead of buying the pre-measured McCormick Card. There's also some left-over shredded colby-jack cheese sprinkled on top of the cheddar. It is absolutely fabulous. Easy to make and delicious!

1 package McCormick® Recipe Inspirations Quesadilla Casserole or:
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano leaves
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)


1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8 3/4 ounces) whole kernel corn, undrained
1 can (4 1/2 ounces) chopped green chiles, undrained
6 flour tortillas (8-inch)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brown beef and onion in large skillet on medium-high heat; drain. Add tomato sauce, beans, corn and green chiles; mix well. Stir in all of the Spices except Red Pepper. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add Red Pepper to taste, if desired.

2. Spread 1/2 cup of the beef mixture on bottom of 13x9x2-inch baking dish sprayed with no stick cooking spray. Top with 3 of the tortillas, overlapping as needed. Layer with 1/2 of the remaining beef mixture and 1/2 of the cheese. Repeat with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.

3. Bake 15 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Ham 'n' Cheese Bow Ties

This is another recipe from my latest Taste of Home casseroles booklet (and can be found online). It was fairly simple to put together, and the cheese melted quickly! I used the Rachael Ray (where I've seen it anyway) trick of a microplane for the garlic so there aren't any chunks. The only pre-shredded Colby cheese I could find at the store was a Colby-Jack blend, so I went with that. It is *so* cheesy that I would say that you probably don't need to bother with the extra half cup of cheese (since the packages are labeled approximately 2 cups), although I haven't tried it to be sure. I now have 1 1/2 cups of shredded colby-jack to find a use for though. The only other thing I would do differently is to make the ham a bit more bite sized as my julienned strips were a bit longer than I liked in hindsight. We had green salad alongside to balance out all the cheese.



Ingredients

  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/4 cup butter, cubed
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 cups 2% milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
  • 2-1/2 cups (10 ounces) shredded Colby cheese
  • 2 cups uncooked bow tie pasta, cooked and drained
  • 6 to 8 ounces fully cooked ham, julienned
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  • In a large saucepan, saute garlic in butter for 1 minute. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Stir in mustard and Colby cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Add pasta and ham; stir until coated.
  • Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 4-6 servings.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Tasty Hamburger Casserole


This also came from the same Taste of Home casserole booklet that the shells and cheese recipe came from. The only thing that takes any time and effort is the peeling and slicing of the potatoes (I wonder if they sell frozen potatoes, pre-sliced?), and the onion. The hamburger cooks in the oven, and the vegetable soup adds a sweetness to the dish.

5 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed vegetarian vegetable soup, undiluted
1 cup crushed potato chips

In a greased 13x9 inch baking dish, layer potatoes and onion. Crumble beef over onion. Spread soups over beef.
Cover and bake at 350* for 55 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with chips. Bake 20 minutes loger or until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender.
4-6 servings

Marvelous Shells 'n' Cheese

This came from a Taste of Home casseroles booklet (the kind you find at the check out at the store). I wasn't entirely sure about the cottage cheese in it, but I thought the Velveeta would make it quick. Well, it took much longer than I anticipated to melt the Velveeta, and the cottage cheese is not noticeable at all, at least not by flavor, in the dish. So, even though it wasn't what I anticipated, it was very tasty and very, very cheesy. Definitely one I'll make again. And it's a handy way to use up any Velveeta you have in the fridge from another recipe.

1 package (16 oz) medium pasta shells
1 package (8 oz) process cheese (Velveeta), cubed
1/2 cup 2% milk
2 cups (16 0z) 2% cottage cheese
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of onion soup, undiluted
3 cups (12 oz) shredded Mexican cheese blend
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine process cheese and milk; cook and stir over low heat until melted. Remove from heat. Stir in cottage cheese and soup.
Drain pasta and add to cheese sauce; stir until coated. Transfer to a greased 13x9 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with Mexican cheese blend. Toss bread crumbs with butter; sprinkle over the top.
Bake, uncovered, at 350* for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.
6 servings

Artichoke Dip

This is a recipe that came in the instruction booklet for the Hamilton Beach Party Crock I received last year. The beauty of it is that it doesn't take any space in the oven on a holiday! I served it for an appetizer with crackers and vegetables for dipping before Christmas dinner. It was a rousing success! I would think that any small slow cooker would work, although you might have to adjust the time.

2 cans (14-oz) artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped (note, I could not find them in water, brine only, so I rinsed them before chopping)
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated and divided

1. In cast iron dish, mix artichoke, onion, mayonnaise, and 1/2 cup cheese.
2. Cover and cook on Medium heat for 2-3 hours.
3. One half hour prior to serving, reduce temperature to warm, top with additional 1/2 cup cheese, and cover. 8 Servings