One-pot chili mac and cheese

The boyfriend found this recipe.  I admit, I looked quickly and thought "eh" - I read it as chili in my mac and cheese and I didn't want anybody messing with my mac and cheese!  But I'm so glad he convinced me to try it!  It's really a beanless chili recipe with pasta added, and the sour cream and cheese that you would put on top - it's stirred in.  Actually, it's become one of our favorite dinners.  Note: we use plain petite diced tomatoes and skip the two optional ingredients (hot sauce and green onions).

Ingredients

1. 1 tablespoon olive oil
2. 1 pound lean ground beef
3. 1 onion, diced
4. 2 cloves garlic, minced
5. 14-ounce can Red Gold Petite Diced Tomatoes With Green Chiles
6. 1 tablespoon chili powder
7. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
8. 1 teaspoon dried oregano
9. 2 cups water
10. 1 cup milk
11. 8 ounces pasta, shells, or any short cut pasta of your choice
12. 1/2 cup sour cream
13. 2 cups shredded cheddar
14. 4 green onions, chopped (optional)
15. Hot sauce, optional

Directions

1. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, add the olive oil and heat it over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef along with the onion and a small pinch of salt. Cook the mixture for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until the ground beef is fully cooked and the onions have developed some color (make sure to break up the ground beef as much as you can using a wooden spoon. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 more minute.
2. Add the water, canned tomatoes, milk, chili powder, cumin, and oregano; bring mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add the pasta, adjust the seasoning to taste, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until fully melted along with the sour cream.
5. Serve with some chopped scallions and a few dashes of hot sauce.

Sweet Dilly Pickles

My sister sent me this recipe several years ago from the August 2013 issue of Family Fun.  This isn't a sweet pickle recipe.  It's a perfect recipe for delicious pickles!

When I don't have fresh dill, I use extra dill seed.  Also, I don't make them in individual jars.  I just pour them all together in a large bowl.

Also, I'm cheating and just posting the picture of the recipe that she sent me.

Baked Potato Salad

I have been making this recipe for years, but am now finally blogging it!

I don't use reduced-fat anything, so I used regular sour cream.  I recommend making the bacon extra crispy.  Otherwise, you'll end up with limp bacon, which isn't very appealing!

I found this recipe on Pinterest, originally, but I can't find the link at the moment.  

Baked Potato Salad

4 pounds potatoes, peeled

15 slices bacon

1 (16 ounce) container reduced-fat sour cream

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons dried chives

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Place the potatoes into a large pot and cover with lightly salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until just tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes, and allow to cool to room temperature. Dice once cooled.

Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Allow to cool, and crumble the bacon into a large bowl.

Place the cooled potatoes into the bowl with the bacon, and mix in the sour cream, mayonnaise, Cheddar cheese, chives, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Laney's Georgia Peach Cobbler

A couple of years ago I read a book called Under a Summer Sky by Nan Rossiter.  Set in Cape Cod, Laney goes back to her family farm in Georgia to get peaches to make peach cobbler.  I have been meaning to catch the peaches at the store and make it myself since I read it.  And I love a book that includes recipes to the dishes talked about.  So I made the version Laney makes (although she has five boys - she must have made the doubled version!)  I started with measuring out the dry ingredients in two bowls.  As I added the peaches to the sugar and spices, I would give it a stir to coat the new pieces.  After I put the peaches in the oven, I just had to cut in the butter and add the water to cobbler portion.

Peaches:
7-8 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
sprinkle of nutmeg
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch

Cobbler:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water

Sprinkle:
2 Tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Lightly butter 9-by-9-inch glass baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch..  Spread peach mixture in bottom of pan.  Bake for ten minutes.

While baking, sift together 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  With pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until evenly crumbly.  Stir in boiling water until blended.

Remove peaches from oven and drop the dough in spoonfuls onto the hot peaches.  Spread a bit and sprinkle with both sugar and cinnamon.  Bake for 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.  Yum!

Recipe can be doubled for a 9-by-13-inch pan.

Creamy Cheesy Chicken

I went looking for a new recipe tonight.  Found this one on my friend's pinterest board.  This will definitely be added to the chicken rotation.  I doubled the recipe, using 2 teaspoons of dried minced onion and a package of boneless chicken tenders (one and a half to one and three quarters pounds).  (I copied the recipe as is, including the blogger's notes).

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used boneless skinless strips)
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons softened butter
2 tablespoons whole cream
1 tablespoon minced onion (I omitted this simply because I didn't have any)
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar and I used more than 1/2 a cup)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x9 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and place your chicken in without overlapping.
2. Mix the cream cheese, butter, cream, onion, and spices and spread the mixture evenly over the chicken.
3. Spread the cheese on top and bake for about 45 minutes or until chicken is done. Let it rest and cool a bit after taking it from the oven.

Low-Carb Tacos

I mentioned the other day I was thinking I could make taco salad like my friend makes (although I was going to go with iceberg shreds instead of a bed of romaine as I already had the shreds), so the boyfriend found this recipe.  Which turned out really quite good.  Love the cheese, sour cream, and salsa mixed in.  I wasn't as sure about the avocado, but it worked nicely.  If you don't want it though, feel free to leave it out.  Oh, and we skipped the jalapeno and used rotel canned tomatoes instead of chopping a tomato, as well as regular cheese and sour cream.  It's not a pretty dish, but tasty.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 onion, diced

1/2 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers

1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

2 cups shredded lettuce

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and sliced

Directions

Cook and stir ground beef, onion, and jalapeno peppers together in a skillet over medium-high heat until meat is browned and crumbly, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir taco seasoning into meat mixture; bring to a simmer and cook until flavors combine, about 5 minutes.

Stir meat mixture, shredded lettuce, tomato, Cheddar cheese, salsa, and sour cream together in a large bowl. Divide taco mixture among 4 bowls and top each with avocado slices.

Cheesy Chicken with Mushrooms

The boyfriend has been finding lots of new recipes for us to try lately.  This is one of the recent ones.  I wasn't thinking clearly at the store that evening, so I grabbed regular chicken breasts - next time I will definitely take the poster's advice of getting tenderloins.  A bit of browning the breadcrumbs on the chicken and layer in the pan with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese - add a bit of broth to keep it moist and you're done!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup (112 grams) Italian bread crumbs
• 16 ounces sliced mushrooms, divided
• 4 tablespoons (57 grams) salted butter, divided
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup (237 ml) chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread half of the sliced mushrooms over the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish.
3. Place the eggs and bread crumbs in two separate shallow dishes (pie plates work great for this).
4. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg, then into the bread crumbs, patting them to adhere.
5. In a 12-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until melted. Add half of the breaded chicken to the pan and saute until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on top of the mushrooms in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining butter and chicken breasts.
6. Sprinkle the remaining sliced mushrooms over the chicken, then top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the pan.
7. Bake until the cheese is melted and browned, and the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

RECIPE NOTES:

• I recommend using the thin sliced chicken breasts, or chicken tenders.
• This dish is also great with Swiss cheese instead of mozzarella.
• You can choose to cover the dish with aluminum foil while baking to retain the juices, however the mozzarella cheese will not brown.