Chicken and rice casserole.

I love one pot meals, in this case one dish meals! And who doesn't?

I found this recipe on Pintrest but made adjustments to fit my taste buds. 

While the original was fine I almost always tweak every recipe. This one is super easy and super quick to make. ( and please excuse my extremely dirty oven! Lol)

Ingredients:

Casserole base:

1 medium onion chopped

1 small can cream of celery soup

1 small can of cream of chicken soup

2 cups brown minute rice

1 Tbls garlic salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 Tbls pepper

1 cup of water

1 cup of cheddar cheese

Chicken Coating:

1 packet of Pork flavored Shake N Bake

1 Tbls garlic powder

1/2 Tbls Old Bay seasoning

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp onion salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp chicken seasoning

1 tsp pepper

And chicken breast of course!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all of the casserole base ingredients in a separate bowl and spread evenly in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish lined with heavy duty aluminum

 foil. (I'm all for easy cooking and easy clean up!)

Coat the chicken in Shake N Bake mix and lay on top on of the casserole base. 

Sprinkle the remaining mix on top of the chicken and casserole base. 

Bake in oven for one and a half hours until casserole base is yummy bubbly and the breading is toasty brown!

Let it rest for 5-10 mins and presto! Your dinner is done! And the best part ( besides the delicious meal your about to consume) is that after you've licked the dish clean, there's no soaking or scrubbing to get the baking dish back to its original splendor! ENJOY! 

The BEST Spaghetti Sauce

Sorry for the gap between posts, sick baby=busy mama! But now that I have some time I HAD to share my spaghetti sauce recipe. This one is an original, not a tweaked recipe and it took a long time and many failed attempts to perfect it! Ever go to an Italian restaurant and be craving spaghetti only to be disappointed by flavorless sauce? Well that issue does not exist here! This sauce is SOOOOO good that you might just forget the noodles because you will be eating it right out of the pot! I hope you enjoy! 

Ingredients:

1-1.5 pounds of extra lean ground beef (the picture shows almost 4lbs- I'm using the rest for chili) 

1 green pepper chopped

2 sm/med onions chopped

1 large jar of your favorite classic flavored pasta sauce. (No meat or veggie flavored sauce)

10 cloves of garlic chopped-I know it sounds like a lot but we are OBSESSED with garlic, so feel free to decrease the amount

Dried Italian seasoning

1 box of your favorite spaghetti- I used thin spaghetti

Heat olive oil in pan and sauté onions, peppers and garlic until onions are tender. Season liberally with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

Clear a spot in the middle of the pan and add the ground beef. Liberally season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. The key to yummy food is to season EVERY layer! After seasoning, mix veggies with the beef and cook till meat is completely browned. 

Now here's the fun part! Take that metal "wavy" potato masher and mash your little heart out! Mash until the meat is broken apart and consistently the same size. Then add the entire container of pasta sauce, season with salt, pepper, italian seasoning and simmer for the length of time that it takes to boil the water and cook the noodles. Now there is always variations to this recipe. You can not add the meat and be all veggies, just add different colored peppers. Sometimes I keep the meat and all the colored peppers. Or you could add Italian sausage along with the ground beef. Feel free to make it your own! 

Crockpot Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with Cole Slaw

Short on time to make dinner? This is an awesome set and forget recipe that will please the masses!

Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1-2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce
1/3 c Worcestershire sauce
1/2 of a large red onion chopped
1 bag 3 color cole slaw
Pre made cole slaw dressing or make your own
1 Tbls Pepper
( I usually make my own slaw dressing but I didn't have enough time due to a sick baby)

Mix the BBQ sauce with the Worcestershire sauce. ( I used 1 bottle for three chicken breasts)

Lay some of the sauce mix on the bottom of the crockpot, then lay the chicken in the crockpot and pour the remainder of the sauce in. Move the chicken around so that all the chicken is completely coated. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-5.

Pour cole slaw mix into bowl and toss together with chopped red onion. Mix in cole slaw dressing, just enough to evenly coat the slaw and onion. Add pepper and mix. Place in fridge until ready to use. Make at least 1 hour ahead so that flavors can meld together. 

Shred chicken with two forks and place back into crockpot and stir to coat in sauce. Cover and cook for 10 mins to heat chicken through. Place on toasted bun and top with cole slaw. (We also like to drizzle Texas Pete on top of sandwich). Presto dinner is done!

Ranch Dressing

Attention ladies and gents! You CAN have you cake and eat it too... In this case ranch dressing! My trainer says that anything creamy makes you creamy, especially when it comes to salad dressings!  Well he approved this dressing and I am SO glad that I found this recipe on Pinterest! 

What you'll need:

2 cups of low fat plain Greek yogurt

1 packet of ranch dressing mix

Low fat milk

Just mix the yogurt and ranch mix thoroughly. Next add milk until it is the consistency that you like. It doesn't take much so be careful! I used it for the first time tonight and was VERY pleased! I'm going to start looking for other "creamy" dressings to make because I am super tired of oil and vinegar all the time! ENJOY!

Smashed potatoes

I have been on a potato kick lately. It's probably this cold weather but needless to say I have had to be creative with how I cook them so that we aren't having mashed potatoes every time I have a craving. I wouldn't mind but the hubby likes his variation! So I found this recipe via the Pioneer Woman and changed it up just a little bit.

What you'll need:

1 bag of small golden potatoes (this bag is 3lbs)

1 32oz container of reduced sodium chicken broth/stock

Packaged potato topping

Butter

Potato masher or wide bottomed glass

First bring chicken broth/stock to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender. The three pounds took about 15-20 mins. Next transfer to a large, lightly greased, baking sheet covered in foil- for easy cleanup! 

Now, using either to potato masher or wide bottomed glass, gently mash the potatoes until they crack apart but are still holding together. Next, place a small tab of butter on each potato. Bake in 475 degree oven until golden brown and crisp- about 15-20 mins. 

 Once they deliciously crisp, sprinkle with the potato topping and serve! 

Drunken Hot Chocolate

This past Christmas I made a drunken holiday for the adults on our Christmas list! Part of the goodies was Drunken Hot Chocolate! It's SUPER simple, inexpensive and a huge hit!!!

Ingredients:

Hot chocolate mix

Milk chocolate chips

Mini marshmallows

Mason jar

Holiday ribbon

Airplane bottle of Baileys Irish Creme

Just put equal parts of the hot chocolate mix, chocolate chips and marshmallows in the mason jar. Tie holiday ribbon around top of jar below the lid with enough length left to tie the airplane bottle to the jar. To make the concoction, remove the marshmallows and add boiling water or hot milk to the hot chocolate mix and chips. Stir until mixed well and chips are melted. Add the Baileys and stir. Then add the marshmallows and enjoy!