Homemade Chicken Pot Pie a la Kristin

When discussing the simple lasagne recipe, Kristin told me about her easy family favorite chicken pot pie recipe. It too is a snap to make and truely enjoyed the the whole family. It's a great way to use up leftover turkey or chicken too. She didn't have any specific quantities so this is showing how I made it. Like most of these homemade recipes, they taste even better when you add your own flair. For instance, if you like more chicken, add it. If you prefer different veggies, go for it. This is what I did to use as a guide.

Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients:
Crust ingredients: 1 tube of buttermilk biscuits, 1/2 t. each parmesan, basil, and parsley

Pot Pie ingredients: cooked chopped chicken or turkey(I used about a cup)
one can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup
veggies (about one cup from bag of frozen veggies)

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Instructions:
Chop each biscuit into quarters. Put all the quartered raw biscuits into a baggie with cheese and spices and shake. Bake according to biscuit instructions (minus a few minutes )

Warm the chicken, veggie, soup mixture on top of the stove. When warm, place in a casserole dish. Put the biscuit pieces on top. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Lasagne that is Simpler than Simple

The gals at Curves were discussing this recipe and it came out great. The prep time is 5 minutes which is unheard of for real lasagne and the results of this faux lasagne are just as good. It is also easy to modify based on personal preference. Here's how I did it:

Lasagne (faux lasagne) Ingredients:
1 Two pound bag of frozen ravioli
1 jar spaghetti sauce
16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 pound cooked ground chuck

Instructions for Faux Lasagne:
Cook ravioli according to instructions on the bag. (The type I used cooked at 400 for 40 minutes). Once the ravioli is cooked, layer sauce, cooked ravioli, hamburger, cheese, cooked ravioli, cheese. Cook at 400 for 30 minutes covered and then 10 minutes uncovered.

Sherry made it with an extra 8 oz. of cheese because she likes hers extra cheesy and she didn't put in any hamburger. Some of the other gals thought some slivered vegetables added to the sauce would add a healthy flare. Whatever your preference, go for it since the main part is this easy! Bon Appetit.

Quick Crockpot Tip

This one's for you Lynda! You can convert any of my easy oven recipes to crock pot or crock pot recipes for oven using these simple conversion tips. Of course, all crocks cook a bit differently and so do all ovens so these are just approximate. Use whatever method works best with your timing that day.


Crock Pot to Crock Pot:
Crock pot for 8-10 on low is the same as on high for 3-4 hours.

Oven to Crock Pot:
350 for an hour is about the same as 6-8 hours on low
300 for 30 minutes is about the same as 3-4 hours on low

And you can always cook longer in a crock pot as long as you add plenty of liquid. So, if you've got the whole day, use the crock pot; just an hour or two, use the oven. Either way, throw together a few ingredients and you'll feel like your mom was there cooking for you today.

A 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Garlic Chicken Recipe
1 package boneless, skinless chicken
1 bottle ranch dressing
2 t. minced garlic

Thow in the crock pot and cook on low 8-10 hours. I usually rinse the ranch bottle half full with water and put the water into the crock pot too since my current one cooks on the hot side.

Whip up some 90 seconds Uncle Bens rice (the pilaf is to die for!) and some canned vegies and you've got yourself a home cooked meal. How simple is that?

Baked Chicken in a Snap

I believe half of my cooking is done by throwing several things from my pantry into a dish and enjoying the results. You can almost always be assured you'll like the results when you use your favorite ingredients. I have a few personal favorites that you'll see again and again in these pages and one of them is chopped green chilis. Today's chicken recipe includes that favorite, a standard cream of (anything) soup and some cheese. That's it! Serve with tortilla chips, rice and a green vegetable. I happened to have some leftover corn on the cob (first of spring) that tasted just awesome with it. So, here you have it...

Baked Chicken with Chilis and Cheese
1 package boneless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom, celery, chicken or anything soup
1 small can chopped green chilis
1 cup cheddar cheese
Combine soup and chilis in 9 x 13 pan. Add chicken. Spoon some of the mixture on top of the chicken. Cover with cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

In my case, I had to run out for my sons guitar lessons so I just turned it down to 325, added about 1/2 can of water and cooked for 2 hours.

Great either way! Enjoy the simplicity.

Ham Casserole Recipe one of our great Leftover Ham Recipes

With Easter right around the corner (March 23rd if you can believe it!), it's a great time to post one of our favorite ham casserole recipes so you can use up the leftover ham from your Easter dinner! This is a really easy one. If you cook the noodles ahead of time, you can whip this together in about 2 minutes. To soften the cream cheese quickly, just put it in the microvave for about 15 seconds and then repeat as needed. REMOVE THE WRAPPER FIRST though. But I'm sure you knew that:) Enjoy this simple leftover ham recipe.

Ham Casserole Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes Serves: about 6
1 ½ cups chopped ham
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 8 oz. brick low-fat cream cheese, softened
1 T margarine
2 cups cooked egg noodles (drain)
1 (15 oz.) can peas
½ package Onion Soup mix

Combine all ingredients except ¼ cup of parmesan. Place in a 9 x 13 pan. Put remaining ¼ cup of parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 350 until heated through (about 25 minutes). Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.

Super versatile chicken or beef recipe

Last night we had chicken using a marinade that doubles equally well for beef. I've especially enjoyed it with flank steak. For the chicken, I combined all ingredients in the crock pot, came back after 5 hours, and voila. Not even an extra bowl messed up - it doesn't get much better than that. Here's the versatile marinade recipe:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup V8 juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 t. minced garlic cloves

I added four frozen chicken breasts and put in the crock pot on high for 5 hours. Very simple and unique. It tastes nothing like what it sounds like!

Enjoy and let us know what you think or other ways you've used it.

Beef Five ways for Five Days

To really simplify a week of cooking, I like to crock pot a large amount of meat and then prepare it five different ways throughout the week. For beef dishes, I like to use stew beef since it's already cut up. Even if it isn't the best cut of meat, it doesn't matter because it will be slow cooked to tender perfection. And for chicken and ham five ways 5 ways for 5 days recipes, check them out on my site at www.pams-hams.com/recipes.

For the crock pot beef, create as follows:
5 lbs. stew beef
4 (14 oz) cans beef broth
2 (4 oz) cans chopped green chilis
Combine all ingredients in crock and stir. Cook on high 6-8 hours. Crock pot tip: If you won't be looking at the crock for more than 8 hours, just add another can of water. Meat will be even better the longer you cook it - you just don't want the liquid to run down.

Monday's shredded beef over rice
Serves 4, Cook time: 3 minutes, Prep time: 2 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked beef mixture (approximately 1/5th of the meat mixture)
2 packages of uncle bens 90 second rice
Reheat beef mixture on the stove top while microwaving the rice for approximately 3 minutes. (90 seconds each rice and then some for the beef.

Tuesday's shredded beef chili
Serves 4, Cook time: 5 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/4 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 can (16 oz) kidney beans
1 can (16 oz.) pinto beans
1 can (16 oz.) corn
1 can (24 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
1 envelope taco seasoning mix

Rinse beans thoroughly. Drain beans and corn. Combine all ingredients and cook on the stovetop. Stir constantly and serve once heated through.

Wednesday's beef and cheese casserole
Serves 4 Cook time: 15 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/3 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
1/2 small onion chopped and browned
1 small can black olives
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 (8 oz.) package Doritos or other taco flavored chips

Combine beef, cooked onion, black olives and tomato sauce (A). Combine sour cream and cottage cheese(B). Layer A then B, then cheddar cheese and chips two times. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Thursday's faux shepherd's pie
Serves 4 Cook time: 30 minutes, Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (1/2 of the remaining mixture from Monday)
1 package refrigerated mashed potatoes (I use Bob Evans)
2 jars beef gravy (I like Boston Market)
1 envelope onion soup mix

Combine beef, gravy and onion soup mix. Spread into a baking pan. Cover with the potatoes. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Optional alternative: only 1 jar of gravy

Friday's beef barley soup
Serves 4 Cook time: 15 minutes Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb. cooked shredded beef mixture (the remainder from Monday!)
1 (14 oz) can crushed tomatoes with basil (if possible)
10 cups water
2 cups of chopped cooked celery, onions and/or shredded carrots
6 beef bouillon cubes
½ cup quick-cooking barley
2 T. dry mustard
2T. Worcestershire sauce
1 T. dried basil

Combine all ingredients except barley in large pot on stove top. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add barley. Reduce heat to medium low and cook until barley is cooked through (about 10 minutes). As with all soups, keeping it on low and cooking longer improves the flavor so do that if you have the time. Time saving tip: Buy the shredded carrots. They are much easier to add to soups and look great on salads.

Even the leftover hater in the family will be delighted with this assortment of meals that seem like you cooked for hours. Ciao and enjoy!

Parmesan Chicken and another great birthday party

Most of my main dish recipes are done in the crock pot but sometimes I don't get my act together early enough for the slow cooking. In those cases, I often also don't plan far enough in advance to have a lot of recipe ingredients either which is why I love this simple baked chicken recipe from our friend Alana. The three ingredients used are ones that just about everyone has in their pantry or fridge. And the other bonus of this recipe, it smells amazing while it's cooking. So without further ado, here is a gourmet tasting chicken recipe that you can make in a snap:

Parmesan Chicken Alana
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 stick melted butter or margerine

Combine cheese and crumbs in a baggy. Melt butter and dip each chicken breast into the butter and then shake in the baggy. Place in a baking dish and bake uncovered at 350 for 45 minutes. Turn over about half way through.

This is great with rice pilaf. I swear by the 90 second rice from Uncle Bens. We also served it with leftover sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole (from my website http://www.pams-hams.com/) which created a nice presentation if I do say so myself!

Puppy themed 7 year old girls birthday party
We have such creative friends! Many of these cute little girl birthday parties are not only fun for the girls attending, but are a blast for the moms who are dropping them off and watching a few of the festivities. Julia's party last weekend was a real favorite with the puppy theme. And one of the best parts for the birthday girl's mom is the simplicity of these types of off-site parties. I'd much rather spend my time making prizes and planning fun games than setting up or cleaning up! So read on for some simple party tips:

Where: At a pet store in our area (Family of Pets). They have a build-a-bear type machine with which the party guests can make their own stuffed dog. Additionally, the kids spend much of the time playing with the puppies in little puppy run pens. Julia also brought her puppy who had just turned one and was from that very store.

Prizes: The cute stuffed puppy would have been plenty but Julia's mom is too creative to stop there! She had a paw print gift bag for each girl that contained a candy necklace (collar), a little doggy bowl with their name on it (made labels with the computer) filled with what looked like kibble but was really cinnamon cookies, dog ear headbands, a plastic bone filled with pretzels and puppy stickers. The pictures of these girls with their headbands are going to be precious.

Activities: Playing with the puppies and making the stuffed animals took up most of the time. The girls also had snacks*, played pin the tail on the puppy, and had a puppy coloring page.

Bonus: Julia doens't have a lot of the webkinz and littlekinz dogs so they were simple gift ideas that we knew she'd like. She also got a new Nintendo DS so games like Nintendogs were a super idea. *this particular store has a party room next door so you can eat - many of the pet stores do not which is also fine but just results in a shorter party .

Scrumptious Crock Pot Pork Chops and Apples

Here's another super simple main dish recipe made in the crock pot. If you like home cooked food, the crock pot has to be the best invention ever! We'd been eating a lot of creamy sauces so I tried this one with a chicken broth base and it was outstanding. The chili powder spices gave it a nice flavor but didn't make it spicy by any stretch.

Pork Chops and Homemade Applesauce
2 lbs. boneless pork chops (use whatever you have really - this is just what I made)
2 apples quartered
1 14 oz. can chicken broth (or enough to cover pork)
1 cup apple juice
1T chili powder
1 T Emeril's Southwest Essence (includes salt, paprika, chili poweder, cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper)

Combine in crock pot. Cook 8 hours on low (or 5 on high). Serve with the apples on the side - awesome.

Tip: crock pot meat is generally not that attractive. If you are serving to guests, take the extra couple minutes to brown the meat in a frying pan before putting it into the crock pot.

I like a lot of the spice mixtures that are combined like the Emeril one above. If you don't have it, just put a bit more chili powder in or one of the other Emeril ingredients like paprika or cumin. My motto is don't ever make a special trip to the store for one silly ingredient - just experiment with alternatives!

Simple chicken recipe and simple beef recipe all in one week!

This was a banner week for experimenting with simplifying recipes. The result was the easiest sherpherds pie ever and fabulous baked chicken breast with a cheesy sauce. Both were prepared in 5 minutes or less - no joke. As is often the case with this simplified cooking, having the right ingredients on hand is half the battle. So without further ado, here's the recipes:



5 Minute Simple Shepherds Pie

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 package dried onion soup mix
2 jars beef gravy (I like Boston Market)
1 package prepared mashed potatoes (you'll find them refrigerated at grocers)

Brown ground beef in a frying pan. Add in onion soup mix. Transfer beef mixture into 9 x 13 pan. Pour on the gravy and then drop on the mashed potatoes. Cook 400 for 30 minutes.
(We like it sauce-y but you can substitute one jar of gravy if you're conserving calories or don't like as much sauce.)

5 Minute Easy Cheese-y Baked Chicken

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 package dried taco seasoning mix
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilis
8 oz. monterrey jack cheese

Combine all ingredients with cheese sprinkled on top. Bake at 375 for 1 hour.

(I didn't even mix the ingredients in a separate bowl - I just threw it all in a 9 x 13 and stirred a bit with a fork. It was THAT easy.)

Give them a try and let me know what you think. I know they were a hit in my house - even with the kids.

Simple meatloaf recipe and fun kids birthday gift

Mmmm meatloaf the whole family can enjoy
I've always loved meatloaf and have found great joy in experimenting with all sorts of creative ingredient combinations. Since my kids are not the most adventurous eaters, I have settled down to a standard simple recipe that is enjoyed by all. As with any recipe, substitutions can be made according to what's in your pantry that day but I would recommend proactively buying V8 juice so you have that ingredient available. It is a great addition to a lot of recipes and is pretty nutritious. It has a mellower tomato flavor than using ketchup, tomato paste or tomato sauce. And remember this helpful tip for cooking meatloaf. Fill a shallow pan with 1 inch of water and put the meatloaf pan in the shallow pan. That keeps the sides of the meatloaf from overcooking and allows for MUCH easier cleanup.

Meatloaf Recipe -great for novice cooks
1 lb. ground beef
1 package Lipton onion soup mix
1 small can V8 juice (about 6 oz.)
2 eggs
1 package oatmeal (the little pouches)
coupla squirts worcesterchire sauce
Mix all ingredients and cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Remember to put that meatloaf pan into a shallow pan containing about an inch of water to keep the meatloaf from overcooking around the sides. Super simple recipe with super easy cleanup.

Great girl birthday gift idea
We had a fun time yesterday with little Claudia. For her birthday, my 7 year old had given her a homemade gift certificate that entitled Claudia to a playdate including a manicure and pedicure. The nice part of this gift is that it is the gift of a good time together instead of just more stuff. We wrapped up a couple dollar nail polish set so that she had something to open on her birthday and then called her a week after her big day to set up the date for their mutual pampering. We have a salon nearby that does both the little toesies and hands plus a pretty flower painted on big toes and thumbs for just $15. Ask around near you and I'm sure there's something comparable. An added fun bonus for the girls at this outing was that the salon had a karaoke machine so they were able to sing to their hearts content while waiting for their toes to dry. Fortunately for all involved, the salon was not busy during that time! (I recommend calling ahead to see when their slower times are.) Now when they look at their pretty polish, they'll remember their fun time together.

What's cookin' this week?

So simple baked pork tenderloin
We had one of our all-time favorite dishes this weekend. It's a baked pork tenderloin (or any cut of pork like roast, loin, chops. Your cook times would just vary depending on the size.) The key is the amazing sauce that it cooks in. It's almost one of those "guess what is in this" type concoctions because it really doesn't taste like what I'm about to describe.

We served it with the 90 second Uncle Bens rice that I always talk about and some lightly fried asparagus. The asparagus was leftover from the night before when we'd served it steamed (whole bunch only takes 7 minutes in the micro if you put just an inch of water at the bottom of a covered microwavable container.) Since we like our aspragus a little crunchy, it still had enough umph after that first day to allow it to be fried the second day. The aspragus was stored in a ziploc bag so I just tossed in some breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and then fried them on the stove top in a little bit of olive oil. Yummy!

Here is the recipe for the baked pork tenderloin:
1 1/2 lbs. pork tenderloin
1 can cream of chicken soup (can be cream of anything really - mushroom, celery, etc.)
coupla squirts catsup (say 2T)
coupla squirts worcestershire sauce (say 2T)
(I've made this a bunch of times with no measurement tool available and coupla squirts worked just fine.)
Bake in a covered baking pan for almost 2 hours at 325. I took the cover off for the last half hour.

I know it doesn't sound good but trust me when I tell you this one is a real crowd pleaser and as simple as can be.

Today in my Crock Pot - Southwest style chicken
We're switching to chicken since we had pork the last two nights. I have great luck throwing all sorts of pantry items into a crock pot for something different each time. Some staples that work well with crock pots are the cream of (anything) soups, chicken and beef broth soups, french onion and golden mushroom soups, cheddar cheese soup, tomatoes (either soup or diced), roasted red peppers, and crushed green chilis. The dried soups or soup mixes like beef bouillon, chicken bouillon, onion soup and taco seasoning are also handy. Of course, your tastes may differ from ours but these are what we keep around and use every week. Today's crock pot chicken is going to have a bit of a southwest flair to it. This is what I'm cooking as we speak:
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 1 can cream of mushroom
- 1 can cheddar cheese soup
- about 2/3 of a 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 1 can crushed green chilis
Cook 8 hours on low, or in my case, 2 hours on high and 4 hours on low since I didn't put them in early this morning.

Party in the Planning
Just a few short days after our New Years fun, we're in the process of whipping up more festivities. This time for Kristin who is turning 40 at the end of the month (but SO doesn't look it). She had no desire to have a party but requested a girlfriend weekend with just a couple close friends with the preference of somewhere warm. Since the whole gang won't be able to attend the getaway, we're going to have a fun pseudo-spa night first so everyone can toast one of our youngest friends finally joining our ranks. We're going to follow Kelly's lead and request that one of our local nail places hold evening hours for our group of about 10. We can bring in a couple little simple munchies and some adult beverages (in plastic cups) while sitting around getting manicured and pedicured together. The real bonus in our case is that the salon is right next door to one of our nicer restaurants so we could tie in appetizers or dinner if the group chooses. A fun time should be had by all.

Then a week later, it'll be off to sunny (hopefully) Sanibel Island for a couple days in the sand with our new beach toes. Doesn't get much better than that. Thanks to all the hubbies for watching the kids so we can enjoy this girlfriend time.

If you try any of our party ideas or recipes, let us know what you think.

FUN SNOWMAN FRUIT KEBOBS

Both kids had holiday parties at school so I volunteered to bring the fruit. Since neither of my kids will eat much fruit, I had to make a real display out of it. They both actually ate a kebob and the rest of their classmates were excited with the great big display. You'd have to see it live to appreciate the size but it makes quite a spectacle when you're walking down the halls carrying it. Believe it or not, it took just a little over a half hour to make this. I used a cut-up fruit tray (from Costco) and food coloring markers for the face (from Michaels or other comparable store). Use a pineapple or a half watermelon as the base. These are always a hit no matter how you decorate them.

BEEF BARLEY SOUP A LA PAM

As promised, here's the recipe for the soup I made last week. It really is the best beef barley soup I've ever had.

Prime Rib bones or beef chuck short ribs - about 2 lbs.

10 cups water

1 stalk celery chopped

3 slices onion - chopped fine

14 oz. can crushed tomatoes (I used one with basil)

6 beef bouillon cubes

3 t. dry mustard

2T worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup quick cooking barley

Combine all ingredients but barley. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer about 2 hours. Remove bones from soup. Cut up beef and return to soup. Discard bones. Bring to a boil again and add barley. Cook 10-12 more minutes. This is awesome on day one but even better the next day. This recipe made about 6 heaping adult sized bowls.