Creamy Ranch Pork Chops

Another new way to cook pork chops!

1 tablespoon vegatable oil

4-6 boneless porkchops

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

3/4 Cup of Milk

1 package ranch dressing mix

Paprika

Rice (optional)

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add pork chops and cook until brown on both sides.

Mix soup, milk, and 1/2 ranch packet. Pour over pork chops. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes or until pork is cooked tender. Sprinkle with paprika.

Prepare rice according to package directions. Add remaining dressing mix, stir well.

This made a yummy "sauce" to go over rice!

Baked Pork Chops

I always feel like I cook pork chops the same way. Baked. Now there is nothing wrong with baked pork chops. And getting the grill out is a pain in the butt. We have tons of pork chops because of the hogs and I am very thankful but I get tired of eating them the same ol' way. So tonight I googled baked pork chops and was shocked to find a recipe that I actually had the ingredients to in the pantry:

Easy Baked Pork Chops

4-6 pork chops
1 pack onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can water

mix soups and water, pour over chops
bake 30-45 minutes depending on the thickness of the chops

Nope, I'm not forgetting something and yep, it was THAT easy. It is supposed to make a great gravy and I am making rice to go with it so I will let you know.

Unconventional Taco Night

I had it, the itch to try something besides the same old recipes that I usually cook. Then I found it: A taco ring. Yes, it sounds crazy but it was delicious!!! The thing is that you can tweak it, add to it and take away as you see fit. Here is what we had tonight!
Taco Ring:
1 can crescent rolls
1 lb hamburger meat
packet taco seasoning
cheddar cheese
refried beans
garnish (lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, etc)
Brown hamburger meat, add taco seasoning. Position crescent rolls into a star with the large ends overlapping in the middle. Spoon refried beans onto crescents, drain meat, spoon on top of beans. Top with cheese. Fold cresents on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crescent rolls are golden brown.
Garnish

TADA!!

Now, if my cakes turn out as well it will have been a good cooking day!!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ever had one of those cooking moments that you PRAYED REALLY HARD that your cake would come out of the pan just right? Well I did, and IT did!

I tweaked several recipes and just all out cheated on the actual cake part. We are saving it to taste for when Brian comes home.

1 box Duncan Hines pineapple supreme cake mix

1 stick melted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

pineapple rings

cherries (mine were leftover from cherry limeade mix)

Mix cake mix according to package directions.

I melted butter, and using a pastry brush, brushed the sides of my bundt pan with it. Then I scooped brown sugar into pan and smoothed onto sides. Then I took pineapple rings and laid on the bottom of the pan with a half of a cherry in each. Pour batter into pan and bake according to package. I let it cool and kept my fingers crossed!! IT WORKED!! Can't you just smell it from where you are sitting???

Chicken Breast Supreme

Mom makes a version of this, she also puts cheese, but I saw this one and decided to try it:

Chicken Breast Supreme:
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
4-8 strips of bacon
16 oz sour cream
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of sliced mushrooms
1 jar of dried beef (this is found near tuna or spam)

Wrap chicken breasts in bacon and place in baking dish.
Mix cream of mushroom and sour cream together in bowl (and mushrooms if you want, I am eliminating them). Tear up dried beef and place in mixture. Mix together and pour over chicken. Bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

Pork Chops in Salsa

So this past weekend, I am watching a local cooking show called Cooking With Hugh and he is making pork chops cooked in salsa. Hugh of course makes his own salsa, but all of that vegetable chopping is not going to happen in this house. Anyway, Hugh has smoked pork chops in a skillet with the salsa and cooks them for 5 minutes on both sides covered. Hmm, sounds tasty. Then he takes them out and puts them on a plate and covers them with the salsa and serves with rice. My mouth was watering. At the end, he says, oh yeah, you dont have to make your salsa, you can use it from a jar. DUH!! So I was in the grocery store intending to buy plain ol' salsa to make it since we have just gotten a ton of pork chops from our last hog when I came across this:

So tonight since our pork chops are not smoked, I put them in a baking dish, poured salsa all over them and coverend with tinfoil to bake. YUMMY! I wonder what chicken would taste like cooked in this salsa??? I plan to try that next week! Can't decide whether to bake in oven or do crock pot...

Chicken in its own gravy

I was really stressing over what to call this concoction. It didn't have a name, it is just something we came up with in the lounge one day at lunch.

Chicken With Its Own Gravy

1 chicken (breasts, cut up, pieces, any way you like it!)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 small container of sour cream

Mix both soups and sour cream, pour over chicken, bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes depending on what kind of chicken you used.

Serve with rice. It sounds yummy and my mouth is watering just thinking about making it!

Cherry Limeade

I found the recipe for this yummy sounding punch that I have been wanting to try. Matthew and I just made it and it IS yummy!

Cherry Limeade

1 can frozen limeade concentrate
1 bottle of Sprite, 7up or tonight I used the Food Lion brand
1 jar of maraschino cherries
1 lime (optional)

Pour concentrate, sprite and juice of cherries together. Mix well. (FYI-Don't shake in a bottle, the sprite is carbonated, I will be mopping the kitchen floor for a week). Add a few cherries and the sliced lime for looks/flavor. I only had 2 cherries left, the kids ate the rest.

It is really good cold!

Mexican Chicken

Update!!! One of my coworkers had the brilliant idea of mixing the stuff and wrapping it like an enchilada!! I plan to try that soon!

This has been the easiest thing I have made in awhile. You know that I like stuff that I can throw in the oven when I get home, and this was it!

Mexican Chicken
INGREDIENTS:
3-4 chicken breasts, boiled and cut into bite size pieces (I used a rotisserie chicken from Wal-mart!)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can rotel
1-2 cups cheddar cheese
Package of corn tortillas (small)

Tear the tortillas into small pieces and line the bottom of a pan. Mix together the soups, rotel and chicken and pour on top. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

You know me, always wondering something: I think the next time I will try it with the hard taco shells!!

All 3 of the food critics loved it! There are several kinds of Ro-tel's and I used the mild original, but if you want it spicier, you can certainly make it that way!!!

Chicken Enchiladas

After surfing the internet this afternoon, I finally decided that we would have chicken enchiladas for dinner. My original recipe came from school several years ago, but I disliked some of the things in there, so I came up with my own.

Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken, cooked, cubed or canned (I use a rotisserie chicken)
8-12 tortillas
2 cups sour cream
salsa
1 packet unprepared ranch dressing
cheese (sometimes I use mozzarella, sometimes mexican blend)

Debone chicken into bowl, mix sour cream, half of the ranch packet, salsa to taste (I just pour), and 1/2 of the cheese
Mix well, spoon into tortillas and wrap
Place seam side down in baking dish
Mix rest of ranch packet and salsa together and pour over top of enchiladas
Top with cheese
Place in oven for about 25 minutes on 350.

You can also put onions or black olives in with the mixture before you place on tortillas. But Brian is the only one here that likes olives, so I leave them out!

I served tonight's with Spanish Rice.

I Know, I have been horrible

I have been really bad at acooking the past several weeks. We have eaten A LOT of sandwiches. I told Brian last night that I hope to get back into the swing of things since I am about to be at home ALL DAY! I think that tonight we are going to have enchiladas. I am researching recipes now as we speak, I have one, but it is not my favorite. I found one for beef, but you know that I am a chicken person!! Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Chicken and Stuffing Casserole

This is what I plan to try Friday night. (I have to plan my meals according to who is home.)

INGREDIENTS
1 (3 pound) whole chicken
8 ounces dry bread stuffing mix
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup
1 1/4 cups chicken broth (from boiling the chicken)
1 cup evaporated milk


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Layer the deboned chicken meat in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle stuffing mix over the chicken layer.
In a large bowl mix together the soups, broth and evaporated milk. Stir well. Pour this mixture over the stuffing mix, making sure it gets to the bottom of the baking dish (poke around with a fork to let it saturate into the bottom layer). Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes, until it starts to bubble in the center.

I think is sounds easy and it has 5 stars on allrecipes.com

I have read several comments about using chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken.

Three Great Recipes

***Note to self: I am cheap so normally I buy store brand. With 3 kids our grocery bill is HUGE. BUT, last time I made meatloaf, I had to get Campbell's tomato soup because they were out of the store brand, I did not realize how thick Campbell's soup is compared to the store brand which is 99% colored water!!! It worked SO much better and kept the meatloaf from being too soggy!! And considering that I got that recipe from the Campbell's website, I guess that is a good thing!

Our internet is having troubles, I killed the laptop and the desktop internet is SOOO slow so I am going to do 3 recipes today since I am behind. I found a new one for meatloaf, which incidently used to take me FOREVER to make and cook, but we had it for dinner Wednesday night and there was NONE left!

Best Ever Meatloaf

2 lbs ground beef
1 can tomato soup
1 packet onion soup mix
1/2 cup bread crumbs (or I use Stuffing mix)
1 egg
1/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients, place in large loaf pan or baking dish.
Cook for 1 hour 15 minutes at 450.
I did have to drain mine at the end, but it was delicious!

One Dish Chicken and Rice Bake

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup water
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

In a baking dish mix xoup, water, rice, paprika and pepper. Place chicken on rice mixture. Sprinkle with additional paprika and pepper. Cover and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Easy Chicken Parmesan

1 large jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (it depends on what is on sale for me)
6 tbs parmesan cheese
6 small boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Pour sauce into baking dish. Stir in 4 tbs of parmesan cheese. Add chicken. Turn chicken over to coat both sides with sauce. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until done. Uncover and topw ith mozzarella cheese and remaining parmesan cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until chicken is tender. I serve mine with spaghetti.

Cathy makes hers on the stove top, but I like to throw stuff in the oven when I get home!!!

My Version of Baked Spaghetti

This is what we are having for dinner tonight:

1 1/2 pounds hamburger meat
spaghetti
large jar of Ragu
mozzerella cheese
parmesan cheese

Brown hamburger meat. Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain meat, pour in baking dish. Pour Ragu over. Mix in drained spaghetti. Top with mozzerella and parmesan cheeses. Bake in oven on 350 for 15-20 minutes. I serve it with salad and garlic toast. Easy and YUMMY!

Lemon Chicken with green beans and new potatoes

I found this lemon chicken recipe and it was very easy and sooo good! I took the leftovers to Grandmama and Mr. Bill and they ate off of it too. I did use a few more potaotes since there are 5 of us and 2 more chicken breasts, but the marinade was plenty for all of that. Of course we had rice with it! Harvey's had the chicken breasts on sale and the new potatoes buy one get one free so I felt like it was a sign!

6 tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
3/4 lb green beans (Iused 2 cans of walmart whole canned green beans)
8 small red potatoes,
quartered 4 chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 450. Coat a large baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Arrange lemon slices from 1 lemon in a single layer on the bottom of the dish. In large bowl combine remaining olive oil, lemon juice of 2nd lemon, garlic, salt and pepper. Add green beans and toss to coat. Using tongs, remove green beans and arrange them on top of lemon slices. Add potatoes to same olive oil mixture and coat. Arrange on inside edge of dish on top of the beans. I also add a lemon pepper mixture on top of everything. It adds a lot of flavor.Place chicken in olive oil mixture and coat. Place chicken in dish. Roast for 40-50 minutes. Remove chicken and continue roasting potatoes/beans if necessary.

Chicken Pie

Chicken again, and it is time consuming, but at the end of the post, I will tell you how I cheat on busy nights and I promise this is well worth it.

Chicken Pie

1 boiled and deboned chicken (save the broth)
1 can cream of chicken soup
2-4 boilded eggs (depending on how well you like eggs) chopped
1 cup flour
1 cup butter milk
1 stick butter melted

put chicken and eggs in baking dish
mix soup and 1/2 can broth then pour over chicken, mix
in a separate bowl, mix flour, buttermilk, and butter
pour on top, but do not stir
top with 2 cans of broth
cook on 350-400 for one hour.

This is much simpler than rolling out dough and cutting strips!

Now, for the secret, because I HATE deboning chicken, on nights that I dont want to go to this much trouble I use a rotisrerrie chicken from Walmart, I like lemon pepper that best!!!

This is great with green beans and tonight we are having cornbread with it too!

Potato Soup

Below is what we had for dinner on a wet, stormy Saturday! It is SOOOO much simpler than cutting the potatoes up.

1 bag Orieda Potatoes O'Brian
4 cans chicken broth
1 package of country gravy mix
shredded cheese

Put potatoes and chicken broth in crock pot (for several hours) or large pot. Cook until potatoes are done, a lot of days I put mine in on low and leave all day. Just before you serve, pour in instant gravy mix. Stir until dissolved. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. I also like mine with saltine crackers.

Cavatini

Here is another recipe that DOES NOT involve chicken, see I can do it! We had cavatini for dinner tonight. My kids LOVE itas does my brother, who incidentally did wind up eating with us. Brian hates it so we try and have it when he is not here. It is very easy to make and clean up is a breeze:

Cavatini:

1 box shells pasta
1 box rotini pasta
mozzerella cheese
ragu (or your favorite sauce)
pepperonis

Boil 1/2 box shells of each kind of pasta together.
Drain.
Line bottom of 9x13 baking dish with pepperoni, pour drained pasta on top. Pour sauce over and mix. Top with pepperoni and cheese. Put in oven at 350 and let cheese melt. It's great with some greasy nasty garlic bread.

Birthday Dinner

I cooked a big dinner for my Daddy's birthday. We had poppyseed chicken and then I followed it with Butterfinger cake. Both were delicious. Below is the recipe for Butterfinger Cake. It is super easy to make:

Butterfinger Cake

1 cake mix
1 jar caramel topping
1 can sweetened condensed milk
cool whip
several butterfinger candy bars (I used the mini kind)

Cook cake according to package directions.
While it is still warm, poke holes all over it.
Mix condensed milk and caramel topping and pour over cake (I would not use entire can of milk, or you will be cleaning up sticky goo.)
Crunch up some of the butterfingers and sprinkle on top.

Place in refrigerator and let cool (I left mine overnight)
Cover with cool whip and then sprinkle with more crunched up Butterfinger.

Yummy! I had a lot of help as you can see from the pic below!

I know, I know enough chicken

Several of you have commented that I have chicken too many times a week! So here is my tater tot casserole recipe that we have once a week. The kids LOVE it and it is usually reserved for a night that Brian is gone, not sure why, but it works out that way! I have scaled mine down a lot from the Duggar's and it is a little different!

Tater Tot Casserole

1 pound groundbeef
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
bag of tater tots
cheese (I use mozzerella)
onion (optional)

Brown hamburger meat, with onion if you choose, drain.
Layer bottom of 9x13 baking dish with tater tots. Pour hamburger meat on top. Some people like onion on top of that. Pour over cans of cream of mushroom on top. Cook for 45 minutes at 350. Top with cheese and put back in oven, let cheese melt.

Brandon eats his with tons of ketchup! I like it because I can fix it and stick it in the oven and do other stuff.

Poppyseed Chicken Post Dinner

Dinner was great. The chicken was very easy to make, boiling it in the pressure cooker took the longest. I used some smaller chicken breasts and then did not cut them up before I put them in the mix. I served it over rice and had butter beans from Calhouns, it was delicious!

Poppyseed Chicken

I know, we have not had anything exciting for dinner. We have had soccer 4 nights out of the week and been at Asahi! Then last night, Brian decided he wanted KFC and you heard NO objections from me!!

Sunday is Daddy's birthday and I plan to make the poppyseed chicken debut. My immediate family will be my guinea pigs tonight so I will let you know how it goes!

Poppy seed chicken

2 or 3 chicken breasts, boiled and cut in small pieces

1 16 oz sour cream

2 cans cream of chicken

2 tbls of poppyseeds

Ritz crackers

1 stick of butter

Mix the first 4 ingredients and put in a baking dish. Cover with crushed up ritz crackers. Melt a stick of butter and pour on top. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350.

Seems easy enough doesnt it?

Swiss Stuffing Chicken Post Dinner

Well, it was delicious. FYI-if you buy wine, make sure you have a wine bottle opener. By the time Mama got here I had already dug it out with a screwdriver! (Dont worry, the cork was the same color as the dressing, noone noticed!) Just KIDDING! I mixed up the stuff to go on top and when I poured it over it did not cover it. So I had to double it. I served it over rice with green beans and place and bake crescent rolls and it was GREAT! I plan to take some for lunch tomorrow.

Here is the picture of mine, the first was Kelly's:




I am trying to decide what my next creation will be because we have soccer Thursday and Friday night.

First Post, What's For Dinner

Today is my first post on the recipe blog. This is what I am making for dinner tonight. I could not find any white cooking wine, so Terri said I could substitute. I hope that it works out!!



It is called swiss stuffing chicken and it is making my mouth water right now!!!

SWISS STUFFING CHICKEN



4 large skinless boneless chicken breasts
6 oz. Mozerella or Swiss cheese slices
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/4 cup white cooking wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup herb-flavored crushed up Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix
1/2 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place uncooked chicken in shallow buttered casserole dish. Layer cheese on top. Mix soup, wine, salt, pepper; pour over cheese. Sprinkle stuffing mix on top and drizzle with melted butter. Bake for 1 hour.