Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Meats · Uncategorized

Oldies, But Goodies

And no, I’m not talking about Randy and I. I am talking about some of the old recipes that seem to be floating around on FB and on several web pages and blogs. In fact, this past Sunday, we were at our kids house in McKinney for dinner. They had told us that they were going to make us Fehttuchini Alfredo with Chicken. It was a recipe which they have made several times from Joanna Gaines new cookbook and it was really good. But in conversation with our sweet DIL, she and I were talking about some of the recipes which seem to be appearing that use good Ole Campbells Cream Soups. We began to talk about the chicken spaghetti recipe that I posted a couple of weeks ago and we agreed that some of the old tried and true recipes are still some of the best comfort foods. Today, I found myself wanting some spaghetti, (I think I must be half Italian and half Mexican because I think I could live on Mexican and Italian food, oh, but throw in a hamburger once a week, oh and chicken fried steak and, roast once in a while. Maybe I’m a mixture, kinda like a mutt, I guess. Anyway, back to the oldies and goodies. When you start to think about the “good old days” of pot lucks and church dinners and Sunday dinners at grandmas house, I bet your mind conjures up some of the foods like, lime jello salad, or the orange jello salad with mandarin oranges. Or maybe your mind goes to chicken and dumplings made with cream of chicken soup, or beef stroganoff and noodles, made with cream of mushroom. Or remember pot roast with a can of french onion soup and cream of mushroom? Of course, could we really have Christmas and Thanksgiving without the green bean casserole that uses Cream of Mushroom soup? And what about porcupine meatballs made in Campbells Tomato Soup. All this to say, that during this quarantine, when trying to order some of these soups, they have been hard to come by. Several weeks went by before I actually was able to acquire cream of celery and tomato soup. But now…..my pantry is stocked with every Campbells cream of EVERYTHING! So watch out family! Any recipe which you might receive these next couple of weeks will probably have one or more of the cream soups in them. To get things started, I thought I would post this recipe which uses a can of cream of mushroom soup. The filling is great used with crepes or poured over noodles or mashed potatoes.

1 pound of fresh mushrooms, cleaned
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup frozen chopped onions, or fresh onions, diced small
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk or cream
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1 cup cooked frozen peas or green beans, drained
1/2 teas garlic powder or 1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teas each, seasoned salt and pepper

Sauce mushrooms and onions in butter until tender. Sprinkle seasoned salt, pepper and garlic into this mixture. Set aside.

Combine soup, sour cream, milk, chicken and peas or green beans into a crockpot which you have sprayed with Pam. Cook on low for 2 hours, stirring often. Combine the mushrooms and onions during the last hour of cooking. Stir well and use as filing on crepes, or pour over mashed potatoes or cooked noodles.

Casseroles · Chicken · Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Green Chile Chicken Casserole

Tonight we took dinner to our kids. Tuesday evenings are pretty hectic in their household so it has been so neat to cook for them and have them walk in to their house to dinner.
They like chicken so I always try to think os something that will be easy to carry over there and yet something that everyone likes. Today I decided to make this casserole because it is so easy and they loved it.

1 can of mild green chile enchilada sauce (10 oz can)
2 chicken breasts cooked an diced (save some of the chicken broth that you cooked the chicken in ”
1/2 cup onion
1 oz package shredded sharp cheddar cheese
3 oz package of cream cheese
3 tables butter
18 yellow corn tortillas
garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste
1 tables corn starch stirred into 1/3 cup water or chicken broth.
Oil for searing tortillas

Spray a 7×11″ baking dish with Pam.
In a skillet, melt the butter and add the diced onion. Cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes or until onion is clear and tender. Add the garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir. Add half of the can of the green chile sauce to the onion mixture. Pour about 1 cup of the chicken broth into this mixture. Stir in softened cream cheese. Mixture will be thin, cook over low heat for a few minutes or until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in the corn starch mixture a little at a time stiring continually until mixture thickens. If it thickens to much, add a little more chicken broth or more green chile sauce from another can. (I always buy two cans for this reason.)
Set this aside.

In a separate skillet heat oil. Taking the corn tortillas one at a time, drop in oil for 2-3 seconds per side until all 18 have been heated in oil. Drain on paper towel.

Pour other half of remaining sauce that is in the can in the bottom of the baking dish. Layer 6 of the tortillas on the bottom. Sprinkle 1/2 of the chopped chicken over the tortillas. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese over this. Layer 6 more of the tortillas,now the rest of the diced chicken and another 1/3 of the cheese. Layer the remaining tortillas on top. Pour the sauce from the skillet over the entire casserole and sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes or until casserole is bubbling and cheese is all melted and lightly browned around the edges.
We served this with a pot of pinto beans and Spanish rice.

Beef · Daily Thoughts · Holiday Fare · Meats · Uncategorized

Spaghetti & Meatballs

It was a shock to me to find that I had never posted my Spaghetti & meatball recipe. It is one of our most requested dinners from family and friends alike. When I lived in Corpus Christ for years, there was a neighbor, Cam, who was Italian from New York and she gave me so many of her recipes that to this day, her meatballs, pecan pie, sour cream pound cake, and so many other of our desserts are still most treasured.

1 large can of Hunts Traditional or Del Monte pasta sauce
1 can (the large can, I don’t have any here today but its about a 24 oz can I think) of small chopped diced tomatoes in sauce
1 small can oof tomato paste
2 cups water
2 packets of Thick and Zesty Italian Seasoning
1 teas Italian Seasoning
1 teas dried oregano
1 cube of frozen garlic (or one garlic clove or almost one teas of garlic powder)
1 lb 93/7 ground hamburger meat
1 lb of Italian flavored ground turkey
1 lb of ground pork
1/2 cup Progresso Italian flavored bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teas garlic powder
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place all the meat in a large bowl.
Meatballs:
Add one (1) packet of the Italian Seasoning, the bread crumbs, the parmesan cheese, eggs, parsley and 1/2 teas garlic powder (I usually add a little more than that, but we love garlic)
Mix well with your hands and form meatballs about 2″ in size. Place on lightly greased jelly roll pan or pyrex dish and back in preheated 400 degree oven until meatballs are done. About 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven.
Remove meatballs from baking dish and set aside.
Sauce:
In a oven proof dutch oven, spray it with Pam or lightly with a little oil. Pour all of the tomato sauce, water, paste and diced tomatoes in the pan. Add the other packet of Italian seasoning, the garlic, the Italian seasoning and the oregano. Stir and place meatballs in tomato mixture.
Bake in preheated 300 oven, covered with heavy lid for 2-3 hours, or until thick and deep red in color. Sometimes, I have to add a little more water if it cooks to quickly.
Remove from oven and spoon oven cooked (according to directions on package) spaghetti. Sprinkle with more Parmesan cheese.
This serves about 8-10 people.

Breads · Casseroles · Meats

Cowboy Cornbread

Last night we were invited to a friend’s home for dinner. She had told me she was cooking (oh my I almost said, “fixin”) a big pot of pinto beans for dinner and there would be six of us. I promptly told her that I would bring the cornbread. Visions of this great bread from years ago began to invade my memory. Why had I not made this great cornbread that is almost a meal by itself? Actually, put a salad with it and it is a meal.

So last night I proudly walked in with my old iron skillet, filled with my cowboy cornbread. We had a fabulous meal of beans, salad, cornbread and ended the great dinner with a homemade peach cobbler that Connie brought. The entire evening was mixed with laughter, sweet fellowship and great food. The gift of friendships sharing a meal is one of life’s greatest blessings!

2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread

1 can cream style corn

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs

1 small can of chopped green chiles

1 lb of hamburger beat (yes, all you healthies  out there, you can use Mexican flavored ground turkey)

1/2 cup of frozen seasoning veggies (it is Stillwells brand of mixed chopped onions, bell pepper and celery) or fresh chopped.

4 tables butter

1 teas garlic powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

Fry the meat with the frozen seasoning veggies, garlic, salt and pepper until meat is done and veggies are tender. Drain and set aside.

Preheat oven now to 400.

Combine cornbread mix, eggs, corn, green chiles, cheese and milk. Stir until well combined. In a large skillet (iron if you have one), add about 1 tables oil and heat on burner until oil is hot. Turn off the burner.  Place half of the cornbread mixture into the hot skillet and then sprinkle your meat mixture over it. Spoon the rest of the cornbread mixture over the meat. Place in preheated 400 oven for about 35 minutes or until it tests done and is lightly browned on top. As soon as you take out of the oven,  spread butter over the top, allowing it to melt and cover the entire bread. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes and then cut into wedges and serve.