Home Made Mac N Cheez

This is one REALLY GOOD, yummy comfort food!

Ingredients:

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 onion (sauteed)

1 lb of pasta (I used rigatoni)

1 cup mayo

box grater full of grated cheeze (I used medium cheddar)

2 soup spoons full of sour cream

1/2 package of turkey bacon

Topping:

3 tbs butter

big handful of crackers, smashed

How I made it:
Start off by getting getting your pasta pot on the heat. Preheat oven to 350. You will have everything else done by the time your pasta is finished cooking. Mince onion and saute with oil or butter and salt and pepper until transparent (5-10min).
Slice strips off the end of turkey bacon until you reach the middle. Place strips on a plate and microwave for 1 min ( I freeze my turkey bacon so I do this to warm it up so I can separate the pieces, If you like crisper bacon increase microwave time). The great thing about slicing off the end is they end up in perfect small strips.
In a large bowl combine soup, mayo, sour cream and cheese. Mix well. Add bacon and onion. Drain pasta ( as rule I always salt my pasta water for enhanced flavor). Add pasta to bowl, stir together.
Melt butter and add crackers. Spray 9/13 pan with pam and add mixture, top with cracker mix. Bake uncovered 30-40 min until cheese is bubbly and top is crisped. Feeds and ARMY!




I served my mac with broccoli, it was AMAZING! Normally I don't add sour cream, but I was running short of mayo and had a little left over sour cream so I just threw it in. I really like the added richness and tang, but just the mayo is great too.
VARIATIONS: I'm not the greatest with measuring things out and like to throw things together so I vary this recipe a lot. I normally use 1 lb of italian seasoned ground pork (SO GOOD) instead of turkey bacon, I didn't have any pork so I used the turkey bacon for the first time last night and really enjoyed it. The great thing about turkey bacon is it is precooked and LESS fattening. I have also added some mushrooms to the onion saute and that was great too. This recipe is perfect when you have left over cheeses in your fridge, different cheese combos work really well ( ie colby, monterey jack, havarti) they just give better flavor so BE CREATIVE! To make it less fattening you could definitely use low fat cheese, mayo options and like i said it tastes great with or without sour cream. IF you have any leftover/stale chips they work great in this too because the heat of the oven crisps them back up-I never throw away chips (they are my favorite casserole topping). Egg noodles also work really well with this.

It might sound like a lot of steps ( I was trying to be thorough in writing it up), but it comes together so fast. Most of it is just throwing the ingredients in the bowl. If anyone does any different variations I would love to hear about it as this is a dinner staple in my house and I love to mix things up!

chicken pillows w/gravy

this is a great super fast recipe. i tried it for the first time tonight and it took me 10 minutes tops to put together. you can also really lighten up the recipe, but i'm a fatty and like to use the full flavor stuff.

chicken pillows

1 rotisserie chicken {you can use any flavor, but i used the herb and garlic}

1 8 oz. package cream cheese {you can use neufactel cheese for less fat}

2 rolls of refridgerated crescent rolls

4 TBS butter melted

1 sleeve Ritz crackers crushed

shred the chicken into a bowl and combine with cream cheese until cheese is evenly distributed through chicken. separate crescent rolls. put 1-2 TBS of chicken mixture on each crescent roll triangle and fold dough around the chicken pinching at all sides to seal. dip in butter and then coat with the cracker crumbs. bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

for the gravy:

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/4 c. sour cream

1/2-1 c. milk

whisk soup, sour cream and milk over medium heat. i poured a little milk in and whisked it until it got to the thinness i desired. pour gravy over baked chicken pillows.

of course

it is okay to post things that aren't as healthy.... as long as its tasty! i don't care... maybe we could also label the healthier ones like low fat or something? what do you think? 

(a lot of my recipe books are healthier... that is probably why a lot of the things that i post will be that way- but not all of them)

just thought i would throw that out there since there have been a few comments about healthiness! 

also, please let me know if you would like your email added to the list that gets emailed whenever anyone comments! you can just do so by commenting on this post! 

Grilled Chicken with Bruschetta Topping

okay, so this is a great recipe out of a cookbook i love... it is called the most decadent diet ever! by devin alexander (it isn't really a diet book, but just healthy recipes). all of the recipes in here are foods you would love to eat.... 

ingredients: 

1 recipe bruschetta topping (recipe follows)

4 4.5 oz chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, visible fat removed

1 tsp EVOO

1.5 tsp fresh garlic

Salt and Pepper

Prepare Bruschetta topping

Preheat Grill to High

Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper on a flat work surface and hammer them out with a meat mallet for more even cooking (i didn't do this)

Transfer chicken to a medium bowl. add olive oil and garlic. mix until well combined. Season generously with s & p to taste.

Place chicken side by side on the grill. Turn heat to medium, if possible. Grill 3-5 minutes per side or until no longer pink in the middle. 

Transfer to plates and use 1/4 of bruschetta topping on each chicken breast. 

Bruschetta Topping Recipe: 

1 1/3 c seeded and finely chopped Roma tomatoes

1 tsp finely slivered fresh basil leaves (i just used dry until it looked right)

1 Tbsp EVOO

1.5  tsp garlic (i definitely used more than this but we are garlic lovers)

.5 tsp sugar

.25 tsp salt 

black pepper to taste

just put all the ingredients into a smaller tupperware and refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. serve cold or room temp. 

Notes: This is a VERY easy, VERY healthy recipe. The only thing you have to do that takes any brain power is make the bruschetta topping 2 hours ahead. You could easily make it when you make breakfast (that is what i did).  The bruschetta topping was a total party in my mouth. As a matter of fact i would probably double the recipe just so i could have more tomatoes, but that is just me! it is the same as you get in a restaurant so you could also use the topping for bruschetta with bread or as a pasta topping with angel hair! yum, yum! 

Total prep time: <15>

Total cook time: <15>

We ate this with a side of mixed veggies, but would be great with pasta, etc. The pictures didn't turn out that great, but it tasted MUCH better than it looked! 

Serves 4! 

Nutritional Info: 

199 calories

30g protein 

4g carbohydrates

6g fat (1g sat fat)

74mg cholesterol 

232 mg sodium

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

ok, so i know one of the rules is to post a picture along with the recipe, but i took like 27 pictures of these and i could not for the life of me get them to turn out looking tasty so i gave up. but this is quite possibly my favorite cookie of all time. every year i can't wait for fall to come around so i have a legitimate excuse to make them. this recipe makes a ton so i usually half it if i'm just making them for my husband and i, or i'll make the whole batch and give them to visiting teaching sisters, home teachers, neighbors, etc. these are super soft super yummy cookies that are perfect with a glass of cold milk. if you're on a diet, these probably aren't the best...ps. are we supposed to be healthy on this blog??? well oh well here goes.

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

2 c. shortening

2 c. white sugar

1 16 0z. can pumpkin puree

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. allspice {i usually use ground cloves here}

1 tsp. salt

4 c. flour

2 TBS cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 pkg. milk chocolate chips

cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. add pumpkin, egs and vanilla; beat well. stir together flour and spices and add to pumpkin mixture. fold in chocolate chips. spoon onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.

Hellllooooo!

Sounds so fun! I am excited to start blogging! :)

Welp....see you later!

welcome!!!

i am still trying to set the blog up so it works well. if i come across some cute free scrap booking paper i will make a different layout, but for now this is probably fine :)

okay, i was thinking of a few "rules" for the blog...


*post as frequently or infrequently as you like
*please only post recipes you have actually made yourself
*try to include the following info:
+ picture (or multiple if you are feeling like an overachiever)
+ labels (i.e. dessert, soup, salad, vegetarian, etc)
+ nutritional info (if you have it)
+ actual prep time/actual cook time
*use whatever font/size/etc you want! make your posts your own!
*if you are just reading the blog (not contributing) please comment on any recipes you have made from it, tell us how it went, any variations, etc!

i think that is all, i just think that the more info and things we can get the better the blog will be. Plus it will be more organized and easy to sift through later when you are looking for a recipe to cook!

Also, if you haven't yet received an invite from me to join as an author, i probably don't have your email, so email me and i will add you! kaitlyn.holman@yahoo.com

Thanks!