Bruschetta Chicken

So I'll admit it-- I hate tomatoes.  I pick them out of everything.  But I can handle bruschetta, so when I found this recipe on Pinterest, I thought--it's so easy and cheap, why not?
Boy, was I glad that I did.  The husband couldn't stop raving about it, and it really didn't take long to prepare at all!  The best part is, it's only five ingredients.  It's the perfect solution for the weeknight meal.

Ingredients:

• 4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2 inch thick
• 1/2 cup KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato dressing, divided
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves

Directions:

1. Place your chicken into a large ziploc bag along with the dressing and allow to soak for at least 10 minutes (I started mine in the morning and let it sit all day) in the fridge.
2. Preheat your oven to 425º F.
3. Combine the tomatoes, cheese, and basil into a large bowl.
4. Bake your chicken until almost cooked through (about 25-30 minutes).
5. Spoon large amounts of your tomato mixture on top of the chicken, and put back in the oven until the cheese has melted through, and your chicken is completely cooked (about 5-8 minutes).

Thanks to The Girl Who Ate Everything for the inspiring recipe.  (I do admit though, I baked mine while the original recipe called for grilling the chicken.  If you'd rather grill, check out the link above.)

Oven-Baked Mostaccioli

I can't believe it's taken me this long to post a good recipe for mostaccioli!  This one is layered like lasagna in all the good ways, but takes a lot less time and effort than lasagna with the same mouth-watering effects later. The original recipe was taken from Donna S. over at Food.Com but I've made a couple small changes to give it some extra flavor.  Makes a 9x13inch pan.

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey (or beef)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 32oz jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 16oz mostaccioli pasta, cooked, drained and tossed with
• 2 tsp veggie oil
• 16oz mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• Pinch of fennel (optional)
• 1/4 tsp italian seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
2. Cook turkey (or beef) with onion until brown
3. Stir in spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, and water.  Sauce will be watery! This is okay!
4. Add in your seasonings (garlic salt, garlic powder, italian seasoning, fennel, salt & pepper).
5. Bring your sauce to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Pour in 1 1/2 cups meat sauce in 9x13 inch baking dish
7. Add in half the pasta as a layer
8. Layer 2 cups mozzarella then all parmesan cheese
9. Layer 2 cups sauce, then remaining pasta, then all but 1/2 cup of mozzarella.
10. Top with remaining sauce
11. Add just a few more pinches of mozzarella for the finishing touch
12. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

It's been a long weekend, and all I want to do is curl up on my couch with a warm bowl of chili and a good movie.  After googling slow-cooker recipes for quite some time, I came up with this amazing colorful chili by Laura (slightly tweeked to my liking).  It was just what I was looking for!

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 can low sodium tomato soup
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 4oz can green chiles
• 2 cans kidney beans, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 pinch ground allspice
• Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Place turkey and chopped onions in the skillet, and cook until evenly brown; drain.
2. Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray, and put all ingredients into the slow cooker.
3. Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High.***

***You can also cook this on the stove in a big soup pot for about an hour on low heat.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is what happens when Mike Guthrie comes to town.  I make him an incredibly awesome home cooked meal, complete with fried wontons and rice.  Let's just say it got very quiet when dinner started, because everyone was busy eating instead of talking.  I got two very big thumbs up.

Ingredients:
Chicken:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp garlic salt

Directions:

1. Season the chicken chunks with salt and pepper
2. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg.  Fry in a little oil until brown, but not cooked through.
3. Place in a single layer in a baking dish.
4. Boil sauce ingredients together, then pour over chicken.
5. Bake for one hour at 325 degrees F.  Mix chicken every 15 minutes.
6. Serve over rice.

Parmesan Chicken Drumsticks

I have a tendency to buy meats that I don't know how to cook. Drumsticks, for instance... I can make chicken breasts easy, but for some reason, drumsticks always intimidated me.  So, after emptying our fridge for a number of days because I couldn't afford to go grocery shopping, all that was left were these drumsticks.
Still, I managed to leave them in my fridge for about 4 days before actually giving a recipe a try.  Here's what resulted.

Ingredients:

• 12 chicken drumsticks
• 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 C. seasoned bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Flour
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. onion powder

Directions:

1. In a shallow bowl or plastic bag, mix together garlic powder, onion powder, bread crumbs, pepper, and cheese. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Put flour on a plate.
2. Dredge the chicken in the flour (that means to drag it in flour and then shake off the excess) and then dip it in the egg, coating well. Roll in cheese mixture (or shake in the bag).
3. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until brown. Turn once during cooking. (coat baking sheet with PAM).

Lasagna

I had my 8 year old nephew over for the weekend, and he wanted to make lasagna.  So he did! Yeah, I bought a couple ingredients, but if my 8 year old nephew can make this recipe, so can you.
Thanks to Recipedose.com for the picture (I ate my lasagna before I could take a picture of it, but this is pretty much what it looks like when it's done).

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey (or ground beef)
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 can diced tomatoes (we used fire roasted tomatoes)
• 1 small box lasagna noodles
• 15 oz Ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c parmesan
• 1 large bag shredded mozzarella

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Brown your turkey/beef, and then add in the tomatoes and spaghetti sauce.  Season to taste.
3. In a separate bowl, combine ricotta, eggs, and parmesan together.
4. Spray an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with cooking spray (or wipe it down with some cooking oil).
5. Begin making your layers:
1. Meat sauce
2. Noodles (break them to fit the size of the pan if needed-- you can cook them before hand, but you don't have to.
3. Cheese mixture
4. Mozzarella
6. If you have room, go ahead and begin the layering again, starting with the meat sauce.
1. However, if you run out of room, just be sure to end with Mozzarella on top.
7. Put foil over the pan and peak it like a tent--that way the cheese won't stick to the foil.
8. Bake for 1 hour, then remove the foil, then continue baking for 15 minutes or until the cheese is browned.
9. Remove from the oven, let it cool a little bit, then enjoy!

Easy (and Delicious) Meatloaf

I was looking for a good meatloaf recipe the other night, as my ground beef was thawing, and came across this little gem.  I must say, it was a lot better than I expected!
Thanks to Jillian for the keeper. :)

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (such as RO*TEL®), undrained
• 1 sleeve buttery round crackers (such as Ritz®), crushed
• 1 teaspoon onion flakes (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder, or to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Beat the egg in a mixing bowl, then add the ground beef, tomatoes, and crushed crackers. Season with onion flakes, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper. Mix until evenly combined. Pack into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Easy BBQ Chicken Wings

Alright, so I admit it--I'm in need of a little variety.  My typical shopping list includes a lot of ground turkey and chicken breasts, and that's about it. I bought chicken wings on sale not too long ago, but after a bad experience, I was pretty hesitant to try it again.
But, since they were on sale for only a couple bucks, I thought I'd make an effort.
So, being cheap, I looked up the easiest recipe possible and crossed my fingers. To be honest, I didn't have high hopes.
However, what came out of the oven was surprisingly good, considering that it only took a couple of ingredients.
So face your fears.  Try making something again, even if the first time was a disaster.

Ingredients

• 1 - 1 1/2 lbs. chicken wings or legs
• 3/4 - 1 cup barbecue sauce
• 2 cans chicken broth

Directions

1. Set your oven to 350°F.
2. Simmer chicken in boiling water or chicken broth for 8 minutes (I only had 1 can of broth at the time, so I put that in, and then added water until it covered the chicken.
3. Remove, let drain and pat dry.
4. Place several pieces at a time in a medium size bowl.
5. Pour barbecue sauce over chicken and mix to coat well.
6. Cover a cookie sheet in tin-foil (you'll thank me later), and stick the wings on there.
7. Bake for about 30 minutes, turning them over if needed.

Fall-Off-The-Bone BBQ Ribs

My mother's recipe, and may I say, one of her best.  These ribs are so melt-in-your-mouth good, you'll find yourself making a second batch just so you can have leftovers.

Ingredients

• 1 rack baby back ribs, thawed
• 1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque Sauce (or BBQ sauce of your choice)
• Salt
• Pepper
• ½ c Brown sugar

Directions

1. Begin boiling a large pot of water.
2. Cut up ribs into individual pieces, being sure to cut right next to the bone in order to have a lot of meat on one side.
3. Put them in the pot and boil them for 1 hour
4. When done, drain the ribs and place them on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil. Salt and pepper each rib generously.
5. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
6. Begin making your barbeque sauce by combining Sweet Baby Rays and brown sugar. Blend well.
7. Dip each rib in the sauce, then place back on the cookie sheet. If there’s leftover sauce, you can brush on extra if needed.
8. Place in the oven for 15 minutes or until they begin to bubble

Tomato Garlic Chicken Pasta

Here's a new recipe I tried last night from MizzNezz over at RecipeZaar:

Ingredients:

• 4 skinless boneless chicken breasts
• salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons oregano 
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 tablespoon lime juice

Directions

1. Start your noodles.
2. Cut breasts in 1/2 crosswise,then in strips lenghtwise.
3. Mix salt, pepper, oregano,and flour in shallow dish.
4. Add chicken pieces, stir to cover.
5. Heat butter and oil in lg skillet.
6. Add strips, cook and stir until browned.
7. Add tomatoes and garlic, cook and stir 3 minutes.
8. Add basil and lime juice.
9. Blend well, then serve hot over your pasta.

Broiled Parmesan Tilapia

For the college student who hates to eat fish, this is an awesome recipe!
I found this recipe off of RecipeZaar and made it for me and my fiancee last night...  With a side dish of white rice and steamed broccoli, this recipe was absolutely delicious!
You can make this recipe with pretty much any white fish, but the tilapia only cost me about 2.50 per fillet, which is pretty nice if I do say so myself.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
• salt (I use seasoned salt)
• 2 lbs tilapia fillets

Directions:

1. Set oven to broiler heat.
2. Grease a broiler pan, then line with foil and grease the foil slightly.
3. In a small bowl mix together Parmesan cheese, butter, mayo, lemon juice and garlic.
4. Add in all the remaining seasonings and salt if using; mix well and set aside.
5. Arrange the fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan (you sprinkle salt on fish but it is not necessary).
6. Broil a few inches from the heat for about 2-3 minutes.
7. Turn the fish over and broil a couple minutes more.
8. Remove from oven and cover them with the Parmesan mixture on the top side only.
9. Return to oven and broil for about 2 minutes more or until the topping is browned and the fish flakes easily (do not overcook the fish!).

Tuna Casserole

If you look closely (okay, not that closely), you'll see a resemblance to this recipe and my taco casserole recipe. Um, yeah, it's the same recipe--but with tuna instead of taco meat.
Is that sad? I say no! You get two meals with almost the exact same list of ingredients. I'm a starving student! Of course I'm gonna make the same casserole a bunch of times--especially if I buy the ingredients in bulk! Anyway, here's the recipe (again).

Ingredients

• 2 cans of tuna in water
• 8 oz macaroni noodles
• 1 can Cream of Celery soup
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 tbsp butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions

• Set oven to Broil
• Cook noodles and drain
• Mix in soup, butter, mayo, and tuna.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add cheese to the top.
• Put in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Maple-Glazed Chicken

A while back, I had a hankerin' for some chinese food. I found a recipe on SuperCook, and I ended up making this instead. All you need is a few spices, some chicken, and some maple syrup.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, but into 1 inch pieces
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp butter or margarine
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

Directions

• Combine the paprika, salt, ground cinnamon, cumin and pepper in a ziploc bag.
• Add chicken pieces and coat evenly
• In a skillet over medium heat, cook chicken until thoroughly done (about 10 min)
• Remove chicken after done and keep warm.
• Lower heat to low and add maple syrup, butter and dijon mustard.
• Combine well and add the chicken pieces to coat evenly
• Serves well with rice and steamed broccoli.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Another one of my favorite recipes from my mom... Easy to put together, and it can feed up to 4 or 5 people.

Ingredients

• 4 green peppers, with the tops and middles cleaned out
• 1/2 lb beef or ground turkey
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup rice
• 2 cans tomato soup
• 1 can stewed tomatoes

Direction

• Simmer the peppers for 5 minutes, then set aside.
• Cook the rice in a separate pot
• Cook beef/turkey with onions.
• Add 1 can stewed tomatoes and 1 can tomato soup
• Add rice to the beef/turkey mixture
• Mix 1 can tomato soup and 1/2 can water together.
• Pour rice mixture into green peppers, then pour the tomato soup/water mixture over top.
• There will be extra rice and tomato soup/water mix, so just pour the remainder in the bottom of the pot.
• Cover the pan and heat it through.

Meatloaf

Just kidding.

I've taken a break from complicated recipes and come back to the basics... Meatloaf. Ah, yes, the big hunk of meat you serve with ketchup. All you need now is some mashed potatoes and some green beans, and you've got yourself a nice home cooked meal.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb hamburger (or ground turkey meat, if you're me)
• 2 pieces of bread in 1 inch small pieces
• 1 egg
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 tbsp BBQ sauce
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions

• Set oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with hamburger, using your hands.
• Shape into a loaf and put it in a pan, covering with foil.
• Meat must be away from the sides of hte pan so the grease can drain.
• Stick it in the oven for 1 hour.
• Take the foil off, then bake for another 30 more minutes.

Taco Casserole

A lot like my recipe for Tuna casserole, but with a taco-ey flavor. Yes, it's college. Don't expect me to get all Bobby Flay on ya. Good food is good food, even if it isn't gourmet.

Ingredients

• 1 cup or more of taco meat (left over from tacos)
• 8 oz macaroni noodles
• 1 can Cream of Celery soup
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 2 tbsp butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions

• Set oven to Broil
• Cook noodles and drain
• Mix in soup, butter, mayo, and meat.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Add cheese to the top.
• Put in the oven until the cheese is melted.

That's it. Yes, it's a very easy recipe, and probably like nothing else you'll see on the web. I make it all the time. And if you don't have leftover taco meat, you can make your own and just use more noodles and stuff.