... check your ingredients before you start cooking! I let one slip by me yesterday. I made a recipe that called for chili powder. Well, lo and behold, I had no chili powder. Yikes! What to do? What to do? Well, right now, I'd like to stop and thank Al Gore for the creation of the internet. (Just kidding, folks... ) But really, thanks Sir Timothy Berners-Lee for your world wide web! Hopping on Google, I looked for a substitute for chili powder. What I found was a CHILI POWDER RECIPE!!!

Chili Powder

• 1 tsp. Paprika
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. cumin

OMGoodness! Blend them together and store them in a dry place and there you have chili powder!


And all that for this.....

King Ranch Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 2 cans cream of chicken
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 12 - 15 corn tortillas
• 2 c. shredded cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Brown ground beef and drain
3. Add tomatoes, cream of chicken, broth and spices and warm through
4. In a greased 9x13 pan, place a layer of beef mixture, top with torn-apart tortillas then cheese.
5. Continue making layers, ending with cheese
6. Bake covered for 30 minutes
7. Remove cover, bake a few more minutes until bubbly

... so I forgot to bring the recipes from last week to work today. Yeah, lovely people, I write my blog on my lunch hour! Today, I sit here eating my chicken-pot-pie leftovers from last night.... YUMMY!

I know I promised pictures... and here I go, promising again. I've been so forgetful lately. Hopefully helpful hubby will helpfully remind me about pictures! Gonna throw out my chicken-pot-pie recipe for ya. It's pretty basic, but has a few tweaks.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• Chicken tenders, boiled and shredded (don't throw out the broth just yet)
• 1 can, cream of chicken
• 2 cans, mixed veggies - drained
  
• sour cream
• Bisquick baking mix
• cheddar cheese
• milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix chicken, cream of chicken, veggies, appoximately 1/2 c. sour cream and cheddar cheese.
3. Ladle two dippers of broth from boiled chicken into mixture.
4. Mix thoroughly and spread into greased 9x13 pan.
5. In a separate bowl, mix Bisquick and milk. You'll want the consistency to be somewhere between biscuits and pancakes.
6. Pour biscuit mix over top of chicken mixture.
7. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy! If you're looking for a quick, easy, yummy-liscious meal.... here ya go! Let me know if you make it or it you make changes. I love hearing your ideas!!

on the job! Yup... that's what I've been doing! It's been a busy, busy week, but I've been really, really unfair. I've committed to giving you all quick and yummy recipes, and I've not been holding up my end of the bargain. So that being said, I'm not overly prepared to catch you up completely today, but I will give you one quick and yummy recipe I tried this past week today, and I promise you more and more tomorrow. Oh and picture! Moving forward, I'm going to try to attach some pictures to the recipes.

Chicken Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• ham slices
• Crescent rolls, large roll
• 1 can, cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Boil chicken and shred.
3. Unroll crescent roll on baking sheet. Layer ham slices, then chicken and roll into log.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. While roll is baking, mix cream of chicken, milk and cheese. Cook mixture over medium heat.
6. Slice roll into pieces and ladle cheese mixture over roll.

I served this with mixed veggies!! Yummy-liscious!

So another weekend come and gone. BUT in the process, I found a delicious, fantastic, amazing culinary delight! But let's do this chronologically....

Friday night we had Mushroom Mozzarella Chicken... a delicious and easy dinner.

Mushroom Mozzarella Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• small onion chopped
• fresh mushrooms, sliced
• butter
• Soul Seasoning
• Mozzarella cheese
  

Directions:

In a pan, saute onions and mushrooms in butter. Once done, remove onions and mushrooms and put aside. In the same skillet, cook chicken breasts. Cook approximately 12 minutes on each side, or until juices run clear. Ladle onion and mushrooms on top of each chicken breast. Top with mozzarella, cover and cook another 5 minutes until mozzarella has melted.


Saturday, we had a late lunch out at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries... YUMMY! So for dinner, we snacked.

Sunday was a big day... we had my family over! Ok, so that's rare... not that we don't WANT them to come over. It's more that... we have cats and they all HATE cats. But we put the cats up, and they came over for dinner. It was really pleasant, and I tried a new recipe.

I fixed Cajun Tilapia (http://tossoff.blogspot.com/2011/08/brain-food.html) and a delicious, delightful, new recipe I'd found on www.allrecipes.com

Zucchini Herb Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 pounds zucchini, cubed
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 1/2 cups seeded, chopped tomatoes
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

Directions:

Combine the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes, until rice is tender.

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a shallow 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the zucchini, green onions, and garlic 5 minutes, or until tender. Season with garlic salt, basil, paprika, and oregano. Mix in the cooked rice, tomatoes, and 1 cup cheese. Continue to cook and stir until heated through. Transfer to the prepared casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake uncovered 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.


OMGoodness!! YUMMY! I think I had more compliments on that dish than anything else, and I am soooo making it again.

Let me know if you try either of these and what ya think about them!

... in paradise? Well, right now, at my house, it seems like a tropical island paradise - at least it FEELS like it. Last night we got home, and I started cooking dinner. There was an odd noise coming from the direction of the HVAC unit. Huh... weird. Helpful hubby went out to check it out.... and came back in with baaaaaaaad news. That sound... that grinding, screeching, annoying, generally not-good sound was, indeed, coming from the HVAC unit. Uh oh. Within 20 minutes, the sound had stopped and so had our air conditioning. Living in Georgia, losing the ac in August is a very, very bad thing! So, we made arrangements for an HVAC service person to head out today, turned the ceiling fans up and made the best of it.

For dinner last night, we did have Salmon Croquets, just like I figured! I know there are lots of different ways to make them, so I'm curious how you do it! Here's the recipe for mine.

Salmon Croquets

Ingredients:

• 1 can salmon
• 1 egg
• 1/2 small onion, chopped
• 1 sleeve Ritz crackers

Directions:

Mix salmon, egg, onion and crackers in bowl. Pat into patties and fry in small amount of olive or canola oil.


It's funny but I always seem to make the same side dishes when I make Salmon Croquets... it's always homemade mashed potatoes and English peas! But what a yummy dinner it was. And here's my little tip on homemade mashed potatoes: add a chicken or beef bullion cube in your water when you boil the potatoes. It makes all the difference in the world!

That's it for today... hope you guys have a great day and... really, try to stay cool!

Wow... it's been a busy few days. I didn't post yesterday and I'mma be real quicklike today.

Monday night I cooked a family fave...

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:

• 1# hamburger
• 1 packet of onion soup mix
• 1 can of mushroom stems and pieces
• sour cream
• egg noodles

Directions:

Brown hamburger and drain. Add in mushrooms (do not drain) and onion soup mix. When mixture begins to get bubbly around the edges, fold in sour cream to taste. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

How much easier can you get?!? I mean, maybe if you wanna make a sammich....

Last night we did Chinese buffet with my Grandma. It was yummy... and would you believe I forgot to get any meat out for dinner tonight?!? What do you guys do when you encounter this? I'm thinking Salmon Crouquets tonight. :)

Whew... I love weekends, but sometimes it seems like they are more jam-packed than the work week! This weekend was the World's Longest Yard Sale. While I admire anyone who can start at one end and go allllllllllll the way to the other, that will never be me. Brian and I did do about 20 miles of the yard sale on Sunday and I managed to score another antique typewriter - for $5!!! YAY!

Also picked up a couple new cookbooks... again YAY!!

Like always, on the weekends, we don't do anything major in the way of cooking. Friday night found us eating Fried Chicken Salads, yummy! I did make Chicken Pasta Salad on Friday night for weekend lunches.

Chicken Pasta Salad:

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• creole seasoning
• fusili noodles
• 1/2 medium sized onion
• 3 carrots
• 3 dill pickles
• 3 roma tomatoes
• Miracle Whip dressing, to taste

Directions:

Cut chicken into chunks. Saute in olive oil with creole seasoning. Boil noodles as chicken is sauteing. Slice onion, carrots, pickles and tomatoes. Mix all ingredients and toss with Miracle Whip dressing. Refrigerate for 1 hour before eating.


Naturally, you could put whatever you want in your salad; these are just suggestions. :)


Saturday night, Brian made nachos! What do you put on your nachos? I love taco meat, cheese, salsa, sour cream and jalapenos!

On Sunday, I was wanting something quick and easy. We'd been to my dad's for Brian to borrow Dad's workshop. IT WAS MISERABLY HOT! I wanted to throw something together that didn't require much time or effort.... so I made my best friend's Mexican Chicken Casserole recipe! YUMMY!!!


Mexican Chicken Casserole:

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans cream of chicken
• 2 cans rotel
• Velveeta cheese
• Ranch flavored Doritos

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Boil chicken breasts and shred. Mix chicken, cream of chicken soup and rotel tomatoes in a bowl. Pour mixture into greased 9x13 baking dish. Cover mixture with slices of Velveeta cheese. Sprinkle liberally with crushed Doritos. Bake uncovered until cheese is melted, about 25-30 minutes.


Let me know if you try this Mexican Chicken Casserole recipe! I think you'll love it!