Cheesy Chicken and Stuffing

Did you know that I don't eat dressing or stuffing at Thanksgiving? There's something about the soggy bread that just does not appeal to me. That being said, the stuffing mix that you buy at the store is pretty fantastic. You can make some awesome meals with it.

This recipe caught my eye on Pinterest because of its simplicity. You just layer all of the ingredients in the baking dish and bake it until it's done. I wanted to try it because I thought, Hey! Another easy meal for busy nights. Thankfully the recipe turned out spectacularly well. I've made it a total of three times and decided to keep the ingredients on hand for particularly hectic nights.

I had a moment while making this meal where I actually had nothing to do but wait for things to cook. That rarely happens. Usually I'm running around like a crazy person trying to get everything to finish cooking at the same time. I had the chicken in the oven, the potatoes were boiling, the water was coming to a boil for macaroni and cheese, and the green beans were bubbling away. I stood in the middle of Aaron's mother's kitchen wondering what did I do right?

What do you get with this recipe? How about tender, moist chicken with a creamy, cheesy sauce and a crispy bread topping. The extra sauce and stuffing make an excellent topping for mashed potatoes and the whole meal has a very country, home-cooking flavor.

Cheesy Chicken and Stuffing

Source: Or so she says...

3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half as evenly as possible
6-8 slices cheese (I used cheddar but pretty much any cheese will work)
1 (10-oz) can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup milk
1 box chicken stuffing mix (like Stovetop)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with vegetable oil spray.

Place the chicken pieces in the bottom of the pan in an even layer.

Top the raw chicken with the cheese slices.

In a small bowl combine the cream of chicken soup and milk. Mix until smooth and then pour the mixture over the cheese.

Sprinkle the stuffing mix evenly over the soup mixture (yes, dry) and drizzle the butter evenly over the stuffing mix.

Place the baking dish in the oven and bake for 45-60 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve warm with mashed potatoes or rice.

Taco Spaghetti

Oh, Yaya... She knows how to combine the strangest foods to create something wonderful. I mean, who would think of mixing tacos with spaghetti, right?

Taco spaghetti is made like a casserole and served like a taco salad. Admiral mentioned that part of what makes tacos so appealing is all the different textures. You have warm taco meat, a crunchy shell, and crisp lettuce all in one delicious little package and the best part about taco spaghetti is that you get all of those textures plus pasta!

The recipe makes a lot of food. It's not terribly expensive, especially if you find ground beef or turkey on sale, and it's just as tasty as leftovers. I hope this first recipe back after my hiatus makes up for the last month of missed recipes.

Taco Spaghetti

Source: Yaya original

For the casserole:

8 oz spaghetti or linguini
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced

1 lb ground beef or turkey
1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp homemade taco seasoning (or 1 packet of taco seasoning)

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup salsa (optional, I skipped it this time but the flavor was a little lacking)

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies, drained

1 (10 oz) package frozen corn, thawed
1 (15 oz) can black beans (optional, I skipped them this time)
1 1/2 cups cheddar or colby jack cheese, shredded

For serving:
tortilla chips
shredded lettuce
diced tomatoes
shredded cheddar or colby jack cheese

sliced black olives
sour cream
salsa
guacamole

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with vegetable oil spray.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions in a large pot and don't forget to salt the water. Once the pasta is cooked to al dente drain and rinse with cold water and set aside. Be careful not to cook the pasta past al dente because it will continue to cook as you mix it with the meat mixture and in the oven.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the onions and cook until they are beginning to soften and become clear.

Add the ground beef or turkey and season with the 1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste) and cook until the meat is browned.

Add the water and taco seasoning and simmer until nearly all of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the salsa, green chilies, corn, and black beans and cook until everything is heated through (my corn was still a little frozen).

Add the pasta and mix it in. I've found it's easier to mix with a good strong pair of tongs or with a pasta fork (OXO is a great brand) but it's difficult to get the ingredients to mix with the pasta without a sticky sauce to help. Just do the best you can.

Remove the skillet from the heat and add about 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Mix until combined. The cheese will probably melt quickly and help all the taco meat mixture stick to the pasta some.

Transfer the whole thing to the prepared baking dish, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese over the top, and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serve warm in the style of a taco salad.

Add whatever taco toppings you like and some crushed tortilla chips for crunch.

Mine had chips, lettuce, black olives, salsa, and a little extra cheese.

Pizza Baked Spaghetti (Updated)

I'm back with another update of an old, well-used recipe, one more on the list of recipes I "stole" from work way back in high school. Last time I posted this recipe I was unable to include photographs and since it's been quite awhile (over two years) since I first posted the recipe I thought it could use an update.

Probably one of Fazoli's most popular dishes is the baked spaghetti. It's a simple spaghetti marinara topped with mozzarella and then run through the conveyor oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Every so often they would have a special item on the menu, pizza baked spaghetti, which had added sausage crumbles and pepperoni.

I never ate the pizza baked spaghetti when I worked there, but I did borrow the idea when I moved out on my own and started making it in a large batches as a family meal using Yaya's spaghetti sauce which already contains sausage. One of the cool things about this recipe is that it's so easy to make it your own. You can add whatever pizza toppings you like on your pizza. I have made this with green peppers, mushrooms, and black olives, my favorite pizza toppings, but most of the time I stick with Aaron's favorite, plain pepperoni.

This spaghetti is a crowd pleaser. It's loaded with bubbly, brown cheese and delicious homemade sauce and of course, crispy pepperoni. It's the perfect alternative to your regular spaghetti night.

Pizza Baked Spaghetti

Source: Adapted from Fazoli's recipe

1 recipe Yaya's spaghetti sauce (or 1 jar of your favorite sauce)
16 oz spaghetti
2-3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
30-40 slices pepperoni
other pizza toppings (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish (I made 1/2 the recipe so mine is in an 8x8 dish this time) with vegetable oil spray. Cook your sauce according to the recipe and the spaghetti according to the package directions.

Drain the pasta and transfer it in an even layer to the bottom of the baking dish.

Spoon the sauce evenly over the spaghetti. You may not use all of your sauce, especially if you're using the homemade sauce. The recipe seems to make slightly more than needed for 1 lb of spaghetti.

Sprinkle about 1 1/2-2 cups of the mozzarella over the sauce.

Add your toppings in an even layer. We just had pepperoni this time. Add the remaining mozzarella to partially cover the toppings and sprinkle with the Parmesan.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until the cheese is browned to your liking.

Serve warm with salad and garlic bread if desired.

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Are you ready for an unbelievably simple yet satisfyingly delicious weeknight meal? Because this certainly fits the bill!

Tender egg noodles, juicy chicken and vegetables, and creamy sauce create an old fashioned casserole that the whole family will love. This meal can be made ahead of time and uses pre-cooked chicken, cream of chicken soup, and frozen vegetables, all combined to form a creamy masterpiece. But you don't have to trust me, just try it yourself!

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Source: The Taylor House

2 cups cooked chicken breast, cubed, diced, or shredded
8 oz egg noodles
12-16 oz package frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1-2 cups cheddar or mozzarella cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 baking dish with vegetable oil spray.

Cook the egg noodles according to the package directions.

Place the chicken in a large mixing bowl.

Add the cream of chicken and mixed vegetables and stir to combine.

When the noodles are cooked (just slightly short of al dente) drain them and add them to the mixing bowl. Stir again. Season with salt and pepper and stir once more.

Transfer the entire mixture to the prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle the cheese on top and cover with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown.

Serve hot with bread to mop up the sauce.

Turkey Lasagna

It's a Valentine's Day tradition for Aaron and I to have lasagna for dinner. It's the meal I made for our first Valentine's Day together, and our second, and a handful in between as well. It's one of my favorite meals to make for special occasions because the layers are impressive but the process (while time consuming and messy) is very simple.

Yaya's Chicken and Veggie Spaghetti Pie

Of all the things my mom cooks this is by far one of my favorite recipes. I have asked for this as my birthday dinner more than once. Even though it's the same recipe mine never tastes quite like Yaya's but isn't that typical? I mean, I use her spaghetti sauce recipe and mine never tastes like hers and I use Nana's lasagna recipe and it tastes totally different.

Candied Pecan Sweet Potato Casserole

Years ago my Grandmother used to make sweet potato pudding that was like heaven on a plate and even though I have her recipe (in her handwriting) I can't make it like she did. Either the recipe is wrong or the directions are wrong or I'm not reading it right. I'm not sure what the problem is but mine always turns out soupy. I've tried everything from adding extra eggs to doubling the cooking time and it's still just not good. Even Admiral (who has probably made it dozens of times) can't get it to come out right.

Baked Ravioli

If you're looking for a quick, simple dinner this is it! The whole thing comes together in about ten minutes and then just needs a bit of time in the oven.

Pizza Lasagna Roll-ups

Finally! After over two weeks without posting a recipe I'm back on track.

I've been trying to make this recipe for several weeks. It kept getting pushed back because I either wasn't in the mood to cook it or Aaron wasn't in the mood to eat it.

If you've never made lasagna roll-ups now is the time to try them.

Taco Stuffed Shells

I would have to call this meal Tex-Mex/Italian fusion. It's a satisfying combination of Italian pasta and Tex-Mex taco meat smothered in cheese with salsa in place of the marinara sauce.

Lazy Baked Ziti

If you have all day to work on dinner (making homemade sauce and such) I would recommend going with Pioneer Woman's version of Baked Ziti. However, if you don't have the time for all that (or if you're feeling particularly lazy) this is a great alternative.

Spaghetti Pie with Laughing Cow Cheese

I could probably make spaghetti 100 ways, 100 days in a row and not get tired of it. I love Yaya's spaghetti. Add some cheese and pop it in the oven and it's a whole different meal. Top it with pepperoni and you've got pizza baked spaghetti. Switch out the sausage for ground beef or turkey, turn the meat into meatballs, or fry up some chicken to go alongside the pasta... all acceptable modifications.

Chicken Taco Casserole (updated)

It's been just over a year since I originally posted this recipe. Though I've been making it for years (probably at least 6 years) I keep making tiny adjustments to the recipe. Well, not so much the recipe as the ingredients are still the same, but to the technique.

Salsa Chicken Casserole

This is my second attempt at posting this recipe. The first time I made this meal it didn't work out quite right. I didn't use a big enough baking dish so it was overflowing with chicken broth. To keep it from dripping into the bottom of the oven I placed a baking sheet on the lower oven rack to catch any drips. This turned out to be a brilliant idea in terms of cleaning and a horrible idea in terms of cooking. The baking sheet blocked the heat from the baking dish resulting in an hour long baking time being extended to two hours and even then the rice was still crunchy in the middle of the dish.

Baked Ziti

If you are looking for a hearty meal that will feed an army this is the meal for you!

And what a great post to start off 2014.

Honestly, with only the three of us eating (I usually count 2 1/2 since Bailey eats about half as much as us) our leftovers lasted four days! (I will probably cut the recipe in half next time.) I was particularly pleased with the way this meal turned out considering that Aaron doesn't like chunks of tomatoes in his food and I don't care for ricotta cheese.

Yaya's Broccoli Casserole

What is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?

I love spending time with family we don't often see and I love the delicious food. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two days of the year that I get to have pumpkin pie and it's my absolute favorite pie. I do enjoy the turkey, and the ham (especially when we get honey glazed ham, oh-my-yummy-goodness!), but my favorite part of dinner is definitely the broccoli casserole.

Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta Florentine

Whenever I find a recipe that I know Aaron won't eat I volunteer to cook dinner at Yaya's house.  I use them as guinea pigs and if dinner turns out well I trick Aaron into trying it by making it for his parents.

This recipe will never fly with him.  He won't eat spinach or diced tomatoes and he definitely won't go for a meal with no meat so he will never ever try this, but I thought it was fabulous!

Baked Taco Macaroni and Cheese

Tonight I was going to share our new recipe of the week with you, but something happened to my brain this week and I totally forgot to take any pictures of it.  I guess it will just have to wait until the next time I make it.

The recipe I'm sharing tonight is my own creation, but it's based on chili-mac.  Aaron and I like to eat leftover chili mixed with macaroni and cheese.  We always have leftover chili and we always seem to have leftover taco meat.  I frequently do this with leftover taco meat, but sometimes I just want the taco-mac.

Chicken Alfredo Roll-ups

Tonight I completely threw any thought of a diet out the window.  Let's be honest, you've seen what I normally eat so you know I'm kidding about the diet, but seriously this will explode your calorie tracker if you are dieting.  Gotta love any recipe that includes a stick of butter and a pint of cream!

Chicken Parmesan Baked Pasta

Oh man, I've been waiting to try this one for months!  It's been calling my name all week... "Sara, cook me."

Seriously, I've wanted to try this since I first pinned it in, like, February.  The pictures on the original post look so appetizing, which is saying a lot because most photographed food doesn't look appetizing at all, including mine.  I frequently wonder how Ree and Annie (Pioneer Woman and Annie's Eats) get such amazing photographs of their food, but then they probably spend hours setting up the food just so and perfecting the lighting and such whereas I usually snap a photo of my plate just before I dig in.