Doritos Hamburger Casserole

Chicken Doritos Casserole is a family favorite in this house.  This is the same idea but we're using hamburger instead of chicken.  It feels a lot like a beef enchilada bake but the Doritos give it a little something different that was fun.  

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat oven to 375 and spray pam in a casserole dish

Brown on medium heat:
1 lb hamburger

Mix together for the sauce:
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can mild rotel
1/2 cup lowfat sour cream
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 1/2 tablespoon taco seasoning

Other layers:
1/2 bag family size Nacho Doritos
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Get your layers going:
1/3rd of the sauce mixture at the bottom
1/3rd Doritos
1/2 hamburger
1/3rd cheddar cheese

Repeat layers one time

Then finish it up with a final layer adding the sauce, Doritos and cheddar cheese.  You could do 3 layers of the hamburger rather than splitting it in two but I like have to bigger meaty layers.  Feels like it's more to me for some reason.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Oven Baked Ranch Potatoes

I stumbled on this recipe one day scrolling through Pinterest looking for a new way to use some potatoes The site is called MrsHappyHomemaker.com and she calls the recipe Cheesy Ranch Potatoes.  You know me, I didn't follow the recipe very closely but I went with the main idea and ran with it. 

These are really good but they definitely don't fall into the quick dinner category.  We made these on a Saturday evening when we knew we would be around the house and had the extra time for potatoes to be baking away in the oven.

I really liked her approach of anything goes based on what you have on hand.  Any type of potatoes... whatever cheese you like... whatever seasoning suits your fancy.  I'm sure we'll make these again soon and do something to change them up.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat oven to 400

Toss together and put in a 9x13:
5 potatoes, diced (I kept the skin on today but peeled would be great too)
1 1/2 tablespoon EVOO
1 tablespoon garlic and herb grill seasoning

Cover the potatoes with foil and bake for 50-60 minutes at 400 stirring once about halfway through
Check to make sure the pototates are fork tender.

Switch to a large baking sheet so there's more room to spread out the potatoes.  (I think I'll just start with the larger baking sheet from the get-go next time.)

Adding the layers of cheesy, ranch-y, bacon-y deliciousness:
1/2 cup light ranch dressing (drizzle over the potatoes and use a spatula to stir and evenly coat)
Top with cheese and bacon bits (I'm a fan of the Kirland brand from Costco)

Toss the potatoes back in the oven at a high broil for just a couple minutes and they come out perfectly golden brown with the bacon starting to sizzle.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Football season is here and one of the things I love about it are the snacks and dips.  Man oh man!  I sure love the dips.  There are so many buffalo chicken dip recipes out there and this one isn't very different from many of those.  I've adapted ours for our tastes over time.  I skip using the canned chicken unless we're in a big hurry because I don't like that I seem to end up with a tuna type texture.  We also use more of the red hot sauce and about half the amount of ranch dressing that's generally called for to help make the buffalo sauce stand out even more.

We were so excited to jump in that I didn't even get a picture of it coming out of the oven all bubbly.

Let's Get Crafty!

Cook in the crock pot on high for 3 hours (or gently boil 3 chicken breasts until fully cooked):
3 boneless chicken breasts

Preheat the oven to 400

Mix together gently:
Shredded chicken
1 package low fat cream cheese (I like to soften the cream cheese in the microwave for 1 minute at 50% power so it will mix easier)

Add to the shredded chicken:
1 cup red hot buffalo sauce
1/2 cup ranch
1 cup cheddar cheese

Spray a 9x13 pan with pam and then spread the chicken mixture evenly.  I like to use a pan with more surface area because I like it to get all nice and bubbly from top to bottom.  When I've used smaller baking dishes, the middle gets warm but it doesn't feel bubbly hot.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until it's bubbly and melty.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Taco Stuffed Shells

I don't usually cook with these fun little shells because I always thought it would be a pain to get the filling to stay inside.  It really wasn't but they did need some babysitting while they were cooking to keep them apart.  This recipe gives it a try and it was really good!  Aren't they so cute?!

Let's Get Crafty!

Cook Jumbo Shells according to the directions on the box
They kept coming together so I was using tongs to pull them apart and did a couple extra minutes cook time

Preheat oven to 350

Get the filling going:
2 lbs hamburger, browned and drained

Add to the hamburger and simmer 20-25 minutes:
1 cup water
2 packets of taco seasoning (or 6 tablespoons)
1 can rotel

Let it cool for a bit to be able to handle it to stuff the shells.

Add in:
1 cup of cheddar cheese.  I did this when it was slightly cooled so some of the cheese would slightly hold its form.  It's mostly a mental thing for me... I like to be able to see cheese.  :D

For the bottom of the baking dish mix together:
One cup of the beef filling
1 package of something chili-like (we used Indian Madras Lentils by Tasty Bite that we get in a 6 pack from Costco but a can of chili beans would be good too.)

Stuff the shells

 Add more cheese because... well, more cheese.  :D

Bake just 10-15 minutes until the cheese it hot and bubbly

Hot out of the oven!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day.

Baked Bone-In Pork Chops

We're going to bake these like we did the chicken legs/thighs a little while back.  The chicken was so good that I wanted to give it a go with pork chops.  We generally only use grill seasoning when we're grilling, so it's fun to try something new. 

Let’s Get Crafty!

1 inch thick bone-in pork chops (You can definitely do thinner cuts but you'll want to cut back on the time and they may be a little harder to completely cook and have the inside still juicy.)

Using some EVOO and your favorite grilling seasoning… get the pork chops ready like you're going to be throwing them on the grill.  Let them hang out in the fridge for a few hours... if you have the time on the weekend.  If not, just do a quick 15-20 minutes.

When you're ready to start baking, pull them out of the fridge to hang out at room temp while the oven preheats to 400

Bake for 20 minutes

Flip over and add some BBQ sauce

Bake for another 20 minutes

I was really pleased with how moist the inside stayed.  Getting the thicker pork chops really makes a difference and so does cooking them bone-in.  It takes a little extra time but it's so worth it.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Baked Thai Chicken

Sheet dinners are meant to be a quick way to get dinner in the oven, so you can focus on the other tasks at hand.  I also like that generally the lineup includes your protein and then some veggies for the side.  Bada bing.  Bada boom.

This dinner was a throw to that idea... there's a quick peanut sauce for the chicken and some peppers and cute little potatoes.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat the oven to 400

8 chicken thighs (4 for now and 4 to freeze for later)

Let's get the sauce ready (this is a double batch):
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup hoisen sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup water
1/8 cup sesame oil
Juice from 1-2 lemons
3 teaspoons minced garlic
3 teaspoons minced ginger
I like to put the peanut butter in the microwave by itself initially just for a few seconds to help it soften up.  This will help to make the sauce whisk together nicely.

The recipe above is for a double batch.  

We are making one today and I'm freezing the other one for later.

I put the peppers and potatoes on its own tray lined with foil. 

It's only tossed with a little bit of EVOO and some salt and pepper.

Bake the chicken tray and the peppers/potatoes for 30 mins on 400
Turn the oven to a low broil and take out the chicken.
Leave in the potatoes and veggies for 10 more minutes.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Jalapeno Popper Chicken

Jalapeno poppers are one of my all-time favorite treats.  I love so many different versions of them.  This recipe comes from wanting jalapeno poppers for dinner but trying to mix it up to be a main dish.  I was really happy with how it turned out.  I would do more jalapenos next time.

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat oven to 425

Line a large baking dish:
2 packages of chicken tenders

Get your popper topping going by cooking together on medium heat:
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 small onion, diced

After a few minutes add:
6 jalapenos, cored and diced

After about 5 more minutes add in:
5 slices of cooked, crumbled bacon
Kirkland best - I use 1 tablespoon for each slice.  It's also less sodium and that makes me happy.

Then add in 1 block of cream cheese and mix until melted

I baked the chicken by itself first for about 20 minutes and drained the juices before adding the toppings.  Since I used 2 packages of chicken tenders, my chicken is very close together.  We probably would have needed less cooking time if we had some room to groove between the pieces.

Once the chicken is mostly cooked you will want to evenly layer the topping and add some shredded cheddar cheese.  Then throw it back in the oven again.

Bake another 15 minutes at 425 and turn to low broil for the last few minutes to brown the cheese

I hope you try this!  Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!

Fresh Salsa

I truly love all kinds of salsa.  We found a few jalapenos from our garden that were hiding in the middle of the plant and I was excited to use them right away.  We didn't have all the ingredients that I usually use in salsa but decided to make it work with what we had.  We used lemon instead of lime, used flat parsley instead of cilantro and some chives instead of red onion.  It was really good.  I love it when recipes come together so easily.

Let's Get Crafty!

3 cups grape tomatoes

3-4 jalapenos

1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley (or cilantro)

2 tablespoons chives (or red onion)

Juice from 1 lemon (or lime)

It takes a little extra effort - but I like to take the seeds out of the sweet baby tomatoes.  The salsa feels too runny to me when I don't take the seeds out.  I like to use these tomatoes because they are so sweet and delicious.  I also really like their texture after being blended. 

I toss it all into our smoothie blender (this took 2 batches) and mix together.  

Add more salt as needed.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great day!