Texan Ranch Chicken Casserole

This is a lightened version from the original with only 329 calories per serving.  This recipe makes 8 pretty good sized servings.  The recipe comes from the Healthy Cooking Cookbook from Taste of Home.  I followed the recipe list as it was listed to keep calories consistent. 

Let's Get Crafty!
Preheat oven to 350

Saute until tender but still slightly crispy:
1 large onion, diced
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 green pepper, chopped (we had to skip this because we were out)
1 tablespoon canola oil

Add the garlic and cook one minute longer:
1 garlic clove, minced

Stir together separately and then add to the veggies and garlic:
1 can reduced fat and reduced sodium cream of celery soup
1 can reduced fat and reduced sodium cream of chicken soup
1 can rotel, undrained
1 tablespoon chili powder

Additional layers:
3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
2 cups reduced fat cheddar cheese
12 corn tortillas, cut into one inch squares

This is how I quickly cut the corn tortillas a one time.

This picture is funny to me because I remember giving myself a pep talk

before taking the picture that the corner pieces didn't have to be picked up

so everything would be even.  Still makes me smile.

Start layering it up!

Spray a 9x13 pan with pam

Add a small amount of the sauce to the bottom

1/2 tortilla strips

1/2 chicken

1/2 sauce

1 cup cheddar cheese

Repeat one time and boom!  It's oven ready!

Going in!

Coming out!

Here's my piece.  I didn't put any green chiles in it - 

so, of course, I had to put them on the top.  

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

Cheeseburger Crescent Ring

This was dinner in a hurry and fun to make.  I'm a fan of when little things can be done to make the meal feel special for each person.  In this case there were some with no cheese, some with cheese and some with cheese with pickle relish.    

Let's Get Crafty!

Preheat oven to 375

Brown your hamburger and add some ketchup and mustard at the end.

Lay out the triangles from one can of crescent rolls making a circle (the part of the triangle with the two points that are the closest being on the inside to make the circle.)  Put the meat along the circle and then pull the point from each crescent roll to the middle.  Add whatever toppings you would like to the "cheeseburgers".

Isn't it pretty all ready to hit the oven?

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.

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

Egg Scramble for 1

I’ve been making this for the last couple months once or twice a week because I’m trying to eat more veggies and this is so quick and easy.  It takes less than 10 minutes depending on the veggies you use and how long you like to have them saute.

My favorite combo is broccoli and mushrooms.  That’s what I’m making today and I think that’s what made me remember to take pictures.

Let's Get Crafty!

Saute the veggies with a small amount of butter:

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/3 cup sliced mushrooms

3/4 cup broccoli

While that's working - whisk your eggs together:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons half and half (or whatever you put in your coffee)

When your veggies are done turn the heat down to low.  I like the mushrooms to have just a little bit of color to their edges and the broccoli should still be a little crisp but have turned a gorgeous deep green.

Once the heat has reduced down to low - add in your whisked eggs - stirring constantly.  I really like the heat to be down to low because I think the eggs are fluffy when they aren't shocked by the heat.  If you cook them nice and slow they take a little more time and attention but they are totally worth it!

This is another one of those meals I'm in love with because it can be so easily adapted to what you have in the fridge or the person that's eating it.

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

Taco Pizza

We had leftover taco meat from our walking tacos at lunch and I had planned grilled pizzas for dinner, so I put the two together.  There's a quick cheese sauce on top that was so easy and added lots of flavor!  I threw on a couple crunched up chips after I took the picture and I really liked the crunch they added.

These pizzas were ridiculously easy using leftover taco meat and pre-made pizza crusts.  I used refried beans for the "sauce" and stirred in a little water to get the consistency I wanted. They covered the pizzas nicely.  A taco blend of cheese was spread out to cover the beans and the taco meat was added on top of that.

Mark grilled them for about 10 minutes until warmed through and the cheese melted.  Towards the end of the grilling time he moved them closer to the edge so the bottom would brown evenly and it worked well.  Then you can add whatever you want to the top!  I added lettuce, cheese sauce and some crunched up chips to mine.

For the super quick cheese sauce - I combined a jar of nacho cheese sauce with one cup of chili and warmed it up.  It was great as a queso for chips too.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you have any favorite camping recipes, I would love to hear them!

Walking Tacos!

I've had walking tacos pinned on my Outdoorsy Girl board on Pinterest for a long time now and we've finally tried it!  They were just as tasty as I hoped and super fun because everyone got to pick what they wanted to add to theirs.  We had these for lunch after a morning of outdoor fun and it was a perfect quick meal.

I made taco meat like normal and during that time I cut up the other ingredients.  We have diced peppers, jalapenos, avocado, shredded cheese and lettuce.  I made mine with fritos and it was awesome!  I tasted the one with doritos and was surprised that I liked the fritos best.

We ended up with more taco meat than I planned.  Stay tuned for what we had for dinner to use it up!

Have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by!

Fun Twist on Smores

I've seen posts on pinterest about using fudge striped cookies as the graham cracker and chocolate for smores and wanted to give them a try.  We tried it over the weekend and they were quite tasty. 

The first night my husband wouldn't taste it.  He said that the original way was great and no sense messing with the original.  (Luckily I brought the fixings for both!)  Then on night two he tasted one and said it was really good. 

Connor jumped into it on the first night and made his smore with the fudged striped cookies and declared it was the best he'd ever had.  I told him it would be good to try it the other way too and compare, since he's always excited for smores.  He tasted the other way and changed his mind.  The classic version is the best ever.  He went back and forth depending on the one right in front of him with the ooey gooey soft marshmallow magic.

Emily liked making smores and distributing them... not so much the eating part. 

With the fudge stripes, I love that the chocolate is evenly distributed and starting to melt.  With the original, I love that it's a camping treat that takes me back to camping with my family when I was little.

The picture above is from the first night.  It was super dark outside, so I needed to take it inside the camper for the picture while my family laughed about how many pictures I take of food.  :D

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

Quick Macaroni Salad

Macaroni salad is a summer staple in our house.  It's the perfect side to anything you throw on the grill and you can make it on a Sunday afternoon and have it on hand for a quick stand-in side as needed during the workweek.

There's nothing particularly fancy about this recipe other than I love a classic sauce and that's what this is.

Let's Get Crafty!
1/2 box elbow macaroni, cooked according to package directions
I like mine to be al dente so I watch the cook time pretty closely and usually taste one a couple times.  I didn't have the extra time today to have it chill a few hours in the fridge before dinner so I improvised.  After draining the water, I left it in the colander and added some ice to speed up the chilling process.  After the ice melted, I put it in our freezer for 20 minutes.

Put together the sauce while the pasta is in the freezer:
1/2 cup light mayo
2 tablespoons mustard
pepper (I don't generally add salt because the dill pickles bring a lot to the table)

Toss it all together with a couple more things:
Pull the pasta from the freezer
Add in the mayo sauce
1/2 red pepper, diced (mostly for color and because I was out of celery and felt like a crunchy component is needed)
1-2 tablespoons dill relish (or chopped up dill pickles)

The verdict on this recipe?  Everyone liked it and the kids even wanted seconds.  Which was a win.  My husband and I were missing the chopped eggs.  We're rolling into the beginning of summer - so there's time!

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

Overnight Breakfast Casserole with Sausage

I'm sure I've shared in the past how much I love breakfast casseroles.  I especially love the ones that you make the night before and just throw in the oven to bake in the morning.  This one is being made for a potluck at church after our Sunday service.  My husband doesn't really like breakfast casseroles, so I used breakfast sausage to mix it up because he loves that!

Let's Get Crafty!
Spray Pam in a 9x13 pan (preheat the oven to 350 if you are baking it right away)

Layer up the baking dish:

6 large rolls, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 lb breakfast sausage, browned and crumbled

I'm not a big sausage fan but my husband is, so this was something to make him smile.  And it worked!

1 red pepper, diced (Any color you have works - 

I just wanted the pop of color and to get in a veggie.)

For the egg mixture:

9 eggs

1/3 cup fat free 1/2 and 1/2 

1/4 teaspoon pepper 

Whisk together and pour evenly over the top

1 cup shredded cheese spread on top of that along with the egg mixture

I covered mine with foil for the night.  In the morning I pull it out when I wake up so it can come to room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 350 and bake for 40 minutes.  If it's still a little cold - it might need some extra time, so I check it every 5 minutes or so.

If at room temperature - Baking at 350 for 30-40 minutes should be good.  Test with a knife to make sure the eggs are cooked.

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