Farmer's Casserole

One of the girls on the Bump board posted a list of recipes for make ahead freezer meals, I am trying them out! This is the first one I've tried, hope it's yummy!

Farmer's Casserole
3 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes (24 oz bag)
3/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (3-4 oz)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (3-4 oz)
1 cup diced ham or Canadian-style bacon
(5 oz)1 4.5 oz can mild green chiles (optional)
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
4 beaten eggs (or 1 cup frozen egg product)
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1/4 t pepper
1/8 t salt

Cooking day instructions:

Grease a 2 quart square baking dish. Arrange potatoes evenly in bottom of dish. Sprinkle with cheeses, ham, green chiles, and green onions. In medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, pepper and salt. Pour egg mixture over potato mixture in dish. (If not freezing, cover and chill several house or overnight, then follow serving day suggestions.) Freeze.

Serving day instructions:

Thaw completely. Bake uncovered in a 350-degree oven for 40-45 minutes or until center appears set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. If you prefer extra shredded cheese can be sprinkled on top during the last 15 minutes of baking.

Bife Trinchado--Portugese Steak

Bife Trinchado--Portugese Steak


by Full Bellies, Happy Kids

I am so happy I made this and so happy I found the Full Bellies, Happy Kids blog! Me and Kevin absolutely loved this meal and we will make it again for sure. I loved my first Portugese dish and hope to make more!

1 lb cubed beef (I used eye round steak and cut it into cubes)


3 TBSP Worcestershire sauce


white wine (I used about 1/2 cup)


crushed garlic (I used about 2 tsp)


bay leaf (1)


salt (couple of pinches)


pepper (1 pinch)


paprika (I used about 1 tbl)


flour (enough to cover all meat, just eyeball it you can always add more)


1 medium onion sliced thinly (we didn't use)


Homemade Fries




In a bowl combine the beef, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaf, wine, salt and pepper and paprika. Place in the refrigerator for an hour or two so the flavors can really sink into the meat. The best way is to leave it overnight, the longer you leave the marinade, the better it tastes and the more tender the beef will become.




In a skillet, add some olive oil and a little butter. Grab the steak out of the refrigerator, add some flour and using your hands toss well to coat the beef. Pour into the skillet. Brown the beef well on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes.




Remove the beef cubes and reduce heat.




Add the sliced onions and some more olive oil and butter.--I skipped




I usually keep some water next to me and add a little at a time, just enough to keep a good amount of sauce in the skillet.Cook the onions until soft, then add the beef to the pan again, mix well and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Remember to keep checking the pan and adding a little water, you want to end up with a lot of sauce.




Ladle a good amount of beef and gravy into a plate, lay the fries around the meat and serve immediately.

Quick, easy and yummy dinner

The girls on my board, What's Cooking through the nest, have been talking about this recipe for a month. Seeing that I absolutely LOVE Laughing Cow Cheese I decided to make it finally. I am so glad I did because it will stay in the rotation!

Laughing Cow Cheese
found on lovedeliciousness
Unknown original source

Ingredients


* 2 chicken breasts, my chicken was pretty thin so I pounded down first
* 2 wedges Laughing Cow light cheese (one per breast)
* Italian seasoning to taste
* 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs (we used seasoned)
* Handful grated parmesan cheese
* Cooking spray


Directions


1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spread one wedge of Laughing Cow cheese on top of each piece of chicken. Sprinkle italian seasoning on top to taste. Roll chicken starting at large end.
3. Mix together bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in a shallow dish. Spray each chicken breast with cooking spray and then dip in bread crumb mixture to coat. Place on baking sheet. If needed you can use toothpicks to hold chicken in shape.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.




Roasted Garlic Fries
While I was looking for the Laughing Cow Cheese Chicken and I was on lovedeliciousness's blog I found her recipe for Garlic Fries. Since I had a bag of potatoes that needed to be used up I thought I would make them. I am so glad I did they were a perfect match for the chicken!

Ingredients


* 2-3 potatoes for two people
* Garlic powder
* Salt and pepper
* EVOO


Directions


1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.--I did it in a 400 degree oven with the chicken
2. Cut potatoes into french fry strips. Toss with EVOO, salt, pepper, garlic (and any other seasonings you like!)
3. Bake in oven for 30-45 minutes or until crispy.

Thanksgiving 2008

Me and the hubby on the wonderful day!

We had the best Thanksgiving this year! It was just me, hubby and my parents, but it was lovely. Here are some pics and the menu!

Menu:
Ham (provided by my parents) This is my momma with their ham!


Turkey (I just did cutlets since there weren't many of us)
Parmesan Mashed Potatoes with Breadcrumbs (found this recipe on food network from Giada) They were the BEST and got rave reviews!
Stuffing (from the bag-Pepperidge Farms Cornbread)
Rolls (no-not homemade, someday I will get to this point though)
Green Bean stuffing (off the Fried Onion cannister)


I made a pumpkin roll for dessert, the good ole Libby one. I felt good because my dad took a bite and asked if I got it at "one of those fancy places down town!" I think he really loved it!

Hamburger Stew

This was a quick and easy was to use up some hamburger I had on hand. It's a mixture of recipes I found on Bisquick.com . It was comfort food on a plate. It will stay in our rotation of meals and will be nice to have on cold days!

1 pound hamburger browned and drained
2 jars beef gravy
1 can corn (Hubby's veggie of choice you could sub whatever you want)

2 1/4 cup bisquick
2/3 cup milk

mashed potatoes of your choice (we just made boxed)

Place hamburger back in skillet after drained, place gravy and veggies in skillet as well. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil.

Spray a 4 qt casserole dish with Pam. Pour stew into casserole dish. Mix Bisquick and milk together. Drop by tablespoons on top of stew. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes until biscuits are browned and stew is bubbly.

Meanwhile make mashed potatoes.

Serve stew over mashed potatoes with the biscuits along side.

Hot Crash Potatoes

This recipe originated on Pioneer Woman's Blog and has been flying around the board I frequent. Here is my take on it!

Preheat oven to 425:

1 stock pot of boiling salted water
As many potatoes as you'd like (I've done new and regular potatoes cut in 1/2)
As soon as water boils, throw the potaotes in and boil until they are fork tender, it took about 25 mins.
In the meantime spray Olive Oil all over a pan. Once potatoes are done place them on pan. Smash potatoes with a potatoe masher if you have one, I do not so I use the bottom of a glass. Coat potatoes in plenty of Olive Oil. Cover in Salt. I have done both Kosher and Regular Salt and preferred the regular, but that is just me. Place in pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until they are browned.

These are delicious in fact I had to have Kevin take the pan away from me last night! They will be a staple in our kitchen!!!

Beef pot pie

16 oz frozen potato, pepper and onion mixture
2 T water
1/2 t dried thyme
12 oz jar mushroom or beef gravy
1 1b roast beef cubed
2 8 oz refrigerated crescent rolls

Combine potato mixture, water and thyme in skillet. Cook over medium heat until veggies are thawed, about 3 mins. Stir in gravy; bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add beef; mix well. Seperate cresent rolls into 8 triangles per each tube. Put one tube on the bottom of a 9X9 dish. Pour potato and beef mixture over it. Place the other tube of crescent rolls over mixture. Bake at 375 for 17 to 19 mins or until rolls are golden.

Depending on what kind of meat you use in this recipe you may want to cook the meat beforehand for a few minutes.

Cheddar-Potato-Steak soup

I always love meals my husband goes back and gets seconds of, always makes me know he likes it! This was one of those meals. I have admited on here I am not a soup fan, however even I liked this one! The original was from Gooseberry Patch once again, but I made some alterations.

1 30 oz bag of frozen hashbrowns
2 cans chicken broth
1 cup water
***we didn't use but it calls for celery and onion at this point****

Mix above ingredients together and place on low for 6-8 hours.

8 oz bag shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup milk
3 Tbl flour

Mix flour into milk. Then add cheese and milk mixture to crockpot and stir. Place on high for 20 mins, until cheese is melted.

I then added another 3/4 can of chicken broth because it was to thick for my liking. I added about 1 1/2 lbs of cooked steak cut into bite size pieces & I added one small bag of frozen corn (which was quite tasty in it). And put it on low until it was time to eat dinner.

Top with bacon bits and chopped green onions.