Mom's "Goulash"

Mom's Goulash

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef/turkey
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 15 oz tomato sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• Salt to taste
• 1 lb tubular pasta
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 oz cream cheese (preferably softened)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup green onions
• 4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 and lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Brown meat in skillet & drain.
3. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, basil, oregano, and salt.
4. Cook pasta & drain.
5. Mix sour cream, cream cheese, egg, and green onions together in bowl.
6. Spread a thin layer of meat mixture on the bottom of the baking dish.  Top with half the pasta, then half of the sour cream mixture., then half of the remaining meat mix.  Repeat layers of pasta, sour cream mixture, and meat mixture.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is brown & bubbled.

My Changes

• I didn't have as much sour cream as suggested, so I used about 1/2 cup sour cream and roughly 7 oz cream cheese.
• I used about 3/4 cups of green onions.
• The original recipe called for 1/3 cup of water added to the meat mixture.  I missed this until typing it up just now...but it worked out fine without it.

Chicken Tostada Upside Down Bake

Okay I relaxed for a bit, but have still been trying new recipes.  Usually I try to type them up in the order I make them, but this one was so delicious that I just have to share it now.  I've made several variations on this theme  of chicken/mexican/corn/casserole/bakes.  To be perfectly honest, none of them have really been worth it for me.  This one, however...delicious.  I'm not sure if it's the addition of cilantro and ranch packets, or using diced tomatoes instead of the typical salsa...but this was surprisingly flavorful and I'll definitely be making it again. I mean, I'll have to rename it...because that's just too long of a name.  But the dish itself probably won't change.

Chicken Tostada Upside Down Bake

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 3-4 chicken breast (boneless & skinless), shredded
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can corn, drained
• 1 can black beans, drained
• 1 can black olives, drained
• 1 packet ranch dressing mix
• pinch of salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
• 1.5 tablespoons cumin
• 1 can crescent rolls
• 1 (more) tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 garlic salt with parsley
• 1 cup shredded cheese
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 casserole dish.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil on stove.  Add onions & saute for 5 minutes before adding garlic for 1 additional minute.
3. Add chicken, tomatoes, corn, black beans, olives, ranch dressing mix, cumin, salt, & pepper.  Cook & stir for 5 minutes or until heated through.
4. Add cilantro.  
5. Pour mixture into baking dish.
6. Place crescent rolls over mixture, keeping as a sheet.  Brush with 1 tablespoon olive oil & season with garlic salt.
7. Bake for 20 minutes or until rolls begin to brown.
8. Add cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and crust is cooked through. 

My Changes

• I didn't shred my chicken, just used filets and diced them.  I cooked them with garlic salt & pepper before starting.
• I only used 1/2 an onion.  I don't think a whole onion would be bad, but that was fine for us.
• I forgot to pick up olives at the grocery store...and I'm sure that will only add to the deliciousness.
• I didn't drain my chicken, just dumped it straight into the mixture.  At first this seemed a little too soupy for me, but my husband loved it and I think it made it warm up so much better the next day.  
• I didn't have garlic seasoning with parsley, so I just used regular garlic salt.
• I didn't have cumin, so I omitted it.
• I didn't have fresh cilantro (my grocery store has been out of it the past TWO times I shopped) so I used dried flakes...not sure how much, just a moderate sprinkle.  
• We served with sour cream, as suggested.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake

Ingredients

• 1 lb. pasta (
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs.), diced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 5 cups fresh spinach, chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine (I substituted chicken broth)
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. 
2. Set a large pot of water to boil. Add pasta, salt, oil and cook thoroughly.  Then drain.
3. Put chicken & oil into a pan and brown chicken.  Add garlic and cook until chicken is done.
4. Add salt, spinach, and white wine to the pan and cook until spinach is wilted down.
5. Add the chicken mixture to the pasta and stir.
6. Place mixture in the casserole dish and cover with cheese.
7. Bake for 25 minutes.

My Changes

• I don't know if it was the subsitution for the white wine, but this was a little dry for me and could have used some extra flavor.  Next time I plan on using either cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup instead of chicken broth (and I'd use an entire can).  I will probably also cook the pasta with butter instead of oil.
• I only had 1 cup of cheese, which worked fine for the topping.  Next time I will add one cup to the mixture so it's throughout the casserole and keep one cup for the topping.

Shepherds Pie

This is one of the first recipes I found using Allrecipes.com and a favorite in our house.  I've been craving it for several days and tonight is the night!  One of the reasons I like Allrecipes so much is because it allows members to review the recipe and make suggestions on how to improve or tweak it.  For that reason I will be posting the link to the recipes I get from there, as well as the original recipe here in my blog along with my personal changes.

American Shepherds Pie 

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed vegetable soup
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 cups mashed cooked potatoes
• 1 cup shredded Colby longhorn cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish.
2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, stir and cook ground beef, onion and celery until juices run clear. Drain. Pour mixture into baking dish with vegetable soup and thyme; stir well. Spread mashed potatoes on top.
3. Bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top and bake 5 minutes more, or until cheese has melted

My Changes

• I use 1.5-2.0 lbs of ground beef, we like our food meaty.  I also usually add garlic salt to the meat/onion concoction, because my husband thinks garlic belongs on everything.
• I don't use celery or thyme. Just not a favorite of me or the hubs.
• I use cream of mushroom soup instead of vegetable.
• I add a veggie layer on top of the meat layer: almost always corn, but lately I've been adding green beans as well.  Husband likes it when we use green peas, but I hate green peas so that's rare.  That's the beauty of this recipe though, it's SUPER easy to customize to your own preferences.
• We sometimes add biscuits to the top.  I had a revelation the other night when I made upside down pizza though, and I'm thinking of using crescent rolls instead.  I'll come back & update this post after I experiment with it.