Chicken Tetrazzini

Well, here we are again! I will skip the part where we talk about how long it has been and just jump in to the recipe!! This is one that I found online, probably on Facebook. I am not sure the original poster but I am very grateful to them. It's fairly easy to make as well.

THE INGREDIENTS

16 ounces of pasta, cooked
1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened
3 cups cooked chicken, diced
2 cans cream of chicken soup *or make your own
2 cups sour cream
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 TBSP Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

You can use whatever noodles you like. The original recipe called for linguine but I happened to have fettuccine the night I made this so I used that. I also used a rotisserie chicken that I had shredded up. Mix the soup, sour cream, seasonings and chicken broth in a large bowl.

Add in the chicken and mix thoroughly.

Mix in the cooked pasta

Pour into a 9x13 dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle the cheeses on top and cover with foil. I wish I had remembered to take a picture! Put into a preheated 300 degree oven.

Bake at 300 for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and serve. In the time it took me to turn and grab the camera for a final picture, my kitchen mice and already helped themselves! Oh well, at least they like it :)

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

Sometimes, you just need a comforting bowl of pasta and rich sauces! This fits the bill. You can use whatever kind of tortellini you want.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Bechamel sauce:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup shredded provolone cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

3 pounds refrigerated tortellini
3 cups spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

To make the Bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour a cook, whisking continually until lightly browned. You are basically making a roux.

Slowly add the milk while still whisking. once you added all the milk, add in the nutmeg.

Allow the mixture to rise to a simmer and once it does, continue to simmer and whisk for two minutes. Remove from heat and add the shredded provolone by handfuls.

Stri until the provolone melts and then add in the Parmesan.

Season with salt and pepper and let cool to room temperature.

Once cooled, add to the spaghetti sauce.

Whisk to combine and remove about 1/4 of the sauce to another bowl.

Add the tortellini to the bowl with the bulk of the sauce and combine.

Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish.

Evenly pour reserved sauce on top.

Top with remaining cheeses and cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil and increase oven to 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving to hungry people you love!

Creamy Cheesy Chicken and Rice

I have never quite found a chicken and rice recipe that I liked to make. I usually liked the way they tasted but they were hard or had ingredients I didn't care for or were bland. This one is AMAZING! Easy and delicious, especially if you use a rotisserie chicken like I did.

INGREDIENTS:
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
4 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups shredded cheese (I typically use colby-jack)
Additional 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese for topping
1 Tbsp fresh chopped thyme (optional)

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Cook garlic in melted butter for one minute. Add flour and seasonings and whisk.

Slowly add in chicken broth whisking constantly.

Whisk until thick and almost boiling, Add in the 2 cups of cheese, stirring until cheese is melted.

Stir cheese sauce into rice.

Add chicken.

Stir to combine and pour into a 9x13 casserole dish. Top with additional cheese, if desired. I know I desire it, but you may be a weirdo who doesn't like as much cheese different.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until cheese is melted.

This one is a BIG hit in Chaosville!!

Hamburger Noodle Casserole

Challenge recipe #4! We liked this one okay. I have another similar recipe called Hamburger Noodle Bake that we like a little better. I think I will try to meld the two together. This one needed more garlic for sure, maybe some onion. The cheese mixture was very good in my opinion, but Jayme liked the other one better. This one comes from my Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes cookbook.

The Ingredients

5 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
2 garlic cloves
3 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
3 green onions, thinly sliced, divided (I skipped these)**
2/3 cup shredded cheese (I skipped)

Cook the noodles according to their directions while you brown the ground beef and garlic.

When meat is no longer pink, add the tomato sauce, salt, sugar and pepper. Heat through and add the cooked noodles. Stir to combine.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, ricotta and sour cream together until smooth. Using whipped cream cheese really helps with this step, and you can't beat a pastry blender for this job! (If using the green onion, add half of them to this mix)

Spread half the noodle mixture in a 13 x 9 casserole dish. Cover with half the cheese mixture.

Add the remaining noodles to the top.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Tell your assistant to take a break.

After the initial time period is up, sprinkle on the shredded cheese (if using) and bake uncovered for 5 to 10 more minutes to melt cheese. (Top with remaining green onions, if using)

Serve and enjoy! We sprinkled our with Parmesan cheese and everyone liked it, but as I said, it needed something. **I know I said it could use some onion and then I didn't use the ones called for but I do not like the taste of green onions (we called them "scallions" growing up) too strong for me, and bitter. Adding some diced yellow onions with the meat and garlic is what I think would help.

Creamy Baked Ziti

Here's another recipe from Kraft Food & family magazine. I have been wanting to make it for a while but I thought it would be extra good with some homemade marinara. so today I made both! Here is the step by step for the Ziti...
The Ingredients:

4 cups ziti pasta, uncooked
1 jar (26 oz) marinara sauce (or equivalent)
1 can diced tomatoes
6 oz cream cheese**
3/4 cup sour cream
8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
**I happened to have some Philly Cooking Cream so I used it in place of the cream cheese

You may  have noticed there is no marinara sauce in the picture. Well, it was still cooking. Here you go:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cook ziti according to package instructions.

Drain pasta.

In the pot you cooked the pasta in, combine the marinara, tomatoes and cream cheese.

Stir and cook over medium heat until cream cheese is melted. Add in the pasta.

Layer half the pasta in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Top with the sour cream and 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella.

Add the remaining pasta and top with the rest of the shredded cheese and the Parmesan.

Cover and bake for 20 minutes or until heated through.

I was very pleased with the flavor here. The recipe also said you could assemble the dish and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. If so, then increase cooking time to 35 minutes or heated through.

Hamburger Noodle Bake

This recipe is out of my Taste of Home Annual Recipes 2011 cookbook. It was listed in the chapter "cooking for One or Two" but I doubled the recipe and it worked out very well for us. The original recipe only called for 1/2 pound of meat so doubling wasn't very hard!
The Ingredients:

4 cups uncooked egg noodles
1 pound ground beef, turkey, venison or whatever else you like to use
4 Tbsp finely chopped onion
2 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic salt
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp thinly sliced green onion (I skipped this)
2 Tbsp chopped green pepper
2 Tbsp sour cream
4 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

WHEW! That sounds like a lot and might make you think this is going to be hard or take a long time but it isn't and it doesn't!! First step, cook the noodles according to package directions. While they cook, brown the meat and onion in a large skillet until meat is no longer pink; drain. Remove from heat; stir in the tomato sauce, sugar, salt, garlic salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, cream cheese, green onion, green pepper and sour cream. When the noodles are done, drain them and place half the cooked noodles in the bottom of a 2 quart baking dish (well greased please).

Spoon half the meat mixture over the noodle base.

Add the cheese mixture next. Use it all.

Follow with the remaining noodles. Spoon the rest of the meat sauce on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until heated through.

Enjoy! This was very good. Kind of like lasagna but not as hard to make and it had a great flavor. We will make this again and again for sure.