Italian Pasta Salad

Two weeks ago, my family got to celebrate my granddad's 87th birthday with a big cookout...I'm talking about grilled burgers, hot dogs, bratwursts, and homemade ice cream in addition to the homemade potato salads, coleslaws and baked beans. Although it was 95 degrees outside with the 100% humidity that comes with summertime in the South, it was a perfect day for spending time with family and eating delicious foods.  Everyone was assigned different foods to bring for the gathering, and I was assigned pasta salad. This recipe is simple and is guaranteed to be a hit at any gathering!

Ingredients include: a 1 lb. box of tri-colored rotini noodles, 1 bottle of italian dressing, 1 package of bacon bits, 2 Roma tomatoes (I had cherry tomatoes on hand so I used those instead), 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, and 1 small head of broccoli.

Boil the pasta according to the directions on the back of the box.  While the pasta is boiling, dice the tomatoes and cut the broccoli into smaller pieces.

Once pasta is cooked, drain water from pasta. Combine pasta with the tomatoes, broccoli, bacon bits, Parmesan cheese, and Italian dressing. Stir to get ingredients evenly coated with the cheese and dressing. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and serve!

Italian Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. box tri-colored rotini noodles
• 1 package bacon bits
• 1 bottle Italian dressing
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1 small head of broccoli

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to directions on back of box.
2. While pasta is boiling, dice tomatoes and cut broccoli into florets.
3. Once pasta is done, drain water off and pour pasta into a bowl.
4. Combine tomatoes, broccoli, parmesan cheese, Italian dressing, and bacon bits with pasta, stir.
5. Refrigerate for thirty minutes before serving.
6. Enjoy!

Hot Ham and Cheese Dip

One summertime favorite of mine is a hot ham and cheese dip that my mom used to fix for lunches during the summertime.  She and I would be the only ones home for lunchtime during the summer and we used to make this to eat as a side for sandwiches, although there were a few times where it was our entire lunch.  I made it for Ryan the other night and I think it is now a new favorite for him as well. Its so easy to make, and tastes delicious! 

Hot Ham and Cheese Dip

Ingredients:

• One 8 oz. block of cream cheese, softened
• 3 pieces of ham, finely chopped
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/4 tsp red pepper
• Ritz Crackers     

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Combine cream cheese, ham, cheddar cheese, and red pepper in a bowl. Knead all ingredients together.
3. Put mixture into a greased pie pan.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until browned.

 

Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas

Ryan and I celebrated our one year wedding anniversary with a weekend getaway to Louisville, KY putting our season passes to use at the newly reopened Kentucky Kingdom.  It was wonderful to get away from school and work, and be responsibility free for a weekend.  Whenever we travel, Ryan and I always try to eat at restaurants that we don't have nearby...the winner for this trip was a Mediterranean restaurant with the best gyros we have ever eaten plus we got to try the deliciousness known as baba ganoush (a vegetarian dip made from roasted eggplants, which I will definitely be seeking out a recipe to attempt making it on my own).  We returned home Sunday night, tired and sunburned, but had a great weekend celebrating one year of marriage and looking forward to many more.


Monday, I was so tired after the weekend, but I had schoolwork and housework to catch up on and Ryan had to go back to being a working adult, so I opted for a lazy dinner night.  The majority of this meal is cooked in the crock-pot, and is perfect for busy days (or lazy ones)! To make this, I used about 3 lbs of chicken, 4 containers of enchilada sauce, 10 tortillas, and about 2 cups of cheese.

I start by putting 3 lbs of chicken in the crock-pot and 1 can of the enchilada sauce in the crock-pot and cooking for 6-8 hours on low.

Once the chicken has cooked for 6-8 hours, I preheat my oven to 350 degrees.  I fill one tortilla at a time with chicken from the crock-pot and roll it up. The rolled up tortillas are placed in a greased baking dish (I generally fit 5 tortillas per pan).  Then I pour 1 1/2 cans of enchilada sauce over each pan of enchiladas and top with cheese.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and edges of tortillas are browned.

Couponing

Ok so I have never understood how extreme couponing works.  I don’t get how people can go into a store and buy over a hundred dollar’s worth of groceries for only seven dollars…it’s a complete mystery to me.  Although I don’t do extreme couponing, I have started looking through papers for deals and coupons for items I do use.  One place that I keep saving money with is Target. I recently downloaded the Cartwheel app and like seeing how much money I save by using the extra discounts that come with it.  Ever since their security breach last winter, Target has also been providing awesome coupons in their weekly sale paper.  One week they had a great deal where if you bought $50 worth of certain items such as toilet paper and cleaning supplies, they would take $20 off at the register.  As I looked through the items, I thought “Hey! These are great deals on brand name products that I actually use!”  I decided that I would hit up Target on Saturday morning the week of this great deal, and so did every other woman in town…it was a madhouse!  I ended up getting great deals on laundry detergent, toilet paper, garbage bags, and other cleaning supplies.  While extreme couponing isn’t for me, I do encourage anyone who is on a budget to look at sales papers for the coupons like this that can save money.  I only spent $30 on the products pictured below. It was two months ago that I bought all of it, and we are only halfway through using each of the products. If you have room for it, buying items in bulk when they are on sale is the way to go!

Crock-pot Roast Beef

 The recipe that I’m posting about today is my top favorite meal of all time.  The ingredients for it only cost about $12.00 total to make it. This recipe makes makes enough food for at least two meals, and it is one of the best home cooked Southern meals you can find…so what could be better than that!  It’s my favorite meal that my mom used to make as I was growing up and is now my go-to comfort food. While she always makes hers in the oven, I have modified mine to be cooked in the crock-pot due to my busy schedule.  It only takes about ten minutes to assemble all of the ingredients and get them in the crock-pot and ready to be slow cooked.   To make this I only have to use a few ingredients.

For this recipe I used a top round roast, 2 cans cream of chicken soup (plus 2 cans water), 1 packet dried onion soup mix, half a bag of baby carrots, and 8-10 medium sized red potatoes.

To start, I sear my roast in a pan with a little bit of oil. I generally let it sear for about 3 minutes on each side

Once it has seared, I put it in the crock-pot and pour the dried onion soup mix on it. Then I pour the cream of chicken soup and water over. Add the rinsed carrots and potatoes to the crock-pot.

I let it cook for 6-8 hours on low in the crock-pot or until tender and ready to be enjoyed!

Crock-pot Roast Beef

Ingredients:

·      1 top or bottom round roast

·      2 cans cream of chicken soup + 2 cans water

·      1 packet onion soup powder

·      ½ bag mini carrots

·      8-10 medium red potatoes unpeeled (or 5-6 large)

Directions

1.     Heat a skillet with a little oil and sear both sides of the roast (I usually sear 3 minutes for each side)

2.     Once both sides are seared, put roast in crock-pot.

3.     Put dried onion soup mix over roast.

4.     Pour the two cans cream of chicken soup + two cans of water over the roast

5.     Rinse the carrots and potatoes and place around roast.

6.     Let cook for 8 hours on low or until meat is tender.

Freezer meals

I'm back from my hiatus and am in the process of revamping this blog.  Instead of it just being recipes, I'm going to be focusing on other tips and ideas for young adults to save money.  Since my semester ended, I should have more time to make posts and hopefully my summer courses won't interfere and prevent me from posting.

One of the best ways to save money is to take a homemade lunch to work with you, rather than hitting up a fast food chain everyday.  Sometimes it can be difficult prepare a lunch early in the morning when your coffee has barely had time to kick in or you are rushing around trying to get ready and it takes forever to figure out what to wear...this is when freezer meals are perfect!  Ryan and I usually set aside one weekend a month to dedicate to cooking and creating freezer meals for the month.  We plan out what meals we want to make and then make a giant batch of them and divide into individual containers.  We made red beans and rice using 3 boxes of Zataran's red beans and rice mix and cut up cooked Italian sausage to put in them. We also made more meals of chicken stir fry using the recipe at the bottom of this post.  Once the meals are cooked and have had time to cool down, we place them in individual tupperware and label them.  Then they are ready to freeze.  These meals are perfect and end up costing about $1.50 per individual container, which is a lot better than spending $5 or more each day for fast food on a lunch break!

In addition to the lunches, we also made a batch of breakfast burritos for busy, on-the-go mornings.  Here is the link to my recipe for these: http://cookingformyhungryhusband.blogspot.com/2014/01/breakfast-burritos.html.  The ingredients for these generally cost about $12 total, but will provide breakfast for 15 days!

 Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bag brown rice
• 1.5 lb precooked tyson chicken
• about 10 diced mini carrots
• 1.5 cups broccoli florets
• 1 Bottle of stir fry sauce such as the Panda Express Sweet Chili Sauce
• Any additional vegetables you would like to add such as zucchini

 Directions

• Cook rice according to directions
• When rice is almost done, start heating the chicken and vegetables in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil.  Saute until chicken and vegetables are golden. 
• Combine chicken and vegetables with the cooked rice.
• Pour sauce over chicken, vegetables, and rice and stir together thoroughly.

Loaded Potato Soup

As usual, life for us has been pretty hectic. Ryan's grandmother has been pretty sick so we have been in and out of the hospital spending many hours visiting with her.  As a result, I have been relying heavily on meals that can be made in a crock-pot so that when we left the hospital after visiting for most of the day, we have a hot and ready meal waiting for us at home instead of having to hit the drive through of a fast food restaurant.
 Since we have had so many below freezing days, this is the perfect soup weather.  One of my favorite soups to play around with making is potato soup.  I think I finally perfected my recipe for it and will claim that it rivals the potato soup that is served at many restaurants. This particular recipe makes enough for Ryan and I to eat it for at least 2 meals (I think Ryan ate it for a snack as well one day).
To make this soup I used 2.5 lbs of red potatoes, one 32 oz chicken broth, one can cream of chicken soup, one block of cream cheese, 2 cups cheddar cheese, 1 pack bacon bits, half a packet of ranch dressing powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, and 1/4 tsp of pepper.

Dice the red potatoes and put them in a crock-pot that has been sprayed with cooking oil.

Add the chicken broth, soup, seasonings, and then top with the cream cheese. Let it cook on low for 5-6 hours.

After soup has cooked for 5-6 hours, spoon half of the potatoes out of the soup and into a food processor.  Finely puree the potatoes and stir them back into the soup...This will help thicken the soup up. Add the bacon bits and the 2 cups of cheese and stir. Let cook for 1-2 more hours and enjoy!

 

 Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs red potatoes
• 32 oz. chicken broth
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 block cream cheese
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• 1 pack of bacon bits
• 1/2 packet dry ranch powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powser
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

1. Wash and dice the red potatoes, then place them into a crock-pot sprayed with cooking oil.
2. Add the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup,  and seasonings to crock-pot, then top with the cream cheese. Allow to cook on low for 5-6 hours.
3. After 5-6 hours, spoon half of the potatoes out of crock-pot and into a food processor.  Puree the potatoes, and return them to the crock-pot, stirring the potato puree into the soup to mix it in.
4. Add the cheddar cheese and bacon bits and let cook for 1-2 more hours, stirring occasionally. 
5. Enjoy!

Honey Barbecue Pork Chops

The past few weeks have been hectic and as a result Ryan and I have not been home much during meal times.  Wednesday night I was desperate for a home cooked meal.  The temperatures here have been below freezing all week and I really wanted to make a yummy crock pot meal for dinner but I did not have adequate time to do that by I was done with work for the day. So I switched to plan B as I headed home from work. The next best meal I could come up with was honey barbecue drumsticks. When I got home I was surprised to find that I had just imagined having a package of drumsticks hidden away in the freezer... however, I did find three different containers of pork chops. It was time to conduct an experiment and see if my honey barbecue recipe would work as well on pork as it does with chicken. These pork chops turned out to be incredibly delicious and quite simple to make.

To make these, all you need is 6-8 boneless pork chops, 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, 3/4 cup of ketchup, and 1/2 cup of honey.

Place pork chops in a foil lined 9x13 pan. Measure barbecue sauce, ketchup, and honey into a glass measuring cup and stir. Pour evenly over the chops and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Honey Barbecue Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 6-8 boneless pork chops
• 3/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and place pork chops evenly across the pan.
3. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the barbecue sauce, ketchup, and honey. Mix together.
4. Pour sauce mixture over pork chops and spread evenly across them.
5. Bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Breakfast Burritos

Ryan and I both love breakfast food. Whether it is eaten at breakfast time or as brinner, it's one of our top comfort foods. Give us some sausage gravy, biscuits, eggs, and hash-browns and we will be happy people! I was taught how to make these breakfast burritos by a friend when we were in college and they are the perfect food for a morning when you want a hearty breakfast but do not have time to cook.  For this recipe you will need one pound of sausage, one pound of hash-browns, eight tortillas, 4 large eggs, and a cup of cheese.

I multitask while I make these by cooking several things at once.  I fill a pan with a little bit of oil and start frying my hash-browns as I brown the sausage. When the sausage and hash-browns are most of the way cooked, scramble the four eggs. 

 When the sausage is done, drain the grease from it and add the hash-browns and eggs to the sausage. Stir them together to get a nice mixture in the pan.

 After combining them all together, spoon the mixture out into tortillas and sprinkle cheese over it before folding them. Then place folded burritos onto a grill, such as a Foreman to get the tortillas crispy and the cheese melted. 

Once they have cooled a bit, wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer. When you are ready to eat them, just thaw them out and reheat. They go well with hot sauce or maple syrup on them. 

Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients

• 1 lb sausage
• 1 lb hash-browns
• 8 tortillas
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup cheese
• Cooking oil

Directions

1. Heat a small amount of cooking oil in a skillet and add hash-browns.
2. While hash-browns are cooking, brown sausage in another skillet and drain grease.
3. Scramble eggs in a different pan.
4. When hash-browns the hash-browns and sausage are done and the egg is scrambled, combine all into one skillet and stir together.
5. Spoon mixture out into tortillas and sprinkle cheese across the top of the mixture.
6. Roll the tortillas up and place onto an indoor grill, such as a George Foreman grill. 
7. After removing them from the grill, allow them to cool. Then wrap in plastic wrap and freeze them.
8. When ready to eat them, unfreeze them and reheat them. They are delicious dipped in maple syrup or hot sauce.

Eggplant Parmesan

As a newlywed, I am constantly trying to figure out what I can feed my husband that he will like...which isn't very hard because Ryan will eat about anything I try to make. I started going through some of the old recipes of my mom's that are among my favorites to make. Although I did not like Eggplant Parmesan during my younger years, it has become one of my favorite foods as an adult that I have to make on a regular basis.  I wasn't sure how well Ryan would like this, since he had never had eggplant before, but alas he loved it and requests it often! It is fairly simple to make, and tastes even better on the second day!

I stocked up on eggplant during the summer and already have it stored frozen ready to use, but if you don't have a stockpile of eggplant in your freezer, it is still easy to prepare. Start with 1 to 2 eggplants depending on size. Cut the top and bottom off and peel the eggplant, then cut them into 1/4 inch slices. Beat 2-3 eggs in a bowl.  Dip the eggplant slices into your beaten eggs and then into 1 1/2 cups of flour.  Once you have them battered, fry them in a pan of oil until they are golden brown on both sides.

While your eggplant are cooling down, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Also grease an 9x13 baking dish. In addition to the eggplant, you will need mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and a jar of your favorite pasta sauce.

Place a single layer of your fried eggplant across the bottom of your baking dish.

Then spread pasta sauce in a layer over top of the eggplant.

The mozzarella cheese will be your next layer

Continue layering in this fashion until you have three layers of each eggplant, sauce, and cheese.'

After the final layer of mozzarella, sprinkle parmesan cheese on the top

Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

                                                              Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:
1-2 eggplant depending on size
3 eggs, beaten.
1 cup flour
oil
8 oz. mozzarella cheese
1 jar pasta sauce

Directions:
1. Peel eggplant and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Dip into egg and then into flour. Fry in oil until both sides are browned. Allow to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Grease a 9x13 pan and layer eggplant, pasta sauce, and mozzarella cheese as if it were a lasagna. Make three layers of the eggplant, pasta sauce, and mozzarella. Sprinkle parmesan cheese across the final layer on top.
4. Bake for 30-45 minutes.