The Best Chicken Spaghetti Ever!

Hi friends! I took a way-too-long break from cooking or posting my recipes! It’s sad. Mr. Spouse is probably more sad than anyone. Poor guy. I promised to him tonight that I would start cooking dinner again. I also promised my friends I’d start posting recipes again. So here’s to you guys!

So, there’s a lot of “stuff” in this spaghetti, BUT it’s super easy to make. So don’t fret when you see the ingredient list :)

Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1 "Cut Up Fryer" (Basically, one lovely rotisserie chicken that someone else cooked for you. Makes mama’s life much better. Don’t you agree?)
Thin or regular Spaghetti (1-2 Cups)
1 can chicken broth (You’ll only use half the can)
2 Cans of Cream of Mushroom soup (You can use one can cream of mushroom and one can cream of chicken, if you’d like.)
1 onion chopped very finely (so the children can’t find them-mine don’t like onions)
1 green pepper (I don’t use the whole thing. I chop it up in little pieces and spread it all around so the kids can’t find them)
3 cups cheddar cheese
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt (about 2 teaspoons)
salt, pepper.

This is basic stuff, folks!

1. Boil a pot of water and the broth to a boil. When it’s boiling, break the spaghetti into 2-inch pieces until you have around 2 1/2 to 3 cups and let it cook according to the directions on the package.

2. I buy my rotisserie chicken the day I know I’ll make this and let it cool on the counter. It’s painful to tear up a hot chicken! So wash your hands, and start pulling chunks off the chicken. Maybe use a knife to cut them into smaller pieces if you’d like.

(Tip: You can use any cut of chicken you like. I like the whole chicken because it gives you a mixture of dark and light meat. If you’d like to do just breasts, that would work just fine! Also, if you are using a rotisserie instead of your own cooked chicken, be sure to add the canned chicken broth to the water before you boil the spaghetti. (I only use half of the can because it’d make the dish too salty.)

3. Cut up the veggies however you’d like.

4. Now, add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Since I don’t like dirtying up extra dishes, I mix mine all in the casserole dish and skip the bowl. It’s up to you! Add the spaghetti (drained), cut-up chicken, 2 cans of soup,  veggies, 2 cups of cheese, and your spices and mix it all together.

5. Bake it at 375 for 30 minutes. The last five minutes, spread the remaining cup of cheese and let it melt.



Yum!
Husband and kid approved!

Take it Easy

CROCK POT BAJA PORK TACOS

recipe from Chef in Training

1 {3lb} Boneless pork tenderloin

5 {4oz} cans chopped green chiles

2 tbsp. taco seasoning, reduced sodium

1 tbsp. ground cumin

flour or corn tortillas

Optional toppings

lettuce

cheese

pico de gallo

avocado

Directions:

Cut the tenderloin in half and place in crock pot. In a small bowl, mix together chiles, taco seasoning, and cumin. Pour mixture over pork, cover, and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until pork is tender and easily falls apart. When it’s about ready, shred pork with a couple of forks. I didn’t remove the pork from the crock pot to shred it. I was able to shred it while it was still cooking. Ohmiword…it was SO tender!!!!!

Place a generous heaping of pork down the middle of your tortilla. Then, I load up on sour cream and cheese. Husband likes to add pico and gauc or avocados. I’m a simple girl myself.

The best part about this recipe was that it was ready when we got home from my pain injections. Good for husband because I was OUT. So good, y’all! And they were even better the next day!!!!

Daddy's Birthday Breakfast

This recipe is SO yummy. I do not like sausage pretty much at all, but especially not for breakfast. But blueberry sausage sounded like my thing so we cooked some up for husbands 27th birthday breakfast!

Blueberry Maple Breakfast Sausage




This takes maybe 5 minutes to throw together and will feed you for a while. Recipe can be halved, and adjusted to your preferences.


2 lb ground pork
1/4 c maple syrup
1 c blueberries chopped up
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 T sage, chopped up if fresh (or more to taste)

Mix everything together, then form into patties. Two pounds of meat makes about a dozen and a half small patties. Fry as many as you need, with a tiny bit of oil in a pan over medium heat (about 10 minutes). Freeze the rest, layered in between wax paper until hard, then transfer to zip lock bags or wrap individually (or in pairs) with plastic wrap. Thaw in the fridge overnight for the next day's breakfast. Serve drizzled with syrup.

Yummy Apple Crisp

Ingredients

• 7 apples, peeled, cored and sliced ( I had a lot of bags of the already cut up apple slices, so I used those)
• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Method

1 Preheat oven to 375°F. In a mixing bowl, combine apples, lemon juice, and vanilla. Toss to combine.

2 Layer sliced apples in a 9 x 13-inch (or approximately the same size) baking pan.

3 Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and oatmeal in a bowl. Mix in the butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over apples.

4 Bake 45 minutes or until topping looks crunchy and apples are tender.

Mmmmm SO GOOD!!

Cowgirl Cookies {Cookies for Santa}

We made these for Santa on Christmas Eve. They are seriously yummy cookies!!!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Stir all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add:

1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Use the back of a large spoon to work it all together. You may even need to use your hands to get everything incorporated.
Then roll the cookie dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, place on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. I got about 26-28 cookies out of these.

Lots of baking!

Last week, I had 100 decorated cookies to bake/decorate, 100 Hershey Kisses Pretzel snacks to make, and 24 cupcakes for Hannah and Noah’s class for the last day of school. Also 24 ribbons and tags to tie onto 24 suckers and teacher gifts to put together! Phew!

Hershey Pretzel Bites:

Ingredients:

Bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels
Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug
M&M's candy {totally forgot these. oops}

Instructions:
1. Heat the oven to 170F. Set a number of bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels (one for each treat) in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug.
2. Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (the white chocolate will melt more quickly), until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly press an M&M's candy into the center of each Kiss.
3. Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. Place handfuls of the candies in clear plastic bags and tie on colorful ribbons.



A close up of the 100 snowflake cookies I baked & decorated:


Here are all 100 drying!

And, sucker treats for Hannah and Noah’s Class…


24 cupcakes I baked and didn’t decorate very well!!

Apple Oatmeal Muffins

These yummy muffins are great for an on-the-go breakfast. This is the first recipe I made with my new awesome Kitchen Aid mixer! I love it!

Ingredients:

1 cup quick cooking oats
3/4 cup light sour cream
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter (melted) or canola oil
2 eggs
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 apple (peeled, shredded – at least 1 cup)

Optional Add-ins:

chopped nuts
raisins
dried cranberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 (F).
In a bowl add sour cream to oats.

Stir in milk. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat two eggs and add vanilla. Set aside.

Peel an apple.

Chop into quarters and remove core.

Use a box grater to grate the apple quarters.

In a large mixing bowl, add brown sugar and whisk to remove any lumps.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to brown sugar.

Combine thoroughly.

Add cinnamon and nutmeg to mixture and combine.

Create a well in the center of dry mixture.

Pour beaten egg mixture and melted butter into well. NOTE: Make sure melted butter is not hot or it will cook your eggs!

Fold dry mixture into egg mixture until combined. Mixture will be stiff.

Add oat-sour cream-milk combination.

Fold until combined.

Add shredded apple and all juice that comes from it.

See the pool of fresh apple juice?

Stir just until combined and your batter is done.

Fill muffin cups with batter. These muffins are dense and do not rise too much, so fill the cups fairly full, if not brimming :)

Bake 375 (F) for 20 – 25 minutes.

Allow muffins to cool in tins on a rack for about 10 minutes before attempting to remove from tin. Makes 12 regular sized muffins or 24 mini-muffins.