Some of our favorites..things we make at least once a month

I have a few meals that I make at least once a month. They are easy meals that I even have made for company. I usually end up passing the recipe over to them so they can make it one of their go to meals.

Whenever making a casserole that uses cooked chicken I prefer to use chicken breast with the bone and with the skin. I roast them in the oven drizzled with a little olive oil, and heavy salt and pepper on 350 for about 45 minutes-until 165 degrees in the center. I then discard the bone and skin and shred the chicken. The end result is so much less dry than if you just boil the breasts. Also, it doesn't dirty up a pot with that horrible chicken goo-you know what I am talking about. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper before you roast the chicken and after you shred your chicken pop the whole thing in the trash.

This first recipe came out of the South Gwinnett Comets Football cookbook from 1995 or so? Eric's mom used to make it and it is probably my favorite casserole ever! Make it low fat by using healthy request Campbell soups and low fat sour cream. I have to say its the best made with the regular soups-no surprise there! I usually make this the low fat way and recently made it for company the regular way and my husband totally figured it out...I may never be able to make it the low fat way again!

Chicken Casserole
5 chicken breasts-cooked and shredded
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 tubes of Ritz crackers
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl add cooked, shredded chicken, both cans of soup, sour cream and 1 tube of the crackers crushed up. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and spread evenly in 13x9 casserole.Top with remaining tube of crackers, crushed up. (No need to crush crackers too fine, they are better when left kind of chunky). Take butter and pull off tiny pieces and scatter then across the top of the casserole. Bake for about 30 minutes or until sides of casserole start getting bubbly.

I like to serve this with mashed potatoes ans some sort of veggie. My new favorite is to roast fresh broccoli. Take a full head of broccoli and cut off large stem. Cut broccoli into a little larger than bite size pieces. Wash well and drain. Cover cookie sheet with parchment, add broccoli, drizzle with a tbsp of olive oil. Add 1 tsp minced garlic, salt and pepper. Toss until all pieces are coated. Roast on 400 for about 15 minutes. (If you want to add a little heat take some red pepper flakes and break up in the palm of your hand and toss into broccoli)



Beef Lombardi
1 12 oz package egg noodles-cooked according to package
1 lb ground beef
1 1/2 tsp salt-divided in half
1/2 tsp italian seasoning-or do half oregano, and half basil to substiute
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 14 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 8 oz package cream cheese (I use low fat neufatchel cheese-its the same thing)
1/2 cup sour cream
4 green onions, chopped-use white and green parts
1 cup shredded italian cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare egg noodles according to package. In large skillet add ground beef, itailian seasoning and half of the salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring often until meat crumbles and is no longer pink.
Stir in tomato paste, cook 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, 1/2 cup water and remaining salt. Reduce heat to meduim low and simmer 8 minutes.
Microwave cream cheese in a micro-safe bowl on high for 1 minute. Stir in sour cream and green onions and the rest of the salt.Add pepper to taste. Stir creamy mixture into hot cooked noodles. Place noodles into greased 11x7 or 13x9 baking dish.Top with parmesean cheese. Add beef mixture and spread evenly over noodles. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Let me know if anyone gets around to making any of these dishes and how they turn out!