Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken
• 1 can cream of potato soup
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 16oz bag frozen broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and peas
• 1 tube refrigerated dough sheet.
• salt and pepper to taste

In large saucepan, heat butter on medium high with celery and onion. Cook for about 4 minutes. Add can of soup and milk and stir until well mixed and bubbly. Add Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese; heat until melted then remove from heat.

Add chicken and frozen veggies.

Preheat oven to 375. Pour filling into 13x9 pan. Unroll dough sheet and cut into strips. Create a lattice pattern on top of filling. Bake, uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until the lattice topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

Everyone loved this meal, it was a real hit! All of the kids asked for more, and daddy shoveled his mouth full- something he doesn't do very much.

Mexican Low-Fat Pizza

It has been a loooooooooooooooong time since Bri has posted any recipes on here. We have been through some major transitions, but she is starting to cook again! (applause inserted here).

Since we are still working on completely fail-proof computers, though, mama is going to post tonight's masterpiece (left-over night surprise).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups taco meat, prepared
• 2 Tbsp ranch dressing
• 2 Tbsp medium salsa
• 1 cup shredded colby cheese
• 2 cups lettuce
• 2 flatout wraps

Lay both flatout wraps on breathable cookie pan (if you don't have one of these, you might want to cook your pizza right on the rack). Preheat broiler to LOW.

Combine ranch and salsa in small bowl. Spread on flatouts. Top with meat, lettuce, and cheese. Broil on LOW for 3-5 minutes, until starting to brown at the edges and cheese is bubbly. Serve with corn chips and salsa and black olives to wear as weird looking fingernails/

Good Old Spaghetti

For last Friday night, we had good old spaghetti since I wanted a kid's food.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb ground beef
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 1 medium green zucchini, diced small
• 1 pkg whole wheat spaghetti noodles
• 1 jar Ragu Garden Chunky spaghetti sauce

Brown the ground beef in a saucepan while crumbling with spatula. While that is browning, bring a large pan of water to boil over high heat. Drain and rinse meat before putting back into the saucepan. Add the onion, sauce, and zucchini. Bring to a simmer. While that is simmering, add the package of noodles to the water, cover, and boil according to the directions. Drain noodles before serving.

Serve the noodles covered in the spaghetti sauce, topped with Parmesan cheese. I served our meal with corn (that was steamed with butter and crushed garlic cloves) and garlic bread (french bread, butter, garlic, minced onion, parsley, and salt).


KID RATING: ****

• Chef Bri - "I ate two servings of it all."
• Kairi - "It was so yummy. I slurped my noodles and they hit me in the face!"
  
• Charis - "Bri, you can make this tomorrow for breakfast."
  
• Jocelyn - "Isn't there any left? I want more please."
• Xander - "Nana - mmmmm!"
  
• Daddy - "This is wonderful Bri, very flavorful."
• Mommy - "This is honestly probably the best chunky 'mock-homemade' spaghetti sauce I have ever tasted Bri. A great comfort food meal!"

Toasted Sammies

We had Family Movie night on Sunday instead of Friday this week so we had sandwiches on a blanket in front of the TV.

Ingredients:

• 8 thin slices of Boar's Head pastrami
• 6 thin slices of Muenster Cheese
• 1/4 cup Boar's Head Sundried Tomato Pesto Mayonnaise
• 1/2 small white onion, sliced thin
• 1 small zucchini, sliced thin
• 1 medium loaf french bread, cut long
• Country Crock butter
• salt and pepper to taste

In a frying pan, saute the onion and zucchini in butter until onions are clear and the zucchini is starting to brown. Set aside. Spread mayo on both insides of the bread. Lay cheese on top of the mayo. Lay meat on top of the cheese. Spread the onions and zucchini on top of the meat. Place the whole loaf, opened, under the broiler until the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven, close the loaf of bread, and cut into sandwich sized portions.

We served ours with Pasta Puttanesca and anjou pear slices.



KID RATING: **

• Chef Bri - "I LOVE the sandwich."
• Kairi - "Uh uh. I don't like the vegetables and it tastes funny"
  
• Charis - "If I don't want my sandwich, can I still have desert?"
  
• Jocelyn - "I like the meat and cheese and bread"
• Xander - "mmm?"
  
• Daddy - "This sandwich is excellent!"
• Mommy - "REALLY tasty Bri!"

Brown Sugar Meat Loaf

Sorry - we forgot to get pictures this time. We served this with crn on the cob and blueberry muffins.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup packed brown suger
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 11/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup finely crushed Keebler's Toppers crackers (garlic and herb)
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan. Mix the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce together. Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the pan and spread the ketchup mix on top of that. In a bowl, mix all of the rest of the ingredients (your hands work the best). Press into the pan on top of the brown sugar and ketchup. Bake for 1 hour. You can use a paper towel every 15 minutes to soak up the grease during cooking by carefully dipping it into the grease.

KID RATING: ****

• Chef Bri - "This was the best meat loaf I have ever made!"
• Kairi - "So yummy... it's like meat bread"
  
• Charis - "This is so good. It tastes like candy"
  
• Jocelyn - "Oh yeah Bri - this is the bestest you have ever cooked!"
• Xander - "yum - mama more". he ate everything on his plate
  
• Daddy - This was the best meatloaf I have ever had - it was moist, didn't fall apart, and hardly needed any BBQ sauce.
• Mommy - Briaunna, this is better than any meatloaf I have ever made. You truly have a gift for the kitchen!
  

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can't give you the recipe because its daddy's secret recipe. But here are some pictures.




I did it all myself. I put everything in after I measured it out, I mixed it all up, and I baked them. I also ate them.

MIA

Momma here - sorry we skipped this week. She did make a meal, but we have grandma in from out of town and didn't take pictures or blog it.

But, in case you wanted to know what she made, it was a special dietary-needs meal. Grandma has Celiac Sprue, cannot have seeds, nuts, or pepper, and Grandpa is diabetic. Soooooo.....

We made a garden chicken pasta.

Ingredients:

• DeBoles Rice spiral pasta
• Tomato juice
• 1 Zucchini - chopped
• 1 Yellow Squash - chopped
• 1 Yellow Onion - chopped
• 3 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
• 2 garlic cloves - diced
• dash of sage
• Salt

She cooked her pasta to just UNDER-done. While that was boiling, she combined all of the rest of the ingredients in a saucepan and boiled it down to semi-thickened and vegetables were slightly unfirm. Toss pasta in and top with a sharp cheddar cheese.

She served it with tossed salad topped with walnuts, dried cranberries, bleu cheese, and vinegar dressing.

So proud - sorry for missing a week. :o(