Ham and Pasta Skillet

Well the busy season has begun in my little corner of the world - all the more reason to cook easy, quick dishes like this! I double this recipe if the hubby is able to be home to eat with us, and that will make enough for me to bring a dish of leftovers in my lunch the next day.

Ingredients:
1 - 10 3/4 ounce can condensed broccoli cheese soup
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
2 cups broccoli florets OR 1 - 10 ounce package frozen broccoli cuts, thawed (if you put them in the fridge the night before or even in the morning before you leave for work, they should be thawed when you get home)
1 1/2 cups cooked ham, cut into strips
2 1/4 cups medium shell-shaped pasta, cooked and drained (or whatever similar pasta you have - elbow macaroni and spirals work as well)

And here is what you want to do with it all:
Heat the soup, milk, mustard and broccoli in a 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat to a boil, reduce heat to low. Cook until the broccoli is tender - about 5 minutes.
Stir in the ham and pasta. Cook until hot and bubbling.

And that's it - you've got your meat, you've got your veggie - what more could you want? Biscuits? You want biscuits? Well, go ahead! Bake some! You have just enough time to preheat the oven and bake some refrigerated biscuits and have them nice and warm when the pasta is ready. Little bit of budda, little bit of honey...MM MMM MMM MMM MMM....

Pasta & Meatballs

This is SUCH an easy recipe, and it's a favorite here at the homestead. I actually double this recipe if the DH is home for dinner. The ingredient list is short and sweet:

• 1 cup water
• 1 - 26 ounce jar pasta sauce
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
• 20 frozen cooked regular or Italian style meatballs
• grated Parmesan, optional

And the directions are short and sweet as well. And EASY:

Heat water and pasta sauce to boiling in a 10 inch skillet. Stir in macaroni and meatballs. Return to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook 15 to 20 minutes longer, stirring occasionally, until macaroni is tender. Sprinkle with cheese.

Yup, that's it. Easy and good. I may even make this tonight.

Parmesan Chicken

This was good, good, good. Even the little peanut ate like crazy, having 2 helpings of everything. She's usually bored with eating and ready to be done long before that. This one is definitely a keeper.

What you need:
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves. Okay, this is what the recipe says. I bought 4, but they were so big I could only fit 2 in my skillet. And they were THICK. I ended up only cooking the 2, and we'll be grilling the other 2 (which are currently in a bath of BBQ sauce in the fridge - oh yummy!) tomorrow.
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cups meatless spaghetti sauce (per the recipe - I actually used a whole jar, which was about 3 cups)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (per the recipe - since it's mixed with the spaghetti sauce, I increased it to 3/4 teaspoon)
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
hot cooked pasta of your choice - fettuccine, spaghetti....(I had spaghetti, so that's what I used)

It's a long list. Lots of ingredients. Trust me, it's WORTH IT.
Let's get started:
In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, 1 teaspoon of the oregano, the basil, salt and pepper. In another bowl, combine the egg and water. Dip the chicken in the egg mixture, then in the crumb mixture. Cook the chicken in the butter (melted of course) in a skillet, on both sides, until done. This took awhile for the chicken I had, because, like I said, it was THICK, and I had to be careful not to burn the outside while I was waiting for the inside to get done. Of course, when I say done, I mean the juices should run clear. This is chicken - we want it done THROUGH.
While the chicken is cooking, combine the spaghetti sauce with the garlic salt and remaining oregano. I added another 1/4 teaspoon of oregano since I had extra sauce and garlic salt. Heat through. I just did this in the microwave, covered, since we have a crappy stove with only 2 burners. Instead of 2 more, we have a grill on the other half of the stove. We use our outside grill, so I'd rather have the extra burners, but we didn't buy the stove - it came with the house, so we make do. Anyway, on with the recipe. Spoon some of the sauce on the finished chicken and sprinkle with mozzarella and the remaining Parmesan cheese. Mix the rest of the sauce with the cooked pasta. For kicks I sprinkled this with mozzarella and Parmesan as well.
I served this with green beans (in case the peanut didn't like it - but she did - as I said, a LOT) and garlic bread.
We did not have ONE BITE of leftovers. We were all stuffed and happy, too. Can't beat that!

Chicken Noodle Soup

Last night I made some really good baked mostaciolli and beef. Too bad I left the recipe at home. Since I did, I'm going back to my 'tried-and-true' recipes, and today I'm reaching in the hat and pulling out......

Chicken Noodle Soup! (hence the title of the post)

Your ingredient list:
* 3 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) chicken broth OR equivalent water and bouillon cubes (no, it doesn't look like it's spelled right - according to spell check, it is)
* 2 medium onions coarsely chopped (if you buy onions like me, this means about half a large onion)
* 2 carrots, thinly sliced (if you buy carrots like me, this means 8 to 10 baby carrots)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 2 celery stalks, sliced (if you buy celery like me, this means 2 celery stalks, sliced) (sorry, I couldn't help myself)
* 3/4 cup small pasta shells
* 2 cups cooked, diced chicken

In this is what you do with all of it:

In a dutch oven or soup pot, cover and heat chicken broth or water and bouillon to a simmer. Add salt, onions, carrots and celery to broth. Cover and simmer until veggies are almost tender (about 5 minutes). Add pasta shells and cook, uncovered, for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken and cook until pasta is tender, about 3 more minutes.

This is enough for the kids and I, but if I want enough for hubby's lunch or if he's home I need to double the recipe.

Cheesy Kielbasa Pasta Supper

This is what I made last night, and the kids all loved it. I did not think to take a picture of it, because the idea for the blog didn't come to me until this morning, so you'll have to imagine it. With the cheese, kielbasa, and veggies it's very colorful.

Here is the original ingredient list:

6 oz. (about 2 1/2 cups) uncooked rigatoni
1 (1-lb.) package frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots
1 (10 3/4 oz) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
3/4 cup milk
1/2 lb. kielbasa or polish sausage (halved length-wise & sliced) - you could also use turkey kielbasa if you want to be healthier
1 (2.5 oz) jar sliced mushrooms

Now, when I gathered all this together, I decided that I wanted to use the whole kielbasa, because if I didn't, it would go back in the fridge for a month or two and then get thrown away. But if you're going to add more kielbasa, you have to add more of some other stuff too. So I added:

an additional 6 oz. uncooked rigatoni
about 1/2 of another package of frozen veggies (what was left in the freezer from another meal)
another 3/4 cup milk
I didn't have another can of soup so instead I added a handful of shredded cheddar cheese (probably about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
and of course the rest of the kielbasa.

I ended up NOT adding any mushrooms at all because my 10 year old doesn't like them right now. I say right now because he used to.

So, there you have the ingredients. Here's what you do with them:

In a dutch oven, cook rigatoni per package directions. According to the recipe you should add the frozen veggies 6 or 7 minutes before the pasta is done. If you like your veggies quite firm, that's what you should do. Me, I like them a little softer, because they're easier for my toddler to chew. Next time I'll add them at 10 minutes so they'll be plenty soft enough.
Once the pasta and the veggies are cooked, drain them and return them to the dutch oven. Stir in the soup, milk, cheese, kielbasa and mushrooms. Cook over medium heat until heated through. You'll want to stir it occasionally.
The only thing I didn't really care for about this recipe was the rigatoni. It's basically a pasta tube with ridges, and there's nothing really wrong with it, but I'm a rotini kind of person, so next time I'll use that instead.

I served this with garlic biscuits, which is simply a tube of buttermilk biscuits (the skinny tube with 10 biscuits in it), with each biscuit dipped in a melted butter/garlic mixture, and placed in a pan (I melted the butter right in the pan I planned to bake them in, which worked really well). They should all be touching. Top them with shredded cheese - doesn't matter what kind. I usually use cheddar, last night I used an Italian blend. If you feel like it, sprinkle some Italian seasoning or whatever suits you on the cheese. Pop them in the oven and bake according to the directions on the biscuit tube.

Hubby got home from work at about 10:30 and heated up a plate of the pasta supper and gave it positive reviews. He didn't get any biscuits, because they were deelish and we chowed them all down.

By doubling the recipe, I have enough left for hubby and me to take some in our lunches, or there was enough for another meal for me and the kids.