Paula's Macaroni Salad

I got this one from Paula Deen's show. It is a great macaroni salad with all the classic flavors that a macaroni salad should have. It went great with our grilled hot dogs the other night.

Paula's Macaroni Salad

2 cups elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup celery, diced small
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
3 tablespoons sliced green onions
1 small jar pimentos, drained
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
ground black pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Combine ingredients and mix together. Chill until serving.

Cheater Tetrazzini

This is a cheater tetrazzini because it's not baked and it uses canned soup. Now don't get me wrong canned soups are often the answer to make recipes simpler, but honestly this tetrazzini is not as good as a real tetrazzini like my friend Kellie's wonderful recipe. But if you are short on time this is a great weeknight meal that you can whip together in under a half an hour. No one complained and all my kids had seconds.

Cheater Tetrazzini

1 lb spaghetti (you can use less if you prefer a saucier tetrazzini)
3 cups cooked and shredded chicken (rotisserie chicken)
1 zucchini, peeled and shredded (you can skip the peeled part if your kids are not personally offended by visible zucchini like mine are)
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk or cream
1/2 - 1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
salt and pepper

Boil noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

While noodles are boiling melt butter in a large skillet. Add onion, carrot and saute till soft. Add zucchini and garlic and saute a couple minutes more. Add soup, sour cream, milk, Parmesan, frozen peas, and chicken. Heat through. Add noodles to the sauce and toss well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with more Parmesan on individual servings.

Whole Wheat Pizzas

This is a really healthy pizza recipe (well healthy for pizza in any case) and it's very yummy too. You can let your bread machine do all the dough making then just roll it out and bake it. Easy peasy. Makes 2 large thin crust pizzas.

Whole Wheat Pizzas

1 1/2 cups hot water
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon ground flax seed (optional)
1 tablespoon SAF yeast

Put ingredients into bread machine in order listed in manufacturers instructions (for mine I put in water, oil, honey, salt, flour, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, flax seed, then make a well in flour and put int he yeast). Let machine run on "dough" cycle.

Once the dough is done divide dough in half. Roll out each half on a surface sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and place on a non-stick sprayed pizza pan. Top with toppings of choice. Bake at 375 for about 15-18 minutes until toppings are cooked and crust is slightly browned. Brush outer crust with a little melted butter after it's done baking.

Stove Top Chicken Casserole

This is quick and easy and good. What more can you ask from a casserole?! My whole family enjoyed it and I liked that with only 3 chicken breasts I fed everyone and there was even a full serving left over for my husband to take to work tomorrow. Nice.

Stove Top Chicken Casserole

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 box chicken flavor Stove Top Dressing, prepared according to package directions

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. (Actually I used the baking dish size slightly smaller than 9x13 - it was 8x11.5.) Lay chicken strips in the bottom of the dish. Combine cream of chicken and sour cream and spread over the top of the chicken evenly. Top with the prepared Stove Top. Cover loosely with foil and bake at 325 for 1 hour. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes to crisp the top of the stuffing.

Chocolate Crescent Rolls

Have you ever come across a recipe and thought, "why in the world didn't I think of that"?? Well finding this recipe at Stick a Fork In It was definitely one of those moments for me. I love chocolate croissants. Love. Love. Love. Them. Why have I never thought to do the easy version with tubed crescent roll dough? It's SO good. There is just something about buttery bread with chocolate. Seriously give this a try and you will be surprised how simply yummy these crescent rolls are. Thanks to Stick a Fork in It for this lovely lovely recipe that I'm sure I'll be making every time I have a tube of crescent roll dough in the fridge. I might even try it with my homemade crescent roll dough too.

Chocolate Crescent Rolls

1 tube Pillsbury crescent roll dough
chocolate chips (semi-sweet is good)
1 tablespoon melted butter

Unroll crescent roll dough from the tube and divide into triangles. Put some chocolate chips on the bottom third of the dough triangles (the larger end of the triangle). Roll up the crescent rolls pinching the ends and shape into crescent shape. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Brush tops with melted butter. Place crescent rolls on a rack to cool - they are best when they have cooled to almost room temperature.

Smores Bars

These are quite yummy and I love that I can now make a Smores treat any time. These bars totally taste like smores - maybe even a little better. Everyone loved this for our FHE treat last night.

Smores Bars

12 oz box of Golden Grahams cereal (about 8 cups)
2 cups chocolate chips, divided
6 cups mini marshmallows, divided (that's 1, 10.5 oz bag + 1 cup)
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup corn syrup

In a large microwave safe bowl combine 5 cups of marshmallows, 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla.

Pour Golden Grahams into a large mixing bowl. Pour marshmallow mixture over the cereal and stir until it's all combined and evenly coated. Add 1 cup marshmallows and 1/2 cup chocolate chips and mix. Press mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish. With wet hand press the mixture evenly into the pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Cut into bars and serve.

Chili Mac

This recipe is from Emeril Lagasse and it's great! It's the one he made on Jon and Kate Plus 8. My whole family loved it. My kids all had seconds and I think my 5 and 2 year olds had fourths actually. It was a great and flavorful casserole and will definitely be going into our regular meal rotation.

Chili Mac

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped into a small dice
2 teaspoons salt
2 pounds extra lean ground beef
5 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1, 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes, with juices, tomatoes crushed up with your hands
1/2 cup water
2 cans kidney beans, drained
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound elbow macaroni (I used a 14.5 oz box of Barilla Plus Multigrain Elbows)
1 lb medium cheddar cheese, grated
sour cream for serving

Cook macaroni in salted water according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

While macaroni is cooking heat olive oil in a 6-quart or larger soup pot. Add onions and 2 teaspoons salt and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add ground beef and cook breaking up any large clumps of meat. Add chili powder, oregano, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, beans, and 1/2 cup water, stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened to a chili consistency, about 20-25 minutes. Taste and add 1/4 teaspoon salt if needed.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Fold cooked macaroni and 1/2 of the cheese (8 oz) into the chili. Transfer to a 9x13 baking dish or 2 8x8 baking dishes if making one for now and 1 to freeze. Top with remaining grated cheddar and bake until heated through and cheese is melted on top, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Top individual portions with sour cream if desired.
Freezer Meal Instructions:
After folding macaroni and cheese into the chili in the pot transfer it to a disposable 9x13 or 2, 8x8 baking dishes. Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap and then 2 layers of foil. Label with cooking instructions. Place remaining 8 oz of cheese into 1 ziplock bag for the 9x13 or 2 ziplock bags if you are doing 2, 8x8 pans. Tape cheese bag/s to pan/s.

Cooking Instructions:
Thaw for a day in fridge. Remove plastic wrap and foil. Cover loosely with a layer of foil creased in the middle to allow circulation to casserole. Bake for probably 45 minutes or until casserole is hot and bubbly. Remove foil and top with cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted.
*To bake from frozen allow far more cooking time - probably 2 hours.