Chicken and Squash Casserole

I think this recipe turned out really good, my kids love stuffing and ate it really well. It's another one of those that the picture doesn't do it justice. I love meals that incorporate lots of vegetables so this was a winner for me.

4 tablespoons butter, divided

1 medium onion, diced

3 carrots, shredded

3 small squash, chopped into bite sized pieces (zucchini, mex squash, yellow squash)

4 chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces

6 mushrooms diced

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

1 package chicken stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 350*. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet. Add onion, carrots, and squash. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 7 minutes or until squash is tender. Transfer into large collander to drain. Add chicken and mushrooms to skillet. Cook 7-10 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Add vegetables back into skillet. Add soup and sour cream and mix well. Transfer to a 9X13 baking dish. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and stuffing mix to skillet. Toss until butter is absorbed. Top casserole with stuffing mix. At this point you can choose to leave the stuffing on top or mix it into the casserole. Today I mixed it into the casserole. Bake 20-30 minutes.

Ham and Veggie Quiche

This is a delicious quiche! It was my first attempt at baking one and it turned out to be easy and delicious! We also had fresh squeezed orange juice because most of our box of navels was starting to go bad. About 1/2 way through eating I remembered that I wanted to make some fresh blueberry muffins to go with the quiche, so maybe I will go and make them for dessert instead!

1 Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
1 cup chopped ham (I used sandwich meat)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or Swiss cheese (my hubby doesn't love swiss but it would be yummy if you do!)
1 cup chopped broccoli florettes
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 diced tomato
1/2 onion chopped
8 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
optional
sour cream, salsa, extra cheese

Preheat oven to 375* Roll out pie crust and place in pie tin. (I used a Pampered Chef Deep Dish Pie Plate, if you aren't using a very deep pan you will have to half the egg/milk mixture, and possibly use less veggies!) Mix together ham, cheese, and veggies. Fill pie crust with veggie mix (should come up about 2/3 of dish) Mix together eggs, milk, salt, mustard, and pepper. Pour over veggies. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. Top with sour cream, extra cheese and salsa if desired.

Yummy Shells and Asparagus

Wow! That pretty much sums up tonight's dinner. I promise you this dish is worthy of being served at any Italian Restaurant. I used the original recipe found at Favorite Family Recipes and modified it.
1 pkg. medium shells pasta
1/2 c. (1 cube) butter (the real stuff)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz sliced mushrooms
3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 chicken bouillon (I use 2 tsp. boulion powder)
1 (12oz) can evaporated milk
salt & and pepper to taste
1 bunch asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 c. bacon, crumbled
1/4 c. chopped pistacios (or to taste)
Parsley, to taste
Parmesan cheese, to taste

Boil bow tie pasta in salted water until al dente. Do NOT over cook.
In wok or heavy skillet melt butter. Add minced garlic, mushrooms and asparagus saute a minute or so.
Add Parmesan Cheese and bouillon. When the bouillon is dissolved, slowly stir in heavy cream and salt & pepper. Bring to a boil stirring frequently until thickend slightly. Add cooked pasta, crumbled bacon, toasted pistacios, and parsley and toss together. Serve immediately, sprinkle with additional Parmesean cheese to taste.

Chicken and Dumplings

This dinner was so yummy and it is great if your kids don't like to "see" veggies! I chopped up the celery, onion and mushrooms very tiny! You could add carrots or peppers or really any veggies you wanted to in and chop them up tiny and the kids might never know! I gave you the recipe below as I prepared it, the original had several differences, I added the mushrooms, potatoes, herbs and doubled the chicken soup and dumplings. Those chefs at Top Chef would criticize my "presentation" I am sure, but I'd bet they'd love the flavor anyway!

Chicken
2 (10.75 ounce) cans reduced fat cream of chicken soup
1 (14.5 ounce) can low-fat, low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
8 oz. chopped mushrooms
2 cups cubed or chopped potatoes
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
3 sprigs oregano leaves, finely chopped
1 sprig rosemary leaves, finely chopped
ground black pepper to taste

Dumplings
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-2 sprigs oregano leaves, finely chopped

In a skillet heat oil over medium high heat, add in chicken, celery, onion, and mushrooms. Saute until chicken is cooked through. Meanwhile, in a large pot combine chicken soup, stock and milk. Add in oregano, rosemary, and pepper. Add in chicken mixture and potatoes. Cover and simmer over low heat 30-40 minutes, stirring occaisionally. In a small bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt and oregano. Mix milk and oil separately and add to dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. Mixture will be wet and sticky! Drop tablespoonfulls of dumpling mixture on top of the chicken mixture. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through, without peeking.

Makes 6 servings as prepared
Recipe adapted from Chicken and Dumplings III on allrecipes.com

Quick Chicken Cacciatore

Tonight's dinner came together so quickly and it was such a yummy homemade spaghetti sauce! I ended up adding some oregano in with the basil at the end because I had it to use from my Italian pack. I am getting another Italian pack tomorrow so my hubby is very excited about more mushrooms!

1 cup all-purpose flour
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4 oz each)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
4 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1 head cauliflower, cut into pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 can (14.5 oz) Italian-seasoned petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil and oreganoleaves
12 oz cooked spaghetti noodles

Coat chicken in flour, heat oil in 12 in. skillet over medium-high heat 3 minutes. Add chicken, cook 2-3 minutes on each side.(chicken will not be fully cooked) Remove chicken from skillet and keep warm. Combine tomato paste, broth, garlic, cornstarch, salt and pepper and mix. Combine mushrooms and cauliflower in skillet Cook and stir 3-4 minutues. Add broth mixture and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Stir in herbs and add chicken back to skillet. Cover and simmer 5-7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and sauce is thickened. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

yeild:6 servings, calories per serving: 480

Hearty Chicken and Rosemary Stew

The flovor of fresh rosemary in this recipe really gets infused into the chicken and veggies! This dish cooks for a long time, but was really very easy to throw together. It worked out nicely because I put it in the oven and then took my daughter to ballet and when we came home it was ready to eat. I'll bet you could do it in a crock pot before work as well!

1 lb. small Yukon gold potatoes, cut into chunks
1 large onion, diced
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally into 1/2 in slices.
8 oz. whole mushrooms, quartered
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (could use thighs), cut into 1 in. pieces
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 lemon
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 375*. Combine potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, chicken, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper in a deep baking dish, mix well. Whisk together broth, tomato paste, and cornstarch in a bowl until cornstarch is disolved. Pour over veggies and chicken. Bake covered 1 1/2-2 hours stiring after 45 minutes. After baking, zest lemon to measure 1 tsp. zest. Stir in zest and parsley. Let stand covered 10 minutes.

yeild: 8 servings, calories per serving: 260
Recipe from NEW Pampered Chef Dinner in your Deep Covered Baker

Creamy Pasta with Spring Vegetables

This recipe had such great flavor! I love the fresh basil and roasted veggies. This recipe was adapted from a recipe in The Pampered Chef Main Dishes cookbook, which is now out of print. Most recipes that I make in my home I go off of an idea and then add or take away things until it's what I want. I doubled the recipe, with a big family that's a must, plus that way I could use the whole can of evaporated milk.
8 oz. thin fresh asparagus spears, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
8 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, quartered
1 large bell pepper, cut into 1 in pieces
1 yellow squash, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/2 tsp. salt (I like course sea salt)
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, snipped
8 oz. penne pasta (I use whole wheat)
3/4 cup fat free evaporated milk (could use heavy whipping cream or regular evaporated milk)
2 oz fresh parmesan cheese grated

Preheat oven to 425*. Chop up veggies and place in a large bowl. Add olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Toss gently. Spread out on a cookie sheet with sides. Roast 18-20 minutes until veggies are tender. (if you like crisp veggies only roast 10-12 min). Cook fat free evaporated milk in a small sauce pan over medium low heat until slightly thickened. Add in parmesan cheese and stir until incorporated. When veggies are done, return to large bowl, top with sauce and basil and toss together. Top with additional black pepper and parmesan cheese as desired.

yeild-4 servings, calories per serving: 120

notes: Tonight I made this vegetarian style, but it would be great with grilled chicken breasts cubed and tossed in. Also, I used veggies that I had on hand, it's easy to add or take away veggies in a meal like this to suit it to your tastes!