Garlic chicken and scalloped potato casserole topped with garlic stuffing and tomatoes

(scroll down to the bottom to see the plain recipe)

I really need to come up with a shorter name for this but it's the result of an experiment.  I wanted to make my chicken stuffing bake but I also wanted scalloped potatoes.  I also didn't feel like using two pans to make dinner so I combined the two.

I did cheat and use box scalloped potatoes but I have a feeling my recipe from scratch would work too.  I'll update this recipe after I've had a chance to test it out.

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Garlic chicken and scalloped potato casserole topped with garlic stuffing and tomatoes

1 Box Low Sodium Chicken Stuffing
1 Box Scalloped Potatoes (updated recipe with these from scratch to come later)
1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
1 Can Italian Diced Tomatoes, undrained
6 Cloves of Garlic, minced (yes, I put a lot of garlic in my dishes)
3 Chicken Breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 TBSP Italian Seasonings
1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 and 3/4 Cups Boiling Water
1/2 Cup Milk
1 and 1/2 TBSP Butter/Margarine
3 Green Onions, chopped fine
Black Pepper and Salt to taste
2 TBSP Powered Garlic, separated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place chicken in the bottom of a greased 2.5 to 3 qt casserole dish.
Sprinkle the top with black pepper, salt, 1 TBSP powered Garlic, and the minced green onions.
Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix the boiling water and butter until the butter has melted.  Add milk, 1 TBSP powered garlic, and sauce mix from the box.  Whisk until smooth.  Add the potatoes and let sit for a few minutes while you prep the next part.
In another bowl, mix stuffing, tomatoes, chicken stock, Italian seasonings, and minced garlic until blended well without being mushy.
Pour the scalloped potato mixture over the chicken in the casserole dish.
Sprinkle cheese over top evenly.
Spread the stuffing mixture on top and seal the sides so you can no longer see any ingredients under it.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

I sprinkled some left over cheese on top when I served it.  A fairly simple one pan dish that had my husband looking for seconds!

Turkey Sausage Breakfast Burritos

(scroll down to the bottom to see the plain recipe)

I've been working at a new job and I end up starving by the time lunch hits.  So I started going to a fast food place to buy breakfast burritos every morning.  Well, I finally put my foot down for three reasons.  One, sometimes a long line at the fast food place would make me late to work.  Two, I had NO CLUE as to what was actually in that burrito.  Three, It would be so much cheaper to make them myself.

It began with the eggs.  A lot of eggs.  One dozen to be exact.  I put them in a bowl with a good amount of freshly ground black pepper, garlic, and 4 TBSP of small curd cottage cheese.  I'm serious about the cheese.  It makes eggs taste even better and it's good for you.  Plus, I promise you can't taste them after they're all cooked in.  I wisked it all together before scrambling it in my biggest frying pan.

After the hard part was done, I started constructing my breakfast burritos.  I put a decent sized scoop of eggs on each tortilla, 1 turkey sausage, and a spoonful of diced tomatoes and green peppers.  I rolled them up and bagged them.  I put two in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.

The thawed burritos I warmed for just 30 seconds in the microwave.  The frozen ones I heated for 1 minute on high, flipped it over, and then heated for an additional 45 seconds.  You can heat them more or less depending on your microwave and desired temperature.

Just for fun, I kept my receipt for this one.
$1.50 Dozen Eggs
$3.49 Turkey Sausage ($2.91 for 10 links)
$1.99 Cottage Cheese
1.99 Freezer bags ($.99 for 10 bags)
$1.00 Tortillas
$1.00 Diced Tomatoes with Green Peppers

Total Cost for 10 Burritos: $9.39
Cost of each Burrito: $.94

As a note, 1 of these burritos is about the same size as TWO burritos from the fast food place I went.  So I'm spending half as much on breakfast AND I know what's going into my stomach.

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Turkey Sausage Breakfast Burritos

12 large eggs
4 TBSP small curd cottage cheese
2 TBSP minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes and green peppers, drained
1 pkg low sodium turkey sausage
1 pkg of 10 tortillas
Black Pepper to taste

Whisk eggs, cottage cheese, garlic, and black pepper in a bowl until well blended.
Cook at medium high heat and scramble until fully cooked.
Lay down one tortilla add 1 scoop of eggs, 1 turkey sausage (sliced or whole), and 1 spoonful of diced tomatoes and green peppers.
Roll into a burrito.  Recommend folding in both sides and then rolling from bottom to top.

You can freeze them to eat later.  After frozen, reheat for 1 minute, flip over burrito and heat for an additional 45 seconds.

Garlic Sausage and Bell Pepper Alfredo

(scroll down to the bottom to see the plain recipe)

So, a little information about Namir.  I'm lactose intolerant.  I don't always pay attention to this fact which is why I eat a lot of cheese, milk, and butter.  I just deal with the consequences and my body is actually starting to adjust to my torture.  But.  I prefer to use Almond Milk in any recipe that requires milk in it (or if I decide to make it require milk instead of water).  It helps keep my belly happy.  This is why I came up with an Alfredo Sauce made with almond milk.

I started off with a rue.  I put 2 TBSP of olive oil in a sauce pan at medium heat.  I added a giant amount of minced garlic (okay, more like 3 TBSP), black pepper, and a sprinkle of sea salt.  I let the garlic heat until it browned and then added 8 TBSP of flour.  Now, the flour quickly soaked up all the oil and turned into a floury ball so I slowly added some almond milk to help it turn more into a paste.  After that, I added the rest of the milk (2 cups total) and let it heat with a bit more black pepper.  While that was simmering, I went on to the next part.

I diced 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper, and sliced up 2 smoked sausage links.

I added the bell peppers and sausage to the sauce plus 2 TBSP butter, 2 TBSP beef bullion, black pepper, and salt.

After the sauce had thickened and simmered for about 5 to 7 minutes, I tossed it with 1 lbs of cooked spaghetti.  I let it sit for a couple of minutes before serving with shredded Parmesan cheese and seasoned salt.  My husband loved it so much he went back for THIRDS.

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Garlic Sausage and Bell Pepper Alfredo

1 lbs spaghetti
1 pkg smoked sausage
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
8 TBSP flour
2 cups milk
3 TBSP minced garlic
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP Beef bullion
Black pepper and sea salt to taste
Optional : Seasoned salt and Parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti while performing the rest of the steps and set aside.
Put oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.
Add garlic, a fine dusting of black pepper, and a pinch of sea salt.
Cook until garlic has browned.
Add flour and mix until blended with the oil.  It will not fully turn into a rue yet.
Add milk VERY slowly and whisk until flour has turned into a paste.
Heat paste for a few moments before slowly adding more milk.
Whisk in the rest of the milk.
Add another dash of black pepper and salt.
Let simmer for about 5 minutes.
Dice bell peppers and slice smoked sausage while sauce is simmering.
When sauce has thickened, add bell peppers and sausage.
Stir well and then add butter and beef bullion.
You can add more salt and pepper if needed.
Add sauce to spaghetti and toss to fully coat.
Wait at least 2 to 3 minutes to allow sauce to thicken and flavor the noodles.

I served with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and a dusting of seasoned salt.

Chicken Topped with Stuffing Bake

(scroll down to the bottom to see the plain recipe)

This is a recipe I've been meaning to put someone for awhile now.  It's something that I find to be super simple to make and very filling.  And it all started like many of my recipes started.  My husband and I were hungry and I had no idea what to make.  I started digging around my fridge and cabinets and just piled the ingredients I felt would work out the best on the counter.  I had two rather large chicken breasts that I decided to deal with first.  I butterflied the thick breasts and then cut them into about 1 inch long pieces.

And then I flipped over my cutting board and quickly sliced a package of mushrooms.  I wasn't very careful in making the pieces the same size because I was cooking on an empty (and growling!) stomach.

I sprayed a 13x9 glass baking dish and then spread out the chicken pieces as evenly as possible.

I seasoned the chicken by adding freshly ground black pepper and dried Italian seasoning over the top.  I'm not completely sure how much I added but I was pretty generous since I wanted it to taste full of flavor.

I then covered the top of the chicken with mozzarella and sharp cheddar cheeses and then spread the mushrooms out over top in a single layer (the leftover mushrooms I used to make an omelet the next day).

 I mixed together undrained Italian style diced tomatoes, minced garlic, chicken broth, and the stuffing together.  I wanted it to be an even consistency without making it a mushy consistency.

I spread the stuffing mixture over top the mushrooms and covered them from edge to edge.  I wanted to make the stuffing act as a type of seal over the other ingredients.

Thirty minutes later, I had a delicious and filling dish that I served with freshly baked bread!  My husband and I enjoy this dish as often as the stuffing goes on sale at the store!

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Chicken Topped with Stuffing Bake
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts with rib meat cut into 1 inch pieces
1 pkg (8oz) white mushrooms (or baby portabello), sliced
1/2 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 TBSP Italian seasoning
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 can (14.5 oz) Italian Style Diced Tomatoes (undrained)
1 pkg (6oz) Reduced Sodium Chicken flavored Stuffing
1/2 cup Chicken Broth (I used reduced sodium with 1/2 tsp sea salt)
2 TBSP minced garlic

Preheat oven to 400F.

Spray 13x9 glass baking dish and lay chicken in a single layer in the bottom.
Season the chicken with ground black pepper and Italian seasoning.
Cover the chicken with both cheeses.
Place mushrooms in a single layer over the cheese and put aside any excess pieces.
Mix tomatoes, chicken broth, garlic, and stuffing in a bowl until stuffing is evenly moistened.
Layer stuffing over the mushrooms from edge to edge to seal in the other ingredients.
Bake for 30 minutes.  Chicken pieces should be 165 degrees and the casserole should be bubbling with the stuffing a light golden brown.

Upside Down Apple Spice Cake

(scroll down to the bottom to see the plain recipe)

So, I wanted to make dessert but I also didn't feel like turning on the oven.  Because our oven is probably older then I am and the temperature on it tends to vary.  For example, if we set the dial to 350 degrees then our oven thermometer will read 400 but if you set the dial to 375 then the oven will suddenly jump to 475.  So....I try to not use our oven very often.

I do have a fantastic small convection/toaster oven, a rice cooker, and a crock pot.  I wanted to try making a cake in the rice cooker.  My first experiment was a pancake but several things went wrong and it ended up not so great.

The second experiment was amazing and that is what I'm going to share with you now.  I created an upside down apple spice cake with my rice cooker.

The first step was to slice up a couple of apples (I used an apple slicer) and get them simmering in 2 tablespoons of butter.

I let the apples simmer about 3 minutes on each side before I dusted them with 3 tablespoons of sugar.  I coated each slice with the sugar and let it melt until it caramelized the apples.

While I was simmering the apples, I put half a cup of bread flour, 6 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, half a teaspoon of all spice, half a teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 3 tablespoons of melted butter, 2 eggs, and a pinch of salt in the kitchen aid.  It looked like a small amount of batter but I assure you, it ends up rising.

After the apples were caramelized, I placed them in the bottom of my rice cooker bowl (which I coated with an oil spray).  Yes, I arranged them because I wanted it to look pretty.

I poured the batter over the apples and made sure to coat each piece and that the batter reached the edges of the bowl.

I set the cooker to cook and when it beeped, I used a rubber spatula to loosen the edges before inverting the entire cake onto a place.  The end result was delicious!  It's definitely a repeat recipe!!!

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Upside Down Apple Spice Cake

2 apples, sliced

2 TBSP Butter (separated)

3 TBSP Melted butter

9 TBSP sugar (separated)

1/2 Cup Bread Flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1/2 tsp all spice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Slice apples into 8 slices each.  Melt 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan at medium heat.  Once melted, add apple slices.  Simmer in butter for 3 minutes each side.  Add 3 TBSP sugar and toss apples while sugar melts.  Cook until apples caramelize.  Grease a rice cooker bowl lightly with oil (recommend using a spray).  Place apples and juices in the pan into the bottom of the bowl.

Blend 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 6 TBSP sugar, 1/2 tsp all spice, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon, and a pinch of salt in a separate bowl or kitchen aid.  Mix dry ingredients together.  Add 3 TBSP melted butter.  Mix until blended.  Add 2 eggs and mix for at least 3 minutes at medium speed.  Pour over apples in the rice cooker bowl.  Make sure to fully coat the apples and that the batter touches the walls of the rice cooker bowl.

Place bowl into the rice cooker and set cooker to cook.

Once the cycle has completed, take the bowl out of the rice cooker.  Let it rest for 5 minutes before loosening the sides of the cake with a rubber spatula.  Invert cake onto a plate.  Let cake cool for 20 minutes before serving.