First, let me tell you how this all got started. If you read the about me section, I give a little more history. But basically what happened is I was looking at pinterest one night and started pinning recipes...which is kind of funny because...I don't cook. My husband looked at my computer and laughed and asked why I pinned so many recipes when I never cook. He wasn't being rude, but I took some offense to this! I took it as a challenge and said from now on I'm going to make a pinterest recipe every night. I don't think he really thought I'd do it. He just said okay. But I've taken this challenge very seriously for the last week! What I've found is...I really ENJOY cooking! Granted I still have a lot to learn (I had to look up how to mince a clove of garlic!), but it's a fun learning experience and Chloe is having fun "helping" as much as a 6-year-old can help!
Since this challenge has started I have become even MORE obsessed with Pinterest than I already was! Yup, I'll admit it, I'm a pin-a-holic! But that's the beauty of technology! 10 years ago you'd have to take classes, buy cook books, go to the library to learn to cook. Now I can pin recipes from my phone, print them, watch youtube videos when I don't understand something and I'm good to go!
So here we go. I will post the recipe name, picture, and credit to where I originally found it. Then I will post the ingredients and directions based on how I made it, and reviews from my family. Currently, my little family lives with my parents until we are both done with school. I am in school to be an elementary school teacher and Oscar is in school to be a Pharmacist, so we have 4 people tasting and giving opinions (IF Chloe actually tastes something, it MUST be good!)
Night One: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients:
1 14 oz jar Enchilada sauce (or green verde sauce)*
2-3 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (eye-ball this to taste. We used a lot more cheese, but I didn't measure it exactly)
6 large whole wheat tortillas
1 pckg boneless, skinless chicken breast fillet (4 in pckg)
Optional:
-Rotel 1-2 cans
-Refried beans
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees -
1) Cut each fillet into smaller pieces so that it cooks faster and put into a small pot. Pour enchilada sauce (or verde sauce*) over it and cook covered on low to medium heat until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. No water is needed! The chicken will cook in the sauce. Make sure you stir occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the bottom.
2) Remove Chicken from the pot and shred with two forks.
3) Start layering the casserole. Start with about 1/4 cup of leftover sauce, cover the bottom of the baking dish (9x13 casserole dish). Then place 2 tortillas on the bottom, top with about 1/3 of the chicken and 1/3 of the remaining sauce. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese (or to taste) and repeat starting again with 2 tortillas, then chicken, sauce, cheese. (add rotel and refried beans to these layers if desired)
4) Bake for 20-30 minutes, uncovered, until bubbly and cheese has melted and started to brown on top.
This dish, made the way the original recipe said, was only so-so. However, when we reheated left overs we topped it with salsa verde and it was really good! We all agreed that the enchilada sauce on it's own didn't add much flavor and it wasn't spicy enough for a mexican dish. If I make it again, I will skip the enchilada sauce and use the salsa verde instead. I will also add refried beans and rotel to my layers to give it some more flavor.
Night Two: Baked Spaghetti
Ingredients
1 1/2 - 2 jars spaghetti sauce
1 package whole wheat spaghetti
Mozzarella and Cheddar cheeses, to taste. (The recipe says 2-3 cups...I'm not sure how much we used exactly)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1) Cook spaghetti per package instructions with just a splash of olive oil
2) Drain water and mix spaghetti with sauce and (1 cup of) cheese in a 9x13 baking dish.
3) Top with cheese
4) Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly.
This was a really good dish! We used 1 1/2 jars of sauce and all agreed it could have used just a bit more so next time I'll use 2! But other than that, it was a winner! There were no left overs :)
Night Three - Taco Skillet
I'm not going to spend much time on this one because we didn't enjoy it. We all agreed we would have rather just had normal tacos. I will say, the concept of adding pasta to the taco meat I thought was strange, but actually tasted okay! It was just mixing everything else in all in one skillet that we didn't end up liking.
Night Four - Garden Bruschetta and Pizza Casserole
This has been, hands down, the best one yet!
Pizza Casserole Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 large onion, chopped (I used red)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 1/2 (24 oz jars) marinara sauce
1 1/2 cups Rotini pasta
Mozzarella cheese (recipe says 2 1/4 cups, again, to taste)
About 4 oz Pepperoni
About 4 oz Pepperoni
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1) Brown ground turkey, onion, garlic and Italian seasoning in olive oil
2) Drain, put in 9x13 baking dish
3) Stir in cooked pasta, marinara sauce and cheese.
4) Rip up about 10 pepperonis and stir them in as well.
5) Top with cheese and pepperonis
6) Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes
Garden Bruschetta Ingredients:
4-5 tomatoes diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped fine
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper (or to taste)
1 baguette
Directions:
1) Mix all ingredients and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours (Honestly, I only let mine sit for 30 minutes and it was delicious)
2) Slice the baguette, brush with olive oil and lightly toast. Rub each side of toasted slice of baguette with a clove of garlic
3) Top with Bruschetta and enjoy!
BOTH of these recipes were extremely good. We devoured all of the bruschetta very quickly and agreed that next time we will make double (as we still had baguette left over, but no mixture!) Will definitely be making these again soon!
Night Five - Baked Honey Mustard Chicken & Spicy Potato Wedges
Ingredients:
1/4 cup ground mustard seed
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
3 tsp olive oil
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken tenderlions
salt and pepper
3-4 small sprigs of fresh rosemary
Directions:
1) Mix ground mustard seed, dijon mustard, honey, and olive oil into a small bown until smooth.
2) Put 1 tsp oil into a skillet and saute the sliced onions over medium heat until they become tender and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
3) Put onion/garlic mixture into a 9x13 baking dish with a pinch of salt and pepper.
4) Spread some of the honey mustard mixture onto the chicken and place in the pan. Place rosemary sprigs in the pan between the chicken tenderloins.
5) Cover the pan and bake for 20 minutes.
6) Remove pan, smear chicken with remaining honey mustard sauce.
7) Place pan back in oven, uncovered, for 20-30 more minutes until a brown scorch appears on chicken top.
This recipe was pretty good. Oscar and I would have preferred not to have the rosemary at all. I don't think it really added anything and it ended up getting stuck to the chicken and we just took it off lol! But my parents didn't mind it. We all agreed the spread was pretty good...I thought it was a bit too sweet and would have added less honey, but everyone else enjoyed it!
I made this one "to the book" so click the link for ingredients and directions.
We all enjoyed these! I served with a bit of lite ranch. They were spicy, but my dad and I loved them! Oscar and my mom thought they were a bit too spicy. Nevertheless, enjoyed by all :)
Whew! That's all for now! I'm not cooking tonight....Oscar is taking me out :) But Saturday nights recipe is Taco Dogs and Queso! Stay tuned :)
God Bless!
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