Bacon, Ranch, and Chicken Mac and Cheese

Ummmm...bacon and ranch in mac and cheese? Catches your eye doesn't it? It did mine when I was flipping through a Cooking Light magazine at my mom's recently. I stopped subscribing to it because I don't like the new layout. I was sad to stop taking it as I've gotten it since 2003 or 2004, but I just didn't dig it. Plus my mom gets it, so I might as well read hers and then go to the website and email myself the recipes I liked from it. I'm quite the money saver, can't you tell?

Anyway, I'm pretty much a sucker for mac and cheese to begin with, then when I saw bacon in the title it was a done deal that my family would be having this for dinner at some point. When the boy asked what we were having for dinner the night I made this, and I told him "mac and cheese" he responded with, "Oh boy! My favorite!!" What can I say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Bacon, Ranch, and Chicken Mac and Cheese

8 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
1 slice applewood-smoked bacon
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
1/3 cup condensed 45% reduced-sodium 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded six-cheese Italian blend (such as Sargento)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded colby-Jack cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.
2. Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings in pan. Finely chop bacon; set aside. Increase heat to medium-high. Add chicken to drippings in pan; sauté 6 minutes or until done.
3. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat; sprinkle flour evenly into pan. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly with a whisk. Combine milk and soup, stirring with a whisk; gradually add milk mixture to saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thick. Remove from heat; let stand 4 minutes or until sauce cools to 155°. Add Italian cheese blend, onion powder, garlic powder, dill, and salt, stirring until cheese melts. Stir in pasta and chicken.
4. Preheat broiler.
5. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with reserved bacon and colby-Jack cheese. Broil 3 minutes or until cheese melts.

Nutritional Information
Calories:497
Fat:17g (sat 9.2g,mono 4.7g,poly 1.4g)
Protein:33.3g
Carbohydrate:51.7g
Fiber:2g
Cholesterol:74mg
Iron:2.4mg
Sodium:767mg
Calcium:368mg

*****

My family loves bacon. Generations of my family have loved bacon, as have generations of my husband's family (or at least his parents do, so I'm assuming it goes back longer than that), so when I read this only called for one piece I figured that just wouldn't do. Kind of like I always add more cheese than what is called for. I figured a second slice wouldn't hurt anything, so I cooked up two. As soon as my guys smelled bacon cooking all three of them were in the kitchen. I damn near had to smack their hands. Just kidding--about the hand smacking, they did all come in asking for bacon, but I told them it was for dinner. I also didn't use the canned cream of whatever soup because I've vowed to stop buying it because it's really nasty stuff. Or at least the ingredients in it are nasty. I try to stick to a rule of "if I can't pronounce it, I shouldn't eat it" when it comes to buying food. In the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow cookbook, Stephanie O'Dea has a recipe for cream of whatever soup you can make yourself and substitute for the canned stuff that's really easy to put together. You can find the recipe on her blog here.

Because I had to make my own cream of whatever soup and needed to make a separate roux for the mac and cheese, this took a little longer than I thought it would, but it all worked out in the end. I didn't have colby jack cheese to use, so I used some shredded cheddar instead.

This was yummy!!! I ended up adding in a little too much dill (I go a little crazy with fresh dill because I heart it so), but it wasn't too overpowering. Just stick with what's listed in the recipe!! If I recall correctly (and I'm pretty sure I do in looking over what else we've eaten recently), the husband had thirds and kept going back for little bites until he had finished off the pan. So, we liked it. The boy and baby liked it, too. This is definitely something I'll make again, I'll just have to plan my time out a little better.

Easy Chop Suey

How's this for back on track...new recipes, posting daily. I guess I shouldn't brag on it too much in case it doesn't last.

I was flipping through a Betty Crocker vegetarian cookbook I have to get ideas for dinners this week and saw this one for Easy Chop Suey. I had most of the ingredients and had just bought veggie sausage at Costco. I've made other recipes from this cookbook and really liked them, so hopefully this one is a success too.

Easy Chop Suey

Cooking spray
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 cups frozen sausage-style soy-protein crumbles
1/3 cup uncooked regular long-grain rice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup reduces sodium soy sauce
2 cups water
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 bag (1 lb) frozen seven-vegetable stir-fry, tahwed
4 cups crisp chow mein noodles

Spray 4 to 5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Generously spray 12-inch skillet with cooking spray. Add onion and celery; generously spray with cooking spray. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until crisp-tender. Stir in remaining ingredients except stir-fry vegetables and noodles. Spoon into slow cooker.

Cover; cook on low 6-7 hours.

Stir in stir-fry vegetables. Increase heat setting to High. Cover; cook about 15 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Serve with noodles.

*****

Once I got this all together I really wasn't sure how it's going to turn out. I went and saw my friend Jen and her new babies today and was telling her about it. I said it's either going to be awesome or gross and we'll need to go get pizza for dinner, I don't think there's going to be any halfway on this one. Even know I'm still not sure how it's going to be, and it's been in the slow cooker for 5.5 hours. It actually looks pretty done, so I may go ahead and add in the veggies. I'm starving, so I really hope this isn't totally nasty.

Oh, and since I've sworn off canned soups (have you ever read the ingredients for cream of mushroom soup?! Gross!!), I made my own. What?!, you may be asking. She made her own cream of mushroom soup? I did. It was really easy. I was looking through the Make it Fast, Cook it Slow slow cooker cookbook and saw that she had a recipe in there for an alternative you make yourself. It's really more like a quick little cream sauce, but I chopped up some mushrooms, sauteed them and tossed them in the mix so it would be slightly more authentic. I'm so ridiculously excited to have found a substitute for the nasty canned stuff. I really don't like to eat foods that have ingredients I have to struggle to pronounce.

Interested in making your own cream of whatever soup? Check out the Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe on the Year of Slow Cooking blog. She has the ingredients and instructions listed with that.

*****

Did you know that Domino's Pizza is having a two medium two topping pizza for $5.99 each special right now? Guess how I found out...that's what we had for dinner. I tasted this before putting the vegetables in, and all I could taste were the veggie grounds. The husband said the texture was weird--I think partly because the sausage broke down so much it was like mushy rice with veggie sausage particles. I decided to save the bag of stir-fry veggies for another use and went to my UDBP (universal dinner back-up plan): pizza.

Three Cheese Pasta Skillet

What a crazy week it's been, yet somehow it's gone by SO SLOW. I think it's moved slowly in anticipation of the husband being home for four days. The husband is out for the night with a friend, so I figured I'd update my blog since I've once again fallen behind. I'm hoping to have better time management skills in the new year. And a cleaner house, but that's a story for another time.

I'm not sure if I've ever posted this recipe on here. I used to make it pretty often when it was just the husband and me. I'm not sure why I quit, other than that I'm trying to not used processed foods, and cream of mushroom soup is high on the list of processed foods. I had extra french fried onions from the green bean casserole at Thanksgiving #2, so I thought this would be a good way to use them up. Plus I figured it was kid-friendly which I always like since it means no fights at dinner. The recipe was from the Campbell's website.

Three Cheese Pasta Skillet

3 cups uncooked corkscrew-shaped pasta
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
OR Campbell's® Condensed 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup water
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup shredded two-cheese blend
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (2.8 oz.) French's® French Fried Onions

1.COOK pasta according to pkg. directions. Drain.
2.MIX soup, water, pepper, cheeses and 2/3 cup onions in skillet. Heat to a boil.
3.ADD pasta and top with remaining onions. Cover and cook over low heat 2 min. or until hot.

*****

I add chicken when I make it, dice up two chicken breasts and cook them, then remove them from the skillet and start at step two, adding the chicken back in with the pasta. Although reading the recipe now I realized I didn't put the water in. Oops. We all really liked it, the baby had two or three helpings.

This isn't something I'll continue to make very often because of the cream of mushroom soup and the french fried onions--both of which I rarely have on hand--but it worked out great since I did have everything for it, and it comes together really easily, which is always a plus!

Chicken Spectacular

Neither of my kids are napping today like they were supposed to, so this is going to be really short. Years ago when I was doing Weight Watchers I stumbled across a WW recipe website that had a ton of great recipes on it. This was one I printed off, and we've loved it ever since. It's one of my most favorite casserole recipes. Have I mentioned I'm on a casserole and crockpot kick lately? I don't know why, maybe because dinner time has been so crazy lately I want something easy in an effort to make things slightly calmer. Anyway, I had originally planned on roasting a chicken on Thursday night (the baby's birthday) and then using the leftover chicken meat to make this casserole tomorrow night. But, I got too excited at the idea of having this casserole because we haven't had it in forever, so I changed it around and just cooked up some chicken breasts to use for it.

Chicken Spectacular

By the way, it's 8 points per serving. I have a hard time sticking to just one serving though. ;)

Pot Roast

The husband's best friend is here visiting from Mississippi for the weekend. I haven't seen him in years, so I didn't want to be stuck in the kitchen working on dinner, so I put a pot roast in the crock pot. I always love pot roast, and it's so easy I figured it was a good way to go. I bought some yummy looking rolls and am going to make a big salad to go with it.

The boys and I (along with my mom) are heading to Boise tomorrow for the weekend for my best friend's baby shower. (Hi, Brooke!! One more sleep!!) I'm in charge of the food for her baby shower, so I may at some point post all the recipes we're doing for that. Anyway, yet another reason I wanted something easy tonight since I need to pack and get us all ready to go. It's really amazing how much crap you have to take with you with two kids--even for just a weekend!

Here's the link to my pot roast recipe:

Claire's Pot Roast

Have you ever looked at the ingredients for cream of mushroom soup? I think I'm pretty done using it, after I use the can in my pantry. I'm reading a really interesting book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan. I highly suggest reading it if you have any interest at all in healthy eating. Anyway, it makes me want to do away with all processed foods of any sort. Really I've been able to cut down on them quite a bit to the point where I rarely buy them, but I'm trying to be completely done with them. Sorry for the mini rant...I'll step down off my soap box now and get back to hanging out with the husband and his friend.

Pot Roast

Originally I had planned on having this Wednesday, but I kept forgetting to take the roast out of the freezer. Turns out it didn't matter as I forgot to take it out for Thursday, too. But I figured if I put it in the crockpot early enough it wouldn't matter.

Claire's Crockpot Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast (I think that's the cut I was using)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and in chunks
4-5 carrots, peeled and in chunks
1 envelope onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place peeled and chunked potatoes and carrots in the bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top. Sprinkle onion soup over roast and vegetables. Pour can of soup over roast and vegetables. Cook on low 7-8 hours.

*****

I heart pot roast. I heart it a lot, which is funny because I don't think I really liked eating it as a kid. Maybe part of it is that I appreciate the ease at which this comes together. I put a frozen, two-pound roast in the crockpot around 8:30 yesteday morning I think it was, and we ate dinner at 6:00. It was perfectly done. I love to just pour spoonfuls of the sauce/gravy over my whole plate. My only disappointment is that there wasn't enough meat leftover to make shepherd's pie. We'll be having this again in the near future because I came across two roasts in the freezer from August. This was one of them, and I want to get the other one used up quickly too. Actually I may try to do something else with it--branch out a little, expand my roast horizons and all that.

Tater Tot Casserole

this is one of my most favorite meals ever!!! My mom went to a sewing expo not far from my house last week. I invited her for dinner one night, but she said she was just going to head home. The next day she asked what we were having. :) I had originally planned on making this that night, but I got those ahi tuna steaks at Trader Joe's and switched things up. So I told her I'd make it one night this week and she could come for dinner then. She comes over once a week and stays with the kids so I can go grocery shopping alone. Isn't she a saint?! My mom's awesome. So, she's going to come over this afternoon and then just stay for dinner. I love this casserole because it's easy to throw together and so super tasty. Seriously, it's been one of my favorites since I was little.

Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb ground beef
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Cheddar cheese--sliced or shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Tater Tots

In an 11x7 pan, crumble or spread ground beef. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder on top of beef. Cover with sliced or shredded Cheddar cheese (NOT American cheese...real cheddar). Spread can of cream of mushroom soup over the cheese layer (this can be tricky business if you've used shredded cheese). Top with tater tots. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, uncovering for last 30 minutes. Or bake at 375 for one hour, uncovering for last 30 minutes.

*****

Mmmmm. Yum. I can't wait for dinner. I like to eat mine with ketchup. I usually use shredded cheese because that's what I always have on hand, but it's much easier with slices. Actually I have a big block of cheddar cheese in the fridge, so maybe I'll slice some of that up to use instead of the shredded. We'll have some kind of vegetable on the side--maybe green beans.

Three Cheese Pasta Skillet

My goal this week had been to use up stuff we had on hand. I found a container of french fried onions in my pantry and remembered this recipe. I used to make it all the time, but I think it's been years since we've had it. I used to get recipes emailed to me from the Campbell's Soup website, and this was one of them. It sounds really yummy to me which is good since not much does. And it's easy to throw together.

Three-Cheese Pasta Skillet
3 cups uncooked corkscrew pasta
1 can Campbell's® Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup water
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 cup shredded two-cheese blend
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (2.8 oz.) French's® French Fried Onions

Directions:
COOK pasta according to pkg. directions. Drain.
MIX soup, water, pepper, cheeses and 2/3 cup onions in skillet. Heat to a boil.
ADD pasta and top with remaining onions. Cover and cook over low heat 2 min. or until hot.

*****

I like to add some cooked, diced chicken to it as well. I usually cook the chicken first, then do the sauce once the chicken is done. I don't think I have quite enough corkscrew pasta, but I have some partial bags of other pastas I'm going to use. Mix things up a bit and all.

Pot Roast

I've been MIA for a few days but with good reason--I've been laid up in bed with a nasty cold. I don't know if it's the same one the husband had last week, but it's no fun. I started feeling sick on Wednesday afternoon, yesterday my saint of a mom came and took the boy for the day and kept him overnight. It was so nice to spend the whole day and most of today just laying in bed. I heart my bed so much.

Anyway, before I started feeling under the weather I had put a pot roast in the crockpot on Wednesday morning, which worked out great since the cold had totally hit me by dinner time. I found a roast in the freezer that needed to be used, and I love a good pot roast.

Claire's Crockpot Pot Roast
2-3 lb. chuck roast (I think that's the cut I was using)
3-4 potatoes, peeled and in chunks
4-5 carrots, peeled and in chunks
1 envelope onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup

Place peeled and chunked potatoes and carrots in the bottom of crockpot. Place roast on top. Sprinkle onion soup over roast and vegetables. Pour can of soup over roast and vegetables. Cook on low 7-8 hours.

*****

My roast was still a little frozen when I put it in the crockpot, and I think I had it in there for 8-9 hours. I have to say I think it was one of the best pot roasts I've made. Not sure if it's because the meat was still a little frozen or what, but it was really tasty. To check doneness, I usually stick a meat thermometer in the roast to make sure it's done and check to make sure the potatoes are cooked all the way too. There are few things grosser than half-cooked potatoes. Okay, there are probably a lot of things grosser, but they're definitely not good.

Tater Tot Casserole

It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that we haven't had this in FOREVER. Like, seriously forever. I don't even know if it's on the blog, it's been that long. This is one of the casseroles my mom would make when I was little and my folks weren't that well off. Kind of poor people food, but it's awfully good. She refused to make it for a long time, and I remembered it in college or shortly after I graduated, and I've been making it ever since. We were going to have it last night, but we ended up running to Walmart, and by the time we'd get home it was going to be too late to start it, so we just got one of their take and bake pizzas instead. Incidently, their pizzas aren't that bad, and they're pretty reasonably priced.

Tater Tot Casserole
1 lb ground beef
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Cheddar cheese--sliced or shredded
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Tater Tots

In an 11x7 pan, crumble or spread ground beef. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder on top of beef. Cover with sliced or shredded Cheddar cheese (NOT American cheese...real cheddar). Spread can of cream of mushroom soup over the cheese layer (this can be tricky business if you've used shredded cheese). Top with tater tots. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, uncovering for last 30 minutes. Or bake at 375 for one hour, uncovering for last 30 minutes.

*****

You can use regular onion instead of onion powder, I just hate chopping up onions and opt for the easy way out. My mom always slices up cheese when she makes this, but I usually have shredded on hand and go with that. Slices are definitely easier than the shredded.

Personally I like a little ketchup on my plate to dip it in, but not everyone goes for that.

Chicken Casserole Surprise

I forgot to post this last night after I made it. Darn, and I had been doing so well this week! I had planned on making something slightly different but when it came time to start dinner, I realized I didn't have some of the ingredients. Oops. So I came up with this all on my own.

Chicken Casserole Surprise
2-3 cups cooked chicken
1 can green beans (or half a bag of frozen, defrosted)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 box Stove Top, prepared per pacakage directions

Preheat oven to 375. Mix together chicken, green beans, soup, and cheese. Spread in 11x7 casserole dish. Top with Stove Top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

*****

Pretty easy. It was really good, too. I didn't really know how long to bake it for, so I started with 20 minutes and checked it every five minutes from there. The boy didn't really eat it, but he's had a fever off and on for the past couple days, so his eating habits have been a bit unusual. The husband and I both really liked it. And it didn't make an insane amount, so we won't be eating it for days and days.

I won't be posting for a few days...I don't have to make dinner again until Sunday!! Tonight I'm going out with some friends, tomorrow is the husband's last day at his current job so he's going to happy hour with friends, and Saturday he's playing golf and won't be home until after dinner. I guess technically I'll be making something for the boy and me, but it won't be anything fancy. So, enjoy the long weekend, and I'll be back on Sunday!

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti

Here's another recipe from my new favorite website, ThePioneerWoman.com. I was going to make a chicken enchilada casserole but then saw this recipe and realized most of the stuff for that could go into this instead. Plus I forgot to buy tortillas, so it all worked out. And it will give us leftovers for lunch over the weekend!

Pioneer Woman Chicken Spaghetti
2 cups cooked chicken
2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely diced green pepper
1/2 cup finely diced onion
1-4 oz jar diced pimentos, drained
3 cups dry spaghetti, broken into two inch pieces
2 cups reserved chicken broth from pot
1 teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 additional cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup sharp cheddar. Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil.)

*****

I had some shredded chicken in my freezer, so I'm just using that instead of cooking chicken for it. And I forgot to buy pimentos, so I'm going to cut up some roasted red peppers. I really don't know how they're different.