Broccoli and Penne Alfredo Bake

This was yesterdays Meatless Monday dish. Super quick to throw together and bake. The 4 of us pretty much devoured this entire pan full. My husband said it was the best dinner he's had in a while. Which I don't know if I totally believe that, because it was a jarred sauce. And I'm cooking some good stuff on the regular. But, Hey I'll take it! Cheers!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups cooked penne pasta
• 2 cups steamed broccoli
• 1 jar alfredo sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozz cheese
• cherry tomatoes halved
• diced green onion
• salt and pepper
• crushed red pepper flakes

In a 9x13 baking dish combine cooked pasta, broccoli and alfredo sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Add in half of the shredded cheese, crushed red pepper flakes and mix well. Top with the remainder of shredded cheese.

Cover with tinfoil. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover then broil for 2-3 minutes. 

Top with cherry tomatoes and diced green onion. 

Bacon Jalapeño Cheeseburger Melts

I've been getting really good at coming up with meals on the fly lately. Whipped this up the other night in less than an hour. The most timely thing was just cooking that bacon. I made the kids just bacon cheeseburger melts. The jalapeño ones were for the adults and they were great. Semi gourmet grilled cheeses if you will. Cheers!

INGREDIENTS:

• Bread of your choice (I use 12 grain, I think it makes the best grilled cheese)
• Butter
• Burger patties
• salt and peppet
• bacon
• cheese of your choice
• BBQ sauce
• jalapeños

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange burger patties on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with BBQ sauce. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip burgers. Bake for another 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven and place on a paper towel lined plate to dry off  (so the grilled cheese doesn't get to soggy).

Arrange bacon on another baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, until its reached the doneness you prefer. 

Place on a paper towel lined plate to drain the grease.

Build your cheeseburger melts. Cheese down on the bread then bacon and jalapeños and more cheese. 

Butter both sides of the sandwich and toast on a griddle or in a pan until browned on both sides and cheese is melted. 

Baked Chicken Fajita Tacos

At our house, Taco Tuesday is pretty much a weekly tradition. Usually it just consists of my throwing together whatever we have laying around for meat and veggies. Frying up some corn tortillas, and voila. Dinner in under an hour. This was last weeks taco creation. I love just putting everything on the counter and letting the kids choose what they want to put on their tacos. This chicken fajita bake was way to easy and way to delicious. Cheers!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound chicken breast, cut into strips
• 1 tomato cut into chunks
• 2 diced jalapeños
• 1 diced yellow pepper
• 1 diced onion
• diced green onion
• 1/2 packet of taco seasoning
• olive oil
• taco shells

Preheat oven to 350. Put chicken in baking dish and sprinkle with taco seasoning. Add in veggies and drizzle with a little olive oil. Give it a stir to combine everything. Bake for 45 minutes. When it comes out of the oven, shred the chicken with two forks. Stir to combine the shredded meat and veggies. Serve with taco shells and your choice of sides.

I love doing "cheesy beans" on the side. One can of refried beans and about 1/2 cup chunked velveeta. Microwave for 2 minutes, and stir until cheese is melted. Yum!

Carrot Cake Poke Cake

Please excuse the pictures. I had to make due with what I had after 90% of this cake was devoured on Easter. I guess that's a good thing, because you now know the recipe is good! 

I love poke cakes! They're so fun to make, and even better to eat. The addition to the pudding into the cake makes it so rich and moist. And the homemade topping is delicious! I made the cake the night before Easter and threw it in the fridge. Then Easter morning I whipped up the topping, frosted the cake - then stuck it back into the fridge until after dinner. It was the easiest Easter dessert I've ever made. Cheers!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box carrot cake mix (plus eggs, oil and water)
• 1 box (3.5 oz) instant cheesecake pudding mix
• 1 1/2 cups cold milk
• 2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (16 oz) container frozen whipped topping (thawed)
• chopped walnuts (topping)

Make carrot cake according to directions on box. Bake in a 9x13 baking dish.

When removed from oven poke holes all over the cake.

Mix pudding with cold milk, incorporate well. 

Just before it starts to thicken, pour pudding all over cake. 

With a rubber spatula spread and push pudding all over the cake into the holes.

Once the pudding has been absorbed into the cake, toss in the fridge and let sit over night.

To make the topping:

In a stand mixer cream together the cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla in and then whipped topping. Mix until fluffy and everything is combined. 

Spread over the carrot cake.

Refrigerate until ready to serve, then sprinkle walnuts on top.

Adapted from: Carrot Cake Poke Cake

Orange Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

The Hubs and I were craving orange chicken a few weeks ago. I threw this awesomeness together with what I could find in my fridge and pantry. The flavors were out of this world. I used fresh oranges and ginger, which made all of the difference to me. The combination of the ginger and orange was unreal, so go with fresh. Cheers!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 package (raw) chicken tenders
• breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• flour 
• salt and pepper
• veggie oil
• 1 small can water chestnuts (drained)
• 1/2 cup corn (I used frozen)
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic 
• juice of 2 oranges
• 3 tablespoons fresh minced ginger
• 1/2 cup orange marmalade
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon mirin 
• 1 clementine (peeled and segmented- cut each segment into bite sized pieces) 
• sesame seeds (for garnish)
• green onion (for garnish) 

Set up a breading station. One bowl flour with salt and pepper. Second with 2 beaten eggs. Third with bread crumbs. Dip each chicken tender into the flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Set aside. 

In a large skillet heat up the veggie oil over medium high heat. Fry each chicken finger about 3 minutes on each side, until cooked all the way through. Set cooked chicken aside.

Give the skillet you were using for the chicken, a little wipe with a wet towel to get some of the frying residue off. Add a little fresh veggie oil in and heat it up over medium heat. Add in the carrots, corn and water chestnuts. Sauté while we get the sauce ready.

In a sauce pan add a tiny bit of oil and heat over medium heat. Add in fresh ginger and garlic. Sauté a minute until becomes fragrant. Then add in the orange juice, marmalade, soy sauce, vinegar and mirin. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes. 

Cut your cooked chicken into bite sized pieces and add it into the skillet with the sautéed veggies. Pour the orange ginger sauce over the chicken and veggies. Add in the clementine pieces and green onion, stir to incorporate everything together. 

Serve over white rice and garnish with more green onions and sesame seeds.