Chicken Pasta Salad

Chicken Pasta Salad

Most may have this in their recipe book and some may not! Either way I'm sharing it because it makes a great main dish when you add chicken, or a super quick side dish when you're out of Mac n Cheese!!
I usually add whatever veggies or cheese I have in the fridge! I always make sure I have a bottle of Italian salad dressing and a bag of bowtie pasta! Brodey loves this and will eat it after school if there are leftovers in the fridge! This is also perfect to make ahead and portion for lunches. Everyone loves this dish!

Chicken Pasta Salad

• Chicken, cubed and cooked (optional if serving as a side)
• Pasta (I prefer the bowties or spirals)
• Italian Salad Dressing
• Any kind of cheese (I love parmesan and feta)
• Cucumber (optional)
• Cherry Tomatos (optional)
• Black Olives  (optional)
• Garbanza Beans (optional if you need more protein)

Cook chicken in a little margarine (do not add salt as the salad dressing is already salty). Boil noodles according to package directions.  

While noodles are boiling and chicken is cooking, cut whatever veggies or tomatoes you have on hand. Put veggies in a bowl with about a cup of salad dressing and some cheese. (I have an awesome bigger glass mix and pour from Pampered Chef with a lid I put this in.) 

Once the chicken is cooked, add to your veggie/dressing mixture. When noodles are cooked, add those to the bowl too. Mix it all together and add more dressing to taste!

Quick Fried Rice

Quick Fried Rice

I came up with this after school meal for Brodey to eat before swim! It's really good!

You can double or even triple this and add chicken and more veggies for a super quick dinner! I make this almost every day after school for Brodey. One of his favorite meals is fried rice from In the Raw so I tried to recreate a super quick version of it!

I buy the little individual microwaveable rice cups from Harp's! You could use any kind of rice! Literally. Even day old rice! You also don't have to have all of the spices I use or the sesame oil! It just makes it taste as close as I could get to the original!

The recipe below is for one serving and how I make it quickly after school! Takes less than 10 minutes.

Quick Fried Rice

•  Microwaveable Cup of Rice (any flavor)
• Two Eggs
• Spinach (optional, bagged in lettuce section)
• Sesame Oil
• Olive Oil
• Soy Sauce
• Ground Ginger
• Pepper (no salt since we are using Soy Sauce)
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder

Heat margarine/butter, dash of sesame oil, and about half a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan. While this is heating cook your rice according to package directions. (the cups I use take one minute in the microwave)

Add spinach to the margarine along with a dash of ginger, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Cover and cook until spinach has wilted.

Stir spinach around and add the two eggs. Add a little pepper, cover, and cook just until yolks turn white.

Grab rice from microwave and when the eggs are ready mix them and chop them. Add your rice into the egg mixture so that the rice cooks into the yolks of the chopped up eggs. Sprinkle a couple of dashes of soy sauce, mix, let it heat back up for a few seconds and it's done!

Crockpot BBQ Pork Tenderloin

Crockpot BBQ Pork Tenderloin

See this down there! Ya. This will last forever in the fridge, is almost always in stock at the grocery store, and there are a million ways to cook it! Eric and Brodey's fave is baked in the oven, but I don't care for the pork taste! My fave is in the crockpot with BBQ sauce! It makes it so tender it falls apart and gets rid of the pork flavor! You can eat it on sliders, hamburger buns, or just with some good 'ole mashed potatoes!
Total cook time is around 3 to 3.5 hours.

Crockpot BBQ Pork Tenderloin

• Pork Tenderloin (Plain unflavored, one feeds at least 4 adults)
• Package of Kilbasa Skinless Sausage (optional but the boys LOVE it)
• Bell Peppers, sliced (any color)
• Half an onion, sliced
• BBQ Sauce

Add the sliced bell peppers to the bottom of the crockpot. Add onions on top of the peppers. Slice the pork into two inch wide pieces (about where I have my finger in the photo). Place them right side up in the crockpot on top of the veggies. Slowly pour the BBQ sauce onto the pieces of pork. I say slowly because it will coat the meat better that way! Cover and cook on high for two hours.
After two hours, add more BBQ sauce to the pork. Take your sausage out of the package and cut in half. Make tiny little slices to the top of the sausage, not very deep, and place in crockpot on top of pork. Slowly pour BBQ sauce over sausage. Cover and cook at least another hour or until internal temp of pork reaches at least 145 degrees.
You can eat as is with sides or on sliders!

Easy Salsa

Easy Salsa

This recipe is modified from my mother-in-law's version! It is the BEST, in my opinion!
Very easy to modify taste wise to what you fam likes! Just keep tasting it and adding small amounts of what you think it needs! This is usually lime juice, pepper, onion powder, or garlic powder! Don't be scared to make this! It keeps FOREVER in the fridge and freezer! Store in mason jars too!
You will need a food processor for this! It doesn't have to be fancy! But it needs to hold at least 5 cups!

Easy Salsa

• 10oz can Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
• 14.5oz can Diced Tomatoes
• One bunch of fresh cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped
• Half of a purple onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 limes
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Salt and Pepper
• Chips (duh)

Add the onion to the food processor. On top of that add cilantro, Ro-Tel, diced tomatoes, and the juice from two and a half limes. Add seasonings, light on the salt. 

Process until it's all combined. Pause and taste. Add seasonings and more lime juice to taste! Remember a little goes a long way!

Process until texture is how you like it! We like our's very combined, but some like it more chunky!

Broccoli Rice (Stovetop version)

This is Brodey's number one most requested meal. It's his all time favorite! (He'll eat anything that contains rice lol) My mom used to make this all the time! It's probably the fastest meal I can make. Start to finish 15-20 minutes.

Broccoli Rice

• Broccoli in the bag you can steam OR fresh broccoli
• Chicken, cubed
• Velveeta Cheese
•  White Minute Rice
• One can of Cream of Celery Soup OR Cream of Chicken(make sure it is for cooking and not ready to eat)
• About 1/2 cup of chopped onions (totally optional)
• Seasonings: onion powder, garlic powder, pepper

Heat butter/margarine, seasonings, and cook chicken and onions in a large skillet (at least 10 inches better if it's 12). While your chicken is cooking, boil two servings of rice according to package directions and steam broccoli. 

Once chicken is cooked, add the can of Cream of Celery soup. Also add about three or four half inch chick slices of velveeta cheese to mixture. Cover and cook on low to melt and combine cheese.

Slowly add broccoli to mixture and combine until you have enough broccoli added, but it's not too dry. (Broccoli tends to absorb liquids) If the rice is done, slowly add it to the dish until it's throughout, but not super dry. You might have some rice leftover, but that's ok! You can add more, but you can't take it away!

Add a few more slices of Velveeta and cook on low, covered, until the Velveeta is melted and combined! Add more Velveeta and seasoning to taste! Usually I know I've added enough when the color is very slightly yellow!

We love this with hot rolls and a salad!

Easy Chili

Easy Chili

This is a modified version of the Pioneer Woman's recipe! Very easy and very flavorful!! You can ALWAYS add more seasonings until it tastes how you want it to taste! Also, I have used whatever beans I had in the cabinet on many occasions! I even used Garbonzo beans and they were SO good in it!
I eat it with cheese, Eric eats it with saltines, and Bro eats it as Frito Chili Pie!

Easy Chili

• 2lbs Ground Beef (I prefer the less fat at least 90%)
• One 14oz can of tomato sauce
• One 10oz can of Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
• One 14oz can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• One 14oz can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed 
• 1/4 cup masa harina (corn flour, usually in the hispanic section or bottom row of flower section)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons chili powder (or more to taste)
• 1/2 a cup or so of chopped onion (optional but enhances flavor)
• Onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper to taste

In a stock pot, saute butter/margarine, chopped onions, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper until onions are translucent. Add ground beef, oregano, cumin, and chili powder, and cook until browned. Drain off fat if needed. 

Add tomato sauce and Ro-Tel. Stir, cover pot, and heat on low. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

Add beans, stir, cover, and simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Mix your masa and warm water in a bowl to make a paste. Add this to the chili and stir to combine. Simmer to make it thick for about 10 minutes. 

Taste and add more seasoning if needed! Specifically onion and garlic powder!

Serve however you like! 

Easy Tortellini Soup

This is a recipe I came up with before Harp's built the new store! They had these packages of cheese tortellini in the cold section and I thought....Ill bet that would make a good soup! I looked up several simple tortellini soup recipe on Pinterest and came up with this one! The boys request it about every other week! Also, the leftovers get better and better!

• You can substitute refrigerated tortellini for the bag of tortellini in the pasta section. BUT you need to rinse it before adding it to the soup! The preservatives will make it way too salty if you just add it without rinsing it! It will still be good!!! Just do NOT add salt and RINSE it!

Easy Tortellini Soup

• Chicken Breasts (thawed)
• Tortellini (refrigerated OR bagged in the pasta section)
• Squash and Zucchini (fresh cubed)
• Lemons (one and a half or more to taste)
• 24oz Jar of your favorite pasta sauce (yes any pasta sauce)
• 32oz Chicken Broth
• 2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes (optional but adds rich flavor)
• 2 Bay Leaves (optional but adds flavor)
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Pepper
• Italian Seasoning (optional but adds flavor)
• Butter or Margarine (I always use Country Crock)

In a large stock pot, heat margarine and begin to sauté squash and zucchini with listed seasonings. Cook until veggies just start to become transparent on the edges. Add a tiny bit of the chicken broth(maybe half a cup) and lemon juice, and cook veggies for about 5 minutes longer. 

Add in the rest of the chicken broth, whole jar of pasta sauce, bouillon cubes, and a few slices of lemon. Cook until boiling while you slice your chicken breasts into 1/3's. 

Once boiling, carefully add your chicken breasts. While the chicken cooks, boil your tortellini in a separate pot. 

Once your chicken is cooked, take it out of the soup with tongs and shred(or cut up it doesn't matter). Add back to the pot until its lightly boiling again. Add tortellini and the rest of the lemon juice. Cook until thoroughly heated! Enjoy with french bread and a salad!