Lasagna Soup

I always forget to take a picture until after we eat.  Thank you google images once again.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound hamburger (you can use sausage as well in place of the hamburger)
1 small onion, chopped
1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (32-ounce) container chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 ounces broken whole-wheat lasagna noodles (about 4 noodles)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 T. dried basil
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick sauce-pot or Dutch oven. Add the hamburger, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the hamburger is  browned, 8 – 10 minutes. 

Add the broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, salt, and crushed red pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are blended, about 20 minutes. Add the noodles; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens slightly and the noodles are tender, 10 – 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in mozzarella, basil, and the Parmesan.  (whole-wheat lasagna noodles take a little longer to cook.)

Italian Salad

This is my first time posting a recipe on this blog... although I've had access for a long time now and have enjoyed everyone else's recipes... I finally decided that I might give this a try! My camera is just a point and shoot so my pictures won't be that good, but oh well. This is a salad that my family just loves! It goes great as a side with so many dishes. We ate it last night with pizza. And the best part is, you don't have to measure the ingredients, you can just add as much as you like of each one. I wish I had taken a picture before I dumped everything on the salad so you could see them separate but oh well.

 First I started with some romaine lettuce and then added to that chopped olives, tomatoes, bacon, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Then I pour over the top Bernstein's "Restaurant Recipe Italian" dressing and toss it up.

This is what it looked like all tossed.  Yumm!

Italian salad:
Romaine lettuce (or any kind you like)
Chopped Olives
Diced tomatoes
4-6 slices of bacon (chopped)
Freshly grated parmesan chz.
Tossed with your favorite Italian dressing! Enjoy!

Chicken Broccoli Supreme

I found this recipe off Pinterest, and another friend's blog.  It was delicious!  The picture is courtesy of google images because I forgot to take a picture:)  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

1-lb fresh or frozen broccoli.  Break in pieces and steam for 2 minutes

3 cups cooked chicken – Break up into small pieces

1 tube Ritz crackers

½ cube melted butter

2 ½ cups grated cheddar cheese

SAUCE:

1/3 C. Butter melted

¼ C. Cornstarch, dissolved in ½ C. COLD water

1/3 C. Chicken Broth

¼ tsp. Salt

¼ tsp. Pepper

2 Cups Milk

1 ½ cups cheddar cheese

Directions:  In greased 9x13 pan, layer the broccoli and chicken, then set aside. In saucepan over medium heat, combine the melted butter, cornstarch dissolved in water, chicken broth, seasonings, and milk. Stir well, and continue stirring until sauce has thickened. Turn heat down to low, and add 1- 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese. Stir until melted.  Pour sauce over the chicken and broccoli and top with the remaining 1 cup of grated cheddar cheese.

Crush the Ritz crackers in a Ziploc bag.  Don’t crush too small.  Add the crumbs to the melted butter.  Sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the grated cheese.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.  

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

I found this recipe at Our Best Bites. I changed it just barely by using a real onion (I use white onino and leave out the green onion from the original recipe) and real garlic instead of the powder. Also, I forgot to use the lime juice the first time and the second time I didn't have any, but it was still great. LOVE these and so does my family. I don't really like them with flour tortillas, but Kylee doesn't like corn so I do a couple flour ones just for her and Dylan.

1/2 onion, chopped small
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 C shredded cooked chicken (I like to put chicken tenders in the crockpot for a few hours so they are all ready when I start to make dinner and they are tender and yummy)
1 C grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil in a small pot. Add cream cheese and green salsa and stir so cheese can melt. Add seasonings, lime juice, cilantro, chicken and pepperjack and mix together. Warm tortillas in microwave using a wet paper towel. You have to warm them or they will not roll well and they won't stay rolled. Scoop some of the chicken mixture (about 3 T or as much as you like) onto the bottom third of the tortilla and roll up tight. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Make sure they are not touching each other. Spray taquitos with Pam and sprinkle with salt (gives it the deep fried taste). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are crisp and edges are starting to brown. Serve with salsa and guacamole. Or just mash up an avocado and mix it with some sour cream. Yum!