Category Archives: Main Dishes

Lasagna Roll-ups

Posted in Food and Drink, Freezer Meals, Main Dishes, Pasta, So easy even Julie can do it! by

I kept seeing this dish on Pinterest and was dying to try it, but I convinced myself it looked too complicated and time-consuming.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  I honestly think in some ways it’s easier than the regular lasagna casserole.

The main benefit of this recipe is that you can freeze the leftovers, or you can freeze the rolls before putting them into the oven.  Either way, they turn out great and you get the coveted two meals out of one cooking session.

The other benefit may be just me being picky, but when I’ve made lasagna in the past, the edges get so crispy that they’re hard to chew.  That might be a personal problem with my cooking method, but with these I did not have that issue.

The main thing to pay attention to is letting the noodles dry after boiling.  This takes a little patience, but luckily I had the time to spare this past weekend!

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 box of lasagna noodles, boiled
  • 15 oz. ricotta cheese
  • 1 pkg. frozen spinach, thawed
  • 1 jar spaghetti sauce
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Boil noodles according to package directions.  Allow noodles to dry completely by spreading them out on cookie sheets or wax paper.

Meanwhile, mix ricotta cheese and thawed spinach.

Pour one cup of tomato sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish.  Reserve the rest for topping.

Once noodles have dried, spread ricotta/spinach mixture across.  Roll up like a fruit roll-up!  Place in bottom of casserole dish, making sure the noodle rolls aren’t touching.  Top with remaining tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 350 covered with foil for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts.

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Shepherd’s Pie

Posted in Food and Drink, Jim's Specialties, Main Dishes by

This is one of my favorite meals when the weather is getting cool!  It’s so hearty and delicious.  It almost didn’t happen this week.  My friend decided that we were going to do a modified version of the Food Network show Chopped.  He asked my boyfriend to pick out a random ingredient and let us come up with a recipe around it.

Some friends gave my boyfriend some ground venison, so we brought it over to his house as the “mystery ingredient.”  I wanted to make spaghetti bolognese, but I was outnumbered.  In the end I was glad because it couldn’t have been better.

It was a fun game to play too.  The premise of the show is that the contestants are given a basket of food and have to create a dish out of whatever is in it.  Half the time they don’t even know what all the ingredients are (the Rocky Mountain oysters episode comes to mind…)  They end up making appetizer, main dish and dessert, eliminating a contestant with each round.  The one ingredient game tonight was just to see if it worked, but I think it would be fun to have someone else make an entire basket.

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs. ground lamb or venison
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 3 celery stalks, chopped
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/4 cup red wine (optional)
  • 2 lb. red potatoes
  • 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 Tbs. olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.

Saute meat of your choice in a skillet until cooked through (about ten minutes.)  Add carrots, celery and shallot.  Saute until softened.  Add garlic, saute one minute.  Add tomato sauce and red wine.  Stir and allow to simmer while potatoes finish.

Meanwhile, boil red potatoes in a large pot until softened, about twenty minutes.  Drain and mash.  You can add butter if desired, but it’s not necessary.

Place meat mixture in the bottom of a round casserole dish.  Add mashed potatoes to the top.  Top with shredded Parmesan.  Bake at 400 for one hour.  Cheese will be melted, and casserole will be bubbly.

Not a pretty picture… but so tasty!

 

Dr. Seuss Themed Baby Shower

Posted in Appetizers, Desserts, Drinks, Food and Drink, Main Dishes by

My best friend is having a baby in December, so we planned a Dr. Seuss themed party for her!  The menu included everything Seuss- from Green Eggs and Ham to Cat and the Hat cupcakes.

My favorite touch was adding a rhyme next to all the food items so that the food was identified.  I had fun making up the rhymes, and included some quotes from the books and finished it out to fit whatever food item I needed.  Everything was made in a Word document, and I copied and pasted some pictures from the Internet.  I’ve included the rhymes at the bottom of the post, so feel free to use them if you want!

The food included meatballs, pigs in a blanket, veggies, cupcakes, cookies, fruit snack/marshmallow kabobs.

I didn’t get any pictures of the meatballs, but they were so good, I want to include the recipe here!

Ingredients:

  • 2 (16 oz.) packages meatballs
  • 1 jar (8 oz.) grape jelly
  • 1 jar 16 oz.) spaghetti sauce

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in crock pot.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  Switch to keep warm setting on crock pot and serve using tooth picks straight out of it.

All the food laid out on the table!

We had a separate table for all the drinks and gifts!

We used my recipe for Deviled Eggs and added food coloring to make them green.  I liked them a lot, but I think others were pretty skeptical about the coloring.

Cat in the Hat Cupcakes made from chewy Lifesavers, white frosting and half an Oreo!

Cute drink pitchers my friend’s sister-in-law made!

We got our invitations from this Etsy distributor and they turned out perfectly.  She will customize your order, and I got lots of comments on how colorful they were!

Here are most of the rhymes I used for the party.  Some of them are direct quotes from the books, while others take  lines from the book and then I made up the rest to fit the food item.

Green Eggs and Ham: I like them, I do!  Green eggs and ham for you, and you, and you!

Cat in the Hat cupcakes: If you haven’t had a cupcake today, you should, because cupcakes are fun, and fun is good!

Fruit bite hats (similar to the toppings on the cupcakes, but on skewers): Snack, snack, eat a snack, eat a snack of fruit bite hats!  (Adapted from Hop on Pop)

Meatballs: Big J, little j, what begins with J?  Jelly Jordan’s jelly jar and jam MEATBALLS begin that way! (Adapted from Dr. Seuss’s ABC’s)

Pigs in a Blanket: For Liz’s shower, we’ll have some fun, and eat hot dogs rolled up in buns!

Bowl of Goldfish: One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish, GOLD FISH!

Me with the beautiful mom-to-be!

Kitchen Sink Casserole

Posted in Food and Drink, Main Dishes by

I was trying to think of what to call this recipe, and this came to mind because it has everything I had extra in my pantry, so essentially everything but the kitchen sink.  Basically, it’s made up of things that most people have in their pantry on hand, so it’s an inexpensive, easy weeknight meal.  It tastes great to, so that’s just a bonus!

On top of being easy and affordable, it’s healthy too.  I modified the recipe this is based off of to include ground turkey instead of ground beef and significantly less cheese.  Those are two substitutions I’ve found that do not reduce the quality of your meal, but increase the healthy-factor.  Turkey tastes practically the same as beef, with the exception of maybe meatloaf.

When I found out I was lactose intolerant at age 18 I was pretty much devastated.  All of my favorite foods have cheese in them!  One thing I’ve learned over the past ten(ish) years is that being lactose intolerant does not necessarily mean I cannot enjoy dairy sometimes.  It just means that I have to use it in moderation.  I’ve learned that I can enjoy three bites of ice cream and get the same feeling of satisfaction as eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s without the belly ache.

To get to my point, this recipe initially called for a ridiculous amount of cheese.  I just cut that down to one cup, and I don’t feel like I sacrificed flavor at all.  Sure, there are some meals that have to have cheese in order to be good, but I just save those for when I’m cooking for others so I can have a few bites and move onto something dairy-free.

So, this recipe is healthy, easy and inexpensive.  Unfortunately, it is not pretty so I don’t recommend making it for anyone other than the people you cook for everyday.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. ground turkey
  • 2 small yellow onions, chopped
  • 1 10 oz. package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
  • 3 cups cooked rice
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 cups tomato sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Saute turkey, garlic and onions in a pan over medium until cooked through.  Place in a greased casserole dish.  Mix spinach, 1/2 cup cheese and rice together, and stir into turkey.

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt and pepper.  Stir into turkey/rice mixture.  Bake 30 minutes, covered with foil.

Remove from oven.  Take foil off and top with tomato sauce and remaining 1/2 cup cheese.  Return to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Ricotta, Parmesan and Tomato Pizza

Posted in Food and Drink, Jim's Specialties, Main Dishes by

This recipe is another one of Jim’s Specialties.  I got to go over to his house and help him make it this past weekend, and it was so good!  The cheeses blended into the crust perfectly and created a light, flaky crust that was even better than using tomato sauce as the base.

I also got to learn exactly how to roll out pizza dough and keep the air bubbles intact.  Jim described rolling the pin over the dough as “angels kissing” which I thought was a pretty interesting way to explain.  He meant to convey touching the dough lightly, but it didn’t necessarily help me touch the dough lightly because I burst out laughing and leaned forward into the dough.  Oh well, it’s a beautiful image nonetheless.

While this is a more time consuming process than calling your local pizza place, it is worth the effort!  It was perfection!  I can’t wait to try it again on my own and see if I can make angels kiss properly.

Ingredients:

  • fresh, pre-made  pizza dough
  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup mushrooms
  • 2 tomatoes, sliced
  • 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 small onion, sliced

Directions:

Begin by caramelizing onions.  Do this by heating olive oil over medium in a skillet.  Use about one teaspoon olive oil per onion.  Add chopped onions and coat, allowing them to saute about ten minutes.  Add a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt to help with the caramelization process if desired.  Continue cooking 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

Once the onions are caramelized, add tomatoes and mushrooms.  Saute until softened, about five minutes.  Set aside to cool while pizza dough is baking.

Meanwhile, roll out dough into square or circular shape.  Mix ricotta, egg and Parmesan and spread over top of pizza.  Bake 8 minutes at 500.

Remove from oven and top with onion and tomato mixture.  Return to oven and continue to bake at 500 for another 15 minutes.

Pot Roast

Posted in Crock Pot Meals, Food and Drink, Main Dishes, So easy even Julie can do it! by

Coming home from work and having the house smell like pot roast is one of my favorite smells.  It reminds me of when I was little and my mom would make it.  I’ve made it a couple of times before, and I can remember feeling so accomplished after making it for the first time.  It’s so easy, but I always felt like I would mess it up somehow.  I guess I was daunted by such a large cut of meat.

Tonight I impulsively added the wine because I opened it last week and only drank one glass… I felt bad for wasting it so I’ve been looking for other ways to use it.  It actually worked here, and I probably could have added more, but you can definitely make this recipe without it.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

  • 3-5 lbs. pot roast
  • 1 bag carrots
  • 1 onion, chopped into slices
  • red potatoes
  • 1 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1 bag onion soup mix

Directions:

Place carrots, onions and potatoes in crock pot.  Place pot roast on top.  Add water, wine and top with onion soup mix.  Cook on low 6-10 hours.

Crock Pot Pizza

Posted in Crock Pot Meals, Food and Drink, Main Dishes by

I’m always looking for healthy alternatives, so when I saw this crock pot recipe billed as “healthy” pizza, I had to take a look.  While I can’t wholeheartedly agree that this is healthy, it is a good alternative to those pizza cravings.  And, of course, it’s delicious, but there really is no such thing as bad pizza.

My favorite part of this recipe is that after hours in the crock pot, the noodles took on a doughy quality that made them taste like pizza dough.  I also liked all the goodies in every bite!

This recipe comes originally from Six Sisters’ Stuff, one of my new favorite websites for crock pot meals.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb. turkey
  • 1 lb. spiral pasta
  • 1 cup sliced pepperoni
  • 1/2 cup sliced olives
  • 2 jars (16 oz.) pasta sauce
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Cook garlic and onion on a stove with turkey until browned.  Rinse pasta and place in crock pot.  Add turkey and stir.

Add pepperoni and olives to crock pot.  Add pasta sauce and water, then stir well.  Top with mozzarella.

Cook on low 4-5 hours.  Enjoy!

image

Garlic Ranch Chicken

Posted in Food and Drink, Freezer Meals, Main Dishes by

This dish could not be any easier!  Simply prepare these meals into portions, and bake when ready.  As I said in an earlier post, night school has made ready-made meals my best friend.  I’ve taken to buying chicken in bulk and dividing them with different seasonings/sauces in individual bags.  All you’ll need to do is defrost the bag of chicken the day before and bake.

This week has been so busy, that’s why I desperately needed some easy recipes!  After all my friends left, my cousin came into town for a few days!  We had a lot of fun, biking, walking the beach with our dogs and taking them to a special beach spot hidden near Little Talbot Island State Park.  While she was here we stayed so busy and I didn’t have time to go to the store, so having this in my freezer saved my life!  (OK, maybe not my life, but my wallet…)

Ingredients:

  • 4 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 1 bottle ranch dressing
  • 4 chicken breasts

Directions:

Mix ranch and garlic in two separate freezer bags.  Place two chicken breasts in each bag, and shake to coat.  Freeze until ready for use.  When ready, take out one bag, defrost, and place in a pan in the oven.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes until cooked through.  Easy and delicious!

Finished meal!

Packed up and ready for the freezer.

Visiting Driftwood Beach with my cousin and our pups!

Zucchini “Crab” Cakes

Posted in Food and Drink, Main Dishes, Vegetables by

When my friends were visiting the other day, we went to brunch at Fly’s Tie Irish Pub.  Generally, I would not have trusted this place for food of any kind, but they recently redid their kitchen and I’d heard lots of good reviews.  It did not disappoint.  I got shrimp and grits (mmmm,) but I had a bit of food envy for the lump crab cakes my friends ordered.  They were unbelievable!  My boyfriend doesn’t really like crab, but when I was thinking of some food to make this week, I was seriously craving more bites of crab cakes.  That’s when I was reminded of this delicious recipe I first made a few years ago.

I’ve made this recipe a couple of different ways, and it’s always good.  When I first made it, I shredded both squash and zucchini into the cakes, but today only the zucchini was on sale.  I’ve also added Parmesan in the past, but it’s just as good without it.

This particular recipe comes from Carzy Cook, and I like that it uses less butter than my past zucchini cakes.  And by less butter, I mean I used a whole stick in the past versus 2 Tbs. in this recipe.

I love that the cakes come across like they have meat in them, even though they are strictly vegetarian.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups shredded zucchini (basically 3 zucchinis)
  • 1/4 cup onions
  • 1 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 Tbs. butter, melted
  • 1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 8 oz. tomato sauce

Directions:

Mix together zucchini, butter and egg.  (Remember that you can add shredded yellow squash at this point two if it’s available!)  Add breadcrumbs, Old Bay, flour and onions.  Stir.  Heat vegetable oil over medium high heat.  Shape zucchini mixture into patties and fry on both sides until browned.  Serve with tomato pasta sauce for dipping.

Chicken Pot Pie

Posted in Food and Drink, Freezer Meals, Main Dishes by

This is my second attempt at making chicken pot pie.  The first attempt definitely didn’t make the cut for the blog.  It was no good.  This one was perfect!  I’m so glad I took the chance and made two so I have a second one in the future!  The key to this one was the crust.  I’ve never done anything but buy the pre-made pie crusts from Pillsbury.  I know this isn’t going to be the most amazing thing to some people, but I bought the pie crust that you shape yourself.  That small change made all the difference in the world.  The crust was so crispy and delicious!

The best thing about this recipe is that it makes two pies, so you can freeze one for later.  The recipe is modified from The Menu Mom, a website that is all about meal planning.  One day I will add all my advice for planning out your meals by the week to save money, but for now, check out her site!

The second best thing about this recipe is how incredibly easy it is!  Hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups cooked chicken
  • 4 cups hash browns (I used my leftovers from making Parmesan Hash Browns)
  • 1 bag frozen mixed veggies
  • 1 can cream of celery soup
  • 1 can cream of onion soup
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 Tbs. flour
  • a dash of salt, pepper and garlic powder
  • 2 pie crusts (store bought, homemade, or rolled from store bought dough- you’re choice.)
  • 2 more pie crusts to top with- I highly recommending buying the pie crust dough and shaping the top yourself!)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except pie crusts.  Shape crusts and pour chicken mixture into the two crusts.  Top filling and shape around the edge how you want.  Wrap both in foil.  If freezing, place in plastic gallon bag.

If the pie is not frozen, cover with foil and bake at 400 for 40 minutes.  Take foil off at the thirty minute mark to allow crust to brown (for the last ten minutes of cooking.)

If pie is frozen, defrost overnight outside of freezer bag.  Bake at 425 for 30 minutes.  Reduce heat to 325 and bake another 50 minutes.  Remove foil at the last 10 minutes to keep edges from burning.