Chicken Tortilla Casserole

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

4 Tbsp butter

1/4 c. flour

1 can tomatoes with green chilies, drained

1 can chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 lb. chicken, cooked & cubed

8 oz. shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

1 pkg. 6-8" flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in saucepan and stir in flour. Cook for 2-3 minutes and whisk in broth. Bring to a boil and let it thicken slightly. Add tomatoes, soup, and sour cream. Stir in cooked chicken. Spread small amount on the bottom of a 9x13 dish and top with tortillas. Spoon 1/2 of mixture over tortillas. Repeat layers ending with chicken mixture, and top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Warm Christmas Punch

I found this recipe in a magazine about 10 years ago. I love to make it for our family brunch on Christmas morning. It is so warm, comforting, such a pretty color red, and most importantly...Christmas-y!!

Just a little note -- I used to find the red hot candies at the grocery store, but the past few years I haven't found them there. These days I usually can find them at the d0llar store. Last year I used hot tamales because I couldn't find the red hots. The tamales worked fine, but the red hots dissolve much faster and have better flavor. If you can find the red hots, definitely use those over hot tamales!

 

Warm Christmas Punch

1 bottle (32 oz) cranberry juice

30 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice

1/3 cup red hots candies

1 (3-1/2 inch) cinnamon stick

In a 3 or 4 qt crock pot, combine the juices and candies. Add the cinnamon stick. Cook on LOW for 2-5 hours. Discard the cinnamon stick before serving.

Turkey Breast in Crock Pot

I have wanted to try cooking a turkey breast in the crock pot for a long time. It was SO easy and yummy!!

It tasted like it was oven roasted, but it didn't dry out at all! This is the way I will make all my turkey breasts from now on!!

I didn't thaw it first, just tossed it in frozen. It was in the crock for 8 hours and completely fell apart when I took it out.

I cooked a 7 lb turkey in my 7 qt crock pot. Once I unwrapped it, I realized that the turkey was too tall and the lid didn't fit. Crud!

To solve the problem, I used foil as a lid. I wrapped two sheets over the pot and then placed the lid on top. After a few hours, the turkey had shrunk down enough that the lid fit perfectly, so I removed the foil and placed the lid back on for the remainder of the cooking time.

Crock Pot Turkey Breast

Turkey breast (small enough to leave room on the sides of the crock); no need to thaw

Half stick of butter or margarine
salt & pepper

Liberally coat turkey with butter. Generously salt and pepper turkey.

Place breast side down in crock pot. Cook on high for 1 hour; reduce heat to Low and cook for 7-8 hours.

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

Here's another pinterest find! Yummy!! I loved this because with my diet for gestational diabetes, I was able to have pasta with lots of protein added in! Mmmmm....

This is another recipe that I doubled...one to bake that night and one to freeze. I cooked my own sauce in the crockpot all day and used it instead of jarred sauce. The recipe only calls for a 1/2 cup of sauce, so I was able to freezer the rest of the sauce for future meals!

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

8 oz uncooked spaghetti

1 lb. ground beef (I use ground turkey)

1 (26.5 oz) jar spaghetti sauce

1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1/2 cup green peppers, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

8 oz cream cheese

2 Tbsp. milk

grated Parmesan cheese

 Small can of French Fried Onions

DIRECTIONS:

Cook spaghetti; drain and set aside.

Brown ground beef; drain grease. Add sauce to beef and heat.

Combine onions, peppers, and butter in microwavable bowl. Cover and microwave for 4 minutes until soft.

Add cream cheese and milk to veggies and mix well.

Assemble casserole in 10x6 dish. Place a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the dish. Place spaghetti on the sauce. Top spaghetti with cream cheese mixture. Add the rest of the spaghetti sauce. Top with your desired amount of Parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with fried onions and bake an additional 5 minutes. Don't let them burn!

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To freeze: Prepare casserole ahead of time and freeze without the fried onions.

Recipe Source

Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

With our second baby due to arrive in 9 weeks, I've been working on stocking our garage freezer with meals. I have found so many recipes through pinterest lately, and they have all been new favorites! This one is no exception. I made it last night and put another loaf in the freezer for later.

The original recipe calls for ground chicken, but we like and use ground turkey at our house.

Turkey Parmesan Meatloaf

1 lb. ground turkey (or ground chicken)
1 egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup pasta sauce (either homemade or store bought)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray, set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, thyme, oregano, basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese. To not over handle the mixture otherwise it will get tough. Place the mixture in the greased loaf pan and form into a loaf. Top meatloaf with pasta sauce.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the oven and sprinkle the top with the remaining shredded cheese. Place the meatloaf back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted.

Remove meatloaf from oven and let it sit 5-10 minutes before slicing.

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To Freeze:

Prepare meatloaf and place in loaf pan. Do not top with pasta sauce. Freeze loaf and sauce separately.

Thaw completely, top meatloaf with sauce and bake per directions above.

Recipe source