I Pintered-3 Easy Meals

I have been using Pinterest for awhile and I love Pinning stuff to my boards.  This past weekend I decided it was time to turn my pins into a reality again.  So I made a few recipes that I had pinned.

Let's start with the healthy one.  I love What's Gaby Cooking and she had a delightful looking raw kale salad on there the other day.  Raw kale scares me a little but I trust Gaby, plus it looked insanely healthy.  So I went for it. 

My Raw Kale Salad...

Results-I think I did a good job following the recipe and I loved the flavor of the lemon vinaigrette but I'm just not a huge fan of the raw kale.  I prefer my kale cooked down.  But yeah, I still think eating this benefited my body somewhat.

2 Ingredient French Dip.
Ok I didn't exactly follow this recipe.  I was looking for easy slow cooker recipes that weren't chicken and I found this 2 ingredient recipe at Six Sister's Stuff .  There recipe called for a beef roast and beef consomme but I couldn't find consomme.  So I bought a beef roast and cooked it in the slow cooker for 8 hours on low with a box of beef stock and a packet of onion soup mix.

I also added cheese to the sandwich and a side of the au jus made from the juice/broth that was left in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Both my husband and I really enjoyed this although I think it's on the high sodium side (but it's ok, we ate kale the day before).

Last but not least, I made these Slow Cooker Pork Chops (ok I actually made these first but whatever).  Again this recipe was really simple.....pork chops, cream of chicken soup and a ranch dressing mix packet.

I like the flavor of this (I used cream of celery soup instead) and I think it would have turned out slightly better if I cooked it a little less.  I used less pork chops than the original recipe called for.  (I also used frozen mashed potatoes instead of making my own garlic ones like the recipe suggests.)  But overall it was good and far easier than trying to grill a pork chop.

In conclusion, Pinterest is cool.  These recipes were easy (especially the last too).  And if you want to feel healthy, eat a bunch of raw kale.  Not only is it good for you but I think you burn extra calories by chewing on the kale for so long. 

What have you pintered for dinner lately?

Oh and let me know if you Pinter so I can follow you.  You can click on the big P at the top to go to my Pinterest and see all these recipes (and a bunch of other stuff I have pinned).

Coming soon...my recent craft Pinters.

Dinner Last Night-Chicken Sausage Cajun Tortellini

OK I have decided to do a new series of blogs entitled Dinner Last Night where I talk about easy dinners I put together with things I normally have around the house.  Here's the first one.

I had really been wanting some pasta for a few days.  I had a bag of frozen tortellini in the freezer as well as a few other things I normally have, frozen peppers, canned tomatoes, chicken broth.  So I decided to make a pasta dish out of this.  I went to the store and bought some chicken sausage and invented this Cajun Sausage and Pepper Tortellini.  I served it with a Cesar Salad (aka lettuce, croutons and cesar salad dressing).

Cajun Chicken Sausage and Pepper Tortellini (3-4 servings)

2 Chicken Sausages-Sweet Pepper Flavored

Package Frozen Tortellini

1 cup Frozen Pepper Blend (red, yellow, green)

1/2 small white onion

Cajun Seasoning

Garlic Salt

Red Pepper Flakes

1/2 Can Petite Diced Tomatoes

1/2 cup chicken broth

I cooked all the veggies (except the tomatoes) together with some garlic salt and cajun seasoning.  Then I added in the Sausage.  These are precooked so they don't take too long to heat up.  I added in the tomatoes and simmered that for a bit.  Then I added in some chicken broth in small increments to make it more saucy and less just chunky.  I threw in some red pepper flakes for good measure.  While you are making the sauce cook the tortellini or whatever pasat you want or have.  Once the sauce was thickened I mixed it all together with the Tortellini.  And there you have it, a pretty easy week night meal.

What's you favorite pasta recipe?

Pizza!

Today I would like to discuss a controversial subject.....Pizza Toppings.  Now I know that some people will strongly disagree with this but I'm just going to say it.  I love Pineapple on my pizza.  I know many people hate this...Beezus5, everyone in my family, most other people I know.  But I love it.  I also like pineapple and pepperoni together on one pizza.  I also like pineapple, prosciutto, and blue cheese on a pizza.  My husband is ok with it.  Usually he doesn't care about the pineapple as long as there is some sort of meat on it.  I think he's growing to like it more and more.

I will eat a pineapple-less pizza though.  I also like just pepperoni.  Then there is sausage, pepper, and onions or the Elizabeth's Pizza Special aka pepperoni, sausage, green pepper, mushroom, and cheese.  I have enjoyed a nice BBQ chicken pizza in my time as well and I also like a nice Pizza Margherita. One time I had a pizza with potatoes on it.  It was pretty good.  Essentially the only thing I don't like on pizza is my least favorite food ever...the olive, and then probably also anchovies.  One time I met this girl in college who would only eat mushroom pizza.  She refused to eat a plain cheese pizza or anything with more than mushrooms.  She was weird.

So here are my pizzas I made the other night.

Pizza....
Fresh (whole wheat) Pizza dough from the pizza place in the grocery store
Pizza Sauce (I got canned)
Pepperoni
Canned Pineapple
Mozzarella Cheese

I split the dough in to three pieces to make 3 smaller pizzas.  I put a little flour on it so it's easier to work with and doesn't stick to everything.  I spread out the dough and baked it a few minutes until it was brown before adding the toppings.  Usually I do a layer of cheese, then a layer of toppings then another layer of cheese.  Sometimes I don't.  Then I baked them until the cheese melted.  Pretty good stuff.

Who likes pineapple on their pizza?

What's your favorite topping or combo?

What's the weirdest pizza you've ever had?

Do you ever make your own pizza at home?

My Favorite Chicken Casserole

As a kid I would always say that my favorite food was broccoli. Weird right? Anywho I still like broccoli and I love this Chicken Broccoli Casserole that my mom makes. I don't know if my mom invented it or what but she taught me how to make it and I've been making it for years. It's probably the first meal I made for other people when I was in college. And people always seem to like it. So here is my go-to Chicken Broccoli Casserole with photo instructions. Ok and I don't really usually measure out the ingredients but I tried to this time. But really it depends on the size pan you are using. You can see the size of my pan below. It made about 5 servings or maybe B and I just eat large servings.

Ingredients-
Cooked Chicken Breast (about 2.5 to 3 breasts)
Broccoli (I used one crown from the Grocery store. You can also use maybe 1-2 cups of frozen broccoli depending on how much you like broccoli)

Cream of Chicken Soup (I used 1 and a half cans this time of the healthier kind)

Mayonnaise (I used 3/4 cup this time and I used the light kind)

Lemon

Peppridge Farm Stuffing

Butter or Butter Spray

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook your chicken and shred or chop it up in to small pieces. You can add salt and pepper to this for flavor. You could also use a cooked rotisserie chicken for this and my mom has even used leftover turkey I think. Lay this on the bottom of a pan.

Next cook your broccoli. I just cooked mine in boiling water for about 3 minutes because I don't like it really soft. If you are using frozen broccoli just follow the instructions to cook it. Lay that on top of the chicken.

Squeeze some lemon juice on this but save most of the lemon. Now mix the chicken soup and mayo together and add more lemon juice and some salt and pepper. Then layer this on top of the broccoli and chicken.

Now mix some of the Stuffing with a tablespoon or so of melted butter in a bowl. Then layer that on top of the soup mixture. You can either dot some butter on the top of the casserole or spray it with butter spray which is what I did.

Now cook this for about 30 minutes or until the center is hot and the top is brown. Enjoy!

My mom adds curry powder to the soup/mayo mixture but I usually never have curry powder so I skip that. Sometimes I eat it with cranberry sauce on the side. That might seem weird but I like it.

So do you like broccoli?

Do you have a go to dish that people usually enjoy?

Did my pictures really help you understand exactly how to make this casserole?