A Day Late: Sprucing Up Packaged Foods

You must think that we eat a lot of canned food or something, but I promise that isn't the case. Every once in a while we have an "Oh man, that pasta bake thing from Domino's looks really good . . . " moment, and that's when packaged raviolis and other pastas come into play. I thought to myself: I have basil pesto ravioli, jarred sauce, fresh mozzarella that is about to expire, tomatoes, herbs that needed to get used like yesterday, and more shredded cheese. Why on earth would we go out and spend at least $10 on some pasta thing from a fast food place when I can whip it up in no time! Here's what you need:

Dinner Tonight: Baked Chicken with Zucchini and Tomatoes

This is a simple recipe that you can pull off on a busy work or school night. It was as simple as, "hey! I have chicken and zucchini, what can I make?" Well, throw in a little breading and fresh tomatoes and you have a lovely and simple meal that serves 2-4 people.

Cranberry Orange Stuffing

Sorry for posting this so late! It's been a crazy busy week. This stuffing is absolutely delicious and very easy to make. I adapted this from Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals recipe found here. Her recipe was to serve four people, but her serving size was about an ice cream scoop full. Now, I don't know about your family, but mine is all about leftovers. I wanted to make enough to feed all 6 of us and have some goodies left over. 

Keep in mind that I undercooked mine slightly so that tomorrow when we re-heat it, it won't dry out. I say cook yours about 40-45 minutes or until it's golden brown on top and no longer a soupy texture.

Cranberry Orange Stuffing

• EVOO
• Couple pats of butter
• 7 ribs of celery diced , no leaf with the white chopped off
• 1.5 medium white onions, I chopped it super fine
• 3 bay leaves
• S&P to taste
• 2 cans (32 ounces) chicken stock
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 tablespoons freshly chopped thyme
• 2.5 loaves Trader Joe's Low Fat Cranberry Orange Bread

First things first, if you can't get Trader Joe's brand cranberry orange bread then don't worry about it. I'd say 2 loaves are equivalent to about 5 large cranberry orange muffins. So 7 muffins? Yikes. I'm sorry I'm not sure how big the loaves are and I forgot to take pictures before I threw away the wrappers . . . 

Preparation & Cooking Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Chop all of your veggies, saute in a skillet over medium-low heat with the bay leaves and thyme until they've reduced in size and softened. Once the oven is heated, chop the bread and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. I had left my bread unwrapped on a baking sheet for two days to dry it out a bit, which it didn't really get dry so I had to toast it up a bit. Beat the eggs and whisk in the chicken stock/broth. In a large bowl add the veggies and bread. Ladle the stock over the bread and veggies and mix until it has soaked up a lot of moisture. I ended up not using the entire 2 cans of broth because I didn't want the mixture to be too soupy, since the bread is already much more moist than regular toasted bread. It should be moist enough where you squeeze it in your hand some of the moisture leaks out, but doesn't drip down your hand. Place mixture in casserole dish and bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Let cool and serve!

Sun-dried Tomato & Artichoke Lasagna

Some of you might remember this post from January. Hubby had made us a pasta dish using sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, salami, rigatoni, vodka sauce, and a lot of cheese. We recently recreated this dish making a few adjustments. It came out wonderfully, and I finally have a recipe to share with you!

You will need:

• 9x13 in. casserole dish (3 quarts)
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 52 ounces (2 large jars) Vodka sauce
• 8 ounce jar sun-dried tomatoes (oil drained) chopped
• 14 artichoke hearts, chopped
• 32 ounces Italian cheese blend (we used 2 bags of Kraft cheese)
• pepperoni slices (as many as you want)

Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Bake

This was a recipe I threw together a couple of weeks ago. We literally had frozen broccoli, chicken, cheddar cheese, one potato and that was it! I wanted to make a meal without needing to spend more at the grocery store. I think pretty much everyone loves broccoli in their macaroni and cheese (homemade, of course) and chicken and broccoli are also a great combo. To top it off, mashed potatoes and cheese are epic! Here is a quick and easy recipe for a delicious casserole.

Beef Lasagna

Super easy to make and incredibly filling and delicious! I made this the other night and hubby gobbled it up . . . Although I must admit, I had already had some wine while this was cooking and after eating I passed out on the couch due to a food coma. Hah. It's that good.

Brinner Scramble

Here's an incredibly simple and healthy recipe for a delicious breakfast or brinner. I love me some brinner. It's good stuff, and basically because who has time to make breakfast?! Why not make the best meal of the day at night! Especially when it's this simple. Grab your skillet and lets get cooking!

From the Freezer, Straight to the Oven Kind of Meal!

Who doesn't love casseroles? More specifically, who doesn't love a casserole topped with mashed potatoes and cheese? I know I sure do! This is super simple to make; if you'd like you can put it into the oven straight away, or freeze it after it cools and leave it for a busier day during the week. If that's what you plan on doing, just wait for all of your ingredients to cool, place in an 8x8 casserole dish (or any oven safe dish it will fit into) and freeze for later. The cook time in the oven will be longer if you freeze it first, but I think it's much easier to leave something cooking in the oven and get on with your life rather than try to multitask boiling water, laundry, chopping veggies, kids homework (if you have children), sauteing veggies, hungry pets, and a hungry husband! Phew! Sounds like a lot to me, which is why meals like these can be perfect for those busy nights, they'll also save you a phone call to your local pizza or burger joint.