Italian Crescent Casserole

This is one of our most favorite recipes.  The girls have even requested it for their birthday dinners.

It is so yummy & also so easy to make.

And…..more than likely it is ingredients you always have on hand.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 cup pasta sauce

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup sour cream (or more to make it more creamy)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tube of crescent dinner rolls

2 TBL butter

Minced garlic

Directions:

Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.

Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.

(any size dish will do, really)

Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Depending on your size dish, you may have to get creative with how you place the dough.

The original recipe says to separate the dough into 8 triangles; arrange points toward the center over the mixture, crimping the edges if necessary.

I used a square dish this time and just slapped that dough right on top, breaking a part a few triangles so that every thing was covered.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.

For some reason, this time I mixed the Parmesan cheese with my butter BEFORE I melted it.

Uh-Oh - don't do that.

Melt your butter first and THEN add your cheese…...

'cause I ended up with a big clunk of Parmesean cheese that wasn't spreadable.

Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.

Broccoli using the leftover sauce from my Asparagus Parmigiano recipe.

Yuck, my sauces started to run together.  I had to put a stop to that quickly.

Directions:

Cook your ground beef and add in 1 or 2 cloves of garlic.

Once cooked, add in pasta sauce and store until heated.

In a medium bowl, combine mozzarella cheese and sour cream and mix well.

Pour the hot beef mixture in the bottom of an ungreased 9 1/2 or 10 inch deep-dish pie pan.

Spread the cheese mixture on top of the  meat.

Unroll the crescent roll dough and place over the cheese mixture.

Put the melted butter and some minced garlic in a microwave safe dish and heat.

Spread the butter/cheese/garlic mixture over top the crescent roll.

Bake for 18-25 minutes at 375, until deep golden brown.



The original recipe is from Pillsbury

Asparagus Parmigiano

I never realized how pretty asparagus was.

I was looking for inspiration for a photo prompt for my 'photo a day' on Instagram - the word was "half," and as I was prepping my asparagus for dinner and breaking off the asparagus stalks, I saw the pretty purple triangles on the stalk - the other half.

Isn't it pretty?

Here is what you will need to create this flavorful dish.

And by flavorful, I mean my girls LOVE it.

That always makes it a top recipe for me.

A bunch or 2 of asparagus

3/4 cup of sour cream

2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup Parmesean cheese

+

1 tsp salt

Mix it together (minus the asparagus) in a bowl

Cook the asparagus (I cook mine in a pampered chef steamer and hit the fresh vegetable button on my microwave)

Cook the sour cream mixture in a saucepan; heat slowy, but do not boil.

 Arrange the cooked asparagus on a platter and top with the cream sauce.

Sprinkle paprika as a garnish, if you would like.  

I forgot.

Ingredients:

Fresh asparagus

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup Parmesean cheese

2 tsps lemon juice

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Cook asparagus and drain.

Combine sour cream, cheese, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan.

Heat slowly, but do not boil.

Arrange asparagus on a platter.

Top with cream sauce.

Sprinkle with paprika. *optional

**This recipe is from my Virginia Hospitality cookbook.

Flattened Potatoes

The greatest potatoes on earth…...or so my husband calls them.

This original recipe is from Pioneer Woman.  She rocks!!!

First you boil your potatoes…..or hit the baked potato button on your microwave like I do.

Drizzle olive oil all over a pan.

Place cooked potatoes on the pan.

Press down on potatoes with a potato masher and slightly flatten.

Brush the tops with olive oil & sprinkle with lots of salt, some pepper & a fresh herb.

Bake on top rack @450 for 20-25 minutes.

***Hint---I ended up cutting my potatoes in half to make them even smaller.

It made them even more crunchy. 

Balsamic Pork Tenderloin

I made this Pork Tenderloin for a family holiday party and again for Christmas Eve.  It has been a big hit.

Even raw, it looks good.  All that garlic in between.......YUM!!!!

This is the cooked version.  It is a picture I took last year when I made it, so the difference is that this year I added a rub on top of the meat.  I wouldn't make it again without the rub.  I think it makes a huge difference.

I used McCormick Grill Mates "Brown Sugar Bourbon."

It also is delish on steaks.

Here is my recipe card, but it does not mention the rub, so add that for sure.



http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/balsamic-roast-pork-tenderloins-recipe/index.html

Spaghetti with a twist.....

My friend recently made this recipe....it sounded yummy.

I knew I had to try it.

Today was the 2nd time I have left the house since two days before xmas.

I have been stuck on the couch with a pinched nerve.....but am feeling much better now.

Time to start this new year!

Time to move on!

Time to start cooking!

I did some Target shopping and picked up some fresh sour cream, cottage cheese and cream cheese for this lovely recipe.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 can spaghetti sauce

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

8 oz cottage cheese

1 stick of butter

Minced garlic

8 oz of thin spaghetti noodles, cooked

shredded cheese of choice, I like to use mozzarella, but the original recipe uses cheddar.

Boil your noodles.

Brown your ground beef.

I added several garlic cloves, salt & pepper and parsley to the beef.

Add the spaghetti class.

Mix all your cheeses, except the cheddar/mozzarella, together in a bowl.

Add slices of butter to the bottom of your dish.

Put 1/2 a layer of noodles on the bottom of your pan on top of the butter slices.

Spread the cheesy mixture on top.

Add the 2nd half of noodles on top of the creamy mixture.

Layer more butter slices.

Pour the meat mixture on top of that and spread around.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Place in the oven for 30 minutes.

After that, spread the shredded cheese around.  I used a mixture of Mozzarella & Cheddar in the pictures.

Bake for 15 more minutes.

I put it on Broil for 5.5 seconds....might have over done it.

Yummy--none the less!!!

Any my kids liked it.

That's always a plus!

originial source from:  http://ashleykaitlin.blogspot.com/2011/01/million-dollar-spaghetti.html

Chicken Wing Soup

If you want something simple....this is the recipe for you.

A friend requested it, so I thought I would put it on the blog.

I used a baked chicken from Sam's, shredded that, and put it in the crock pot.
And then added in the rest.
I only had 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, used about 5 cups of milk, almost a full cup of sour cream, 1/4 cup of hot sauce

It is a simple meal, I added a salad and some French crusty bread.

The most amazing part is that ALL 3 girls (and of course the hubby) loved it.  Even my pickiest eaters.

You can shred your chicken however you like it....chunked--torn--or pulverized in our case.

Add the Parmesan on top, and more hot sauce if you desire (I did) ---good to go!!!
***added later  I ended up adding several minced garlic cloves for some more flavor.

Chicken Enchiladas

You have to make these Chicken Enchiladas.

Zucchini Pizza

Oh my....

I have never been a veggie fan.

What's For Dinner....Bubbly Pizza

It's Friday....Fridays are a good night for pizza right?

I had planned on making a fish soup for dinner one night, but the hubby was sick at the time, so there was no since it making it when maybe one out of 3 girls would eat it, so change of plans.

I love Pizza!!

I can eat pizza 3-4 times a week.

Now, I know it is not good for my expanding waistline.

But, alas, we had not had pizza yet that week, so I was feeling OK about it.

But instead of ordering it in, I decided to make it.

It is called Bubbly Pizza......

First up, cut your biscuits into quarters.

Shred your cheese.

 I would recommend mozzarella all the way, but for the FIRST time ever, I had no mozzarella in my freezer.  I always keep bags of cheese in my freezer (I learned this lesson from my step-mother)

Oh, lord, I have lost it!!  But the freshly shredded mozzarella is so much better anyway.  WIN WIN
***update-after I initially wrote this, I discovered an entire bag of mozzarella cheese in my outside fridge, I knew I hadn't lost it that much.  hee her

So, I shredded the block of mozzarella I had & the block of Monterey Jack and mixed them together.



Here are the next steps:

Put pizza sauce on top of your biscuits.

And here is a little tip:
     Are.you.ready?

IF you plan on leaving it sitting on the counter to cool because it was too hot to put in the fridge......
Do. Not. Forget. to. put. it. IN. the. fridge.

Do not wake up at 6:00 a.m and remember too late that you left it on the counter the previous  night.

You Are Welcome!! 

P.S.  If you follow the above tip, you won't look at the dish forlonginly (is that a word?) all day on the counter, knowing that at some point you have to toss it & all  your hard work out the window.

• 1 can of Pillsbury Biscuits
• 4 oz  shredded mozzarella cheese
• 15 oz of pizza sauce
• 1 TBL Parmesan cheese
• **optional, dried oregano
• **optional mini pepperoni or any other pizza toppings 

• Preheat the oven to 400
• Cut each biscuit into quarters
• Place the biscuit pieces in a greased 8x8 glass dish
• Top with pizza sauce and pepperoni
• Bake uncovered for 20 minutes
• Remove from the oven and sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the top
• Bake for 5 more minutes
• Sprinkle with oregano and let stand for 5 minutes before serving

**originally found this on Pinterest from http://www.thetwobiteclub.com/2012/11/bubble-pizza.html