Smoky Bacon Chicken Casserole

An occasion such as my 50th post, truly deserves a great recipe. Luckily, I have one! This was a recipe by a fellow Tastefully Simple consultant, one who I've gotten to meet and hang out with :)

                                                                                  

Smoky Bacon Chicken Casserole

Recipe by: Ann Scheinost

20 oz. package frozen shredded hash brown potatoes

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 - 2 Tbsp. Onion Onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

2 Tbsp. olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3/4 cup Smoky Bacon Grill Sauce

Directions:

Combine first 6 ingredients in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish; mix well. Spread potato mixture in a thin layer covering the bottom of the pan. Arrange chicken breasts on top of potatoes. Pour desired amount of Smoky Bacon Grill Sauce over each breast. Bake uncovered at 400° for 30-45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and potatoes are crisp and golden brown. Makes 4 servings.

This makes a wonderful dinner, served with some vegetables. It also makes a lot so it's perfect for a couple days worth of lunches too!

Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta

This is a recipe that I first found in a Kraft Food and Family magazine, before they started charging for the subscription. I was so bummed when they did that, I loved getting that magazine in the mail! I don't have the heart to subscribe to it when I can go to their websites and get the same recipes.

Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta
You can access the original recipe from Kraft Food & Family.

I make it according to how big (or small) of a meal we need. If I'm making a small batch just for a lunch or two, I'll use a smaller amount of noodles etc. The italian dressing is also versatile, you can use as much or as little as you'd like. I don't really follow the recipe anymore, I just make it as I go. Those are the best kinds of recipes, aren't they?

My version of Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta
1/2 box of spaghetti noodles
1-2 cups of italian dressing
1 14oz can of artichoke hearts (you may feel like chopping these up a little if you don't want large pieces)
1 pint of fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons Onion Onion
1 bag of thawed, pre-cooked shrimp (you can use raw too, if you'd like, you'll just need to cook accordingly)

While the noodles are boiling, toss the dressing, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and shrimp into a saucepan on medium-high heat. Let these all cook together until the mushrooms are cooked and everything is heated through.

Drain your noodles. Combine the saucepan mixture and the noodles with another 1 cup italian dressing. mix together and serve.

It's a simple, light dinner that you can tailor to anyone's tastes. Add some roasted red peppers for a little extra color!

We served this with Warm Artichoke and Spinach Bread. Yumm! I guess we were really in the mood for artichokes, huh?

Warm Artichoke and Spinach Bread

This was a recipe inspired by this recipe on the Tastefully Simple website. I didn't have a loaf of bread and I didn't have the 25-30 minutes to wait for the bread to cook, so I improvised.

It's not a very pretty picture, but I promise you that it was delicious!

I had some small rolls that I had previously gotten on sale that I had froze. I took 3 out, let them thaw and then cut them in half. I combined a block of cream cheese with Artichoke and Spinach Warm Dip Mix, a 14oz can of artichcokes, some Kraft Parmesan Cheese (in the green container) and a cup of shredded cheese. You're supposed to use swiss cheese, but I just used what I had on hand.

Spread the cream cheese mixture onto your bread, pop it under your broiler for a few minutes, until the mixture gets a little more ooey gooey and the bread hardens up a little.

Serve!

 We served this with Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta.

It really is, that simple! Everytime I do a Tastefully Simple party, when the guests sample the Artichoke and Spinach Warm Dip Mix, I can't wait to get home and make it myself. It's great with crackers/chips as a dip, but it's phenomenal on bread! I'm sure the recipe that I adapted from would also be fantastic and I'll most definitely be trying that.

Naked Turkey Burgers

When you're out of buns, what do you call your turkey burgers? Nakey Burgers!

These were super easy, super delicious and super quick!

Pictured with leftover Sun-Dried Tomato Mac & Cheese and a heaping serving of frozen veggies!

Naked Turkey Burgers
an Amy's Kitchen Creations original recipe
1lb lean ground turkey
2 Tablespoons Sweet Pineapple Chipotle Salsa
1/2 Teaspoon Onion Onion
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Pepper Seasoning

Combine all ingredients together and form into patties. I got 5 patties from the pound of turkey that I used. I had enough leftover for a very thin patty, but instead I formed it into a meatball. These would be great as meatballs for a quick dinner too.

Refrigerate patties for about 15 or 20 minutes. I did this while my Husband was preparing the grill, but I was hoping that since the patties were very moist, I wanted them to have time to stick together and try to prevent them from falling apart. It worked!

The patties were very moist and very flavorful. I love the Pineapple Chipotle salsa...ohmygoodness..yumyumyum! My Husband and I have already purchased and eaten two three jars.  I have been meaning to try this salsa on grilled chicken breasts too, I think that would be phenomenal. I put some on my turkey burgers last night and that was great too. Good thing the salsa is only 1 ww point per 2 tblsps!

No Bake Key Lime Cheesecake

It's not the greatest picture, but the taste will definitely make up for it, I promise. I followed this Tastefully Simple recipe. The cheesecake was light, refreshing and a perfect dessert for a weeknight meal. It took no time at all to prepare, and was a hit with both my Husband and myself. I forsee this one a lot this Summer at potlucks and Birthday Parties!

Ingredients
1 Tastefully Simple Key Lime Cheeseball Mix
8oz softened cream cheese
8oz tub of thawed cool whip
1 prepared graham cracker crust

Combine the cheeseball mix and the cream cheese, make sure to blend it well. Fold in the cool whip. Spoon the mixture into the graham cracker crust. Chill for 2hours. Garnish with the crumbs from pkg 2 of the key lime cheeseball mix. Makes approximately 6 servings.

**If you use a fat free whipped topping, and a fat free cream cheese, the approximate points values for one slice (6 slices per pie) would 5pts. If you use full fat cream cheese and full fat whipped topping the approximate points value is 10pts per slice**

Crockpot Baked Potato Soup

I've never had baked potato soup before but after seeing it on Stephanie's blog, it looked like something I'd really like to try. I have to say, I was unimpressed. I am pretty sure my disappointment comes from never having the soup before so I didn't know what to expect. It was definitely an easy recipe, and it surely makes enough for a large crowd. I'll add my suggestions after the recipe.

Ingredients

5lbs of potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 onion, diced (I used Tastefully Simple's Onion Onion Seasoning)

4 cloves of garlic, minced (I used Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic Seasoning)

1 tsp seasoned salt (again, I used Tastefully Simple's Seasoned Salt)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper

2 quarts chicken broth (8 cups)

2 pkgs cream cheese

crumbled bacon, shredded cheese etc for garnish

Make sure to use a large slow cooker. I'm not sure the size of mine, but I used the largest I had. Put the peeled and chopped potatoes in the stoneware of the cooker. Add the seasonings and pour in the broth. Cover and cook on low for 8hours or high for 4hours. When done, the potatoes should be fork tender.

You'll need to blend the potatoes, broth and seasonings all together. You can use your blender or an immersion blender. I used the immersion blender I got for Christmas from my parents. I love it! It was so fun to make, and it made a heck of a lot less mess than it would have it I had to blend it in my blender. (I'm a messy cook. If you can transfer from crock to blender back to crock without mess, go for it!) After that's all blended together, crumble in the cream cheese, cook on high for about 30 minutes or until the cream cheese is completely dissolved.

Dish it up, garnish and enjoy!

My Suggestions/Comments

I didn't realize how thick of a soup it would be. I swore I was forgetting something in the recipe, milk or more chicken broth or something. It was so thick. Almost too thick to even enjoy it. It definitely stuck to your ribs! The night we had it we had a friend's 7yr old Daughter over and she kind of picked at it, but mostly at the (turkey) bacon that was crumbled on top. I wouldn't say it's kid tested or approved.

Since we had 3/4 of a crockpot FULL of leftover soup, I added about a cup of milk to it and that really helped the consistency. I ate it a couple days afterwards for lunches, and then ended up tossing the rest because neither my Husband or I enjoyed enough to keep eating the leftovers.

I think I'll definitely try this again, maybe using more chicken broth and see if that helps, or if it really just needs some milk in it?!

Almond Pound Cake Trifle

Yum! This was so easy, so tasty and very refreshing! I prepared a Tastefully Simple Absolutely Almond Pound Cake, crumbled it up and layered it with fresh strawberries, banana slices and cool whip flavored with Tastefully Simple's Strawberry Chiller drink mix (just the powder).

You can purchase the Almond Pound Cake here. The strawberry chiller mix was a Seasonal item so it is no longer available for purchase. If you're interested in purchasing it and live in the Minneapolis area, email me (address along sidebar) and I can see if another consultant has one available.

This made quite a few servings and would be perfect for an Easter Dinner dessert, or even a picnic treat!

Garnish with some chocolate shavings for extra pizazz!

Enjoy!

Bacon Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

I don't have a picture of these tasty little morsels, but as soon as I make them again I'll definitely post a picture. They were so easy to make, and most of all, they were delicious! I made them for my Husband while he was watching the game and I thought he was going to eat the whole plate full! They are a Tastefully Simple recipe that I found when trying to decide what to make with the products I still have from Fall/Winter. Search all of Tastefully Simple's recipes by going here.


Bacon Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms
1 pkg Warm the Oven! Savory Cheese Dip
8oz Cream Cheese (I used neufchatel)
1 1/2 tablespoons Bacon Bacon
~22 mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed (I used one large package)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I didn't have any on hand, so I omitted)

Mix the cheese dip mix, cream cheese and Bacon Bacon together. Let chill for 2 hours.

Spoon about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese mixture into each mushroom. You're going to have leftover cream cheese mixture, so feel free to spoon a little extra in, or purchase some extra mushrooms and you'll have a large recipe. (I spooned a little extra into each mushroom). When stuffed, put mushrooms in a glass baking dish (I think this would work better than the cookie sheet I used!) and broil on low for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

WW pts= 1pt per mushroom. If you use full fat cream cheese and cheddar cheese, your points values will likely increase.

The Great American Bake Sale!!

In a couple of weeks my Husband and I are hosting a Bake Sale to support Share our Strength and raise money to help end childhood hunger in America. This event is sponsored in part by Domino sugar, and C&H Sugar. I encourage all of you to visit their website and sign up to host your own bake sale. It's free, and best of all..you're helping a good cause!

My suggestions for holding a succesful bake sale:

• Recruit your friends, family and neighbors to help you bake and organize the sale
• Get your community involved! Post flyers asking for donated baked goods or donated time to get prepared for the bake sale
• Get Grandma's recipes-the traditional baked good favorites will always be a hit! Homemade donuts anyone?!...
• Make something for all tastes and personalities. Have trail mixes, chocolate lover items, healthier options, small portions for the newlyweds, or large portions for the growing families.
• HAVE FUN! You're doing something great for kids all over America. How can you not have fun!

This fundraising event is endorsed by a couple of my favorite Food Network celebs such as Sandra Lee and Duff Goldman. I think Duff is holding a bake sale sometime this month as well at his Charm City Cakes bakery. If you're going to be in his area, that would definitely be something worth checking out!!

I can't wait for our bake sale! I have started ripping recipes out of magazines, prepare my favorite recipes, even my Husband is going to bake some things! I think he's going to be in charge of selling the baked goods while I'm inside promoting the Tastefully Simple Spring & Summer 2009 product line.

I think oreo truffles may even make an appearance at our bake sale...

Or maybe some yummy gooey delicious brownies?!....
Or even a beautifully decorated, raspberry filled cake...yumm...

What are you waiting for? Go sign up today!!

Looking for another way to use your baking skills to support a worthy cause? Check out what Molly is doing over at The Rookie Chef .