Twice Baked Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

• 4 potatoes, baked and mashed
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• bacon crumbles
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• salt & pepper as desired

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare baking dish with non-stick spray.
3. In a mixing bowl combine: mashed potatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, onion, and skim milk.
4. Top with shredded cheese and bacon crumbles.
5. Cover dish with foil and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Hint: Whenever we make boiled or mashed potatoes for a meal, I try to make extra so we will have leftovers. In the back of my mind I always plan on making potato pancakes with the leftovers...but I usually find another way to use them up before we ever get around to making the potato pancakes. This casserole is a great example! I used leftover boiled potatoes to make this dish for my husband and me for lunch. His favorite part? No potato skins :) Enjoy!!

Tired Mama Taco Salad

Ever have one of those weeks where there don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything accomplished that needs to be done?

That describes this week in our house.

Monday night we were supposed to have tacos.

Instead we opted for a taco salad of sorts that was a smashing success.

The key ingredient:

DORITOS

If Taco Bell can do taco shells made of Doritos, why not taco salad?

(In my opinion, this taco salad was better than the Doritos Tacos, but that's me...)

Ingredients:

1 family size bag of Doritos

shredded lettuce

1 1/2 lbs ground beef, browned & drained

(taco seasoning for ground beef, if desired)

white corn

salsa

fresh tomato salsa (onion, cilantro, jalapeno, and tomato)

chunky prepared salsa

shredded colby blend cheese

guacamole

*sour cream*

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef and drain. Season with taco seasoning if desired.

2. Steam corn until thoroughly heated.

3. Layer taco salad with ingredients as desired.

4. Enjoy!

Hint: Don't forget the sour cream - we did! Not everyone likes sour cream, not everyone likes guacamole - but that's what is great about this meal. Each person can pick and choose what ingredients they want to include. A good meal for fostering independence! No leftovers makes for an easy clean-up too!! Another tip is to skip the taco seasoning in the ground beef. There is enough seasoning on the Doritos and in the salsas to make it up - it wasn't missed at our house!

Faux Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

• chicken legs
• 2 cups crushed butter crackers
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 TBS garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 3 shakes of hot sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a baking pan with olive oil or cooking spray.
2. Combine half-and-half with hot sauce in a shallow dish to coat chicken legs one at a time.
3. In a second shallow dish, combine brushed butter crackers, cornmeal, garlic salt, and black pepper. Mix well. Roll chicken legs in dry mixture after being coated in the wet mix first.
4. Lay coated chicken legs in prepped baking dish, side by side. Cover with any remaining dry mixture.
5. Bake for 1 hour, at 375 degrees F. Test to make sure chicken legs have reached an internal temperature of 175 degrees F.
6. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes prior to serving.

This recipe is being shared at the Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange 4/24 over at Little House on the Prairie Living - go see what other great recipes are being shared!

Quickie Pizza Crust (from scratch)

The kids want pizza, but I don't want to order out.

I don't have any pre-made dough in the fridge...and I don't feel like going to the store to buy a pre-made crust.

I really, really don't want to order delivery.

What's a mom to do??

Make a quickie crust. Mixing time (5 minutes) plus resting time (10 minutes) then bake time (10 more minutes). After that load and bake. Viola! Dinner is done!!

Better yet - get the kids to help and use the resting time and 1st bake time to prep the ingredients to top the ready crust...

Or, if your house is like our house...use that time to fight about what kind of pizza to make.

Yay!!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)

2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups AP flour

*cornmeal*

Directions:

1. Combine active rise yeast in warm water until completely dissolved.

2. Add olive oil to water and yeast mixture.

3. Begin mixing wet ingredients on low using an electric mixer with a dough hook. Gradually add sugar, salt, and flour.

4. Increase mixer speed to medium and continue to beat (mix) until a soft dough ball forms.

5. Cover dough ball and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prep baking stone or pan using non-stick spray and sprinkling with a light dusting of cornmeal.

7. After dough has rested, knead into a ball - then stretch to desired shape for baking. (I use a small dough roller to help stretch the dough to the desired shape and size.) Prick stretched dough with a fork.

8. Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes.

9. After the crust has baked alone, remove from oven and top with desired toppings.

10. Bake for additional 10-12 minutes after toppings are loaded as desired. Allow additional baking time, if desired, for melting and browning of pizza toppings.

11. Enjoy!

Hint: When we want a thicker crust pizza, we use this recipe to make one large rectangle pizza. When we want a thinner, crispier crust I divide the dough ball on to two separate baking stones and stretch the dough further. If all else fails, tortillas make great pizza crust and in our case...Pizza Hut is about 4 blocks away! Although, my kids prefer my pizza over take-out these days...I kinda like that!!

This recipe is being shared at Everyday Mom's Meals this week for Church Supper #36 - go visit and tell her I said hello!  Check out what other great recipes are being shared this week while you are there :)

Luau Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 (20 oz) can sliced pineapple
• 1 TBS brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• boneless, skinless chicken breasts - 1 per person (4 oz each)
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 TBS Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp dill weed
• deli rolls, split & toasted
• optional lettuce leaves

Directions:

1. Drain juice from pineapple, reserving 1 cup of juice and 1 pineapple slice per person (serving). Remaining juice and pineapple can be saved to use in another recipe.
2. Combine the brown sugar, ground mustard, garlic salt, pepper, and reserved 1 cup pineapple juice in a large resealable bag with the chicken breasts. Seal bag, turning to coat chicken.
3. Refrigerate chicken in resealable bag with marinade for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Turn occasionally to thoroughly coat chicken in marinade.
4. In a separate small dish, combine the mayo, Dijon mustard, and dill. Once completed mixed, refrigerate (covered) until ready to use.
5. Time to cook! Drain and discard marinade from chicken breasts.
6. Preheat the grill to medium heat. Cook the chicken breasts on a covered grill, using medium heat for 5-6 minutes per side - or until juices run clear.
7. Grill the pineapple slices for 1 minute on each side.
8. Prepare the split, toasted deli rolls with mayo if desired and layer each roll with 1 chicken breast, 1 slice of grilled pineapple, and 1 lettuce leaf (if desired).

Hint: We opted to make these open face - using only 1/2 a deli roll per person. One of our side dishes was a salad, so we also skipped on adding lettuce to the open sandwich. The boys really liked the chicken grilled this way, and all 4 guys requested that we put this back on the menu, soon!


This recipe is shared over at Sweet & Simple #6 at Cups by Kim.  Please visit and tell her I said hello!  Be inspired by all the great shares...and share a recipe from your kitchen too!