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!!

Bacon-Chicken Quesadillas

Quesadillas are a favorite at our house, especially when I don't really feel like cooking. Instead of just sending the boys into the kitchen to make a sandwich - I can score mom points for having a hot meal that is both hand-held and delicious.

We have experimented a lot with tweaking several staple recipes in our menu to "Buffalo Chicken" flavor, and last night we tweaked our Quesadillas in the same direction.

These were devoured. No leftovers. None.

I consider that to be a good sign!

Ingredients:

2 fajita size flour flour tortillas per person (10 in our case)
1 large can chicken breast, drained
1/2 cup bacon crumbles
1/4 white onion, diced
1/8 cup ranch salad dressing
2-3 dashes hot sauce
1/2-1 tsp southwest seasoning
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

* Combine chicken breast, bacon crumbles, diced onion, ranch dressing, hot sauce, and shredded mozzarella cheese in a mixing bowl with a fork.

* Prepare cooking surface, preferably a griddle or shallow skillet by preheating after ingredients are assembled and ready to cook. These cook quickly, so be prepared. (I use a double burner griddle.)

* Place 1 flour tortilla on hot cooking surface, then top with filling mixture. Filling should not quite cover the tortilla and make sure to spread it out so that it will melt evenly as it cooks. The more filling, the harder it will be to flip and the cheese will not melt completely. Top with 2nd flour tortilla.

* Cook for 1-2 minutes on medium-high heat on preheated griddle. Tortillas will become crispy and cheese will melt as they cook.

* Cut with a pizza cutter and serve with ranch dressing for dipping...if the kids wait that long!

Enjoy!!



This recipe is linked up to Friday Food at Momtrends - go check out the other recipes linked up today!

Chicken Con Queso Pizza

We are trying different recipes at our house this month. Breaking out of our rut so to speak...

Tonight we made pizza. Pizza? Yes, pizza.

We make pizza here usually about once a week.

Tonight however, we made pizza with Queso in place of the traditional pizza sauce.

And it was good! Really, really GOOD!!


Besides the Queso, the other *secret* ingredient in our pantry tonight was Southwestern Seasoning. Personally, I am a fan of the Pampered Chef bled. It's awesome! But I haven't placed a Pampered Chef order for over a year...and lucky for me look what McCormick is making now and selling at my local grocery store - Southwest Seasoning. Woohoo!!

Now let's talk pizza:


Ingredients:

1 pizza crust, (we used a homemade crust tonight, I like the ones you can buy in the refrigerator section of the grocery store too)
1 cup Queso dip
1 (13 oz) can chicken breast, drained
1 small red pepper, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
2 TBS Southwestern Seasoning
1/2 cup bacon crumbles
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend

* Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare pizza crust according to recipe or package directions.

* Combine chicken breast, red pepper, green pepper, red onion, and Southwestern Seasoning in a mixing bowl. Mix well.

* Spread Queso dip over pizza crust.

* Top Queso with chicken and vegetable mixture.

* Add bacon crumbles to top of chicken and vegetables.

* Cover pizza top with shredded Mexican cheese blend.

* Bake for 17-20 minutes at 450 degrees F, or until crust has browned and cheese is golden brown.