Tuesday 27 November 2012

Italian Chicken Casserole

This is something I threw together tonight and it is delicious. I'd like to think it's fairly good for you too, and really simple to make. There is a bit of prep work, but not anything unreasonable. I think, if you wanted to do a dairy-free version, you could probably figure something else to put on the top instead of the cheese, but that would be up to your own preferences. You could also use other peppers (such as red or orange) in addition to the green, for more color.

1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
3 chicken breasts, skinned and boned, cut into small bite sized pieces
2 cups pasta (your choice)
1 cup Italian dressing (regular, not zesty)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350F

Cook pasta according to directions on the package,  drain

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook chicken in about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (or other oil of your choice) until cooked. Add onion, green pepper and garlic and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add cooked pasta and Italian dressing and mix well. Pour into a casserole dish (I used my 2 quart dish and this took up about half the dish, so use what you have).

Cover evenly with the shredded mozzarella cheese and then bake in the preheated oven for 20-30 minutes (until cheese is melted and starting to brown a bit).

Allow to sit/cool for 5 minutes before eating.

Saturday 17 November 2012

Cheesecake

At the moment, we can't tell you how this turned out, as it's the first time I'm making it and it's still in the oven (and we can't even eat it tonight...), so I will update this tomorrow after we've tried it. However, the recipe is dead simple and looks/smells awesome. Picture below is the cheesecake just before I put it in the oven.


1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
3 packages (250 g each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix crumbs and melted butter or margarine. Press firmly onto the bottom/sides of a 9" pie plate (or onto just the bottom of a 9" spring form pan)

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and mix until blended. Pour into crust.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until centre is almost set. Cool completely, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Garnish with whatever topping(s) suit your fancy and serve.


Hashbrown Patties

Another made-up-by-Alex recipe, something he just did yesterday and dear lord are they ever good.

3 medium potatoes
3 tbsp canola oil (at least)

Peel and wash potatoes. Shred with a standard grater (just like if you're shredding cheese).

Meanwhile heat a cast iron skillet with the oil.

Take 1/3 of the shredded potatoes and press firmly into a patty (we use a plastic hamburger maker device we have, but you could use whatever you would use to make hamburger patties). Continue until you have 3 potato patties.

Gently place the patties in the skillet. Cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes, then flip and cook for 5 minutes on the other side. Remove and use paper towel to soak up excess oil. Serve immediately. I like them with just a bit of salt on them, both Charlie and Alex eat them with ketchup.

The "Homlette"

Alex makes an omelette that is completely out of this world. His last name is Hombek, so he calls it the "Homlette". I've been meaning to share the recipe with you, but kept forgetting. Tonight, I share!

1 onion, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4-1/2 green pepper, chopped
4 eggs at least (2 eggs for every person eating the Homlette)
1 tbsp milk
6-7 strips of bacon, cooked and broken into pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.
Fry bacon in a cast iron skillet (or some other skillet that can be put into an oven), remove once cooked and set aside to cool.
In the grease from the bacon, cook the onions, potatoes, garlic and green peppers.*
Meanwhile, mix eggs with the milk. Once the potatoes, onions, garlic and peppers are browned, pour the eggs/milk into the skillet. DO NOT STIR.
Let it cook. Once it starts to congeal around the edges, put the bacon and cheese on top and then bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Allow to cool for a few minutes before cutting into it to eat.

*For tastiest results, do it this way. However, we realize that's not exactly healthy, and so, Alex has also made it by cooking the bacon in the microwave (our preferred bacon cooking method) and cooking the potatoes/onions/garlic/peppers in a decent amount of olive oil (he says to use enough oil so that the food doesn't burn or stick to the pan).

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Alex's Easy Slow Cooker Chili

The other day, before I left for work, I gave Alex a task: find a way to use the piece of steak and package of stew beef that were about to get freezer burned. I came home to one of the best slow cooker chili meals I've ever had in my life.

2 lbs beef, cubed into bite sized pieces
2 cans of chili style kidney beans
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 cans of sliced mushrooms (or 1 package of fresh mushrooms, diced up)
2 onions, chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients into slow-cooker and mix well. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese on top.