Easy Chicken Casserole

I wanted to do something different with the chicken breasts I had taken out, so I made a casserole. It was really simple and turned out amazing. The crappy thing is, I don't measure anything, so these are just a rough estimate.

1 1/2 cups shell pasta
3 chicken breasts, cut into small bite sized pieces
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.

While pasta is cooking, cook diced chicken breasts in some olive oil in a large frying pan or skillet. When pasta is cooked, drain, and mix with the chicken. Add can of cream of mushroom soup and about 1/2 cup (or half the empty soup can) of milk and mix thoroughly until everything is creamy. Transfer to a casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and then cover with shredded cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Garlic Potato Bake

Alex invented this "treat" as he calls it, the other night. He didn't put ALL the potatoes he made into this, he left some out (after step 1) for Charlie and I because we don't like tomatoes. He said it was absolutely amazing. I didn't get a picture, but will the next time he makes it for himself.

1 lb peeled potatoes
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 diced tomato
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Boil potatoes until they are cooked. Mash with butter, milk, salt and garlic powder.

2. Place potatoes in the bottom of a greased loaf pan. Top with tomato and parmesan cheese.

3. Bake in oven at 425F for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have been wanting to make chocolate chip muffins for awhile now. Today, I found a recipe and tonight I made them.

O.M.G. These are so good. Amazingly so.

First, the website I got them at is http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/01/17/bakery-style-chocolate-chip-muffins/ She deserves all the credit, and you should read that post just because it's kind of awesome. And so are the pictures. Much better than mine. LOL.

3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional, I chose not to do it because I couldn't find coarse sugar at the store)

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease muffin tin (or line with paper cups) and set aside.

In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk eggs and sugar, then add milk, oil and vanilla and mix.

Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix together using a wooden spoon, until all the flour is off the bottom and there are no pockets of flour in the mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon/pour batter into the muffin tin, filling all the way to the top. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar, if you're doing that.

Bake in the 425F oven for 5 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 375F and bake for another 13 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Garlic and Brown Sugar Chicken

I wish I knew where I found this recipe, so I could give whoever came up with it credit. But alas, I found it somewhere online, copied/pasted it to a sticky and long forgot where it came from. Tonight though, I made it and holy toledo is it ever good! We will definitely make this again.

4-6 chicken breasts or thighs (I actually used 3 chicken breasts)

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup vinegar

1/4 cup lemon-lime soda

2-3 Tablespoons minced garlic

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

2 Tablespoons corn starch

2 Tablespoons water

Rice or noodles, cooked

Red pepper flakes (optional) 

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken in slow cooker (frozen or thawed, doesn't matter). Mix together brown sugar, vinegar, soda, garlic, soy sauce and pepper. Pour over chicken.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4 hours (that's what I did). 

I actually skipped this next step and may try it next time, but may not because it was awesome without doing it.

Take chicken out of the cooker and pour remaining sauce into a saucepan. Place over high heat. Mix together corn starch and water, pour into saucepan and mix well. Let sauce come to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, or until it starts to thicken and turns into a glaze. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute or two.

Serve chicken over rice or noodles and top with glaze. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes if desired (I didn't do that either).

We had ours with basmati rice. It would definitely be good with pasta too. 

Sorry for the somewhat crappy picture. I just took a quick one with my phone.

1930s Era Chocolate Cake

I found this recipe on Pinterest (the website is here: http://tastycheapskate.blogspot.ca/2011/01/wacky-cake.html) and pinned it immediately because I wanted to try it. I was especially intrigued because it was something my sister can eat, as it has no eggs, no milk and no butter. It's even more intriguing because you don't mix it in a bowl first, you do it right in the pan!

When you have a toddler, the less cleanup of things like dishes, the better.


2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I used about half)
2 cups warm water
2/3 cups canola oil
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

In a 9x13 inch pan, mix all dry ingredients. Then add wet ingredients and mix thoroughly, until you have something that looks like this:

Bake in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely and frost. You can use the frosting that's included on the website I got the recipe from, or you can do what I did and use a jar of betty crocker frosting.

The cake is VERY moist and chocolaty. I'm actually not a huge fan and probably won't be making it often. I kind of felt like I could taste the vinegar, and I didn't like that at all. I wonder if it would be possible to omit the vinegar from the recipe...

Homemade Lemonade

Something Alex has been doing lately is making lemonade. And OMG it's good. I think it's something from like the 1930s or thereabouts, but yeah. So easy, so good, and like with everything you make from scratch, you control what's in it.

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
5 whole cloves
1/3 of a cinnamon stick
2 tbsp zested lemon rind
1 cup lemon juice

1. In a pot, put all ingredients except for the lemon juice. Bring it to a boil and boil down about half.

2. Add the lemon juice, boil down again, this time about one quarter.

3. Strain and then let cool.

4. Pour yourself a glass of ginger ale (or water) with some ice. Add 2 tbsp of the syrup to the glass, stir and enjoy!

*The picture has the syrup itself, and what it looks like in a glass of ginger ale, which is my preferred way of drinking it.

Western Egg Muffins

I found this idea online, and made my own variation of it. I'm sure it's something some people have been doing for years, but it's a new idea for me, and it is definitely something I will make again.

10 large eggs
1/2 cup each of diced onion, green pepper, mushrooms and ham
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used marble)
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray.

2. Dice onion, green pepper, mushrooms and ham, and sauté in oil or margarine for about five minutes, until starting to get soft.

3. Break 10 eggs into a medium sized bowl and scramble. Add shredded cheese and sautéed veggies/meat, salt and pepper and mix well.

4. Pour mixture into muffin tins, about 3/4 full.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from tin to cool. Makes 12 "muffins".

These muffins can apparently be stored in the fridge or freezer for up to one week. Make sure to cool thoroughly, for at least 30 minutes, before putting into fridge or freezer. To reheat, just pop them in the microwave for a minute, but not too long, or they will go rubbery.

You can, of course, use whatever you want in the eggs. I just went with my standard "western" ingredients, but they would be good with other ingredients as well.