Easy Green Bean Casserole

Easy Green Bean Casserole

Do you have a favorite easy green bean casserole recipe?  This is mine.  It’s super easy, fast and it tastes delicious.

Here’s how I make it:

Start with all of your ingredients:  I like the French style green beans, a can of cream of mushroom condensed soup, soy sauce, milk and French fried onions…..

Drain your green beans….

Add the can of soup…..

Then add a half of can of milk…..

A teaspoon of soy sauce….

As much black pepper as you can stand.  For me it’s a LOT.

Mix that all together…..

Add in half OR all of the French fried onions.  Just remember that you’ll want to add more to the top later.  So maybe you should buy two…..

Pour into a greased baking pan and bake for 20 minutes until its hot and bubbling.  Then put on the rest of your French fried onions and bake for another 10 minutes.

Or until it looks like this.  YUM.Easy Green Bean Casserole

And voila!  Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Easy Green Bean Casserole

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cans french style green beans, drained
  • 1 (10.5 ounce can) cream of mushroom condensed soup
  • 1/2 can milk
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper, or more to your taste
  • 1 or 2 (6 ounce bags) french fried onions

Instructions
 

  • Mix everything EXCEPT your reserved french fried onions together and pour into a greased baking dish.
  • Bake at 350* for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.
  • Sprinkle the reserved french fried onions over the top and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
  • If you can wait for it to slightly cool, do that. Then enjoy!

Easy Green Bean Casserole

 

Fry Sauce

Fry Sauce

I am back with another “recipe” that’s really not a recipe.  But, it’s so good that I wanted to share it with you in case you’ve never tried it.

We love to dip our fries at our house.  Ketchup, honey mustard, barbecue, ranch – each one of us has a favorite.  But this sauce is one that Denton and I make over and over.

Here’s how I make it:

Start with your favorite mayo.  Have you tried this Heinze Real Mayonnaise?  We like it almost as much as our favorite Hellmann’s.

Start with a tablespoon of your favorite mayo….

Add a tablespoon of your favorite ketchup….. Add in as much Sriracha as you can stand.  For me it’s very little, but for Denton and Liv it’s at least a teaspoon.  I would start with 1/4 teaspoon and see how hot you want it to be.

Splash in some Worcestershire sauce…..Or if you are Denton, leave it out and add mustard instead…..

And make a big mess while you stir it all together!

You can serve it with fries, but we love it with roasted potatoes and pigs in the blanket too.  Let me know what you like it with!

Fry sauce

And voila!  Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Fry Sauce

Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp ketchup
  • 1/4 tsp sriracha sauce
  • 1/4 tsp tsp worcestershire sauce

Instructions
 

  • Add all of the ingredients together and dip! You can change anything and everything in this "recipe". Denton usually adds mustard to his and leaves out the worcestershire sauce. Whatever floats your boat! Enjoy!

 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

I wanted to share this recipe with you in case you don’t already have a favorite for sweet potato casserole.  I love it.  It’s decadent, and it feels like you are getting away with something by eating it with your meal.  Like having dessert first.  It’s delicious!

Here’s how I make it:

Gather all of your ingredients.

Beat two eggs…..

Like so.  I always start my recipes by beating the eggs first.  That way, if something could be over mixed, it won’t happen.  Make sense to you?  Then add the milk…..

The brown sugar….

And the melted butter.

And the vanilla extract.

And the salt….

Next put in your sweet potatoes.  Or yams.  Either or will fit in this recipe.  Unless you disagree.  So you should add whichever you prefer.  You do you.  I’m not going to judge you.  As you can see I don’t show bias between the two…..

Mash everything together until it looks like a bowl of yumminess.

Pour into a greased vintage baking dish.  Or whatever vessel you have that is ovenproof.

Next, mix together the flour….

The brown sugar and salt.

Pecans…..I use the ones that are already chopped.  It saves me a step and they are cheaper.  Win win.

Next add the melted butter.

Yours will more than likely be less wet than mine.  I had a distracted moment and add double the butter…..Don’t be like me.  Or do.  It will all turn out okay in the end.

Sprinkle over the top and bake.

It will turn out beautifully.  Even if this photo was of just the corner because I forgot to take a photo until after we had devoured most of it!  Enjoy!

And voila!  Here’s the handy dandy printable.

sweet potato casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 (40 ounce) cans yams, drained
  • 1 stick butter
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350*.
  • Spray your 9 X13 baking pan or butter it.
  • Beat the eggs, and then add all of the ingredients (except for the topping ingredients).
  • Mix together and pour into the baking dish.

Topping:

  • Melt the butter and mix the other ingredients into it.
  • Sprinkle over the casserole.
  • Bake covered with foil at 350* for about 45 minutes to an hour. Until everything is toasty brown and bubbly.
  • Enjoy!

sweet potato casserole

 

Baked Chicken and Rice

Baked Chicken and Rice

My Aunt Mary Jane posted the original recipe for this meal on her Facebook page.  It looked delicious so I decided to give it a try.  We’ve had it a few times now, and we all really like it. I will post the link to the original recipe down below, but keep in mind that I altered it quite a bit……

Here’s how I make it:

The very first change I made was to substitute long grain rice for the box mix the original recipe uses.  I didn’t have the box mix and I ALWAYS have plain long grain rice on hand.

Next I used two packages of onion soup mix.  You can use whatever floats your boat, but I used the great value brand.

I only use ONE packet of the soup mix with the rice, save the second one for sprinkling on the chicken on top. 

One can each of cream of celery and mushroom condensed soup….

Use the cans and fill them with water – around 3/4 full each…..

Here is where you can choose your protein.  We love chicken, but Liv doesn’t eat it, so I’ll show you how I make my life easier….

Chop the chicken in to bite sized pieces….

I also chop tofu for Liv…..baked chicken and rice

Also a side note that’s important, spray your baking sheet with your favorite oil spray.  I live on the wild side and normally don’t do this, but it WILL stick if you don’t.  Ask me how I know….

After mixing the rice and soup mixture well and putting Liv’s tofu into her own small baking dish, I pour about one cup of of this over her tofu and her dish is ready to bake.

Add the chopped chicken to the rest of the rice mixture….

Pour into the baking dish…..

The original recipe called for the whole chicken pieces to be laid over the rice-soup mixture.  It was fine this way, but your dish will stretch WAY farther if you chop up the chicken.  Also, when you sprinkle a spoonful of the onion soup mix over the chicken it is very intense and Denton and I thought it was too much.  However, Hayden loved it like that.  So, not only is this for aesthetically pleasing results after it bakes, but Hayden can eat this piece of chicken, hahaha.

The teaspoon of onion soup mix from the second packet.  You will have a lot left over for the next time you make this.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for around 35 to 40 minutes.

Liv’s dish with tofu….

Our dish with chicken!

And voila!  Supper is complete.  Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Baked Chicken and Rice

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Course Main Course

Ingredients
  

  • 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cups long grain white rice
  • 1 (10.25 ounce) can of cream of celery soup
  • 1 (10.25 ounce) can of cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 1/2 soup cans water
  • 1 box onion soup mix (2 packets)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350*. Spray your baking pan with your favorite oil spray.
  • Combine rice, both cans of soup, water and one packet of onion soup mix together and mix well.
  • I always slice my chicken breasts across long ways, because they are always so large. Save one half of one of the breasts to nestle on top of the rice mixture after you pour it into the baking pan. Cut the other chicken breasts into bite size pieces.
  • Mix the chicken into the rice mixture and pour into the baking pan. Place the remaining chicken breast on top of the rice mixture and sprinkle a teaspoon of the second packet of onion soup mix on top of the chicken. Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Until the chicken is cooked through.
  • Enjoy!

Baked Chicken and Rice

You can find the original recipe here.

Pasta Primavera

If you need a quick and easy meal that also happens to be meatless, you are going to love this Pasta Primavera!  It is delicious.  Denton talked about this for two days and asked me to make it again immediately.  He loved it!

You could also add in whatever meat you like and it would be delicious too.  You just won’t be able to eat it on a Meatless Monday.

Here’s how I make it:

Pasta Primavera Start out with your favorite pasta – I wanted Farfalle for some reason – and whatever vegetables you have on hand.  Literally.  You can use anything that you love and want to add.  I will say that next time I will leave out the peas, we just didn’t like them in this dish, but use whatever floats your boat.I like to shave my carrots for salads and when I want them to cook at the same time as other veggies that don’t take forever to cook.  Plus they are pretty this way.

We all love squash…..And zucchini ……I almost never buy red onion, but wanted to try it for this recipe specifically and I’m so glad that I did.  It was awesome.Green pepper……Add it all to a deep pan and sauté…..

Meanwhile boil your pasta until al dente…You’ll also need parmesan cheese.  I would normally use the shaved kind but we ate it all and this is what we had….

I also added a couple of heaping tablespoons of my favorite minced garlic to the sautéed vegetables….

At the last minute I added some grape tomatoes so that they didn’t turn into mush…..

And frozen peas, which I will leave out next time.

But man oh man, this was delicious just by itself.Sprinkle over your cheese…Make sure to keep back some of your pasta water to loosen the sauce in your pan….
Dump in your pasta….
Mix everything together….And voila!  Supper is complete.

Pasta Primavera

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

  • 16 ounces pasta
  • vegetables of your choice
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
  • 2 TBSP minced garlic

Instructions
 

  • Chop all of your vegetables.
  • Boil the pasta until al dente.
  • Saute all of the vegetables until tender.
  • Add the garlic, parmesan cheese and tomatoes if you are adding them.
  • Add the cooked pasta and pasta water if needed.
  • Stir everything together and serve!

Pasta Primavera

Pulled Chicken Recipe

Pulled Chicken Recipe


Today I’m sharing another “recipe” that I hesitate to call a recipe.  It’s so simple and easy, but at the same time, delicious and tasty.  I call it pulled chicken and you can use it for many, many things.  Our favorite way to eat it is on buns.  But, you can also put it in taco shells, tortilla shells, over rice, whatever your heart desires.

Pulled Chicken Recipe

Here’s how I make it:  Start with raw chicken.  It can be chicken breasts, chicken thighs or even a whole chicken.  This time I used three boneless chicken breasts that I pulled from the freezer and they were still partly frozen when I put them into my slow cooker.

Pour over your favorite barbecue sauce….

Cook on low for four to six hours or high for two to four.  It actually depends on how much chicken you put in your crockpot.  Here I used three boneless chicken breasts and I cooked them on high for two hours and they were perfect.

Like this.  Yum!  Next I drain off all of the liquid.  You can leave part of it in with your chicken if you want, but my people like it with a dryer consistency.  Do what you want with your chicken!

Shred it up.  An easy peasy way to do this is to use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to do your shredding for you….

Pour in more BBQ sauce…..

Our all time favorite – Sweet Baby Ray’s Sweet ‘n Spicy.Then serve it up however you want it.  Tonight it was on buns for us.

Delicious!  Here’s the handy dandy printable.

 

Pulled Chicken Recipe

Pulled Chicken Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound raw chicken
  • 1 cup barbeque sauce (or as much as you want)

Instructions
 

  • Place the raw chicken in the slow cooker
  • Pour over sauce
  • Cook on high for two hours
  • Pour off excess liquid
  • Shred the chicken
  • Cover chicken with more BBQ sauce
  • Add to buns, rice, or whatever your heart desires and enjoy!

Sauerkraut and Weenies Recipe

SauerKraut and Weenies

Here is a recipe for Sauerkraut and Weenies that belongs in the category of, “It’s Not Really a Recipe”.  We have made this in my family for 1,000 years.  Or at least all of my life.

Here’s how I make it:

This is totally up to what I have on hand.  Most of the time I use regular hot dog weenies, but on this day I only had smoked sausages.  Same goes for the sauerkraut.  Sometimes I use canned, glass jarred, or like today the bagged stuff.  Sauerkraut is good!

Chop your weenies into rounds…..

Pour them into a frying pan…..

Stir as they cook until they are the desired doneness.  This is perfect for Denton, but I like mine more browned like you’ll see below, but it DOES discolor your sauerkraut later…..Sad face from Denton, he likes his sauerkraut to stay white….

Put in as much sauerkraut as you want I usually just cover the weenies…..

Simmer together until everything is heated…..

And enjoy!  Preferably with soup beans and salmon….. Here’s the handy dandy printable.

 

Kraut and weenies

Sauerkraut and Weenies

Ingredients
  

  • 1 package weenies
  • 1 can, bag, or frozen portion sauerkraut

Instructions
 

  • Chop your weenies into bite size pieces.
  • Fry until they as brown as you would like. You can also just warm them through.
  • Drain the sauerkraut and sprinkle over the weenies.
  • Warm the sauerkraut through, stirring into the weenies.
  • Serve and enjoy! Preferably with soup beans and salmon.

Shrimp Scampi with Orecchiette

Shrimp Scampi with Orecchiette and Breadcrumbs.


For the past few weeks, I have made this recipe at least once every single week.  It has become a favorite!  It’s so easy and quick and it tastes phenomenal.  Here’s how I make it:

I toast my panko bread crumbs in butter, and add the zest of half of a lemon…..

Quickly fry some shrimp in butter with salt and pepper….Add more butter to the pan….

Throw in 42 cloves of garlic or however much looks right at the moment….

Add in a pinch of crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning…..

The rest of the zest from that lemon at the start….

Mince up some onion…..

Pour in your favorite white wine or chicken stock or even water……

Start dropping in tablespoons of butter, one at time and reduce the wine down….

While all of this is happening, drop your pasta in a boiling pot of water….

And when that is done to your liking, drop it straight into the simmering pan of goodness…

The shrimp go in with the pasta….

More zest if you have it…. or not, my family thought that this was way overboard the first time I made it….

The original recipe that I followed didn’t add this but we love it, parmesan cheese….

Yum!!!

I bought this specifically for this recipe and it made it so, so good… Add about a quarter cup of chopped fresh parsley….

Now you are ready to eat!

Try to restrain yourself as you add this to your bowl and add the toasty bread crumbs…. I followed this recipe from one of my Food Network magazines and I used the same amount of pasta and shrimp, but i did take many liberties and changed the rest of the ingredients to what I had on hand.  IE:  I had no shallots, so I used onions instead.  I had not fresh chives so I substituted Italian seasoning.  Use what you have people!  It was divine!

The recipe says it will feed four people.  I beg to differ.  I also made Alfredo and garlic bread and we had NO LEFTOVERS any of the times that I have made this.  I think that we eat like normal everyday people here at our house, but maybe I’m mistaken and we are all gluttonous pigs, but I would say with small portions this would conservatively feed four people.  Keep that in mind.

Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Shrimp scampi with orecchiette

Shrimp Scampi with Orecchiette and Breadcrumbs

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

For the breadcrumbs

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 tsp zest of a lemon
  • 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning (dried)
  • salt and pepper to taste

For the pasta

  • 12 ounces Orecchiette pasta

For the sauce and shrimp

  • 2 tbsp butter or olive oil
  • 2 pounds shrimp I use the frozen that has already been peeled and deveined
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 or 4 tsp minced garlic I use the jarred stuff
  • 1/3 cup minced onions
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 1/2 the juice of half the lemon you used for the zest
  • 1 pinch crushed red pepper
  • 1 pinch dried Italian seasoning
  • 4 tbsp butter, cut up
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions
 

  • Heat the butter in a skillet and add the Panko. Stir until toasted. Add the lemon zest, salt and pepper and set it aside.
  • Boil the pasta.
  • Add the butter or olive oil to the skillet, saute the shrimp with salt and pepper until almost done, about 2 minutes. Remove from the skillet.
  • Add the garlic and onions to the pan and cook for about 1 minute.
  • Now add the wine, lemon juice, crushed red pepper, and the Italian seasoning to the pan. Start reducing.
  • While the liquid is reducing start adding the butter one piece at a time.
  • When all of this has cooked together and the wine is reduced add the pasta and the shrimp and stir. If you are adding the parmesan cheese, now would be the time.
  • Add a giant serving to your bowl, to with the breadcrumbs and a dash of fresh parsley and enjoy!!

Restaurant Style Refried Beans

Denton and I love Mexican food.  One of the things that I haven’t been able to replicate is the refried beans that you get in a restaurant.  But now I know the secret and I’m going to share it with you, so that you can make them too.  It’s so simple!  Here’s how I make it:

Two ingredients.  TWO!

Use 16 ounces of your favorite refried beans and 1/3 cup of sour cream.  That’s it.

You can slowly heat them on the stove top or just pop them into the microwave.

Mix them together and warm through….

And then you are ready to serve.  This is such a simple addition but it makes a huge difference in the taste.  These are delicious!

Restaurant Style Refried Beans

Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Restaurant Style Refried Beans

Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 16 ounces refried beans
  • 1/3 cup sour cream

Instructions
 

  • Heat both ingredients together, either on the stove top or microwave.
  • Serve with cheese on top and enjoy!

Stuffed Mushrooms

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If you want an easy, delicious appetizer, or just a quick, tasty snack, this recipe for stuffed mushrooms is the recipe you’ll want to try next.  They are so good.  Here’s how I make them:

Clean your mushrooms well.

Pop out all of the stems….Put all of the caps into a baking dish…..Finely chop the stems…..Remember how I told you to use everything you pay for?  I keep the ends of my onions in a baggy in the fridge for just such purposes as this.Use it all up and you’ll have so little waste.    Meanwhile, add butter with salt and pepper to a pan….Add your finely diced mushroom stems and onions….  Begin to sauté.  Then add in 264 cloves of garlic.  Or to your taste.     

While that’s doing its thing, put four ounces of cream cheese in a mixing bowl and add your spices….Mix to combine….Add in your shredded cheese.Mix in the mushroom stems, onion and garlic mixture with the cream cheese mixture….Start stuffing the mushroom caps….   I just use a regular spoon.  It goes quickly.   When you have them all stuffed……Bake for 30 minutes in a 400* oven.  And enjoy!   Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

Stuffed Mushrooms

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 8 ounces mushrooms
  • 1/2 small onion
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne powder
  • 3/4 cup shredded cheese

Instructions
 

  • Clean mushrooms well.
  • Pop out stems of mushrooms and finely dice along with onion; fry in butter with garlic cloves. Cool slightly.
  • Mix cream cheese, spices, shredded cheese and sauteed mixture well. Stuff into the mushroom caps.
  • Bake in a 400* oven for 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy!