Tag: Good food

ravioli bake

Easy and Delicious Baked Ravioli

Published on by TracieLeave a comment

Easy and Delicious Baked Ravioli

If you need an easy and delicious, QUICK meal, this is it.  It’s also just different enough that I can get away with it being something new.  Yay!  Best of all, it’s only FOUR ingredients.

Here’s how I make it:

As always with all of my recipes, if you don’t have something, say ricotta cheese, substitute something else.  I like cottage cheese in bakes like this.  If you don’t have spinach and cheese ravioli, use what you have.  I like this though because it gets more veggies inside us without sacrificing the taste.  This was excellent and I’ll definitely keep it stocked in my freezer from now on.  I HIGHLY recommend the Rao’s marinara though.  Yes, it costs the earth for a spaghetti sauce, but it also tastes amazing, and it doesn’t give everyone in my house heartburn.  Which is worth a gold piece or two.  Right?  Right.

Pour about 1/3 of your spaghetti sauce in the baking pan….

Put down a layer of ravioli…..  Get out your handy dandy scooper….

Put down a layer of ricotta (or cottage cheese)……  The scooper just makes everything more tidy, which makes my heart happy….

Sprinkle over some shredded cheese….

Add another layer of spaghetti sauce….

More ravioli and ricotta…..

More shredded cheese……

And just keep doing that until you are happy or you run out of supplies, OR your pan is completely full.  You do you, boo.Baked Ravioli

Bake until golden brown and bubbly.  I don’t mind that the ricotta doesn’t spread much, but if you do, just smear it about with a rubber spatula.  But I don’t have time for that…. YUM.
Serve with my favorite garlic bread.  And a giant salad.  More salads Tracie……

ravioli bake

And voila!  Here’s the handy dandy printable.

Easy and Delicious Ravioli Bake

Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 (24 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce (we LOVE Rao's)
  • 1 (30 ounce) bag frozen ravioli
  • 1 (16 ounce) container ricotta cheese (or whatever yummy cheese you have on hand, like cottage cheese for instance)
  • 1 cup (or more) of shredded cheese

Instructions
 

  • Pour a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of your baking pan...
  • Add a layer of frozen ravioli
  • Then use a scooper to add a layer of ricotta cheese
  • Sprinkle with shredded cheese
  • Repeat the layers until you are happy or you run out of ingredients....
  • Ending with shredded cheese on the top.
  • Bake in a 400* oven until golden brown....
  • Serve with your favorite garlic bread and a giant salad! Enjoy!
Easy Green Bean Casserole

Easy Green Bean Casserole

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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

Print Recipe
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

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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

Print Recipe
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

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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

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
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

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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

Print Recipe
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

Published on by TracieLeave a comment

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

Print Recipe
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