Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

This is one of my favorite busy weeknight meals. Super easy and takes little preparation. I try to keep some precooked, shredded chicken in the freezer for days like this when I need something quick.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

1- small box of spaghetti

2 c. chicken, cooked and shredded

2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded and divided

1 can cream of chicken soup (or make your own like me)

1 c. milk

dash salt, pepper and garlic powder

Cook your noodles; drain. Combine chicken cream of chicken soup,milk, seasonings and noodles together; add in one cup of cheese. Place is greased 13x9 casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until cheese on top is melted and bubbly.

Family Traditions: Uncle Henry's Squash Casserole

My mother's family published two cookbooks about 25 years ago. This recipe was submitted by my Great Uncle Henry. This is one of my all time favorite recipes and this is the perfect season with all the squash being perfectly ripe (but frozen squash will work too!) Even my picky hubby will eat this!

Uncle Henry's Squash Casserole

3 c. cooked squash, mashed (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 T. butter
2 1/2 c. plus 1 c. cornbread, crumbled
1 med. onion chopped
1 grated carrot, optional
8 oz. sour cream
1 can cream chicken soup
salt and pepper to taste

Cook squash until done; drain and put in a bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix well. Put into a large casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Comes out a lot like cornbread dressing.

No time to cook? Freezer cooking to the rescue! Part 2

No time to cook? Freezer cooking to the rescue! Part 2

My plan had been to do round 2 of my freezer cooking last Wednesday but that did not happen! So here we are almost a week later and I got it done! So as a review here is the menu for last week and this week. Now obviously since I didn't get around to getting my freezer cooking done the way I wanted the menu adjust slightly, but we are still on the right track!

Monday- waffle iron french toast, corndog muffins, chicken gyros with hummus

Tuesday- yogurt and granola, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, beef tips in gravy

Wednesday- Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal cups, ham & cheese roll ups, Italian crockpot chicken

Thursday- cereal, chicken soft tacos, Creole Daube

Friday- Blueberry Muffins, mac & cheese, Divine Chicken

Saturday- Breakfast Burritos, pizza bites, Baked Ham

Sunday- fruit & toast, Creamy Chicken Taquitos, leftovers

Monday- yogurt & granola, cheese quesadillas, mini meatloaves

Tuesday- breakfast burritos, pb & banana, pork chop bake

Wednesday- lemon blueberry scones, pizza bites, slow cooker beef fajitas

Thursday- cereal, bbq cups, leftovers

Friday- Waffles, nachoes, eat out

Saturday- scrambled eggs & bacon, ham & cheese sandwiches, Chicken soft tacos

Sunday- biscuits & ham, eat @ my mom's, leftovers from Mom's

Here is the order I went in:

• Preheated the oven to 350 degrees.
• I threw all the chicken soft tacos ingredients into the crockpot. 
• Mixed up the banana bread, started the chicken breast to boil for the taquitos, pulled out the cream cheese to soften.
• Started the pizza dough for pizza bites.
• Put together pizza bites. Cooked bacon in the oven at the same time as banana bread.
• Pulled out bacon and the banana bread to cool. Put pizza bites in oven.
• Shredded the chicken breast in my kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment (one of the best things I've discovered on pinterest so far!) 
• Made up chicken taquitos; pulled out pizza bites.
• Put taquitos in the oven; started lemon blueberry scones.
• sauteed onions and bell pepper; scrambled eggs. Made breakfast burritos.
• That evening the chicken soft tacos are done; put a little meat in the tortillas with cheese; wrap in plastic wrap and put in a freezer bag. 

Chicken Soft Tacos
3 chicken breasts
1 jar enchilada sauce
1 pkg. taco seasoning

Dump everything in your crockpot. Cook in crockpot 4 hours high or 8 hours low.


Pizza Bites- adapted from Annies-eats1 T. instant yeast or 1 envelope (use the pizza dough yeast if you buy the envelopes)
4 c. bread flour (or you could use all purpose or a mix of whole wheat)
2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 1/4 c. room temp. water
1 pouch of pepperoni
block of mozzarella, cubed
3 T. butter, melted
Italian seasoning
Parmesan cheese
garlic powder


Mix yeast and 1/2c. warm water. I find even though it's "instant" yeast, my dough rises better when I take this step. Mix all your dry ingredients in your mixing bowl; add in remaining ingredients and yeast. Use dough hook and mix until well incorporated and forms a ball.  Let rest for 5-10 min. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Tear the dough into 20-24 golf ball sized pieces. Top with a piece of pepperoni and a cube of cheese. Wrap the edges of the dough around and pinched closed. Place in greased pie plate or pizza stone; edges should not touch each other. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly brown.


Melt butter and mix in garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Brush over baked pizza bites and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Banana Bread- Money Saving Mom
2 cups flour (all-purpose, whole-wheat, or a mixture of both)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3-4 bananas, mashed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 Tablespoons milk

Stir together dry ingredients. Beat together remaining ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and blend until just combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

Chicken Taquitos- adapted from Our Best Bites
1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 C green salsa
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
1 chicken breast, cooked and finely shredded (I used my kitchen aid mixer with the paddle)
1 C grated pepperjack or monterey jack cheese

small flour tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray or use your pampered chef large baking pan.

Toss everything (except the tortillas) into your mixer and blend until incorporated. Heat your tortillas a few at a time in the microwave between damp paper towels for 20-30 seconds to keep them from cracking or unrolling as easy. Use about 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture in each tortilla, careful to leave about 1/2 from edge so you can roll them up; roll it up as tight as you can.

Lay them all seam side down and don't let them touch. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and start to brown. To freeze, let cool completely and place in a freezer bag with the following instructions: Heat in microwave 1 min to thaw. Crisp in oven at 425 for 5 min or until crisp again.

Breakfast Burritos

1 dozen eggs, scambled
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 c. cheese, your choice
bacon or sausage, cooked and crumbled
20 tortillas


Saute onions and bell pepper; stir in scrambled eggs and meat. Warm tortillas between damp paper towels for 20-30 seconds to prevent breakage. Put 2-3T of eggs mixture in tortilla and top with cheese. Roll up tight. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in ziplock bag; heat in microwave 1 min. or until warmed.

No time to cook? Freezer Cooking to the rescue!

I'm a planner, a list maker, a "do it ahead if I can" kind of girl with grand hopes of organization that often fall short of my expectations. If you are a blog crawler or Pinterest junky like me, I'm sure you've seen countless posts and links to elaborate Once a Month Cooking or fill your freezer in 4 weeks kind of plans.  I'm a planner but not like that! I don't know how these "super moms" do it. I have two kids, a husband and a dog under my feet daily. I'm doing good to get the house picked up and dinner on the table without losing my mind. Sometimes the house doesn't get picked up, but rarely does dinner not go on the table when my hubby walks in the door. 


I'm a big proponent of budgeting and menu planning. I rotate between planning 1 to 2 weeks at a time but have always been overwhelmed at the thought of planning an entire month for several reasons. I like to take advantage of sales and discounts. If chicken is 69 cents a lb this week guess what we'll be eating a LOT of next week! Plus putting all of this together myself and making a lot of it homemade really helps health wise since there isn't all that yucky stuff mixed in! Now don't get me wrong, there is a reason this page is called "Mostly Homemade", because I cannot and will not cook everything from scratch all the time because I don't have the time! Again I say, I don't know how these "super moms" do it! Whatever they are taking they need to share! 


I'm trying to make the most of our budget and my time. Starting next week I'll be keeping my nephew 5 days a week (3 of them at my sister's house) and I got to thinking how hard that is going to make cooking dinner at a reasonable hour since I won't be getting home on those days until after 6 pm. So something had to give. I decided to give freezer cooking a try.  So below you will find my strategy, menu plan and recipes. Trust me I know there is a LOT of room for improvement!

1. I made a list of all the meat, veggies, mixes, etc. I already had on hand.  Use up what you already have! Trust me your budget will thank you!
2. I made a list of recipes I wanted to try and some I already use and I know my family will eat, trying to avoid recipes with weird or expensive ingredients. I filled out my menu with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now keep in mind, I do not always make exactly what's on the menu on that specific day, but I do make what's on the menu at some point that week. You've saved nothing and wasted a lot of time if you make something you're family will not eat. 
3.  I made my shopping list, matched coupons and hunted down the cheapest prices on the items I needed. Adjusting my list of recipes if necessary. I'm not saying everyone should coupon, but how could you not? I've cut our budget to $100-$125 every two weeks for EVERYTHING groceries, toiletries, paper products, pets, etc. 

I could have started this morning by chopping everything up, but I didn't. Or I could have set down and written all the information on my containers before I started putting it all together, but I didn't. Or I could have been even more organized and finished 30 meals in one day, but I didn't. Do you know why? I have a life outside my kitchen! A 2 yr. screaming from the bathroom to "come wipe me!", a dog outside losing his mind because the meter reader walked up or a delivery man showed up, laundry that needs to be switched out and folded and I have yet to get a bath today, in fact I'm still in my pajamas. Is that too much information?

Anyway, here is the menu plan followed by the recipes in the order I made them today.  It took a total of about 3 1/2 hours to do everything, but that was with LOTS of interruptions.

* I allow for leftovers once a week and eating out once every two weeks.

Monday- waffle iron french toast, corndog muffins, chicken gyros with hummus

Tuesday- yogurt and granola, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, beef tips in gravy

Wednesday- Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal cups, ham & cheese roll ups, Italian crockpot chicken

Thursday- cereal, chicken soft tacos, Creole Daube

Friday- Blueberry Muffins, mac & cheese, Divine Chicken

Saturday- Breakfast Burritos, pizza bites, Baked Ham

Sunday- fruit & toast, Creamy Chicken Taquitos, leftovers

Monday- yogurt & granola, cheese quesadillas, mini meatloaves

Tuesday- breakfast burritos, pb & banana, pork chop bake

Wednesday- lemon blueberry scones, pizza bites, slow cooker beef fajitas

Thursday- cereal, bbq cups, leftovers

Friday- Waffles, nachoes, eat out

Saturday- scrambled eggs & bacon, ham & cheese sandwiches, Chicken soft tacos

Sunday- biscuits & ham, eat @ my mom's, leftovers from Mom's

*In the freezer I'll still have one each of Creole Daube, Divine Chicken, Chicken taquitos, beef fajitas and Greek chicken to carry over to future meals.

Corndog Muffins

Makes 1 dozen

2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix

2 cooked hot dogs, chopped

2 eggs

2/3 c. milk

Mix all ingredients in bowl. Bake in muffin tins according to directions on box. Let cool completely before freezing. Reheat in microwave for 30 sec. or until warm.

Greek Marinated Chicken- adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Double recipe to freeze two meals.

2 teaspoons minced garlic
Juice of 1 lemon (2-3 Tablespoons)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar 
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
2 heaping Tablespoons plain Greek yogurt 
1 Tablespoon dried oregano 
Salt and pepper 
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I pound mine out kind of flat to ensure even cooking)

Mix marinade; add chicken. Marinate for 30 min. -1 hour. Then bake, broil or grill the chicken. Serve on pita bread with any toppings you like. 

*To Freeze: Mix marinade, pour over chicken and freeze. Pull out the morning you are going to cook and let thaw. 

Divine Chicken- adapted from Ring Around The Rosies

Makes 2 meals

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 cups baby carrots

4 cups broccoli florets

4 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste
 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning (I used Wildtree spaghetti sauce seasoning)

Put split chicken, carrots and broccoli between two bags. Label bag with following: Add two cans cream of chicken soup and 1 cup of milk and seasonings. Cook on low 8 hours or high 4 hours.

Beef Tips in Gravy- adapted from Ring Around The Rosies

2 lbs. stew meat

3 cans french onion soup

4 cups water

2 cups frozen broccoli

rice or noodles

Put meat and soup in ziplock back. Label bag with: Add 4 cups of water. Add broccoli 30 minutes before finished cooking. Cook on high 8 hours or low 4 hours. Serve over rice or noodles.

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins with Streusel

Makes 6 XL muffins or 1 dozen regular muffins

1 white or yellow cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 c. applesauce

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. greek yogurt

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Streusel topping ingredients:

1/2 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup rolled oats

Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-23 or until golden.  Let rest in pan for 5 minutes before removing.

Slow Cooker Beef Fajitas- adapted from Ring Around the Rosie

2 lb beef round steak cut into strips (across the grain)

2 8 oz cans diced tomatoes w/ chiles

1 large onion or 2 small

1 green pepper, cut into strips

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

*add a chopped jalapeno if desired

Split everything  into two bags. Label with: Cook on high 8 hours or low for 4 hours. Serve with all the normal fajita fixings.

Applesauce Granola- adapted from Fake Ginger

4 C old fashioned oats

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C applesauce, unsweetened

1/2 C brown sugar

1 T butter

Directions
In a medium saucepan, combine all except oats and cinnamon.  Warm the mixture then add oats along with 1 tsp. cinnamon.  Stir until all the oats are well coated.  Then, spread the mixture on a large pan (I used my large baking stone from Pampared Chef lined with parchment paper)  Bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes, stirring every 10.  Cool completely & store in an airtight container.  

Round 2 of Freezer Cooking will be Wednesday. Breakfast burritos, chicken soft tacos, creole daube, banana bread, chicken taquitos and pizza bites! 

Carrot Zucchini Bars...the kids will never know!

My Grandaddy loves to garden! I love reaping the rewards of his garden each year. The summer is just getting started and we are already overrun with zucchini! Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head! (Did you like that Lion King reference? Huh, did ya?) Anyway, we love roasted zucchini the best but I'm needing to come up with some creative ways to use up all these zukes! 

(Enter Pinterest)

I love Pinterest! All those recipes, crafts and other things right at my fingertips! This is the result, my own take on Carrot Zucchini Bars!

Carrot Zucchini Bars aka Healthy Yellow Cake

2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 T. sugar
1/2 c. canola oil
3T. high fructose corn syrup or honey (I'm allergic to honey but wanted sweet and sticky so HFCS)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. carrots, shredded (I used the smallest blade on a hand grater)
1/2 c. zucchini, shredded (Again, smallest blade and I peeled and seeded to help conceal it in the cake)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the 2 eggs for just a minute, add oil, honey/syrup, vanilla and sugar and beat again until well mixed. In separate bowl whisk together dry ingredients. Add to wet mixture along with shredded veggies. Batter will be thick! Pour batter into greased 8x9 glass baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Lemon Cream  Cheese Frosting

1 block cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 T. lemon juice

Beat cream cheese until well blended, add vanilla and lemon juice. Slowly add powdered sugar until well blended. If too thick add 1 T. milk at a time until it reaches a good spreading consistency.

Click here to print

Mini Monkey Buns

I'm all about quick and easy! So this busy morning of catching up on school work for my oldest daughter Molly and getting ready for a meeting later this morning, I needed something quick and easy! So I took a cue from The Pioneer Woman and made these quick little morning buns with a few small adjustments.

(Taken with my phone because I couldn't find my camera!)

Mini Monkey Buns


8 ct. Grands buttermilk biscuits, cut into 16ths and each piece "balled" up
stick unsalted butter (cut into matchsticks; and cubed) cubes should be about the size of a pencil eraser
sugar
cinnamon
powdered sugar
vanilla
water


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mini muffin pan  place one butter cube, just enough sugar to cover the bottom of the muffin tin and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Place three little balls of dough into each spot; top with another cube of butter. Bake for about 8 min. or until golden brown. Pop out of pan while still hot and drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze ( 1/4 c. powdered sugar 2 T. water and a dash of vanilla) Makes roughly 42 mini muffins.

KISS Gingersnaps

We had friends coming over this afternoon for a planning meeting for upcoming events with our homeschool group and everyone was suppose to bring a snack. I haven't been shopping this weekend outside of grabbing a gallon of milk yesterday evening AND we've been trying to eat healthy so there isn't much in the cabinets either.  What to make!?!

The thought that kept running through my mind (thanks to my friend Bridget) was KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid! So I set out to make something simple and tasty. The result.... KISS Gingersnaps!



KISS Gingersnaps

1 box Spice Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix, eggs and oil together. Dough will be thick. Roll into balls about the size of a large marble; roll in sugar before placing on pan. Bake for 13 minutes. *If they begin to brown they are overcooked!

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.