Day 168: Green Bean Pilaf

Day 168.

We are always looking for new and interesting side dishes. This one fit the bill!

Here's what you'll need.

1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup thin spaghetti, broken up
1 cup white rice
1 3/4 cup chicken stock
1 cup frozen green beans


Begin by melting the butter in a lidded skillet.


Add in the spaghetti and let it brown slightly.


Once it begins to brown, add the rice.


Give it a good stir.


Pour in the chicken stock.


Bring to a boil. Place a lid on it and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 18 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed.


Add in the green beans (and a glug of chicken stock if it seems dry) and slap the lid back on it. Cook for another 5 minutes, or until beans are done.


Stir well.


Serve hot.

Day 83: Pasta Bake with Mini Meatballs

Day 83.

To make this dish, you'll need the meatballs from yesterday's post. Or, buy some in a bag. But the homemade ones are better, and better for you. Just sayin'. :)

Here's what you'll need.

A box of pasta, any kind will do.
1 jar pasta sauce
Meatballs
Mozzarella cheese (pretend it's there, okay? Thanks.)

Preheat oven to 350*


Boil pasta according to package directions.


Drain,


and dump into a 9x13 pan.


Add about half the jar of pasta sauce to the pasta.


Give it a good stir. You don't want the pasta drowning in the sauce.


Place meatballs along the top of the dish.


Sprinkle on about a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.


And there it is!

Day 69: The Frank

Day 69.

I don't really know what to call this, so I'm calling it The Frank. The first time I made this dish, Kurt freaked out "OMG! My dad used to make something like this. Ah, crap!" After his initial shock, he tried it and found that he liked it! Apparently, mine is better than Frank's. Let's not tell him that, okay? This is fairly healthy too, because the green beans are fresh, and I use turkey sausage, which is very low in fat.

Here's what you'll need.

2 cups of fresh, trimmed green beans
2 links of smoked, precooked turkey sausage (about a pound)
4-5 potatoes
2 tbsp. Italian dressing
Pepper
Parsley
Sea Salt


Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.


Dice all the potatoes, and boil until fork tender.


Meanwhile, place the beans and dressing into a steamer bag, and steam according to directions.


Dice the sausage into coins.


Once the potatoes are tender, drain them. Add the sausage to the pan and heat through, seasoning with pepper.


Add the beans to the pot.


Add the potatoes back to the pot.


If the mixture looks a little dry, like mine did, add a little bit more Italian dressing to help it out. Sprinkle with parsley.


Ta-da! So there it is. The Frank. :)

Day 46: Pizza Casserole

Day 46.

This pizza casserole is a really good substitute for lasagna when you just don't have the time to make it. Like tonight. :)

Here's what you'll need.

2 cups egg noodles
1 jar pizza sauce
4 tablespoons milk
about 1/2 package pepperoni (Vegetarians, sub in some green peppers)
3 cloves garlic
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350*


Cook noodles as package directs


In a bowl, stir together the pizza sauce, garlic, milk and pepperoni. I probably should have diced the pepperoni, but I didn't. Eh. Oh well.


Stir the cooked noodles into the bowl.


Season with pepper. (I used some basil too.)


Pour mixture into a 2 quart oven safe dish


Bake for 20 minutes.


After 20 minutes, remove from oven and top with cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes more, until cheese is melted.


Yum.

Day 33: Tater Tot Casserole

Day 33.

Ah. Tater tot casserole. So. Good. I know that some TTC recipes involve cream of somethingorother soup. Bleecch. Not here. That stuff grosses me out. Except cream of potato soup. For some reason I'm okay with that.

This is a purist recipe. Beef, cheese, tots. Awesomeness.

Here's what you'll need.

1 lb. hamburger
1 bag tots
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic salt

Preheat your oven to the temperature that is on your bag of tots. Mine said 400*, so that's what I put mine at.


Go ahead and brown the hamburger with the pepper and garlic salt.


Drain the meat, and place it into a 8x8 pan.


Spread the cheddar cheese soup all over the top.


Now. Okay. Here's where my obsessive-compulsive-ness comes out. See how the tots are lined up nicely? Yeah. Have to do it that way.
Kurt yells "Just throw them on there and get it in the oven, woman!! I'm hungry" And I say, "No! Things must be orderly! And in lines! And in alphabetical order!"
And since I cook, I win. :) Ahh, the order. I love order.

Anyway, moving on.


Bake as directed on the package of tots. The directions on my bag said 400* for 22-28 minutes. I throw the extra tots on a baking sheet and cook along with the casserole.


There. TTC, purist style. And delicious.

Day 29: Bubble Pizza

Day 29.
This recipe is for my friend, Megan and her son Parker. Megan cut my hair today, and we were discussing my blog. I mentioned that I was blogging about bubble pizza tonight, and Megan was uber-excited! So, Megan and Parker, this one's for you guys!!! Millie is having her VERY FIRST SLEEPOVER tonight, so I thought this one would be fun for the girls. They really liked it!

Here's what you need.

2 cans of biscuits
1 jar pizza sauce
Toppings of your choice
1 package mozzarella cheese


Pop open your can of biscuits.


Separate out the biscuits.


Cut the biscuits in half.


Then in half again, cutting each biscuit into 4 pieces.


After cutting both cans of biscuits, lay them in a single layer in a 9X13 pan.


Spoon about half a jar of pizza sauce onto the biscuits. Don't saturate the biscuits totally.


For ours tonight, we used ham.


And pepperoni.

Pop it into a preheated 400* oven for 15-20 minutes. After 15-20 minutes, top the pizza with cheese. Bake for about 5 minutes more, or until the cheese is all melted.



Good thing I had such great help, huh?