Cheesy Eggbake

Cheesy Egg Bake

10 eggs

1/2 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 3/4  C cottage cheese

6 oz shredded Cheddar cheese

6 oz shredded Colby Jack cheese

1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter

Beat eggs, flour and baking powder until WELL blended.  Stir in cottage cheese and other cheeses. Pour into a 9x13 pan.  Melt butter and pour into egg mixture and bake at 350 to 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until slightly brown and puffy,  Makes 8-12 servings.

TJ loved this! 9 out of 10

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Looking for a great Macaroni and Cheese alternative to the fake box meals?  Well this is a great option!

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law.  Super easy, and loved by all!  We've had it 3 times in the last 2 weeks. :)


Baked Macaroni & Cheese

8 oz elbow macaroni noodles
1 pkg cheddar
8 oz cottage cheese
8 oz sour cream
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt & pepper to taste
(ham/meat optional addition)

Cook the noodles, drain and put in a 9x13 pan.  Mix everything else in with the noodles in the pan, then spread out in the pan.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.




 

Parmesan Bow-Tie Skillet

3 cups bow tie pasta
1 can/jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup Original Ricotta Cheese
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
 
Cook pasta, drain and return to pan, or to another pan.  Add spaghetti sauce, ricotta, 1/2 cup mozzarella and 2 Tbsp. Parmesan in large skillet.  Cook on medium heat 10 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and cover.
Let stand 5 min. or until mozzarella is melted.  Serve!

 

Garlic Cheese Breadsticks

The other day I realized we didn't have any pizza sauce, so instead we just made a double batch of garlic cheese breadsticks.

Pizza Dough (I make my own dough, super easy.  Click the link for the recipe)
Mozz Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Garlic Salt

Mix the dough together.  Roll out and bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes.

Sprinkle a good amount of garlic salt.  It takes a good amount to be able to taste the garlic salt.  You will just have to experiment with how much is good according to your liking.  Top with cheeses and bake another 9-10 minutes, or until the cheese is golden.

Wha-la!  Now enjoy this simple meal/snack/sidedish/treat....whatever you want to call it.
 

Bacon and Cheese Chicken

 Bacon & Cheese Chicken Crockpot Recipe!

2 T olive oil
4-6 chicken breast (depending on size of chicken)
12 pieces cooked and crumbled bacon
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 cup Ranch salad dressing
1 cup cheddar

Brush the olive oil around the bottom and sides of your crockpot.  Place chicken on bottom of the pan. (I placed the chicken in there still frozen.)  Mix together the teriyaki sauce and the ranch dressing.  Pour over the chicken. Cook the bacon and crumble over the chicken.  Top with cheddar.  Cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours.  You may want to watch and alter the hours depending on how your crockpot cooks.

My crockpot cooks fast so I cooked it on low for only about 4 1/2 hours and it was well done. :)  But that's because my low on my crockpot is more like high.

This had really good flavor.  And cheese and bacon, I mean how can it not be good right?!

Enjoy!





 

3 Cheese Chicken & Pasta Skillet

2 cups rotini pasta
1 Tbsp.  olive oil
1/2 cup each chopped green peppers
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 cloves  garlic
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or chopped
1 large can spaghetti sauce
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 cup cheddar
3/4 cup Mozzarella
1/3 cup Parmesan
Salt and Pepper to taste




Cook pasta.  Cook chicken and chop or shred.  After these are done, it comes together real quick.
In a wok, or large sauce pan, heat olive oil, and add green pepper, onion and garlic.  Cook and stir 3 minutes or so until crisp-tender.  Stir in the cooked chicken, spaghetti sauce and oregano.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  Drain the pasta, and add to the pan along with all 3 cheeses.  Slightly stir to mix in, and let stand 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

 

Baked Creamy Penne

Baked Creamy Penne

4 cups penne pasta *I used whole wheat noodles*
1 jar  (26 oz.) marinara sauce
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
6 oz. Cream Cheese, cubed
3/4 cup Sour Cream
1 pkg Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta in a large saucepan.  Using a medium saucepan heat the marinara sauce, tomatoes and cream cheese until the cream cheese is melted and mixed in well.  When the pasta is done drain and return to the larger pan adding the sauce mixture and mix together.
Layer half of the pasta mixture into a 9x13 pan.  Drop in sour cream and spread in.  Top with half of the bag of mozz cheese.  Layer rest of noodle mixture, top with sour cream and spread in and top that with the rest of the mozz and parmesan cheese.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

(dollop on the sour cream and then smooth it out.)

 

Enchilada Pie

Enchilada Pie

1 lb hamburger, browned with taco seasoning
16 oz jar of salsa
8 oz tomato paste
8-16 oz of sour cream
2-4 flour tortillas
2 cups cheddar cheese

Brown hamburger, add taco seasoning and bring to a light boil.  Reduce heat and add salsa and tomato paste.  Let simmer and stir for 2 minutes.
Using a pie dish layer tortilla shell, sour cream, meat mixture cheddar cheese, and repeat layers.
Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes.
Can top with lettuce and tomatoes.

 Start with a tortilla shell(I used wheat shells)

 Spread a good layer of sour cream over the shell.

 Top with half of the meat mixture.

 Layer with half the bag of cheese.

 Final product!

 Cut through the tortilla layers to scoop out.  ENJOY!

 

Linda's Lasagna

Linda's Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

1 onion, chopped

2 (6 oz) cans tomato paste

1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes

2 cups water

1 T dried oregano

2 t garlic powder

2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

1 T sugar

12 oz cottage cheese

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

9 lasagna noodles

1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook beef until brown.  Drain.  In another skillet over medium heat, cook onion until translucent.  Combine beef and onion in a large saucepan with tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, water, oregano, garlic power, salt, pepper and sugar.  Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer 1 hour.

You can either cook the noodles according to the instructions or put them in a large bowl and cover with lukewarm water and let it sit for 40 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, blend cottage cheese, Parmesan and egg in a blender until smooth.  Set aside.

Spread 1 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Cover sauce with 3 noodles.  Cover noodles with 1/3 of remaining sauce.  Top with 1/2 the mozzarella.  Place another layer of noodles and one of sauce; top that with the cottage cheese mixture.  Top with remaining 3 noodles and remaining sauce. 

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Sprinkle remaining mozzarella on top and bake 15 minutes more, until golden and bubbly.

This was a meal my mother-in-law made for us.

Pepperoni Bread

 

Homemade dough
pepperoni
mozz
garlic salt



When my family was first introduced to this recipe, we started out making it as Pepperoni Bread.  But we found that it's sometimes could end up a little doughy in the middle if you didn't make it thin enough, or if you made it roll up too much giving too many layers.  So for ease, we switched to making them in to individual pepperoni pockets.  This is the way we usually prefer them.  However I was making this for an event feeding about 30 people.  If everyone eats 2 pockets....I'd have to individually make 60 or more pockets....which would take more time cooking, more space on the pan, and more time prepping.  So I decided to go back to the original way of making them as bread.  This way, it's a similar amount, but it fits on the pan better and I only had to make 4 big bread rolls instead of 60 individuals or more.

 Normally I make the dough.  This time we bought the frozen bread, and put it in a pan to raise and thaw.  After it thawed we put it together.  The key here is to make it much wider than it is "tall".  You really only want to wrap it up twice maybe 3 times.  The more you roll up, the harder it is to get the inside all the way done.  This was not done being rolled out, just giving you the idea to make it longer than it is wide.

After you roll out the dough, use a basting brush to put a really light layer of butter, then sprinkle with garlic salt.  Layer the pepperoni, next the mozz cheese.  And roll up.  Once I roll it up, I pull it to make it longer to help stretch out and thin out the bread from being to thick in the middle.

Since I stretch it out it usually is too long for a pan, but since it's nice and thin I can wrap it around to fit on the pan in whatever shape.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes and check the middle.  If you thinned it out you should be good to go!  If not let it cook a few minutes longer.  Now you can cut it up into slices and enjoy in a larger quantity with less work.

Penne & Sausage Casserole

This recipe makes 2.  So you make a double batch all at the same time and freeze the 2nd pan for later.

 The meat and sauce mixture on the stove.  Make sure you start with a big enough pan.

1 large box penne noodles
1 lb bulk sausage
1 lb mushrooms*
1 large onion
3 Tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 1/2 cups dry red wine or beef broth*
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup beef broth
4 cups shredded mozz
4 cups Fontina cheese* (I do not know what this is, and I couldn't find it at the store, so I just used a mixture of mozz and cheddar for the top.)

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink.  Drain and set aside.  In the same dutch oven, saute mushrooms and onion in oil until tender.  Add garlic and oregano; cook 1 minute longer.  Stir in 1 cup of broth.  Bring to a boil; cook until liquid is reduced by half.  Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, sausage and remaining wine.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Drain pasta.  Spread a little of the sauce mixture over the bottom of each pan.  Divide the pasta in half between the 2 pans.  Top with the rest of the sauce/meat mixture.  Top with cheeses.
Cover and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  Do not bake the 2nd pan, instead freeze the second pan to have another night!  Just let thaw and cook a different day.  May take a little longer to cook the frozen one.


*So my differences here with this recipe is that I did not use the mushrooms, I used whole wheat organic noodles, just mozz and cheddar cheese since I couldn't find the other kind of cheese, and I didn't have the dry red wine or beef broth.  Instead I used the last 1/4 cup of the dry white wine that I had, and some vegetable broth.   There you have it.....more proof that you do not have to follow a recipe to a T!

Cheddar Corn Chowder

Cheddar Corn Chowder

2 cans whole kernel corn
2 cans creamy corn
4 cups milk
4 cups cheddar
5-6 red potatoes
dash of paprika
pinch of cayenne
onion to taste
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp kosher salt

Cut up potatoes.  Peeled or unpeeled is up to you.  I chose unpeeled.  Mix all but the cheese in the crockpot and cook for 6-8 hours on low, or 3-4 hours on high.  Add the cheese 20 minutes before you're ready to serve.


TJ gave this an 8 out of 10

Omelet in a bag

This is something my Mother-in-law showed us when were camping.
We've done it a couple times now while camping.

Put 2 eggs, and whatever additional things you want in your omelet.

green or red pepper

onion

ham

bacon

sausage

cheese

olives

mushrooms

etc.....

First write your name on the baggie then put the amount you want in the bag with the egg. 

Mush it all together to mix it up.  

The put it in boiling water.  Boil until the egg is cooked through. 

Take out the bag and enjoy.  Great for camping, or fun at home too! :)

We did this most recently when we were camping over labor day weekend.  And yes, we were wearing sweatshirts, coats, and hats because it was a very chilly labor day weekend

Chili Cheese Dip

I have 2 recipes for this.  I've already posted the Chicken Chili Cheese Dip version.  This one is a hamburger version and has a different taste. 

We love it!   I served it for Bear's birthday party and it was a huge hit!
We had 21 people here so I made a double batch.  There wasn't that much left over so it was a good amount.

A normal batch makes a good amount.

1 lb hamburger
2 medium size jars salsa
2 can hormel chili no beans
2 bags cheddar cheese

Brown hamburger in a large pot.  Drain any grease.  Add the rest of the ingredients and warm in the pan until it is all warmed together and the cheese is melted.  Dip in with Tortilla chips!  Yummy!  We eat this as a meal.  But could also be an appetizer.

We like to use a little bowl or something for the dip to keep it from making such a mess on the plate.  But you could just put it on your plate if you wanted too. :)

This time I made it in the crockpot so it was just ready to serve whenever.

More on Bear's birthday to follow......

Nacho Cheese Tater Tot Hotdish

TJ is not the hugest fan of tater-tot hotdish.  So my sister had passed along this variation a couple years ago.  It's still not his favorite, but I haven't made it for a super long time so I thought I'd make it again.  This probably only a once a year meal for our family. TJ gives it a 6 out of 10.  Edible, but not his favorite. :)

When I made this I thought I had grabbed the bag of regular tater tots, but I guess they were tater rounds instead.  Oh well, it's still a potato, so it worked.

Nacho Cheese Tater-Tot Hotdish

1 can Nacho Cheese Soup
1 lb hamburger, browned and seasoned
2 cups frozen corn
1-2 cups cheddar
1 bag tater-tots

Brown the hamburger.  Mix together with veggie and cheese soup and some cheddar cheese.  Pour in the bottom of a 9x9 pan or 9x13.  Layer with tater-tots and then top with more cheddar cheese.
We served it with sour cream.  My boys love sour cream on lots of things. :)