Tuna Veggie Casserole......I love old school food!!

There is just something about old school classic meals that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Things like tuna casserole, meatloaf, mac & cheese, beef stroganoff, and sooooo many more. I feel like Mrs. Cleaver or Wilma Flinestone.......ok maybe not Wilma....but you know what I mean. They just feel like authentic classic American fill you up kinda meals. That is a great feeling to have after making a meal. So I'm gonna giving you my version of Tuna Casserole, I threw in some veggies....you know cuz I can. :)

Here is just a few of the ingredients I used. Take note...I used whole wheat noodles!!
1 12-16 oz pkg of noodles of your choice
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 T capers
2 cups broccoli, chopped
2 cans tuna, drained
2 cups grated cheese, any kind you like
3 cloves garlic
3 T butter
3 T flour
2 cups milk or broth and milk or heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of nutmeg

Chop your veggies like so........and while you are chopping your veggies you should be boiling your noodles. Once the noodle have boiled drain them and set them aside to make your sauce.

     In your pan combine your butter and flour and mix around for about 2 min to cook out the flour taste.

Whisk in your milk, cream or combo of both and whisk until all the lumps are gone. Add cheese and whisk until smooth. Now add salt and pepper to taste, nutmeg, all veggies, grated garlic and capers, and tuna. Cook until sauce is very thick and veggies are tender, about 5 minutes. Toss in noodles and stir until everything is coated!! Serve

Alfredo Chicken Roll

Ahhhhhh.........Alfredo Chicken Roll.......brings back memories........it was many many years ago....the first Pampered Chef party I ever went to. The demonstrator made something similar, well the only similarities were the crescent rolls, chicken and garlic....lol. Anyways, I thought it was good, but I thought I could make something great!! So I came up with this, and......it WORKS!!

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, chopped
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, grated
3 green onions, chopped
6 mushrooms sliced
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 jar of Alfredo sauce
2 pkgs refrigerated crescent rolls

In a large frying pan cooked chopped chicken breasts. When almost done add in mushrooms and season mixture with salt and pepper. Add in remaining ingredients and stir until mixed well.

Open crescent rolls and separated each roll. On a round pizza pan or baking stone arrange crescent rolls to look like a 'sun' with the point part facing out of the pan and the wide edges over lapping each other on the pan. Press those wide edges together and flatten out to form a nice sized circular base for your chicken mixture. There should be an open center in the middle. Along the inner edge of the crescent roll sun, place your chicken mixture so it forms a circle as well. Now take the pointy edges of the dough and bring over the top of the chicken mixture to tuck into the center. Brush top with 1 beaten egg. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and crescent roll dough is cooked completely.

Pumpkin Pecan Crunch

Well I definitely don't want to offend anyone........but.......I think this is better than pumpkin pie. *ducking* Don't throw things at me....until you try it....you can't say I'm wrong!! There is something about they pumpkin on the bottom then the buttery, nutty cake topping.......can you excuse me.....I need to go get more.......

K......I'm back.....thanks for your patience!!! I got this recipe on a recipe exchange website that I have, my friend Amy posted it!! I appreciate her posting this more than she knows!! :) BTW.....you can use yellow cake mix, butter cake mix, white cake mix, or I've even tried spice cake mix!!

Pumpkin Pecan Crunch
1 large can pumpkin
1-12oz can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 package cake mix such as yellow, white, butter or spice
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
3/4 cup butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with non-stick spray.

Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice until smooth
Pour into baking dish
Sprinkle cake mix (dry) over pumpkin mixture.
Sprinkle pecans over cake mix
Pour melted butter over top.
Bake uncovered 50 to 60 min. until knife inserted in center comes out
clean.
Serve with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.

Simple Sweet Potatoes

These are so simple to make and yet soo good!! I don't know about you all, but a lot of times around the holidays when we go to peoples houses they have these "sweet potato" dishes that are whipped with 10 pounds of butter, 5 pounds of brown sugar and piled high with marshmallow's. Then it seems like what was once this beautiful and tasty, good for you vegetable is now candy. I don't want to eat that!! I like to keep my sweet potato's a lil more o'natural.

So I came up with this.........

2 good sized sweet potatoes sliced in half long ways

olive oil

kosher salt to taste

1 tsp of brown sugar

Drizzle olive oil over sweet potatoes and lightly sprinkle with salt. Then place face down on a baking sheet and place in a preheated oven at 400 degrees. Bake for about 45 until tender and browned. Flip them over and sprinkle (very lightly) with the brown sugar. Serve warm. They are delicious!!

Po' Mans Dinner or Dirty Rice or Rice with Hangabur Meat

This rice dish is a huge hit around my house!! Everyone loves it and it can feed a ton of people or you can have leftovers the next day for lunch!! It is so easy and you can change it up to add whatever you like in it. I make mine with ground beef, but you can certainly use ground turkey, chicken or even sausage. Or if you don't like meat just use veggies!! This is great to make if you are feeding a crowd of if your food budget is low this week. It tastes so good you'd never guess it was so easy and inexpensive!!

1 lb ground beef

2 cups long grain rice

1/2 cup chopped red and green bell pepper

1/2 of a medium sized onion, chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 14.5 oz can broth (beef, chicken or veggie)

2 cups water

3-4 dashes hot sauce (I like Franks)

1 1/2 cups cheese (Cheddar, jack, colby, pepper jack or any kind you like)

1 small can green chile's (optional)

juice of 1/2 of a lime

1-1 1/2 tsp salt to flavor

It should look like this.

Now add all the liquids, including the water, broth and hot sauce. Then add the cilantro. Cover and let it come up to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let cook for 20-25 minutes until rice is completely cooked. Now spread cheese over the top and let melt for about 5 minutes.

You can garnish with cilantro, avocado, sour cream, jalapenos, or anything else you feel like throwing on there!!
Doesn't that look good!!! Serve to all your hungry people waiting for a delicious meal!Now add the rice and 'fry' it all together for about 5 minutes stirring constantly.Just like that...now add in the veggies...except the cilantro!!Brown you ground beef.Here are all the things I used in mine today. Fresh tomatoes, red and green bell peppers, onions, cilantro, green chile's, lime juice, rice and cheese!! You'll want to chop up your veggies and cilantro before you start cooking!!