Category Archives: Easy

Ground Beef Stroganoff

I love beef stroganoff, but we don’t really eat beef in our house, so I’ve never made it. I was so excited to find this recipe which could easily be made with ground chicken or turkey.

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
1 lb. of ground chicken
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3-4 mushrooms, chopped
1/3 c. dry sherry or dry white wine
1 1/4 c. sour cream (room temperature)
1 tspn. lemon juice
1/4 tspn. paprika
8 oz. egg noodles

Directions:
Cook egg noodles per the directions on the packaging.

Put about one tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and heat to medium high. Sprinkle some salt in the bottom of the pan and cook ground chicken until cooked through.

When the meat is done, drain the fat and put the meat in another bowl. Place a little more olive oil in the skillet and add the onions, mushrooms and sherry/wine. Cook until the onions are soft.

Remove the pan from the burner and stir in the sour cream and paprika. Keep stirring until it is smooth. You may need to add a little water so that the consistency isn’t too thick. Add the lemon juice and then stir in the hamburger until everything is well blended. Add salt, pepper and paprika as needed.

Drain the noodles and serve the stroganoff on top of the noodles. Happy eating!!!

Next time: The only thing I really changed about this recipe is I left out the parsley that was in the original recipe I found on-line. When I made it the first time I did use the parsley and I didn’t like it. It tasted like I had foliage in my stroganoff. I highly recommend leaving it out.

What does the family think? One of the reasons I decided to make this was because our children recently discovered sour cream and they seem to be inclined to eat things that have sour cream in them now. Hubby and I loved this dish. Our oldest really liked it and our youngest just ate the noodles. I will definitely be making this dish again.

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy

White Beans and Italian Sausage

As I am going through my recipes I am realizing that we eat a lot of Italian food around here. This is what we had for dinner tonight and it was the first time I had ever used this recipe. I made my own version though because the version I found on-line talked about soaking beans and simmering for a few hours. I don’t have time for all that. So here’s my version:

Ingredients:
2 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 lbs. Italian sausage (sweet, mild or hot)
2 14.5 oz cans of Italian-style diced tomatoes
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic. Saute garlic for a minute or so and add Italian sausage. When Italian sausage it completely cooked add beans, tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Keep on burner until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

Next time: When I made it this time I only used one can of tomatoes. I put two cans in my directions up above because I think it needed more. Also, I used mild Italian sausage this time. Next time I will definitely use a spicier version.

We had this with a baguette hubby had picked up at the store and we had some grapes so I put those on the table as well.

What does the family think? Hubby and I liked it enough to have seconds. The boys ate it, but mostly just ate the sausage.

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Italian

Whole Chicken Crock Pot Recipe

It doesn’t get any easier than this. I found this recipe on-line a few years ago and have made several variations, but this is the simplest one I have made. Simple is good. We have this at least twice a month at our house. It is a great dish to have on a night when you know you are going to be busy or getting home late. It’s done when you get home AND your house smells FANTASTIC!

Ingredients:
Salt
Pepper
Poultry Seasoning
1 large roasting chicken
1 small lemon

Directions:
After making sure there aren’t any gizzards, etc. in the cavity of the chicken, cut the lemon in half and place both halves of the lemon in the cavity of the chicken then place the chicken in the crockpot. Sprinkle a little bit of salt, pepper and poultry seasoning on the chicken. Put the lid on the crockpot and cook on low for 4-8 hours. (Ours is usually done within five hours at the most.)

Variations: You can put just about any reasonable spice on this chicken that you want to and it will turn out tasting great. You could use paprika, lemon pepper, garlic salt, thyme, cayenne…get creative.

We usually have this dish with a veggie that can be prepared quickly and some bread and butter with honey on it. Again, very quick, but yummy.

What does the family think? Hubby and I love this dish. It is definitely a comfort food in our house. Our boys aren’t huge chicken fans, but they’ll eat it.

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Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Uncategorized

Chorizo and Butter Bean Stew

    This recipe was one of the reasons I started this website.  I was trying to explain to a friend of mine in an e-mail about what I had changed about the recipe, what the kids thought of it, etc. and then I was telling someone else later on.  How much easier would have been to type it once?

    Also, let me say that Jamie Oliver is my new hero and I have been trying out a lot of his recipes lately.

    Here is my version of his recipe:
    1/2 lb. ground turkey chorizo
    3/4 chopped red onion
    3 garlic cloves
    olive oil
    1 tspn. cumin
    1/2 tspn. sweet paprika
    1 pinch of cayenne
    14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes
    15 1/2 oz. can butter beans
    several dollops of sour cream

    Directions: In a dutch oven or other such pot, cook the chorizo, garlic, olive oil and onion until the chorizo is cooked through. Add the spices, tomatoes and butter beans and cook until heated through.

    When serving, dish into bowls and top each serving with a dollop of sour cream. This dish is on the spicy side and the sour cream helps take the heat off. This recipe doesn’t make a lot. It made enough for hubby and I to each have one serving and our two boys to each have one little serving. It could easily be doubled for more.

    Jaime Oliver suggests serving this dish with some crusty bread and a nice glass of red wine, so that’s what we did.

    So what did the family think? Hubby and I thought it was awesome. It was SO MUCH tastier than I thought it would be. One of the kids ate only the beans and the tomatoes and our other child ate only the chorizo. Go figure.

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Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Spicy, Stew/Soup