Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

This is one of those pasta salads that tastes so stinking good, you don’t want to stop eating it. I ate it for breakfast the next morning, it was that good. The original recipe, from Yellow Bliss Road, had peas in it, and for a cold salad, I knew that wouldn’t fly with my kids. So I 86ed the peas and added in some green and yellow bell peppers, red onion, and a clove of garlic for extra zip. I also added mayo with the Ranch dressing to mellow it out a little. This is definitely a keeper.

So, let’s get cooking!

Set a pot of water to boil on the stove for the pasta. I chose mini farfalle for this; it just seemed to go good. But choose whichever shape you’d like. Cook until al dente, drain,  and then rinse thoroughly with cold water.

If you haven’t got cooked chicken or bacon on hand (left over), now would be a good time to cook those, too. ;)

Mince the garlic, dice the green and yellow bell peppers, red onion, and the humongous tomato. Yeah, I know there’s no tomato in that pic. You’ll have to just imagine it. Go ahead, it’s good for you; it builds your creativity. ;)

Place the pasta and veggies in a large mixing bowl. Now see? You imagined those diced tomatoes right into that photo! I knew you could do it!

Dice the chicken breast into somewhat smallish chunks, and chop the bacon. Add it to the rest in the bowl, and mix in the Ranch dressing and mayonnaise. This is so good, I’m sure you’ll love it!

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

3 c pasta
(I used mini farfalle)
2 c cooked chicken breast
6 slices cooked bacon
½ green bell pepper
½ yellow bell pepper
¼ lg red onion
1 clove garlic
1 humongous tomato
¾ c Ranch dressing
½ c mayonnaise

Deviled Egg Pasta Salad

This recipe combines two of my favorite things: deviled eggs and pasta salad. I have no idea why I never thought to combine them myself, but who cares? Now I have! ;) I did not stray very far from the original recipe, found on 52 Ways to Cook; I only left out the pickle brine and sweet relish, and added in hot mustard to give it some added zip. I think you’ll like it.

So, let’s get cooking!

Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. You can obviously use any kind you want, but I love using different pasta shapes, and for some reason cavatappi seemed to be the best for this salad. After cooking until just al dente, drain and rinse well with cold water all the way through.

While that is all happening behind the scenes, dice the celery and red onion.

Peel and chop the boiled eggs. If you haven’t got any on hand, you obviously need to get those done. I have a bowl full in the fridge usually, because the kids like to have one of two for a snack. I figure, they’re inexpensive and it’s protein. I’d rather have them eating a couple of boiled eggs than handfuls of dry cereal.

In a large bowl, put the drained cooled pasta, the celery and onions, and the mayo and yellow and brown mustards.

Mix well, and add the eggs, mixing in but not so much as to decimate them. ;)

Serve and enjoy! ~TMMF

Deviled Egg Pasta Salad

1 lb cavatappi
(or another shape)
3 stalks celery
½ med. red onion
8 hard boiled eggs
2 c mayonnaise
3 Tbl yellow mustard
2 Tbl hot brown mustard

Cheesy Confetti Pasta Salad

Okay, with Summer in full swing, I’ve been trying not to use the oven because the kitchen gets so stinking hot. So as I was browsing cold pasta recipes, I came upon one that I decided to make, only in the end I made up one myself. If I change a couple things around in a recipe, obviously I can’t claim that it’s my original recipe, but with this one it’s safe to say it’s mine.

The original recipe I was going to make used rotini pasta, red bell pepper, celery, onion, cheddar cheese chunks, and a sauce that was basically what you use to make cole slaw. I used mini farfalle pasta, 3 colored bell peppers, no celery, red onion, no chunks of cheese, and a bottle of Asiago peppercorn salad dressing. So yes, this one is mine! ;)

So, let’s get cooking!

Set a pot of water to boil for the pasta. Cook until al dente, then drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water to stop the cooking process.

In the meantime, you can dice the green, red, and yellow bell peppers and the red onion. I chose the red onion mostly because of the beautiful added color it would give to this side dish. Since the pasta is small, you’ll want to dice the veggies fairly small also. Peel and mince the garlic. Don’t skip the garlic; it really put this pasta salad over the top!

Put the cooled pasta and the veggies in a bowl.

Add the Asiago Peppercorn dressing and stir well.

And…..voilà!

Look at this delicious pasta salad just bursting with color and flavor! Enjoy! ~TMMF







Cheesy Confetti Pasta Salad

12 oz mini farfalle
½ green bell pepper
½ red bell pepper
½ yellow bell pepper
¼ lg red onion
1-2 cloves garlic
1 16 oz bottle Asiago
     peppercorn dressing
salt and pepper to taste

Creamy Buffalo Chicken Soup

Okay, this recipe has a really interesting back story. This is my original recipe, and it came about because months and months ago, I had a dream that I was cooking, making a soup, this soup specifically. When I woke, I was thinking, what a great idea! So after letting it roll around in my head for a while, I finally tried it.

The first time I made it, it was fantastic, and everyone loved it. It was gone too soon! But when I went to write it up for TMMF, it seemed like something was missing. Suddenly I knew what would go good in this--rice!

So when I made it the second time, I added some rice to it and sure enough, it was now perfect and ready to go live. ;) The amounts of hot sauce and Ranch dressing are perfect; just enough so that one doesn’t overpower the other. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

So, let’s get cooking!

Cube the boneless skinless chicken breasts into 1” pieces. Place them in a bowl and mix in the hot sauce to marinate them while you work on the other ingredients.

Dice the celery and onions, and slice the carrots. You’ll have to imagine carrot coins next to the diced celery and onion in this pic. ;)

Next, set the carrots to cook until al dente in a small pot. If you don’t have any leftover cooked rice, you’ll need to cook some up now, enough to make 2 c cooked.

While that’s happening, sauté the cubed chicken in a large sauce pan until just done (no oil needed for this). Set the cooked chicken and the juices in a bowl.

In the same pot, sauté the diced celery and onion in the 2 Tbl of oil, just until tender.

Now add the chicken stock and keep the heat on medium low. Cut up the cream cheese into chunks, and add them, using a whisk to incorporate them into the broth. Make sure you don’t have the heat up too high. Stir in the Ranch dressing.

Your rice should be done by now, so add it to the soup, as well as the carrots and chicken, including all the juices from the chicken. Scrape that bowl clean with a rubber spatula; you don’t want to miss a drop of that wonderful flavor!

And it’s done. Enjoy! ~TMMF

Creamy Buffalo Chicken Soup

2 lg chicken breasts
   (boneless, skinless)
½ c hot sauce (like Frank’s or Texas Pete)
½ md Vidalia onion
2 stalks celery
3 lg carrots
2 Tbl oil
6 c chicken stock or broth
8 oz pkg cream cheese
½ c Ranch dressing
2 c cooked rice

Unstuffed Fish Casserole with Buttery Lemon Sauce

This is a recipe I made up one night when I was feeling creative, and it was a hit with my kids. I wanted to have fish that night, but didn’t feel like making it the same old same old, so I looked around at what I had and it came to me in a flash, which is how recipes usually happen with me. ;) It looks like it’s a more involved recipe, and it is, but with quick easy steps, not long  time intensive ones. I hope you like it.

So, let’s get cooking!

I used frozen fish for this, Tilapia, but you can use fresh and also whatever kind of fish you’d like. Layer the fish in an 11 X 15” baking dish. You don’t need to grease it. With each layer of fish, drizzle on some of the melted butter and sprinkle on some lemon pepper.

Dice the onion and celery, and then sauté in the 4 Tbl butter until tender.

Add the chicken broth and heat for a minute, then shut off the heat and stir in the herb stuffing mix. Cover and let sit for a few minutes.

Distribute the stuffing over the top of the fish in the baking dish, and bake at 350° for 45 minutes or so, until fish is thoroughly cooked in the middle.

Now, while the fish is baking, you can prepare the sauce. Zest the lemon whichever way you like; with a zester or a grater. Next, juice half the lemon. In a small bowl, mix together the 2 Tbl lemon juice and the corn starch.

In a smallish sauce pan, melt the 2 Tbl butter. Add the 1 c chicken stock. Heat for a couple of minutes, and then using a whisk, stir in the lemon juice/corn starch mixture, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in the lemon zest and the sugar.

When the fish casserole is done, place a portion on a plate and ladle some of the Buttery Lemon Sauce on top.

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Unstuffed Fish Casserole with                         
Buttery Lemon Sauce
                                                                         
2-2 ½ lb fish                                                      
2 Tbl butter, melted                                                                                  
Lemon pepper seasoning                                  
1 6 oz box herb stuffing mix                              
½ Vidalia onion
1 ½ stalks celery
4 Tbl butter
1 c chicken stock or broth

Buttery Lemon Sauce

2 Tbl butter
1 c chicken stock
2 Tbl lemon juice
1 ½ Tbl corn starch
1 tsp lemon zest
½ tsp sugar

Creamy Swiss Chicken Bake

So, it’s Monday again, but I’m cutting down the Gourmet…Way Before Payday recipes to the first Monday of the month. And because of that, I now present you with….<insert dramatic drum roll>….Creamy Swiss Chicken Bake!

Omgoodness, this is so yumminy, you’ll be glad you made it! This recipe comes from lilluna.com. It’s easy, quick, and oh so good! It’s supposed to be made with boneless skinless chicken breasts, but I made it with thighs, and I added some mozzarella cheese to the equation because that’s how I roll. ;)

So, let’s get cooking!

Since I used thighs for this, I removed the skin and some of the extra fat. If you’re using boneless skinless breasts, you’ve got it made in the shade. Place them in a greased 9 X 13" baking dish.

In a smallish bowl, mix together the mayo, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, and spices.

I had no sliced Swiss cheese, but I did have a block of it, so it had to be grated. Maybe you have a block of mozzarella that has to be grated also? You really have no idea if this is Swiss or mozzarella, do you? It could even be extra sharp cheddar for all you know. ;)





Ah, silly me….it really is grated Swiss. I just get giddy when I’m sleep deprived and it’s ridiculous o’clock in the morning and I decide to write. And you are my captive audience, so you are the recipients of my goofiness. ;)

Shall we move on?

Sprinkle the grated Swiss and mozzarella cheeses on top of the chicken in the pan.

Spread the mayo/sour cream mixture evenly on top.

Now bake at 350° for about an hour.

Serve up and listen to the sounds of Yum. Enjoy! ~TMMF

Creamy Swiss Chicken Bake

4-6 pieces chicken
6-8 slices Swiss cheese
   (or 1 c shredded)
¾ c mozzarella cheese
½ c mayonnaise
½ c sour cream
¾ c Parmesan cheese
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

Breakfast Burritos

Okay, I’ve been absent due to needing time off for various reasons, but here I am again! And since this is Monday, I have a new recipe for the Gourmet…Way Before Payday series. I’m going to slow it down to the first Monday of the month now. With the summer coming up and my sons out of school soon, I’ll be even busier than ever.

Anyhoo, here we are with this recipe that I’ve been making for a long time, decades. It’s just something I threw together one night and everyone loved it. Yes, it’s Breakfast Burritos, but I don’t think we’ve ever eaten them at breakfast! It’s usually something I make for supper when I need something quick, easy, and inexpensive. And the kids and grown ups love them! At $1.04 per serving, it’s a deal!

So, let’s get cooking!

First up, dice the onion and pepper. I’ve made this a boatload of times with no onion and pepper in it and it’s still yummy as anything!

Break the eggs into a medium bowl. Poke the yolks with a fork and whisk together until solid yellow. Add in the milk and mix thoroughly.

In a skillet, melt a little butter, and pour in the egg mixture. Add the onion and pepper, and cook, stirring and scraping with a spatula, until cooked solid. There will be liquid from the milk you can either drain with a strainer, or use a slotted spoon to scoop the eggs when it’s time to serve.

Now to assemble: Lay a tortilla wrap on the plate or table. Using the spatula, cut through the cooked eggs as if slicing a pie, dividing them into eighths. First you halve it, then halve again. Now you divide each quarter in half, so you end up with eighths. If nothing else, you’ll at least be able to see the outlines of the division lines. Scoop out the egg mixture and lay it onto the tortilla wrap in the very middle, from the top to about ¾ down.

Sprinkle on about ¼ c of the grated cheddar cheese.

Then scoop on ¼ c of the salsa or picante sauce.

Some variations of the cheese that we’ve tried and liked: sprinkle on shredded Fiesta Cheese blend. Or how about sharp cheddar cheese and some mozzarella for that stringy cheesy goodness?

Then simply fold up the bottom flap of the tortilla, and fold one side over, then the other.

Serve and enjoy! ~TMMF

Breakfast Burritos

½ green bell pepper
½ Vidalia onion
10 eggs
2 c milk
2 c cheddar cheese
2 c picante sauce or salsa
8 lg flour tortilla wraps

This cost me $8.35 to make the way I did and serve 8 people. :)