Cozy Cabin Casserole

I'm on a roll with trying new crockpot recipes lately, since I borrowed a crockpot recipe magazine from my sister-in-law. We all liked this one!  I have no idea why it has this "Cozy Cabin Casserole" name, because it's certainly not a casserole. It's very similar to this Beef and Noodles recipe. I think you could easily serve it on noodles as a beef stroganoff type meal. My plan was to serve it on top of mashed potatoes (since there's quite a bit of gravy in it), but we ended up having it with baked potatoes instead.

Ingredients:
2 lb. lean round steak (I used beef stew meat instead)
2 1.1-oz envelopes dry beefy onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions:
Layer first four ingredients in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high one hour and then on low 4-6 hours or until meat is tender. (I cooked it on high for 4 hours instead.) Stir in sour cream 10 minutes before serving. 

Salsa Chicken with Rice

I should call this recipe "Miracle Chicken", because it's a miracle that I've actually posted THREE recipes this month!  :)  I decided the other day to institute the tradition of a "Sunday dinner" (actually, lunch) each week in our home, and so today I started this in the crockpot before we left for church.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1-1/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup salsa 
1 Tbsp. olive oil (I used vegetable oil)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:
Spray interior of slow cooker with cooking spray. Pour rice into slow cooker. Add chicken broth and salsa. Stir together well.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to skillet and brown chicken 2 to 3 minutes per side. Place chicken breasts on top of salsa mixture in slow cooker.

Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours or until chicken and rice are tender. Top with cheese just before serving.

Chicken Potato Delight

Another successful new recipe attempt... kind of.

Make this casserole at your own risk! I followed the directions exactly, and ended up with a thick layer of burnt cheese on the top. I ended up having to take that layer off, donate it to the trash can, and then add another layer of cheese and just put it into the oven long enough for it to melt. The next time I make this, I'll wait until about 10 minutes before it's done and then add the cheese and put it back in for the last 10 minutes, rather than following the directions.

It was pretty annoying, but since my nephew announced, "Bikki Boo, this one's a keeper!" and my niece proclaimed it to be "the bomb", I've decided to add it to our recipe collection. :)

This is the original recipe...

Ingredients:
1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

3/4 c. sour cream

1/4 c. milk

1 c. cubed cooked chicken (I thought that seemed pretty skimpy, so I doubled the chicken)

2-1/2 c. (10 oz) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

2-1/2 c. frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed

1 can (2.8 oz) french-fried onions

1 c. crushed sour cream and onion potato chips

Instructions:

In a bowl, combine soup, sour cream, milk, chicken, and 1-1/4 cups of the cheese. Spread 3/4 of the mixture into a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle hash browns over the top and press down lightly. Spread with the remaining soup mixture.

Sprinkle with onions, potato chips, and remaining cheese. (Caution! See my note above.) Bake, uncovered, at 350F for 1 hour or until bubbly. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Saucy Beef Casserole

Today was the first day of my "week of new recipes". I'm trying six new recipes over the next week from a couple of Taste of Home magazines. So far so good! We really liked this one... simple and good. :)

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped (I used some dried minced onion)

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted

1 can condensed vegetable soup, undiluted

3/4 cup chow mein noodles

Instructions:
In a skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in soups. Transfer to a greased 8-inch square baking dish. Cover and bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes or until heated through. Uncover; sprinkle with chow mein noodles. Bake 5 minutes longer or until noodles are crisp.

Yield:
4 large servings

Pizza Crescent Bake

Here's another recipe that I got from Taste of Home magazine several years ago.  I suspect that it would be even better with twice as much pizza sauce (since I love pizza sauce and am still recovering from a childhood where my dad would order our pizzas with NO SAUCE!), but I've never remembered to try it that way.

Ingredients:
2 tubes crescent rolls
1-1/2 lbs ground beef
1 15-oz jar pizza sauce
2 c. mozzarella sauce, shredded


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F.Unroll one tube of crescent rolls; place in a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish.  Press to seal perforations.  Set aside.  Brown ground beef; drain.  Sprinkle beef over dough.  Top with pizza sauce and cheese.  Unroll remaining tube of crescent rolls; place over cheese layer and press to seal perforations. Bake for 30 minutes.

Yield:
8 servings 

Crunchy Chicken Casserole

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine and tried it for the first time tonight. My brother-in-law had "thirds", so I'm going to call it a success! I changed the name of the recipe, since I didn't like the original name very well. :)

Ingredients:

1 can (10-3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

2 Tbsp taco sauce

1/4 cup chopped green chilies

3 cups cubed cooked chicken

12 slices processed American cheese

4 cups broken tortilla chips

Instructions:

In a bowl, combine the soup, sour cream, taco sauce, and chilies. In an ungreased shallow 2-quart baking dish, layer half of the chicken, half of the soup mixture, half of the cheese, and half of the tortilla chips. Repeat layers.

Bake uncovered at 350F for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield:
The original recipe says 4-6 servings, but those would be rather large servings. I'd say more like 8 average servings.

Old Settlers Baked Beans

This recipe makes a FULL crockpot, so if you're making it for an average sized family or as a side dish, you'll want to cut the ingredients in half.  But for a larger family, a family who likes to have leftovers for lunch the next day, or a potluck, it should work out just fine! 

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb bacon, chopped
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans pork and beans
2 cans butter beans
2/3 c. brown sugar
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. barbecue sauce
1/2 c. ketchup
1 tsp. chili powder
2 Tbsp. mustard
4 Tbsp. molasses

Instructions:
Cook ground beef and bacon; drain.  Pour into crockpot.  Add beans and mix well.  Add all other ingredients and mix well.  Cook on low all day (or at least a few hours).  Alternatively, you can cook it on the stove, simmering for at least an hour.

Speedy Tuna "Casserole"

A really easy way to make a "Tuna Helper" type of dish. 

Ingredients:
1 box Kraft macaroni & cheese (including the margarine & milk that the box instructions call for)
1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, corn)
1 6-oz can tuna in water, drained, flaked
8 Ritz crackers, crushed

Instructions:
Prepare the macaroni and cheese as directed on package, adding vegetables to the boiling water for the last two minutes of cooking the noodles. 

Add tuna; mix lightly.

Top with cracker crumbs just before serving.

Yield:  4 servings.  We double this recipe, which gives us enough for leftovers for some of us for the next day's lunch.

Crockpot Beef and Noodles

This is our favorite "beef stroganoff" recipe. For years I called it Beef Stroganoff, until I realized one day that you probably can't call something "beef stroganoff" if it doesn't have sour cream in it. So these days it's known as Beef and Noodles. :) Make sure you don't put the noodles in to the crockpot to cook all day, or you'll join my sister-in-law in a cooking mistake that she has never lived down!

Ingredients:
2 lbs beef stew meat (you could get away with 1-1/2 lbs to save $$ and/or calories)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 envelopes dry onion soup mix
1/2 tsp. pepper
16 oz egg noodles

Instructions:
Cut beef stew meat into smaller pieces, if you'd like. (It will be very soft and easy to cut when cooked, so this is really not a necessity.) Combine beef, soup, soup mix, and pepper in crockpot. Stir well. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. Cook noodles. Add noodles to crockpot, mix well, and serve. (Or serve beef mixture on top of noodles.)

Yield: Quite a bit! The original recipe calls for half of this, which could easily feed four. We double it so that we have leftovers to pack for lunches the next day.

Hamburger Mashed Potato Casserole

This is our all time favorite casserole! It's kind of like a shepherd's pie. My friend's husband affectionately calls it "Slop", because although it looks great when it comes out of the oven, when you put a serving onto a plate, it does tend to look as though it's living up to the nickname. If we were to let it set for awhile before serving, it would probably dish out more firmly. However, we tend to eat this stuff as if it were crack. :)

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef; browned and drained
2 cans tomato soup
2 cans green beans; drained
8 servings instant mashed potatoes; prepared according to box instructions
handful or two of shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:
Put the browned/drained ground beef into a 2 quart casserole dish. Add tomato soup and the drained green beans; mix well. Spoon the prepared mashed potatoes all over the top of the meat mixture. Sprinkle a handful or two (however much or little you would like) of shredded cheddar cheese on top of the potatoes. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or so.

Yield:
This makes about 8-10 servings. The original recipe is half this, but we (a family with 4-5 people eating dinner) make double so that there is enough for lunch the next day. Plus the aforementioned "crack" thing.