Chili Cheddar Penne

Sorry for no post last week, we were on vacation! My plans of having a post or two prepared before we left went out the window with prep for vacation, so I'll try to make it up this week. :) (On the plus side, we thoroughly enjoyed spending a week in the sunshine state!)

This entree/side dish is something that has been one of my favorites for a LONG time. The boys love it too! When I made it last, Gabriel had 4ish helpings... Nate, however, just isn't very fond of it; I've never figured out why. I try not to make it too often, knowing that he's not a fan, but I can't resist sometimes! I tone the spice down a little while making it for my family, but you could definitely add as much seasoning as you wanted!

To make this into more of a one-dish meal, add some grilled chicken!

Remember, comments are loved! What's your favorite one-dish meal?

Printable Recipe

Chili Cheddar Penne

Ingredients

• 2 ⅔ cups uncooked penne pasta
• ⅔ cup frozen corn, thawed
• 1 ½ tablespoons butter
• ½ green pepper, diced very small
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 roma or 1 regular tomatoes, diced (or 1 can, drained)
• ½-¾ tablespoon taco seasoning
• Sliced avocado, optional

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, adding corn approximately 4 minutes before done. 
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, saute green pepper until crisp-tender in butter. Set aside. 
3. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in cheese, tomatoes, and taco seasoning. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until cheese is melted. 
5. Drain pasta; stir into cheese sauce. Garnish with avocado if desired.

Yield/Time

6 Servings

Prep/Total Time: 25 min.

Nutrition Facts *I calculate nutrition facts for reference only, this is not done scientifically

179 per ½ cup.

Source (for original): Taste of Home

Cheesy Crock Pot Cowboy Casserole

I love potatoes, but I don't actually cook with them very often. That usually results in me letting 1/3 to 1/2 of a bag of potatoes get nasty, which always annoys me. I hate wasting food. So, when I've had the potatoes for awhile, I start looking for something yummy & new to hurry up and use those potatoes before they go bad. I had about 1 pound of the 5 pound back left when I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest.

Side note: I seriously love Pinterest. I scoffed at everyone using Pinterest before -didn't see the point- until a friend had a Pinterest birthday party and I had to get on it. The food & drink section makes me happy. There are so many recipes! You just keep scanning pictures til you find something that looks yummy. 

Anyways, back to the recipe. If I don't find anything that looks amazing, I will go with potato soup to use up the potatoes, but I was so happy I found this. Cheese, potatoes, meat... Even some veggies so I can convince myself it's good for us!


The one thing that almost deterred me from making this is the kidney beans. I know, I know. "Serena, I thought you were trying to broaden your horizons, try new things," blah blah blah. I have added various beans to things in the last couple of years, and wound up picking them out while I was eating it. (Nothing quite like having to dissect each bite before eating it....) I think that, next time, I will add the kidney beans. However, the last two new recipes I've tried have failed, and I wanted this to be a definite "yes."

Side note on the failed recipes: one was a cookie bar, and I thought the taste & texture were meh. Nate said they were good so I did wind up giving some to my big brother, Jonah, as part of his belated birthday gift, but it wasn't something I would make again. The second were soft honey spice cookies, were the taste turned out great but they did NOT look anything like the picture, and the texture wasn't what it should have been. Jonah got a lot of those for his birthday too; at least they tasted good. 


See below the recipe for more comments on it....

Cheesy Crock Pot Cowboy Casserole

Ingredients

• ½ medium onion, diced
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon Mrs. Dash
• 1 pound small red potatoes, sliced thin
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced (if subbing canned tomatoes, do not drain)
• 1 cup canned or frozen corn
• 1 can dark red kidney beans
• ¼ cup water (skip if adding canned tomatoes)
• 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

• Place  all of the ingredients except the cheese in a 4 - 6 quart crockpot and stir well.
• Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7 - 8  hours. Uncover crock pot and sprinkle shredded cheese over top. Recover and let cook an additional 30 minutes.

Yield/Time

6 servings

8 hours

Nutrition Facts

265 calories per cup, using ½ cup beef (324 if using a full pound of beef)

Source (for original): Family Fresh Meals 

I thought I had about 3/4 pound of cooked venison in the fridge (from when I made taco helper), but apparently I had only saved 1/2 pound. Oh well. Still meaty, but I would try to add the full pound or so next time.

Taco Helper....and my lack of love for pre-packaged meals

As a general rule, I don't like to buy pre-packaged meals for us. They 1) are expensive, and 2) have a ridiculously high salt content. Tuna helper is something I buy on occasion for Nate, but I won't eat most of those things. (OK, I will confess to buying pasta roni when it's on sale sometimes. Hush, it's a comfort food when I am hungry, I'm the only one eating, and I don't want to mess with making a real meal.) However, I like the idea of most of them. Creamy pasta/rice & meat, lots of flavors, only one or two dishes.... sounds good. 

I like to do pasta with a cream-of soup (speaking of ridiculously high salt contents....), ground beef, and some cheese & seasonings, but I was intrigued when I saw a recipe for homemade taco helper on one of the blogs I read regularly. At Lynn's Kitchen Adventures, she has a lot of down-to-earth recipes--and, if you are gluten-free, she has a lot of that too! I've never made the boxed kind, but I love tacos, so I thought it was worth a shot!  

(See below recipe for comments on the recipe itself...)

(Yes, my camera was still MIA when I made this. However, this was a few days ago, and YAY! I found my camera! It was hiding....)

 

Taco Helper

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• ¾ - 1 ½ cups water
• 1 ¾ cup milk
• 8 ounces tomato sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoons taco seasoning (or one packet of the storebought kind)
• 3 cups uncooked penne or macaroni noodles
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. In a large sauce pan, brown the ground beef. Drain any fat from the meat. Add ¾ cup water, milk, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning to the meat and bring to a boil. Add the pasta.
2. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 17-20 minutes. Test at 17 minutes to see if the pasta is done. If pasta is not done, cook a few minutes longer.
3. During cooking, if liquid simmers too low add up to another 3/4 cup water.
4. When the pasta is tender and done, stir in shredded cheese and sour cream.
5. Let sit 5- 10 minutes before serving and it will thicken more.

Yield/Time

30 minutes

Source (for original): Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures 

I think I would add more sour cream next time, because it wasn't quite a creamy as I was anticipating. It was great, the flavor was awesome, but I was expecting more creaminess.

Also, as I am posting this, I realize that I have yet to post my recipe for taco seasoning. (Does it count as a recipe if you are just mixing a bunch of spices together?) Stay tuned, I think that will have to be next....

Penne Rosa

I love, love, love pasta. I could eat pasta every day, for lunch and dinner, and I would be quite happy. When we were newlyweds, I may have made a lot of pasta meals, because I was afraid to step out of my box. Thankfully, I have an awesome husband who pushed gently helped me out of my kitchen box, and I branch out a bit more now. 

Upon reflection, we still eat a lot of pasta, but the things I do with pasta have varied. (Don't be judgey, I like pasta.) I have branched out and cook with rice a lot too... I even got a 20ish pound bag of rice at Sam's Club last week! Nate was so proud, I thought he would cry.

Just kidding, my husband is all manly-ish and doesn't cry. Especially over sappy movies or his son doing sweet things. Nope.

Wait, where was I? Oh, yes, pasta. I saw an awesome recipe for Penne Rosa with Shrimp recently (shortly after making dinner for my little brother),  and decided I had to try it. Unfortunately, shrimp wasn't on sale and I am cheap frugal, so I switched to chicken, but I think shrimp would've been amazing with this!

(See below for detailed comments on the recipe.) 

(Yes, my camera is still MIA. Sorry.)

 

Penne Rosa

Ingredients

• 12 ounces penne (or whatever pasta you have on hand)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (or more.... remember, you can never have too much garlic)
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (if you actually remember to add mushrooms to your grocery list)
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 cups fresh spinach, or 1/2  to 1 cup frozen
• 10 ounces medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (can easily sub out for chicken)
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• ⅔ cup plain Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cook penne according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet with a lid, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to soften. Add in mushrooms, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to release their water.

Turn heat up to medium-high; add shrimp. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and opaque. If using another meat, simply add cooked meat and simmer until meat is heated through. Remove from heat, add in spinach and cover skillet. Let wilt for 2 minutes if using fresh.

Remove lid and place skillet back over low heat. Add the penne, Greek yogurt and pasta sauce. Stir until mixed well. Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

Yield/Time

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes

Makes: 6 servings

Source (for original): Back to Her Roots

All in all, we liked the taste. I would really like to try it with shrimp, but I'm going to have to watch for a sale. (I am soooo my mother's child.....) 

Note on the spinach: This is the second time recently that I've added frozen spinach to something, and I wanted to start small. Previously, I've added wayyyy too much spinach, and that has drowned the other tastes. Thus, we only used 1/2 cup. If using frozen spinach, I think you would be safe adding a full cup.

As always, comments are love.