Homemade Queso!

No. Not Velveeta. HOMEMADE. Like milk, flour, butter, and cheese. Lots of cheese :)

Here's the recipe! The nice part is you can make this in 10 minutes (Ok more like 5), and you can experiment with different salsas to see which you like better :)

Homemade Queso

Ingredients:

4 T flour

1/4 cup of butter

salt and pepper

1 cup of chicken broth

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup cheese

1/2 cup of your favorite salsa or rotel

What to Do:

1. Melt butter over medium heat until bubbling. Whisk in flour for about 1 minute, until thick. Slowly add chicken broth, while whisking the whole time, then slowly add milk. Whisk until smooth and thick.

2. Add cheese and salsa (or rotel) and mix well. 

3. Dip chips into queso and shove them into your mouth!

SO GOOD. Not healthy, but a little queso every once in a while won't hurt anyone :)

Make Ahead Freezer Teryaki Chicken

So, a few weeks ago, I decided to prepare a bunch of meals, throw them in a ziplock bag, and store them in the freezer. This one was mighty delish. I called Greg this morning (cause I leave the house at 6:50 AM and am gone until 4:45 pm) and had him throw it in the crockpot. It was good, and easy!

Teryaki Chicken

Ingredients:

1 small bag of carrots, chopped

A cup or so of shelled edamame (I just put in enough until it looked good to me)

1 can pineapple chunks (with juice)

4 garlic cloves

1 medium onion, chopped or diced depending on how you like it (I like very small pieces) 

6 chicken tenderloins (probably about 3 big breasts)

1 cup teryaki sauce

What to Do:

1. Put above ingredients into a ziplock bag, and shake it up.

2. On bag write the date, and instructions:

Dump contents into crockpot.

Add 1/4 cup of teyaki sauce in crock pot, then cook on low for 6 hours.

Serve over brown or white rice, and tada! A MEAL! :)

Diary Free Homemade Rolls!

Ok, so I've never made rolls before. In fact, I've never used yeast before! haha. I decided I really wanted some rolls, so started doing lots of research, and figured I would try to make some dairy free rolls! (I can't eat dairy or soy right now) Well, I succeeded! They are delish! :) Also, I'm going to try to start posting recipes again... We'll see how it goes!

Dairy Free Homemade Rolls

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry (instant or quick) yeast

1 cup of hot water (I just used hot tap water...)

3 T coconut milk (or some other type of milk)

4 T canola oil

3 T sugar

What to do:

1. In a mixing bowl, add flour, salt, yeast, and sugar. Mix well.

2. Add hot water, coconut milk, and oil, and start beating. (I used my kitchen aid with the dough beater attached to it.) Knead for about 6-8 minutes.

3. Let rest for 10 minutes. Grease a cookie sheet or two pyrex dishes. I couldn't grease with butter, so I poured a bit canola oil on, spread it around with a paper towel, then sprinkled with flour.

4. Take a small ball of dough, roll into a ball, and put onto pan. Let rise for 30 minutes.

5. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes!

6. Serve with some jelly, peanut butter, butter, or honey! :)

Homemade Lasagna

So, I decided I would finally try to make lasagna. I've never tried before, and honestly lasagna scares me! :) But, I looked at a few random recipes, and created in my opinion the PERFECT lasagna! :) Enjoy!

Homemade Meat Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 pound italian sausage
1 package lasagna noodles
1 15 oz container cottage cheese (I used lowfat)
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese (I used fat free!)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used the kind in the shaker can, it's all I had!)
2 jars favorite marinara sauce (I love RAGU roasted garlic)
2 TB parsley
1 TB basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs

What-to-do:
1. Boil pasta according to directions, but take off 2 minutes. I baked mine 8 minutes, instead of 10. Drain, and lay out on a piece of wax paper.
2. Brown ground beef and sausage, until well cooked. Add pasta sauces, and bring to a low simmer, and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Mix ricotta, parmesan, and cottage cheese in a bowl. Add two eggs, parsley, basil, and salt and pepper. Mix really well. This will be the cheese filling. DO NOT ADD THE MOZZARELLA CHEESE! :)
4. Spray a 9x13 pan with pam, and let's get layering! Lay four noodles on the bottom of the pan, then put half of the cheese mixture and spread it evenly across the noodles. Then, sprinkle some mozzarella cheese over it evenly. Then add about a third of the meat sauce and spread evenly. Add four more noodles and repeat the layering process. Finally, add another layer of noodles, and the rest of the sauce on top. Sprinkle just a little mozzarella cheese on top.

5. Put in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until bubbly and heated through!
6. Serve it up, and enjoy with some garlic bread and salad!

Tips to wanna be chefs: I knew we wouldn't have been able to eat a whole pan, so I actually did this in two small pans, and only cooked one of the two. The other pan I put straight into the freezer, and I'll get it out in a week or two, defrost, and cook!

Only the best recipe in the entire world.

Greg comes home tomorrow. I am so excited. I asked him what he wanted me to make for his first dinner home. He requested the Pioneer Woman's White Chicken Enchiladas. These are TO DIE FOR. Seriously, the best things in the entire world! Creamy, delish, amazing, and just wonderful. I will be making them on Monday for dinner and just wanted to share the recipe with the whole world! I do not change a thing, and do not wish to!

Also coming in the next week or so,

Lasagna (I've actually NEVER made lasagna before, so I looked at a few recipes, and am going to see how it goes!)

Apricot Chicken (It's already featured on my blog)

Pizza :)

White Chicken Chili

My awesome friend Aimee made some crockpot white chicken chili, and posted it to her food blog. You can find it here. It looked delish, so I decided I would make it! I altered it just a tiny bit, but man was it good!

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken (I used 5 tenderloins, I didn't actually measure it though!)

2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 white onion, chopped

1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 4 oz can diced green chiles

1 can corn, drained

2 tsp chopped garlic

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup cheese (I used taco shredded cheese)

cilantro

tomatoes, diced

tortilla chips
more cheese
more sour cream

what to do:

1. Put all ingredients, except sour cream and cheese into the slow cooker. Stir together, and close lid.

2. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours

3. Remove chicken breasts from slow cooker and shred with 2 forks.

4. Return chicken breasts to slow cooker and add sour cream and cheese.

5. Stir everything together.

6. Cook for another 30 minutes to hour.

7. Top with cilantro, tomatoes, more sour cream, or whatever you might want.

This chili was superb. Very flavorful! Thanks for the recipe Aimee!!! :)

Tomato Cream Pasta Sauce

This pasta sauce has always been my favorite. I finally decided I needed to learn how to make a pretty simple version of it at my house so that I could eat it on any pasta! Well, I discovered the perfect (in my eyes at least) recipe. Let's share!

Tomato Cream Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:
2TBS olive oil
1/4 of an onion chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (mine is Ragu roasted garlic)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
Parmesan cheese

What to do:
1. Heat olive oil on medium heat and add garlic and onions and saute until light brown.
2. Add tomato sauce, heat until bubbling (constantly stirring)
3. Add heavy cream slowly while stirring. Dash with a bit of salt and pepper, and sprinkle a handful of parmesan cheese.
4. Pour over your favorite pasta or tortellini!

ENJOY! :)