Alpine Chicken Casserole

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. My mom started making it when I was a small child and I've loved it ever since. Unlike many casseroles, this one calls for cubed cheese instead of shredded. I just love how the cubes get all melty and taste so warm and delicious when you bite into them!

When I made this the other day, I discovered that the recipe wasn't kidding when it specified real mayonnaise. I was out of mayo and used Miracle Whip instead... and it still tasted good but did not taste as amazing as it usually does. I've also discovered that I definitely prefer the taste of Cheddar cheese over Swiss cheese in this particular recipe, even though I'm a huge fan of Swiss in general. Plus the Cheddar gives the dish some nice color variation. The almonds are optional; they aren't something my mom ever included and I only tried adding them once. I felt they didn't enhance the dish enough to justify the added expense, so now I just skip them.

Oh, and a note about the stuffing: if you're using a box mix like Stovetop, use the entire 3 ounce packet. The box indicates that a 3 ounce packet makes 3 cups of stuffing, but mine always measures out at around 2 cups. I guess I don't fluff it enough. But at any rate, it works out fine in the recipe and then you don't have to worry about using only 2/3 of the packet and adjusting the other stuffing ingredients.


Alpine Chicken Casserole

2 cups cooked chicken, in bite-sized pieces
2 cups prepared stuffing mix
1 cup Cheddar or Swiss cheese, cut into small cubes
1 cup real mayonnaise
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup milk
Slivered almonds (optional)

Combine all ingredients except almonds. Place in an ungreased 1 1/2 to 2 quart baking dish. Top with slivered almonds if desired. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for about 30 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Black Bean Burgers

I first had black bean burgers several years ago when I nannied in a Kosher household (read: no mixing meat with dairy). Since I usually dislike meat without cheese, but plain cheese sandwiches get boring after all... eating frozen veggie cheeseburgers became a favorite lunch. Since then though, I hardly ever eat veggie burgers though I still think of them very fondly. So when I came across this Aaron McCargo recipe on Food Network, I absolutely wanted to try it. One thing that intrigued me was the smoked paprika in it. So I bought some and wow, does it smell good!! I'm definitely going to cooking with it in the future.

I made a few changes to the recipe, such as reducing the amount of black pepper (and it still had as strong pepper flavor). Another thing I did differently was use white flour instead of wheat, which was probably the reason why I had a tiny bit of difficult keeping the burgers together. So I recommend using the wheat flour if you have it, but if you don't, just be extra careful when flipping the burgers. To keep it inexpensive, instead of using canned beans, I used a pound of dry beans (I doubled the recipe). Unfortunately, my beans didn't yield what all the websites I googled promised: namely that a pound of dry beans was the equivalent of 6 cups (which equals 4 cans) of beans. I'm guessing that I didn't cook them long enough, although they were definitely soft enough to mash. Because I only got about 4 1/2 cups, I raided my pantry and found a can of light red kidney beans to add. (That's the bits of red you might notice in the burgers.)

So anyway, the burgers turned out wonderfully and had so much flavor that I decided they didn't need to be turned into cheeseburgers. And coming from me, that's saying something because I pretty much add cheese to everything. Be warned though, these burgers are pretty spicy. After all, this recipe did come from the show Big Daddy's House which specializes in "big, bold flavors"! My 2 1/2 year old loved them though (he even asked request "burggus" for breakfast the next morning), so I dare you to try them. :)


Black Bean Burgers

3 cup cooked black beans or 2 cans, drained
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt
1-1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 egg white, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons oil
Burger buns

Thoroughly mash the beans in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients except oil and mix thoroughly with hands or a sturdy spoon. Form into burger patties. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Gently add the burgers, reforming the patties if necessary. Cook the burgers for until crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes, and then carefully flip over and cook an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the burgers and place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Serve on buns with desired toppings (we used spinach and tomatoes). Yields 4 large or 6 medium burgers.

Recipe adapted from Aaron McCargo Jr.

Cider Vinegar Pork Roast

My mother-in-law got this tangy roast recipe out of Reader's Digest. Even though I'm really not a huge fan of pork or peppers, I just love this unique combination of flavors. The original recipe called for a boneless loin roast, but my mother-in-law has used bone-in roast and I used a boneless pork butt, a less expensive cut than loin. One thing that surprised me about this original instructions was that they didn't mention browning the roast first. I thought about browning the meat anyway, but figured I might as well save time and see what happened if I didn't. Well I thought this turned out just as well as other roasts I've made that I did brown first, but perhaps it could have been even better had I browned it? Who knows. The gravy is my favorite part, but when I attempted to strain off the fat, the seasonings were getting strained out too. So I gave up on that and the first night I made only 1 cup of (fatty but delicious) gravy and then refrigerated the remaining cooking juices. The next day, I just used a spoon to scoop all the congealed fat off the top and made more gravy. The gravy tastes awesome served over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice.


Cider Vinegar Pork Roast

1 pork roast (3 to 4 pounds)
2 cups chicken broth
1 sweet red pepper, cut into narrow strips
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons water

Cut the roast in half and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Combine broth, red pepper, onion, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper; pour over roast. Cover and cook on low setting for about 3 to 4 hours or until thermometer inserted in center reads 160. With a slotted spoon, remove the red pepper and onion and set aside.

To make gravy, skim the fat off the cooking juices and measure out two cups. In a saucepan, stir cornstarch and water together until smooth; add measured cooking juices. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened. Serve roast with red pepper, onion, and gravy. Yields about 6 to 8 servings.

Recipe from Reader's Digest March 2009.

Meal Plan 3/8 - 3/14

This week I'm making one new recipe and one very old recipe, a favorite from my childhood. And that's it! It's unusual for me to have to cook only two meals in a week, but maybe that will leave me with some extra time to make sure I keep this blog updated with recipes and photos.

Monday - Leftover Cider Vinegar Pork Roast with egg noodles
Tuesday - Black Bean Burgers with salad
Wednesday - Leftovers
Thursday - Restaurant mystery shop
Friday - Alpine Chicken Casserole with potatoes
Saturday - Dinner with family, bringing Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Sunday - Leftovers

Come back later in the week to see these recipes posted!

Creamy Broccoli Soup

Ever since I was a little girl, broccoli soup has been one of my favorites! I have a version that I make entirely from scratch, but this particular recipe gets some help from prepared cream soups. Don't let that fool you though, this taste much better than any broccoli soup out of a can. I also put a lot of broccoli in it, because that's the one complaint I have against many broccoli soups - not enough broccoli in proportion to the broth. Plus the addition of shredded carrot makes it a little bit healthier, though if we're being really honest, anything with cream in it is probably not very healthy. Does it matter though, when it's something so yummy?


Creamy Broccoli Soup

2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 c. onion, finely chopped
1 c. carrot, shredded
1 small clove garlic, minced
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
4 c. half-and-half or 2 c. milk and 2 c. cream
1 lb. broccoli crowns, trimmed and chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

In a large pot, saute the onion, carrot, and garlic in butter over medium-low heat until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Add the soups, half-and-half (or milk and cream), broccoli, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, while stirring occasionally, and then reduce heat. Cover and simmer until broccoli is tender (about 15-20 minutes), stirring occasionally. Yields about 4 servings.

Mushroom Swiss Noodle Bake

I created this recipe a year ago to satisfy a pregnancy craving. It was inspired by a similar dish I made once several years ago. I enjoyed it then but for some reason did not save the recipe. I think my recreation tastes even better, but it's possible that I'm a tiny bit biased. :) It's so indulgently creamy and cheesy! To save time and money, you can eliminate the fresh mushrooms by using two cans of cream of mushroom soup instead of the chicken (or use one of each). But if you're like me, you won't want to do that because fresh mushrooms are so incredible that they're worth the 45 seconds each it takes to wash them. (Seriously, it takes me about 10 minutes to clean an 8 ounce package, but I'm a little obsessed with getting every speck of dirt washed away).

I couldn't find my camera the day I made this (and I don't like taking pictures of leftovers, it never looks the same after it's sat in the fridge, you know?). This photo was taken with a cell phone which surprisingly took a pretty clear picture, but gave it a yellowish cast. I edited the coloring as best I could, but it still doesn't look quite natural. Oh well.


Mushroom Swiss Noodle Bake

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 3 breast halves)
10 oz. uncooked medium egg noodles (about 5 cups dry)
1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1/3 c. onion, finely chopped
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, washed, halved, and sliced
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 c. sour cream
2 c. Swiss cheese, shredded

In a large pot, boil the chicken until fully cooked. Remove chicken from pot (do not discard the water) and cut into bite-sized pieces. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat and saute the onion, mushrooms, garlic, salt, and pepper until tender, about 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, in the same water used to cook chicken, boil the egg noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Stir in soups, sour cream, and cheese and stir gently until well combined. Stir in the chicken and mushroom/onion mixture. Bake in a greased 9x13 dish at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Yields about 6 servings.

Meal Plan 3/1 -3/7

Can't believe it's a new week already. I still need to post a recipe from last week and add a few photos to recipes already posted. My menu this week isn't very adventurous for me. The only new recipe is the pork roast, and since I've eaten it before, I pretty much know how it's going to turn out. But next week will be a little more exciting; I plan on trying another recipe from Food Network (love that site!). I even picked up some smoked paprika - something I've never used before - while I was shopping today to use in the recipe.

Monday - Leftover Mushroom Swiss Noodle Bake with Salad
Tuesday - Turkey Muffaletta with Salad
Wednesday - Creamy Broccoli Soup with Salad
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Cider Vinegar Pork Roast with Potatoes
Saturday - Dinner with family, bringing Lentil Rice Casserole
Sunday - Leftovers

I'll try to get all these recipes post by the end of the week!