Lazy Man's Turkey Lasagna

I whipped this up real quick Saturday night for the guys while they were over here playing video games and watching movies. It was quick easy and very cheap (ground turkey meat is cheap!)And also it's very yummy!

Lazy Man's Turkey Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 lb. of ground turkey
1 large bag of frozen cheese stuffed ravioli
1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
2 cups of Italian style cheese mix from Kraft

Directions:
1. In a medium frying pan brown the ground turkey meat until cooked through and no longer pink.
2. Bring a large pan of water to boil and cook ravioli according to the package
3. As soon as the meat is brown pour in entire jar of sauce in and mix well.
4. In a 13x9 pan make a layer of meat/sauce mixture and cover with cooked ravioli then sprinkle with cheese and keep making layers as you would a lasagne until all ingredients are used.
5. Bake on 350F for 15 minutes

Chicken Risotto

I made this last night for dinner. Once again as most of the recipes I try it was quick and easy, husband liked it so when it gets a man's two thumbs up then it definately goes into the keep file.

This is great for a weeknight meal, or could even be used as a side dish if you wanted. This recipe can go a million different ways. You can change the meat or the soup used, and the veggie.

Ingredients:
1 tsp. of oil
1 1/2 cups of water
2 cups of white rice
1 lb. of boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 can of green peas drained
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil in pan on medium heat, cook and stir chicken until cooked.
2. Add in soup, water and peas and heat to boiling
3. Add in rice, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until rice is tender
4. Add parmesan cheese heat until melted.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Baked Spaghetti With Chicken and Mushrooms

I made this recipe last night as I was only just going to make simple spaghetti with some sauce and mushrooms in it and some bread sticks to use up some leftover pasta sauce I had sitting around before it went bad. But then I remembered the other day my friend Jess telling me that she baked her spaghetti. So I was like why the heck not! Then it went from that to the husband asking for some meat in the meal because well he doesn't like meals without meat. So I scrounged around in the kitchen and found I had one frozen chicken breast left over and this is the meal that resulted from it. It's really good simple and makes a lot! So we're having it for left overs tonight. I didn't get this recipe from any where I just flew by the seat of my pants and it turned out well! You could do this with any type of meat such as ground beef or turkey and it would turn out just as well.

Now on to the recipe....

Baked Spaghetti with Chicken and Mushrooms

Ingredients:
1 package of angel hair pasta (or spaghetti)
1 jar of pasta sauce
1 small can of mushrooms
1 frozen (large) chicken breast
Parmesan Cheese (the powder stuff)

Directions:
1. Cook the frozen chicken breast as directed on the package
2. Boil the pasta until tender and drain
3. Put pasta in a 13x9 inch pan and pour in the pasta sauce and mix well
4. Shred the chicken and pour in the mushrooms and chicken mixture into the pan and mix well
5. Put a generous amount of parmesan cheese on top
6. Bake in the oven on 375 for 10-15 minutes
7. Enjoy!

Serving suggestions: Bread sticks, a green veggie such as broccoli or green beans, and sweet tea to drink.

Sorry no pictures of this one. I forgot to take one! I might take one and post it when I make my lunch.

Easy Shepherd's Pie

I got this recipe from KraftFoods.com and decided to give it a try. I've never made (or had) shepherd's pie before but it looked good so I gave it a whirl.

This was really simple and easy and VERY tasty the guys loved it and we had enough for left overs which is always great!

Ingredients:
1 lb. of hamburger meat
2 cups of hot mashed potatoes (I made homemade mashed potatoes)
4 oz. of cream cheese
1 cup of cheddar cheese, divided
4 cups of frozen mixed veggies, thawed
1 cup of beef gravy
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Directions:
1. Brown the beef in a large skillet until no longer pink, drain
2. Mix potatoes, garlic, cream cheese and half a cup of cheddar cheese, put aside
3. Mix thawed mixed veggies, meat and gravy together, put in a 13x9 pan
4. Spread potato mixture on top of meat/veggie mixture and sprinkle with remaining half cup of cheddar cheese.
5. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes on 375

See now how easy was that?!

Mini Penne with Italian Sausage, tomatoes & green peppers

I originally found this recipe at Taste of Home Cooking I thought it looked easy enough and was yummy and something I could use the left over sausage I had before it went bad.

Also, I used mini penne because that's what I had laying around and I didn't have any red pepper so I used some green bell pepper instead. Also, J put some leftover tomato sauce on his and he said it was good so I may try that next time also.

Ingredients:
3 Hot Italian Sausages
2 Cups of shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 medium tomato diced
1 red (or green) bell pepper diced
2 Cups of Mini Penne (or orzo or pasta of choice)

Directions:
1. Boil pasta of choice until tender
2. Broil sausages until cooked through (this is the easiest way)
3. Dice tomato and bell pepper
4. Cut sausage up into slices
5. Lay down a bed of pasta layer on your veggies and sausage
6. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese
7. Enjoy!

A German Feast (the easy & quick way)

Now as I've said before I am a novice cook but I'm learning. Meaning I do not make everything from scratch if hardly at all. I use what I like to call "shortcuts" that being things like frozen veggies and some pre-made things like pasta sauce.

Anyways J. loves German food and now I will admit to me this isn't authentically German but he likes it and says its good so I guess I should be happy he likes it.

Ingrediants:
1-2 Polska keilbasa sausages
1-2 cans of saurkraut
2 teaspoons of oil
1-2 bags of stir-fry veggies
2 small cans of mushrooms
4 baby potatos

Directions:
1. Slice potatoes into thin rounds (wash them first silly!)and begin to fry them
2. Slice keilbasa into 1 inch thick pieces
3. Once the potatos are done put them somewhere to keep them warm and toss in the veggies and fry them up
4. After the veggies are done throw in the mushrooms and heat them up until warm
5. Take a sauce pan and put the saurkraut in and heat it up because the sausage doesnt take long to cook.
6. Toss the sausage pieces into the frying pan and fry until golden brown.

Serving:
I like to eat it all seperately but the boys love to take it and mix it all together so I'll put how they do it (since it's probably the correct way anyway)

1. Put down a nice "bed" of saurkraut down on your plate
2. Add veggies (stirfry, mushrooms and potatos)
3. Add a generous amount of sausage (I always have to get my plate first so I have some sausage for myself because they take it all!)
4. Add seasonings to your taste
5. Enjoy!

I hope you try this it's pretty good, easy and quick; which I like since I dont like to spend a lot of time cooking.

Betty Crocker I am not...

But a beginners cook I am!

I have never cooked a fancy-fied meal in my life! I have just recently began to learn how to do things from semi-scratch. I have gone from a pizza out of the box into the oven girl to a take something out of the box mix it together with something and it becomes a meal. One of these days I really do look forward to being able to make things from scratch like my STB Mother-in-law and my grandmothers have both done.

So I give you my first recipe! Insanely easy Quesadillas!



Chicken & Cheese Quesadillas
Ingrediants:
8-10 large burrito sized soft flour tortillas
1-2 cans of canned chicken (shredded)
1 tomato diced
1 bag of mexican style cheese mix (I perfer Kraft)

Dippings (if perfered):
Sour Cream ( I perfer this)
or
Salsa (the boys perfer this)

Instructions:
1. Heat up a large skillet to about medium high heat
2. Lay out one tortilla at a time and sprinkle cheese on one half of the tortilla along with chicken and some tomatos.
3. Fold over the other half of the tortilla to make a sandwich like effect
4. Toss into heated skillet
5. Leave in until golden brown
6. Flip to other side
7. Repeat number 5
8. Do directions 1-7 again until you have your dresired amount of quesadillas
9. With a chefs knife cut into quarters
10. Serve and enjoy!

Now see how easy that was!

A word about the pictures: You will never (most likely) see my own pictures displayed with my recipes because well the one time I did take a picture of something I made my FI laughed at me and still makes fun of me for it to this day so the only way I'll ever get pictures of my own food is 1. If he'll stop making fun of me or 2. I can do it in secret which right now is't possible!