Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole

This delicious recipe came about because I really wanted wings one night, and rather than spend the money to eat out, I wanted a more affordable alternative I could eat at home. This casserole dish is the perfect combo of spicy and satisfying! The bacon bits really make this dish--so don't skimp on them!

Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole:

Ingredients:

- cooking spray
- 6 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 8 potatoes cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 1 cup crumbled cooked bacon
- 1 cup diced green onions

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat hot pepper sauce, olive oil, garlic powder, black pepper, paprika, and salt in a large skillet over low heat, stirring until thoroughly combined. Turn off heat. Toss potatoes in batches with the hot pepper sauce mixture to coat and use a slotted spoon to transfer potatoes to the prepared baking dish. Leave remaining sauce in skillet. Mix chicken into remaining sauce and allow to marinate while potatoes roast.
3. Bake potatoes until tender inside and crisp and brown outside, 45 to 50 minutes, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Reduce oven heat to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
5. Spread chicken cubes over roasted potatoes. Sprinkle Mexican cheese blend, cooked bacon, and green onions over chicken. Return to oven and bake until chicken is cooked through and the cheese topping is bubbling, about 15 minutes.
6. Bake in oven until chicken is cooked through and the cheese topping is bubbling, about 15 minutes.

This casserole freezes well, and tastes even better the next day for leftovers once the flavours have really come together! This dish does turn out to be fairly spicy, so if you don't like the heat--you'll want to pass on this one. I think this would be an excellent Super Bowl dish too if you've got a big crowd to feed!

Pasta Bake with Turkey Sausage, Spinach and Tomatoes

Following along the casserole trend, we tested out a delicious pasta bake for supper the other night. It combines penne noodles with some sausage, and host of veggies including spinach, coloured peppers, and cherry tomatoes. It's a really nice blend of healthier creaminess and traditional marinara pasta sauce.

We made a huge casserole dish of it, so we had several leftovers some of which we froze--and I'm happy to say that that it freezes really well too! This recipe was also Toddler Approved which is always a bonus!

Pasta Bake with Sausage, Spinach & Tomatoes

Ingredients

-10 ounces whole wheat penne pasta

-1 lb spicy Italian chicken or turkey sausage

-1 5-6 oz. bag baby spinach

-2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 small red pepper cut into strips

- 1/2 small orange pepper cut into strips

- 1/2 small yellow pepper cut into strips

-1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

-1 cup pasta sauce

-3/4 cup plain greek yogurt

-1/4 cup milk

-1 and 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese or mixed blend
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less or none if you don't like spicy)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.
2. Cook sausage in 1 tbsp butter over medium heat for 12-14 minutes, or until browned. When almost done, add in garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Turn off heat and remove sausage with tongs, placing on cutting board. Slice into bite-sized pieces. Pour remaining butter and garlic into a very large bowl.
3. Place the spinach in the bottom of your pasta strainer. When pasta is done, pour pasta and pasta water over the spinach into the strainer, allowing the spinach to wilt slightly.
4. Chop cherry tomatoes into halves, for a total of 1 cup.
5. Pour pasta, sausage, spinach, peppers, and tomatoes into bowl with garlic.
6. Add tomato sauce, yogurt, milk, 1 cup of the cheese, and spices to bowl. Mix very well. Pour into casserole dish. Top with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Cover dish with foil.
7. Cook for 20 minutes covered. Remove foil, cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Dig in!

Cheesy Sausage and Broccoli Quinoa Bake

We had some broccoli sitting around in the fridge that really needed to get used up, and I really wanted some cheesy carb-y comfort food. The result? A delicious casserole dish that used up that broccoli mixed with some turkey sausage, healthy quinoa, and lots of cheesy heaven. Did I mention it was cheesy?

Casseroles in general are something I love, especially fully self contained ones because I really *hate* having to come up with side dishes, which is particularly difficult since I dislike many cooked vegetables. Although a side-salad would definitely not be amiss with this dish, I wanted cheesy carb-y comfort food remember?

So here's the recipe I came up with for dinner, and it was totally delicious. I split the mixture up into half so I could bake half tonight and then freeze the other half for a weeknight sometime later when I need a quick easy meal I can toss in the oven.

Cheesy Sausage and Broccoli Quinoa Bake

Ingredients:

- 1.5 cups of uncooked quinoa (about 3 cups cooked)

- 2 heads of broccoli crowns, dice the florets, discard stem

- 1 lb of turkey sausage, browned and diced

- 1 small onion, diced

- 1 cup of cheddar cheese, plus extra for sprinkling on top

- 1 can cheddar cheese soup

- 1 cup of milk

- 2 TBSP butter

- 3 TBSP all purpose flour

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 TSP curry powder

- 1/2 TSP cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions. 

2. Bring water in a pot to boil and add in broccoli. Boil for 5 minutes or until broccoli is a little softened. Drain broccoli and mix in with the quinoa.

3. Add the 2 TBSP of butter to a heated pan and allow to melt. Add in the onion and garlic. Saute for a minute then add the flour, cayenne pepper, and curry powder. Mix well.

4. Combine the canned soup and milk together in a small bowl, and add to the mixture in the pan. Mix well and once the soup has thinned out, slowly add in the cup of cheddar cheese allowing it to melt into the sauce. 

5. Once all of the cheese has been added and melted pour the sauce mixture over top of the quinoa and broccoli. Add in the chopped sausage and mix well to make sure the quinoa mixture is well coated with the sauce. 

6. I divided up the mixture at this point in half to freeze half and bake half.

7. Put quinoa mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle extra cheese on top. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and casserole is heated through.

Enjoy the cheesy goodness!!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I love cooking and I love pumpkin... so you guessed it, that means we make a lot of pumpkin flavoured things around here! Our most recent pumpkin treat was pumpkin pancakes. Made from scratch these pancakes are wonderfully healthy, deliciously moist, and they freeze and re-heat well too. It's also a great way to sneak some extra veggies into your little ones!

These pancakes are a big hit with the boy-o too because he loves finger foods and being able to feed himself. Because of all the spices in them they're quite flavourful even without any toppings added.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and sugar in a large bowl. Set it aside.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin with the milk, egg and melted butter. Slowly add the wet mix into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Allow the batter to rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
3. Heat a large frying pan over medium-low heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, allowing it to heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Cook pancakes of your desired size until bubbles appear in the center, then flip them once and continue cooking until no longer doughy in the center.


These pancakes are amazingly delicious with some maple syrup added on, but you can play around to find your favourite flavour combinations. And don't forget, you can freeze any leftovers in a freezer safe food storage bag and simply pop thawed pancake into the toaster to re-heat them.

Mexican Casserole: Weeknight Dinners

Life with a baby on the go is hectic to say the least! I'm afraid to turn my back on him for more than few minutes at a time, because even though we've baby proofed as much as we can, it seems to be his constant goal to try and knock himself out! And since as far as I'm aware, there is no "Staple My Baby's Butt to the Floor" machine invented yet, weeknight dinners to need to be something I can make QUICK!

This delicious Mexican flavoured casserole is not only quick, it's pretty cost effective, makes 8 servings, is wonderfully spicy, and actually not too bad on the health meter either! The leftovers make a great next-day lunch, or they can be frozen for longer storage. Enjoy!

Mexican Casserole:

Ingredients:

• 1 can kernel corn
• 6 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 cups shredded Mexican Blend cheese
• 4 oz can of chopped green chiles
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 1 teaspoon cayenne Pepper
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 15 oz can of black beans
• 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
• 2 cups cooked brown rice/or quinoa
• 3 or 4 large chicken breasts, cooked and diced

Directions:

1. Combine sour cream, 1 cup of cheese, green chiles, taco seasoning, cayenne pepper, cumin, black beans, salsa, rice/quinioa, and chicken.
2. Place in a greased 9X13 casserole dish.
3. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of casserole.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

 

 

 

To up the veggie quotient of this meal, serve with a simple side salad and you have a delicious, QUICK meal that will set your tastebuds tingling!

Hearty Lasagna

One of my favourite foods to make from scratch is lasagna! It takes a bit of time, but then I can add in meat AND veggies rather than settle for store bought which normally includes one or the other. I haven't quite figured out why they think the two can't live harmoniously together.... but anyway. Lasagna is also a great food to make for lots of leftovers! We usually make our lasagna in a 9X13 pan, and it will make 6-8 portions, depending on how hungry we are the night it was made.

I always start by making my own meat and veggie tomato sauce, which is really the heart of the lasagna. The longer you can let it simmer the better! Also, it freezes really, really well.

One of the best ways to freeze lasagna that I've discovered is to let it cool completely and then wrap each piece individually in saran wrap. It keeps out any freezer burn better than Tupperware, and takes up way less space in your freezer too!

Hearty Lasagna

Ingredients:

- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 cans preferred spaghetti sauce
- 1 lb ground meat, we use turkey
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 1/2 zucchini, diced
- handful carrot matchsticks
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 box of no cook lasagna noodles
- 1 500g container of cottage cheese
- 1 bag shredded mozzarella (or any other shredded cheese mix)

Directions:

- Brown ground meat in a skillet and drain off excess fat
- Add diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce and browned ground meat to large saucepan. Mix together well. Add in veggies and crushed garlic cloves.
- Let sauce mixture simmer for at least an hour, preferably more.

To Assemble lasagna:
- place thin layer of sauce on bottom of 9X13 pan, add three lasagna noodles on top,

 

- add layer of sauce, spread half of cottage cheese container, and place more noodles,

 

- cover noodles with more sauce, spread the second half of the cottage cheese, add more noodles,
- add final layer of sauce to generously cover noodles and sprinkle grated cheese over the top liberally.

-Cover lasagna with tin-foil and bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove tinfoil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

 

Although this lasagna already has veggies in it, it serves well with a side caesar salad to amp up the veggie quota of your meal, and to make it more likely that you'll get 8 servings out of it instead of just six.

Enjoy!!