The nice thing about summer break is that I actually have time to sit down at my computer and it doesn't involve entering grades, responding to parent e-mails, lesson planning, or writing IEPs! The next recipe is a WW recipe as well. And it's a new favorite of Ben's!








Bubble-up Pizza Casserole
-15 oz jar pizza sauce
-1 roll of biscuit dough
-1 1/2 cups 2% shredded mozzarella
-1 lb lean ground beef (or turkey/chicken)

Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground meat and drain off the grease. Add sauce to meat. Stir in biscuits that have been quartered. Bake 25 minutes. Top with cheese and bake additional 10 minutes.

Note: When we add the cheese, we usually stick it under the broiler for a few minutes to make the cheese nice and crispy. We usually add some Italian seasoning too.


Review
To put it simply, this is awesome! It presents beautifully and would be great to serve for company. It's so simple - even I can't screw it up. It's pictured above with Italian broccoli. Yum!

Cheese+Chicken+Biscuits = Heaven.

Ben and I have been making cheesy chicken cups for the last couple years. I found the recipe on the Weight Watchers website - they're super easy and very tasty.



Cheesy Chicken Cups
-1 can reduced fat biscuit dough (8 large biscuits)
-1 lb cooked chicken breast (shredded or chopped)
-1 can Healthy Request cream of chicken soup
-3/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
-1 T dried parsley
-1/2 T pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Press the biscuits into greased muffin tins to form cups. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, soup, cheese, parsley, and pepper. Spoon the mixture evenly into the cups. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Servings: 8

Review
A classic fave in our house. Pictured above with salad and cheesy potatoes - from a box. The best part about them? They are perfectly portioned. Unless you are Ben and eat 2 or 3 at a time. But never mind - he's a boy. :) They also taste awesome the next day - either nuked or reheated in the oven. The longer the chicken mix sits in the biscuit, the better it gets!

Blog fail.

Okay. I give up. This is very typical Katie behavior. I get so excited about some big new project, then I abandon it after a few attempts at making it work. But don't worry - I plan on starting this project up again. It's just been a crazy couple of months! Stay tuned for new posts - I promise!

Channeling my Italian Roots.

Okay - I don't have any Italian roots. But I did marry into an Italian family, and I'm pretty sure frozen pizzas don't qualify as "real" Italian. I do make spaghetti fairly often - it's pretty straightforward, even for me! Last night I made spaghetti with ground chicken (and canned tomato sauce - I grew up on Hunt's Traditional. Ben and I both love it, and you can't really beat $1 a can). It turned out pretty good, but what I'm REALLY proud of is the broccoli. My father-in-law makes killer Italian broccoli, and even though I can't get it to taste just like his, last night it tasted pretty Italian-ish!




Steamed Italian Broccoli
-Place broccoli (frozen or fresh) into shallow bowl
-Put 1-2 T water (more if you are making more than 2 servings) into the bowl
-Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap
-Microwave for 5 minutes, or until water evaporates and broccoli is steamed (WARNING: when you take the plastic wrap off you will be inundated with steam)
-Add olive oil (we have a mister - we spray until lightly coated)
-Season away! We use garlic salt, Italian seasonings, Italian bread crumbs, and Parmesan cheese.

Review: This is always hit or miss for me. I rarely get the right combination of seasonings, but it's really about preference. Ben still makes it a lot better than I do!

Po-ta-to.

Before this week, I had never baked a potato in my life. Seriously. I had to call and ask my mom how to do it. The other night when Ben was working late, I gave it a shot. And while most people probably don't need a recipe to bake a potato, I am going to post it, juuuust in case anyone out there is as clueless as I was. Don't worry, I won't tell. ;)



Easy Baked Potato
-Pre-heat oven to 350
-Rinse and scrub one large russet potato
- Coat the skin of the potato with oil (I used margarine)
-Wrap potato in aluminum foil; poke several holes in the foil and through the potato
-Bake at 350 for 60-75 minutes, or until soft
-Load it up with baked potato-ey goodness (I used salt and pepper, cheddar cheese, and reduced-fat sour cream)

Review: The potato turned out perfect - nice and crispy skin, soft and warm inside. I'm told potatoes can be baked in the microwave in about 5 mn, but my mom insisted that baking it in the oven would be well worth the wait. She was right!

Also pictured: tomato soup with some of the extra cheddar cheese mixed in. It's condensed soup from a can, so I won't post the recipe - if you can't figure it out, you're more helpless than I am!

First. Blog. Ever.

Last night was a huge step for me. I used a cookbook, I followed a recipe, and I made an awesome dinner without messing up! Okay. I didn't exactly make it all by myself. My college roommates and I made it together. And we didn't follow the recipe exactly. We made a few minor changes. STILL a big step! And here it is... my first blogged recipe!

Mexican Chicken Skillet
-Cooking spray
-1 (9 oz) package frozen Southwestern-flavored cook chicken breast strips
-1 3/4 cups water
-1 (14.5 oz) can Mexican style stewed tomatoes
-2 cups instant rice, uncooked
-1 (8.75 oz) can no-salt-added whole-kernel corn, drained
-1 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium-high heat until hot. Add chicken strips, and saute 3 to 5 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly heated. Remove chicken from skillet, and set aside.

Add water and tomatoes to skillet; bring to a boil. Stir in rice and corn; top with chicken strips and cheese. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes.

Prep/cook time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4

Review: This was awesome! We served it with a side of black beans and guacamole... and daiquiris, of course. We topped it with fat free sour cream. We added about half a chopped onion to add a bit more flavor. We also did not use the stewed tomatoes, because one of us doesn't like tomatoes. We instead used half a jar of salsa. It tasted great, and I think the liquid from the salsa helped the rice plump up better. Listen to me - I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about!!


Editor's note: hopefully my photography skills will improve along with my cooking skills!