Today’s recipe comes from a Light and Tasty cookbook I borrowed from my mom. I did manage to find the recipe online though, so I’ll link you to the Chili Mac. To make the Chili Mac, you’ll need two pounds of extra lean ground beef, 1 cup elbow macaroni, 28oz diced tomatoes, 6oz. tomato paste,, 2 cloves of garlic, 16 oz. kidney beans, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. The recipe lists a couple other ingredients (onion, and green chiles) but I left these out and it still turned out great!

I forgot to add the garlic in this picture, so I took another one. But that one turned out blurry and I just couldn’t bring myself to post a picture that blurry so imagine my little jar of minced garlic sitting next to my tomatoes.

First up, brown the two pounds of ground beef with 2 cloves minced garlic (or the equivalent from a jar of pre-minced garlic as I have done).

Steam makes pictures blurry too!

Meanwhile, cook elbow macaroni according to package directions. I snuck in about half a cup extra of the pasta because it just didn’t look like enough. Once my meat was finished cooking, I added the rest of the ingredients.

Stir them all together.

Add in the cooked macaroni and transfer to a 13×9 baking dish. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Don’t be like me. Cover it the first time, don’t put it in the oven, take it back out, cover it, and return it to the oven.

Remove from the oven, carefully uncover, and sprinkle on two cups of reduced-fat Mexican blend cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes or so until the cheese melts. Eat, and enjoy!!

I wasn’t too sure how this was going to turn out, and Sarah who was the guinea pig for this particular meal, and I were both kind of nervous. In fact, we had back up plans to head to Taco Bell for dinner if it wasn’t too good. But I dished it up with some corn on the side, and it was delicious! We were both pleasantly surprised by how much flavor it had!

The Recipe
Chili Mac Casserole

1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend

DIRECTIONS

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, cook the beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, chilies and seasonings. Drain macaroni; add to beef mixture.
Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5-8 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 10 servings

Lately, all the more cooking I’ve been doing is heating up soup or microwaving lean cuisines. A couple of weeks ago though, I did invite family over for lunch and I made White Chicken Parmesan. I got the recipe from Colleen, and it’s a yummy, very filling meal that seems fussy but is impossibly easy to make.
I first made this for Mother’s Day last year, and I was seriously intimidated because not only had I never cooked with raw chicken before, I’d never even cooked spaghetti noodles! Now I have done both, on multiple occasions. But onto the recipe!
The first step is to mix one egg and 1/2 cup of milk. In a separate bowl/plate/whatever suits your fancy, mix 1 cup dried breadcrumbs, 4 tbs parmesan cheese, 1 tsp of oregano, dash of garlic power, and a dash of pepper.

Next you’re going to take your two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast and dunk them into the egg/milk mixture, and then into your bread crumb mixture. Make sure the chicken gets nice and coated and then transfer it to a 13×9″ baking pan.

There were four of us, so I made five chicken breasts so that we’d each have one and I’d still have some leftover. There were plenty of bread crumbs left so this could be easily scaled up or down. When you’ve got all your chicken ready, slide your pan into the oven and back at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, combine two cans of cream of mushroom soup, and 1/2 cup of milk. (You can add more milk if your sauce is too thick).

After your chicken bakes for thirty minutes, remove it from the oven, pour your mushroom soup mixture on top. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the whole thing, and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.

While you’re waiting, you can cook up some spaghetti, and I always mix up some extra soup and milk mixture to spoon over the top. I also made more parmesan cheese available to sprinkle over the finished product, and served salads on the side.

I only wish I’d have gotten a picture of my plate made up with the chicken and spaghetti on it, but I was eager to sit down with my family and start enjoying what I’d been working on!!

The Recipe:
White Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
4 tbs parmesan cheese
1 tsp of oregano
dash of garlic power
dash of pepper
1 egg
2 lbs of boneless / skinless chix breasts
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of milk

In one bowl, combine egg and 1/2 cup of milk. In separate bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder and pepper. Dip chicken into egg mixture, and then into dry mixture to coat. Place in 13×9″ pan and bake at 400F for 30 minutes.
Combine two cans of soup, and 1/2 cup of milk. May add up to an additional 1/2 cup milk if sauce is too thick. Pour over chicken, and return to oven for another 30 minutes. Serve over spaghetti, and enjoy!

While stumbling last week, I came across a recipe for the Best Lasagna Ever over on The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I read through the post, and not only did the lasagna look very good, it also looked easy. Since I’m taking things slowly over here (you know, let’s make sure we can successfully boil water before we attempt to make something incredibly complicated), easy is a very good thing. Even better, reading through the comments they were largely positive. So the thought formed in my mind… I could pick up all the ingredients and invite my mom and her husband over for dinner on Sunday. And just like that, I was committed.
You can read the original post, and the original recipe at the link above, or you can follow along with me here. I’m a cheater, so there are a few deviations here.

The Ingredients

Lasagna noodles, 1.5 lbs of ground beef, 1lb of Italian sausage, minced garlic, parsley flakes, dried basil, cottage cheese, 2 eggs (not pictured), parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese slices, whole tomatoes and tomato paste. And no, the amaretto in the background was not in the ingredient list.

Making Lasagna
The first step was to brown the 1.5 pounds of ground beef with the one pound of sausage, and 1/2 tsp. minced garlic. The original recipe called for Hot breakfast sausage, but I’m a wimp, so I went for Italian instead as it’s slightly less “Oh my goodness, my mouth’s on FIRE!” It also called for 2 cloves of garlic, minced, but I’m lazy and bought a jar of ready to use minced garlic instead. In the pan it went.

In the original, she begs everyone not to drain all of the fat off, for PETE’s sake, but I couldn’t help it. I’m usually a “rinser” so I resisted doing that before returning the meat to the pan. That has to count for something, doesn’t it? Right?
Well anyways, then it was time to continue making the meat sauce, so to my cooked meat, I added 28 oz. of whole tomatoes, 12 oz. of tomato paste, 2 tbs. parsley flakes, 2 tbs. dried basil, 1 tsp. salt.

You’re supposed to let it simmer, uncovered for about 45 minutes. This is what mine looked like about 35 minutes in.

Read more »