Easy Recipe: Chicken Tetrazzini

It's been awhile since I've posted a recipe. After moving into our new house it took awhile for our appliances to be hooked up and operational, so there wasn't a lot of cooking going on around here. Recently, we had a delicious chicken tetrazzini dish at one of our weekly family gatherings. My aunt and uncle, Eileen and Chad, were in charge of this main dish and, wow, was it delicious! It's one of those recipes that you can really play with, and measurements aren't really that important. (Love those!) 


Instead of making a full batch (full box of spaghetti), I decided to cut it back a bit for our family. Leftovers are fine with me, but I didn't want too much in case I royally screwed things up. Lucky for me, I think that would be difficult to do with this one.


The original recipe calls for the following:

• whole cooked chicken (keep the broth)
• box of spaghetti
• can of cream of mushroom soup
• can of cream of chicken soup
• block of white cheddar cheese (shredded)
• block of colby cheese (shredded)
• butter (a lot - like, a stick)

Here's what I used/had:

• precooked, frozen fajita style chicken (from Schwann's)
• about 1/2 box of spaghetti
• can of cream of chicken soup (I figured I just needed one can for 1/2 the recipe, so I picked my favorite)
• 3/4 block of white cheddar (shredded)
• 3/4 block of colby (shredded)
• about 2-3 tablespoons of butter

Preheat your oven to 350. Plan on baking for 30-45 minutes depending on how much you make and if it's been refrigerated or frozen previously.

First, I sprayed my dish with some non-stick cooking spray. Then I boiled the spaghetti (you can do this in the broth as the original calls for it, but I did not), and heated the chicken. Once these were complete, I drained/rinsed the spaghetti and cut the chicken into smaller pieces (to better hide them from Landen). Next, I placed these items in the dish.

Then I added the can of cream of chicken soup to the dish - I just dumped it in and spread it around some. Next, I added the shredded cheeses and sliced the butter on top of everything.

I prepared this late in the morning, so I covered it and put it in the refrigerator until it was time to heat it up. I think I ended up baking it for about 30 minutes (covered), and that was plenty for this amount. Sorry, I didn't take a photo of the finished product - it basically looks like a gooey, cheesy mess.

And it was a success! We gobbled it up (even Landen), and had some leftovers that didn't make it to the weekend. :)

Enjoy!

Another easy recipe

Since I got so much great feedback (and even got published!) the last time I shared an easy recipe, I've decided to share another. But don't laugh. It, like the first, contains crescent rolls, and has an obvious, no frills name: chicken squares. I promise these are the only two things I make that call for crescent rolls...and they're both delicious. These are Scott's favorite (he wanted me to mention that). And when they're finished, they don't really look like squares, but that's the name. Again, I got this from my mom. I believe it came from a magazine or something years ago. I remember the first time she made them when I was growing up. These are a once every two or three weeks recipe in our house because I can get Landen to eat chicken by making them. Just plain chicken is pretty dicey at times for her. 


Here are the ingredients:


2 rolls of Pillsbury crescent rolls (buy the Pillsbury ones - the cheap ones don't work, I promise)


1 block of cream cheese (I use 1/3 less fat)


3-4 TBS milk


1/2 tsp salt


1/4 tsp pepper


3 TBS butter melted


1 can of white meat chicken - chopped (I use 12-16 oz)


Preheat oven to 350.


First, melt the butter and soften the cream cheese for easy mixing. Add milk, salt, pepper and chicken and mix together. The mixture will be a little soupy. That's ok. 


Unroll crescent rolls and separate into eight squares (two rolls per square). Pinch the perforation together to form the square.

Next, spoon some of your mixture into the center (about 1/4-1/2 cup). Then pull the corners together and twist. Try to keep the mixture from coming out the sides because it's difficult to get back in and can get messy.

Finally, pop them in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Bake until they're golden brown. 

Caution, they will be extremely hot inside, so if you're feeding to little ones (or big ones) cut them open to cool for a few minutes. Enjoy!

World famous recipe? Well...maybe.

I can cook. Really, I can. I used to make a mean chicken marsala. That was back when I had plenty of time to devote to a good recipe. But to be honest with you there hasn't been a lot of five star, gourmet recipes tried out in our house lately. Well, I did try out one I found on Pinterest that "seemed" pretty easy but turned out to be a nightmare in my kitchen.

In an ideal world I would come home from work, play with Landen, and when Scott would arrive home, I would whip up some elaborate meal while he occupied my busy little girl. 

The truth is that we cannot be eating dinner at 7pm every night. We are early dinner people. My stomach is usually growling by 4:30. On most days we're out the door by 6:30am. I am a teacher, so I eat lunch at 11:45am (Landen eats even earlier), and we are hungry by 5. Scott usually doesn't get home much before 5:30, so my ideal plan does not work in our household. Not to mention that I feel it's important to establish family dinner time for Landen now, even at the age of one and a half. 

In reality, I'm usually trying to quickly whip something up while trying to keep Landen busy with tupperware and coloring in her high chair or on the floor. It's not easy to manage a difficult recipe (or one that involves more than one pot or pan) with that going on.

I was recently inspired by Kristin and her first blog post referencing chicken nuggets for dinner...been there, done that. I've decided to share an EASY recipe that might not be five star material, but it's one that we enjoy.

This one is called "Taco Ring"...sounds fancy, I know. I got it from my mom who has been making it for years. And I've included pictures for some visual aid.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
• Taco seasoning (pre-packaged or your own)
• Some shredded cheese
• 2 packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 375.

Lay out the crescent rolls in a circle while overlapping the edges with the points facing out.

Next, after mixing some of the shredded cheese in with your seasoned hamburger, distribute it evenly around the ring of crescent rolls. I like to mix the cheese in to the meat because it keeps it from falling all over the stone while I'm spooning it on.

Finally, fold the crescent roll points over before placing in the oven.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes (or until rolls are golden brown) and remove from the oven.

Serve and top with your favorite Mexican condiments like salsa or taco sauce and sour cream.

This honestly takes 25 minutes from the first to last step. Ten minutes to prep and 15 minutes in the oven. Enjoy!