Please Pin! Thanks!! Hearty and family friendly, Ravioli and Italian Sausage Bake, goes together in about 20 minutes. Slide it in the oven and do whatever else you need to do until it’s ready for the table an hour later. Add a vegetable salad, and a simple dessert – apple slices with peanut butter or sliced peaches and yogurt. Healthy and filling dinner that pleases kids and grownups alike. I always like to have a back up plan. Fresh garlic is not often in my pantry. Actually, come to think of it, I’ve never bought fresh garlic. I have a hard enough time keeping up with a small bag of fresh onions and a medium bag of potatoes before they start winding sprouts around the basket handle and then around the ankles of all who enter. I keep a jar of minced garlic in the fridge – ... [Read More]
casserole
Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken Bake
Creamy Wild Rice and Chicken Bake is delicious, filling comfort food. It is easy to assemble in about 5 minutes. Make the rice mixture in the morning to refrigerate with the thawed chicken in a separate bag. The minute you walk in the door, put the chicken on top of the rice, add the slivered almonds and it is ready to pop in the oven. Sit down for the next forty five minutes or put in a load of laundry, clean the cat box, referee homework and sit down for five minutes! Whatever you need to do! With ten minutes left on the timer, fill bowls with a salad mix from a bag, microwave a steam in the bag vegetable and set out a plate of cookies. Very happy tummies for not much time invested. I use Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice with a seasoning packet. The package says it will ... [Read More]
Blueberry Baked French Toast
Blueberry Baked French Toast is quick and easy to put together and has several options for getting it on the breakfast table. You can make it the night before and let it set in the refrigerator overnight before popping it in the oven for a hot delicious breakfast. You can assemble and bake it right away for breakfast or a "breakfast for dinner" dish. Or you can assemble it and freeze it for use several weeks later. Use a heavy textured bread -- like French or Italian - because that will hold the egg mixture. Because loaves vary in size, it's hard to specify a quantity. You will need enough to make two layers of half inch slices across your pan. I used about half a loaf of a baguette (long and skinny French bread) plus a 3-4 slices. This is great for soft leftover bread, by the ... [Read More]
Wicked Good Unusual Baked Corn Chowder
Last spring, my niece graduated college so we did the family thing and threw a day of eating to celebrate. Her dad (my brother) Gene, and wife Deb drove all the way from North Carolina to the middle of the Great Plains where we live. Deb dashed out to the local store and grabbed a bunch of groceries to put together their contribution to the celebration. Unusual Corn Chowder was one of the dishes she prepared. Now y’all know Deb is from New England. She said it’s also called Corn Pudding up in the northeastern corner of this big country. Here in the Great Plains it’s sometimes called Scalloped Corn. Although my elderly aunt once scoffed at that because “everyone knows if you scallop something, it’s got crackers in it and this doesn’t”. She called it Corn Casserole. My sister Bee ... [Read More]
Chicken and Bacon Lasagna Roll ups
From my sister, Bee . . .Chicken and Bacon Lasagna Rollups . . . a creamy, cheesy pasta dish with chicken made over the top delicious with yummy bacon. Sooo good. I got to do the filling and rolling for this batch -- since I was hanging around the pan of browned bacon, I think. She's generous with bacon, but has this idea that everyone should have an equal chance. :-) I learned from her when visiting a couple years ago, that its so much easier to snip bacon into one inch pieces BEFORE browning. Duh! Here's what the pan looked like right out of the oven. Too bad you can't scratch and sniff, because the aroma is delightful!! Chicken and Bacon Lasagna Roll ups Print Prep time 20 mins Cook time 35 mins Total time 55 mins Author: A Pinch of ... [Read More]
Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta Bake
Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta Bake --Soooo good you’ll want seconds – and thirds! Everything goes together fairly quickly. While you are preparing the pasta, you can also cook the bacon and then the chicken. I prefer to use thinner chicken breast cuts because they cook quickly and can be more easily cut into uniform pieces. Cut the bacon before browning, either with a knife on a cutting board or with a pair of kitchen shears. I always burn my fingers trying to cut bacon after it is browned! Roux is melted butter (or other fat) and flour mixed together. When the flour has been incorporated into the fat, cook just long enough for the mixture to turn slightly golden before adding the liquid. Cooking too long or over too high a heat will make the sauce lumpy. Better to prevent lumps than try to ... [Read More]