I am always curious about what other people cook for their families. Mostly just because it gives me really good ideas. I love to try new recipes, too.
So I want to play a little game… and I hope you’ll play along!
I want to hear about-
(1) the dinner that you cook most often for your family (and if you have a recipe, please share it!), and
(2) the “new” recipe you tried most recently (this can be anything – not just a meal).
So here are my two:
The dinner I make most often is “Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake”. I make it because it is super-simple to prepare and everyone in my family likes it. I LOVE a night with no complaints!
Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup uncooked minute rice
1 cup condensed cream of chicken soup
1 cup water
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
black pepper
paprika
Mix the rice, soup, water and cheese in a casserole dish. Place the chicken on top. Sprinkle with black pepper and paprika to taste. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes or until chicken is done. Mix rice before serving.
The most recent “new” recipe I tried was yesterday for our MOPS meeting – it’s a recipe I got recently from a friend from grad school. I already got a couple of requests to share the recipe, so I guess it’s a winner!
Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting
Cookie Ingredients:
2/3 c granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 c butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Frosting Ingredients:
3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 to 4 T milk
1/3 c butter (do not use margarine)
Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, 3/4 c butter (or margarine) and 1 tsp vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Beat in pumpkin and eggs until well mixed. On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Drop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet in heaping tablespoonfuls. Bake 10 to 12 min until almost no indentation remains when touched in the center. Immediate remove cookies from sheet and place on cooling rack. Cool completely (about 45 min). In medium bowl, place powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of milk. In 1-quart saucepan, heat 1/3 cup butter over medium heat, stirring constantly until light brown. Pour butter over the powder sugar mixture and beat on low speed about 1 min. Add remaining milk if necessary to make frosting creamy and spreadable. Generously frost cookies.
Hope you enjoy these recipes! And I can’t wait to hear yours! You can either put them in your comment or put them on your own blog and leave me a link! Thanks!
Led By The Shepherd 
Spaghetti and meat sauce is the most commonly repeated dinner in our home. Pretty boring and no recipe required really, but it is the one that everyone loves without fuss. As a matter of fact we had it last night. One tip I have discovered just recently. If I add the sauce to the ground beef BEFORE it is browned it comes out more tender and can be more finely chopped into the sauce. I kinda like it that way. Less tough bits of meat. Same goes for ground beef with taco seasoning.
I’m not sure which of my other dinners would interest your family. Have you checked out the ones on my blog?
Melody – spaghetti is probably our second most-served meal in our house! I like to use italian sausage – cut it into small pieces and put it in sauce in the crockpot to cook for a few hours! And yes, I’ve seen the recipes on your blog, too! Thanks!
One of my fav recipes is one that my mother in law and I both like to make. We have pasta once a week too, but sometimes rather than just tortellini or spaghetti, I make this. A great way to sneak spinach and beans into the kids. It’s delicious:)
Pasta Kielbasa
Combine 1 28oz can chopped tomatoes, 1 15.8 oz can Great Northern beans (drained), 1 14oz pkg Smoked Sausage cut into 1/2 inch pieces, 1 large jar of your favoite pasta sauce, 1 10oz pkg frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained, 1 TBSP chili powder. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce hear, and simmer 10 minutes. Add 4 cups cooked penne pasta and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Mix and serve.
For my fav new dessert, you can find it on a great blog I’ve been following-
ourbestbites.com
I love this site and their recipe index is a GREAT resource. The dessert I tried this week was Pupmkin Crumble. My whole family gobbled it up like crazy people! I used the version that they adapted from the original.
I’m also using their Cinnabon Popcorn recipe for Christmas gifts this year:)
Hooray for food!
Curry: This is an eye-ball-it recipe, but here it goes…. Combine two cups rice and four cups water in a glass bowl and microwave for 20 minutes. Add one to two tablespoons of olive oil to non stick skillet, add one finely chopped onion, and a package of frozen skinless boneless chicken thigh meat. Salt and pepper to taste. As the chicken nears doneness, add one to two tablespoons of curry and stir. ( I buy the curry in the bag in the ethnic aisle at Tops. It’s MUCH less unit price than the small jars of spice) May need to add a little water if juices have evaporated. I have seen some recipes add plain yogurt as well, but I usually don’t. I also like to use spatula to break the meat into bite size pieces in the pan. Serve over rice (or next to for any food can’t touch each other little ones) with peas or mixed vegetables.
I’ll have to give you the primavera one later…need to run some errands.
BTW http://www.recipezaar.com is awesome for recipe ideas. Have you seen it?
We eat a lot of homemade pizza. Friday nights is pizza night. One recipe that I tried recently and loved is Paula Deen’s Taco soup. I wasn’t sure how it would go over seeing as that we are not huge bean eaters but this recipe is delicious. My kids of course won’t eat it because well….they won’t eat anything other then pizza, macaroni, spaghetti and chicken nuggets at the moment but older ones should enjoy it if they like Mexican.
Ingredients
* 2 pounds ground beef
* 2 cups diced onions
* 2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans pinto beans
* 1 (15 1/2-ounce) can pink kidney beans
* 1 (15 1/4-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
* 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes
* 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes
* 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomatoes with chiles
* 2 (4 1/2-ounce) cans diced green chiles
* 1 (4.6-ounce) can black olives, drained and sliced, optional
* 1/2 cup green olives, sliced, optional
* 1 (1 1/4-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
* 1 (1-ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix
* Corn chips, for serving
* Sour cream, for garnish
* Grated cheese, for garnish
* Chopped green onions, for garnish
* Pickled jalapenos, for garnish
Directions
Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large slow cooker or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, black olives, green olives, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing mix, and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a pot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, green onions and jalapenos.