M.j. ‘s Chicken Farfalle casserole

Here I am today playing with food.

This is a meal I put together with a little imagination.  We liked it .  Hubby ate his as is. I added pepper flakes to mine to give it a little heat!

I had a little accident involving my back so I may have bruised a few ribs so I’m up 20 minutes laying 20 minutes hoping to recover quickly but hubby refuses to cook and I’m hungry so here goes.  I had the chicken in my freezer so I thawed it out planning on cooking something so this is my something dinner.

NOTE: I  do buy and store extras I may need in my recipes.They come in handy for these kind of days.

2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
1 can Cream of chicken soup

1/2 can milk

4 T ranch salad dressing 

1 tablespoon onion powder

I - 14.5 can drained diced tomatoes ( reserve 1/4 cup in case you need to thin mixture)

About 1/2 tsp.  salt, pepper and parsley (to taste)

1/2 lb. Cooked farfalle ( I salted the water) cooked a’dente and drained( I did not rinse farfalle)

Mild cheddar cheese( about 1 cup)(you can either top to casserole before baking or mix the cheese in before baking.  I topped the casserole then stirred when I removed it from oven.

Hot pepper flakes( optional)

Parsley to garnish

Set oven to 350°.

Mix chicken soup, milk, ranch dressing,onion powder and  drained tomatoes, salt, pepper and parsley and I then added the 1/4 cup Of reserved juice( I felt it needed some more liquid to bake and allow to be creamy.

Place chicken in casserole dish , cooked farfalle and add soup mixture and cheese.  Stir to combine.( Or top the casserole if preferred)

Cover casserole and bake 15 minutes. Remove cover bake another 10 minutes more. Make sure the casserole is heated through.  You may have to stir it to make sure.

Serve and add a sprinkle or two of pepper flakes if using. I liked the little bit if heat.

Serve alone or with a side salad.

Enjoy cooking my way!

Cooyright iliketobakeandcook.blogdpot.com 2026

Santa Cruz chicken

This is a recipe with a little help from the internet.

Approximately 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breast. If they’re thick slice them horizontally.

In a large Ziploc bag, place chicken , add about a tablespoon of 2 tablespoons lime juice, a teaspoon of salt, pinch or two of cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder and 1/4 tsp. Cumin and 

 at least 1 tsp. paprika.  Rub all spices into chicken and allow to refrigerate several hours or overnight. I did allow mine to refrigerate over night.

NOTE :  You can be heavy on the spices if you like.

I use a grill pan  coated with vegetable oil on medium heat. Once pan has heated add chicken.  

Grill on side approximately 5 minutes and turn.  You will

See noticeable scoring from grill. Turn chicken ,grill on other side and grill for 5  to 8 minutes.  ***No visable pink inside but so tender and juicy. ( cooking time varies depending on thickness of chicken.  Enjoy!

PS. I grilled s scored zucchini in the same pan. (Season well)

Italian yogurt cake

I saw this video for the yogurt cake below and since i had the ingredients including the vanilla yogurt I decided today was the day to try making it.  It was sure easy.  

I measured everything by 6 oz. Note:  She used a 6 oz. Yogurt Container as her measuring cup.

So when the recipe called for 6oz.container as measuring tool   I used a measuring cup for accuracy.

Whereas I doubled and tripled where it was necessary. 

NOTE: I used rind of orange instead of lemon.

     

Bake at 350° in a sprayed Bundt pan for approximately  35 /40 minutes.  Dark pans take less time to bake so check at 35 minutes with toothpick.

The top of my cake light and bottom

Was browned perfectly.

Cool and eat as desired. Powdered sugar, a glaze or have a slice as is.  Light and great texture. You could use as a shortcake for fresh berries too!

Enjoy!

Stuffed and breaded chicken breasts

2 thick boneless chicken breasts ( cut a deep pocket in center of each breast).

Plain yogurt 

1/4 cup drained seasoned spinach( I used leftover spinach I had) or can use fresh.

Moderate amount mozzarella or cheese of choice 

Mix spinach and cheese

After stuffing chicken breast spread plain yogurt over breast s.

Turn over  and spread equally.

Now on a large piece of waxed paper add 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs. I season my own with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, dried parsley and Parmesan cheese..

NOTE:Frozen spinach drained and squeezed. You could use fresh. Very little mozzarella just enough to hold it together. (Incidentally this spinach was seasoned that I had leftover). 

I flavored the breadcrumbs as well with Parmesan cheese, dried parsley salt, pepper,onion and garlic powder.

Enjoy!

 

 

White pepper gravy topped chicken croquettes

Monday easy day meal using Rotisserie chicken.

2 cups Rotisserie chicken pulsed fine in food Processor 

1 or 2 eggs

1/2 cup breadcrumbs 

2 pinches salt

Sprinkle onion powder

Sprinkle dried parsley 

2 or 3 Tablespoons chicken broth.  Use enough to hold mixture together.  Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour ,

Make torpedoes.  Spray with canola oil air fryer 

Heat air fryer to 375 degrees.

  Place 4 torpedoes in air fryer,  Spray tops with canola oil,

Fry 8 to 10 minutes on each side until

Browned.  Top with gravy.  Great meal 

WHITE  PEPPER GRAVY

White Pepper Gravy: Melt (2) tablespoons butter, whisk in (2) tablespoons flour, and gradually add (1) cup milk or chicken broth. Simmer until thick and season generously with salt and white pepper. *** (I used black pepper) When I made this sauce I did find white pepper and used it. It was tasty but I don't know if it made much of a change than to not see black specks. 

Enjoy!

 

: NOTE: Courtesy of Google

• Black Pepper: Offers a complex flavor with warmth, woody, and citrus notes.
• White Pepper: Has a sharper, more focused taste, often described as earthy and grassy

Sweet and slighty spicy chicken kabobs

Approximately I lb. Chicken chunks ) I placed on 2 wooden skewers 

I make a sauce ( similar to a marinade)with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, sugar,soy sauce ,red pepper and a few tablespoons vegetable oil.  I didn’t have sesame oil but would have used it.

Placed chicken cubes in a large zip lock bag and added the sauce. Moved the chicken around to coat and refrigerated it until I decided either to bake, broil or use my grille pan.

I decided to bake at 350°for approximately 15 to

25 minutes. ***I then broiled them for a few minutes more to try to brown them some. Note: I turned them over at 15 minutes and baked 10 minutes more. I then broiled them. I hope that’s clear… there was no pink inside.

I sprinkled after with parsley before serving.

I’m a bit under the weather so excuse any confusion in directions.

Stove top grilled flank steak

We don’t own a grille and don’t miss it.  My grille pan is awesome. This week I’m making most meals with this quality grille pan.  I find it’s very useful especially now that the weather has warmed,

Tonight dinner!  

Grilled flank steak grilled on each side 4 to 6 minutes depending on your desired wellness.

.

.Boiled potatoes and green beans seasoned with oo and red wine vinegar .  Chunky cucs and sweet onion.

SEASONING:

I allow steak to marinate several hours in refrigerator in a large zip lock bag before using.

1/4 cup Soy sauce

3 tablespoons Olive oil

2 teaspoons Red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar 

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce( optional) I’m

****Not fond of Worcestershire sauce 

2 teaspoons Brown sugar or honey

3 cloves Garlic, minced

Black pepper to taste 

Easy meal and perfect warm weather meal.

Simple and easy to make sausage bake

Boy was this easy!

All you need is a:

11”x9” baking dish or 9 x13”.

Cooking spray to coat bottom of baking dish

1 lb.  Bulk hot or sweet sausage 

8 oz. Softened cream cheese

2 pkgs. crescent dinner rolls 

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray with cooking oil the bottom of a 9 x 11” baking dish.  

In a large pan over a medium high heat cook and stir sausage until  brown and crumbly.  Drain and discard grease add  softened cream cheese until It is combined.

Roll Crescent roll dough from one can into the bottom of a prepared baking dish without separating. 

Bake in a preheat 350°oven for about five minutes. 

Remove from oven ,spread sausage mixture over baked crescent roll.  Place the other roll on top.

Continue baking until the top layer is golden brown about 10 to 12 minutes. Check after 8  minutes. 

Note: mine never got brown so I removed from oven in about 10 minutes .  I knew it was ready because the edges were brown .  It was perfect.  I sprinkled a little dried parsley for presentation.

I served with a nice wine vinegar and oil dressing.  It was the perfect choice since I used HOT SAUSAGE 

Enjoy.

allrecipes.com

Monday chicken

I was intrigued by this allrecipes recipe so I made some changes//additions after reading the reviews.

Hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed it especially with my changes.  I think it would have been on the bland side had I not done so.

In this recipe I only used 2 chicken breasts halves which I cut lengthwise.  Pictures show how I cut and then placed them.

NOTE:I seasoned the chicken with a reasonable amount of salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. 

I also used cream of chicken soup.

I did add the broccoli frozen as suggested as well as shredded sharp cheddar cheese to the top of the casserole.

****In the soup mixture I added the sour cream ,about 1/2 cup milk and also some additional garlic powder and 1-tablespoonful **Dijon mustard instead of horseradish. Mix well.

Original recipe:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

• 1 (14 ounce) bag frozen broccoli florets

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed golden mushroom soup

• ⅓ cup sour cream

• 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish

  Sharp cheddar cheese (optional)

  
  

  
  

Gather all ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Spread the broccoli evenly in the bottom of the baking dish. Place chicken breasts over the broccoli as well as soup mixture..

 Bake 1 hour uncovered.

Even though I only used 2 chicken breast’s halves I followed the rest of the amounts about the same.

****My recipe was baked in 50 minutes.

Enjoy!

 Allrecipes