Marinara Sauce

My friend Heather M. gave me this recipe because I have SOO many tomatoes from the garden this year and I am sick of making salsa so . . . . ya.  I haven't yet used it for anything, but it tastes amazing!!!  She says you can use it for spaghetti, stuffed shells, lasagna, any pasta really.  I am going to try it with meatballs and stuffed peppers later this week.  She also says you can either bottle it or freeze it.  I will be freezing because that is how I roll.  ha ha.

In a large stockpot, saute:
4 med. onions, diced really small (about 3 cups)
4 cloves of garlic
2 T olive oil (she said any cooking oil will work as well)

Once onions are soft add:
10-16 C diced tomatoes (I did 12 because that is what I had)
1 T oregano
1 T basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Let come to a boil reduce heat and simmer for 3 hours.  The longer the better.  Before you store and cool, take a emulsion blender and make everything nice and smooth!  Once cool, store and freeze! 

When ready to use just use as is or add ground beef or Italian sausage!  Yummy!  I am wishing I had even more tomatoes so I could make a whole freezer full!

Honey Dijon Chicken

This recipe might sound wierd, but it is sooo yummy. My family just eats it up!

You need enough diced chicken to feed your family.

1 1/2 lb diced chicken tenders
1 bottle Honey Dijon salad dressing


Just dice your chicken, cook in a little oil, then add this dressing. I didn't use the whole bottle, only about 2/3 of the bottle. Then we serve it over rice. Super SUPER easy and yummy.

Lasagna

So, I am no Ina Garden, or whatever her name is, so you won't find any Italian Sausage or Ricotta Cheese here. My lasagna is all about simplicity and affordable. It's dang good too. This recipe is for you my Show Low friends. 6-9 lasagna noodles
1 jar your favorite Spaghetti Sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 diced onion
1 T Italian Seasoning
1 big carton of cottage cheese
2 C grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 T parsley
salt and pepper

Cook lasagna noodles. Meanwhile brown hamburger and onions. Season beef with salt and pepper and your favorite Italian Seasoning, which mainly consists of oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and marjoram. Slowly stir in spaghetti sauce, remove from heat, and set aside.

Your noodles should be done cooking by now, so remove them and place on tin foil to dry. You don't want to put them in still dripping or your lasagna will be dripping. :)

In medium size bowl mix cottage cheese, 1 C mozzarella (half of it), parmesan, egg, and parsley.

Preheat oven to 375. Time to start the layers :) Start with a spoonful (probably about a half cup) of meat mixture on bottom - to prevent sticking. Then a layer of noodles, then cheese. And repeat until you have 3 layers of noodles. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese, cover with tin foil, and bake for 1 hour. Take the tin foil off the last 10 minutes and let the cheese get all toasty :)

Enjoy! Serve with yummy garlic bread and your favorite salad.

Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole

To kick off this wonderful bliggity-blog I am stealing my first recipe from my friend Barb (see link to the right). It rocks, let me tell ya. All the girls were very skeptical of the smorgasbord of ingredients, but we couldn't stop eating it, except Madison, who doesn't eat anything. Now I have a rockin' Chicken Courdon Blue recipe from my Momma, which I will share at a later time, but I swear it tasted just like it. So yummy and no picture . . . check out Barb's site to see a pic.

2 packages stuffing
1 can (10.5 oz) cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 lb sliced deli ham, cut into i inch strips
1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups cooked, diced chicken

Prepare stuffing mixes according to directions on box. Meanwhile in a bowl combine soup and milk. Put cooked cubed chicken in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle with pepper, layer on ham, Swiss cheese and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, soup mixture and stuffing. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar cheese (at this point you could freeze it for another day. If freezing thaw in fridge overnight and remove from fridge 30 minutes before baking) Cover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-14 minutes longer.

P.S. The only thing I measured was the milk - I am all about eyeballing it. I only did 1 box of stuffing too.

(Courtesy of Barb Bakes)