A Prayer of Faith

The holiday season has officially begun. And, as much as we try to avoid it, the holidays usually bring stress — or at least full calendars and long to-do lists. I thought I would share a few main dish recipes that have helped keep dinner simple and not-too-time-consuming. (Some you can add veggies to and make a complete meal!)

Easy Homemade Mac-n-Cheese

1 16-oz package shaped pasta (bowties, shells, ziti, etc.) (not noodles)
1 can evaporated milk
Shredded cheddar or cheddar/jack cheese (or any cheddar combination) (at least 2 cups)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta as directed and drain. Add canned milk and cheese (I like a lot of cheese, but start with two cups; you can always add more). Stir over medium-low heat until cheese and milk start to blend into a creamy sauce. Salt and pepper to taste; add more cheese if desired.
(Variation: Boil water with two chicken bouillon cubes. You won’t likely need salt if you use this option. [I’m eating some of this as I type!] You can also add cubed ham, cooked chopped broccoli, cooked chopped spinach….)

Cheater’s Lasagna
I love lasagna, but don’t love the many pans and time in the kitchen that it usually requires. This is a trick I learned somewhere, and I have never gone back to the old way! Just be sure to plan on at least an hour and a half because this takes longer to cook.

12 dry lasagna noodles
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (we use Prego Traditional, Ricotta-Parmesan, or Three Cheese)
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Cottage and/or ricotta cheese, optional
Whatever else you like to put in lasagna
(My children don’t like meat, so I don’t use it, but you can sneak pureed veggies (I’ve done spinach, broccoli and/or carrots), and even a few pureed cooked navy or great northern beans for protein and fiber!)

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Spray bottom of 9X13 pan. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan. Layer dry noodles, sauce, and cheese(s). (I have never measured this…I just spread enough cheese to cover the layer pretty well. If you use more than one kind of cheese, you can combine them and spread them as one layer together.) Top with mozzarella layer. (Note: I usually use the whole jar of sauce.) Fill sauce jar 1/2 to 3/4 full of water, and pour carefully into pan. (I pour the water over each strip of noodles to get all the noodles wet.) Spray long piece of aluminum foil with non-stick spray. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours (Check after an hour…remove when noodles are cooked. This takes some experimenting…sometimes the bottom can burn, so keep an eye on it.)

One-pan Lasagna Casserole
We lived off of this for the first year or so of our marriage when we were both busy working-outside-of-the-home people.

1 16-oz package shaped pasta (bowties, shells, ziti, etc.) (not noodles)
1 jar pasta sauce
1-2 cups cottage and/or ricotta cheese
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Optional add-ins (cooked chopped spinach or broccoli, cooked ground beef, cooked chicken)

Cook pasta according to directions and drain. Add sauce and cheese and add-ins. Stir until heated through. Top if desired with more mozzarella and/or parmesan. Yum!

A few other ideas:
Tuna casserole: Just add 1-2 cans tuna and 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup to a pound of cooked and drained pasta. I sometimes toss in a handful or two of mozzarella, and/or some parmesan. There’s no need to cook in the oven, unless you want a crust on the top (especially if you sprinkle top with parmesan). Great with a cooked bag of frozen peas and carrots.

Hawaiian haystacks: Layer cooked rice, hot cream of chicken soup, cooked chicken, pineapple, peas, onions, dry chow mein noodles, shredded cheddar cheese, raisins, coconut (whatever sounds good to you)…may sound a little weird if you haven’t tried before, but they are SO good!

Mexican haystacks: Layer tortilla or corn chips (like Fritos), rice, chili and/or canned cooked pinto beans (I sometimes cook this with tomatoes or tomato sauce for more nutrition, with a sprinkle of taco seasoning ), cheese, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, salsa…whatever your favorite Mexican toppings are.

“Campbelled” Eggs: This is an all-time favorite at our house…really dresses up the usual scrambled eggs. Simply combine 1 can cream of chicken soup with 6-8 eggs in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a preheated, greased fry pan and cook as you would scrambled eggs. Serve with muffins, or over toast, or with cinnamon rolls (even the refrigerator dough ones go well with these). You may never want regular scrambled eggs again!

Toasted English muffins or bagels with a fried egg (yolk broken while cooking so it cooks solid), ham and cheese. Watch out, McD’s!

Bagel pizzas…this is one of our favorites when I have little time or energy for cooking…simply spread sauce (I just use pasta sauce) and cover with mozzarella (and your favorite fixins). We like wheat bagels, because they make a hearty meal.

Speaking of pizza, here is the easiest pizza dough recipe ever — I just spread in a 9×13 pan for thick crust, and spread between that and a smaller pan (like 8×8) for thinner crusts.

1 c. hot water
1/2 T. yeast (I use the quick kind)
1 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 T. oil
Wheat or white flour to make a smooth dough

Roll and spread in greased pan. (Can use to make individual pizzas as well.) Top as desired. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 20 minutes or so.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 25th, 2006 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Whisperings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.