French Onion Chicken Casserole

When I first saw this recipe I thought it sounded okay, but not exactly earth-shattering. I put it on my menu, but I didn't really have high hopes for it. Boy, was I wrong!  This was so yummy and satisfying; I had two servings and would've had a third but I didn't want to look like a pig in front of my company. I was very reluctant to give up the leftovers when my husband asked if we could send a few servings home with my mother-in-law.

This takes a little prep work: you have to precook the chicken and the noodles before you bake the casserole, but you could easily prep this ahead of time and bake it later. You could even stick it in the freezer to save for a lazy day!

French Onion Chicken Casserole

Prep time: 30 min  Bake time: 30 min
Serves 8

4 cups cooked chopped chicken
1 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
2 cans cream of chicken soup
16 oz container French Onion Dip
1 cup cheddar cheese
12 oz egg noodles
1 cup crushed french fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray.

Cook egg noodles according to package directions; drain.

Combine chicken, veggies, soup, dip, and cheese. Stir in cooked egg noodles.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Top with crushed french fried onions.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until heated through.

394 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Blueberry Custard Pie

I LOVE blueberries, but not the tiny, sour, overpriced ones that the grocery store has most of the year. I lived in Michigan for a few years and there were half a dozen blueberry farms within 20 miles of my house and every year we'd buy gallons of dark purple, sweet, juicy berries the size of marbles. They didn't need anything to be delicious so we ate them plain by the fistful, but we'd also eat them with ice cream and bake them in pies.

I was so excited last week when I learned my local blueberry farm was open for business and I sent my husband with explicit directions to come home with no less than 2 gallons of blueberries. I wanted to make a blueberry trifle for the company I had coming, blueberry muffins for breakfast, and 2 batches of blueberry cobbler to feed the teenagers at youth group. He came home with NONE! By the time he got there, they were sold out.Total bummer. I gave up on my extensive blueberry plans, but I was so in the mood for blueberries that I gave in and bought 1 pint from the grocery store. It wasn't enough to make most of the recipes I was craving, but it was just enough to make this pie. I've never put custard in my blueberry pie before, and I've never put streusel on top, but I really loved the end result! This was good cold, but it was amazing served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Blueberry Custard Pie

Prep time: 15 min  Bake time: 45 min
Serves 8

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
2 Tbs flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Streusel Topping:
½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup flour
¼ cup butter, softened
½ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, mix the sour cream, ¾ cup sugar, egg, 2 tablespoons flour, vanilla extract and salt with a spoon until smooth. Gently fold the blueberries into the sour cream mixture. Spoon the filling into the unbaked pie crust.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

While the filling is baking, prepare the streusel topping: In a medium bowl combine the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course sand. Fold in the chopped pecans.

After the filling has baked 25 minutes, sprinkle the streusel crunch topping over the top of the pie. Bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until filling is set and topping is brown.

Make sure your crust doesn't burn. Either use a crust shield or make a loose foil tent towards the end of baking.

Remove from oven and let pie sit for at least 10-15 minutes. Serve pie warm or chill it and serve cold.

352 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Veggie Crescent Squares

Have you ever been so wiped out that you could feel every single inch of your body--because all of it hurt? Yeah, that was me about 2 am yesterday morning after spending every spare moment of the past week preparing to cater a big party at my church. The guest list went from 60 to 100 overnight and the actual turnout was even higher. My menu was a little intense for a party of 60 and absolutely overwhelming for 110. but this was one dish that was no big deal to double and then quadruple as the guest list grew. I love this for parties because, besides being easy, it's fresh and pretty and everybody loves it.  Feel free to substitute whatever vegetables you prefer, but I like the color palette this variety provides.

Veggie Crescent Squares

Prep time: 15 min  Cook time: 15 min
Serves 24

2 (8 oz) cans crescent roll dough
2 (8 oz) blocks cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (1 oz) package dry ranch dressing mix
1 cup fresh broccoli, chopped
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped bell pepper
1 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the crescent roll dough onto a 9x13 inch baking sheet, and pinch together edges to form the crust. Bake crust for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Once finished cooking, remove crust from oven and let cool 15 minutes without removing it from the baking sheet.

In a small mixing bowl combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and dry Ranch dressing. Spread the mixture over the cooled crust.

Arrange broccoli, tomato, green bell pepper, cauliflower, shredded carrots, and cheddar cheese over the cream cheese layer. Chill for one hour, slice and serve.

212 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

BBQ Chicken Burritos

April has been an unusual month for our family, menu-wise. I knew the doctor I work for was going to take a week off when his wife gave birth to their baby, and I knew I was going to go visit my parents in Indiana when that happened, but babies are notorious for not coming exactly when you expect them, so I had no idea when I was going to be gone. In preparation, I made the entire month's menu as simple as possible so that no matter when I left, my husband and daughter would be able to handle preparing their own meals.

Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite meals are super simple, but they don't really make for great blog content.  This recipe, however, has way more flavor than it has ingredients. Now, you can make this with any BBQ sauce you like and it will be great, but I have to admit that I use a secret special sauce that takes these burritos over the top.  Years ago, my husband brought home a bottle of "Pig Out Sauce" that a coworker had purchased from a BBQ joint in Spartanburg, SC. He claimed it was the best sauce ever and insisted we try it. We made these burritos for the first time with that sauce and now I can't imagine them without it. Once a year or so, when his coworker takes a trip to Spartanburg, my husband has him pick up a gallon of it and we divide it up into smaller bottles and freeze it so we always have some on hand. If you really want to taste the ultimate version of these burritos, come on over to my house the next time I make 'em and I'll let you try my special sauce, but until then, any tangy BBQ will be fine.

BBQ Chicken Burritos

Prep time: 5 min  Cook time: 10 min
Serves 4

1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken, cubed
1 green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 Tbs oil, divided
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1-1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
4 large flour tortillas, warmed

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil then cook the chicken, green peppers and onion over medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in barbecue sauce and heat through.

Sprinkle cheese down the center of each tortilla; top with chicken mixture. Fold sides and ends over filling and roll up.

In a large skillet, brown burritos in remaining oil on all sides over medium heat.

626 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!

Rainbow Fruit Tacos

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody! Today is the day I try to pretend I actually know something about my Irish heritage. My maiden name was Shannon, and I'm a Notre Dame fan, but otherwise I'm not much more Irish than a box of Lucky Charms.  Plus, I recently read a Buzz Feed article listing 7 myths about St. Patrick's Day that essentially negated everything I thought I knew about Ireland. Corned beef and cabbage as Irish staples? Totally bogus. That was sort of a relief, though, because I don't like either one of those.  What I do like are these adorable fruit tacos! This rainbow needs no pot of gold at the end, any little leprechaun would find these to be a perfect treat all by themselves.

Rainbow Fruit Tacos
Prep time: 30 min  Cook time: 7 min
Serves 7

Shells:
7 large flour tortillas
1 Tbs sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
nonstick cooking spray

Filling:
8 oz light cream cheese, softened
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ cup chopped strawberries
½ cup chopped mandarin oranges
½ cup chopped pineapple
½ cup peeled and chopped kiwi
½ cup blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

To prepare the taco shells, use a biscuit cutter (or an empty can) to cut 3" circles out of your large tortillas. Lay the cut tortillas out flat and very lightly spray them with the nonstick cooking spray. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Sprinkle tortillas evenly with the cinnamon sugar.

Gently fold each tortilla in half and hang them upside down on the rungs of your oven rack (a slight fold will yield a wider taco shell that is easier to fill). Bake for 5 - 7 minutes and then remove and gently set aside.

For the filling, beat the cream cheese, honey, sugar, and cinnamon until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Spoon 1-2 teaspoons of the filling into each shell. Top with the chopped fruit.

384 calories per serving.  Click here for more nutritional info and shopping list!