Sour Cream Noodle Bake

I saw this recipe posted on FB a few weeks ago from a friend of mine, and it looked really good and relatively easy, so I decided to make it.

1 1/4 Pound Ground Beef
1 Can (15 oz) Tomato Sauce
1/2 tsp. Salt
Dash Pepper
8 oz Egg Noodles
1/2 C. Sour Cream
1 1/4 C. Small Curd Cottage Cheese
1/2 C. Chopped Green Onion
1 C. Grated Cheddar Cheese

I started by putting a pot of water on to boil. While I waited for that to boil, I browned the beef. I used 2 pounds instead of the called for 1 1/4 pound, since I was making a bit more for our big family.

Then, I added the tomato sauce. Again, I upped the amount a bit. I used a 15 oz can and a 10 oz can. I threw in the pepper and salt and mixed it together.

While that simmered, I cooked the egg noodles. I cooked the whole 12 oz bag that I had, to go with the other inflated ingredients.

Once those were cooked, I mixed together the cream cheese, cottage cheese, and onion, again upping the ingredients by about half. I also neglected to notice the kind of cottage cheese I had bought. I had gotten large curd instead of small curd, but it made little difference. :P I threw in another dash of pepper, too.

Then, I mixed the noodles in. The noodles alone were very good. :D

Then, setting that aside, I shredded the cheese, a step of which I did not take a picture.
Then I began to layer it. Some versions of this recipe call for you to mix all the ingredients together, casserole style, but I liked the layer idea better. I spread about half the noodles into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Even if you're making the original portioned recipe, I'd recommend using this size pan, since the food I made nearly overflowed. :P
Pour and spread half of the meat mixture on top, and then sprinkle with half the cheese. When in doubt, always use more cheese than less.
Then, repeat. The other half of the noodles, the other half of the meat, and topping it all off with the other half of the cheese, making sure it's liberally covered.

Once that's done, bake it for 25 minutes, or until the cheese is all melty and bubbly and yummy looking.

Serve it up, lasagna style!

I thought it was delicious. One of my brothers did not approve of it, so I'll probably not make it very often, but the rest of my family loved it. :)

Hot Chicken Salad

A couple years ago, while searching for something to make for dinner, my mother suggested we make Hot Chicken Salad. I had never heard of such a thing, so we began to search through her old recipe book and we discovered the recipe. It is a recipe from my grandmother, which gives it extra value in my opinion. So anyway, we made it, and it was amazingly delicious. I've made it several times since then, and decided to whip it up the other day. 

2 Cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

4-5 Cups Diced Chicken Breast (about 3-4 Breast Pieces)

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

3/4 Cup Real Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp Minced Onion

1 Cup Diced Celery

4 Diced, Hard-boiled Eggs

1 8oz Bag Plain Potato Chips

I started by boiling, and chopping up the chicken breasts. I boiled two, then discovered it wasn't quite enough, so I had to boil another one. 

While the chicken was boiling, I also hard boiled the eggs.

Now, you may think this odd for all the cooking I have done, but I have a very difficult time hard boiling eggs. For whatever reason, I can never remember exactly how it's done. Is it start them cold and boil them 10 minutes? Or maybe you put them in boiling water, then turn it down, then let them sit 10 minutes? Or is it put them in cold water, let them boil, and then immediately transfer them back to cold water? *sigh* Way too many options. (Turns out, it's put them in cold water, bring it to a boil, boil them for 10 minutes, let them cool for about 2 minutes, then transfer them to cold water)

Anyway, I have always ended up with undercooked eggs. And once you crack them to see if they're done, you're out of luck. 

BUT! This time, I did it right! I was ridiculously pleased with myself. ^_^

Once I had the eggs done, I chopped them up. 

Then I mixed the eggs, chicken, and other ingredients together.

Once they were all mixed, I greased an 11x13 pan and spread the bottom with crushed potato chips. *NOTE* The potato chips do not get mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. They get crushed and layered on the top and bottom of the rest of the casserole 

After putting in a layer of chips, I spread the rest of the stuff on top, and sprinkled more crushed chips on top of that.

Into the oven it went! 425˚ for about half an hour, or until it's bubbling and the chips are starting to brown. Like so:

It's especially delicious when you add a side of potato chips. :D

It's definitely a favorite meal of mine... although my brother professed to absolutely hate it. He does really dislike mayonnaise, though, so that could be the reason. :)

It's also good reheated, but I'd recommend adding fresh potato chips to the top if you do that, since the ones it was baked with tend to get a bit soggy after they've been sitting for awhile. 

Mexican Beef Casserole

The other day, while browsing the grocery store for some good ideas, I came upon a can of Fiesta Nacho Cheese soup. It was with all those cream soups that Campbells makes, and it looked like it had the makings of a good meal in it, so I got it and placed it on the shelf at home, waiting for inspiration to strike. The other night, it did.
I needed something quickly, since I have about a 1 hour window in which to make and serve dinner, so I grabbed a pound of frozen beef from the freezer and browned it.

Once it was done, I added the can of Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup (With a name that exciting, it had to be good, right?) and mixed it in. Meanwhile, I boiled up some water for noodles.
The beef was looking a bit dry, and a bit blah, so I threw in a can of Cheddar Cheese soup, a can of Tomatoes with Green Chiles, and a handful of chopped chives. Notice the handwritten warnings all over my soup cans. This is because I have brothers who like to steal my cheddar cheese soup for their own evil purposes. >_<

It looked much better, and much more festive after that. By this time, the water was boiling, and I cooked some egg noodles while keeping the meat mixture warm. When the noodles were done, I deliberated over whether I should mix them in, or serve the meat over them, and finally decided to just mix them in. The result appeased my love of all things colorful. :D

Being a mexican meal, I served it with tortilla chips.

It wasn't bad. And this from a girl who can't stand things that are too spicy. And this was spicy. Really spicy. Even my dad said so, and he likes spicy food. I didn't mind too much, though, since I mixed in a ton of sour cream to cut the spice. I love sour cream anyway. :D
I'm not sure I'd make it again, or if I did, I might use different noodles, and perhaps forgo the Fiesta Nacho Cheese as well, just to cut down on the spiciness. I'll have to figure out something else to use that soup in.