Swiss Broccoli Casserole

You can serve this as a side dish or even a main dish.

This is an easy one from Cooking Light, and it's quite versatile - serve it with chicken, pork, beef - whatever! Make up a pan for dinner tonight, and then make up an extra one to throw in the freezer for another night or to share. My kids like broccoli, but even kids who aren't WILD about it won't mind trying this - just chop the broccoli up small and sell them on the cheese and rice.

Swiss Broccoli Casserole

2/3 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe cream soup base
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese (shredding your own is a bonus)
1 cup cooked rice
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
Cooking spray
1 (1-ounce) slice white bread (or just use some Panko bread crumbs)

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a simmer. Add cheese; stir until melted. Remove from heat; stir in cooked rice and broccoli. Transfer broccoli mixture to an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure 1/2 cup (or just keep it simple and use breadcrumbs). Sprinkle broccoli mixture with breadcrumbs. Either cover and freeze, then thaw in the refrigerator before baking, or bake covered at 350° for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup).

Layered Mexican Trifle Salad

So this is awesome. It's a lot of work, but it is awesome. Feeds a crowd, looks cool, tastes great. What more can you ask for? I first had this at a party, and then tracked down the recipe - I believe it was originally from Pampered Chef. You can mix it up, but I really like this combo. It's easy to double or whatever is needed, based on the serving dish. The one pictured was MASSIVE, and was basically a triple batch - so much work, and at the last minute! Layered Mexican Trifle Salad I ngredients: Beans: drain, rinse and mix together 1 15 oz. can pinto beans and 1 15 oz. can black beans 1 15 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained (I've also used fresh) 1 large tomato, diced (I usually use several Roma tomatoes) 2 green bell peppers, diced 3 ripe avocadoes, diced and mashed with the juice of 1 lime and salt and pepper to taste 1 large onion, diced (red or white) 2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded 2 cups cheddar or jack cheese, shredded

Skillet Chicken, Broccoli, Ziti & Asiago Cheese

We ALL really love this recipe. This is based on a recipe from the good people at Cooks Illustrated - I am grateful to them for getting my kids to happily eat sundried tomatoes and broccoli! I've also made this in a huge batch and served it family-style for a dinner party (and got to use my giant Pampered Chef Simple Additions square pasta bowl (it's really big), and it was AWESOME). If people could have licked the bowl clean, they might have - there was NOTHING left. Try this, and love it: Chicken, Broccoli, Penne and Asiago Cheese Skillet 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch squares 2 tbsp. vegetable oil (or olive oil - just don't heat that to smoking) 1 medium onion, minced (about 1 cup) 3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tbsp.) 1/4 tsp. dried oregano 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes 8 oz. ziti or penne (2 /12 cups) 3 c. water 2 c. low-sodium chicken broth 3-4 c. broccoli florets 1/4 c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil, rinsed and choppe

Another Take on Comfort Food

Sometimes there's nothing you can do but cook. I've had the displeasure of seeing 2 young moms in our school community recieve cancer diagnoses in the last 18 months. If you're like me, when someone you know is hurting, you want to help, but lots of times, there's not much you can do. If you can cook, you can take away some of the stress of getting the family fed and bring a meal or two. In fact, even if you can't cook, you can pick up a meal at a restaurant or a bag of groceries, or even a gift card for a local restaurant. I think it comes naturally to some - the church and school communities I grew up in always loved with food - church potlucks, school spaghetti dinners, and of course lots of meals for people who needed them. But not everyone has done this before, so it might be overwhelming. As in my "feeding a crowd" blurb, there are a few things to keep in mind. Don't try to impress - don't try new recipes. Find out if you're

A Cooking Baker

Search This Blog