Easy King Ranch Chicken

I'm always looking for easy casserole's to make at home.

I LOVE watching the food network channel and printing recipe's but some of them are just too time consuming.

Ever seen the show Jaime at home on the food channel? 

Weirdest show EVER.

He can cook a steak on a rock and run to his backyard and pick some wild mushrooms?

Who does that? I obviously can't relate. I barely have room to move in my kitchen yet alone have an entire garden in my back yard.

ANYWAYS...

This recipe is from Pennies on a Platter.

Easy King Ranch Chicken

6-8 servings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cubed

1 can cream of mushroom

1 can cream of chicken

1 can (10 oz) Rotel (diced tomatoes with green chiles)

1 can whole kernel corn, well drained

1 cup crushed Doritos, cheese flavored

2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together chicken, soups, Rotel and corn. Pour mixture into baking dish and top with cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, take the casserole out of the oven and layer with the crushed Doritos. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until the chips are toasted. Let set 5 minutes before serving.

 This is a perfect kids dinner if your in a rush.. Who doesn't love Doritos?

Pretty simple, right?

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did :)

Countdown to 2011..

Santa spoiled me this year.. He always does!

I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating with your loved ones.

This year I had Christmas Eve at our place and then we went over to the King's for Christmas Day.

 I ate SO MUCH food!

You would think I would have taken more pictures but I was still trying to figure out my camera :/

Thanks babe! 

My tree after opening up all our presents!

Santa stopped by! He was hungry:)

Christmas day at the King's! (pictured below)

I was in charge of bringing dessert.. I made Paula Dean's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Cake:

1 (18 1/4 ounce) package yellow cake mix

1 egg

8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

8 tbsp. butter, melted

1 (16 ounce) box powdered sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Combine cake mix, egg and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 x 9 baking pan.

To make filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with fresh whipped cream. (A MUST!)

Hope you have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

My Birthday is here..

Tomorrow I will have lived 1/4 a century..

I am a very lucky girl..

I have a wonderful boyfriend that loves me to death.. the best family and friends a girl could ask for... a cozy little place to come home to everyday.. and one adorable (pain in the butt) dog. I can't ask for more.

Thank you to everyone in my life that makes this all possible.

My dream cake by Sweet and Saucy 

P.S-  I am working with a web designer to recreate my blog. I think I did a pretty good job myself but there are some things I'll leave up to a professional :) Bobby bought me Yvette loves pink but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Now that I've turned it into a food blog I think MY CROWNED CREATIONS "Adventures in my cozy kitchen"
is more suitable. Excited to see the transformation soon!

Jessica from The Frilly Coconut my designer

Check her out!

Shrimp Scampi

I surprised Bobby with this right when he got home from work yesterday. I couldn't believe I had everything ready on time. 

That never happens. 

The only thing that's not pictured is my HUGE tub of garlic. It would have taken up the whole picture. That's what happens when you go to Costco hungry. You buy everything in bulk haha

I had leftover chardonnay in the fridge from girls night with Jessica. We giggled at the brand name "Menage a Trios" :) She was obviously feeling frisky when she went shopping.

The recipe is from How Sweet It is

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients:

1 pound raw, peeled and deveined shrimp

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper 

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons of butter

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup of dry white wine, like Chardonnay

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 - 3/4 pound whole wheat linguine

1/3 cup parmesan or asiago cheese (or maybe more:)

2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

Make sure shrimp is cleaned and dried off completely, then season with salt and pepper.

Boil your water for pasta and cook pasta according to directions.

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat, adding olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. 

Add minced garlic, then immediately add shrimp (this prevents garlic from burning) in one layer so each side can cook. Cook for only 60 seconds, then flip shrimp and cook for 60 seconds more. Pour in white wine and let mixture simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in last tablespoon of butter.

Add all pasta to a large bowl and pour entire shrimp and wine mixture over top. Add red pepper and cheese and toss until everything is combined. Add additional olive oil or salt and pepper to taste if desired. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with garlic bread.

What's the only thing that can make this dish even better?????????

A glass of wine, olive oil and balsamic vinegar we brought home from Italy!!

Enjoy :)

Tater Tot Casserole

If you haven't figured it out yet my boyfriend is a meat and potato kind of guy. 

When we first started dating he mentioned that his Grandma Nema used to make him Tater Tot Casserole as a kid. I called Aunt Linda and she gave me the recipe. It's super simple and only has four ingredients!

Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:
2 lbs Extra lean ground beef
1 (10 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 (2 lb) package of frozen tater tots

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Put ground beef in the bottom of 13 x 9 pan.
Spread cream of mushroom on top of ground beef (you can thin it out with a little bit of milk so it spreads easier)
Cover with grated cheese. Top with tater tots (At first I thought Bobby was being anal but he said that his Grandma perfectly aligned them in the pan when he was little :)
Cover with foil and bake until meat is thoroughly cooked. About 30-40 minutes.
Uncover and bake another 15 minutes.

Bobby always mentions that he wishes I could have met his grandparents. They sound like they were lots of fun! I hope to meet them in heaven one day.

Thanksgiving

I survived Thanksgiving!!

It was a busy, busy week but SO worth it!

Thanksgiving menu:

Turkey

Stuffing

Green bean casserole

Pumpkin Spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

I made my first turkey this year for my church Thanksgiving food drive and it turned out delicious. In fact I bought another turkey yesterday so we can have some for the week :)

About to butter up my my turkey.. Isn't he cute??

Simple Stuffing: Box of stuffing, 1 apple (I use granny smith), cranberries, 1 chopped onion, chopped celery, and 1 chopped carrot.. so simple

Pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting 

MMMMMMMM..

Cream cheese frosting


2 packages of cream cheese frosting
1/2 cup of butter softened
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in vanilla, then gradually and confectioners sugar.

Thank goodness for my cupcake carrier my hunny got me last year. It's awesome!

You can take out the three levels and use it for cake too!

I'm thankful for my family, friends, boyfriend and dog Mia :)

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Au Gratin Potatoes

I've been sorting through our Germany pictures and every time I see the Hofbrauhaus potatoes in one of them my mouth begins to water. I browsed around for a quick recipe and found a pretty good one..

I do my best to capture how good it is with my little camera but I hope to have a better camera by December hehe.. 

This recipe is actually a video tutorial I found at Food Network from Aaron McCargo "Big Daddy's House."

AU GRATIN POTATOES

Ingredients:

8 tbsp. (1 stick)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup grated yellow Cheddar

1/4 cup grated American cheese

1/4 cup grated White cheddar

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. black pepper

3 lbs. russet potatoes, washed and scrubbed, peeled and sliced thin

Au Gratin:

1 stick butter, melted

2 cups panko bread crumbs

2 tsp smoky paprika

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In large sauce pot over medium high heat, add butter. Stir in the flour until pasty. Add milk; stir to remove lumps and let cook for 6 minutes until it gets thick. Lower heat and add the cheese, bouillon, nutmeg and black pepper. Whisk until well combined and sauce thickens, approximately 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, combine butter, panko and smokey paprika. Stir well.

Place potatoes into a casserole dish. Pour cheese over potatoes and sprinkle au gratin on top. Wrap with foil and bake in the oven for 35 to 45 minutes. Remove foil and cook for 10 minutes uncovered. Allow to sit for 10 minutes... AND SHE IS READY TO EAT.. 

I cant wait to go back to Germany one day and have these all over again.. 

but for now these will work :)

ENJOY!