THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS #82 (BBQ SAUCE or GRILL RECIPES) & Monterrey Turkey Pasta

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS Linky Party #82

(BBQ SAUCE & GRILL RECIPES)

Monterrey Turkey Pasta

What a unique way to use BBQ sauce!

This recipe is so easy to throw together on a busy weeknight, when time is limited and you want a hardy meal; hoepfully you have some fresh chicken or turkey stored in the freezer.

Monterrey Turkey (or Chicken) Pasta

adapted by me, but original idea found at Mommy's Menu

2 cups shredded turkey - precooked (or the original recipe calls for chicken)
1 box favorite pasta noodles (penne or macaroni work well)
1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and jack cheese
6 to 12 slices bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled (check out my new oven method of cooking bacon)

I store shredded turkey and chicken in the freezer for easy recipes just like this. Cook the pasta to your liking.

Bacon in the oven. This is such an easy way to cook bacon. Lay out all the bacon onto parchment paper or foil on a cooking sheet. Cook the bacon at 400 degrees for about 17 minutes. This is a great way to make bacon for recipes, but it does change the texture a little for just eating it. We perfer skillet if we are just eating the bacon plain, but for recipes that call for bacon this method is perfect.

Once your turkey or chicken is ready, and your noodles and bacon are cooked you are ready to assemble. Spray the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish. Lay in the cooked noodles first, then the cooked turkey (or chicken), spread over the meat the BBQ sauce, bacon and top with the grated cheese.

Bake at 350 for 15 - 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and gooey. Serve and enjoy!

This week's theme is: BBQ SAUCE or GRILL RECIPES

Please only link recipes with our theme!

If you are a regular to THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS Linky party, then link-up we're excited to see what you made this week. If you are new, please just follow our simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party! If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don't feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you!

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This Week's Cravings Upcoming Linky "THEMES"

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

May 28 - Share your favorite Cheeseburger Recipe

June 4 - Breakfast Breads (Donuts, Coffee Cakes, Muffins & More)

June 11 - MAN'ly Meals for Father's Day

Your hostess for this party are: Tina from MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Nicole from The Daily Dish and Kristi from Veggie Converter. We host this theme linky party every Monday (and the party stays open all week long)! We hope to inspire you to make something with our theme or get an old post notice by linking it up to the linky party below. 

The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.
This week's theme is: BBQ SAUCE or GRILL RECIPES
Please only link recipes with our theme!
This week's theme is: BBQ SAUCE or GRILL RECIPES 
Please only link recipes with our theme!

Meatball Sandwich Casserole

Okay, WOW-WOW-WOW! When I come across a keeper recipe that's when I know I've found a good thing. We've already had this twice before I could even write the post. And if you are a fan here you know I RARELY make things twice. This recipe will for sure be going into my Volume 3 Family Scrapbook/Cookbook I am beginning to create. You can see pages and recipes from my Volume 1 and Volume 2 Cookbooks here.

Meatball Sandwich Casserole
idea found at Pearls, Handcuffs & HappyHour, original recipe from Pillsbury - January 2006

1 Baguette French Bread (cut into 18-24 slices)

Olive Oil

1 pkg Homemade Comfort Meatballs (or frozen), bite sized 

1-1/2 cups spaghetti sauce 

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350. Meanwhile, slice your bread. Brush each slice with olive oil on one side, just coat with pastry brush. Line the bottom and the side with the bread slices...oil side up...slightly overlapping the slices on the side. You won't need to grease your dish for this recipe. Use a deep casserole dish, I made the recipe in a smaller 8x8 pan - but depending how much you want to make you can use a 9x13 pan too.

Bake bread for about 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.  In a separate bowl, mix meatballs & spaghetti sauce to coat (this is a perfect recipe for left over spaghetti and meatballs too). Remove the bread from the oven and spoon the meatball mixture into the dish on top of the bread. Return to oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until thoroughly heated through in the center.  Pull out at about 25 minutes and cover with the mozzarella cheese and baked it for another 5 minutes.

Enchilada Verdes

These are one of my favorite enchiladas, they are so cheesy. I've been making them for years (I can even get my girls to eat them and they hate Mexican food). They are easy to make, easy to freeze and they are delicious too! (once again NO they are not on my 2012 diet)

I made this recipe a while ago but with all the fun in posting Christmas Goodies and Guest Bloggers in November and December this post just never got published, so here it is now. Better later then never. (oh, and I wish, I wish I had a pan of these in my freezer now.) I really really need to get back into freezer cooking. I miss it SO much. I will have to make it another one of my goals for this year (after I complete my 40 bags in 40 days house cleaning!)

This is a recipe I found at Taste of Home and it's actually already in my

Volume 2 - Family Cookbook/Scrapbook! You can see a copy of the page here!

Enchilada Verdes
recipe source Taste of Home

1 lb ground beef
1/2 large onion, diced
1 small garlic glove, minced (or 1 tbsp minced garlic)
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
8 oz Velvetta Cheese, diced
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies, drained
1 jar (2oz) diced Pimiento, drained

12 to 14 flour tortillas

In large skillet cook ground beef, onion, garlic and salt over medium heat until no longer pink, drain. Stir in cheddar cheese and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large sauce pan cook cream of chicken soup, Velveeta cheese and evaporated milk. Cook until cheese is melted. Stir in chilies and pimientos.

Place a spoonful of meat mixture down the center of tortilla and roll. Place them seam side down in a greased 9x13 pan. Pour cheese sauce over top and cover with foil. Bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until heated all the way through.

Tater Tot Hamburger Casserole

This is the best dinner casserole I've made in a long time. There are so many recipes we try and say "ah, don't need to have that again", even though it may be good, it's just not out of this world delicious. And with the mile-high pile of recipes cut out from magazines, my ever growing boards on Pinterest and the mounds of actual cookbooks that I would love to cook from, it's rare that a recipe ever gets repeated in my house. Believe me when I say that, my kids beg for me to make something again and my answer is "why, we have so many more things to try". (this recipe was made a while ago - pre diet but just never got posted!) OH, it's SO GOOD though! These are the days that I HATE DIETING!

I made this casserole only out of necessity, I had planned to make a Cheeseburger Casserole that my girls love (haha, see I was even trying to repeat a recipe and it didn't happen). Anyway, I had the hamburger meat out and went to the freezer to grab the frozen hashbrowns, and no hashbrowns. But I found a bag of Tater Tots and my brain went to work, I had seen a few pins, about a Tater Tot Casserole, so I went there first and then made the rest up as I went along. And if I do say so myself it was A-MAZ-ING! My new word to describe all the food I love A-MAZ-ING. But this did not just get an a-okay from me, my girls loved it, my husband ate it, and my neighbor was over stealing a few slices of the Pupmin Spice Cake I made and she LOVED it so much, she went home and made it for dinner the next night. I would say we hit a home run with this recipe.

Tater Tot Casserole
made by Tina Hudgens (sauce adapted from The Village Cook)

1 to 2 lbs ground hamburger meat (we use 1/2 beef and 1/2 turkey)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup finely diced onion (or use dried onion flakes, or leave the onions out if you don't like them)
2 oz Velvetta Cheese
1 bag tater tots (frozen)

1/2 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp ranch dressing

1/2 tbsp chives

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp parsley

1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded cheese (use your favorite kind: cheddar, mozzerella or we used Pepper Jack for a kick)

Heat the olive oil in a skillet with the onions to brown, add in the ground beef and cook until done, drain meat and return to pan. Add in the Velvetta cheese, until melted. Pour the meat mixture into the bottom of an 8x8 square baking pan (sprayed with pam, of course). Then add a layer of Tater Tots on top of the meat mixture.

In a bowl, mix the soup, milk, ranch dressing, chives, pepper and parsley. Pour all over the tots and top it with your favorite grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS #57 (FRENCH TOAST, PANCAKES & WAFFLES) and Cinnamon French Toast Bake

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS Linky Party

FRENCH TOAST, PANCAKES & WAFFLES

Cinnamon French Toast Bake

It's National French Toast Day, today! Yep, let's all eat a delicious breakfast today smothered in our favorite toppings. Ours is just plain old maple syrup and powdered sugar. I made this French Toast Bake for the first time a few years ago on Christmas morning. It was so easy to put together, no standing over the stove cooking a big breakfast on such a busy day. It baked while we opened gifts and when the timer went off, we all dug in. EASY! This time I made in before school and my kids were so happy to have a special treat instead of just cereal. It's quick and easy to put together and you can be busy doing other things while it's cooking.

Cinnamon French Toast Bake

from Pillsbury

1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cans Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls with Icing
6 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tsp vanilla
 2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped Pecans
1 cup maple syrup

Icing from Cinnamon Rolls
Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup

Heat oven to 375. Pour Melted butter into ungreased 13x9 glass baking dish. Separate both cans of dough; set icing aside. Cut each cinnamon roll into 6 pieces; place pieces into the melted butter dish.

In medium bowl, beat eggs. Beat in cream, vanilla and cinnamon until well blended; gently pour over roll pieces. Sprinkle with pecans; drizzle with 1 cup of syrup over the top. Bake 20 to 28 minutes or until golden brown and finished. Cool 15 minutes.

After your dish has cooled, slightly microwave icing for 10 seconds. Drizzle icing over top, sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with additional maple syrup if desired.

Please Grab Our Button !!!

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This Week's Cravings Upcoming Linky "THEMES"

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

December 5 - Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas

December 12 - Macaroni and Cheese

December 19 - Christmas Dinner & Holiday Food Traditions

December 26 - Appetizers & Party Platters

If you are new here browse around some past weeks at THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS and you'll see why we are having so much fun and we invite you to link up too. Your hostess for this party are: Tina from MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angela from Big Bear's Wife, Nicole from The Daily Dish and Kristi from Veggie Converter. We host this theme linky party every Monday (and the party stays open all week long)! We hope to inspire you to make something with our theme or get an old post notice by linking it up to the linky party below.

If you are a regular, link-up we're excited to see what you made this week. Just follow our simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party! If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don't feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you!

The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.
This week's theme is: FRENCH TOAST, PANCAKES & WAFFLES
Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: FRENCH TOAST, PANCAKES & WAFFLES
Please only link recipes with our theme!

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie: Secret Recipe Club

Secret Recipe Club

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie

I just love getting my assignment from the Secret Recipe Club. Even though I am a host, I don't assign the blogs, that's Amanda's job. Each month I am still so excited to see who I got. If you'd like more info or care to join us, click on over and read all about it the Secret Recipe Club. I also have my own CRAZY COOKING CHALLENGE if you are interested in another cooking adventure, you can read about that too.

This month I received a blog that I was unfamiliar with A Little Nosh, even more fun. I had about an hour to spare the day I got the assignment, so I went a reading and a searching. Amy the blog owner, loves give-aways. She has done some amazing give-aways on her blog.

I came across a few recipes I think we would enjoy: Zucchini Lasagna, Homemade Pizza Sauce, Hawaiian BBQ Sandwiches and I've always wanted to try to make Kale Chips, she even had a recipe for those. I've eaten Kale Chips, but not made them yet. She had a version of Catalina Chicken too, this is my families FAVORITE chicken, here is our recipe Catalina Chicken. Since I already have that recipe on my blog I continued to look. And well I looked all the way back to earlier this year, February 2011 to be exact and I found it. I found the perfect recipe for this month's Secret Recipe Club: Chicken Pot Pie and not any Chicken Pot Pie, it was Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie. 

I have been wanting to make this pot pie and this just gave me that little push I needed. She made the Pioneer Women's Chicken Pot Pie, straight out of her cookbook. Well, since I have the cook book and have been dieing to cook from it, I pulled the recipe, got all the ingredients and made it that weekend. I was having some girls over to scrapbook so I served it to them and YEP, they LOVED IT TOO! They thought it was the BEST pot pie they had ever eaten. This will now be the ONE and ONLY pot pie recipe that I will ever make!  I LOVE it when I find that ULTIMATE recipe and I never have to worry about searching for that "perfect" recipe, for this that or the other. Well, this is another ULTIMATE and nope there will never be another. :-)

I used a combo of fresh and frozen and mine turned out delicious!
I am sure all frozen would work as well as all fresh ingredients!



My ONLY bummer is that I did not read the directions the night before and did not know that Pioneer Woman's pie crust must be left over night. This made for a last minute change and I used my mother-in-laws tried and true homemade pot pie crust. I've posted the recipe before, but here are more pictures and detailed directions. When I make the pot pie again, I would love to try Pioneer Woman's Homemade crust and see how it compares. But until then, mine worked out wonderfully.

Okay, please don't mess with my pie crust. As you can see I had way to much on

one side and kind of tried to roll it over. I am still working on my pie-skills.

They aren't perfect by any means! But, oh it was so delicious anyways!

I can't wait to make this for my mother-in-law. She is gonna LOVE it!

Easy Homemade Pie Crust

from my Mother-in-Law Charlotte 

2 cups flour
1 cup Butter Flavor Shortening
1/2 cup COLD ICE water (just don't use the ice)
pinch of salt

This recipe will make enough for a top and bottom pie crust for a normal size pie tin.

Mix flour, shortening and salt with a pastry knife (or a fork if you don't have one). Once it's all mixed together then add COLD water and continue mixing. Cut into half and roll out one at a time onto a flour surface. Roll until you get your desired shape (ie: round for a pie tin).

This pie recipe works great for this Hamburger Pie, Turkey Pot Pie and also is wonderful for dessert pies too!

Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie

from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, found inspiration on A Little Nosh

3 celery stalks

3 medium carrots, peeled (I used a bag of frozen green beans, peas, carrots)

1/2 cup frozen peas

1 large onion

4 tbsp butter

2 cups chicken, cooked, diced or shredded

1/4 cup flour

2 cups chicken broth

1 chicken bouillon cube

1/4 cup white wine (optional)

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp Herb de Provence (replaced with this because we HATE thyme)

1 tsp kosher salt

black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400.

Begin by finely dicing the fresh vegetables, celery, carrots and onions. Melt the butter in a large pot or dutch oven. Add the onion, carrots, celery and peas (or mixed frozen vegetables, like I did). Saute until the vegetables start to soften, a few minutes. Add the chicken and stir to combine. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the vegetables and chicken and stir to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently.

Pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly. Stir in the bouillon cube and wine, if using. The flour will combine with the chicken to create a delicious gravy. Pour in the cream and stir. Allow mixture to cook over low heat, thickening gradually, about 4 minutes. Season with herbs de provence, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. Be sure it's adequately salted!

We like a crust on the bottom and on the top. The above homemade crust makes enough crust for a bottom and a top. Cut the crust in half and roll out to cover the bottom. Pour the chicken mixture into a deep pie pan. (as I was pouring I realized there was enough "stuff" to fill TWO pie pans). Boy, was I HAPPY!!! one to eat and one to freeze. If you want to cook the froze Chicken Pot Pie, I usually defrost over night in the refrigerator and then cook normal time. But if you want to cook from frozen-state, you should add foil to the top so that it does not burn. Cook on lower temperature and for about 1-1/2 x the amount of time!

Now, finish the top off with the other half of the crust. Roll it out to 1" larger then the pan. Place the crust on top of the chicken mixture and cut small slits in the top with a fork. Press the crust gently into the sides of the dish to seal. I still need to work on my crusting-skills to get it perfectly looking. 

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling in bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

I was so excited when I discovered that this recipe made not one but two of these delicious pot pie recipes. And like always I love making an extra recipe to have for a busy night. I can't wait to eat this again SOON!!! 
The perfect Chicken Pot Pie that will now become my families "go-to" recipe!
Thank You Pioneer Woman and A Little Nosh for pushing me to make this AWESOME recipe!

Here are a list of my past Secret Recipe Club recipes: Raspberry & Nutella Pizza, Cucumber Salad, Bean Roll-Up and Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-Free)

One Year Ago Today: Sour Cream Blueberry-Blackberry Muffins

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS #27 (Mexican Dishes) and Sour Cream Enchiladas

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS Linky Party #27

The Theme is: Mexican Dishes
(Share your favorite dish in celebration of Cinco de Mayo!!!)

Mexican food is not loved by my entire family, but it is one of my favorite foods. If I had to pick my two favoite foods it would be Mexican and Italian. I love them both!

Our favorite is The Perfect Guacmole it would go perfect with the Chicken Enchiladas I am sharing today!

I looked up Cinco de Mayo... just to give you all a little history lesson. "While Cinco de Mayo sees limited significance in Mexico itself, the date is observed nationwide mostly in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride."Cinco de Mayo is not a Mexican holiday—it is an American Civil War holiday, created spontaneously by Mexicans and Latinos living in California who supported the fragile cause of defending freedom and democracy during the first years of that bloody war between the states" - quoted from Wikipedia.

Cream of Chicken Enchiladas

1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup of Sour Cream
1 small can of Green Chilies
1/2 tsp Cumin
3/4 cups of grated cheese
1/4 cup onions, diced
3 cups of diced chicken (we used Tyson frozen chicken breast; pre-cooked)
6 to 8 flour tortillas
1 small can of Enchilada Sauce (we use mild)

Mix the soup, sour cream, green chilies and cumin in a large mix bowl. Pour half of the mixture into a separate bowl and add in the grated cheese, onions and chicken, fold together until combined.

Prepare a square baking dish by covering the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of Enchilada Sauce. Divide the chicken mixture into 6 to 8 equal parts, then take a flour tortilla and place a scoop of the chicken mixture into the center. Tuck in both ends and fold into a square; like a burrito. Lay with seem side down into the prepared baking dish. Top the flour tortillas with the remaining Enchilada Sauce, then spread over the top the balance of the Cream of Chicken sauce along with 1/2 to 3/4 add'l cups of grated cheese.

Bake covered with foil for 25 minutes; uncover and continue baking for add'l 10 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes, then cut and serve.

I LOVE Linky Parties and it's MONDAY already! Let's do this bloggers... it's a fresh start to a NEW week! I can't wait to mix and mingle with all of you and see what has been cooking in your kitchens!  I LOVE FRIDAYS, that means the week is OVER & the WEEKEND is here. We have LOTS of FOOD ONLY Linky Parties we love to visit, CHECK THEM OUT HERE! Today, we will link this recipe to: Family Friendly Fridays, Fat Camp Friday, Flaunt it Friday, Feasting in Fellowship Friday, Feature Yourself Friday, Food on Fridays, Foodie Friday, Friday Favorites, Potluck Friday, Fun Food with Friday, It's a Hodgepodge Friday, Home & Family Friday, I'm Lovin' It Friday, Inspiration Friday, Simple Link Party, Food Trip Friday, Saturday Swap, Friday Flair, and Weekend Bloggy Reading 

*****************************************************

Now onto the LINKY PARTY! Please only link recipes with our theme!
This week's theme is: Mexican Dishes
(Share your favorite Mexican Dish for Cinco de Mayo?)

Here is a complete list of the past weeks and a list of what's coming up on This Week's Cravings!

If you are a regular link-up we're excited to see what you made! If you are new please read & follow the simple rules, so everyone can enjoy the linky party! If you forget to follow the theme, link back or add a button IN YOUR post you will receive a gentle reminder. THANKS A MILLION!

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This Week's Cravings Past & Future Recipe Links

May 2 - Mexican Dishes for Cinco de Mayo

May 9 - Mother's Day Brunch

May 16 - What can you do with Hamburger Meat ?

May 23 - Summer Salad Recipes

May 30 - Memorial Day BBQ

This is a BLOG HOP Party hosted by MOMS CRAZY COOKING, From My Tiny Kitchen and Delightful Country Cookin'  stop on by and say HELLO to the other hosts!

The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!
(from Monday to the following Monday at Midnight)!

Egg & Sausage Casserole

My family LOVES it! First time I've made an "egg-type" casserole and they went nuts! It was approval from all (and they fought of the left-overs). My husband leaves for work at an awful early morning hour and when the girls woke up they were so bummed that there was only 1 piece left (and try splitting one piece of anything with a set of twins)! One got it and the other one got NONE! This recipe is so easy to make, we all declared that this is a MUST for our next camping trip (motorhome style camping, you need an oven to cook it)!

We love Jimmy Dean sausage, but the girls want to try a few other types of meat (Canadian bacon, regular bacon and ham are the next meats we plan to try in this delicious casserole)!

Egg & Sausage Casserole
adapted from Bob Evans recipe (seen in advertisements)

1 lb Jimmy Dean Sausage roll
2 cups shredded cheese (mixed yellow & white)
1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Crumble and cook sausage in medium skillet until browned. Drain. Line bottom of 9x13 baking dish with crescent roll dough, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Sprinkle with sausage and cheese. Combine remaining ingredients in medium bowl until blended; pour over sausage. Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into squares; serve hot.

This recipe is being shared at: Hunk of Meat Monday

Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie

First I want to share and point everyone in the direction of my Recipe Index, even though my blog is still fairly new, I now have over 160 recipes archived to help you find all kinds of inspiration! Take a look and make something new today!

No one can resist the fresh taste of a Homemade Pot Pie. This pie is no difference, left-over chicken, left-over turkey or buy a fresh Rotisserie Chicken any kind of meat is just perfect for a Homemade Pot Pie. We even use this crust for my grandma's Hamburger Pie recipe and it tastes out-of-this world!

Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie
by Tina Hudgens

1 cup Cream of Celery Soup
1 cup Cream of Chicken Soup (or Cream of Mushroom for Turkey Pot Pie)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp pepper

Mix all together with a whisk.

2 cups frozen Mixed Vegetables
1 cup frozen peas (if they aren't included already in your mixed veggies)
2 cups diced potatoes (frozen hash brown potatoes work perfect)
24 oz diced cooked chicken (from a can chicken, left over turkey, a grocery store rotisserie chicken, it all works)

Add all the above ingredients to the soup mixture and stir well. Add this entire mixture into your favorite store bought pie crust. (use the frozen pre-made pie crust, use the Pillsbury roll out if you want a top and bottom or make your own homemade pie crust) Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Easy Homemade Pie Crust

from my Mother-in-Law Charlotte 

2 cups flour
1 cup Butter Flavor Shortening
1/2 cup COLD water
pinch of salt

This recipe will make enough for a top and bottom pie crust for a normal size pie tin.

Mix flour, shortening and salt with a pastry knife (or a fork if you don't have one). Once it's all mixed together then add COLD water and continue mixing. Cut into half and roll out one at a time onto a flour surface. Roll until you get your desired shape (ie: round for a pie tin).

This pie recipe works great for this Hamburger Pie, Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie and also is wonderful for dessert pies too!

I LOVE Linky Parties, (CLICK TO SEE ALL PARTIES), and it's Thursday, almost time for the weekend. Today, we will link to these wonderful linky parties, check them out and join in! Cooking Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Prairie Story Recipe Swap, GCC Recipe Swap, Strut Your Stuff, Thrilling Thursday, What's Cooking Thursday, Pennywise Platter Thursday, Transformation Thursday and Hunk of Meat Mondays

Breakfast Bake

My daughters got me a few new cookbooks for Christmas and this is the first one we've used. I have SOOOO many cookbooks and I want to cook everything in all of them. Just ask my family we NEVER EVER eat the same thing twice! Is that a good thing or a bad thing? My girls LOVE it, my boys NOT so much! My little guy HATES everything new, so trying to find that balance is very hard. (usually I am a short-order cook and whip him up something that's familiar along with a fancy recipe) But, onto this fabulous new cookbook. Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook: Crazy Delicious Recipes that Are Good to the Earth and Great for Your Bod. Kinda of a weird name for a cookbook, but the goal is to give you lessons in "bitchifying" your kitchen and chucking the crap and choosing the right ingredients for your body and for the environment.

We made this recipe, but with our own taste and comfortability in mind. We didn't go for vegan cheddar, tempeh or fresh spices. But I believe the outcome was still delicious and if you are a health-freak, then by all means go with the original recipe. We do truly love the cookbook, so do NOT let the "healthy" stuff stop you from enjoying this wonderful book: Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook: Crazy Delicious Recipes that Are Good to the Earth and Great for Your Bod

Breakfast Bake

original recipe from Skinny Bitch, but changed for our taste (and what we had on hand)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion

2 tsp garlic, minced

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

12 oz sausage (we used Jimmy Dean)

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat oil in large saute pan. Add the onion and cook over medium-heat. Add in the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add the potatoes, sausage and mushrooms. Saute for 5 minutes or until sausage is cooked. Add in the rosemary, salt, and pepper, continue cooking for 2-3 minutes.

Pour mixture into 9x13 baking dish. Bake 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft. During the last few minutes of baking, sprinkle the cheese over the potato mixture and bake until cheese melts.

I LOVE Linky Parties, what a great way to mix and mingle with lots of bloggers! This recipe is linked to the following linky parties: Transformation Thursday, Thrilling Thursday, Try New Adventures Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Strut-Your-Stuff, Prairie Story Recipe Swap, Cooking Thursday, Pennywise Platter, and Stockpiling Moms Recipe Spree

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS #16 (Sweet Potatoes & Favorite Potatoes) and Shepherds Pie

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS Linky Party #16

The Theme is: "Sweet" Potatoes & Favorite Potato Recipes



Happy Valentine's Day to one and all! I hope you find your day as SWEET as can be and surround yourself with people you LOVE! Today our theme for THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS is SWEET potatoes or any favorite potato recipe.

If you are looking for a last minute fun dessert to create for your loved ones, these are quick and taste so delicious. I made this for my girls after-party for their Junior Winter-Formal dance this weekend (all of the kids loved them, plus I saved a few for our Valentine's Dinner tomorrow night). We are going to enjoy a homemade dinner at home. I am very excited about shopping tomorrow and coming home to make my family a special meal filled with LOVE and just a few of their favorite things.




Red Velvet Call Balls (click here for recipe)

The potato recipe I am sharing for today is Shepherd's Pie. This is a new recipe to my family and it was more then perfect. I was actually quite surprised, it wasn't really from a recipe at all, except for it was from a ton of different recipes all put together that I was reading when trying to find a Shepherd's Pie using left-overs. I am SUPER DUPER late in posting this (as we made this with our left over Turkey at Christmas time). But this recipe would be GREAT with left-over chicken too and I just happened to have ONE more Turkey in my freezer that needs cooked. I think I will be pulling that out this week and posting a few more Turkey recipes in the middle of February. Why not? Turkey is delish any time of year! I am going to also make this recipe again and try to make it GLUTEN-FREE. 

Shepherd's Pie

1 tbsp butter

2 carrots, diced

1-2 celery stalks, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 to 1 cup left-over gravy

2 cups diced left-over Turkey (or chicken)

1/2 to 1 cup broth (chicken or turkey)

1 tbsp parsley

2 cups left-over mashed potatoes

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Heat the 1 tbsp of butter in skillet and saute the carrots, celery and onion until soft.  Add in the gravy, broth and parsley; heat through. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper if desired. Pour into 9x13 Pam sprayed baking dish. Heat up the left over mashed potatoes slightly or you will have a hard time spreading them on top the casserole. I use my wonderful scooper's that I love so much (see photo to the right). I LOVE these things and use them for everything. 

I LOVE Linky Parties, what a great way to mix and mingle with lots of bloggers! This post also linked to: Tasty Tuesday Parade of Foods, It's a Blog Party Delicious Dishes, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Hearth and Soul Hop, mmmonday, Homemaker Monday , Mouthwatering Monday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tuesday Night Supper Club, Foodie Friday, Flaunt it Friday, Fun with Food Friday, Fat Camp Friday, Fab Friday, Feature Yourself Friday , Hodgepodge Friday and Get Your Craft On

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Here is a complete list of the past weeks and a list of what's coming up on This Week's Cravings!

<a href=" http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/search/label/THIS%20WEEKS%20CRAVINGS" target="_blank "><img src="http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Hudgens6/Buttons/ThisWeeksCravingsButton.jpg" /></a>

Please only link recipes with this theme!
This week's theme is: "SWEET" Potatoes & Favorite Potatoes

The SIMPLE Rules: (Click for complete list of guidelines for This Week's Cravings)

1. Please stick to the THEME and only link up recipes that go with our theme for the week. 

2. Add our button and/or a DIRECT link back to this post, inside of your post (not just on a wall of linky parties, this doesn't allow YOUR readers to come back to the linky party and see all the fun recipes! Which this is the intent of a linky party in the first place).

3. Also we'd love for you to hop around and visit the other link-ups! After all it's a BLOG PARTY and it's not fun for everyone linking up if you don't hop around and say Hello!!!


PLEASE follow the simple rules, so everyone can enjoy the linky party! If you forget to link back or add a button IN YOUR post you will receive a gentle reminder to add it, before we delete your post! THANKS A MILLION!

This Week's Cravings Past & Future Recipe Links

January 10 - Pizza - Pizza - Pizza

January 17 - Pies (Dessert or Dinner)

January 24 - Soup

January 31 - Potluck Item for Super Bowl Sunday

February 7 - Valentine's Cookie & Treats

February 14 - Sweet Potatoes & Other Favorite Potato Recipes

This is a BLOG HOP PARTY so please hop around

and read some GREAT recipes!