Cheesy Chicken & Potatoes

Yet another frozen entree (can you tell I love these?).  So easy and quick to make, nice for the evenings when I've had a long day and I don't want to have to fuss over dinner much.  This one is Bird's Eye brand, and I got it at Hy-Vee for about $4.  The entrees are called Voila! and there are several varieties, the one I prepared being Cheddar Chicken Potato.  It honestly only took 10 minutes from start to finish, and includes all you'll need for an entree for two people.  Also needed are a cup of water and a 10" skillet.  So easy, anyone could make this.

Since the entree was SO easy and quick to make, I whipped up some homemade garlic bread to go along with it.  Baked it while the chicken and potatoes were cooking, and so the whole meal really only took me about 15 minutes from start to finish.  Amazing!

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SIMPLE EASY GARLIC BREAD

Hamburger buns

Butter

Cilantro

Garlic salt

Butter the bread sides of the hamburger buns and place on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle on garlic salt and cilantro to taste.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Home-Made Mac & Cheese

Matt loves mac and cheese made with Velveeta.  I prefer the type from the box.  You know, add the cheese powder, milk, and butter, and you magically get cheese.  That's what I grew up on, and was my favorite food for most of my life (and is still a favorite, as you can see, I make it a lot) but now, I've branched out and have decided to work on some variations.  Tonight, I made Matt's favorite version, and although I still love my cheese powder, this stuff was not too shabby either.

18 oz. Velveeta (cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
3 cups uncooked macaroni noodles
1/2 cup milk
Pepper to taste

Bring water to boil in a large pot (I always add just a dash of salt to the water before it boils.  My dad always told me that it makes the water boil faster.  I have no idea if this is true, but I do it anyway).  Add macaroni noodles, cooking until pasta is tender.  Drain and return to pot.  Add milk and Velveeta and pepper.  Cook over low heat until the Velveeta is completely melted, stirring occasionally.

If you prefer, you can use Light Velveeta and skim milk to lower the fat and calorie content.

Chicken Alfredo

This is really really basic, and I did almost no cooking for this meal.  1 pound of ground chicken, 1 jar of Cheesy Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan sauce, and a package of fettuccine noodles.  Just prepare the chicken the same way you would ground hamburger for spaghetti sauce, but add some olive oil to the pan, as chicken doesn't have its own grease the way hamburger does.

After cooking the noodles, I mixed the sauce in with the chicken, and poured both the noodles and the chicken sauce into a casserole dish and topped with shredded cheese.  It would probably taste best with Mozzarella cheese, but I only had cheddar in my fridge, so that's what I used.  Bake at 425 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the cheese on top is melted.

I love seafood!

Last night's dinner was a seafood extravaganza!  Baked salmon, shrimp scampi, and cheese bread!

I started with a pre-packaged shrimp scampi meal by Gourmet Dining, which I found in the frozen food aisle of Russ's Market for about $5.00.  While I was there, I picked up a box of 5 cheese Texas toast (Best Choice brand) for about $2.50.  The salmon is a frozen, single fillet pack, which I found on sale at Hy-Vee at 10 for $10.

I followed the instructions on the shrimp scampi package exactly, it only took about 10 minutes to cook from start to finish.  The garlic sauce it came with was really good and the nice thing about it is that you don't have to add all the sauce if you don't want to, for a lighter garlic flavor.

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This is a recipe I made, just pretty basic baked salmon.

2 Tablespoons olive oil (divided)

Penzey's Sunny Paris seasoning

Garlic salt

1 salmon fillet

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease the bottom of a baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Place salmon fillet in center of baking dish, and brush on 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Sprinkle on Sunny Paris seasoning and garlic salt to taste.  Bake on center rack of oven for 15 minutes.