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.

--------

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.

Baked Mac & Cheese

THIS IS SO DELICIOUS!

I got the package of Kraft Homestyle macaroni & cheese, the classic cheddar flavor (I'm not sure if there's more than one flavor, but this is the one I used).  This was honestly the best mac & cheese I've ever had, and Matt agreed with me.  I followed the directions on the back of the bag, finished with the "oven baked finish option."  The only things you need besides the package is milk and butter and, if you want to go the baked route, some shredded cheddar cheese (you don't have to bake it, it's good to go straight from the stovetop if you prefer).  The mac & cheese package includes the noodles, a packet of seasonings, a packet of bread crumb topping, and a packet of cheese sauce.  That's right, no powdered cheese, it's some seasoning mixed with cheddar cheese sauce.  I highly recommend this meal, and the package was only $2.00 at Walmart.  Cheap and great meal, perfect for two people with a little leftover!

Black beans & corn over white rice with Italian sausage

I made this for dinner two nights ago, and Matt said he liked it a lot, so I will share my recipe.

1 12oz. can of sweet corn, drained

1 12oz. can of black beans, drained

Olive oil

2 cups cooked white rice

Penzey's Ozark seasoning

Dried parsley

Drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of a 10 inch skillet, and put it over medium heat.  Once skillet is warmed, add corn and beans, stir.  Once mixed, add seasoning and parsley to taste, and mix together.  Cook over medium heat for about ten to fifteen minutes.  When the bean mixture is almost done, put a layer of the cooked white rice down on the plate.  Remove bean mixture from heat, and plate on top of the rice.

I also cooked up some Italian sausage.  I used the same skillet that I had cooked the bean mix in, just added a small amount of water to it, and cooked the sausages covered on low heat.