Growing up, there was only one option when you wanted Chinese food… the menu may have had a ton of great choices, but if it wasn’t Springfield Cashew Chicken, was it even really worth ordering Chinese food? You see, traditional Cashew Chicken is a Chinese-American dish that’s stir fried in a wok, but Springfield-style Cashew Chicken combined classic American food– fried chicken– with this popular dish, and allowed a totally new recipe to take shape… and trust me, you must try it.
easy meal
Crock Pot Beef Street Tacos
I love tacos. Tacos are pretty much amazing every day of the week, not just Taco Tuesdays. I haven’t met a taco that I don’t like– beef tacos, chicken tacos, Asian fusion tacos, soft shelled or hard shelled tacos, any kinds of tacos… they’re all delicious. But I’ve discovered a super easy way to make tacos that are ready when you get home. Crock Pot Street Tacos! These are super easy and so delicious that the whole family will love them!
Chicken Divine
I love when a recipe truly lives up to it’s name. Divine…. that’s a lot to live up to, a name like “Chicken Divine.” But I have to tell you, between the melty cheese sauce, the tender chicken, and the perfect pieces of broccoli, this is truly a divine dish. I also love when I can try out a recipe that’s been in the family for awhile. Now, this recipe didn’t originate with our family… my grandfather was given the recipe by a client (he was a hairdresser), who passed it along to him after she’d tried the recipe with much success in her own home. It wasn’t unusual for clients to pass along recipes they’d loved to my grandparents. That made this the first time I’d ever tried making this truly divine chicken for myself, but certainly not the last.
Oktoberfest-inspired Stickbread and Kielbasa with Rice
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OktoberOnTheFarm #CollectiveBias
Oktoberfest is upon us, and that means good food with family, enjoyed as the crisp fall temperatures stay just warm enough to enjoy a meal around the fire pit in a sweater… Oktoberfest is largely overlooked as a great “food holiday”– we all know Thanksgiving and Christmas come with great food, but so does Oktoberfest, and today, I’ve got an easy 3-ingredient Kielbasa Rice dish, plus a traditional German stickbread, to share with you.
“The Chicken or the Egg” Hashbrown Casserole
This casserole is for breakfast. Wait! No. It’s for dinner. Wait! No. Brunch. Actually, it’s for anytime! This casserole won’t answer the age-old question of which came first, but it does put chicken and egg and hashbrown in one delicious casserole… which is pretty special, actually.
Easy Cheesy (Dinner in 8 Minutes) Biscuit Pizzas
Ugh. It was nearly 5:30, and I had forgotten to lay anything out for dinner. Again. It seems like in the summer, this happens more and more often as busy schedules take over, and Zach needed to eat before baseball practice. I asked what he wanted, and he said “Pizza!” Pizza? Usually that takes me all day because the crust has to rise from morning. How were we going to have pizza in time for practice? Easy. With biscuit dough.
Mississippi Mud Cheesy Potatoes
Note: This is a republication of a post that I shared in March. With the Thanksgiving season upon us, I thought a few of you might want to see it again. Happy Thanksgiving!
Bacon? Check. Cheese? Check. Tons of flavor? Absolutely. See, these are the easiest potatoes I think I’ve ever made, and they’re a hit with everyone. I mean, who doesn’t love cheesy potatoes with bacon?
One of the many recipes that came from the family recipe box, this handwritten recipe with an unknown source simply stated “They’re named for the famous river because they’re LONG on taste and MIGHTY good!” Well, they didn’t disappoint, anyway! Cheesy potatoes get a big punch with this recipe because of the added bacon, the creaminess, and the green onions.
Start with some ingredients you may already have– 8 to 10 cups of potatoes, diced, 1 cup of Mayonnaise (the real deal, not salad dressing), about a teaspoon each of salt and pepper, a 16 ounce block of cheddar, diced (or the equivalent in shredded cheddar), 1/2 a cup of green onions, chopped, and a package of bacon. You can add half a cup of olives if you’d like to, but why ruin perfectly good potatoes? (Unless you’re an olive fan, in which case, you probably don’t see that as ruining them).
Start by slicing your bacon into pieces. Don’t look at me with that shocked face that I get every time someone sees me do this… you can TOTALLY bacon your bits instead of bitting your bacon. This method gets a lot less grease on your hands because there’s no tearing it up post-fry… if you do the cutting first, your bacon will be in perfect bite sized bits when you’re done. I promise. Just trust me– cutting bacon is NOT bacon blasphemy, no matter what anyone tells you.
Put that in a pan and cook it, trying not to eat too much bacon as the smell fills the air. Seriously, bacon is so hard to resist. That’s why there is bacon everything. While the bacon cooks, start peeling and dicing your potatoes, dicing your cheese, and chopping your green onions.
Delicious! Finish getting your other ingredients chopped and ready.
In a 9×13 pan or a 3 quart casserole dish, mix the green onions, cheese, bacon, and potatoes. If you’re adding olives, now is the time to do that, too.
Toss the ingredients with mayonnaise, coating well. Bake for an hour and a half, or until the potatoes are tender, in a 325 degree oven.
Enjoy that bubbly, bacon-y, cheesy potato side dish. You could even add in some hamburger meat or chicken and make it a main dish, if you wanted to.
- 8-10 Cups potatoes, diced finely
- 16 ounces cheddar cheese, cubed or shredded
- 1 Cup mayonnaise (real)
- 1 package bacon, cooked and torn into large bits
- 1/2 Cup green onions, chopped
- In a 9x13 pan or 3 quart casserole dish, mix potatoes, cheddar cheese, bacon, and green onions.
- Stir in mayonnaise.
- Bake at 325 for an hour and a half or until potatoes are tender. Top with additional cheese if desired.
If you love the combo of cheese and potatoes, you will want to check out the cheesy potatoes in this Hearty Cheeseburger Soup!
Did you originally see this post on Pinterest with this image? Trust us, it’s still the same recipe! DigitalEraMom.com is now MamaPlusOne.com, and has a whole new look. As we update our whole new look, we’re working hard to update our photos, also. Don’t forget to take time to poke around our site and see what else is new– we think you’ll like what you see!
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Meat Lovers Pasta Bake
Do you like meat? And easy recipes? And recipes that can be made with leftovers and ingredients you have on hand?
If you answered yes, then you’re going to absolutely love this meat lovers pasta bake. If you answered no to the meat question, stick around… you can make this dish with veggies instead. But the meat part? Oh-so-good.
If you have pasta, cheese, diced tomatoes, and some leftover meat (pretty much any kind will work), then you’ve got dinner. Bonus points if you have pasta-friendly veggies like mushrooms and onions.
Crockpot Cashew Chicken
In our area, back to school is coming up fast. Today, we took our exchange student school supply shopping and just days ago, the last of Zach’s curriculum arrived for the year. There’s no shortage of planning and preparing for the school year, and that means a whole lot of busy days ahead, both as we soak up the last days of summer and prepare for the school year, and in the days ahead where we’re going to be teaching, working, and keeping the house clean.
Luckily, I have a crock pot. And trust me, I use it and use it often. I love being able to use my crock pot to keep meals easy, and starting a meal early means I get to work on other things and not worry about dinner.
Campfire Favorites: Beef and Veggie Hobo Packs
Not too long ago, a rule was made that my brother had to pitch in with dinner sometimes. Now, my brother is a pretty good cook, but like all of us, he likes easy, and a lot of times, he sticks to the tried-and-true. So much so that we quickly realized that any nights where it was Jeffrey’s turn to cook, we either got waffles, or we got hobo packs. I started watching him making the hobo packs (as we affectionately call them, but apparently foil packet meal or foil packet dinner also works), and realized why he loved making them so much. They were easy. They were delicious. And most of all, they were versatile. With a family full of picky people, versatile is important.