Crock Pot Creamy Italian Chicken

This is an amazing recipe! Who doesn't love using their crock pot? Add the ingredients and 5-6 hours later, dinner is ready. Plus, an added tip. I discovered slow cooker liners at the grocery store. Seriously genius! The clean up consists of lifting the liner out of the crock pot and tossing it in the trash.

2-3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 large can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 package of Cream Cheese
1 packet of Good Seasons Dry Italian Dressing Mix

Mix Cream of Chicken Soup, Cream Cheese, Italian Dressing Mix and add raw chicken. Cover with lid and cook on Medium 2 1/2 hours and stir. Cook for additional 2 hours and take two forks and shred the chicken in the crock pot. Serve on Minute Rice or Bow Tie Pasta.

It seems like every crock pot cooks things differently. This is how long it takes in my crock pot. I have also used frozen chicken breast if I don't have any thawed out. This turns out just as good. Just add an additional 30-45 minutes of cooking time.

Easy Meatball Subs

Last night I made meatloaf and wanted to save time in the kitchen this week so I doubled the ingredients and made the meatloaf for dinner last night and made meatballs for later in the week. Use the exact same recipe with only a  few simple changes. After pressing half of the mixture into a loaf pan, form the remainder into meatballs. You can place half of the meatballs in the fridge for subs and the other half in the fridge to use for a pasta dish on another night. 1 night of cooking for 3 simple meals

2lbs. Ground Chuck
1/2 package Ritz crackers
2 Tbsp. Milk
2 Eggs
2 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Seasoned Salt
1 tsp. Pepper

1 Jar Prego
8 oz. Shredded Mozzarella  Cheese
Hoagies

Place Crackers and Milk in a big bowl. Add Ground Chuck, Eggs, and seasonings and mix well. Form into meatballs (I use a medium sized scoop) and bake on a sheet cake pan on 350 for 25-30 minutes. In a saucepan add meatballs and sauce and heat on medium for 5 minutes. Serve on hoagies and top with cheese.

Meatloaf

When I was younger I would cringe at the word Meatloaf. I think it was because the recipes that I ate had onions and bell peppers in them. So I came up with a kid friendly recipe that the kids , and my picky husband, all love. It's very basic ingredients and always yummy.


2 lbs. Ground Chuck
1/2 package Ritz Crackers
2 Tbsp. Milk
2 Eggs
2 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Seasoned Salt
1 tsp. Pepper

1 cup Ketchup
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar

Crumble Ritz crackers and place in large bowl with milk. Add ground chuck, eggs, and seasonings and mix well. Press mixture into a loaf pan and bake on 375 for 30-35 minutes until center is cooked through.
In a small bowl mix ketchup and brown sugar well and spoon on the top of the meatloaf. Bake on 400 for an additional 5-7 minutes.

Best Mashed Potatoes Ever

Yukon Gold Potatoes are my favorite type of potato for several different reasons. They have a creamy texture and I love using them for mashed potatoes. Their skin is very thin and smooth so you don't have to mess with peeling them. Seriously, who doesn't love mashed potatoes? The only downfall is that they are usually a few bucks higher than Russett Potatoes but I think it's worth it. Love me some homemade mashed potatoes!!
You can use 3 lbs for mashed potatoes and another night of the week use the rest of the bag to make fried potatoes.

3 lbs. Yukon Gold Potatoes (rinsed)
1 1/2 sticks of Butter
1/8 cup Milk
1 Tbsp. Salt

Fill a large pot half full of water and bring to a boil. While waiting for water to come to a boil, slice potatoes in half then cut into small cubes. Add to water and boil for 10-12 minutes until soft. Drain water and place potatoes in a bowl and blend together with butter, milk, and salt. Blend until desired texture. Taste. Add an extra dash of salt and pepper if needed.

Oven Baked BBQ Ribs

My husband and our boys love ribs but when we ordered them at a restaurant our bill could easily be $60. So a couple of years ago I decided to try to make them at home. It's way cheaper and fork tender every time! If you like ribs, you will love this recipe. Plus, when ribs are on sale, you can bake 2 full slabs for around $15-$20. Your family will think you're a Rock Star!!

Oven Baked BBQ Ribs

Full Slab Pork Ribs
1 tsp. Greek Seasoning
1 tsp. Seasoned Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce (Original)

You will need to pull off the white strip from the bottom of the slab and throw it away.(It's a thin fleshy layer underneath) Lay the ribs on your baking dish and cover evenly with all of the seasonings. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake on 300 for 4 1/2 hours. Take the pan out of the oven and carefully remove the foil. Cover the entire slab with sauce and put them back in the oven on broil for 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven and let them sit for 3-5 minutes. They will be fork tender and super juicy. Yum!!

Baked Penne Pasta

I could easily post a recipe of homemade marinara sauce but that would mess with the whole "simple recipes" idea. Who has time to make sauce from scratch anyways?  Plus, Prego spaghetti sauce is yummy and all you have to do is open a jar. Less mess and less time in the kitchen equals more family time which is always a plus. So if you are looking for fancy or impressive pasta sauce recipes then this isn't the blog for you. This might just be the easiest pasta dish to make and it is always  a family favorite.






Baked Penne Pasta

16 ounce box of Penne Pasta
16 ounces Prego Spaghetti Sauce
1 lb. ground beef
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt and Pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder

Fill large pot half way with water and bring to a boil. Add a dash of salt and pasta to boiling water. Stir. Boil pasta for 8-10 minutes or until pasta is tender then drain. In a skillet, cook ground beef and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Drain excess grease off of meat. In a large casserole dish add pasta, ground beef, and pasta sauce and mix together. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake for 18-20 minutes on 375 until cheese is melted.

Fast and Easy Garlic Bread

Fast and Easy Garlic Bread

Fresh Loaf of French Bread
Butter
Garlic Powder

Slice the loaf of bread in half lengthwise. Butter both sides generously and lightly sprinkle with garlic powder. For easy clean-up place aluminum foil on baking sheet and  bake butter side facing up for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and slice into individual pieces.

New recipes to come!!

Today I will post new recipes for Oven Baked BBQ Ribs, Baked Chicken Breasts, Award Winning Chili, Baked Penne Pasta, and the best mashed potatoes EVER. These are all of the recipes of the week that you can save on when you price match at Wal Mart. If you have any questions about price matching feel free to ask me anything. I would love to help you learn. I hope this is beneficial to all of you. Thanks for following my blog and have a wonderful rest of the week!!

How to save BIG on your groceries!

A few of you might already know that Wal Mart matches the prices of other local grocery store ads. Each week the Penny Power comes I search through the ads and make my weekly menu according to what is on sale. Then I write down the store name and the item sale price to tell the cashier at Wal-Mart the prices to match. This week a few of the meals on the menu include BBQ Ribs with Fried Potatoes, Chili Cheese Nachos, Baked Penne Pasta with Garlic Bread and Baked Chicken Breasts with Mashed Potatoes. Here are a few examples of how I saved:

Ads for January 18th through 24th                              Wal-Mart's Price                                                 

Save A Lot-
Ground Beef   $1.99 lb.                                                       $3.19 lb.
Pork Ribs         $1.79 lb.                                                     $3.99 lb.

Country Fresh-
Can Tomatoes   2/$1.00                                                       $.89

Price-Cutter-
Hiland Butter    $1.99                                                           $2.99

ALDI-
Yukon Gold Potatoes $.99 5lb. bag                                      $3.98 5lb. bag

HyVee-
Kidney beans 2/$1.00                                                          $.89
Chili beans 2/$1.00                                                              $.99
Chili Seasoning $.44                                                             $.89

Dillon's-
Split Chicken Breasts $.99 lb.                                               $1.76 lb.
 16 oz. shredded cheese $2.99                                              $4.19  
Barilla Pasta 16oz. Box $1.00                                               $1.29
French Bread/Bakery $1.00                                                  $1.68                                    
              
Other items I saved on:
HyVee
Large eggs $1.28                                                              $1.88
 Lunchables $1.00                                                            $1.58-$2.00


Dillons
Fresh Pineapple $1.99                                                    $2.98


Aldi
16 oz baby carrots $.49                                                  $1.25
Dillons
1/2 gallon Milk 2/$3                                                         $3.89 gallon

Cashew or Sweet and Sour Chicken

Who needs take out when it's always better when you make it from scratch at home? The feeling of accomplishment from trying a new recipe and your family cleaning their plates is priceless. My husband prefers Sweet and Sour Chicken and the kids and I prefer Cashew Chicken.  So it's easy to please everyone by making a little of each of the sauces because the chicken is prepared the same for both.


4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup canola oil

Cut the chicken breasts into chunks. In large bowl add flour, baking soda, cornstarch, salt and pepper. In a separate bowl beat eggs. Heat oil on medium-high. Dip chicken into flour, then eggs, then flour again. Fry in oil for 2-3 minutes then turn the chicken to the other side and fry for an additional 3 minutes until cooked through. Put paper towels on a plate to soak up excess oil off of the cooked chicken.

Cashew sauce-

2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup cold water
4 Tbsp. corn starch

Heat chicken broth to boil. Add oyster sauce, sugar and soy sauce. In a small cup add 1/4 cup cold water to cornstarch. Slowly add it into the broth mixture to thicken. Cook on med./ low for 5 minutes. Pour sauce over chicken. Top with cashews and green onion and serve with rice if desired.

Sweet and sour sauce-

!/4 c. ketchup
1 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. vinegar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. garlic powder

Cook on stovetop on medium to thicken for 10 minutes then pour over chicken. Serve with rice.

Fried Potatoes

I think I could eat fried potatoes everyday. I find myself making them several times a month as a side dish because it's so easy and always turns out so good. My daughter Bailey loves any type of potato dish. We always joke around with her about what her wedding reception dinner will be when she gets married. Baked potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, twice-baked potatoes, new potatoes with garlic butter, potato skins with bacon and cheese, baked potato soup, and scalloped potatoes. She actually likes the idea.

3 lbs. potatoes
2 sticks butter
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. garlic herb blend

Melt butter in a skillet on medium-high heat. Rinse the potatoes and slice thin. Place potatoes in skillet and season. Cover the pan and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring every 3-4 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Macaroni and Cheese

An all time favorite "comfort food". Macaroni and Cheese..... YUM!! Once you try this, you won't want the boxed macaroni and cheese again. It just doesn't even compare.

Macaroni and Cheese

16 ounce box macaroni
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
2 cups shredded chedder (set 1/4 cup to side for top)
8 oz velveeta shreds

Boil and drain macaroni and rinse with cool water. In saucepan melt butter and add flour cook on medium-high for 2 minutes. Add milk and salt and pepper and boil for 2 minutes while constantly stirring. Lower temp. to low and continue to stir for 10 minutes. Slowly add cheese until melted then add cooked macaroni. Mix well and sprinkle with additional cheese.

Poppyseed Chicken

This is an amazing pasta dish I have been making for about 14 years. My best friend from High School shared it with me and we have loved it since the first time we had it.


Poppyseed Chicken

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
12 Ounces Sour Cream
1 Large Can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1/4 Cup Milk
1 Box Bow Tie Pasta
1 Package Ritz Crackers
1/2 Cup Butter
2 Tbsp. Poppyseed
1 tsp. Garlic Powder


Boil Chicken for about 10 minutes or until cooked through. Remove chicken from water and add pasta to the same boiling pot and boil for about 15 minutes. Chop the cooked chicken and add it to a large bowl and mix in soup, milk, and sour cream. Set aside. Place the crackers in a ziploc bag and crumble them up. In a different bowl, melt butter and add the cracker crumbs and poppyseed and garlic powder. Mix together and set aside. Drain Pasta and then add it to the bottom of a glass casserole dish. Pour the chicken and sauce mixture to the top of the pasta and top it with the crumbs. Bake on 350 for 20 minutes. Serve

Oven Baked Steak Kabobs

One of the things I do for my Catering business is offer hot meals to busy families 3 days a week. So on Monday I wanted to make some Steak and Veggie Kabobs on the grill  but it was to cold and windy so I decided to try it in the oven. They turned out amazing and it was so easy. I loved not having to mess with the grill plus steak was on sale this week so that was an added bonus.  You can also pick up a pack of 100 skewers at Wal Mart for $1.00. For my family I usually just use the steak and bell peppers but you have the option to use other veggies like mushrooms and onion but I like to keep it simple.

Oven Baked Steak and Veggie Kabobs


12-14 Skewers
1/2 stick melted butter
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 Tablespoon Garlic Herb Seasoning (Garlic powder will work as well)
2 lbs. Steak (Chuck or Sirloin)
3 Bell Peppers (Any color)


Soak wooden skewers in water (I soak them in the sink) while you prep your marinade. In a large bowl, mix together the butter, soy sauce,  and olive oil. Cut peppers into bite size pieces and add to the bowl of marinade. Poke the steak all over with a fork and cut it into 1 inch cubes. Add the meat to marinade with veggies. Mix together. Take skewers out of water and begin adding the steak and peppers in any pattern you like.

Place Kabobs on a baking dish and Bake @ 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes then turn the kabobs over and bake 5-7 minutes longer. If you like your steak well done just keep the kabobs in for a few extra minutes until the meat is cooked through and the peppers are tender. Enjoy

As a mother of 6 children we are always on the go. I usually love to cook but with the day to day busy schedule I was stuck in a rut. Every afternoon I would start dreading making dinner. Plus, I was burnt out on the same 8-10 recipes.  There wasn't a single restaurant in town that was appealing to us. So I decided to come up with a few of my own recipes for some of our favorite meals. I will post recipes and eventually add a photo of each dish. Thanks for visiting my new blog and I hope you enjoy it.