Recipe Sharing

So last week I was using up some stuff before it went bad on me, this week it has gotten a bit chilly outside and makes me want to cook nice hearty suppers. I can't take credit for either of these recipes (I got them both from friends), but I can share them for you all to enjoy. Chicken Tacos and Spaghetti Pie, both a huge hit with my kiddos!


EASY Chicken Tacos
How much easier can chicken tacos get, you ask? With this recipe you will have yummy, juicy chicken taco meat in about 5 minutes flat! Seriously, that's all the time it takes to prepare, just remember to put these in the crock pot late morning/early afternoon and you will be all set for supper that evening!
For a family of 5, and to have some leftovers (we are big fans of leftovers for lunch!) this is what I do, modify it to fit your needs/quantity.

• 6 Boneless skinless chicken breast, I usually use fozen
• Chicken Stock (I keep the boxes of Kitchen Basics chicken stock, it has honey instead of sugar and is all natural), I use about 3/4 of a box. **If you don't use it all and are not going to be using chicken stock during the rest of the week, freeze it in ice cube trays and then pop them into a freezer bag for future use!
• Taco Seasoning, I estimate this and for me it is probably about 4 Tb. maybe a tad more.

Place chicken into a crock pot, pour stock over chicken until it is almost covered, sprinkle taco seasoning over top to cover the chicken. Set your crock pot to low for 8 hours or high for 6 hours, put the lid on and forget about it!
Once the chicken is done take it out and it should just shred apart into small pieces. Put it into a bowl to serve and drizzle some of the left over juices to keep it moist (I like to pour more juices over any leftovers to keep it from drying out in to fridge).
Now you can use the taco meat for tacos, burritos, wraps, quesadillas, salads, etc.
***This is what we are having for supper tonight!***


Spaghetti Pie
Think spaghetti meets lasagna here, so good, especially on these soon to be fall evenings and then even better heated up for lunch!

• 1 pd ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 jar (15 1/2 ounces) spaghetti sauce ( a spicy sauce is better!)
• 8 ounces spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350, Cook beef, onion and green pepper in large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is browned. Drain fat. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Combine spaghetti, Parmesan cheese, eggs and butter in large bowl; mix well. Place on bottom of 13x9 ince baking pan. Spread cottage cheese over top; cover with sauce mixture. Sprinke with mozzarella cheese. Bake until mixture is thoroughly heated and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.
** I doubled this recipe (but did not double the onion of green pepper) and put it in a deep dish lasagna pan, also so easy to double this recipe and put one in the freezer for when you just don't feel like trying to figure out what to make for supper. Also, because of my pan size and nervous about over flowing while I was cooking the meat I didn't add the sauce to the meat and instead assembled it like this: spray your pan, layer the spaghetti mix, then the cottage cheese, followed by the meat mix, then the sauce, and finally sprinkle the top with cheese. I think I baked it for 40 minutes, just kept an eye on it to make sure the cheese didn't burn.