6 Reasons you may like Potato Chip Casserole: New Meal Monday

Ok, so this is not a new recipe for me but maybe for you? I was feeling sentimental (missing my dad and grandmother). And Potato Chip Casserole sounded good for dinner. This is one my Grandma Lois used to make.

If you never have had this, you may like it for the following reasons:
1) You like potato chips
2) You like cheese in your casserole
3) You like tater tot casserole
4) You like tuna casserole
5) You like any casserole
6) You like comfort food

Ingredients:
Wavy or Ruffles original potato chips
1 can tuna drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can of evaporated milk (regular milk will work too)
grated cheese (I used rest of havarty and colby)
pepper

 In a baking dish mix tuna, canned soup, cheese (leave some to put on top), pepper and the milk. Once combined slowly add the potato chips- careful to break up chips but not crush them. It will look like this when ready for oven:

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until casserole is bubbling. Then add remain cheese to the top and put back in oven to melt the cheese.

Enjoy! What is one of your comfort food recipes? Please share in the comments below.

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Crockpot Creamy Italian Chicken

I found this recipe in small recipe book that I have had for a few years.

 It is titled: 101 things to do with a slow cooker.

 It was yum! To quote my daughter "mom, this is 100 plus 100 % good!"

Here is what you need: 4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix, 1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of condensed chicken soup. Mix the salad dressing and condensed soup together, then "smother" over the chicken breasts in crock pot. The recipe book says to cook on high for 6-8 hours or on low for 10-12 hours. The chicken I used was not frozen solid so it did not need the full 6 hours to cook. 

It was easy! I then just fixed up some buttered noodles and served with a veggie. 
It was so good, I forgot to take a picture before we ate it all. 

What's for dinner at your house tonight?

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Sharing on: Thrifty Thursdays 

New Meal Monday: Baked Talapia and Yams

Baked Talapia and Yams

Hi friends. Thanks for stopping by! Ok, for the record, it is NOT easy to document your real life with the intentions to share later on your blog. And do you know why that is... well it is because real life happens. Case in point...things were going well. To start with I remembered to charge the batteries for the camera so I can take pictures as I go. I had everything I needed to try a new recipe, dinner was in the oven on time, etc. The phone rings its mom to tell me she is running behind at work and as she is speaking I spy on the refrigerator a post card. It was a reminder of a meeting I needed to attend that night. I search for the time on it, sure enough the meeting is a 7pm. I glance at the clock which reads 6:15. UGGG! I quickly get ready, let hubby know that it will be just him and our daughter eating together and run off to the meeting. The photo above is one that I took after I got back from the meeting and reheated for myself. But it was still yummy!

To start with about an hour before I needed to cook the talapia I started the yams. I love them baked with some butter and cinnamon on top. Dear hubby and sunshine like them same as always. Sweet with "juice" to pour over them. I have been experimenting with how to make these without using the canned yams. My problem with the fresh is how do I get the "liquid" that the can ones always come in. I grew up just straining the canned yams and fixing them once strained. Dear hubby grew up with the liquid going into the baking dish along with the canned yams and then once you add the butter and brown sugar it becomes this sweet "juice" in which to pour over the baked yams upon serving. I hope I am making sense. Anyways I want to make more fresh items but still cook them in a way that I know my family will eat them. So I have made what I think is close to what dear hubby grew up with.

I peel and cut up the yams and put them in the baking dish. I then take about 2 Tbs of butter and melt it then add that to about 1/2 cup of warm water. I then add some brown sugar (about 2 Tbs) and a few dashes of cinnamon. I don't really measure this because I am still experimenting. Then I bake them for about 45 minutes or so until the yams are soft. You could then add the marshmallows (but I didn't this time).  If anyone has an idea what I can use instead of water I would love for you to share in your comment.

 

A tip for baking whole yams: put foil under them, they leak when baking and make a mess. 

While the yams are in the oven I get started with the talapia:

For the talapia we tried a seasoning that dear husband brought home. It is a sweet rub from Traeger. The first thing I needed to do was to pat dry the fish. Then I drizzled olive oil in the pan and use a basting brush to coat the fillets. Then I coated them with the sweet rub.

I covered the fillets with foil and baked at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or so (I check often). Then I took the foil off the top and turned on the broiler to finish cooking the last five minutes.

Next week I hope to have a more finished meal to share....if real life works out like that!

New Meal Mondays

We have arranged Monday evenings to have my mom over to enjoy dinner and game night with our family. I am not usually very creative when it comes to everyday cooking and have treated it over the years as a chore. But I have been convicted about what and how I am feeding my family. I have been challenged to get out of my comfort zone, to do better for them. So, over the last year I have been learning more and have been trying new recipes out and since we have been having a little success lately I have declared to the family that Mondays would be "New Recipe Night". My goal is to share with you starting next Monday what we cooked up.

For the record I am no cook. In fact I used to say that I hate to cook. I grew up the oldest in a house of six kids with a mom that cooked most everything from scratch. And even though I had to help a lot in the kitchen, I never enjoyed it. As hard as my mom tried, it didn't stick. It did however burn. Every time my dad would see me in the kitchen he would say, "Oh, looks like local burn and serve is at it again!" It was all in fun, but he was right... I burned a lot. My worst fiasco in the kitchen was the time I forgot a pan of eggs that I put on to boil for hard boiled eggs. They were on the stove for so long that the shells turned black. Seriously!
Thankfully I never caught the house on fire.

But I have grown since then. I did a Bible study on the Proverbs 31 woman over a year ago that changed my mind on cooking and feeding my family. I found it here where they talk about feeding my family is a basic need that my family has. I can choose to bless them by providing the best I can to nourish their bodies and souls. A way to show them I love them. So it is for them that I am willing to learn, to try, to do better. So tune in next week when I post on what we will try this week. And a big thanks to my mom, she was ever so patient with me in the kitchen. Now she gets to enjoy my cooking!

The crazy part of my story-- I have always loved baking... more on that another time.