What’s for Dinner? Six Cheese Macaroni, Microwaved BBQ, and Fried Zucchini!

What’s for Dinner? Six Cheese Macaroni, Microwaved BBQ, and Fried Zucchini!

#465 from Schwan’s: BBQ Pork

         

       I LOVE Schwan’s (if you haven’t noticed from my previous posts). There isn’t much that I have tried that I don’t like, but what I like particularly more than everything else if their meat selection. I’m pretty lucky to have cows in my back yard that supplies my family with a large amount of beef. This cuts my meat bill in half which really helps my family out. What it doesn’t help out is when I need chicken, pork, or fish. When I go to the grocery store I tend to get frustrated when it comes to quality or quantity compared to the prices in the meat section. Schwan’s helps to solve that problem.

                When I was fixing the BBQ Pork, Adam looked at me like I was crazy. I was putting meat in the microwave. His grandmother would have died if she had seen me doing that (close all windows at the back of the house STAT!). It pains me a little to admit it myself, but heck, we had hot yummy meat on the table in four minutes. Oh yeah, I said four minutes. The sauce on the BBQ is perfect, and I am super picky about my sauce. Not too much, not too little, perfect. Adam and I ate the entire pack ourselves in the one sitting. Not that I recommend doing that, but it is that good. Buddy was super sad he didn’t get any scraps so I let him lick the bowl for good measure. And yeah, it was even Buddy approved.

#846 from Schwan’s: Six Cheese Tortellini with ½ c. CheesyRagu Roasted Garlic Parmesan, ¼ c. Velveeta, and ½ stick of butter

             

   One thing I thank God for giving me my Granny Jane for every day is her macaroni recipe. I make the best macaroni ever. No really, you can ask my best friend Alex. My macaroni could be the key to world peace. However, sometimes the fam needs something a little different. The Six Cheese Tort had been sitting in my deep freezer for a while and I just couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with it. Belle agreed she’d eat macaroni for supper (I told her I’d believe it when I saw it…), so I whipped something up from what I had in the fridge.

                Yummy! Schwan’s took the cake again. I wouldn’t say it’s better than Granny Jane-from-scratch macaroni, but it’s a close second. I’m surprised the three of us didn’t go into a cheese coma, but we survived with happy bellies.

Fried Zucchini

             

   I fry my zucchini pretty much the same as summer squash. You can see how I do it HERE.

Fabulous Fifty-Cent Find: Progresso Recipe Starters

Fabulous Fifty-Cent Find: Progresso Recipe Starters

                It is no secret that I love Dollar Tree. I wouldn’t be surprised if it evens out that I do about 1/3 of my shopping there. The Dollar Tree in Florence just for a refrigerator section, and that made me even happier to shop there. When it comes to snack and items for lunch boxes, grocery stores can add up bad. But the Dollar Tree offers a good variety for a busy and frugal family.

                This past week I was excited for a new find at Dollar Tree, Progresso Recipe Starters. These bad boys were only 50 cents to boot. I got two of each flavor and smiled all the way to the register. I’ve only used one of them so far, but it worked great! I’ll share what I did down below. Oh, and an additional note. The cans have a box top so you can make some money for your children’s school too!

Creamy Roasted Garlic Round Steak with Fire Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

2 cups  Schwan’s #797 Fire Roasted Vegetable Blend

2          Quarter Pound Round Steaks

1 can    Progresso Recipe Starters in Creamy Roasted Garlic

Directions:

            Place vegetables in the bottom of an oven safe pan. Cover with steaks. Embed steaks to be even with vegetables. Pour Progresso sauce over steaks and vegetables. Cook on 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

The steak was tender and the vegetables had a great balance of flavor. Most of the recipes on Progresso's site use chicken with this sauce, but I wanted to try something a little different.

Have you used Recipe Starters? Let me know how it went!

I-Forgot-to-Thaw-Out-the-Beef (Chicken) Stroganoff

I-Forgot-to-Thaw-Out-the-Beef (Chicken) Stroganoff

I have got to be one of the worst women ever when it comes to remembering to put meat out to thaw for supper. I don't like having to defrost stuff in the microwave, but if I have to, I prefer it be a Schwan's product since they have microwave directions.

 

Ingredients:

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

6oz.        bow-tie noodles

¾ c.        sour cream

¼ c.        All-purpose flour

1 can      chicken broth

¼ tsp.    salt and pepper

8 oz.       mushroom, sliced (you can use fresh or canned, it really doesn’t matter)

1              medium onion, chopped

2              #418 RawStuffed Chicken Breast with Rib Meat Pot Pie from Schwan’s (thawed)

1 clove  garlic, pressed

2 tbsp.  parsley

 

Directions:

1.  Cook bacon on medium heat until crisp. Crumble and set aside.
2.  Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and keep warm. Meanwhile, whisk together sour cream, flour, chicken broth, salt, and pepper until smooth. Set mixture aside.
3.  Slice mushrooms, chop onion, and slice chicken into ¼ in strips. Place in the bottom of a large pan and cook on high for 5 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink and the onions have begun to soften.
4. Add bacon to pan. Stir in sour cream mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in parsley. Serve over noodles.

Pleasant Parmesan Chicken

Pleasant Parmesan Chicken

I call this pleasant for a couple of reasons. First of all, it will make your house smell amazing. Second, it tastes pretty good. Oh, and it warms over nice if you can manage to have any extra.

The links should let you get a look at the products I use. Anything that's name brand was probably a BOGO at Publix. 

Ingredients: 

Ingredients

2              Schwan’s #407 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts YOU CAN BUY IT HERE

½ cup    Cooking Oil

2              eggs

1              Garlic clove (mine is harvested from my own garden, I use THIS RECIPE for pickling them)

1 cup     Asiago Cheese Croutons from Marzetti

¼ cup    Grated Parmesan Cheese (I proudly get mine from The Dollar Tree)

1 tbsp.   Oregano

1 tbsp.   Black Pepper

2 tbsp.   All-purpose flour

4 oz.       Fit&Active Whole Grain Spaghetti from ALDI

1 can     Hunt’s Traditional Pasta Sauce

½ cup    Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut chicken into strips.  Place oil in medium skilled on medium heat.
2. Beat eggs in a bowl until frothy. Press garlic into egg, set aside. Place croutons, Parmesan cheese, oregano, and black pepper into a food processor. Process until at the consistency of bread crumbs.
   
   

   

   Chicken Breading Station

3. Coat chicken strips with flour. Dip into egg mixture. Coat both sides of chicken with crumb mixture, shaking off any excess. Place chicken into oil, until there is no pink, flipping when needed.
4. While chicken is cooking, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Place pasta in 9x11 Pyrex dish. Cover with cooked chicken. Then pour pasta sauce over chicken and pasta. Mozzarella cheese tops off the dish. Bake for 20 minutes at 42
5. Enjoy!

 Be sure to expect comments like "This is the best thing I have ever eaten!" and "Oh man, I didn't know you could cook like this!"

After you try it out, leave me a comment and let me know how it went.