Playing With My Food.

Lately I have been feeling rather blah. I blame it on the postpartum hormones. I really, most days don't want to go grocery shopping or even cook. The weird side effect to this, is that I have been playing with my food. Well, really my recipes.

One night, I'd asked Tony to stop by the grocery store to pick up two ingredients. He had picked up some tools first, and was worried that if he went into the store, there would be too great a chance that someone would happen to steal those tools out of the saddlebags on the motorcycle. *sigh* Needless to say, that day was a day where I kinda needed to go grocery shopping and was trying to stall one more day. That means, I was looking through my cupboards, trying to find something to cook for dinner. I had finally figured something out and needed those two ingredients. Not having those ingredients, sent me to my cupboards again, racking my brain, trying to figure out something to cook. So I grabbed a few things and threw them together in a casserole, hoping it would work. Voila! Fiesta Casserole was born! Of course, I waited until after the approval of the Manley horde to name it. I knew it would be a frequent menu selection when Tony came home the next day saying it was yummy even as left-overs for lunch.


I have had a good handful of evenings that I got a little creative, out of desperation, in the kitchen, but my faulty brain can only think of a three at the moment. I made stroganoff, but used rice instead of noodles (since we were out of noodles). My favorite recipe deviation so far, has been Chicken Bacon Ranch Alfredo. Yeah, bacon makes everything awesome!

I'm not really one to deviate from recipes. I'm a tried and true kind of girl. I don't like wasting my time, money, and efforts to risk it not turning out, or taste not so good. I also am hesitant to try new recipes without having a personal recommendation. Again for the same reasons. So this has been completely out of my norm. All this has come from being so desperate not to make the one thing that I already had the ingredients for, but not the time or energy to make that night, or from absolutely avoiding Wally-World Hell (because it is just that with 4 children in tow) that I have to get creative with what's available. Aaaaaand, because I love you all so much, I'm posting the recipes too! :) Enjoy!

Fiesta Casserole
1 lb hamburger (cooked, salted and peppered)
1 can black beans, drained (15 oz)
1 can diced tomatoes, drained (14.5 oz)
1-2 c rice, cooked according to package instructions
1 can Campbell's Fiesta Nacho Cheese (10 oz)
1-2 C sour cream
1-2 C shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Layer first 4 ingredients in list order. Combine nacho cheese and sour cream together. the more sour cream you use, the milder the casserole is. Layer mix on top. Cover with foil and bake 45 min. Remove foil, add cheese and bake another 5 min or until cheese is melted.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Alfredo
3-4 Chicken breasts, cubed up. (you can also use Tyson's grilled and ready chicken/ 3-4 C)
1 small package Linguine or Fettuccine noodles, cooked according to package directions.
1 small package real bacon pieces (I find it's easier than buying bacon and cooking it)
1 package ranch dressing mix
2 C heavy cream
1/3 C butter (yes it must be butter)

Add cream and butter to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently-constantly. Bring to a boil. Then boil 10 min, while stirring constantly. While making sauce base, cook chicken in hot oil in pan on stove top(or heat precooked chicken) and boil noodles. When sauce has boiled 10 min, remove from heat. Add ranch seasoning, and stir until well mixed. Add bacon pieces and chicken. Add to noodles. You may choose to mix noodles and sauce together, or lay a bed of noodles on plate and put a ladle-full on top. Enjoy!