Sour cream noodle bake is a simple and delicious casserole to prepare for dinner. This casserole consists of egg noodles layered with a meat sauce, cheese, and a sour cream and cottage cheese mixture. The green onions that are mixed in really add a nice flavor to this already delicious casserole. The recipe calls for ½ cup of green onions, but you could use less if you would prefer. If you are looking for feed a lot of people the ingredients can easily be doubled to make a large batch. Serve with garlic bread. Adapted from The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients:
1 1/4lb ground chuck
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces egg noodles
½ cup sour cream
1 ¼ cup small curd cottage cheese
½ cup sliced green onions
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef breaking it up into chunks with a spatula. Drain any fat. Stir in the tomato sauce, ½ teaspoon salt, and ground black pepper to taste. Simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
Step 2: Cook the egg noodles according to package directions, until al dente. Drain and set aside. In a medium bowl combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Season with ground black pepper to taste. Mix the sour cream and cottage cheese mixture with the egg noodles. Add the green onions and stir.
Step 3: To make the casserole—lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish. Add half the egg noodles to the bottom of the dish. Top with half of the meat mixture, and sprinkle with half of the shredded cheddar cheese. Repeat this process with the noodles, meat and then a final layer of cheese on top. Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
(Makes 8 Servings)

A variety of ingredients will taste great in macaroni and cheese and bacon and peas are always a good choice. This mac and cheese recipe is prepared a little differently than most recipes—instead of making a cheese sauce in a separate pan, it is prepared in the same pan that the noodles are cooked in. The sauce does not require any actual cooking and is a combination of reserved pasta water, Greek yogurt, and cheese. This method of preparing mac and cheese is a little healthier than using the traditional butter, flour and milk mixture. It is important to make sure that the reserved pasta water is hot and the noodles are still hot when mixing the sauce ingredients in. There is no baking involved in this recipe, everything is prepared on the stove-top. Enjoy. Adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride.

Ingredients:
8 ounces penne pasta
8 ounces frozen peas
4 thick slices of bacon (cut into small pieces)
½ cup plain Greek yogurt
dash of hot sauce
4 ounces cheddar cheese (shredded)
4 ounces fontina cheese (shredded)
Salt
Pepper

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Heat a medium sauté pan to medium-high heat. Add the bacon pieces and cook until crisp. Drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.
Step 2: Cook the pasta in salted water according to the package directions, until al dente. Add the peas to the pasta water during the last minute of cooking. Before draining the pasta and peas, reserved 1 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and peas. Immediately return the pasta and peas to the pot. Add ¼ cup of the pasta water to the drained pasta and peas (the pasta water must be hot), the Greek yogurt, a few dashes of hot sauce, and 1/3 of the grated cheese and stir until the cheese has melted.
Step 3: Stir in the remaining cheese, a little bit at a time to prevent clumping. Add additional pasta water as needed to thin out and melt the cheese sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Add the bacon, mix well, and serve.
(Makes 4 Servings)

When you combine chicken and bacon into a casserole you have a quick and easy dinner for any night of the week. This casserole uses a combination of seasoned chicken, bacon, Monterey jack cheese, cream of chicken soup and rotini pasta. I was a little skeptical of this recipe because of the canned soup but the end result was delicious. The best part about this recipe is the flavor that the bacon creates throughout the dish. The chicken is cooked in the bacon grease and the bacon flavor cooks into the casserole while it is baking. This recipe only uses 7 ingredients and can be prepared easily. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
6 strips of bacon
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
16 ounces spiral pasta
1 ½ teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Add bacon strips and cook turning once until crispy. Drain on paper towels and crumble once the bacon has cooled. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with ground black pepper and garlic powder. Add the chicken to the pan with the bacon grease. Cook the chicken in the bacon grease over medium-high heat, turning at least once until the chicken is fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Allow the chicken to cool and then slice it into strips.
Step 2: While the chicken is cooking, cook the pasta according to package directions. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Step 3: Drain the pasta, return it to the pot. Add the chicken, both cans of cream of chicken soup, crumbled bacon, and 1 cup of Monterey jack cheese. Stir and mix well. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Top with the remaining 1 cup of Monterey jack cheese.
Step 4: Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and beginning to brown on top.
(Makes 6 Servings)

When you stuff wonton wrappers with the ingredients of a pizza you have a delicious appetizer that is perfect for your football party. This recipe consists of cheese sticks and pepperoni slices that are rolled into wonton wrappers, fried, and then served with pizza sauce. If you want you could add a little pizza sauce right into the wonton wrappers but I prefer to serve it on the side. You can easily make a large batch if you have a lot of cheese sticks. You will probably have wonton wrapper leftover, you can save them for a use at a later time, or even make jalapeno popper rolls! If you want to make them bigger, you can use egg roll wraps instead of the wonton wrappers. This recipe is very easy to prepare and only consists of 6 ingredients. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
8 mozzarella string cheese (cut into 3 equal portions)
24 slices pepperoni
24 wonton wrappers
1 egg
pizza sauce (for dipping)
1 quart vegetable oil (for frying)

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: Beat the egg in a small bowl. Lay out a wonton wrapper on a plate or cutting board. Place 1 pepperoni slice into the middle of the wonton wrapper. Place a piece of the string cheese in the middle of the pepperoni slice. Fold over the left and right corners of the wonton wrapper to the middle. Using a brush or the bottom of a spoon, brush the beaten egg on the edges of the wonton wrappers. Finish rolling up tightly and secure to make sure there are no leaks. Repeat until all of the string cheese is gone.
Step 2: Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat (you can also heat the oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees). Drop 3-4 of the rolled wontons into the oil at a time, and fry quickly turning once until they are golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat until all of the pizza rolls are fried.
Step 3: Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

A delicious taco salad is always a great choice for dinner or as a dish to bring to parties or events. This chopped taco salad is loaded with flavor and numerous ingredients. The combination of taco meat, beans, cheese, tomato, olives, lettuce, tortilla chips, and a cilantro-lime dressing makes this taco salad a sure winner. What makes this taco salad unique is the avocado-lime dressing—the combination of avocado, cilantro, and lime juice helps to add a great amount of flavor to this dish. If you do not want to use ground beef, using ground turkey will work instead. To save time this recipe uses packets of taco seasoning but you can make your own if you would prefer. To experiment with different flavors, you can use Doritos in place of the tortilla chips. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
3/4lb ground beef
1 (1 ¼ ounce) packet taco seasoning
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) can black beans (drained)
8 cups romaine lettuce (coarsely chopped)
2 large tomatoes (seeded and chopped)
1 (2 1/3 ounce) can sliced black olives (drained)
1 cup grated Colby-jack cheese
1 bag tortilla chips
Dressing-
1 ripe Hass avocado (halved and peeled)
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup plain yogurt
1 small garlic clove (minced)
juice of 1 lime
¼ cup fresh cilantro (chopped)
½ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: To make the dressing- place the avocado, olive oil, yogurt, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, buttermilk, salt and pepper into a food processor  or blender, blend until smooth. Set aside.
Step 2: In a large skillet brown the ground beef over medium-high heat. As the beef cooks break it up into chunks with a spatula. Drain off any excess fat. Stir in the taco seasoning. Stir in the tomato sauce and black beans. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Step 3:  To assemble the salad- place a layer of tortilla chips onto 4 plates. Divide the lettuce among the 4 plates on top of the tortilla chips. Top with some of the meat mixture, cheese, tomatoes, and olives on each plate. Drizzle the dressing onto the top of the salads.
(Makes 4 Servings)

This jalapeno chicken dish has been added to many Chinese buffets in recent years. This dish is sort of a combination of Chinese-American and Mexican cuisines—it consists of deep fried pieces of chicken tossed with a sauce and jalapeno peppers. The sauce is nothing more than a combination of soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar. If you do not have a deep fryer the chicken can be cooked in the pan. If you are looking for a healthier alternative you can skip breading the chicken and stir-fry it in the pan.  The jalapeno peppers really add a good amount of heat to this dish and help to create an interesting flavor. Chinese jalapeno chicken goes great served with brown rice. If you want extra sauce for the rice you can double or triple the sauce ingredients. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch cubes)
¼ cup cornstarch
4 cups vegetable oil + 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon rice wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 jalapeno peppers (sliced)
2 tablespoons sugar

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: In a sealable plastic bowl or bag combine the chicken and cornstarch shake well until the chicken is evenly coated. Allow to stand for 5 minutes.
Step 2: Heat 4 cups of vegetable oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees. Add the chicken and deep fry in batches until the chicken is crispy and fully cooked (the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees). Drain on paper towels.
Step 3: Heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet. Add jalapenos and stir-fry for 1 minute. Remove from the wok and set aside. Add chopped garlic, rice wine, soy sauce, jalapenos, and the chicken to the wok. Stir-fry for about a minute. Add the sugar and cook until the sauce has thickened and the mixture is heated through.
(Makes 2 Servings)

If you are looking to make a salsa with fresh ingredients, this recipe is perfect for you. It is that time of the year when you have may an abundance of fresh garden vegetables and are in need of a way to use them up. This recipe uses fresh ingredients such as tomatoes, green pepper, onion, jalapeno pepper, and cilantro to make a quick and delicious salsa. This salsa goes great with tortilla chips and it can be served on your favorite tacos as well. You may want to adjust the seasonings to your taste adding more or less cumin, salt and pepper as needed. If you are worried about the salsa being too spicy, you could seed the jalapeno peppers. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped tomatoes
½ cup chopped green bell pepper
1 cup onion (diced)
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (with the seeds)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: In a medium bowl add the tomatoes, green bell pepper, onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper. Add the lime juice, cumin, salt, and ground black pepper. Mix well. Serve immediately.

Whenever I am looking for a simple and easy dinner to prepare it seems as though I can always look to a grilled cheese sandwich. This recipe for turkey grilled cheese is both extremely easy to make and extremely delicious. This grilled cheese is loaded with shaved deli roast turkey, mozzarella cheese, bacon, and a ranch dressing spread. The ranch dressing spread is just a combination of mayonnaise and prepared ranch dressing and it really helps to give the sandwich its delicious flavor. If you want to save time you can use pre-cooked bacon, and heat it in the microwave. You can also use cheddar cheese in place of the mozzarella if you would prefer. I like to serve this turkey grilled cheese sandwich with kettle chips. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ranch dressing
8 slices soft Italian bread
4 ounces shaved deli turkey
4 slices bacon (cooked until crispy and halved)
4 slices mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons butter

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: In a small bowl mix together the mayonnaise and ranch dressing. Spread the mixture onto one side of each slice of bread. Top each of the 4 bread slices with turkey, bacon, cheese, and the remaining bread slice (mayonnaise mixture side down). Spread butter on one side of each sandwich.
Step 2: Heat a large skillet to medium-low heat. Place sandwiches into the skillet butter side down. Spread butter on top of each sandwich.
Step 3: Cook over medium low heat turning once for about 6-8 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown. Turn the sandwiches and cook for 5-6 minutes longer or until golden brown and the cheese has melted.
(Makes 4 Servings)

A delicious and easy way to prepare Mexican shredded pork for tacos is by using the slow cooker. The process to preparing this pork taco meat can be done by simply combining all of the ingredients in the slow cooker. Instead of just sprinkling the seasonings over the top of the roast you can rub the spices into the meat before adding it to the slow cooker if you want. This pork taco meat gets a lot of its flavor from seasonings such as chili powder, cumin, and oregano. It gets a little kick from crushed red pepper flakes. If you want even more heat you can add some cayenne pepper into the mix. This pork taco meat can be used in a variety of different ways. It can be used in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, etc. I like to serve this meat on corn tortillas with queso fresco, green onion, cilantro, and hot sauce. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
3lbs boneless pork shoulder blade roast
1 cup vegetable broth
4 garlic cloves (minced)
Taco seasoning-
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Cooking Instructions:
Step 1: To make the taco seasoning—in a small bowl combine chili powder, cumin, black pepper, oregano, paprika and crushed red pepper flakes.
Step 2: Trim any visible fat off of the pork roast. Place the roast into the bottom of the slow cooker. Sprinkle garlic on top of the roast. Sprinkle the taco seasoning evenly on top of the roast. Pour in the vegetable broth around the roast. Cover and cook on high for the first 3 hours. Then cook on low for 5 hours.
Step 3: Remove the pork and shred it using two forks. Return the pork to the slow cooker and mix with the juice.
(Makes 8 Servings)