Tag: make ahead recipe

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Chick-a-Buns

It’s time for the post holiday energy drain. Even without snow on the ground, we are in deep winter mode. Ban Beavers, our family’s Beltline mascot, is missing and presumed hibernating.

The nights, although they are longer, never seem to be quite long enough. I’ve instituted 2 PM tea time at work followed by 2:30 stretching. (This is really just me making myself a quick cup of tea and then continuing to work. It sounds a lot more luxurious than it actually is.

By the time I get home, I’m wiped out and the last thing I really want to do is cook supper. It’s just so much coordination between getting homework done, chores completed, and dinner prepped. The noise of everyone telling me about their day interspersed with breaking up fights adds to the chaos. Meanwhile, my head is still in problem solving mode from work.

Occasionally everything works out perfectly. Everyone ate enough of a snack so that no one is hangry. Our tasks are divided and conquered. Children listen. It’s those times where I can make a more elaborate meal.

Unfortunately, most days aren’t like that. I’m exhausted and achy before dinner is on the table. We sit together as a family and enjoy whatever I have prepared, but after the 4th round of the “Worst Worst Game” or the “Thought Game,” I’m craving some space to re-calibrate.

It’s those nights that easy dinners are the best dinners.

I am not a huge fan of refrigerated biscuits when regular biscuits are so easy to make.

I searched high and low at one of my grocery stores for canned chicken spread with no luck. Which was kind of ok since the idea of chicken spread kind of freaks me out. I don’t remember my mom ever using it.

We ended up making our own using this recipe from Taste of Home: Chicken Spread. When made with quality chicken spread Chick-a-buns are rather delightful. We made a double batch of Chick-a-buns. The leftovers heated up well for lunch the next day.

Chick-a-buns are an easy concept that are very adaptable for any taste. Underwood, the company that makes canned chicken spread, also makes deviled ham and a variety of other canned meat pastes. I can also see this being an easy way to do tuna melts if that’s your thing.

Think of this as a super clever way to making your own Hot Pockets. I mean, sure they don’t come in those cool foil lined sleeves, but you also get to control exactly what goes in them.

Basically, you have no excuse. Make some Chick-a-buns, feed your family quickly, get more done.

The Recipe:

Chick-a-Buns

A quick and easy biscuit sandwich for those days on the go. These heat up nicely as leftovers.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 5 Sandwiches

Ingredients
  

  • 1 can Refrigerator Biscuits
  • 1 can Chicken Spread or make your own
  • 1/2 cup Celery chopped
  • 1 Hard Cooked Egg chopped
  • 2 TB Mayonaise

Instructions
 

  • Stretch or roll biscuits to twice their size. Mix remaining ingredients. Put filling between 2 biscuits. Press edges together. Brush top with beaten egg yolk. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 475 for 10 minutes.

If you liked this recipe try: Stroganoff burgers, Tuna Burger Casserole, and Chuck Wagon Casserole.

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Salerno Shoestring Squares

When the kids were little, I used to sing them to sleep. I am not a great singer, but I’m good enough to soothe tired children.

With the boys, I sang a weird Beatles medley that just seemed right. I couldn’t remember all of the words to any of the songs I wanted to sing, so I created weird transitions between “Eight Days A Week” and “Love Me Do” and sometimes, I would slip in and out of the German versions of some of the songs. (Thanks Herr Agacki!)

My husband always had better songs for the boys. He remembers lyrics better than I do. When we were first dating, I’d ask him to sing me to sleep. He’d change words to fit the situation. He would snuggle me close to his chest and I’d feel his heart beat and absorb his warmth and strength as his voice caressed my ears. It always felt safe.

When our daughter was born and as I rocked her in my great-grandma’s rocking chair, the only song I could ever remember to sing was “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, but the John Denver version NOT the Peter, Paul, and Mary version. As she grew a little older, she started to sing along with me. It was super cute and sweet, but not really conducive to putting her to sleep.

One year for Christmas, my mom presented us with an illustrated copy of John Denver’s “Country Roads” written in children’s book format. My husband I would turn the pages as we sang our daughter to sleep…or tried to. The little monkey started absorbing all of those words also and would sing along. My husband harmonized with our voices. To me, it always sounded lovely.

Sometimes the boys joined in. We are not the Partridge Family or the VonTrapp family singers, but there is a bond that happens when a family sings together, even terribly.

Recently, we were at a used book store and were combing through the CD section. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just something that might catch my attention. Suddenly, my daughter was climbing on me and started singing “Country Roads, take me home, to the place I belong…” loudly and not quite in key. It was not the song playing in the store, I don’t even know what that song was.

My husband said her name from across the store “sh…”. The older man next to me snickered. “Someone has been listening to John Denver,” he said. I explained about using “Leaving on a Jet Plane” as her lullaby. His eyes got a bit of a far away look. “When my kids were little, we used to look at John Denver albums before bed. All those pictures of the trees and eagles and mountains, it was really soothing for them.”

I smiled as my daughter ran off to another part of the store, singing. “Almost heaven…”

Maybe I don’t live in West Virginia. Maybe it’s not the country roads that take me home. The radio frequently reminds me of my home far away, but I’m in the place where I belong. My kitchen.

Last summer I made Salerno Shoestring Squares for the first time. I made them ahead of time and reheated them for lunch one day when my friend was here. “I still need to get a picture of this.” I said before we dug into our lunch.

And what a dig! I never did get the picture. Our bellies were gloriously full of this Italian version of chili cheese fries. If lasagna and chili cheese fries had a baby, this would be it.

I waited a while before remaking this recipe…you know, so I could get pictures.

The meat sauce for Salerno Shoestring Squares is dense. It’s rich and flavorful. The tiny amounts of herbs and seasonings blend together as fluently as the harmonies my husband I produce while singing with the kids.

Layers of flavored cheese wrap themselves around the potatoes like a mother holding her infant.

This is serious comfort food. You should always make sure to have a stash on hand. It can be made in advance and frozen.

It’s probably very mean of me to present you with this recipe at the time of year when everyone resolved to eat healthier and get more exercise and all of that. I suppose you could substitute lentils or white beans for the ground meat and have a vegetarian version of Salerno Shoestring Squares, that might help reduce my guilt in introducing you to your new favorite food.

Without a doubt, this recipe is a keeper.

“So kiss me and smile for me, make some Salerno Shoestring Squares for me, already I’m so hungry I could die.”

The Recipe:

Salerno Shoestring Squares

An Italian version of chili cheese fries that will leave you satisfied.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Italian
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

Meat Sauce

  • 2 pounds Ground Beef
  • 1/3 cup Onion Chopped
  • 1 clove Garlic Crushed
  • 1 15 oz can Tomato Sauce with Tomato Bits
  • 1 6 oz can Tomato Paste
  • 2 tsp Parsley Flakes
  • 2 tsp Sugar
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp crushed Basil Leaves

Cheese and Potato Layers

  • 1 cup Cottage Cheese Large Curd
  • 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated
  • 1 tsp Parsley Flakes
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp crushed Oregano leaves
  • 1 lb frozen Shoestring Potatoes
  • 8oz Mozzarella Cheese Shredded

Instructions
 

  • In a large pan, cook ground beef, onion, and garlic slowly until meat is browned and onion is tender. Spoon off excess fat. Stir in next ingredients; simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine cottage cheese, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, parsley flakes, salt and oregano. In a 9x13x2-inch baking dish, place half the frozen potatoes; spread with half the meat sauce; add half the mozzarella cheese; spoon on half the cottage cheese mixture. Repeat layers, reserving some of the meat sauce to spread over the entire surface. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until cheese is bubbly in the center. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

If you liked this recipe, check out my other make ahead meals.

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Frazzalene for A Frazzled Mom

Going from being a WAHM (Work at Home Mom) to being a WOHM (Work Outside the Home Mom) has been a rough transition for all of us.  Gone are the days where I could close my computer at exactly 4 PM and start making supper immediately.  I created elaborate dinners with careful adherence to the food pyramid guidelines.  I’d always create more than one vegetable for the table.  I turned up my nose at most casseroles and one dish meals.  I judged other mothers for not being as well set up and prepared as I was. These days, I call to report in that I may be home around 5 or 5:30, depending on traffic.  There are nights where it is later.  I need to menu plan and have all my grocery shopping done by Sunday night or my entire week is shot.  We’ve relied on more quick meals than I’ve wanted to and at times even casseroles take too long to get on the table before it’s nearly bedtime.I have a book about making freezer meals.  It’s a great book.  I don’t have time to prep the meals in it, although I do have the freezer space.  (When I say I don’t have the time, I mean that I don’t prioritize the time.  I have as much time as anyone else.) How do other people do this?  I have so many things I want to do and no time to do them.  In short, I am frazzled.

Frazzalene to the rescue!  Frazzalene sounds like the name of super hero, right?

As far as casseroles go, this one is pretty typical.  It uses ingredients that most of us already have around our house.  While I am fairly certain the noodles the recipe suggests are probably egg noodles, we didn’t have any in the house and used pasta instead.  The big differences between this dish and the “goulash” or “hot dish” that most of us grew up with is that it uses tomato soup instead of tomato sauce and the addition of a can of corn.  

Have I told you that I have a child that hates corn?  We finally got him to admit that he doesn’t really hate it, he just doesn’t like that it gets caught in his teeth when he eats it off the cob and has just extended that dislike onto the entire corn genre (except corn bread).

Even with the baking time of Frazzalene being only 30 minutes, this dish still takes nearly an hour to prepare because of boiling the noodles.  Unlike Pineapple Teriyaki Meatloaf, this recipe does not suffer from being prepped ahead of time.  This is another of those dishes that can be fancied up as much as it needs to be.  It’s a basic, no-nonsense casserole (or is that hot dish?)

For other make ahead hot dish recipes, check out Sausage and Bean Casserole and Chuck Wagon Casserole.