Chicken, Wild Rice & Sausage Casserole

This might not sound appealing but I promise you the blend of flavors made it something that had my food testers asking for seconds.  But, you'll have to wait for the recipe.  This delicious dish has just been added to the Think With Your Taste Buds - Chicken manuscript which will be out later this year.  Until then make sure you order your copy of Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef, Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts and Stir, Laugh, Repeat. 

Cube Steak Potato Casserole

This is a dish you won't want to miss when Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef comes out this winter.  It's 6 ingredients and so simple to make.  Taste!  Wonderful!  Until then, don't forget your copy of Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts.

Ground Beef/Hashbrown Casserole

1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can corn, drained (optional)
1 cup shredded cheese
Tater Tots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brown beef and onions together and drain.  Spray a 9 x 13 dish with non-stick spray.  Spread beef mixture in bottom of dish.  Spoon soup over meat mixture.  Sprinkle evenly with corn and cheese.  Place a layer of tater tots over cheese.  Bake 45 minutes or until tater tots are golden brown. 

Comments:  I've seen this recipe by many names.  When I decided to give it a try I made changes tofit my own taste.  I used a blend of onions and green bell peppers, Tater Tot 'tops' instead of full size tater tots and a blend of cheese combining white and colby.  It was delicious!

Nutritional Info for recipe above.

·         Servings Per Recipe: 6
·         Amount Per Serving
·         Calories: 452.1
·         Total Fat: 28.9 g
·         Cholesterol: 74.4 mg
·         Sodium: 898.8 mg
·         Total Carbs: 25.9 g
·         Dietary Fiber: 1.9 g
·         Protein: 20.9 g

Nutritional Info using ground turkey & low fat cheese
·         Servings Per Recipe: 6
·         Amount Per Serving
·         Calories: 321.1
·         Total Fat: 14.0 g
·         Cholesterol: 57.3 mg
·         Sodium: 749.2 mg
·         Total Carbs: 25.9 g
·         Dietary Fiber: 1.9 g
·         Protein: 22.6 g

Nutritional Info using ground beef, lowfat cheese and shredded potatoes instead of tater tots

·         Servings Per Recipe: 6 ·         Amount Per Serving ·         Calories: 290.0·         Total Fat: 13.3 g·         Cholesterol: 57.3 mg·         Sodium: 664.8 mg ·         Total Carbs: 21.7 g ·         Dietary Fiber: 2.0 g·         Protein: 22.1 g

This is the perfect example in the nutritional changes that are made simply by just changing a couple of ingredients.  Changing from the ground beef to ground turkey, using the lowfat cheese and shredded potatoes instead of tater tots doesn't damage the taste of this dish at all.

Philly Steak and Cheese Casserole

I've just added a new recipe to the manuscript file for  Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef.  When given to 4 of my food testers to sample, all 4 wanted more!  This is a simple dish that really turned out great!  Watch for Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef in the near future but for now check out Think With Your Taste Buds - Desserts.

Poppy Seed Chicken

This dish came from a site called The Girl Who Ate Everything
It's called Poppy Seed Chicken and this one is a perfect, easy to make, delicious casserole that you must try!  I made this and served it to my drop-in company and they loved it enough to ask for some to take home.  It's that good!  So here it is.

5 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I used 3 large split breasts)
1 cup sour cream
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cps crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 1/2 rolls of crackers)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place cubed chicken in a 9 X 13 casserole dish.  Stir together the condensed soup and sour cream.  Pour over chicken.  In a separate bowl stir together crushed crackers, poppy seeds and melted butter.  Sprinkle over chicken and sauce.  Bake 30 minutes, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly.  Serve plain or over rice. 

Additional ingredients can be added when mixing soup and sour cream:
1 tsp. Worchestire sauce
1 tsp. celery salt
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. pepper

Comments - I made only 1 change when making my dish.  I used 1 can of cream of chicken and 1 can of cream of mushroom soup.  I might try adding broccoli, maybe a sprinkle of cheese in with the crackers and near the end of baking maybe some French fried onions.  But believe me, this dish needs no additions. 

Rice With Chicken Casserole

This idea came from a recipe for rice and tuna which had olives, boiled eggs and lemon juice as additional ingredients.  I changed to chicken, left out these 3 ingredients and added the onions. This comes out with a slightly sweet taste from the peppers and oh so good.  I took a dish over to 2 of my food testers and they simply loved it and she doesn't care that much for bell peppers.  This is a real keeper!  Find the full recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet.

Loaded Potato Bake

You can add just about anything to this simple dish.  Broccoli would be a great addition.  The bacon can be left out and roast beef can be added making the dish a main course.  Spring onions would make a great substitute for the dehydrated onions.  You can also use instant potatoes but they won't be near as good as the real thing.  Think With Your Taste Buds!

See the full recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet

Sausage Squash Casserole

Squash is coming in and I'm always looking for a new idea for cooking this jewel from the garden.  This dish is really easy to make and due to it having sausage as an ingredient, it becomes a main dish instead of a side.  I made this using a good lean sausage but you can also make it with turkey sausage and have the same great flavor but healthier.  See the full recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet.

Hashbrown Chicken Casserole

This "recipe" was given to me by a man I work with.  He had no measurements, just ingredients which were:
Hashbrowns
onions
Colby cheese
cream of chicken soup
1/2 can water
cheddar cheese for top

So, after making a few additions and guessing at the measurements this is what I came up with:

In a large bowl mix together
3 cups hashbrowns
1/2 cup frozen seasoned onions & bell peppers
3 chicken breasts cooked & cut into bite size pieces
2 cups Colby cheese, shredded
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Bake 30-35 minutes.  Top with pats of butter and bake another 5 minutes.  This easily feeds 6.

I didn't add the cheddar cheese to the top because I felt it had enough inside but that is an option when you make this dish.  The taste of this reminds me of a loaded baked potato so you could leave out the chicken and use bacon.  Use your imagination for this dish.

Taco Casserole

This is a simple casserole that uses Rotel and taco seasoning.  You can heat this up by using the hot Rotel and/or hot taco seasoning.  I used the mild.  You can use just about any type of paste that you want.  I used elbow mac.  You can also use any cheese you want.  I used a Mexican blend.  The leftovers, if you have any, heat up quite well in the microwave and it also freezes well so you can double the recipe and freeze one. To view the full recipe go to Martha's Recipe Cabinet.