Velveeta Rotel Dip

Happy New Year Everyone! I apologize for slacking off in January, I’ll try to get better! I’m starting back the new year with an easy, go-to appetizer. I thought this would be appropriate since it's Super Bowl Sunday too. I was hesitant to blog about the best cheese dip of all time because I thought everyone knew how to make it, but apparently I was wrong. I was surprised when a friend of mine had never tasted nor made this delicious Velveeta Rotel dip. What? How can that be? I thought this was a world-wide treat. Is that not so?? It would be an injustice if I didn’t share this with everyone I can. I am here to spread the good news of Velveeta cheese, combined with Rotel tomatoes and sausage! Shout this recipe from the mountain tops! Okay, maybe you don’t have to get that extreme, but please make this and share with your friends. We need to get the word out and let everyone know what goodness you can create in a bowl within minutes! Here’s what you need:

 

16 ounces of Velveeta cheese – don't roll your eyes at my fake cheese, it’s delicious

1 can Rotel tomatoes

8 ounces ground sausage

(P.S. Velveeta nor Rotel is paying me for this blog)

How cute is that tiny Velveeta?? The store was out of 8 oz so I had to buy two 4 oz. So cute.

 

That’s it! Three ingredients. How awesome is that? Oh, you will want some chips for dipping. I recommend scoops! You can get more cheese goodness with each bite.

 

Directions:

 

Brown sausage in a pan – it’s that easy.

 

Cube Velveeta and place in microwave safe bowl. Pour entire can of Rotel over cheese, juices and all.

 

Microwave for 2 minutes, remove and stir. Once sausage is cooked, drained and add to microwave safe dish.

 

Microwave everything together for 2 more minutes, stir and enjoy. If you still have some cubes of Velveeta, just keep microwaving for a minute at a time until it’s hot and bubbling. You can also choose to serve this in a small crock pot to keep it warm. It cools down pretty quickly.

 

Now grab a chip, scoop up some dip and enjoy! Taste test and choose your chip wisely. It's the most important tool used to get cheese dip to your mouth!

 

Isn’t that the best and easiest appetizer you’ve ever seen? If you already know about this dip, just pretend like this is the best thing you’ve ever read. Thanks for playing!

 

Share with friends and Enjoy!

Paula Deen's Goulash - Delish!

 

If this isn’t comfort food then I don’t know what is! Paula Deen can cook! People might want to make fun of her for her love of butter and saying y’all, but Y’ALL, that woman has some mighty fine recipes! And believe it or not, they don’t all contain a stick of butter. This one doesn’t and I made a little healthier version by using ground turkey instead of beef. You can use which ever floats your boat.  The name “goulash” doesn’t sound very appealing, but you can get passed that like I did. I ran across this recipe while I was looking for something else and the picture stopped me in my tracks. It looked so delicious….and boy was it ever! As I started reading the recipe I may have started drooling a little bit. I love every ingredient in this recipe, how could I not try it? Clearly that was going to be impossible. The day I found the recipe, I made it. My husband just keep saying, “this is so good”, “this is really good”, “this is so flavorful”.  Well he’s right. This recipe is so delicious and full of so much flavor. Now we are a bit of sissy’s on the hot sauce category so I backed ours down a bit. I read the reviews and a lot of people said it was too hot for them. You could start with 1 Tablespoon and add a little more after it cooks and you can taste it. Remember, you can add hot sauce as you go, but you can’t take it out. This makes such a huge recipe, I’d hate for you to ruin it all by making it too hot…..season with caution. Now let’s get started on this bad boy so you can make it tonight too!

 

Ingredients:

·         1 tablespoon olive oil

·         2 lbs lean ground beef or ground turkey

·         1 large Vidalia onion, chopped

·         1 red bell pepper, chopped

·         4 cloves garlic, chopped

·         3 cups water

·         1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce

·         2 (14.5 oz) cans fire roasted tomatoes

·         2 teaspoons dried basil

·         2 teaspoons dried oregano

·         3 tablespoons Paula Deen Hot Sauce – I cut this back to 1 tablespoon

·         1 teaspoon garlic powder

·         2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked)

·         kosher salt, to taste

·         black pepper, to taste

·         parsely, to taste

 

Directions:

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the beef, and brown for 10 minutes, breaking up with the back of your wooden spoon as you stir. Add the onion and bell pepper and continue to cook, while stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes.

 

Add all the remaining ingredients, except the macaroni, and cover with a lid, and simmer for 20 minutes. At this point I started second guessing my pot choice. Not so sure 3 cups of water and pasta will fit in here. Hmmmm.....what to do???

 

Stir in the macaroni, cover with the lid, and simmer for another 30 minutes. Let's pretend you don't notice that I had to get my husband to help me pour everything into a larger pot.

 

Let mixture stand for 20 minutes before serving. Try to be patient. This is a good time to make some cheddar biscuits or garlic bread. You definitely need bread with this comfort meal. Garnish with parsley.

 

Come on, how delicious is this looking??

Enjoy one bowl, then go back for seconds…..like we did. I hope y’all enjoy this as much as we did. I think you will.
 

Italian Chicken & Pasta Bake

You might have noticed that I love pasta with red sauces. I love them both dearly! I can't live without my carbs! When my friend, Paula Deen, tweeted me this recipe, I had to give it a try. It sounded like a chicken lasagna, but without the fuss of lasagna noodles, which caught my attention. Who doesn't love lasagna, right? If you don't, something must be wrong with you! It wouldn't be a Paula Deen recipe without butter, but I substituted olive oil and will do so in the recipe below. I made this for dinner tonight and we both loved it! We both went back for seconds and I think David went back for thirds, but don't tell him I told you that. Let's get cooking....

Ingredients:

3 T olive oil
 1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 (16-ounce) package bow tie pasta, cooked according to package directions and kept warm. I used tri-color because they were pretty.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In a very large skillet, add olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes or until onion is tender.

Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Stir in milk, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce; cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Stir in chicken, 3 cups cheese, salt, pepper, and sugar. Stir in pasta. Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish; sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  This made a very large casserole! We'll be having left-overs tomorrow.

Doesn't that look like a yummy dinner? It was! Be sure to serve with some nice crusty bread. Delish. Enjoy!

Wilted Spinach w/Tomatoes & Basil

 

I’m always looking for a quick side dish for weeknight meals. Cooking fresh is a plus so when my friend , Giada, taught me how to make wilted spinach with tomatoes that was perfect! Thank goodness girlfriends share recipes. What would I have done without my girlfriend? Thank you Giada! This recipe was quick and easy and full of flavor. I had no idea that I liked spinach so much until I actually started cooking it. Don't try to make me eat it raw though, that's not going to happen! If you haven’t given spinach a try, this is the dish to start with. Did I mention how quick and easy it was too?? I threw this together in minutes and it really adds to your weeknight meal. It makes it look like you put a lot of effort into perparing dinner, but you didn't really have to.......so fresh and flavorful too! Let’s get to it.....

 

Ingredients:

 

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large or 2 small shallots, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 pound fresh spinach leaves
1/2 teaspoon each kosher salt, black pepper
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
fresh Parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and cook for 2-3 minutes, until soft. I didn't have shallots so I used a small onion. It was still delish!

Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds, until aromatic. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.

In batches, add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the balsamic vinegar and basil. Simmer 1 minute more and serve. I opted to grate some fresh Parmesan cheese. It only makes it better! Enjoy!

Slow cooker Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

If you know me, you know one thing I love is Tomato Basil Soup! I haven't found a great one to make, but Panera makes a mighty fine one for me to eat. They serve it with a warm whole wheat baguette and I'm in heaven. Oh, or Nordstrom's Cafe'. They have a delicious Tomato soup served with little cheese crostinis, but you have to ask for more than one. They are stingy with their crostini. Okay I'll try to snap out of it and get back to MY delicious recipe......I've been looking for a good tomato soup recipe and I believe I've found it. And who doesn't want a soup that cooks in the crock pot?? No watching and stirring and hoping it doesn't burn. Just dump it all in and come back in a few hours. Now that's my kind of soup! And it's tomato soup, my absolute fav!

Okay, let's see if this sounds yummy to you too....

Ingredients:

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes, with juice (I used the cans with oregano and basil included)
1 cup finely diced celery
1 cup finely diced carrots
1 cup finely diced onions
1 tsp dried oregano or 1 T fresh oregano
1 T dried basil or 1/4 cup fresh basil
4 cups chicken broth (homemade if you have it, which of course I did) 1 bay leaf
½ cup flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
½ cup butter
2 cups half and half, warmed (or skim milk if you’re trying to cut some calories. I split the difference and used one cup half and half and one cup skim milk)
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper

Makes about 2 quarts (about 8 servings)

1. Add tomatoes, celery, carrots, chicken broth, onions, oregano, basil, and bay leaf to a large slow cooker.

2. Cover and cook on LOW for 5-7 hours, until flavors are blended and vegetables are soft.

3. After veggies are soft enough, remove bay leave and emulsify with a hand blender. I just stuck mine in the crock pot and went to town. If you prefer your soup a little chunky, then skip this step, but I didn’t want my tomato soup to look like vegetable soup. And if you don’t have a hand blender, throw it in a blender or food processor until blended.

Before I blended up the veggies.

4. About 30 minutes before serving prepare a roux. Make a roux might sound difficult, but it was really quick and simple. Melt butter over low heat in a skillet and add flour. Stir constantly with a whisk for 5-7 minutes. Slowly stir in 1 cup hot soup. Add another 3 cups and stir until smooth. Add all back into the slow cooker. Stir and add the Parmesan cheese, warmed half and half, salt and pepper. Add additional basil and oregano if needed (the slow cooker does a number on spices and they get bland over time, so don’t be afraid to always season to taste at the end). I added another teaspoon of dried basil and also added about 10 chopped fresh basil leaves. Also, nice to garnish with fresh basil.

5. Cover and cook on LOW for another 30 minutes or so until ready to serve.

Garnish with fresh basil and enjoy! You know what would go well with this soup??? The garlic knots. Delish!

Hearty Veggie Soup

It’s getting colder so it’s getting time for some great soup recipes! We love good soup around here! Well, who likes bad soup?? I’ve already made chicken noodle soup, the hubby’s favorite, now time for my favorite, a yummy veggie soup with pasta. Mmmm....mmmmmm.....good. This really is a great recipe. It’s very hearty and healthy. What’s better than that, right? Thanks again to Pinterest I found the start of a good recipe. I found a couple of recipes that I liked, combined a few ingredients, added a few of my own and viola, you have the perfect veggie soup recipe. You are so welcome. I am here to make things easier on you. This is your one stop blog for the best recipes ever! Yes, I am just a bit prejudiced on that. Can you blame me though? I’ve really made some yummy things. I’m not bragging. Trust me, I’m still amazed that  I even attempted some of these recipes! If I did it, you can do it too. Want to know how to make a delicious vegetable soup?? Let’s get started:

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons olive oil

4 carrots, finely chopped

4 ribs celery, finely chopped

1 onion, diced

2 zucchini, diced

3 – 14 oz cans diced tomatoes

4 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups chicken stock

1 Tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

1 Tablespoon thyme

2 bay leaves

handful fresh parsley

2 cup pasta shells

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound ground turkey

Directions:

Brown turkey in a separate pan. While meat is browning, in a large pot, over medium heat, cook onions, celery and carrots until soft. Put the lid on and cook about 20-30 minutes (that’s how long it took mine to get good and soft). We want those veggies to get good and soft. Remember, no crunchy veggies in our soup!

Such a pretty veggie medley

Add zucchini and garlic and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until squash is soft.

Stir in rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper and stir. Add can tomatoes, meat and chicken stock. Bring to a boil then simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.

How pretty does that look??? Yummers!

Add pasta, cook about 10 minutes or until pasta is done.

Add fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

You can also make this soup without the meat and it will be just as delicious. I needed to add the meat for the hubby. He might wonder what’s up if I serve him a meal without meat! :-)

Dawn's Awesome Marinara Sauce

That's right, I named this DAWN'S Awesome Marinara Sauce because it's MY recipe. I wrote it. Are you impressed? Well, I am! Wait, does this make me a cookbook author now?? I think it does. Remind me to add that to my resume' later.

Okay, one of the many things that I love is pasta with red sauce! I love it, I can’t get enough of it, but I had never made it from scratch until recently. The jar was always my friend. I know, I should be ashamed, but I’m not! My husband’s Aunt Joanne makes the best homemade sauce. When she comes down for a visit she and her sister, Sue (my mother-in-law) cook lots of sauce and jar it with her delicious meat balls so we all have lots in the freezer. Well, since Aunt Joanne can’t come down all the time and for some reason she hasn’t tried to ship this to me, I’ve had to come up with my own recipe. I’ve tried one of Rachel Ray’s recipes and tried to recreate Aunt Joanne’s but it just hasn’t been perfect. So I got in the kitchen and kept adding things until I thought it tasted perfected and here’s what I came up with. I’ll have to admit, it’s pretty darn good sauce. I’m still mastering it so don’t be surprised if this recipe changes from time to time.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped finely

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup white wine or chicken stock

3 Tablespoon tomato paste

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 Tablespoon dried basil
I Tablespoon dried or fresh parsley (if using fresh, add a little more)

1/4 c (plus) fresh chopped basil
1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 cans (28 oz each) crushed tomatoes

Grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions

Add olive oil to pot or dutch oven, heat and sauté onion for 3-5 minutes. When onions have softened add garlic and continue to sauté for another minute or so.

Deglaze with white wine or chicken stock. After most of the liquid has absorbed, add 3 T of tomato paste (the tube is the best invention ever), red pepper flakes, salt and all dried herbs. 

Best invention ever!

Stir and add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes and bay leaves. Put lid on and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour. If you have an hour to spare, go for it because they just gives the flavors more time to marry and become even more delicious. Right before the sauce is finished, add the fresh basil, stir in sauce, but save a little for garnish. I think the sauce tastes brighter if you throw in some fresh basil at the end, but don't worry if you don't have it. It is still going to be delicious!

Now let's simmer for an hour or so.

Now I don't usually just serve the sauce, I need some meat in there somewhere. Luckily I had a few of my special meatballs in the freezer so I added those to the sauce while it simmered for an hour. I'll write that recipe another day. You can also add ground beef or turkey, but one of our favorites is to add Italian sausage links. Yummers!

Doesn't it look delicious after it's simmered for over an hour??

Serve the way you like it best over pasta and enjoy!

Delicious Jambalaya

Okay, this is one of my all-time favorite dishes! I know, I know, I say that a lot, but I have been making this one for many years thanks to a friend of  mine (Susan). We lost touch for a few years, I lost the recipe in a move, so no more jambalaya for me! I’ve been sad about this for many years and couldn’t find just the right recipe. I like my jambalaya with lots of tomato flavor and this one was just the perfect combination of that. All I could do was dream of it…..until she found me on Facebook! Thank you Facebook and thank you Susan for finding me. Of course, it’s great to be back in contact with her, but it’s awesome to have my jambalaya recipe back in the cookbook! What a sweet reunion.

There is a good deal of chopping in the recipe so make sure you have the time when you start making it. You can really use whatever meat you like, but I love this one with a combination of shrimp and kielbasa. You could use also use ham or chicken, but if I were you, I’d stick with the shrimp and kielbasa.

Sorry I don’t have pictures to show you the process. I was so excited to be making it again that I just took one when I was finished and as you can see, I didn’t do a great job with that either. I’ll be making this again soon so I’ll update this post with more pics.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup each chopped onion, green onions, celery
3/4 cup green pepper, diced (I like using red or yellow peppers)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
2 cans stewed tomatoes, chopped (I used the ones with italian seasonings added)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp each pepper, cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1 cup uncooked rice
1 bag of frozen shrimp (about 25-30 medium)

1/4 lb kielbasa or cooked, diced ham

Directions:

Heat butter in large heavy skillet over low heat. Stir in onions, celery, green pepper, kielbasa (or ham) and garlic. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until onions are tender. Stir in broth, tomatoes, parsley and seasonings. Cover. Bring to a boil. Add rice gradually, stirring with fork. Simmer, covered for 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Mix in shrimp. Cover. Simmer for 5 minutes longer. Yield: 6-8 servings.

This is such a flavorful dish. I’m sure you are going to love it. I usually double the thyme and garlic because I like tons of flavor so you might want to start off with the correct amount, taste and decide for yourself.

Delish!

Yellow Squash, Zucchini & Feta Casserole

One of my favorite casseroles ever! I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, made a few changes, threw on some feta, and now it’s perfect! I LOVE squash, especially the ones picked fresh from my daddy’s garden. They just taste better. I love yellow and zucchini squash so this recipe was right up my alley. Well, to even take it further, I love tomatoes cooked in anything and feta is my favorite cheese so this just got even better when I threw the the feta on top. This casserole has all of my loves, so it is perfection!

This is easy to assemble, just like a vegetable lasagna. I slice the vegetables length-wise, but you can certainly slice them any way you’d like. It will still taste delicious. My dad made this and added a layer of Vidalia onion. That’s probably pretty tasty too. Feel free to throw that on if you’d like.

Here’s what you need to get started:





Nice size squash, right?? Thanks Terry.



• Ingredients

• 2 medium yellow squash
• 2 large zucchini
• 2 large tomatoes, sliced
• 2 cups grated Italian blend cheese (or really whatever you like)
• 1/2 cup butter, divided
• 2 T Italian seasoning
• 1/4 c feta cheese (or really how ever much you’d like. Sometimes I use more because it makes me happy)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Cut the zucchini and squash into long, thin layers. Lightly grease a 7x11-inch baking dish and layer the squash, zucchini, and tomatoes into the baking dish.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and add pats of butter between each layer of vegetables, and season each layer with salt, ground black pepper to taste, and Italian seasoning.

Continue this layering process until all the vegetables are used up and top this off with the remaining butter and grated cheese and feta.

Cover and bake at 375 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes, or until vegetables are to desired tenderness and cheese is melted and bubbly.

Take off lid during the last 10 minutes so the cheese will brown.

Looks yummy, doesn't it??

Now all you have to do is eat and enjoy!

Pasta w/ Sausage and Goat Cheese

 

Another mighty fine pasta dish! I won’t say it’s my all time favorite since I said that in the last blog, but this is a pretty delicious dish. Would I really blog about it if it wasn’t delicious?? No! I believe this recipe came out of a Redbook magazine. I ripped the page out at the doctors’ office. They don’t mind at all. That’s what the magazines are there for, right?  I most likely saved a few people from getting sick by taking the page. Those magazines are nothing but an incubator full of germs. You are welcome to those I saved. Please mail your co-pays directly to me or send to my paypal account.

 

I made this dish using spicy Italian sausage, but the recipe suggested spicy chorizo. I might try it with chorizo eventually, but I usually have Italian sausage in the freezer so that’s all I’ve tired so far. Use whatever floats your boat. I don’t think you can go wrong with this combination. This dish has fresh veggies, pasta and goat cheese. How bad can that be???

 

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

 

1 Tbsp olive oil

4-5 links of sausage

1 cup chopped red or yellow onion

8 oz of pasta (I used whole grain spaghetti)

4 cups loosely packed baby spinach, trimmed of stems

2 tomatoes, cored, chopped (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup dry red wine

4 oz goat cheese crumbled (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

2 Tbsp dried oregano

6 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

1/4 tsp each of sea salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Directions:

 

In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add sausage (casing removed and cut into pieces) and onion and cook, stirring until sausage is cooked through and onion is translucent.

 

 

Meanwhile, heat a large pot of salted water to boiling. Stir in pasta and cook until al dente, 8-9 minutes (or according to package). Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of pasta water. Transfer pasta to skillet with sausage and onion.

 

 

 

Over medium heat, add spinach, tomatoes, wine and enough of the pasta water to make the pasta slippery. Cook, stirring 1 to 2 minutes until spinach is wilted and ingredients are warmed through.

 

 

Remove from heat; stir in goat cheese, parsley, oregano, basil, salt and pepper.

 

 

Serve warm and enjoy!