Cheesy Bacon Potato Bites

This recipe was adapted from a combination of my personal potato skin recipe and a recipe from allrecipes.com for something called cheese and bacon potato rounds. I had been making potato skins for awhile, but carving out the centers of potatoes and keeping them in tact made for a long, complicated task. And, although they were good, I didn't make them often due to all the work. These taste nearly exactly the same. They contain all the same ingredients, but are just on potato slices instead of skins. And, since the slices contain skin around the outside, you still get that taste too, but without all the hassle. These were so much easier, but turned out great. I will be making them this way from now on!

Cheesy Bacon Potato Bites

Ingredients

4 medium sized potatoes (more oval shaped than round)

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

6-8 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled

6 green onions, chopped

8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Onion powder

Directions

Slice potatoes into roughly ¼ to ½ inch slices.  Place on a baking sheet. Brush potato slices with melted butter. Bake at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Remove from oven. Sprinkle each potato slice with shredded cheese, then a little dusting of onion powder. Then, sprinkle on crumbled bacon and green onions until evenly distributed over all the potato slices. Return to oven and bake about 10 minutes or until cheese is well melted, and then serve.

Notes:

This will make about 25 potato bites, give or take a little depending on how big the potatoes are that you use. If you use potatoes that are large baking sized, you may need to increase the amounts of the other ingredients a bit so the toppings will cover them.

I like to serve these with a simple sour cream/ salsa dipping sauce. It is very simple. You just mix I cup of sour cream with one cup of salsa. It tastes amazing with these.

Barbecued Meatballs

Barbecued Meatballs

Meatballs

1.5 lbs. ground beef or chuck

1 cup fresh bread crumbs (I grind up bread in the blender)

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

2 Tbsp. minced onions

Mix above ingredients in a large bowl with hands. Roll into small balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with foil, and bake at 350 for 25-20 minutes.

Sauce

1 bottle of barbecue sauce

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup soy sauce

½ cup white or cider vinegar

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan, and cook medium to low heat until heated through.

Oven directions

When meatballs are finished cooking, remove from baking sheet and transfer to 9x13 baking dish. Pour sauce over top of meatballs. Return to oven for 20 more minutes. Remove and serve.

Slow Cooker directions

When meatballs are finished cooking, remove from baking sheet and transfer to slow cooker. Pour sauce over meatballs. Cook on low 2-3 hours and serve. 

Notes: This recipe makes only about 20-25 meatballs. If making for a party, it is a good idea to double the recipe or there will probably not be enough. I usually double it for any event I bring them too, and they are still usually completely gone.

You can also use the same recipe for the meatballs and just not make the barbecue sauce and serve them with marinara sauce instead. They are great this way with pasta or on a meatball sub sandwich.  When I do this, though, I usually add 1-2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning into the meatballs when I make them.

Spicy Chicken Taco Chili

I found a recipe similar to this recently, and I decided to tweak it and make it the way I thought it would be best. I tried it today and it turned out great. It looks like it will probably freeze well too, which is good for me because with it being just my husband and me, we can't always finish off a full pot of soup even with both eating leftovers. So, I like to freeze leftovers from something easy to grab for a packed lunch, or a quick dinner when I am not feeling like cooking.

Spicy Chicken Taco Chili

(Slow Cooker)

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 (16-oz) can black beans, drained

1 (16-oz) can kidney beans, drained

2  (16 oz) cans tomato sauce

1 (10 oz) can corn

2 (10 oz) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies

1 packet or 2 Tbsp taco seasoning

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp chili powder

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions:

Combine beans, onion, pepper, corn, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in a slow cooker. Add whole chicken breasts and cover. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in.

Chicken (or Turkey) Tetrazzini

I decided I should use the leftover turkey I froze after Christmas for something soon. I had been wanting to try to create my own chicken or turkey tetrazzini, and decided this was the time. It turned out to be a perfect use for the turkey, but would also work just as well with chicken.

Chicken or Turkey Tetrazzini

12 ounces spaghetti, cooked
2-3 cups of cut up, cooked chicken or turkey
1 (10 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup

1 (10 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
½ cup sour cream

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder
Pepper to taste
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
About ¼ cup parmesan cheese

In a large bowl, combine cooked spaghetti, soups, sour cream, butter, milk, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder , mozzarella cheese, and chicken or turkey. Stir together well and pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish, spreading out evenly. Top with parmesan cheese until covered. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

My husband and I love the Buffalo Chicken Wraps from Cheddar's, so I wanted to  make something like them at home. I made my first attempt tonight, and it turned out well. This is a pretty simple recipe, and it makes wraps that taste very similar to the ones we love from the restaurant.
This made four wraps, but the picture above shows one cut in half, so even a half of one is a decent amount. It was just the two of us, but we had some leftover.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Ingredients

4 (8 inch) flour tortillas

4  frozen breaded chicken strips or about 16 pieces of popcorn chicken

½ cup buffalo wing sauce

1 ½ cups of coleslaw mix from bag (or shred your own cabbage and carrots)

2 Tablespoons Miracle Whip

½ tsp. sugar

1 tsp. vinegar

Dill pickle chips

Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Cook chicken according to package directions. If using chicken strips, chop into bite sized pieces.

Pour buffalo wing sauce into a bowl, stir chicken into it, set aside.

In a small bowl, mix coleslaw mix, Miracle whip, sugar, and vinegar to make a coleslaw mixture.

Divide sauce-coated chicken pieces evenly into each tortilla. Top with coleslaw mixture in each tortilla. Sprinkle desired amount of cheese on top of that. Top with a few pickles. Roll each wrap, and slice diagonally down the middle for easier handling.

They are good served with ranch as a dipping sauce.

Spicy Thai Noodles

My husband, Scott, found the original for this recipe several years ago in a book called Vegetarian Meals for People on the Go. He made it for me when we were engaged, and over the years, we have adapted it some and made it our own. He made it for me yesterday for Valentine's Day. So, I decided to share our recipe on here.

Spicy Thai Noodles

Ingredients

1 lb. sesame noodles or thin spaghetti noodles*

1 large red bell pepper, diced

1 large green bell pepper, diced

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 large carrot, finely chopped

½ cup green onions, chopped

1 (4 oz.) jar chopped pimientos

1 cups roasted peanuts

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup sesame oil

½ cup peanut butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper

1 tsp. ground mustard

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions. While noodles are cooking, chop vegetables and put in a large bowl with pimientos and peanuts. Stir in the noodles. In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, sesame oil, peanut butter, brown sugar, crushed red pepper, and mustard.  Pour over noodles/ vegetables and toss well. Serve.

*I can never find sesame noodles anywhere, so I always just use spaghetti noodles, and it turns out pretty well.