Simple recipes

I have several go-to recipes that don't take a lot of ingredients that my family really likes.

Chicken Pot Pie

Pie Crust
For the pie crust, either buy a 2-pack of frozen pie crusts AND a 2-pack of frozen deep-dish pie crusts
OR you can make your own pie crust with a pie crust mix
OR you can make your own pie crust with flour, salt, butter, and really cold water. (2 C flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2/3 C butter, and 4 or 5 Tablespoons cold water)

Prebake pie crust as directed (8 or 10 minutes at 450 degrees F)
If you make pie crust yourself (it's cheaper to do and tastes better this way), you can just fill the bottom of the pie tin (I use a large casserole dish and make one big pie instead of two regular ones) with half the dough, and then bake a piece of dough about the size of the top of the casserole dish on a baking sheet and sit it on top of the pie after adding the filling.

Filling

1 can cream of mushroom (or whatever cream of X soup you have on hand)
1 can of chicken
1 can of veg-all (or bag of frozen mixed vegetables works too)
1 small or medium onion, chopped
1 large tablespoon of butter
Whatever other canned veggies you want to add in.
SEASONING, pepper, salt, garlic powder, Italian herbs (whatever you like to season food with)

Mix all filling ingredients together while pie crust is in the oven. Spoon filling into deep dish pie crust, add one last sprinkle of salt and pepper on top. Put top crust onto pie. Bake 30 minutes until heated through. Enjoy.

Potatoe Wedges

2.5 pound bag of potatoes
2 cups Flour
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Lots of seasoning:
Pepper
salt
italian herbs
parsley
garlic powder
whatever awesome seasoning you have around your kitchen that is spicy and delicious! Chicken seasoning salt works well also.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. Cut and peel potatoes. Cut into wedge shapes, or chip slices, or fries. Rinse potatoes in cold water. Put all other ingredients into a large ziploc bag. Shake to mix well. Melt several tablespoons of butter in a baking sheet. Add a few handfuls of potato strips into bag. shake until potatoes are covered with mixture. Put potatoes into the baking sheet with butter in it. Continue until you fill the baking sheet with a single layer (this may take more than one baking sheet to cook them all.) Repeat with remaining potatoes. Bake, uncovered, for 50-60 minutes or until crisp, turning once after 30 minutes.

These will smell AMAZING but if you don't put enough seasoning they will taste very bland.

Hot Sauce Chicken

3 lb bag of frozen chicken
1/2 bottle of Red's Buffalo Wing Sauce
1/2 a bottle of ranch dressing

Optional:
Can of corn, drained
Bag of tortilla chips
package of tortillas

Add all ingredients to crock pot. Cook on high for 5 hours. (when opening crock pot to check on food DO NO SNIFF OR LEAN IN, the hot sauce will BURN your eyes, nose and face! Relly has done this.) Shred chicken well. Stir in a can of corn if desired, it will add some texture and substance.

Best eaten out of a bowl, with tortilla chips, but can be eaten alone as well.
Leftovers are delicious rolled up in a tortilla and microwaved.

Baked chicken and vegetables

Bag of frozen chicken breasts
bag of baby carrots
5 or 6 potatoes
an onion
bag of frozen green beans, the long ones (Or use a bag of frozen broccoli, that works too)
aluminum foil
some type of liquid flavoring sauce (I used soy sauce and worstershire mixed together. you can really use any sauce you want to flavor it with)

Prep time, 20 minutes, cooking time, 90 minutes.

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Peel 3 or 4 potatoes and slice into thick slices. Cut onion into thick slices as well.

Rip off 1 square of aluminum foil for each serving.

Arrange potatoes in middle of foil about the size of a piece of chicken. Lay the chicken on top of the bed of potatoes. Put one or two slices of onion on top of the chicken, and then arrange carrots and green vegetable on top of that.

Spoon 5 or 6 tablespoons of liquid flavoring on top of the chicken.

Wrap aluminum foil around it, closing it completely. Put onto baking sheet.

Do this for each serving.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 60 - 90 minutes. Begin checking on the chicken at around 60 minutes to see if it is cooked through.

Remove from oven, and move all items to a plate. Throw away the onion (it's gross but adds a lot of flavor to the chicken) and serve.

This one was great the first time I made it, and then just OK the second time I made it. It doesn't use a lot of materials, and is pretty filling. It makes the potatoes taste great, normally I don't eat them. I've made it with the long green beans, and with broccoli. The broccoli ended up a little overcooked but the green beans were tasty. The chicken shrinks so you may have to make a few extra pieces just in case.

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

http://luluthebaker.com/2011/09/cheesy-vegetable-chowder.html

2 Tablespoons butter

1 chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped carrot 3 or 4 carrots

2 celery stick, chopped

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth

3 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup milk

2 cups chopped broccoli (1 family size freezer bag of broccoli florets)

2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese (3 cups of shredded cheese. Mozzarella is good too.) 

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes.  Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender.  Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened.  Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through.  Remove from heat. Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.

Pork Something!

Crockpot Brown Sugar Balsamic Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

• 
  
• 2 pounds Pork tenderloin
• 1 teaspoon Ground sage
• ½ teaspoon Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced Garlic
• ½ cup Water
• ½ cup Brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Cornstarch
• ¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar
• ½ cup Water
• 2 tablespoons Soy sauce

Instructions

1. Mix together the seasonings: sage, salt, pepper, and garlic.
2. mix the spices and water in the crock pot. add the meat, And swirl it around until the spices cover it. 
3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

1 hour before the roast is finished, mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a small sauce pan: brown sugar, cornstarch, balsamic vinegar, water, soy sauce.

Heat over medium and stir until mixture thickens, about 4 minutes.

Stir roast until meat is shredded like bbq, then pour all of the glaze over it, mixing it in. 

1. As I did not like the salty sweet glaze, I set some aside for myself before adding glaze, and continued cooking it on stovetop after adding dale's sauce and worstershire sauce. 

Teriyaki salmon

Ingredients

• 2 salmon fillets with skin (3/4 inch thickness; skin will hold the flesh together while cooking.)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. flour 
• ½ Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. sake (or dry sherry)

Seasonings

• 1 Tbsp. sake (or dry sherry)
• 1 Tbsp. mirin (or 1 Tbsp. sake + 1 tsp. sugar)
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
  
  

Instructions

1. Combine the ingredients for Seasonings and mix well until the sugar is mostly dissolved (or you can microwave for seconds). Rinse the salmon and pat dry. Season the salmon with salt and black pepper on both sides.
   
2. In a frying pan, add the olive oil and melt the butter over medium heat. Don’t burn the butter. If the flying pan gets too hot, reduce heat or remove from the heat temporally.
3. Add the salmon fillets, skin side on the bottom. Cook the salmon until it is cooked through.
4. Add the Seasonings to a separate pan and heat up. Add flour, slowly sprinkling and stirring it until thoroughly mixed.
   
5. When the sauce thickens, turn off the heat. Pour into a cup to put on the side, or spoon over the salmon. Plate the salmon and serve immediately.