Chicken & Pepper Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
3 c rigatoni, uncooked
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 each red, yellow, and green pepper, coarsely chopped
1 jar (24 oz) spaghetti sauce
2 oz cream cheese, cubed
1 c mozzarella cheese
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese














Directions:
1. Preheat oven 375*
2. Cook pasta as directed on package
3. Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, cook chicken














4. Add peppers; cook and stir














5. Stir in spaghetti sauce; simmer 8 minutes















6. Add cream cheese; cook and stir until melted














7. Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture. Toss to coat













8. Spoon half into 8 or 9 inch square baking dish. Top with 1/2 c mozzarella and 2 tbsp
Parmesan. Repeat layers


























9. Bake 20 minutes or until heated through.















Recipe courtesy of Kraft foods.

Saucy Pepper Steak

This is a great recipe I found in my Kraft foods magazine.

Ingredients:
Red, green, and yellow pepper-sliced
1/4 c red onion-sliced
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 c BBQ sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 lb sirloin steak-chopped
brown rice

Directions:
In a large skillet, sprayed with cooking spray, saute onions and peppers till heated through. Transfer to a bowl and cover to keep warm. Add steak, garlic and black pepper. Cook for 3 minutes. Add soy sauce. Cook another minute. Add BBQ sauce. Mix in peppers and onions and cook till warm. Serve with brown rice.

BBQ Chicken Salad

I love BBQ sauce...can you tell? I always post recipes with BBQ in the title! LOL! Tonight I made this delish salad. It was great because I prepped all the ingredients yesterday. So, tonight I just tossed them in two bowls and voila! Dinner is served!

Ingredients:
Chopped romaine lettuce
canned corn, drained
black beans, drained and rinsed
cucumber
tomato
red onion
cooked chicken (I used rotisserie...my fav!)
avocado
shredded Mexican cheese
BBQ sauce
tortilla strips
Ranch dressing

Directions:
I cleaned and prepared all the items above the night before and chilled in the fridge. I chopped up everything and put in separate containers. When ready to serve, I lined my large salad bowls with the lettuce. Then I added a few tablespoons of all the vegetables. Before I added the chicken, I mixed the chicken with the BBQ sauce. I topped the salads with the shredded chicken covered in sauce. Top with some cheese and the tortilla strips. Toss in Ranch dressing and drizzle BBQ sauce. Corn bread would make a nice side. I didn't have any tonight. So my hubby made a hot dog. :)

Recipe courtesy of Nicole Dygdon and Kristen Lezza.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

I love making BBQ chicken pizzas. They're quick and easy.















Ingredients:
Boboli Pizza Crust
BBQ Sauce
Shredded Mozzarella and Colby Jack cheese
Chopped cooked chicken
green pepper chopped
red onion chopped
cilantro

Directions:
I don't have any exact measurements. I just use the amount I like. Bake pizza according to crust's directions on package. I like using rotisserie chicken and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce.

I served the pizza with cut up cucumbers that I had marinating in Kraft's Classic Italian Vinaigrette dressing. Thanks to my sis-in-law Shannon for introducing this to me!

BBQ Ribs on the Grill with Hashbrown Casserole

Grilling ribs is super easy with this great recipe from Mary Rodgers. I LOVE ribs and this recipe is a definite must! My sis-in-law Shannon's hashbrown casserole makes a nice side dish as well. I like to serve with sweet corn on the cob from the farm stand.

BBQ Ribs on the Grill

Ingredients:
2 racks of Baby Back Ribs (I bought mine from Trader Joe's...much better than Jewel's)
BBQ sauce (we used Open Pit on one rack and Sweet Baby Ray's on the other)
foil

Directions:
Marinate ribs overnight in BBQ sauce of your choice in a zip lock bag. The next day, wrap ribs in foil and place on a cookie sheet. Bake 250 degrees for 3-4 hours. Drain grease and let cool. Grill immediately or place in fridge. When ready to grill. Grill for about 20 minutes, 10 each side. Bast ribs while grilling.

HBC:
1 2 lb bag of frozen cubed hash browns (thawed)
1 c sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 oz of shredded sharp cheddar (I just used 8oz of sharp cheddar since I didn't have colby)
4 oz of colby cheese
1 stick of butter sliced thin
1/4-1/2 c onion chopped
1/2 tbsp kosher salt-or to taste
1 c corn flakes or French's fried onions

Mix all together except corn flakes. Spread in a greased casserole dish 9x13. Bake at 350 degrees for 1-1/2 hours (longer if potatoes are thawed). Last 10 minutes cover with corn flakes or fried onions. (My potatoes were frozen and the casserole was done in 1.5 hours).

Colorful Chicken Casserole

This is the first recipe from the Taste of Home Freezer Pleasers cookbook I just bought. I love when I have a recipe to make ahead and freeze. The last thing I want to worry about when I get home from work is dinner! What is so great about a lot of these recipes are that you make enough for 2 batches. So you have dinner tonight and then you can freeze the 2nd one up to 3 months! I love it. I made this chicken casserole over the weekend and froze both batches. It was great to come home tonight with dinner already made.

Ingredients:
1 c chopped celery
1 c chopped green pepper
3/4 c chopped onion
2 tbsp butter
1 c chicken broth
1 c frozen peas
1 c frozen corn
1 tsp salt, optional
1/4 tsp pepper
3 c cooked chicken ( I used a rotisserie chicken)
1 package (7 oz) cooked elbow macaroni (I used wheat)
1 jar (4-1/2 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained (I omitted. Not a fan of mushrooms!)
1 c (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. In a large skillet, saute the celery, green pepper, and onion in butter until tender. Add the broth, corn, peas, salt and pepper; heat through. Stir in chicken and noodles. Divide between two 2-qt baking dishes coated with cooking spray. Top with mushrooms and cheese.

2. Cover and freeze one casserole. (I froze both since we had other dinner plans). Cover and bake the second casserole at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes longer or heated through.

3.To use frozen casserole: Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes longer or until heated through. Yield: 2 casseroles ( 4 servings each).

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake

I got this recipe from my sister's friend Meghan. It was super easy and so good. I made it for our Labor Day picnic with the family.

Ingredients:
Box of Oreos
1 gal mint chocolate chip ice cream
1 regular sized container of cool whip
Hershey's syrup

Directions:
Place all the Oreo cookies in a gallon ziplock bag. Crush with a rolling pin. Set a few tablespoons aside to sprinkle on top of the cake. Line a 9x13 baking dish with the crushed cookies. Then spoon the ice cream across the cookies. (**I actually made this right when I came home from the grocery store, so the ice cream was soft enough to spread.) I used the entire container of ice cream. Top with the entire container of Cool Whip. Spread to cover the ice cream. Drizzle Hershey's syrup on top of Cool Whip. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs. Freeze overnight.