Bowtie Lasagna

I found this recipe on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen website. It is my favorite thing to cook for my family right now - everyone loves it! 

Picture from PW's Tasty Kitchen Website

• 1 pound Ground Beef (I substitute with CHICKEN! 3 chicken breasts in the crock pot on LOW, with some water and Italian Seasoning. Start it in the morning so it's ready to shred at dinner time.) 
• 1 Box Bow Tie Noodles
• 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce (Make sure to use spaghetti sauce that you like - nothing random :)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• ½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or More, Make It To Your Taste)
• ½ cups Mozzarella Cheese
• ½ cups Sour Cream

If you're using ground beef, fry it in a small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.

If you're using chicken, shred into bite-sized pieces. 

After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce. 

Add your meat, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Really, the chicken made this dish go from awesome to amazing. I loved it with chicken - my 21 month old loved it, and my husband even liked it so much better than the ground beef. This is such an easy recipe and takes only 15 minutes to make! 

Lemony Poppy Chicken

This is my sister-in-law Stacy's recipe. I made it for the first time a few weeks ago and have made it two times since. It is extremely delicious and FLAVORFUL! Definitely one of my all-time favorites.

A word of advice: This is one of those dishes where you may want to prep first before you start. So measure all of your ingredients out Food Network style :) It's very easy though, I promise!

• 2-3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts cut into bite size pieces
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 Tbsp. Poppy Seeds
• Flour
• 2 Lemons zested, 1 juiced
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 Cup Chicken Stock

Heat up olive oil over high heat with 3-4 turns of the pan. While the skillet is heating up, toss chicken pieces in flour and coat evenly. Shake off any excess flour then add chicken to the hot skillet. Season the chicken liberally with salt, pepper and then lemon zest. Cook 8-10 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked through and brown. Mince the garlic and add to the pan during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Once the chicken has browned, add the chicken stock to the skillet. Once the stock is hot, add the butter and poppy seeds. Stir until the butter has melted and the sauce has thickened up a bit. Turn off the heat drizzle the entire pan with the juice of 1-2 lemons. Serve with rice and asparagus :)

Bengal Tiger Chicken

My sister-in-law Jewelia made this dish while I was visiting and it is just glorious! Taken from a local family cookbook.

• 8 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Tenders
• 1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 tsp. Curry Powder
• 1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs (Plain)
• 1 Cup Mayonnaise
• 1 Cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
• 1/3 Cup Melted Butter

Preheat oven to 350*. Place chicken tenders in a casserole dish. Combine soup, mayonnaise and curry. Pour over chicken. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes. Combine cheese and bread crumbs then sprinkle over chicken. Drizzle with melted butter and bake an additional 20 minutes.

Shrimp Scampi

• Frozen shrimp, peeled and deveined.
• 6 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
• Chopped Bundle of Green Onions (only the ends)
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 Tablespoons of Salted Butter
• 1 box Barilla Angel Hair Pasta
• Parmesan Cheese
  
  Thaw shrimp according to package directions. Bring large pot of water to boil and cook pasta for 4-5 minutes - al dente. Drain. In a pan, melt butter. Add shrimp and garlic - saute until shrimp are pink and garlic is translucent - you don't want to burn the garlic and if you cook the shrimp too long, they get chewy! Three minutes should be plenty. Take off heat and add green onions and tomato.

Put pasta in a serving dish and pour contents of pan over pasta - sprinkle parmesan cheese on top and enjoy!

Ritzy Chicken

• 4-6 Chicken Breasts
• 1 10 3/4 oz can of Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 1 pkg. Ritz crackers crumbs (1 tube)
• 2 T Poppy Seeds
• 1 cup melted butter, divided

Cook chicken breasts. Cut into bite sized pieces. Put in 9x13 glass baking dish. Mix cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and 1/2 cup melted butter. Spread over chicken. Cover with cracker crumbs and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Drizzle remaining melted butter on top. Bake uncovered, at 350 for 30 minutes or until hot.

*You can use less butter if desired.

*This isn't the healthiest meal so I wouldn't recommend eating it weekly - but it's VERY yummy and good on special occasions.