Chicken Sausage Tortellini Alfredo

 

Chicken Sausage Tortellini Alfredo

I saw something similar on TikTok that was a 9x13 pan dump and bake recipe, but I was able to put a little more time into dinner tonight, so I decided to use a cast iron skillet.

Ingredients:

- 1 package chicken sausage chopped (I used 3 links)

- 1 bag frozen tortellini

- 1 small onion chopped

- 1 bottle alfredo

- a bit of olive oil, butter, Italian seasoning (1/2 tsp), jarlic (prob 2 tbs), pepper, red pepper flakes

- 1 tsp chicken Better Then Bouillon

- shredded mozz & parm. I honestly eyeballed it, maybe less then a cup of each?

While the tortellini was cooking, I just sauteed the onion and chicken sausage until it looked browned in some olive oil and like 1-2 tbs butter, it was just the end of a stick. Then I added a bunch of jarlic with the seasonings, and sauteed for a few minutes. I then added the jar of alfredo, then filled it halfway with water and added it to the skillet along with the bouillon. Then I topped it with the cheese and covered it for like 15 minutes and baked at 350. Then I broiled for 4 minutes and done! It was super good and flavorful, I'd definitely make it again. 

It was based off of @itsmesaramartinez on TikTok. She also added pumpkin to hers, which I personally would love but I know my husband would prefer no pumpkin so I left it out. 

Enchilada Casserole

 

Enchilada Casserole

I made BudgetBytes Not Refried Beans earlier this week, so we had a lot of beans to use. They are so good! So I thought I'd throw together an enchilada casserole. A casserole because it's much easier to do then rolling enchiladas while wrangling a 1 year old. Super good.

Ingredients:

- Corn tortillas, because that's what I had

- 1 lb ground beef, cooked with an onion then mixed with the 1/2 can chopped chilis

- 1/2 can green chilis, because I didn't want it too spicy for the baby

- Like 1 1/2 cups of the beans? I didn't measure

- Almost 2 cups of colby jack cheese

- 1 recipe of BudgetBytes enchilada sauce

I layered it like a lasagna, cooked at 350 for 30 min. I should have removed the foil and cooked it for another 10, but baby needed to go to bed, and husband can't help much because he just had surgery. You can top it with chopped onions, salsa, sour cream, hot sauce...whatever. Easy, quick and cheap. I've been making this sauce recipe for like a decade, it's so easy and delicious. I know it's even easier to open a can of sauce, but this tastes soooooo much better!

Click here for the Enchilada sauce recipe by BudgetBytes

Slow Cooker Cowboy Butter Chicken Orzo

 

Slow Cooker Cowboy Butter Chicken Orzo

I forgot to get a picture of dinner again, its crazy now that Linc is 1 in a week so I hardly have time to cook, let alone take pictures lol. 

I made this recipe exactly as written, and we loved it. Ethan said I definitely need to make it again. My slow cooker finished cooking the chicken around 2-2.5 hours, it was super fast. Then the orzo took 40 minutes. So good and so flavorful!

Click here for the recipe from The Everyday Cookbook

Pork Tacos

 

Pork Tacos

So this started out being Easy Pork Carnitas, but I kept not being able to make dinner because of the baby....so Craig ended up just smoking the meat with seasonings. I think he used a fajita seasoning and some sort of chipotle seasoning. It was really good! So I just made tacos with cheese, lettuce, cilantro, onions and Cholula Chipotle Cremosa sauce. Super good and flavorful!

Here is the recipe for Pork Carnitas from Damn Delicious that we were going to make 

Parmesan Garlic Spaghetti from Damn Delicious

 

Parmesan Garlic Spaghetti

Super easy and delicious of course! My husband loved it, but he said it wasn't super filling.....which was suprising with all the butter and carbs lol. Next time maybe I'll serve it as a side to some chicken, but he did ask me to make it again which is actually kind of a rare thing. But it is a Damn Delicious recipe and he seems to always love those. I made it as written.

The broccoli was just steamable frozen broccoli with some Kinders Woodfired Garlic seasoning.

Click here for the Parm Garlic Spaghetti Recipe

Parmesan Garlic Chicken with Tortellini and Veggies

 

Parmesan Garlic Chicken with Tortellini and Veggies

This was so good! I did do it a little differently because I was just cooking it on the stove and in the oven, rather then on a griddle like the recipe called for. I made the tortellini using the instructions on the package, and I cooked the veggies in the cast iron skillet after removing the chicken for all that extra flavor. Then I mixed the veggies & tortellini, and instead of Italian vinaigrette, I used some of the Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic sauce.

For the chicken I butterflied it then I sprinkled it with salt and pepper. The breadcrumb coating was a mixture of Texas Toast croutons, panko, and grated parmesan. I then browned it on both sides, added a slice of mozzarella and put it in a 400 degree oven for like 6 minutes. The chicken was thin so it was done early. I had forgotten to put the BWW sauce on before the breadcrumbs, so I just drizzled some on before I put it in the oven.

It was delicious, and my son loved it so much he pretty much ate all the chicken himself lol. My husband had a serving, he was it was okay. Like always lol. My son also ate most of the veggies the day after to!

Click here for the recipe from Cooking in the Midwest

The chicken was based on this recipe from Cooking in the Midwest

Cheesy Crockpot Meatball Pasta

 

Cheesy Crockpot Meatball Pasta

Super easy and delicious, a nice change from just my regular spaghetti recipe. Usually frozen meatballs aren't that great, but this brand was really good....we were impressed! The only change I made was I added an onion, because I had one already chopped. I liked that it was pretty much dump and go, without being too salty and generic like most easy crockpot recipes are.

Click here for the Cheesy Crockpot Meatball Pasta by Cooking In The Midwest

Low Calorie BLT Chicken Salad

 

Low Calorie BLT Chicken Salad

This was just a quick lunch idea that I just randomly threw together, ingredients are approximated. It was really good and I love having something that I can throw on some bread for lunches.

- 1 container already shredded rotisserie chicken

- 2 stalks celery, chopped

- 1/4 red onion

- 1 container cherry tomatoes

- 1 box already cooked bacon

- 1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt

- 1/2ish cup non fat mayo

- salt, pepper, dill

- I also added low sugar craisins to mine, but I didn't mix it in because no one else wanted them in theirs

Quick Honey Mustard Salmon with Power Grains and Broccoli

Quick Honey Mustard Salmon with Power Grains and Broccoli

I love this girls Instagram, she has super easy meals that just are low calorie and high protein. This dinner took like 15 minutes! Everyone liked it so I'll definitely make it again. I had never thought of just shaking seasoning in the broccoli bag before.

Click here for DevinSteeleDiatician on Insta

 

Lemon Parmesan Chicken & Rice

 

Lemon Parmesan Chicken & Rice

Huge portion for my teenager lol. This was really good. It reminded me of the chicken & rice recipe that my son loves. I made it almost as is, the only change I made was that I coated the chicken in the seasoning instead of putting it in the rice. I feel like it flavors the chicken more and there is plenty flavor with the rice. Oh yeah I also only used 1.75 cups of water, I think 3 cups would of been waaay to much since the rice was a smidge mushy even like that. But it was really good! I'd make this again. We served it with a bagged Caesar salad kit. I love lemon flavors and I think it would really be upgraded with a fresh herb like basil or parsley. 

Click here for the Lemon Parmesan Chicken & Rice recipe by The Clean Eating Couple

I gave some to my 6 month old (along with peas and carrots) and he didn't care for it. But to be fair it was too close to bedtime so he didn't want any real food, just to nurse lol.

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

 

Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Oh geez this is the worst food pic I've ever taken haha. My husband grabbed his bowl and I forgot to take a picture so I quickly snapped it. I guess the lighting was bad and I moved my phone away too quickly......oh well :) 

This was a wonderful recipe! The only thing I did differently was instead of fresh carrots, I threw in a bag of frozen peas & carrots after it was cooked (while the noodles cooked) because I had one already to use. I ended up using 2 chicken breasts and it was perfect. This was great since we had all the ingredients already, and my husband loved it. Definitely rotation worthy.

Click here for the Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup recipe by Jo Cooks

Sheet Pan Parmesan Garlic Chicken Thighs

Sheet Pan Parmesan Garlic Chicken Thighs

I didn't even get a picture of it plated because baby was being fussy. This was super good and it will go in our rotation! I liked how easy it was and everyone loved it. I made it exactly as written using Buffalo Wild Wings Garlic Parm sauce. I bought a bag of already chopped broccoli so the longest thing was quartering potatoes, and I really could just use my veggie chopper for that. 

Click here for the recipe from Cooking in the Midwest

 

Beef Stew with Potatoes

 

Beef Stew with Potatoes

This was so good! I basically followed the recipe by Pioneer Woman. I didn't have any turnips or parsley, and I used baby carrots since I had so much. I also just made instant mashed potatoes because I have a 3 month old and can barely cook lol. I also added a can of golden mushroom soup since I had it. We all loved it.

Click here for the Beef Stew with Potatoes Recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Beef Stroganoff & Air Fried Ranch Zucchini

 

Beef Stroganoff & Air Fried Ranch Zucchini

I've made this recipe a million times. It's easy, good and cheap so that's great lol. The zucchini was from the garden that I tossed in EVOO, garlic/pepper/ranch seasoning and air fried at 400 for like 6 minutes. 

Click here for the Beef Stroganoff recipe from BudgetBytes

Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet

Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet

I'm 9 months pregnant and we've been having all of our flooring replaced so I've hardly cooked lately. But there was no construction today and we had all the ingredients for this so I thought it was the perfect time. It's super easy, the most work is dicing the chicken. I've made this once before exactly as written, but this time I made a few changes to use up ingredients I already have. Instead of beans and corn I added a zucchini from the garden, and I used 2 cups of homemade salsa my husband smoked and made. I didn't have any queso fresco but I did have some shredded Monterey Jack cheese. The rice is also just the microwaveable cilantro lime rice pouch. The green onion is leftover from another recipe, if we didn't have any it still would have been tasty without it. The homemade salsa has so much flavor!

Click here for the Creamy Salsa Chicken Skillet recipe from BudgetBytes

 

Zucchini Corn Salad

 

Zucchini Corn Salad

I forgot to take a picture of this but it's super easy and delicious! I did make a couple of changes though. I switched out the feta for cotija since I have a bag and I'm not a huge feta fan. I also next time would use less oil, there really wasn't a need for that much oil. I also just air fried it at 400 until it started to brown because I don't know how to use Craig's grill lol.

My husband has been growing a lot of zucchini so we've been looking for recipes to use it up. I LOVE this and I'll definitely make it again!

Click here for the Zucchini Corn Salad recipe by Live Eat Learn

Hello Fresh Chicken Thyme with Zucchini Couscous

 

Hello Fresh Chicken Thyme with Zucchini Couscous

Hello Fresh sent some good coupons and I really needed a break from meal planning so I decided to resubscribe for a week. I know generally meal services like this are super expensive, but when they have good coupons it's 100% worth it. You don't have to find recipes, grocery shop....nothing. They send what you need and you don't have to think lol. Plus it's a good way to try new things you might normally try. We are pretty adventurous but there are recipes I would never normally choose so that's fun.

This was SUPER good! One of my top fav Hello Fresh recipes now. It made a lot of couscous but the chicken portions were kinda small, so I was worried it wouldn't be enough for my husband and teenager. We have a loaf of rosemary sourdough that I toasted with butter, garlic and parm for some garlic bread. It's perfect. The freshness of the lemon with the zucchini is so good. It actually called for way more lemon zest and lemon juice then I added, I thought it was plenty....maybe they gave us big lemons. The sauce/gravy is DELICIOUS, like I need to recreate it even without a subscription. 

Air Fried Chicken Tenders, Hatch Chili Goodles & Sauteed Zucchini with Onions

 

Air Fried Chicken Tenders, Hatch Chili Goodles & Sauteed Zucchini with Onions

Using lightly breaded chicken and high protein pasta really helps make it a bit healthier. It's 100 degrees today and I wasn't turning on the oven, and I didn't feel like cooking too much. I made the Goodles as the directions said, with the butter options. I've tried the regular mac & cheese flavor without the butter option and it was kinda dry and not that great. The hatch chili flavor is reallly good, and even my husband said it's "not bad" which is high praise for a healthier option like this lol.

I followed the directions for the tenders too, I think it was 390 for 10 minutes? It says on the bag. The sauce is just bottled Chick-fil-a sauce because that's always delicious. I was going to make a high protein dipping sauce but like it said, it's hot so I didn't want to spend to much time in the kitchen.

My husband planted some zucchini plants and we didn't even realize we had any growing until we found this giant one buried under some leaves! It's as big as my 40oz cup.

I pretty much followed this recipe by Well Plated, except I did add garlic because garlic good. 

Cheesecake Brookie Cups

 

Cheesecake Brookie Cups

    Ingredients:

- 1 roll of cookie dough

- 1 box of brownie mix (and the eggs etc needed on box)

- 1 tub of already made cheesecake

This was based off a few Tiktok's I saw, it's delicious!

Preheat oven to 350.

 Spray a regular sized muffin tin with baking spray. Slice the cookie dough roll into 12 slices. Lightly squish the cookie dough into the bottom of the muffin tin. Make brownie mix according to directions and dollop the mix into each muffin tin....hole? I feel like that's the wrong word. Then dollop a spoonful of cheesecake mix over the brownie/cookie mix. I think I used about 1/3 of the cheesecake tub. Grab a knife or toothpick and swirl the cheesecake and brownie mix together, it doesn't have to be perfect at all.

I baked it for 30 minutes but I was worried it wouldn't be done because there really wasn't a way to check, so I did 10 more minutes. It was perfect! My oldest and I loved it, my husband said they were fine and my youngest wouldn't try them. I'd definitely make them again though!

Potstickers with Spicy Kani Salad

 

Potstickers with Spicy Kani Salad

Normally when we have potstickers (just the frozen pork ones) I just make a bunch and we munch on that. But I saw this recipe for spicy kani salad that I wanted to make, so I thought it would make a good side for it!

I did make a couple of changes to the salad "dressing", I added some garlic and a bit of chili crunch with a half of a squeezed lime. I also topped it with cilantro because we had some to use up. It's very good! I'd definitely make it again, but I'd make the mayo base before hand so it has some time to meld and be a bit less mayo-e. The store only had a bigger bag of imitation crab meat and a giant cucumber, so I have enough to make another batch this weekend. 

Click here for the Spicy Kani Salad recipe from Al Dente Diva

Edit: so I made this again with a few changes and it's SO MUCH BETTER! I was almost out of mayo so I just used a little bit, and I subbed the rest with nonfat greek yogurt. I also added fresh squeeze tube ginger, some jarlic, and a bit of soy sauce. It's so much better without being full mayo, it's much more light & fresh tasting.