Recipe Round Up: January

I'm so excited to share my best recipes with you from this month.  I mentioned on Friday that I worked really hard this month to plan delicious meals for dinner, eat leftovers for lunch and to try a mix of old & new recipes.  It was a great success and we ate well all month.  I picked six of my very favorite recipes to share with you today.  It was great to cook big dinners and eat left overs for lunch all month.  It made lunch prep so easy for me.

Hope you find a new recipe or two you'd like to add to your menu:

BAKED SPAGHETTI
 My husband is not a fan of pasta dishes and rarely requests them.  I, however, could eat pasta for every meal.  So this dish is our compromise.  We both love it and it's soooo easy to make.

1/2 box angel hair pasta cooked
1 lb ground chuck browned
(with chopped yellow onion, grated garlic, salt & pepper)
 1 large jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1 2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
6-10 slices swiss cheese

Put the half of the cooked pasta in a greased casserole dish, stir in half of the cooked ground beef mixture.  Stir together until well combined and spread out in the dish.  Pour in about a cup of pasta sauce and spread around.  Add in the layer of swiss cheese slices.
Repeat the noodle/meat/sauce mixture one more time and put on top of the sliced cheese.

Top whole thing with shredded mozzarella.
Bake at 375 until cheese is fully melted and then turn on the broil feature for 1-2 minutes to put a crisp on the cheese.  Heat the remaining pasta sauce on the stove and add a little more to the servings as you dish them up.  It's easiest if you use a sharp knife and cut this like you would lasagna.

This recipes easily serves 6-8 people and is delicious left over.
We ate ours with strawberries and green beans.

CHICKEN SUMMER SALAD

(recipes serves two dinner sized salads)
bed of your favorite greens
2 cups bite sized strawberries
1 can drained mandarin oranges
1 can shredded chicken coated in poppy seed dressing
handful of almond slivers for each salad

 This salad takes likes summer and brightens up dinner anytime you eat it!!


QUESADILLA EXPLOSION SALAD
(a knock off from the salad at Chilis)

Finely chop and combine the following ingredients several hours before serving the salad:
SALSA INGREDIENTS:
1 green pepper
1 handful of little red/yellow/orange sweet peppers
1 drained can yellow sweet corn
1 drained can white corn
2 drained cans black beans
1/2 purple onion
3/4 cup finely chopped purple cabbage
1/2-3/4 cup Zesty Lime Vinaigrette

Side note:
This salsa makes a delicious dip all by itself and we ate it for lunch several days.

Bake the chicken for the salad.
I love the frozen, boneless, skinless, THIN chicken breasts from Kroger
(cook one per person or you could do 4 and have the chicken ready for two dinners in a row)
I put them in a baking dish frozen.
Sprinkled them with Ortega taco seasoning on both sides and then olive oil.
Baked for 45-60 minutes covered with foil for 30 or so of those minutes.
Then sliced them into bite sized pieces.

 Assemble the salad:
a bed of your favorite mixed greens
many generous spoonfuls of salsa
add cooked chicken
sprinkle on thick shredded cheese
crumble some tortilla chips on top for a little crunch
drizzle with an Asian Sesame dressing and/or a tiny bit of ranch

Serve with cheese quesadilla slices on the side.
It's one of my very favorite salads and isn't it so pretty :)

CHICKEN & RICE COMFORT FOOD 
My mom used to make this for dinner regularly when I was little.  We tease her that we used to eat it once a week.  It's tasty, easy and is the perfect comfort food when it's cold.

1 chicken breast per person
1 box of Rice-a-roni chicken rice
1 can of chicken broth
salt and pepper
cheddar cheese to top each chicken breast
recipe serves 4-5

Grease a 9x13 pan
add in the rice & flavor packet
pour the chicken broth over the rice
top with chicken breast (I usually just use frozen, boneless, skinless ones)
sprinkle salt and pepper on each chicken breast
Cover whole dish with foil and bake at 350 for one hour.

Remove the foil, sprinkle on the cheese and return it to the oven to melt it for 4-5 minutes.
Serve with mashed potatoes and green beans.
The leftovers are delicious and make great lunches.

 
EASY CHICKEN STIR FRY 
Kevin picked up this Thai Basil stir fry sauce on clearance so I was anxious to find a recipe to use it on.  I probably would never buy a sauce like this so it's good that he's more of an adventurous eater than I am.  We loved it and it made my stir fry prep so easy!

1 bag Deluxe Asian frozen veggies
1 cup edamame
1 can shredded chicken
1-1 1/2 cups of stir fry sauce
2 bags of boil in a bag white rice

Cook the veggies and chicken together on the stove top and add the sauce.
Cook the rice and then serve.
It comes together really quickly and was so good.
We ate ours with a side of fresh pineapple and the leftovers were good too.

 PEANUT BUTTER GREEK YOGURT SNACK DIP

1 - 5oz container vanilla greek yogurt

3 T your favorite peanut butter

small handful of mini chocolate chips

Dippers - apple slices & pretzel sticks 

Mix the greek yogurt and the peanut butter together until well blended.  

Add in the chocolate chips and start dipping! 

Makes 3-4 servings.

I'm teaming up with

Whitney @ Come Home for Comfort - January's New Recipes

&

Katie @ Cup of Tea - Menu Monday New Recipes to Try

 in a RECIPE ROUND UP of our best meals of the month.

Head over to their blogs to see what delicious meals they've been preparing.

We've also started a Pinterest Board called
New Recipes We've Tried and Loved!
Be sure to check it out and get some great ideas for meals at your house.

Follow Whitney's board New Recipes We Tried And Loved! on Pinterest.


 I'm also linking up with Momfessionals for her Recipe Club

What's the best recipe you made this month??

Leave a comment below with a link to it 
because I'm always on the hunt for new recipes.