Neely's Mac and Cheese

I will totally admit that I am a Food Network junkie. I watch it most of the day (or it is on in the background while I work). Many of my favorite recipes have come from here like this one from The Neely's.

Photo courtesy of Food Network

This stuff is delicious! You will want to make this over and over again!

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk, warm
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Dash salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Dash hot sauce
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cups shredded Cheddar
• 1 pound cavatappi pasta, cooked al dente
• 1 cup crushed potato chips
• 5 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for topping

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt6 tablespoons butter in a large saucepot over medium heat. Add flourand cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Whisk in the warmed milk and bring toa boil, continue to whisk constantly. The mixture will thicken as theheat increases. Continue to stir while adding

the dry mustard, nutmeg, cayenne, salt, pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire. Stir in the 3 cups of Cheddar until it melts.

Pour the cheese sauce over the noodles and add to a 3 quart casserole dish.

Sprinkle the chips, bacon and Parmesan on top and bake for 35 minutes.

Pasta Pizza Bake

I meant to post this earlier this week when I made it, but time got away from me, so I am just now posting this recipe here.

I am one of those people who have to have a recipe in order to bake something most of the time. Stephen has been really encouraging me to use my culinary skills and just experiment sometimes. Well...here is my latest experiment!

I wasn't for sure what I was going to do but I had Penne Pasta, hamburger meat, pizza sauce, and mozarella cheese. I just started throwing things together and it turned out AWESOME!!!

Here is the recipe for you! Hope you enjoy.

Pizza Pasta Bake

1 box of Penne Pasta cooked accoriding to package directions
pizza sauce( recipe included here)
1 pound of hamburger meat cooked
1 cup or more of mozarella cheese
Pizza Sauce
(3) 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
3 teaspoons of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
3/4 teaspoon oregano
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 teaspoon onion powder
3 tablespoons of olive oil
(Combine all of these ingredients together and let them site for about 10 minutes until flavors mesh together)
*****
Mix together hamburger meat, cooked noodles, and pizza sauce. Pour into a casserole dish. Top with mozarella cheese and put in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes!
This tastes sooooo good!

This post is linked to Ultimate Recipe Swap.

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Bacon is always a winner in my house. When I found this recipe on the Hillbilly Housewife website, I knew it would be a winner!

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Ingredients:

8 oz of spiral pasta (egg noodles)

1 pound of ground beef

6 bacon strips cooked and diced

1 can tomato soup

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to directions.

2. In a skillet cook beef until done, and then drain and set aside.

3. Cook bacon in the same pan until crisp. Remove and drain. Set aside.

4. Drain pasta and add it to the skillet.

5. Add beef, bacon, and soup to the skillet.

6. Sprinkle with cheese and mix together until it has all melted.

7. Garnish with green onions and your favorite hamburger toppings!

This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Mexican Spaghetti

Here is the long awaited post on the Mexican Spaghetti! The night I made this I was low on everything, but I was bound and determined I was not going to the store. I really was trying to clean out my pantry and use all my stuff left over instead of buying unnecessary items.

This dish was really fabulous. Sometimes paring together ingredients that normally would not sound good together, make a wonderful taste combination and that is what took place here.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 (12 ounce) package spaghetti noodles, broken in half
• 5 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat.Cook chicken breasts in the oil until nicely browned on the outside.Remove from the skillet and set aside.
2. Add remaining oil to the skillet, and add the broken spaghetti. Cook,stirring constantly until spaghetti is browned. Drain off any excessoil, and add tomatoes and onion. Dice the chicken breasts, and returnthem to the skillet. Season with cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper.Pour in water, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat until pasta istender, and water has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Check towardsthe end, and add more water if necessary.
3. Spoon the chicken mixture into bowls to serve, and garnish with shredded cheese. 

You can find more recipes like this at one of my favorite cooking websites, All Recipes.



This recipe is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Fried Lasagna Bites

My family and I should have been Italian. We LOVE pasta. One of our favorite meals is lasagna. I think I could swim in a sea of it. Anyway, I was watching Food Network this week and Big Daddy's House was on. I love that show! He was making his rendition of lasagna, BUT he was frying it in little bite size pieces. This got my attention!

He mixed up his lasagna mixture of ground beef, cottage cheese, marinara sauce, and mozarella cheese. Hmmm-hmmm goodness! He stuffed all this in cooked manicotti shells, then dipped them and rolled them in bread crumbs and fried them. All I can say is OH MY GOSH! Check them out!



I decided not to use his rendition of lasagna, but my own. So here is this most delicious and tummy tempting recipe!

Fried Lasagna Bites

1 box of manicotti shells

1 lb ground beef

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (or homemade)

1 tub of cottage cheese

1 bag of shredded mozarella cheese

2 cups of bread crumbs

1 cup flour

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

1. 
   
   Cook manicotti shells according to package directions.
   
   
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Brown ground beef
   
   
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Pour in about 1 cup of sauce.
   
   
   
   
   
4. 
   
   Pour this into a bowl and allow to cool.
   
   
   
   
   
5. 
   
   Also allow manicotti shells to cool once removed from boiling water.
   
   
   
   
   
6. 
   
   After ground beef is cooled, mix cottage cheese and mozzarella together with ground beef mixture.
   
   
   
   
   
7. 
   
   Stuff into manicotti shells until completely full.
   
   
   
   
   
8. 
   
   Freze until firm and can be sliced into thirds easily.
   
   
   
   
   
9. 
   
   Once sliced into thirds, roll each section in flour, then dip into egg mixture, then roll in bread crumbs.
   
   
   
   
   
10. 
    
    Fry until golden brown.
    
    
    
    
    
11. 
    
    Use remaining spaghetti sauce as a dip for your bites!
    
    
    
    
    

If you decide to try this recipe, let me know!

Pasta Pizza Bake

I meant to post this earlier this week when I made it, but time got away from me, so I am just now posting this recipe here.

I am one of those people who have to have a recipe in order to bake something most of the time. Stephen has been really encouraging me to use my culinary skills and just experiment sometimes. Well...here is my latest experiment!

I wasn't for sure what I was going to do but I had Penne Pasta, hamburger meat, pizza sauce, and mozarella cheese. I just started throwing things together and it turned out AWESOME!!!

Here is the recipe for you! Hope you enjoy.

Pizza Pasta Bake

1 box of Penne Pasta cooked accoriding to package directions
pizza sauce( recipe included here)
1 pound of hamburger meat cooked
1 cup or more of mozarella cheese
Pizza Sauce
(3) 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
3 teaspoons of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons basil
3/4 teaspoon oregano
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 teaspoon onion powder
3 tablespoons of olive oil
(Combine all of these ingredients together and let them site for about 10 minutes until flavors mesh together)
*****
Mix together hamburger meat, cooked noodles, and pizza sauce. Pour into a casserole dish. Top with mozarella cheese and put in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes!
This tastes sooooo good!

Cream Cheese Noodles

Did you know that cream cheese can make just about any dish taste delicious? One of my husband’s favorite noodle dishes is so simple and easy to make!
Take a bag of egg noodles and cook them until they are done. Make sure to salt the water good so that the noodles have some flavor of their own.
Pour off most of the water leaving just a tiny bit in the bottom of the pan.
Cube up a block of cream cheese and place in the pot with the cooked noodles.
Mix together until cream cheese has melted. These are soooo good!

Cream Cheese Noodles

Did you know that cream cheese can make just about any dish taste delicious? One of my husband’s favorite noodle dishes is so simple and easy to make!
Take a bag of egg noodles and cook them until they are done. Make sure to salt the water good so that the noodles have some flavor of their own.
Pour off most of the water leaving just a tiny bit in the bottom of the pan.
Cube up a block of cream cheese and place in the pot with the cooked noodles.
Mix together until cream cheese has melted. These are soooo good!