Light & Simple Hash Brown Casserole

My family is lightening our eating habits, so with the Independence Day holiday and all of the cookouts, I decided our contribution had to be lighter.  I took one of our favorite pitch in dishes, Hashbrown Casserole and put a light and Tastefully Simple spin on it. I live doing that!  Below is the resulting recipe.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
One can of condensed lower sodium cream of mushroom soup
One 2 cup bag of 2% milk fat shredded cheese blend
One tub of light sour cream
1/4 cup diced onion (or Onion Onion, whatever you have)
One tbsp Garlic Pepper Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
One bag of frozen shredded hash browns
One cup of bran flakes, crushed
One tbsp light butter or margarine (whatever you have), melted

Preheat your oven to 400°. 

Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine first six ingredients.  Add frozen hash browns a little bit at a time until all incorporated.  Spread in the casserole dish and top with bran flakes.  Drizzle with butter.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly.  Serve warm.  This could totally be made ahead and would be even better if made the day before you bake it.  Soooooo yummy!

Barbeque Tips

I found this on Pinterest and thought I would share for this grilling season.  Happy grilling!

Chipotle Shredded Chicken

I made this for a Cinco de Mayo pitch in at work.  Oh goodness was it yummy and everyone loved it! 

Ingredients:
1 packet of Chipotle Beer Marinade
1 bag of frozen chicken breasts, boneless
1 can of beer, your choice
1 can of water, use the beer can

Add beer, water and Chipotle Beer Marinade to a slow cooker.  I recommend using a liner as this does make a bit of a mess of the sides of your crock.  Add your chicken and toss to coat.  Cover and cook on low 8 hours or overnight which is what I did.  Remove the chicken, shred and remove any icky pieces (technical term, haha). Skim the liquid or strain to remove any of the floaties (also a technical term).  Save stray pieces of chicken.  Combine the shredded chicken and liquid.  Serve in burritos, tacos, nachos, etc.  This made enough for at least 20 people to have a taco or two.  I don't quite know exactly how many servings. 

Easy Chicken Soup

Hubby was feeling under the weather and didn't want canned, condensed soup, so i made him some homemade.  It doesn't require much work and is good on the tummy.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed small
3 cartons of chicken broth (I used 2 reduced sodium and one regular)
Bag of dried egg noodles

In a soup, stock pot or dutch oven, bring the broth to a boil.  Add chicken cubes and cook until they float.  Once they have floated, add half or so of the noodles.  Add more if you want more.   Cook and stir for approximately 9-10 minutes.  Serve with saltines or oyster crackers.

Serves many!  Freeze what you don't eat now.  Easy weeknight dinner!

Helpful Kitchen Tip

Check out this cool tip:

Fiesta Chicken Layered Enchiladas

This is a recipe in the Tastefully Simple Tonight Collection (item #100816).  I made it as a Serve It Tonight recipe, but you can also freeze this for later.  Also, I didn't have rotisserie chicken, so I cooked 3 breasts the night we had the Chipotle Chicken Fajitas so we had what we needed for this recipe.  Use what you have, be creative.  Think outside the box!

 

So, here is the finished product and you will notice I am not a professional photographer and we eat on paper plates....less dishes!  You get the idea though.  You can find the recipe here. 

Chipotle Chicken Fajitas

There is a recipe on tastefullysimple.com for Chipotle Chicken Fajitas, this is my take on the recipe because I always like to go my own way.  That gets me in trouble sometimes. ;)  I hope you enjoy!
 

Ingredients: 

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken, cut in thin strips

1/2 c. Beer, your choice (I used Rolling Rock) 

3-4 bell peppers in multiple colors, sliced

1 red onion, halved and sliced

Flour tortillas

Toppings of your choice
 

In a freezer bag, pour the beer and marinade mix and shake to mix.  Add chicken and marinate for 30 minutes or so.

 

While the chicken is marinating, slice your peppers and onions as well as any toppings for your fajitas (lettuce, tomato, avocado, cilantro, etc.).

 

After the chicken has marinated, preheat a skillet and add a tablespoon or so of oil.  Carefully add your chicken and discard the leftover marinade.  Stir and cook until cooked through.  I covered the skillet to speed the process.

Add your chicken to tortillas and top as you like.  Makes 4-6 servings.