Italian Kielbasa Bake

My dinner tonight cost me under $4! How's that for a budget meal?

After a weekend full of BBQs, I had figured we would have plenty of leftovers for home. We did end up with some pasta salad, but that was it. I did however score a free kielbasa from my mum. With a free kielbasa I set to work figuring out what to make with it.

I've eaten kielbasa grilled in a bun, sautéed in a pan, mixed in with some pierogis, and mixed in with pasta. I wanted to try something different this time that was quick and cheap. I need to stay on a budget and I didn't want to spend too much time cooking since I have a cold, and it is kicking my butt today. I escaped the whole winter without a serious cold, and of course I get one when  have a long weekend and my birthday is coming up in 2 days (yikes!). This kielbasa was your standard Polska Kielbasa, and I tend to buy turkey kielbasa. Something about the randomness of what could be in the regular kielbasa always freaks me out, even though I know it tastes good and I like it. I overcame my skepticism tonight and ate every bite of my plate!

I browsed around at some recipes and then formulated my own from a few I saw, so there isn't really a source for this.

Italian Kielbasa Bake

1 kielbasa, sliced
4 or 5 red potatoes, cut into cubes
a handful of baby carrots chopped in half
1/2 cup Italian dressing
1/4 to 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 and grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Combine the kielbasa, potatoes, carrots and dressing and mix until everything is coated. Toss with Parmesan cheese and place in the baking dish.
3. Cover and bake for one hour or until potatoes are cooked through.

Fried Rice Frittata

Yesterday I discussed using quick and easy recipes lately. Sometimes I see a quick and easy recipe and bookmark it for a day I need a fast meal. This is a meal that way bookmarked, but then I decided to make it at 8:30 last night.

When I came across this recipe I thought it was such a creative idea! I never really have uses for frittatas or quiches. I rarely have a need to make breakfast/brunch, and Dan certainly won't eat them. I love mini crust-less quiches and will make them every now and then as a quick grab n' go breakfast. I figured this would be a good breakfast and lunch option for a couple of days. You can choose the quick and easy way, which is to have some frozen fried rice on hand (like Trader Joe's), frozen mixed veggies, cream of anything soup, and eggs. You can always make your own fried rice, but that's the hard way. Since Trader Joe's fried rice has veggies in it, you can always skip adding the mixed veggies, but the more veggies the better in my book! I didn't add any meats to this, but feel free. I had some chopped pancetta in the fridge (that I remember AFTER) I out this in the oven...

Fried Rice Frittata
from Averie Cooks

1/2 of a 16 oz bag Trader Joe's Vegetable Fried Rice
1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies
1 can cream of anything soup (I used cream of chicken and mushroom)
5 large eggs, lightly beaten
black pepper
seasoning of your choice (I used chipotle)

1. Preheat oven to 375 and grease (well!) a large oven-safe skillet.
2. Pour the rice into the pan to cover the bottom. Pour veggies on top. Spread the soup mix over the rice and veggies. Pour the eggs on top of that and sprinkle with pepper and seasoning.
3. Bake for 45-50 minutes until done. Slice and serve immediately.

*To store, cut into wedges and wrap individually in plastic wrap or seal in an air-tight container.

Crock Pot Chicken Caesar Wraps

Is it summer vacation yet???

As the end of the school year approaches, my to-do list increases. Between reports for school, progress report grades that are due tomorrow, two more team meetings, summer school work planning, and then the every day school tasks I have to do, there just seems to be no end. Next week we have a half day.Well, the kids do. I have a professional day where I get to work on yet another district initiative that we're required to do.

I can see myself about to go off on a tangent, so let me reel myself back in. Due to the busyness or work and everyday life, I have sort of lost my energy for cooking. I had a really good streak going, and now every recipe I look at has too many steps, or takes too long, or requires too many ingredients. I have been looking for easy recipes that are still fun and new. Recipes that keep my love of cooking in check.

Today's recipe isn't so much "fun", but it was easy and it was cheap. Chicken just happened to be on sale yesterday and so was the salad dressing. All the other ingredients I had on hand, but they are still inexpensive items (lettuce, black pepper, chicken broth and wraps). This recipe was enough to make two wraps for Dan and I, which is great. Sometimes we end up with a lot of leftovers from crock pot meals, or if I try to adjust it, we end up with too little. I adapted this slightly to only have 3 chicken breasts, since that's how they're sold. I've never understood the whole 3 in a package, but then again, I suppose they want you to buy more.

Crock Pot Chicken Caesar Wraps
from Canadian Free Stuff

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can chicken broth
1 cup Caesar salad dressing
fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
romaine lettuce
wraps

1. Place chicken breasts and broth in a crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
2. Remove chicken and shred. Drain the leftover broth. Return chicken to crock pot and cover with dressing, pepper and cheese. Cook on high for30 minutes or low for 1 hour.
3. Serve on a wrap with some romaine lettuce.



Left to cook a little too long, but still good!

Kahlua Caramelized Banana S'More Bread

Let's talk longest week of work ever. Let's talk having an emergency dismissal today due to a bomb threat at the school. Luckily, that's all it was, a threat. While that's not how I want to leave work, it did give me time to run some errands and I brought work stuff home with me to do, so that was a plus. I did end up getting some time in to bake, which I was planning on doing anyways.

Boy, am I glad I did! This bread is unreal. I love me a good banana bread, and purposely "waste" bananas by not eating them so I can make banana bread. I know, that's not wasting, but I still never like browning bananas on the counter. So banana bread is good. And everyone knows Kahlua is good. And everyone loves s'mores, right? So, imagine having all these great things in one loaf. Seriously, whoever came up with this is a genius and I want their creativity.

I'll settle for their recipe though!

Even though it's an extra step, caramelizing anything is so easy. It makes it that much better that they have Kahlua in them too. This bread has so many elements of flavor to, but they all work perfectly together.

Kahlua Caramelized Banana S'More Bread
from Bakery by Nature

for the bananas:

3 ripe banana, sliced thin
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup Kahlua
2 tbsp. flour

for the bread:

1/2 cup unsalted butter melted (1 stick)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temp
1 and 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
1 cup mini marshmallows*
1 cup chopped graham crackers

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a large loaf pan.
2. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium heat until completed melted. Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved. Add bananas and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, whisk in Kahlua and stir in flour.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the melted butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix on lowest setting and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time beating between additions.
4. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the wet mix and fold in, just until combined.
5. Fold in sour cream and bananas.
6. Stir in 3/4 of the chocolate marshmallows and graham crackers.
7. Pour into greased pan and bake for 45 minutes.
8. Remove from oven (it will not be done!) and sprinkle the remaining s'more pieces on top. Return to oven for another 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

**I had large marshmallows already, which I cut. If you cut large marshmallows, use CLEAN scissors dipped in cold water to prevent them from sticking to the scissor. Dip in cold water between cuts.

 

Can you see the bits and pieces of chocolate and graham crackers??