I get so tired of recipes that get all dressed up with all sorts of ingredients.  It’s not that I don’t have an appreciate for flavor, fine foods, and variety but I guess I just have more of an appreciation for simplicity; the foods that our Moms and Grandmas made.  It’s not just that, it’s the fact that everyone is struggling so much in today’s economy that, well, who can afford all those fancy ingredients, you know?  I remember the days that our cupboards were bare, nothing in the pantry, freezer, or fridge.  We had beans, noodles, tomato sauce, milk, bread, eggs, and taters.  Those were our staples and by simply adding one or two extra ingredients, you could make anything out of it.

Macaroni and Tomato Sauce has been a family favorite for many years. I can remember my grandmother making it for us, then my mom, and now me.  You know, maybe it’s just that, knowing that it’s been something the family has eaten for many, many years that keeps me wanting to stick to the simple meals, the family traditions.

Simply boil your noodles with salt, drain, and put back in pot.  Pour in cans of tomato sauce (use as many or as little to suit your taste) and let simmer for just a bit.  You can add pepper to the pot but I make everyone add their own.  You may not know this but pepper and tomato sauce combined can become quite spicy so I try not to add too much to mine or Truett’s.  Enjoy!

Skinner pasta has been around for years.  I don’t know if it’s in your part of the good ol’ USA but it’s a staple in Texas grocers.   I guess their red, white, and blue packaging speaks for itself, if you know what I mean.  You don’t even have to see the name of the brand because you instantly recognize it, know it, and use it.

{GIVEAWAY}

One lucky winner will be able to create their own mealtime memory with this fabulous gift set which includes the following:

• Two boxes of Skinner Pasta
• One colander (like my pretty red one in the photo above)
• One set of Texas-themed serving utensils
• Two Skinner Pasta recipe cards

HOW TO ENTER

———>Simply leave a comment below sharing your Skinner mealtime memory and if you don’t have one, check out their huge selection of recipes and see what tickles your tastebuds!

As always, I encourage you to visit the sponsor of this giveaway and help them celebrate their 100th anniversary by sharing your Skinner mealtime memory with them (which ends on May 14th–you can win some great prizes over there!). They’d love to hear it and see your photos!  You can find them on facebook and on Twitter at @SkinnerPasta

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Additional, optional entries, leaving each one in a separate comment to count.

•  Join the  My Wooden Spoon’s Facebook Community.  I’m always giving freebies like ecookbooks over there!
•  Follow @ACowboysWife on Twitter
• Subscribe via email and you’ll get updates when I post them! (You must confirm your subscription)

Giveaway ends on March 18th around 10pm CST.  Good luck y’all!

Disclosure: Similar prize package was provided for my time & efforts to create this post. Prize was also provided (sponsored).  All opinions are my own, always have been, always will be because that’s how I roll.  Duh.

With school & church functions, I’ve had minimal time to cook so I’m all about quick & easy meal solutions these days!  I’ve seen this recipe thrown together by a gal in New Mexico.  It was funny because none of the ranch hands knew that it was this quick of a meal.  They always thought she stewed it for for a VERY long time to give it that home cooked feeling.  You can adjust ingredients to suit your tastebuds; less cream of chicken, more veges, etc but I always use at least 2 cans of the Swanson chicken, which I always keep in my pantry for quick meals like chicken quesadillas, chicken enchiladas, toss some in and make chicken and rice, or you could even substitute the ham in these calzones with Swanson chicken!  Endless ideas!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
• 4 cups milk
• 2 cups of frozen vegetables
• 2 cans of Swanson White Premium Chunk Chicken Breast
• salt & pepper to taste ( I never add salt but I do pepper it)

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan, combine cream of chicken soup, milk, and vegetables. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in Swanson Chicken Breast. Lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.  That’s it!

Hint:
1. Thaw vegetables by placing in a colander and rinsing under hot water for one minute.

Disclosure: I was paid for my time & efforts, by Swanson, to create this post.  I have always used and recommended Swanson Chicken. Opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

Quick and easy; that seems to be our food motto these days.  With Church & school functions, work, and sports, making a ham and cheese calzone is just one of the easy recipes I’ve been cooking up lately.    It’s a meal that to grab and go which we frequently do with basketball season in full bloom.  Concession stands have drained me this school year so I try to get most of us full before we ever get to the game. Know what I mean?  Shopping at Walmart has helped a great deal with my budget and time constraints.  Where do y’all shop?

I honestly had no plan for the dough when making this so bare with me.  The neat thing about this meal idea, is that you can put anything you want inside the calzone.  I did simple ingredients for us because we are on a budget but you could definitely go all out!  I bought crescent roll dough and ended up mushing it all together and separating into 3 dough balls for 3 calzones.  Hey, it ain’t fancy but it worked!

This recipe was submitted by Rachel S for May’s Food Challenge. If you have a recipe with eggs in it, you can enter too! Check it out ’cause there’s a great prize! Thanks Rachel for entering!

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 Eggs
• Shredding Mozzarella Cheese
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Butter
• Salt/Pepper

(I followed a recipe I found here: http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2011/05/asparagus-frittata.html – with a few of my own tweaks and changes)

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop onion and put it into frying pan with butter, until soft
2. Clean/cut asparagus and add it to pan. Allow to cook for 5-7 minutes.
3. While veggies are in the pan, make egg mixture – 8 eggs, 1 cup of cheese, salt/pepper to liking – and mix together.
4. Add the veggies to a quiche or pie pan. Pour egg mixture on top. Put in oven (at 350) until the egg has solidified. Add more cheese on top (I used the same mozzarella cheese on top, but have also make it with goat cheese) and put under the broiler for about 5 minutes – or until it is golden brown and delicious!

(photo credit goes to http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/asparagus_frittata/)

This recipe was submitted by Malerie C, into March’s Food Challenge.  Thanks Malerie for entering!

This sandwich recipe is for one sandwich.

The weather’s turning cooler, the leaves are falling, and the soups are cookin’. There’s something about tater soup that comforts me. Maybe because it’s tasty or maybe it’s because no matter how low we get on groceries, I always keep potatoes on hand and that means there will always be food on the table.

There are so many variations of potato soup but keeping with the “ration cooking” theme, I’ll leave it to basics. I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll say it again, Carnation Evaporated Milk is a staple around here and it can add a tremendous amount of flavor to your meals. Most people think desserts when using evaporated milk but it gives even the plainest recipes a savory, full flavor.

INGREDIENTS

• 6-8 potatoes, chunked (I prefer new potatoes)
• 1 med. onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp. parsley flakes
• 5 c. water
• 1 can of Carnation Evaporated Milk
• Salt and pepper to taste (I add extra salt because taters need it)
• dab of butter

DIRECTIONS

Cook in crock pot on low for 8 hours or until taters are done. One hour before serving, add the one can of Carnation evaporated milk.

In keeping with transparency, as always, I did receive a gift card from One2One Network and Carnation for ingredients to create this fine tater soup but in no way was my opinion of evaporated milk bought. It’s always been a staple and if you want to search my recipes for it, you’ll know that’s the truth;)  {{giggle}}

I normally have guest posts on Friday but I owe Toni-Lynn (who saves TONS of money on groceries! Seriously, you’ve got to check her grocery blog out!) since I told her two+ weeks ago that I’d publish it. Sorry about that girl! These look great and like something the kiddos could help make! And if you’re feeling really energetic and like the “from scratch” method, try making the english muffins from scratch!

If your going to make these babies I suggest that you make a lot of them! My family of 4 can polish off 2 bags of English Muffins when I make them. These are Super Simple and a great way to get your kids in the kitchen with you!

Preheat your oven to 360 Degrees.  Split your english muffins in half and place them on a baking sheet. Spread your favorite pasta sauce on each half. That is the hand of my 7 year old. helping out.

Next, I sprinkle on a LITTLE Salt, Pepper, Onion Powder, Oregano and Parmesan Cheese. I stress a LITTLE because these are obviously small and the spices can over power them very quickly if you put on to much.

The most important part is next! Top with your favorite shredded cheese. I like to use a mix of cheeses for this. Kraft makes a 6 Cheese Italian blend which is what i usually use. I like a lot of cheese on mine.
Bake them for about 10 minutes. Just watch for your cheese to be nice and melted. This was the best finished picture I could get because my family always attacks them! I almost didn’t get one.

About the Author:

Toni-Lynn is the owner and author of Grocery Price Blog. She is a stay/work at home mom of 2 boys ages 7 and 2.

I told you I’d share the Grilled Chicken Penne al Fresco recipe from the Pampered Chef party and I am!  This is a recipe that can be made on the stove or in the microwave using the Deep Covered Baker.  It’s a time saving, delicious, and healthy meal! You can see a few more pictures in my original post!

INGREDIENTS

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
• 3 cups uncooked mezze penne pasta
• 3 cups chicken broth
• ¾ cup dry white wine such as Chardonnay
• ½ tsp each salt and coarsely ground black pepper
• 1¼ cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, divided
• 1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated (about ¼ cup packed)
• 2 cups diced grilled chicken breasts
• Additional grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• coarsely ground black pepper (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Spray Deep Covered Baker with olive oil using Kitchen Spritzer. Slice garlic into baker using Garlic
Slicer. Add tomatoes. Cover; microwave on HIGH 4-5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to burst, stirring
after 2 minutes. Crush tomatoes using Mix ‘N Chop. Add pasta, broth, wine, salt and black pepper.

2. Return baker to microwave; cover and microwave on HIGH 16-18 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring
after 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coarsely chop basil with Chef’s Knife. Reserve 2 tbsp for garnish. Grate
cheese using Rotary Grater.

3. Carefully remove baker from microwave and remove lid, lifting away from you. Add remaining basil,

cheese and chicken to baker; mix well. Garnish with reserved 2 tbsp basil, additional Parmesan cheese and black pepper, if desired.

Cook’s Tips: An additional ¾ cup chicken broth can be substituted for the wine, if desired.
Any tube-shaped pasta requiring 9-11 minutes cook time, such as penne or rigatoni, can be substituted for the
mezze penne pasta.

To grill chicken in the Grill Pan, season 2 chicken breasts, about 6 oz each, with salt and black pepper. Heat Grill
Pan over medium-high heat 5 minutes. Spray pan with oil. Cook chicken 4-6 minutes or until grill marks appear.
Turn chicken over; cook 4-6 minutes or until center of chicken is no longer pink and Pocket Thermometer
registers 170°F.

Yield: 8 servings

Kitchen Spritzer

Garlic Slicer

Mix N’ Chop

Rotary Grater

And it comes to the end of sandwich week here at My Wooden Spoon but I’m leaving you with a super easy and VERY good sandwich recipe.  This was my absolute fave from Chef John Li and I’m sure it will become one of your favorites as well!

One thing I learned from the trip, is that a sandwich doesn’t have to be just  sliced white bread with sandwich meat. It can be cold or hot, with buns or tortillas, and can include your favorites ingredients other than lettuce and tomato.  Be creative so that the next time you’re serving up sandwiches, you’ll have eyebrows raised and smiles on faces with these not-so typical sandwich recipes!

And don’t forget to give the sandwich recipe I made a try! Roasted Red Peppers and Roast Beef Wrap!

This week’s sandwiches included the French Dip Roast Beef Sandwich with Caramelized Onions and Sweet Spicy Chicken and Bacon Wrap.

Earlier I shared the French Dip Roast Beef Sandwich with Caramelized Onion, today, a wrap.  Wraps are fun way to do sandwiches instead of the same ol’ bread slices and they make for a pretty presentation as well.

This recipe has 3 parts. The spread, the dressing, and the filing.  The dressing can be made ahead of time to save you some time.  Another great recipe by Chef John Li that I hope you guys all enjoy.

Remember, if you try some of these recipes, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section!