Cheese Stuffed Shells

Stuffed shells have been a favorite of mine ever since I was I kid. Now that I am making them for my family, I have made a few changes from my mother's recipe. I am happy to say my kids and husband love them as much as I do.

Cheese Stuffed Shells

1 pkg jumbo shells pasta, cooked according to package directions

8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

8 oz muenster cheese, shredded

15 oz ricotta

26 oz jar a spaghetti sauce, divided

2-4 cooked chicken breasts, cut to about the size of a jumbo shell (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.Cook shells according to package directions.

3. Shred the mozzarella and muenster cheeses, into a bowl.

4. Add the ricotta cheese to the mozzarella and muenster cheeses, and mix. (It will look crumbly.)

5. Spread some of the sauce on the bottom of a 9"x13" baking pan. (Just enough to cover it.)

6. Roll the cheese mixture into an egg shape, and stuff it into a cooked shell.

7. Place the stuffed shell, seem side down into the baking sheet.

8. Repeat step 5 & 6 until all the shells are filled.

*** If you would like to add some cooked chicken breast, add it to the baking dish now. Just spread it out among the shells.

9. Cover the shells with the remaining sauce.

10. Cover the baking dish with foil and poke a few holes in the foil.

11.  Bake for 35 minutes.

12. Serve and Enjoy!

These stuffed shells freeze and reheat well. I like to freeze them by individual serving. 

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Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Lately it seems that if my daughter could eat Campbell's Double Noodle Soup for every meal in the day, she would. My son, on the other hand, won't touch the stuff. Because of this, I decided to try to make a yummy homemade chicken soup that would please everyone in my family. I came across a recipe on bhg.com that, with a few small tweaks would be perfect.

I will definitely be making this soup again and again. It pleased everyone in my household at the dinner table tonight!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Adapted from bhg.com

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 -32oz boxes chicken stock

2 chicken bouillons 

1 teaspoon dry thyme

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper to taste

4-5 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large onion, chopped (I chopped it really big so I could remove it.)

1 12oz bag egg noodles 

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup milk 

2 Tablespoons flour

1. Place chicken in bottom of Dutch Oven (I used 7.25 quart LeCreuset Dutch Oven, I'm sure a stock pot would be fine too.) 

2. Add chicken broth, chicken bouillon, dried thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, onion, and carrots to chicken.

3. Bring the ingredients to a boil. Then cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until chicken is fully cooked.

4. Remove chicken from pot, and shred it. I used this simple method to shred the chicken in under 1 minute. 

5. Remove bay leaves now. Also, if you chopped the onion big like me, you can remove it now.

6. Add egg noodles to broth in pot and cook according to package directions.**

7. Once the noodles are done cooking stir in the peas.

8. In a screw-top jar, combine milk and flour. Shake to combine, then add to the broth mixture in pot.

9. Cook until mixture is thick and bubbly, about 3-4 minutes.

10. Add shredded chicken back to pot.

11. Stir, taste, and season with more salt and pepper if necessary.

12. EAT and ENJOY!

**If when cooking your noodles you need more fluid, just add some water.

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Chicken Corn Chowder

My kids are not big soup eaters, but they will eat chowders. 

I guess it has something to do with actually getting food on their spoons.

Their favorite chowder is chicken corn chowder. It has all their favorite things in it; chicken, corn and potatoes.

Chicken Corn Chowder

9 medium-large chicken breasts

16 oz frozen corn

2-3 cans creamed corn

6-9 hard boiled eggs, sliced (I only use the whites)

2 - 32oz boxes chicken broth

9 medium-large potatoes

salt

pepper

1. In a large stockpot, boil the chicken breasts until cooked through.

2. Once the chicken is cooked, shred the chicken. You can check out a super easy way to shred chicken here.
3. Peel and cube the potatoes.
4. Pour the chicken stock in a large stock pot and add the cubed potatoes to it.
5. Boil the potatoes until they are easy to poke with a fork, about 30 minutes.
6. Remove and reserve 2-3 cups of the chicken stock used to boil the potatoes, leave the potatoes and remaining chicken stock in the pot.
7. Add corn, creamed corn, shredded chicken, and eggs to the potatoes and simmer until you get the consistency you want. If you would like it thinner use the reserved chicken broth here, if not you may discard the leftover chicken broth.
8. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Serve with crackers, and enjoy!

Note: This chowder freezes very well, but I recommend leaving the egg out, because the egg white does not freeze well. You can add the eggs after you thaw the chowder or leave it out all together.

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Chicken Pull

Yesterday, in my Best Use for a Kitchen Aid Mixer post, I showed you the quickest way I have found to shred chicken. Today I am going to share the chicken pull recipe the shredded chicken was for.

This chicken pull makes a delicious sandwich. 

I like to eat it topped with coleslaw or ramen noodle salad for a little extra tang.

Ingredients:

8-10 chicken breasts (shredded)

2 cups ketchup

1 24oz jar chunky mild salsa

1 8oz jar taco sauce

3/4-1 cup brown sugar

Boil your thawed chicken breast for about 20 minutes, until cooked through.

While your chicken breasts are cooking, in a large stock pot or crock pot (I use a 6qt. crock pot) over medium heat; mix the ketchup, salsa, taco sauce and brown sugar. (I generally add 3/4 cup brown sugar and only add more if I don't think it tastes sweet enough.) Allow the mixture to heat throughout, stirring occasionally. Do NOT boil. 

This is a good point to taste your mixture and add the remaining brown sugar if you find it necessary. If you find that makes your mixture sweeter than you like, you can always add lemon juice to minimize the sweetness.

Next shred your chicken breast. You can do this by hand, use 2 forks, or use your Kitchen Aid Mixer.(Click here for a super quick and easy way to shred your chicken breast.)

Once you have shredded your chicken breast add it to the salsa mixture and stir until the chicken is evenly coated.

 

If you are serving it the same day you can just leave it in your crock pot. If you are making it ahead of time you can put it in storage containers and refrigerate it. The day you serve it you can reheat it on the stove, in a crock pot, or in the microwave. 

This recipe does freeze really well. I usually freeze it in single servings and pull them out as we need them. Once the chicken pull has been frozen, I find the best way to reheat the it is on the stove top.

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