A Lifetime of Using Polka Dot Casserole as a Guide

The following is a recipe from the 1970s for Polka Dot Macaroni & Cheese Casserole. By keeping a copy of this and listening to my Grandmother's advice that "recipes are a GUIDELINE and raid your pantry to use what you have," I've also given you a list of my other recipes & suggestions based on this.

Polka Dot Macaroni & Cheese Casserole (original)

• 7 oz. macaroni (cooked & drained)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 11 oz cheddar cheese soup (1 can)
• 2 hot dogs, cut into penny thin slices

1. Heat oven to 375 F
2. Spread macaroni in oblong baking dish (10 x 16 x 1 1/2")
3. Blend milk & Worcestershire sauce with soup in a bowl
4. Pour over macaroni, stirring to mix well
5. Arrange hot dog slices on top of macaroni & cheese
6. Bake 25 mins or until mixture is hot and bubbly

Recent Recipe Modifications

• Mish-Mash Casserole
• Homemade "Hamburger Helper" Casserole
• Homemade "Chicken Helper" Casserole
• Ditto Casserole (with hot dogs)
• Pepperoni Dot Casserole 

Suggestions

✔ I recommend using the toaster oven because:

• I'm cooking for myself & the other few "dinner guests" that are here
• They still all serve 4-6, depending on how you cut it
• There are STILL leftovers
• My entry about living in an apartment but trying to cut utility costs (click HERE to read it)

✔ I use an 8x6x2 Pyres casserole dish, because it fits into my toaster oven
✔ Oil or grease the casserole dish before you pour the mixture
✔ My recipes above save cost at the grocery store because you make it more from scratch
✔ There are less "preservatives" and "additives" in my recipes than a boxed meal

Crock Pot Italian Chicken Breasts

My crock pot

Yes, I raided the pantry again, to throw something in the crock pot that would be done when I got back from practice at 10:30 tonight and wouldn't really be in the mood to cook or stop at a fast food joint. So, here it is.

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (totaling 1.5 lbs)
• 1 can of Italian spiced stewed tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 8z can of tomato sauce
• 2 tsp mixed Italian Herb seasoning

Directions:

1. Place the chicken breasts in a crock pot
2. Pour the stewed tomatoes & tomato sauce over them
3. Sprinkle the seasoning over them
4. Set on the LOW setting for 4-5 hours

Tortilla Image via Wikipedia

Serving Suggestions:

• Serve whole chicken breasts over a bed of rice or pasta
• Use 2 forks & shred chicken for a sandwich
• Italian bread is a good start
• Toasted Texas Toast is another good idea
• Add some lettuce and roll it in a tortilla
• Use shredded chicken as a topping for a medium or large sized salad
• If you use any of the ideas above, make sure to add some shredded cheese into the meal
• Whatever sauce is left in the crock pot after you have served dinner, save it for use tomorrow...

Easy Peasy Soup

3 ingredients, 3 steps, 3 tips... similar to Easy Peasy Casserole for 3 because it has "PEAS" in it...

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup macaroni noodles (all I had left in the pantry)
• 1 boiled chicken breast cut to bite size cubes (from the fridge)
• 1 cup frozen peas

 Directions:

1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil, including a vegetable bouillon cube
2. Add chicken breast and peas to simmer for 20 minutes
3. Add macaroni to simmer for another 15 minutes

 Tips:
      ✔ If you pre-boil several chicken breasts (for 20 minutes), refer to these other recipes too: 
          Homemade Chicken Helper Casserole 
          Scrabble Soup
          Mish-Mash Casserole (thank you Elektra Q-Tion for the name)
          Apartment Style Chicken Breast.
      ✔ Gently stir the mixture once or twice during the simmering
      ✔ Serves 3 if you provide a side of fruit, a beverage, and dessert

Homemade "Chicken Helper" Casserole

I posted a recipe for Mish-Mash Casserole (thank you Elektra Q-Tion for the name) and had 1 extra chicken breast in the fridge, so I decided to make a homemade version of Chicken Helper. This is related to my post about Homemade "Hamburger Helper" Casserole. The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

• 1 cooked chicken breast
• 1 cup elbow macaroni
• 1 can Campbell's Condensed Creme of Chicken soup
• 1 can veggies (sweet peas, corn, or mixed), drained and rinsed.
• 4 oz. of a package of shredded cheese (your choice of flavor)
• Old Bay Seasoning (your choice of amount)
• Tortillas (see comments at the very bottom)

Directions:

1. Boil the water, and make the macaroni according to the instructions on the box.
2. If the chicken breast needs cooked, boil it for 20 minutes.
3. Preheat the toaster oven to 375 F and oil an 8x6x2 Pyrex casserole dish.
4. While draining the macaroni in a colander, pour the soup into the stockpot you used.
5. Sprinkle as much Old Bay seasoning into the soup for the taste you want.
6. Return the macaroni to the stockpot with soup.
7. Cut the chicken breast into bite sized pieces, and put it into the stockpot too.
8. Add the can of selected veggies.
9. Stir well.
10. Pour that mixture into the 8x6x2 Pyrex casserole dish and even it out.
11. Place that in the toaster oven for 20 mins.
12. Slide the dish out (using oven mitts) and cover it evenly with the shredded cheese.
13. Return it to the toaster oven, and bake for another 8 minutes.

You would have enough to serve at least 5 people with this, but that also means you have enough leftovers if it is just you. It is easy to make, and tastes great. You could use any other seasonings/herbs based on your choice, but this is AWESOME! Another suggestion is to put a few leaves of lettuce on a tortilla, scoop the mixture onto it, roll it up, and ENJOY.

Scrabble Soup

I am hungry, but it is winter, so I want soup. I raided my pantry and the fridge and threw together this. I'll keep it simple to read, but it was awesome.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 1 Knorr's Vegetable Bouillon Cube
• 1/3 cup Nishiki Brown Rice
• 1 boneless, already cooked chicken breast, chopped to bite size
• 1 can mixed vegetables (drained, rinsed)

Directions:

1. Put all of the water, the bouillon cube, and rice in a 2 quart saucepan.
2. Bring to a soft boil, and then simmer for 40 minutes.
3. Add chicken bites, and simmer for 10 more minutes.
4. Add drained & rinsed can of mixed vegetables, and simmer another 10 minutes.
5. Put in a bowl, grab a spoon and enjoy.

It was actually filling, warm, and made my day...easy too...

Mish-Mash Casserole

Raided my pantry after watching a cooking session on the local news, to see what I had and could modify to fill my belly. And got the name from a very close Companion of mine, Elektra Q-Tion. Thank you for the name suggestion, it was PERFECT for this dish.

Okay, to cut it to the bottom line for this recipe.

Ingredients:  

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Vegetable broth bouillon cube
• 1 can (10.5 oz) Creme of Mushroom Soup
• 1/2 can (from soup) of milk
• 3 slices of Muenster cheese
• 4 hash brown patties

Directions: 

1. Boil the chicken breasts for 25 minutes in the vegetable broth, to make sure they are cooked.
2. Use an 8x6x2 Pyrex casserole dish, by oiling the inner surface to prevent sticking
3. Mix the creme of mushroom soup and milk in a bowl.
4. Preheat the toaster oven to 400 F.
5. When chicken is done boiling, cut it into bite size pieces, using a knife similar to the one in the picture at the right.
6. Place them in the casserole dish.
7. Cover with soup/milk mixture
8. Place the cheese over this.
9. Lay the hash brown patties over it.
10. Bake in the toaster oven for 15 minutes.
11. Turn patties over, and bake for another 10 minutes.
12. Enjoy!!!

Use a flat spatula or tongs to flip over the hash browns, and use the spatula to "cut them up" when you place it all on the plate. You could add a can of drained peas to the soup/milk mixture to make it more of a casserole, or serve them on the side. It is VERY filling and yummy. Add Tabasco or fresh ground black pepper to enhance the flavor.

Apartment Style Chicken Breast

Another recipe, inspired by attempting to keep them easy, cut them down for a single person (but still have some leftovers), draw on my Grandmother's cooking advice, and save some apartment utility costs.

Okay, I hit the pantry and fridge to see what I had (Grandma's advice), I gathered what I thought might work and then hit allrecipes.com for some guidance. After doing some searching, I came across the Parmesan Crusted Chicken Recipe. I looked at what I had available and decided to try some new things. The recipe that I used appears below, and then I added some suggestions to assist making it.

Ingredients 

• 4  boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup Italian blend shredded cheese
• A sprinkle of Italian bread crumbs over the top

Directions

1. Preheat the toaster over to 375 F
2. Use oil or a spray to cover the baking dish to prevent sticking
3. Mix mayo and shredded cheese in a bowl
4. Take some of the mix and spread it on the top of each piece of chicken, & place them in the baking dish
5. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top of the chicken, not too much, but also not too little
6. Slide the baking dish into the toaster over, and bake for approximately 50 minutes

And, when that is all done, you should have something that is approximately like this:

Apartment Style Chicken Breasts

Okay, if you don't want to scroll down any farther, suffice it to say that this is awesome, and I will definitely be making it again.  I simply ate my dinner by cutting it on a plate, but I could see serving this over a field of wild rice, or even just white/brown rice, or even with a side of noodles.

Now, on to why I changed the recipe from the original. Most of these decisions were made because of my experience of cooking in an apartment for 1, but also by reading most of the comments for the original recipe. Again Grandma's advice came to mind... "recipes are a guideline, you have to use what you have on hand, and use your experience, and make it the way YOU want it..."

Once of the most awesome things about allrecipes.com is that you can change the number of servings you are looking for, and it adjusts all of the ingredient amounts for you. I usually choose to make 4 servings of recipes because it gives me dinner, and some leftovers. And, reduces the number of things you might need to purchase at the store.

I cut the breasts in half, because that makes them the right size to put on a hamburger bun to eat as a sandwich, like for lunch the next day. I used Italian blend shredded cheese because that is what I had in the fridge. I used the Italian bread crumbs, because that is all I use for bread crumbs because they already have some seasoning in it, so I don't have to add it myself.

I used the toaster oven because I'm mostly only cooking for me, it uses less electricity than using the full oven, and in the summer it doesn't over heat my apartment. Yes, it took me a while to find some casserole and baking dishes that fit in the toaster oven, but Pyrex makes all kinds of sizes and I found a set at Target.

I also reduced the temp of the recipe, because I liked that baking it for a little longer time keeps poultry more moist. Again, my Grandma's advice. Yes, I use an instant thermometer to make sure that the food achieves the recommended temps. Poultry is recommended to achieve 180 F, so that is why I kept an eye on it starting at 45 mins. It took another 5 to get from 174 to 180.

Okay, I suppose you've been kind enough to scroll down this far, so I'll close with this entry. I have several other ideas for entries, so please bookmark my blog, use an RSS feeder, or go ahead and join as a member. Carry on...and good luck cooking...