Layered Fiesta Casserole

I have been receiving complimentary copies of Food and Family from Kraft, as I'm sure many of you do. Even though it's usually one big commercial for their products, I've certainly found my share of yummy things! They recently started charging for this, and as much as I enjoy it, I won't be subscribing.

I found this recipe for a Layered Fiesta Casserole in their last issue and added it to my menu immediately. It absolutely did not disappoint - it was easy and fantastic.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 jar (16 oz.) TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa
• 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen corn, thawed
• 4-6 corn tortillas (12 inch)
• 1-1/2 cups KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided

HEAT oven to 375°F.

BROWN meat with peppers in large skillet; drain. Return to skillet. Stir in salsa, tomatoes and corn.

SPREAD 1 cup meat mixture onto bottom of 9x9-inch baking dish; top with 1 tortilla. Cover with layers of the remaining meat mixture and cheese; top with remaining tortillas and meat mixture. Cover with foil.

BAKE 25 to 30 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining cheese; let stand 5 min. or until melted.

Pasta Caprese

For me, almost no flavor screams "summer" quite like the combination of tomato, mozzarella, and basil. Throw some pasta in there, and I'm drooling already.

I found this recipe on Kraft's site and it pulled together very, very quickly - a perfect weeknight meal! I've made something similar in the past (Giada's Fusilli alla Caprese) and really, no one way is better than the other. Just throw it all together and you're good to go!

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. capellini or spaghetti, uncooked
• 1/2 cup KRAFT Tuscan House Italian Dressing and Marinade
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese
• 1/3 cup fresh basil, finely sliced

COOK pasta as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, heat dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; cook and stir 2 min. Add tomatoes; cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

DRAIN pasta. Add to tomato mixture; mix lightly. Sprinkle with cheese and basil.

Pudding Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I promised one of my classes that I would bake for them since they won this little contest we had at school. It took me weeks to get around to it, and I felt terrible, but finally I did it!

I found this interesting recipe for Pudding Chocolate Chunk Cookies on the Kraft site and decided to go with that.

I liked these a lot, actually, though I think I'd like to play around with pudding flavors next time. They make mint and cookies and cream and all kinds of cool ones! For this one, I used plain ol' chocolate.


Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Instant Pudding, any flavor
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 pkg. (12 oz.) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Beat butter, sugars, dry pudding mix and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs; mix well. Gradually add flour and baking soda, beating until well blended. Stir in chocolate chunks. (Dough will be stiff.)

DROP teaspoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheets. Cool completely on wire racks.

Sweet Citrus Chicken - Revisited

Awhile back, I posted this recipe for Sweet Citrus Chicken. I had forgotten to buy OJ so subbed in apple juice. While it was very yummy, I always wanted to try it the original way.

I made it last week, and I think I preferred the apple juice version! This time around, I threw in some craisins and served it with mashed potatoes and corn - it was like Thanksgiving in April! I don't know if it was the OJ or the craisins, but I felt it was a tad too sweet. Still really yummy, though, and I will either use apple juice in the future, or just cut back on the brown sugar and/or OJ.

Ingredients:

• 1-2/3 cups hot water
• 1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
• 6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.), pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
• Handful of craisins
  

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Add hot water and craisins to stuffing mix; stir just until moistened. Set aside.

PLACE chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish. Mix juice, sugar and butter until well blended; pour over chicken. Top with prepared stuffing.

BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through (170ºF).

Smarter Fettucini Alfredo

I hardly ever make or order anything Alfredo because it's just so blatantly bad for you - I guess I prefer to clog my arteries and add to my fat ass in a more subtle manner. So when I saw this recipe for a "smarter" version on the Kraft Foods website, I jumped at the chance to make it.


The recipe below is directly from Kraft; I doubled the sauce because I also threw in broccoli and grilled chicken.

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. fettuccine, uncooked
• 1-1/4 cups fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 4 tsp. flour
• 1/3 cup PHILADELPHIA 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese
• 3 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. pepper 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

COOK pasta as directed on package.

MEANWHILE, beat broth and flour in medium saucepan with whisk until well blended. Add cream cheese, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan, nutmeg and pepper; cook 2 min. or until mixture comes to boil and thickens, stirring constantly.

DRAIN pasta; place in large bowl. Add sauce; toss to coat. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and parsley.

Quadruple Chocolate Bliss Cake

I wanted a yummy dessert to take to Nana's for Palm Sunday dinner. I could have sworn I had saved a chocolately bundt-style cake in my reader, but I couldn't find it.


I found this Triple Chocolate Cake on the Kraft website, and immediately thought it would be perfect. You may notice, however, that I titled this post Quadruple Chocolate Cake; well, I decided that 3 kinds of chocolate (cake mix, pudding mix, and the chocolate frosting) weren't enough. I added a handful of chocolate chips to the batter as well.


This was so, so, so, so delicious. My only regret is that I didn't use all of the sauce for on top. When I poured it on, it seemed like way too much, so I may have used about half of it; it definitely could have used more.


Once again, I had some assistance from my little helper:



Ingredients

• 1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix
• 1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
• 1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided
• 1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate
• 1-1/2 cups raspberries

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan or 10-inch tube pan. Beat all ingredients except whipped topping, chocolate and raspberries in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 min. scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into prepared pan.

BAKE 50 min. to 1 hour or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 min. Loosen cake from side of pan with knife or metal spatula and gently remove cake. Cool cake completely on wire rack. Place on serving plate.

RESERVE 2 Tbsp. of the whipped topping. Microwave remaining whipped topping and chocolate in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after each min. Drizzle over cake. Immediately drop reserved whipped topping, by scant teaspoonfuls, around top of cake; create star shape by drawing wooden toothpick through middle several times. Spoon raspberries into center of cake. Store leftover cake in refrigerator.

Easy Shepherd's Pie

I saw this recipe for an Easy Shepherd's Pie in Kraft magazine, and was excited to see it in Brooke's blog.

I admit that I totally cheated and used the mashed potatoes in a tub from Shed's Spread - the garlic kind, so I omitted the garlic from the recipe.

This was pretty good, although kind of dry. I ended up serving with the leftover gravy just to get a little more... moisture? in there.

Not the best meal I've had, but pretty good for an easy recipe. And definitely a nice bowl of comfort!

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 cups hot mashed potatoes
• 4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
• 1 cup KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
• 1 cup beef gravy

PREHEAT oven to 375ºF. Brown meat in large skillet. Meanwhile, mix potatoes, cream cheese, 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese and the garlic until well blended.

DRAIN meat. Return to skillet; stir in vegetables and gravy. Spoon into 9-inch square baking dish; cover with potato mixture and remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese.

BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.