Stove Top Tuna and Noodles

Do certain foods take you back in time? Is there a dish that takes you back to the past? I can recall lots of dishes from my childhood. Tuna and noodles is one meal that I remember vividly and even learned how to make at a young age by watching my mom. There never was a written recipe, just a little of this and a little of that style of cooking. 
When I was growing up I can remember my dad coming home on his lunch break. He worked outdoors and when he would come home on a steaming hot summer day he would sit right in front of the window air conditioner and let the cold air blast. My mom would make this stove top tuna and noodles for the entire family and we would devour it. It was absolutely wonderful.
I still enjoy making this dish, and my daughter loves it! I hope that when she is old enough she can learn how to make it, too. Here is the recipe for my family's famous stove top tuna and noodles.

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 - 5 ounce can tuna in water
1 1/2 cups dry small shell pasta (the really small ones, sometimes they are called salad shells)
salt and pepper, to taste
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Once it is melted, add the flour and cook through until it is bubbly. Add the milk and stir until it thickens. Lower the heat and add the tuna, salt, and pepper. Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to directions on the package. Drain the pasta and add it to the tuna sauce. Serve with crushed ridged potato chips. We always used Ruffles. I can still remember the fun of getting to crush them with our hands over our food.

And that's it! It's that easy!  No baking, no waiting, and just a few simple ingredients! So make some today and enjoy!

Snow Day

We are having a snow day today, and boy am I glad that I didn't have to go out! It's cold, windy, snowy, and windy. Did I mention windy? Yeah, it's very windy today. The kiddos and I are staying inside where it is warm. We are doing as we please and just hanging out! We slept in. We made blueberry pancakes for breakfast. We ate lunch at 10:30. We made hubby a to-go lunch. Hubby has been working very hard making sure that the cows are warm, safe, and comfortable since they are getting ready to calve. We watched hubby blow snow out of our driveway and the neighbor's driveway. And now we are watching cartoons. I might clean the kitchen later. I might finish folding laundry. And I might do some work for school. Just might.

Hope you are staying warm and safe today!

Vegetable Tortellini Soup

I have another soup recipe for you, my friends! Full of vegetables and pasta, this soup has tons of flavor to warm up any cold winter day. There are no leftovers when I make this soup. Even my picky eater loves the tender pasta in this one. Serve with garlic bread and enjoy!

Vegetable Tortellini Soup
1 pound Ground Hamburger
3 cloves Garlic
½ cups Chopped Onion
½ teaspoons Pepper Or To Taste
1 teaspoon Salt, Or To Taste
1 cup Green Pepper, Chopped
1 cup Cut Green Beans
½ cups Chopped Carrots
1 cups Corn
1 - 14-½ ounce can Kidney Beans
1 envelope Italian Dressing Mix (0.7 ounce)
2 quarts Crushed Tomatoes (I used my canned tomatoes)
6 cups Beef Broth
2 boxes Cheese Tortellini (I used 7 ounce boxes)
Brown hamburger in a large pot with the onion and garlic. 

Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the tortellini. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked through, about 20-30 minutes. 

Add the tortellini and cook until the pasta is tender. Some additional water or broth may be added if needed.

You can print this recipe here!

White Chicken Chili

It's national soup month and we sure have had our share of yummy soups lately! I try to add new soups to my recipe box but this white chicken chili is a super favorite around here! I love that I can adjust how spicy it is and the creaminess of the broth. Try this chili and it will be one of your favorite soups, too! I promise!

White Chicken Chili
1 1/2 pounds cubed chicken breast
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oil
2 cups chicken broth
4 ounce can chopped green chilies
2 can northern beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 teaspoon oregano
1 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
Heat oil in a big pan. Add the chicken, onion, and garlic and cook until chicken is cooked through. Add the chicken broth, beans, chilies, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add sour cream and heavy cream. Mix through and serve.

You can print the recipe here!

Buttermilk Pancakes

This morning marked the beginning of our holiday season. Our elf, Alfie, made his first appearance. We put up our Christmas tree. I set out our nativity scene. And I made homemade buttermilk pancakes. We love pancakes at my house. LOVE them. My daughter asks for them every weekend. This recipe makes pancakes that are a little thinner than your traditional fat, fluffy pancakes. They also have a slight tang from the buttermilk that makes them extra special. Just the way that we like them!

Buttermilk Pancakes
2 cups flour
1/8 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups regular milk
Mix all the ingredients together. Let the batter rest for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, warm up your griddle. I use an electric griddle at 350 degrees.

 Using a 1/3 measuring cup, pour the batter onto the griddle. I use slightly less than the full 1/3 cup.

Cook for about 1-2 minutes on the first side, or until the pancakes start to bubble and the edges start to look dry.

Flip over and cook for about 1-2 minutes longer.

Remove from the griddle and butter right away. Stack them on one top of the other so that the bottoms of the pancakes will soak up a little butter from the pancake underneath of it. 

 Isn't this the most delicious stack you've ever seen? So buttery. So thin. So tangy. And so yummy. Just add syrup!

I get about 2 dozen pancakes when I make this recipe. The leftovers freeze very well. Just wrap each pancake individually in a sandwich baggie, put them all in one big freezer baggie, and freeze. They warm up well in the microwave. In about 30 to 60 seconds you can enjoy the yummy goodness all over again.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I was awake very early this morning with a sick child. What do you do when your child falls back asleep but your are too worried about them to fall asleep yourself? Bake these amazing muffins from Two Maids a Milking. Seriously, they are delicious.

You can find the original recipe here. I doubled the recipe, used 1 15 ounce can of pumpkin, and used about 1 3/4 cup chocolate chips.

These are so yummy! Make them today!

Fresh Tomato Goulash

My husband had a great little garden this year. He grew jalapenos, sweet corn, banana peppers, radishes, and of course tomatoes. He says there is nothing better than a garden fresh tomato. I don't particularly care for fresh tomatoes, but I love to prepare them in dishes, such as my fresh tomato goulash. This goulash has that great fresh tomato taste with a bit of garlic and pepper. Just the way we like it!

Fresh Tomato Goulash
garden tomatoes, about as many in the picture
fresh garlic, to taste (I used 2 cloves)
diced onion, to taste (I used about an inch thick slice from a medium onion)
ground beef, about a half to a full pound
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
butter, about 2-3 tablespoons
elbow macaroni, about 1 1/2 - 2 cups dry

(Can you tell I don't measure much when it comes to certain dishes?)

In a large pot, boil some water. Dip your tomatoes in for about 30-45 seconds. Transfer immediately to cold water. This will make your tomatoes easy to peel.

Peel and crush your tomatoes. You can leave them chunky for the goulash or blend them to make them smooth, like I did.

Simmer your tomatoes with the butter, salt and pepper on medium low heat for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown your hamburger with the garlic and onion. I used 2 cloves of garlic and an inch thick slice of onion.

Cook your macaroni according to package directions.

Add your cooked hamburger and macaroni to the tomatoes.

Enjoy! This goulash is sure to please everyone.