Author Archives for simplifiedbystacie

Did this recipe title snag your attention and make you think back to the good ol’ days when this used to be a household staple meal? As I flipped through ideas of meal plans for my household this week (AKA opened my overflowing binder of printed out family recipes), I came across this gem. My first thought was that I’m absolutely making this for the upcoming week. And my second thought was wondering why no one makes this anymore?

Seriously, why don’t you ever hear people saying they made a dish like this for dinner just the other night? Is it because casserole type dishes aren’t “in style” anymore? Is it because this original version of the recipe calls for (wait for the shudder) cream of chicken soup? Or, is it more basic than all those and simply a matter of people not taking the effort to make homemade meals thinking that they can’t or it will be too hard? Whatever the reason, I’m here to dispel it and remind you all how comforting this dish is and that you can (and really should) make this!

For anyone of you reading this and internally saying that casseroles were sooooo 2003, let me remind you that casserole was really just a catchy phrase years ago and it really only means easily thrown together meal if you ask me! If you simply cannot be caught saying you made this chicken casserole why don’t you jazz it up and say you made this simple twist on an old fashioned Italian dish named after an opera singer called Tetrazzini. Sounds way fancier, right? Look at you, you trendsetter you!

Speaking of trendsetting, it’s almost becoming a social faux pas to use cream of anything soup or canned goods. In this all-organic time, people are leery of anything processed. I totally get this and would love to say I always have time to make my homemade substitute for cream soups but I’d be lying. If you have the time and want to put just a little extra effort into this recipe you can absolutely sub out the offending ingredient(s). Greek yogurt instead of sour cream and homemade chicken broth or cream of chicken soup work great! No excuses for not making this dish allowed. Just because it didn’t start out as a health conscious recipe doesn’t mean you can’t add healthy tweaks to your version of it!

Since we are talking about excuses now, what’s your excuse for not putting a homemade meal like this on your table? Too expensive? I think not; use leftover chicken from another meal or purchase chicken breasts in bulk for a lower cost per pound. The rest is crazy cost effective! Too difficult for your novice cooking skills? You did see that the only cutting is of the cooked chicken and then you dump that in with everything else after boiling noodles in water, right? Still too hard? Buy already cooked chicken and you seriously cook the noddles, dump, stir, and bake! No time? Make it ahead and save the baking time for a night when you have an extra hour (tops) before eating!

Now that I’ve crushed all your excuses and you’re considering the fact that this sounds like a truly simple recipe, let me tell you how great it is! This is a super kid friendly dish because the base is spaghetti noodles and the protein is chicken – picky eaters, have no fear! Sub out the chicken for turkey or make it sans protein (just be sure to cut down on the chicken broth amount so it’s not soupy). Someone snubbing the spaghetti? Swap it out for a different noodle, there are no real rules here folks! Love the end result but want it geared more towards adults? Add red pepper flakes, a little pesto, or some prosciutto and, voila, dinner party ready! Since this is a pasta dish it feeds far more than expected and reheats wonderfully too. Did I mention you can throw it together ahead of time? Automatic win for a weeknight meal!

Get your salads and garlic bread and wine ready folks…chicken tetrazzini (NOT casserole) is coming to your table soon!

Bon appetit!

Pot perfect size spaghetti noodles=genius! Long enough to be fun for the kids but short enough to make this an acceptable adult meal without it turning into Lady & The Tramp with the never-ending noodle!

Have you ever stumbled across a food that you eat and just know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you will crave it and need to have to have it again as soon as possible? I’m not talking about a great dish at a restaurant that you would go back and order again. I’m talking about a dish where every ingredient that makes it delicious is one of your favorites. I’m talking about a food that makes your taste buds sing and do a happy dance…at the same time! Ground turkey, fresh parsley, and feta – oh my!! Prepare your taste buds for my sister’s to-die-for Greek Turkey Meatballs recipe 🙂

Quite an introduction for the recipe this week, huh? Trust me, this recipe deserves that kind of build up. Now that I’ve got your attention I want to tell you how this latest craving came into my life. My youngest sister was expecting her first baby so, naturally, my other sisters and I decided randomly one day that we were going to invade her house and prep some freezer meals for her and her newly growing family. Imagine four adult sisters and their mom meal planning, divvying ingredients into lists to divide and conquer at various grocery stores, and then completely taking over her entire kitchen and dining room. Two hours after arriving in her kitchen, we had demolished that meal plan of freezer meals. Everything from homemade chicken stock, to quinoa casserole, to chicken enchiladas, to broccoli rice bakes, to philly sliders, to Greek meatballs had been knocked out and put into their freezer within record time. All that was left for the expectant parents was to recover from the tornado of cooking activity in their house then wait patiently for the arrival of their sweet, sweet baby!

When my sisters and I get together in the kitchen we are truly a force to be reckoned with! My favorite part of cooking with them is that they are ALL amazing cooks. Even if we aren’t making a new recipe we inevitably end up talking about variations or things we have tried recently. My youngest sister’s Greek meatballs were new to the rest of us so we let her take charge that day and make them herself. However, when those babies were pulled out of the oven and set on the table to cool, every single one of us forgot they were intended to be for freezer meals. In our defense we obviously had no choice but to taste test for safety reasons, right? The problem with that is that once we started we could not get enough of the fantastic flavors and kept sneaking more. Needless to say, we all made to sure to leave that day with the ingredient list and loose guideline of how she made them. Lucky for all of you, she was very helpful with helping me to recreate the dish so I could share it 🙂

If you are a fan of flavors typical to Greek cuisine please, for the love of all that is right in this world, try this recipe! They are ridiculously amazing as an appetizer served with tzatziki dipping sauce, or served with a light lemon sauce over orzo, and can be made into a meatloaf style form instead of meatballs. They freeze beautifully but, fair warning, you will need to make a big batch if that’s your intention because they are too addicting to stop eating! I hope you all enjoy this and thank you again to my creative cook of a sister for introducing this to us all!

This week’s post is brought to you by my love of pickles! There’s just something so satisfying about that salty, acidic, fresh, crunchy bite that gets me every time. My sister introduced this version of this recipe to me and I haven’t bothered with another version since then! I think my love of pickles

stemmed (partly) from growing up in a household and extended family of picklers. For those of you not familiar with that term, it means the women in my family loved to take fresh veggies of nearly any kind and make their own pickling liquid to preserve those veggies in jars. These jars would be opened throughout the year, brought to various functions, and shared with others.

This tradition is still alive and well. But, because it’s my over-achieving family, it’s been taken to new levels. Quick refrigerator pickles are still done in mass quantities and are incredibly easy. But…the pickling liquid has also been tweaked so it’s fitting for green beans, zucchini spears, onions, and banana peppers! On top of that, the refrigerator pickles are sweet, the green beans are garlicky, and the banana peppers have some heat to them. Such a great variety of different pickled veggies, it’s difficult to choose a favorite! It’s nearly impossibly to top anything homemade but even harder to do so when it’s homemade and pickled!

That being said…some recipes made for groups (like this delicious dill pickle wrap dip) call for that good ‘ol fashioned store bought dill pickle flavor over the new and improved pickling recipe tweaks. Once I was able to push away the guilt of using something non-homemade (insert shudder here), I realized there are benefits to this. Number one, I get to save the yummy pickled green beans and banana peppers for myself. Number two, my favorite brand of store bought pickles come in a sliced option which makes for easy peasy chopping. Number three, I get to have a variety of pickled items in my fridge and pantry for when my random pickle cravings strike. Oh yeah!!!

Ok, onto the actual recipe chat! I’m sure you’ve all enjoyed (and maybe created) those cute little dill pickle wrap appetizers. The one with a pickle spear rolled up in a slice of lunchmeat smeared with cream cheese? So adorable, right? Let’s be honest though, they are also a pain in the patootie to make. Cue this simpler version of that recipe! Same ingredients chopped up with a little of the fabulous pickle juice and extra spices tossed in to your liking then mixed and served with crackers. Voila! No more trying to spread even layers of cream cheese on lunchmeat. No more trying to roll those up on a pickle and praying it sticks. No more serving random lunchmeat rolls on a tray. Just an incredibly fresh dip that’s easy to make and ridiculously addicting to eat. I love this recipe so much and sincerely hope you (and the people at your next party) love it too!

Could this recipe be ANY easier?

Sliced pickles=super simple chopping!

Wayyyyy cuter for presentation than the rolled version! This can easily be made ahead and put in the fridge until just before serving time too 🙂