Salisbury Steak From a Packet!!

Today is the Ultimate Recipe Swap over at Life as Mom! She's asked for recipes that use 5 ingredients or less, and I thought I would highlight an old recipe that never fails me!!

This is my all time favorite dinner, no joke. Which is also why I am linking up with It's a Keeper which is being guest hosted over at B & the boy!! I could probably live off of this meal and nothing else! It's funny to realize that now, because growing up my mom made it about once a week and I got so sick of it that I never wanted to eat it! To go straight to the recipe, click here!

The great thing about this recipe is that it takes so little to make something so tasty! Here is what you need:

Mexican Penne

You know what works for me? Making meals ahead when I know life will be crazy!

For those of you who read my blog on a semi-regular basis, you may have noticed I've been MIA for awhile now... I'm in the midst of finals (law school) and haven't found much time to sleep let alone blog, but I am taking a break tonight from the insanity to introduce you all to my favorite make-ahead (or make right now!) meal!

I made this about a week and a half ago, I knew I'd be too busy to cook (I haven't cooked since last Wednesday!) and I knew my boys would be hungry, so I made a few easy to throw together meals and threw them in the freezer, this is their second favorite - Shepherd's Pie being their first!

This recipe is for one casserole, but I made it into two because otherwise there are too many leftovers.

So here is what you need:

Cream Cheese Ranch Chicken

Ranch is a big hit around here, so anything with a ranch packet added in automatically makes the try list! This is the second time I've made this meal, and the second time I've said, why oh why didn't I buy low sodium broth/cream of chicken!??! Be warned, you should definitely go low sodium on this, but we got past the saltiness because this is really yummy!

Here is what you need:

Curry From a Packet

The first meal hubby ever cooked for me was a curry stew, I had never had curry before and it was so wonderful that it became a regular meal on the menu plan! I normally use a packet called Vermont Curry- Mild... I actually have 3 of them in my pantry, but I've had a Hawaiian Curry packet in my pantry for a long time and I figured it was time to try it.

Here it is:

 Can you tell by how wrinkly it is that it's been rolling around in my packet bag for quite some time?

Crockpot Beef Stew

It's Crock Pot Wednesday over at Dining with Debbie, and Slow Cooking Thursday over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom!

I didn't have any crockpot meals planned, but I did have beef stew on the menu... I've never made it in the crockpot, but I figured why not give it a try?

It turned out great, better than usual!! Click here for the printable version.

Here is what I used:

Fiesta Salad

This is such an easy, cheap, and fun meal I always end up asking myself why I don't make it more often. Probably because I try to wait until I have some leftover tortilla chips instead of buying a whole bag of them, we never seem to eat them when I do it that way and then they go stale!!

Here is what you need to get started:

Kung Pau Chicken

I've blogged before about my boys obsession with Asian food, but this recipe just drives them wild. If you think the singing and dancing at the mention of Cashew Chicken was a little wacky, you'd love to see them go nuts when I mention Kung Pau!

And the best part? It keeps me from going nuts, because it takes all of 10 minutes to make. You know why. Say it with me: PACKET!!!! 

Here is your very best friend in the whole wide world, the packet: 

Cashew Chicken

So, have I mentioned we love Asian food at our house?? Funny thing is, I used to hate trying new things, the only thing I would get from a chinese take out was those fried up little chicken pieces with sweet n sour. And now I eat something different every week - heck I even MAKE it!

With a little help though! Thanks to the packets I've found (and will be telling you more about soon) I'm able to cook up some seriously delicious food that gets raved about. Last night my boys (hubby and stepson) were actually dancing around the house singing "we're having cashew chicken!!" (over and over and over again). The dog joined in on the singing. It was insane. It was hilarious. It is definitely a good life!

This is the third Wanchai Ferry kit we've tried, and while all of them have been good, this one takes the cake, not only for taste but because it is seriously easy and gets to the table faster than I can load a dishwasher (maybe I'm a little slow in that area..)

Chili Made EASY!

For the first recipe, one of my favorite meals... Chili!!!

This is so easy and so good you will smack yourself for not making it sooner. You can print this out minus my comments and pictures here.

Here is our friend the packet: