Cranberry Ranch Chicken

Now that we're closing in on fall, it's time for some yummy and easy comfort food!

When my friend Marcy first told me about this recipe six year ago, I thought it sounded kinda gross, but the Mrs. (who wasn't yet the Mrs.) thought it sounded good, so I made it. She was right, and this one-pot dish has become a staple of our dinner table, especially in the fall and winter.

This is one of those recipes anyone can make, because all it requires is dumping four ingredients in a dish, stirring and cooking. One tip, though, the better the quality of Ranch dressing you use, the better. When Marcy gave me the recipe she said to use the jarred Ranch you find in the refrigerated area of the produce section of the grocery store, like Marzetti or Marianne's. I've used regular bottled Ranch, and I've found the cheap store brand leaves things a little oily. Name brand (e.g. Kraft, Hidden Valley) work fine.

Ingredients
1 lb chicken cut into bite-size pieces
8-10 oz Ranch dressing (see note above)
1 can WHOLE BERRY cranberry sauce (NOT the jelly kind)
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 lb egg noodles (cooked as directed)


Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray (makes clean-up a little easier). Mix the chicken, Ranch, cranberry sauce and onion soup mix in the casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Serve over egg noodles. For a little more balance and color, serve with a green veggie. I've found steamed broccoli is the perfect pairing.

Give this recipe a try. I'm pretty sure you and your family will like it as much as we do!

Gold Medal Meals: Beef Stroganoff

OK. I admit it. I dropped the ball. An out-of-town weekend trip and the busyness of life with two kids kept me from continuing my plan of a meal from a different nation each night of the Olympics. So on this night where London extinguished its cauldron, I decided to make one more Gold Medal Meal.

One of the traditions of the Closing Ceremonies at the Olympics is the hand-off to the next host city. In this case, London passes off to Rio De Jeneiro, Brazil, for the next summer games, but the next host is Sochi, Russia, home of the XXII Olympic Winter Games. So in honor of Russia, I decided to make Beef Stronganoff (or Stronganov).

As I often do, I searched for an easy recipe for the dish, and then added a few touches of my own. In addition to getting me back to the Olympic theme, this unlike many of the other Gold Medal Meals, fits with the theme of simplicity in cooking this blog targets.

Ingredients
12-16 oz package egg noodles
1 lb lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (low or reduced fat preferably)
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
In large pot of boiling water, cook noodles according to directions.

In large skillet over medium-high heat, brown ground beef. Just before it's all done, drain the grease. Stir in the onion, and cook two more minutes. Stir in garlic and mushrooms. Cook two more minutes, or until mushrooms are tender. Stir in soup, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 8-10 minutes. Stir in sour cream, simmer two more minutes. Serve over noodles.

It's not the most photogenic dish, but it's pretty tasty, even if our little guy wasn't willing to give it a chance. My wife and I talked about how it would be an easy dish to hide some veggies, like diced carrots, by adding them in with the meat and other veggies.