Pan Haggerty Casserole

Pan Haggerty is a British Food dish made by layering potatoes, onions and cheese. Traditionally, Pan Haggerty is made in a frying pan on top of the stove, cooked on low heat and finished off in the oven to brown the cheese on top.

It's winter time here. When the cold weather comes I usually, like a lot of you, start making casseroles and crock pot dinners. So, I decided to try making this in a glass casserole dish and baking it in the oven. This casserole is pretty easy to make. You can't really mess up on this one. 

Start out by peeling and thinly slicing 6-8 medium sized potatoes.

 Also, thinly slice a medium size onion. 

I used an 8 oz. bag of shredded cheddar cheese, You can use any good melting cheese that you like in this. 

I also melted 1 stick of butter to drizzle in between the layers. Salt and Pepper are also used to season in between the layers.

In a casserole dish, I started by coating the bottom of the dish with some melted butter. Then, I started layering on the potatoes...

 Then, add the onions, salt & pepper and I also drizzled on some of the melted butter. 

 Next, add some of the shredded cheese and continue layering until you reach the top of the dish.

 Once you get to the top of the dish, or run out of ingredients like I did, finish the casserole with a healthy layer of cheese.

 Here is a side view picture of how the layer looked when I was finished layering everything.

Cover the casserole with aluminum foil and bake in the oven on 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or until the potatoes and onions have cooked through. Then, remove the foil and continue baking for about 5 minutes to brown the cheese on top. 

This recipe is pretty versatile. You can change it up any way you like. You can add fresh garlic or even a little garlic powder in between the layers. You could also use olive oil in place of the butter or alternate between the two. Some people also add cooked bacon or corned beef to this recipe. 

Pan Haggerty can also be made on the stove top in a frying pan using low heat. Or if you live in the country and have a wood stove, you could most definitely do this in a cast iron skillet on top of the stove. This could also be made in a Crock Pot orSlow Cooker.

Here is a picture of my finished Pan Haggerty Casserole. 

So, I had too much time on my hands and actually took a short video clip so you could see and hear the bubbling cheesy goodness. ;)

Pot Roast using Sauer's Bag & Seasoning Mix

I usually cook my pot roast for hours in the oven. I decided to try a Sauer's Pot Roast Bag & Seasoning packet that I picked up at the store. The cooking bag is supposed to save time in the kitchen. The package suggests only cooking the roast for 1 and 1/2 hours. 

I used about a 4 pound beef chuck roast. First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, place the bag in a 9x13 baking dish. Place the roast inside the bag. The packages says to add 3-4 cups of chopped vegetables. I used onions and potatoes. I would have used some carrots but this roast took up quite a bit of space in the bag and I didn't think I would have enough room and didn't want to over pack the bag.

 Then, you mix the seasoning with about 1/4 cup of water. Then you pour the mixture over the roast and vegetables in the bag. 

 Here's a glimpse inside the bag. It's looking pretty good at this point. 

 Next, you close up the bag with a little tie they include in the package. 

 Place the roast in the oven and bake for about an hour and a half.

 After baking I pulled the roast out of the oven and let it rest there on top of the stove for a few minutes. Be careful when cutting the bag open as you could burn yourself on the escaping steam. 

In the end, it turned out pretty good. The seasoning had a nice flavor to it. Those little charred bits on the top were from some green pepper pieces that were in the seasoning mix. I didn't really noticed that it altered the flavor any. The potatoes were wonderfully cooked and yummy. Overall, I think this was a good product. If you don't have time to cook a roast for hours you should give the Sauer's Bag & Seasoning a try.

If you can not find Sauer's brand seasonings in your local store they are available online at www.cfsauer.com

Shredded Chicken BBQ Sandwich

I know in the south barbeque is a sacred thing. However, I personally am not a fan of the Pulled Pork Sandwich. There are 2 different types of Pork BBQ sandwiches. One is made with shredded pork and bbq sauce mixed together and the other one is the "pulled pork" sandwich which is just the dry shredded or chopped pork on a bun and you have to add your own bbq sauce on the top. It's the dry pulled pork sandwich that I just can't stand. Maybe I'm not going to the right places or maybe I just don't like pork shoulder that much. Who knows?! So, as an alternative I decided to make myself a Chicken BBQ Sandwich.

I just LOVE boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets. You can use them for all sorts of different recipes. They cook so much faster without the bone. Last night, I had made BBQ chicken thighs in the oven. So, I just took the leftover thighs from last nights dinner and shredded them. I mixed in some store bought BBQ sauce (Garland Jack's Secret Six Original)  and put it in the microwave. You can also heat this on the stove top. After it's heated through, put this mixture on your favorite bread and enjoy!

If you don't have leftover chicken, you can also get one of those rotisserie chickens from the grocery store. The rotisserie chickens are real time savers! Since the store is cooking the chicken for you, you don't have to make a mess in the kitchen or take the time to cook the chicken yourself. They are great for a quick dinner, chicken salad, white bean chicken chili, chicken spaghetti (use chicken instead of groud beef) or for making this recipe ;)

Teriyaki Chicken on a Stick Recipe

My kids just love the "chicken on a stick" at the Chinese buffet. So, I figured I would try making them at home. I don't know that this is an actual "recipe" because I used a bottled Teriyaki Sauce when making these. This recipe made 24 skewers.
Here's what you'll need:

1 large package (2.5lbs) of boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets
1 bottle of Kikkoman Original Teriyaki Sauce
1 pack (100 ct.) Bamboo Skewers

The first thing I did was soak the skewers in cold water while I was preparing the chicken. It doesn't say to do this on the package. However, I thought I had done this before when making kabobs to keep the skewers from burning so much on the grill.

To make the chicken into strips, I just stretched the fillet out and cut it down the center long ways. There were 12 thighs in this package which made 24 strips of chicken. 

Next, I poured about half the bottle of Teriyaki sauce in a bowl and added the chicken strips and let them marinate for about 15 minutes while I was preparing the grill. 

Next, I put the chicken strips on the skewers, I just kind of weaved back and forth with the skewer to make sure the chicken was secure on the stick. When I was finished I brushed on more of the sauce from the marinating bowl over the chicken.

Then time to grill. These seemed to cook up pretty quick. I would say about 10-20 minutes depending on how hot your grill is. 

Here is the finished Teriyaki Chicken on a Stick. They tasted just like the ones we get at our local Chinese restaurant!

Malibu Bay Breeze Cocktail Recipe

I can remember my sister drinking these when we were younger and barely of legal drinking age. I don't drink much anymore, now that I'm a 'grown up' and have responsibilities. However, on rare occasions I like to think back to our glory days and mix up one of these refreshing cocktails. Here's the recipe:

1 and a half ounces of Malibu Coconut Rum

2 ounces of  Cranberry Juice

2 ounces of Pineapple Juice

Pour over ice and stir. 

or if you have one of those fancy drink shakers and want to pretend that you are Tom Cruise from Cocktail, go for it!

Barney Butter Almond Butter Product Review

Undercover Cheapskate: Barney Butter Almond Butter Product Review: I came across this Barney Butter Almond Butter as I was shopping at Lowes Food (NC based grocery store) the other day. It was actually ...

Biscuit Topped Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Here is an easy and tasty dinner you can make for you family. I tried to make this from a recipe I found on the internet. I quickly figured out that I didn't have all the ingredients that the recipe called for. The recipe called for 2 cans of cream of chicken soup which I didn't have. So I had to improvise and make my own gravy from scratch. So, basically I just winged it! In the end it turned pretty good and my kids liked it.

What you'll need:

• 1 pound of chicken breast ( I used the chicken tenderloins because they are easy to cut up)
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 can or box of chicken stock
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 Tbsp of flour
• 1/4 cup of chopped onion
• 1/4 cup of chopped celery
• Half pound of carrots chopped or you can you canned carrots 
• 1 can of sweet peas
• 1 roll of Grands Biscuits or 2 rolls of smaller biscuits

First, do all of you prep work - cut up the chicken into bite size pieces, chop your onion, celery and carrots (if using fresh carrots).
Then, heat up a large pot on the stove using medium heat ( I used a 5qt pot).
Next, place the stick of butter in the pot and start melting it.
Add the chicken, onions, celery and carrots (if fresh carrots, if canned wait til the end to add)
Add Salt and Pepper (about 1 teaspoon or so of each)
Cook everything together in the butter until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink

Then I sprinkled the 2 Tbsp of flour over the mixture and stirred it in to coat everything
Next, Add milk to the pot.
Stir this mixture until the flour dissolves and the gravy starts to thicken.

When the mixture starts looking too thick thin it out a little with a few cups of chicken stock.
At this point add in the can of peas, drained (and carrots if you are using canned)
Incorporate all this together and if needed add more salt and pepper to taste

Transfer the mixture to a glass 9x13 baking dish (be careful this mixture is Hot!)

Bake this at 375 for about 20 minutes
Then pull it out of the oven and place biscuits on top (I stirred the mixture around a little before I put the biscuits on since the butter had floated to the top) ,
I used the Grands biscuits whole but some friends have suggested that it's better to use the smaller biscuits or cut up the larger pieces into chunks and place on the top.

Put the casserole back in the over and continue cooking for about 15 minutes or until the biscuits have turned golden brown.

Voila! There you have it, Biscuit-topped Chicken Pot Pie Casserole.