Ground Turkey & Spinach Casserole

This casserole combines lean protein and healthy vegetables in a decadent cream sauce for an easy weeknight dinner. Serve this dish alone, or with a side of salad & bread. It's sure to be a crowd-pleaser!

Ground Turkey & Spinach Casserole
Yield: 9x13 pan

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp butter or oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 2 (10.5 oz) cans gluten free cream of chicken soup
• 2 (10 oz) pkgs frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
• 4 eggs, room temperature & beaten
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 16 oz Italian style shredded cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 9x13 pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. In saute pan over medium heat, melt butter and cook diced onion until tender and translucent, about 10 minutes.
3. Add ground turkey to pan and cook until no longer pink.
4. Remove from heat and add both cans of chicken soup. Pour mixture into greased 9x13 baking dish.
5. In separate bowl, combine spinach, eggs, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly and layer over turkey mixture.
6. Sprinkle cheese on top of spinach layer.
7. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until center is bubbly and cheese is melted and browned.
8. Serve hot.

Recipe adapted from CD Kitchen.

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

I love having a casserole that can be prepared in the slow cooker because it frees up my oven for cooking other dishes, especially around the holidays! These creamy, cheesy potatoes are great for an everyday Sunday brunch with your family or for a special Christmas dinner with out-of-town guests.

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole
Crock Pot Recipe

Ingredients
32 oz package frozen diced hash brown potatoes, thawed
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 onion, chopped
10.5 oz can gluten free cream of chicken soup
2 cups shredded cheese
1 cup sour cream

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Cook on low 3-4 hours.
3. Potatoes should be creamy. Be careful not to overcook!

Notes
• Make sure to check the ingredients on the package of hash browns to ensure they are gluten free. Many generic/store brands include wheat. I use Ore Ida name brand potatoes. Also, make sure you are buying diced potatoes, not shredded potatoes.
• In place of the can of cream of chicken soup, you can use 1/2 cup Augason Farms cream of chicken soup mix and 1 cup of water (as seen in photo above).
• The original recipe calls for shredded cheddar cheese, but I find that it makes the dish too greasy. I prefer to use a four cheese Mexican blend because it melts nicely. Colby Jack or any other soft cheese blend would work well, too.

Recipe adapted from Recipes for Our Daily Bread.

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

Winter is the perfect time of year to cozy up with a warm bowl of delicious soup!

Now a close up of all that cheesy, creamy goodness studded with tender (and healthy!) broccoli. You'll never think twice about buying pre-made soup again once you've given this a try...it's that good!

Cheesy Broccoli Soup
Crock Pot Recipe

Ingredients
1 lb frozen broccoli, thawed and chopped
1 lb Velveeta cheese, cubed
10.5 oz can gluten free cream of chicken soup (see this post)
14.5 oz can chicken broth
dash of pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
2. Cover. Cook on low 5-6 hours.
3. Stir to combine before serving.

Note: Recipe can easily be doubled!

Recipe adapted from "Cheesy Broccoli Soup" found on page 39 of Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Cookbook: 600 Slow Cooker Holiday Recipes by Phyllis Pellman Good.

Cream of Chicken Soup

I've posted before about feeling like I had to start over with cooking when I went gluten free because of one simple ingredient: cream of condensed soup. It seemed like every recipe called for at least one can, and I could never figure out a good substitute that would still have the dish turn out the same way as before. Then I discovered Great Value gluten free cream of mushroom soup by accident at Walmart one day. Then at a later point, I found Great Value gluten free cream of chicken soup at a different Walmart in town, also by mistake!

After those discoveries, I stocked up (because I didn't want to have to accidentally find them again!) and then did some research to see if I could find a better (read: cheaper) alternative. (At $1.42 per can here in South Dakota, that's crazy expensive compared to the non-GF version!) That's when I discovered this amazing product: Augason Farms Cream of Chicken Soup Mix.

The reviews on Amazon looked promising, so I decided to give it a shot! I actually bought the product from Target, though, because of the 5% discount and free shipping by using my REDcard (every woman's best friend!).

The following recipe is the golden ticket to using this product. The canister contains nearly 11 cups of soup mix, so it can make roughly 21 equivalent cans of condensed soup. Calculating the Target price of $19.99 (at my time of purchase) with the REDcard discount brings the cost down to $18.99 which is only $0.90 per can!

Equals 1 can of condensed soup:
  1/2 cup Augason Farms Cream of Chicken Soup Mix
  1 3/4 cups water
Bring water to a boil. Add soup mix. Simmer 12-15 minutes, stirring frequently.

The best part is, if you are using this in a crock pot recipe, you can skip the cooking part completely. Just add the water and soup mix to your slow cooker and it will do the work for you!

One final note: IT'S DELICIOUS!

What's for Dinner?

That's the very question I asked myself this morning when planning out my family's meals for the day. Yesterday I was full of inspiration (pork chops on the grill, spinach salad, and mashed potatoes!), but today... not so much. So I took a look in my pantry, threw some ingredients in the crock pot, and the result was delicious! (And you know what? With the red and green colors, it's rather festive for the season, too!)

Creamy Chicken with Spinach & Sun Dried Tomatoes
Crock Pot Recipe

Ingredients
1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast (fresh or frozen)
10.5 oz can gluten free cream of chicken soup (see this post for details)
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
10 oz box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
3 oz package sun dried tomatoes*
salt, to taste

Directions
1. Place chicken in slow cooker. Top with cream of chicken soup.
2. Cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
3. Shred chicken with two forks. Stir in cream cheese.
4. Squeeze excess moisture from chopped spinach. Add to slow cooker along with sun dried tomatoes. Stir.
5. Replace cover and cook additional 1-2 hours for flavors to develop.
6. If desired, top individual servings with shredded cheese, bacon crumbles, etc.

* I used these julienne cut sun dried tomatoes from Trader Joe's.

Notes
• If using whole sun dried tomatoes, make sure to chop or slice into smaller pieces.
• If using oil packed tomatoes (from a jar), drain well on a paper towel before adding to slow cooker.

Herbed Chicken

If you have children (or a picky spouse!), you know how challenging it can be to find a meal that everyone at the table will eat. So I was fairly pessimistic when I first tried this recipe a few years ago figuring at least one of my kids would dislike it (I already had one of them in mind!). Boy was I wrong! Not only did Jared and I love this dish as adults, but all three of my children ate it without a fight (win!). This recipe is a staple in our rotation of dinners and hopefully you can add it to your repertoire, too!

Herbed Chicken
Crock Pot Recipe

Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs, fresh or frozen)
10.5 oz can gluten free cream of chicken soup (see note below)
1/4 cup gluten free soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp brown sugar

Directions
1. Arrange chicken in slow cooker.
2. Layer remaining ingredients on top of chicken.
3. Cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
4. Shred chicken with two forks and stir to coat in sauce.
5. Serve over cooked rice with a side of steamed broccoli.

Note
If you've checked out my Green Bean Casserole post, then you may recall that I was pleasantly surprised (okay, shocked) the day that I discovered Walmart's Great Value brand made gluten free cream of mushroom soup. I thought I was forever doomed to have to throw out all of my recipes that called for a can of condensed cream-of-whatever soup! Well color me surprised when I went to a different Walmart in town (I think we have at least 6 locations scattered around Sioux Falls) and I discovered gluten free cream of chicken soup! (I may have bought every can on the shelf... literally.)

Recipe adapted from "Herbed Chicken" found on page 163 of Fix-It and Forget-It Christmas Cookbook: 600 Slow Cooker Holiday Recipes by Phyllis Pellman Good.