Southwestern Sausage Quiche

I. Love. Quiche.

I always have a box of the mini variety in my freezer, and if it's on a restaurant's lunch menu, I'm almost always going to order it. I can't put my finger on why...it's not like I'm a huge egg fan. There's just something about creamy, (usually) cheesy goodness supported by a flaky crust.

I hope Stephanie at Plain Chicken isn't going to roll her eyes that I'm posting another one of her recipes...but I have so many from her blog bookmarked (now "Pinned").

I think the key to this recipe being so good is the Ranch dressing...which pretty much makes everything better. I also used hot sausage and hot Rotel, which gave it the perfect amount of heat.

It was eaten at my house for dinner...and then for breakfast...and then for lunch by a co-worker...and, finally, as a snack by my mother. This is truly soul-satisfying food.

Printable recipe

1/2 pound ground breakfast sausage
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained 
2 eggs
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup milk
1 9-inch unbaked deep dish pie shell

Preheat oven to 350. In a large skillet, cook sausage until well browned, stirring frequently. Drain off grease and set aside. Whisk together eggs, Ranch dressing, sour cream and milk. Add sausage, cheese and Rotel. Stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into prepared pie crust. Bake 1 hour. Allow quiche to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. 

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Dinner at my house often boils down to one question: Italian or Mexican? So, when I saw this recipe, I knew I'd love it...even though it seems like a strange mix of flavors on paper. If you're a pasta fan looking for a twist, this is for you.

I know stuffed shells can seem like a process, but this recipe is so worth it. One of the best cooking tips I've ever received was to fill a Ziploc bag with whatever you're stuffing shells with, snip a corner, and pipe away. So easy.

I have to confess...we had quite a few spoonfuls of the meat mixture (I mean, cream cheese and taco seasoning?) and both agreed that we could have had that for dinner alone. Seriously delicious.

Printable recipe

1 pound ground beef
1 package taco seasoning 
3 ounces cream cheese
16 jumbo pasta shells, cooked
1-1/2 cups salsa
1 cup taco sauce
2 cups cheddar cheese 


Brown beef and add taco seasoning. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Pour salsa on bottom of 9×13 baking dish. Stuff each cooked pasta shell with the meat mixture. Place shells in pan open side up. Cover shells with taco sauce.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Add shredded cheese and bake for 10-15 more minutes with the foil removed.

Creamy Meatball Stew

I found this recipe over at Cassie Craves awhile ago when I was looking for recipes using frozen meatballs. She calls it a minestrone and uses some fresh vegetables, but I cut out a few steps to streamline the process.

I let the sauce simmer for a couple of hours to develop the flavor, and it also really thickened up. In fact, once the cream cheese is added, it was less stew and more casserole in consistency. I was a little unsure about the beans, but they were a nice addition; they're a good source of protein if you wanted to make this without the meatballs.

Ultimately, this was just a bowlful of comfort. I took a serving next door to my med school neighbor, who I imagine lives on frozen pizza and fast food, and he knocked back on my door within 10 minutes with a scraped-clean bowl.

Printable recipe

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 pound frozen or fresh Italian meatballs 
1 26-ounce jar spaghetti sauce
32 ounces beef broth
8 ounces small uncooked pasta
8 ounces cream cheese, softened

Combine first six ingredients in large stockpot. Simmer until meatballs are warm/cooked through. Add pasta and simmer until cooked. Remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until melted.