kathie lee gifford's mom's sweet and sour chicken

my mom got this recipe while watching an episode of regis & kathie lee years and years ago. it was kathie lee's mom's, and it's good. and crazy easy. so let's get started. you'll need a package of chicken strips, a can of pineapple chunks (or i bet fresh would be good too, i'm just too lazy), one green pepper, a packet of lipton onion soup mix, 8 oz. of russian dressing, and 8 oz. of apricot jam.start by cutting up your green pepper into cubes.

pour your dressing into a mixing bowl,
and your jam,
and your soup mix,
and 1/4 cup of water.
mix it all together.
now drain your pineapple,

and lay your chicken strips in the bottom of a foil-lined pan.
use a 9x13 or a square pan. i usually use a square pan, but today my square pan was otherwise occupied.
layer the chicken with green pepper and pineapple,
then pour your sweet and sour mixture on top of it all.

like this. yum
now cover with foil, and put in a 350* oven for an hour.
remove the foil lid after 30 minutes, and keep cooking.
serve over rice. steamed would probably be good, but i don't have a rice cooker so i just use minute rice. fast and easy.
kathie lee gifford's mom's sweet and sour chicken

1 package of chicken strips
1 green pepper
1 can of pineapple chunks
8 oz. russian dressing
8 oz. apricot jam
1 packet lipton onion soup mix
1/4 cup water
rice

line a 9x13 pan with foil. lay the chicken strips on the bottom, then layer cut up green pepper and pineapple chunks on top. mix together the dressing, jam, soup mix, and water and pour on top of the chicken. cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes at 350*. remove the foil lid and continue cooking for 30 more minutes. serve over rice.

chicken-sausage-rice casserole

okay, so i have never been able to make this as good as my mom, but it's easy and dave loves it (again, sausage), so i thought i'd post about it and you can decide for yourselves. remember, i halve all of my recipes because we can't eat as much, so i'm only showing you half, but you can do the full amount if you have a lot of people to feed, or don't have a square 8x8 pan, or whatever. so let's get started: you need a package of chicken, a tube of jimmy dean sausage, minute rice, and onion. start by boiling your chicken for 30 minutes or until no longer pink.
try not to do this: (boil the water over the edge). it makes a huge mess and it makes me mad.
squeeze your sausage into a pan,
and brown over medium heat until no longer pink.
like this:
now dice half of an onion (or a quarter if you're doing half the recipe). i can't stand chopping onions so i use this little chopper/food processor.
remove your browned sausage to a paper plate lined with paper towels to drain. sorry about the dark picture.
now this is important: remove your chicken from the pan, but KEEP THE WATER. don't dump it out.

shred your chicken into the bottom of your 9x13 or 8x8 pan,
then add the sausage,
onion,
and 1 cup of rice.
now here's where i always go wrong. you have to pour your chicken-water onto the casserole. i never get the right amount of water. i either don't do enough, and the rice is crispy, or i do too much, and it's soggy.
that's why i'm hesitant to share this recipe with you, because there is no exact way for me to explain how much water to add. so just pour the water until the rice is covered (with water). like this:
throw it in the oven for an hour at 350*.
and here it is: dave loves it, i do not.
but if you serve it with pioneer woman's green beans, you can't go wrong.

chicken sausage rice casserole

1 package of chicken strips
1 tube jimmy dean original sausage
1/2 onion, diced
1 cup of minute rice
chicken water

boil chicken for 30 minutes or until no longer pink. brown the sausage until no longer pink, then remove to a paper plate lined with paper towels to drain. dice your onion. remove chicken from water, but DO NOT POUR IT OUT. shred your chicken into the bottom of your pan, then add the sausage and onion. pour on the cup of minute rice, and pour the chicken water on top until all the rice is covered with water. cook at 350* for 1 hour or until the water is all gone.

jenny's north beach rigatoni

my sister-in-law jenny made this once for me and my husband. dave loves anything sausage, so it was a big hit. i've tried it a few times, and adjusted the recipe a little to suit my fancy. so let's get started.

you'll need a package of rigatoni, 1 zucchini squash, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, a package of Italian Sausage, 1 bottle of marinara sauce, salt, pepper, monterey jack cheese, and beef broth.see this kind of sausage? that's what i like. jenny uses the link kind, but after trying the recipe several times and it not working out, i switched to the tube kind. and, i'm trying to save money on groceries, so i only use half of the tube for this recipe, even though it calls for more.
squeeze your sausage into a pan
and over medium heat, brown it until it's no longer pink.
cut your onion into slices, and separate.do the same with the green pepper.how's your sausage coming? still pink? keep going then.

slice your zucchini. jenny cuts hers in regular slices, just like a cucumber slice would be, but i tried it like this last time i liked it because the bites were more....bite-size. first in half, then in fourths,
then like this.
sausage? browned? awesome.

remove it to a paper plate lined with paper towels to drain.then throw in your onions and green pepper--in the same pan you browned the sausage. yum.
see how good that looks? it smells even better. saute them until they're crisp-tender, whatever that means. isn't that an oxymoron? then deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of dark red wine (or beef broth like me).

add the zucchini, mushrooms (i leave these out because dave hates mushrooms),
salt,
pepper,
marinara sauce,
and sausages. stir.

meanwhile, back at the ranch, boil some water for your rigatoni.
keep stirring your sauce. let it simmer for 12 minutes...just enough time for your pasta to cook.
now slice some monterey jack cheese,
drain your pasta and pour into your serving bowl.

immediately add the slices of cheese, right on top of the hot pasta.
until it's covered. like this.
now pour on the hot sauce...
and voila! let the hot sauce sit for a minute before serving to allow the cheese to melt.
serve with a side of garlic bread. or nothing at all. whatever.
enjoy!

jenny's north beach rigatoni

1 lb. italian sausage links (or a tube of it)
1 onion, cut and separated
1 medium green pepper, cut
1 zucchini squash, cut in slices
1/2 lb. mushrooms, cut in half
1/4 cup dark red wine (or beef broth)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
15 oz. marinara sauce
12 oz. package rigatoni
monterey jack cheese, cut in slices

brown whole sausages in 4 quart sauce pan until thoroughly cooked, about 45 minutes (or brown the tube of sausage like me in a matter of minutes). remove sausage, cool, and slice into 1/4 inch pieces (or skip this step if you do it like me). in drippings, saute onion and green pepper until crisp tender. deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of dark red wine or beef broth, add zucchini, mushrooms, salt, pepper, marinara sauce, and sausage. simmer 12 minutes. cook rigatoni; drain and turn into large bowl. top pasta with cheese slices, then hot sauce. makes six 2-cup servings.