Best Dishes Made of 2012

Sadly, after the birth of my child, my recipe sharing here as basically ceased.  We take the random dinner photo and I sooo mean to share what we made and then it gets stuck on my phone and I never post about it and such is life.  We do try lots of new dishes alllll the time and I thought I'd share what our favorites have been this year.  Also, we always make our own substitutions/changes to what we find.  Well, I do.  My husband has a hard time going off the recipe.  I think going rogue is half the fun!

In no particular order here were the top dishes in our household:

French Toast Casserole -  Booboobear stole the show for us on Christmas Day breakfast.  This will definitely be a repeater!

French Toast Casserole
Serves: 6 - 8

1 loaf sliced French Bread
1 c. Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 c. Milk
8 Eggs
1 tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
½ tsp. Nutmeg
½ tsp Cinnamon

Topping:
1 c. Butter
1 c. Chopped Pecans
1 c. Brown Sugar

Tear bread into chunks. Place in 9" x 12” buttered pan. Mix Condensed milk, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, Nutmeg and Cinnamon. Pour over bread. Mix butter, brown sugar and pecans. Dot this over the bread mixture. Cover with foil and bake covered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Can be refrigerated overnight.

Sour Cream Noodle Bake - Hmmmmm hmmmm good! I introduced my husband to the Pioneer Woman and he is a fan!  This was delicious, very easy for a weeknight and plenty of leftovers! I used more sour cream and less cottage cheese than she did because of the ingredients I had handy!

Skillet Chili Mac & Cheese - My husband and I are not big fans of goulash but like all the ingredients.  We decided this was sorta like goulash BUT FREAKING AMAZING and the only way we'd ever make anything goulash related EVER.  So good! Also an easy middle of the week meal and tons of leftovers!




Skillet Chicken Parm - Can you tell I like one pot easy meals for the week? This is another from Iowa Girl Eats and it was super easy for a girl who HATES cooking chicken in anyway besides the crockpot! The sauce was super tasty and I used a very basic store brand kind with just the added parm cheese.  The flavor from the chicken was delicious!

Hearty Potato Soup - Here we go again with a one pot! This crockpot meal is super tasty and so easy to put together.  We've never made it with bread bowls and mine has never looked like the picture that is shown with it, but it is SUPER good and super tasty.  I'd suggest leaving on the skins and mashing the potatoes when you add in the flour/1/2 and 1/2, or use heavy cream, that's super good.  Oh and add cheese. ;) 

Jalapeno Popper Dip - OMG this is so good.  My husband made it (using jalapeno slices chopped up) and it was soooooo soooo good.  And it lasted forever since it was just for the 2 of us.  Whoooops.


Warm Bean Dip - I've made this for a couple parties now and it is a hit. Looove it.  And added in jalapenos. ;)

Chicken Enchiladas -  I cook the chicken in a crockpot all day and shred it.  Then I take one 14 ounce can of red enchilada sauce and mix it in with a big scoop of sour cream.  I put some on the bottom of a 9 by 13 pan.  Then I take tortilla shells (burrito size usually), spread re fried beans on them, add chicken, cheese on top, sprinkle some sauce and roll them up.  Top with the rest of the sour cream/red sauce and cover in cheese.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  DELICIOUS.

Homemade Meatballs & Sauce -  The hubs followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe for the meatballs and then we turned it into sub sandwiches for one meal and spaghetti and meatballs for another two days! Hubs even had it for lunch another! Sooooo tasty!

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin -  OMG this is so good.  We've grilled it and baked it and it is very tasty!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup - I cooked the chicken in a slow cooker all day with chicken broth/water/hot salsa and then shredded it. Then I used 2/3 cup of the strained liquid from the chicken to mix in with the soup in place of 2/3 cup of chicken broth. It was deliciousssssssssssss. OMG so good. I made biscuits with it. Yuum.

•1/4 cup butter OR margarine
•1/4 cup all-purpose flour
•3 cups chicken broth
•1 cup milk
•8 oz. Velveeta  – cubed
•10 oz. can diced tomatoes and chilies
•2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
•1 1/2 tsp. cumin
•1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
•salt and pepper – to taste
•shredded cheese

1.-In a pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
2.-Slowly whisk in small amounts of chicken broth at a time, then whisk in milk.
3.-Reduce heat to low and stir in Velveeta cubes; stir until melted.
4.-Stir in diced tomatoes and chilies, chicken, and spices

I found this from some site and I apparently don't have the link, so if it is yours let me know and I will link to you! Delicious!!

What were the yummy things you made this year? Have you made any of these?