The Good, The Bad and The Quick

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, food is at a minimum here lately. Not all of it has been bad but the good is so sparse I felt like I had nothing to share. I remembered a recipe that I tried out this year for Thanksgiving and knew this was one to pass on.

The Good:
First, if you don't get the Kraft Food and Family magazine, sign up for it! There are some great ideas and recipes in there that you don't want to miss and this recipe came from there.

I love Crab Rangoon but didn't have the time to make and deep fry individual pastries so this seemed like a good alternative. They were awesome. I didn't have time to get to 2 stores for T-Day shopping so I picked up 12 oz. of imitation crab at the store I was at and chopped it fine for this. I also added a bit more green onion than called for and opted for regular mayo since I wasn't buying the light stuff for a single recipe.

We got a total of 36 with a doubled recipe.

Baked Crab Rangoon
Printable Recipe

Prep Time: 20 min
Total Time: 40 min
Makes: 12 servings, one wonton each

1 can (6 oz.) white crabmeat, drained, flaked
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/4 cup KRAFT Mayo Light Mayonnaise
12 won ton wrappers

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Mix crabmeat, Neufchatel cheese, onions and mayo.
SPRAY 12 medium muffin cups with cooking spray. Gently place 1 won ton wrapper in each cup, allowing edges of wrappers to extend above sides of cups. Fill evenly with crabmeat mixture.
BAKE 18 to 20 min. or until edges are golden brown and filling is heated through. Serve warm. Garnish with chopped green onions, if desired.


The Bad:

Apple Pie from canned filling and frozen crust.

Nobody here likes apples cut so thick that you need to cut them again to eat or thick pie crust. 'Nuff said.


The Quick:

Chicken Nugget and Pasta Parmesan
Printable Recipe

1 lb spaghetti or other pasta, cooked to desired doneness
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce-24 oz or so
1/2 bag of Aldi's frozen chicken nuggets or a pound of your favorite pre-done frozen nuggets
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a lasagna or other rectangular baking pan with cooking spray.

Toss cooked pasta and 1/3 jar of sauce together and spread evenly into pan.
Top with chicken nuggets (I got 5 to a row, 6 rows) and top with remaining sauce (I thinned mine a bit with water since I'm too Scot to leave any behind in the jar) and sprinkle with parmesan.
Bake for about 20-30 minutes until nuggets are heated through.

This was a complete fluke on one of my first nights home with baby and the kids loved it. I've made it once since then too and even if it isn't gourmet or exactly healthy, it was a real lifesaver!