Tonight, I’m going to throw together something simple, although I wish I didn’t have to heat the oven up. The weather is getting hot, but we just got our air conditioner repaired so it will have to work extra tonight on behalf of dinner.

I’m thinking something pre-made, by my good buddies at Campbell’s.

There are several varieties of Campbell’s Supper Bakes to choose from if you’ve seen these in the store.

I chose the Garlic Chicken with pasta variety, due to it’s lack of cheese and simple name. Probably a pleaser for all the tastes sitting at the table.

Campbell’s says: Plump and tender rotini pasta cooks at the same time as your chicken, in the same dish. Campbell’s® creamy baking sauce, with a light parmesan cheese flavor and a savory touch of garlic, gives you a deliciously moist, perfectly seasoned supper. A zesty sprinkle-on crumb topping completes the dish.

Susanna says: Supper Bakes was really simple to put together. It called for 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, but I had a package of boneless skinless chicken tenders. No problem. It was very easy to work around this small discrepancy. Nothing that three chicken tenders side by side couldn’t fake. They, in my mind, became one chicken breast and I repeated the 3 for 1 deal for all of the 4 chicken breasts, Perfect! I topped them with the can of creamy baking sauce, covered tightly with foil and baked. After a certain amount of time specified on box, the foil was removed and the chicken breasts were topped with a crumb topping which added a cool crunch.

The flavor overall was tasty. The garlic was not to the capacity to give you monster breath all night, but it was apparent enough to add a nice flavor. The rotini pasta held up very well, which was a big plus for the extended cooking time which I put it through. (never got mushy)

Campbell’s Supper Bakes Garlic Chicken with pasta was low fat with a little vitamin A, calcium and iron even.

If there is a sale, Supper Bakes are a great way to get dinner on the table pretty quickly without a lot of messing around in the kitchen. I’ll try another variety another time, but the Garlic Chicken with pasta definitely passed the challenge…

Check it out for yourself.

Popularity: 44% [?]

Did you know there is a National Day for Zucchini Bread? It’s true…and that day is today.

Which got me thinking about my son’s recent requests for some breads or muffins using orange juice. He told me you can substitute orange juice for the water or milk in any bread/muffin recipe. I asked how he found this out and he said he learned it from the reading portion of his AIMS test, our state’s standardized test. Ha! I know he seeks and retains a lot of info, but how funny is that? Pretty cool too, seeing as how reading comprehension was my least favorite thing to test on when I was in school, even though I loved to read.

How can you deny your loved ones asking for a slightly healthier alternative?! You can’t. And I won’t. Let’s have a go at this Zucchini Bread made with orange juice and applesauce…

• Awesome Zucchini Bread
  • 2 C sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 C shredded zucchini
  • 1/2 C applesauce
  • 1/3 C orange juice
  • 3 C flour
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1-3/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 C chopped walnuts
  • Preheat oven to 350°
  • In large bowl mix sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
  • Add zucchini, applesauce and orange juice; stir well.
  • In another bowl, combine flour with dry ingredients; baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.
  • Add flour mixture to zucchini mixture; stir well.
  • Add nuts; stir gently to combine.
  • Pour into 2 greased and floured 9″ loaf pans.
  • Bake for 60-70 minutes; until toothpick comes out clean.
  • Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans onto wire rack and cool completely.
  • Makes 2 loaves

I made a slight change to the recipe and used 1 cup wheat flour and 2 cups white flour.

To ensure even cooking, half way through the cooking time I moved the left pan to the right side of the oven and vice versa. This is always a good idea when baking 2 pans of anything.

The bread browned very early on in the cooking process, but it was a dark colored batter to begin with. I admit I was a little worried. Then when the zucchini bread was done baking my husband said, “That’s the best smelling bread I’ve ever smelled…it smells like *sniff sniff* pizza and pancakes at the same time.” Maybe the oddest kitchen compliment I’ve ever received.

Either way, my conclusion is that this recipe makes a really awesome, moist zucchini bread that will not disappoint.

Popularity: 80% [?]

You may have seen my review of the Duncan Hines Oven Ready Homestyle Chocolate Fudge Brownies. If you have, you’ll know I had another box of brownies to bake…a box of Duncan Hines Oven Ready Homestyle Chocolate Chip Brownies. Even after the last experience, I still had high hopes for this flavor.

Out of the two boxes, this one looked more appealing to begin with. The box says premium golden brownie batter, so I’m not sure how it qualifies as an actual “brownie”, but either way the box picture had a look of soft, chewy gooodness to it. I love a good pan of soft baked chocolate cookies (when someone else makes it), so Duncan Hines no-prep method hit the spot. Brownie or no brownie, here we go…

That is how it looks right out of the box. And here’s how it looks after baking…

Looks a little fluffier than I’d expect a brownie to be, but I’m liking it so far. Cutting into it, I can feel that it is indeed not very dense. When fully cooked, the middle of the brownies stayed moist and chewy which was a pleasant surprise. Sure all the chocolate chips were not apparent from the top side as the box picture suggests, but the inside was full of chocolate chip gooey goodness. That gooey goodness in the center created a bit of a problem when removing from the pan. It seemed to separate, not letting me keep the top and bottom connected. You can sort of see that separation in the center from this picture…

Besides having trouble staying in one piece, Duncan Hines Oven Ready Homestyle Chocolate Chip Brownies are tasty and sweet. If you need a sweet fix and like soft chocolate chip cookies, these will not disappoint. I liked them a lot.

Personally, I don’t like desserts with ice cream on top, but that didn’t stop me from noticing a neat looking recipe on the back of the box for a Chocolate Chip Sundae. Sounds fancy, eh? But its really simple to re-create. Top the brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then top that with hot fudge topping. (err cold Hershey’s Syrup)

My re-creation of the Duncan Hines Chocolate Chip Sundae…

Duncan Hines Oven Ready Homestyle Chocolate Chip Brownies were almost disturbingly sweeter and more chocolatey than their evil counterpart, but they were pretty dang good for something out of a box.

Popularity: 44% [?]

I haven’t had any luck with frozen Crock-Pot meals in the past. This particular bag looked worth a shot though, having the Marie Callender’s name and consisting of ingredients that everyone in my family will eat.

As a bonus, this meal is fairly nutritious with only 150 calories per serving. There are 4.5 grams of fat, 13 grams of protein, 4 grams of dietary fiber, and 50% of your Vitamin A for the day! It’s 550 mg of sodium (23% of daily value) was not so bad either.

The contents of the bag were 1 sauce pouch, 1 potato pouch, and the meat & vegetables.

My initial reaction when I opened the sauce pouch and smelled it was, “Gerber Mixed Vegetables…?” That threw me off a little, but I continued with the package directions placing the potato pouch in the refrigerator, stirring the sauce pouch into hot water and the beef & vegetables into the sauce. Then I turned on the Crock-Pot to low for 8-10 hours. Easy!

In the last 35 minutes of cooking time, I turned the heat to high and stirred in the potato pouch. The potatoes were cut into well-sized chunks. Some larger than others, but all very fresh looking.

The Vegetables - Most of the carrots were in large chunks and some were cut thin. I’m guessing the non uniformity was to make the Beef and Vegetables seem homemade. (but I cut my carrots uniformly for the Crock-Pot, Marie!!) The peas were visible although I couldn’t really taste them. The potatoes were just right.

The Beef - The beef chunks were fairly large. They had a good taste and were equivalent to any beef stew meat I’ve had in a Crock-Pot…sort of fatty, sort of tender, and sort of chewy. My only complaint was the amount of beef chunks in the bag. (I forgot to count) To evenly disperse the chunks to a family of 8 like the package suggests would be difficult.

The Outcome:

The Sauce - The sauce was thick and gravy-like and ended up having a tasty beefy flavor like it should, so I dropped my Gerber thoughts and enjoyed dinner. (with a fork)

It was a hit! A mild hit, but a hit nonetheless. Everyone dished out seconds and no one left the table hungry.

Popularity: 47% [?]

While walking down the frozen food section of the grocery store these brownies caught my eye and made me a sucker to practically every marketing strategy a store has…

• Individual Display Case - The Duncan Hines Oven Ready Homestyle Brownies were in their own display case located right at the end of the aisle.
• 2 for 1 price - They were marked as on sale as 2/$7. Wow, two of them for one low price! Not very cost efficient at $3.50 a box.
• Convenience - The box boasts convenience factors that enticed me as a tired shopper. I mean come on, premium brownie batter that is ready to bake with no prep and no clean-up. I couldn’t resist atleast trying it.

The Duncan Hines Oven Ready Homestyle Brownies were definitely easy although, I flipped the box to find I needed a cookie sheet to place the convenient tray on. Fine. All else that was required was to cook it at 350° for 25-27 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Wait?! What if I had no toothpicks? I do, but seriously. I wonder why a convenient product like this doesn’t come with a toothpick. Even Handi-Snacks knows what’s up.

Here’s a few pictures of the goods

Right out of the box and a little frosty…

Looks pretty brownie-like and it’s passed the toothpick test.

The cut finale…

Is it good? It wasn’t horrible. If you went in seeking chocolatey fudgy goodness, you’d be let down. It was more cakey than gooey and there was an odd taste of berries amongst the chocolate flavor. I would not buy this again.

Popularity: 100% [?]