Taco Seasoning

I have been using this fabulous taco seasoning recipe that I found on Kid Appeal for about a year now, a great way to save money and lose the sodium (when you leave out the salt) and preservatives.

Taco Seasoning Recipe (based on this allrecipes.com spice ratio)
2 TBSP Cumin*
5 TBSP, 1 TSP Chili Powder*
2 TSP Red Pepper Flakes*
2 TSP Garlic Powder*
2 TSP Onion Powder*
1 TBSP, 1 TSP Paprika*
2 TBSP, 2 TSP kosher salt
1 TBSP, 1 TSP black pepper

Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl and combine. Return spice mix to an airtight container or empty spice jar. Per your taste, add 1/2- 1TBSP of this mixture to 1 lb of cooked ground meat. Add it in larger quantities to make taco flavored soups. You should get 8-16 servings assuming you're flavoring 1lb of meat. Add a label to your spice mixture with the amount to use "1/2-1 TBS per lb meat" so you don't forget!

Note: This mixture is forgiving. If you're out of something, leave it out. My grandma just used salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder to season taco meat, so that's all I usually use. It is a slightly different flavor than the packages, but your family will get used to it over time. Also, this doesn't contain flour or cornstarch, and it doesn't call for adding water, so this won't give you saucy meat, rather, flavored meat. That's the way we roll!

Spaghetti

Ok. So Spaghetti, my spaghetti really doesn't need a recipe post, but I thought I would share how I spice up the plain ole spaghetti

First off to make it healthier I always use whole wheat pasta, and I only put in 1/2 lb of hamburger. I use store bought sauce, (lazy I know, but its all good), usually the vegetable one or traditional. I add either dried onion or about a fourth of a regular onion, diced, as well as one chopped green pepper and one cup diced or shredded zucchini. I also usually add a few shakes of basil, thyme and oregano.

There you have it our simple, whole wheat, vegefied spaghetti.

Fish Tacos

Some of us love fish tacos, others tolerate fish tacos at our house. I try to make them every once in awhile to please the whole family, and it helps that they are super easy

Corn tortillas (or flour)
Breaded fish (our favorite is breaded parmasean tortilla tilapia from costco)
black beans (optional)
coleslaw type lettuce
lime
salsa (optional)
sour cream (optional)
tarter sauce (optional)

Place your fish in the oven and cook according to directions on the box. While cooking your fish you can prepare your corn tortilla's, put a little oil in a skillet and cook each tortilla on each side for 1-2 minutes. This is also when you would heat up your black beans.

Once everything in heated; assemble. Place your fish in your tortilla along with some cabbage or coleslaw and squeeze with lime juice. If you are going to use black beans, I either serve them on the side or place them first in my tortilla shell, topped with fish, cabbage, lime, etc. Now you just top it off with any other toppings you want, salsa, sour cream, or tarter sauce.

So here you are super easy and yummy too.

Happy Eating!

Creamy Lemony Chicken

I found a new recipe to try this week, simple, easy and I had all the ingredients on hand, now that is my kind of meal! I also like any crockpot chicken meal that allows me to throw my meat in frozen; because A) I'm lazy and B) I am forgetful I can NEVER remember to thaw my chicken!

The recipe was posted by Crafting Chicks, a craft blog I follow and it looked good and was simple so I thought why not. You can go here to try it. The only thing I would do differently would be to shred the chicken before serving and then serve it over the rice. It had a WONDERFUL flavor, but I thought the chicken was a little dry, this could be due to the fact that I cooked it on high for 4 hours (remember I am lazy and forget to thaw my meat and sometimes I just plain forget to start dinner) all I had was full size chicken breasts and thought I should give them an extra hour.

So go check out this super easy yummy recipe, that your whole family will eat.

HEARTS and Calzones

For our Valentines breakfast I went super simple: heart shaped nuttella toast and strawberry milk.

For lunch: peanut butter and jelly heart shaped sandwiches with juicy red strawberries.

And for dinner I decided to make my family heart shaped calzones. They turned out to be super yummy. I didn't end up doing a dessert as NUBI frozen yogurt was having a buy one get one, so we headed over there, before dinner :)

First I made the crust:

1 C. warm water
1 T. sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 t. salt
3 T. olive oil
2 1/2 C. flour.
1/2- 1 t basil
1/2- 1 t. oregano
1/2- 1 t. garlic powder
1/2- 1 t. thyme

Filling:
pizza sauce or marinara sauce
mozzarella cheese
pizza topings (pepperoni, canadian bacon, olives, pineapple, green peppers, etc.)

Combine water, sugar and yeast and mix until yeast is dissolved. Add salt and olive oil and mix. Slowly add flour and mix until well blended. Lest rest covered for 10 minutes.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and put a little olive oil on your fingers and press the pizza out flat making a rectangular shape. You are now going to sprinkle your basil, oregano, garlic powder and thyme over your dough until it is evenly covered. Now at this point you can either get out your cute heart shaped cookie cutter and make enough hearts as your dough allows for both top and bottom. Taking the excess from around the hearts and pressing it out again to make additional heart shapes or your can cut your dough in fourths making four larger calzones. If you are doing hearts then you will only do the following to half of the hearts, if you are doing larger calzones then you will only cover half of each of your rectangles. okay.

So first you spread your pizza sauce, or marinara sauce, then you place a nice layer of mozzarella cheese, followed by pizza toppings of your choice. Our toppings included turkey peperoni, canadian bacon, green peppers, and olives, Everyone built there own, so they were all different. Followed by a little more mozzarella cheese.

Now if you made heart shaped calzones you will place the hearts with nothing on them on top of your pizza layered hearts and press the edges to seal. If you made standard rectangular shaped calzones you will fold the dough in half and seal the edges.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Easy peasy and my whole family loves them. I cut my 2 year olds heart in half and she ate it just like a sandwich.

Happy Eating!

Steak quesidilla's

Another simple and easy dinner idea. I used my great steak recipe from here to give my steak some spice.

2 pound beef sirloin, cut into thin 2 inch strips
1/2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1 t. paprika
1 t. chili powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried basil
2 T. olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 green pepper, sliced
burrito size tortilla shells
Mexican cheese
any desired toppings, such as sour cream or salsa.

Thinly slice your steak and place in a large bowl along with the diced onion. In separate small bowl, mix all of your spices, then sprinkle half the seasoning on meat and onions, mix and then sprinkle the rest of the seasoning and mix again.

Then place 2 T. olive oil in a frying and heat, add your meat mixture and cook until done to your likeness.

When your steak is done sprinkle Mexican cheese on half of a burrito size tortilla shell add some of the steak, and a little more cheese, you could also add a little salsa in here at this point too. Fold tortilla in half and place in microwave for 1 minute, let cool and eat. Simple and easy and delicious too.

Happy Eating!!!

Sloppy Joe's

We had sloppy Joe's on Friday night and I went the simple route. I absolutely love Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joe recipe, but didn't want to go all out. Therefore the simple route it was, hamburger with manwich, a half of an onion chopped and a green pepper, diced, served on whole wheat buns with fresh fruit and yummy oven fries. Simple and yummy for the whole family to enjoy.

Pork chops

These pork chops were gobbled up by my family. They are simple to make and very yummy. We ate them with Kraft homestyle mac and cheese and corn.

I found the recipe on allrecipes and tweaked it a little for our family

Pork chops:

1 - 1 1/2 C. crushed butter cracker
1/2- 1 tsp garlic powder (depending on taste, I use 1 tsp)
black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
4 pork chops
3 T. butter

Combine crackers, garlic powder, and black pepper in a medium size bowl. Beat eggs in a small bowl. Dip pork chops in egg and then coat with garlic powder mixture. Place pork chops in a baking dish and place pats of butter on and around pork chops.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, covered, turning after 20 minutes. Then cook another 5 minutes on broil, uncovered.

Bacon Florentine Pasta:

Another recipe I got from $5 Dinners. I tweaked it a little, I honestly did not love it, but I will try it again doing things a little differently. I will post how I made it tonight and what I plan to do differently next time.

Florentine Pasta with Bacon (her recipe was for chicken and bacon I just doubled the bacon):

1 lb. pasta noodles, I used farfalle
8 slices turkey bacon, chopped
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 box frozen spinach
basil, oregano, thyme, I used about 1/2 t. each
1/2 c. sour cream thinned with milk.

1. boil pasta.
2. while pasta is boiling prepare bacon and spinach
3. Drain pasta and combine all other ingredients.

Voila, enjoy.

Now for what I would do next time. I'd either make this with 2 c. diced chicken and 4 slices REAL bacon (we usually eat turkey bacon, but I felt this needed more umph) or just 8 slices of bacon. I would double the tomatoes and lastly forgo the thinned sour cream. I think the sour cream calmed the flavors, I would probably toss it in olive oil instead as she suggests. Next time I make it I will post how I like the changes.

Mexican Mess Up (AKA taco salad)

My husband is not a lover of homemade taco's or taco salads but had no complaints about this salad. I got this recipe from $5 dollar dinners and halved it to the following. It fed my family of 3 1/2 with leftovers for my hubby to take to work and for me for lunch the next day. I grew up eating taco salads pretty much just like this minus the pinto beans and tomato sauce so I thought I'd give it a try. I liked the added tomato sauce.

Taco Salads.

1 lb ground beef
1 onion, diced
taco seasoning
1 (15 oz) can pinto beans
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese
tortilla chips
assorted toppings, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, salsa, ranch, etc.

1. Brown your beef and onion and taco seasoning.
2. Add drained pinto beans and tomato sauce and let simmer about 15 minutes.
3. Spoon meat mixture over chips, top with shredded lettuce and cheese and any other toppings you so desire.

Steak and Cheese Sandwiches

These are super yummy, easy quick sandwiches that were gobbled up by my girls. Because the sandwich itself has vegetables on it I just served it with some canned fruit.

Steak and Cheese Sandwiches:
2 pound beef sirloin, cut into thin 2 inch strips
1/2 t. salt
1 t. black pepper
1 t. paprika
1 t. chili powder
1 t. onion powder
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried basil
2 T. olive oil
1 onion sliced
1 green pepper, cut into strips
sliced provolone cheese
hoagie rolls, cut in half lengthwise

Place sliced meat in a large mixing bowl.

In a small mixing bowl mix all of your spices together.

Pour half of the spices over the meat, stir and pour on the rest of the spices, mix again.

Put oil in a large skillet and heat, add meat and cook until desired doneness. Remove meat from pan using slotted spoon to leave any yummy goodness in the pan.

Add the onions and green pepper to the oil and seasonings in the skillet and cook just until softened.

preheat oven to broil.

Place sliced hoagies on a baking sheet. Put meat on half of the hoagie bun, and top with onions green pepper and cheese.

Slide baking sheet into the oven and cook just until the cheese is melted and edges are slightly crisp.

And your ready to eat. I ate mine just like this and so did my girls, but my husband added some BBQ sauce.


YUM, hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Happy Eating

Tuna Casserole

Super easy tuna casserole, my kids don't even complain about it. We had this meal last night and will be having left overs tonight. We swiched things up this time and made it with canned chicken instead of tuna.

Tuna Casserole:

1 box Mac and cheese
1/4 c. butter
3/4 C. milk
1 can cream of celery soup
2 C. frozen mixed vegetables
2 cans tuna fish (or sometimes we mix it up and use 2 large cans of shredded chicken)
ritz crackers or potato chips (optional)


Directions:
1. Bring water for macaroni to a boil.
2. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Pour in your noodles and mixed vegetables and boil for 8 minutes
4. Drain your noodles and vegetables and return to pan.
5. Add cheese sauce mix, butter, milk, cream of celery soup and tuna or chicken. Mix until combined.
6. Put mixture in a small 2 quart casserole dish and put in the oven for twenty minutes or until heated through.
7. As an option before placing casserole in the oven your can crumble ritz crackers or potato chips on top. You can also heat and serve from the stove too.

I usually serve this meal with a green salad as well.

Happy Eating.

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Oven Fries...

YUM YUM YUM!!! You have to try this recipe from Smashed Peas and Carrots. It is a must on your menu for this week. Hubby LOVED the BBQ and the whole family LOVED the non greasy fries. I am already thinking that Ava and I will be eating these fries again for lunch some days :)

http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/01/crockpot-barbecue-chicken-and-oven.html

GO GO GO, right now get the recipe, go to the store, feed it to your family. Trust me they will love you for it!

Happy Eating!

Lil Cheddar Meatloaves

This Meatloaf recipe is our favorite hands down. It is tried and true and great for when company comes. The recipe serves 8, but lets be honest, I have never met a man that eats less than 2 servings! And my 10 year old daughter easily eats 1 1/2 servings. So my opinion is it should be 8 servings but realistically, it feeds 6.

Without further ado I give you tonight's dinner recipe:

Li'l Cheddar Meat loaves:
1 egg
3/4 C. milk*
1 C. (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese*
1/2 C. quick cooking oats
1/2 C. chopped onion*
1 tsp. salt
1 lb lean ground beef*

Sauce:
2/3 C. chili sauce or ketchup
1/2 C. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard

In a bowl beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion and salt. Add beef and mix well. Shape into eight loaves; place in a greased 13x9 baking dish.

Next combine chili sauce or ketchup, brown sugar and mustard; Spoon over unbaked loaves.

Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

*On a side note, I make this using fat free cheese and milk and it still tastes great, I usually buy meet that is 97/3, but I have been known to substitute ground turkey as well. I have also substituted dehydrated onion when I didn't have a fresh one on hand, I would only use a bout 1/4 cup dehydrated onion as it expands.

Happy Eating!!!

Polynesian Meatballs

This was the Birthday girls, birthday dinner request. Simple easy and pretty good. I got this recipe years ago in a Kraft foods magazine.

Polynesian Meatballs:

12.5 oz pkg Meatballs (frozen, don't thaw)
1/2 C. BBQ sauce
1 20 OZ can pineapple chunks in juice
2 C. green pepper, chopped
2 C. cooked brown rice

Mix BBQ sauce and pineapples with juice in a large skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Stir in green pepper and meatballs (still frozen). Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 15 minutes. Stirring occasionally or until vegetable are crisp tender, meatballs are heated through and sauce is thickened. I don't mind if the sauce isn't very thick because we just spoon it over the rice anyways.

Serve over brown rice and enjoy!

Calories-510
Fat- 24g
Fiber- 5g

Serves 4.

Happy Eating!

Western Meal in One

This is a great casserole style dish. This is often my go to meal when I need to take a meal to someone. Everyone likes it and I've been known to switch it up a little too (I'll put my switch ups at the end of the post).

1 lb extra lean ground beef or turkey
1 clove garlic
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 bell pepper diced
1 t. salt
1 t. chili powder
16 oz can kidney beans
2 1/2 c. canned tomatoes with juice, diced
3/4 c. instant rice, uncooked
3/4 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Brown beef and garlic in pan with cooking spray. Add onions and green pepper, cook until onion is transparent and drain off fat. In 2 quart casserole dish combine meat mixture, salt, chili powder, beans and tomatoes and rice. Bake covered at 350 for 30 minutes, uncover sprinkle with cheese and bake another 15 minutes.

Serves 6-8.

So last time I made this I decided to spice it up a little, instead of the tomatoes I used 2 1/2 cups salsa, and black beans instead of kidney. I then used Mexican blend cheese instead of cheddar, and added some cilantro. It was slightly spicy so if I made it this way again I would probably omit the chili powder.

Quickie Lasagna (ravioli)

I love this quick and easy recipe it's ravioli made like a lasagna, you can make it with just marinara sauce or a meat sauce if you prefer. I usually do just a marinara sauce, hence the quick part.

Quickie Lasagna

marinara sauce
family size ravioli
4 oz mozarella cheese, shredded

In a 9x13 baking dish spread 1/2c. marinara sauce. Next put down a layer of ravioli and top with 1/2 c. mozarella cheese and then 1 1/4c. marinara sauce. You will then put another layer of ravioli, 1/2c. cheese and 1 1/4c marinara (or the rest of the bottle).

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Fabulously easy, and everyone loves it. I always serve with salad and garlic bread.

Enchilada Lasagna

I have tried many "mexican" lasagna's and this one was by far my favorite. Brent and I both really enjoyed it and I definitely will make it again. Trena wasn't a fan, but this is not surprising, she hasn't liked much of anything I've cooked lately. She said it was spicy, and it did have a little spice to it, but nothing that required needing a drink of water. And after the first few bites you hardly noticed the spice. I made it using mild everything, and will probably make it with medium enchilada sauce next time (and when Trena is not home).

ENCHILADA LASAGNA

1 (16 oz) can refried beans
1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles
1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp. mexican seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
2 (10 oz) cans enchilada sauce
18 corn tortillas
1 (11 oz) can mexicorn, drained
2 (6 oz) pkgs. grilled chicken strips, cut into pieces
3 c. shredded mexican-blend cheese

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Blend refried beans and chiles. Cover; and microwave on high 1 minute.
3. Stir together ricotta, egg, mexican seasoning and salt; set aside.
4. Spread 1/2 C. of the enchilada sauce evenly in a 9x13 pan.
5. Overlap 6 corn tortillas to create a layer.
6. Spread 1/2 each of the bean mixture and ricotta mixture evenly over tortillas.
7. Top with 1/2 the drained mexicorn, 1/2 the chicken, and 1 c. shredded cheese.
8. Top with 1/2 c. enchilada sauce.
9. Add 6 more tortillas and top with a 1/4 c. enchilada sauce.
10. Repeat layering the bean mixture, ricotta mixture, mexicorn, chicken, and 1 c. shredded cheese.
11. Top with 1/2 c. enchilada sauce and last 6 tortillas.
12. Spread with remaining enchilada sauce; and sprinkle with remaining 1 c. shredded cheese.
13. Cover with foil; bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly.
14. Let stand 5 minutes, and dig in.

Weight watchers points for 1/12th of the lasagna: 6 points ( I did use fat free ricotta cheese, but regular mexican blend and points are based on that).

Russian apricot chicken

Found a simple new easy chicken recipe that we had for dinner tonight. Its one of those great no prepare meals that you just throw together, love those on a crazy day. I served it with Jasmine rice and carrots, and we poured the extra sauce over the rice. This chicken was a hit with everyone from the 18month old on up. (oh and I am really bad about remembering to take photos before we dig in so I will try to do better next time.)

6-8 chicken breasts
1 8oz bottle of Russian salad dressing
1 c. apricot jam
1 envelope onion soup mix

wash and trim fat from chicken breasts and lay in bottom of 9x13 baking dish. Mix salad dressing, jam and soup mix and pour evenly over chicken.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Enjoy!