Burrito filling

When our family has tacos/burritos, we don't use the old fashioned taco seasoned beef..we make this delicious and easy recipe handed down from Trevor's mom.

What you need:
1 lb ground beef
1 can chili (whatever kind you like)
2 or 3 TBLS bbq sauce (again whatever kind you like is fine)

You start by browning the beef, like this:


After the beef is browned, drain the fat off. Return it to the pan and add the chili and the bbq sauce, like this:

Mix it all together and heat through. It will look like this:


Just put on a soft tortilla with your favorite taco fixings! MMMM...

Taco Salad..sorry no pics :(

Tonight we had one of Trevor's most favorite meals! Taco salad is pretty easy and delish!

First you make the meat. Here is what you will need:
1 lb ground meat
1/2 C salsa
the juice of 1 lime

Brown the meat and drain it if needed. After draining, add salsa and the lime juice, then let it heat through. YOU DID IT!

Here is the construction order of the PERFECT salad:

Take a pretty good handful of Nacho Cheese Doritos and crush them up on your plate. Take some salad, today I diced up some iceberg lettuce and added tomatoes, but you can used bagged no problems, and top the chips with it. Add a sprinkling of the meat, a bit of shredded cheese, Hidden Valley Ranch, and a bit of salsa.

There you have it. A delicious and healthy meal in minutes! I will post pictures next time we have it, I swear!

Sweedish Meatballs

To make these meatballs, I followed this recipe:

1 egg
1/2 c dehydrated onion
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 c. milk
Salt
1 TBLS grill seasoning
1 c. oatmeal
1 can mushroom soup

Mix all ingredients except the soup together, form into balls (smaller balls are best), brown on both sides in butter. Place in crock pot. Put in soup and 1 can water. Simmer in crock pot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Serves 8.

Andruw and Caity loved rolling the meatballs:


I browned them off in a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil before throwing them in the crock pot


Serve over rice. I used brown because that is what I had!

Creative cooking on a budget

So, about a week ago, my friend Jennifer G. moved into her own place. The situation being what it was, she didn't have a pan or money to buy one until she gets paid again. She was just sooo sick of eating foods that can be cooked in the microwave, and she really craving a grilled cheese sandwich. She asked me if I thought that tin foil would work. Since she has an electric stove, I thought that it would be a good plan, and encouraged her to try it. Here is what she did:

Place tinfoil over a unit with the heat on medium. Butter the bread on the outsides and put a slice of cheese on the inside. Place the buttered surface on the hot tin foil and let cook until golden:

Turn the sandwich and let cook on the other side as well. It may not be perfect, but it is a creative way to cook when you don't have a pan....moving day perhaps?

Chicken Enchiladas

One of our family's favorite dinners is chicken enchiladas. I don't make it much, but I am not sure why since it is so easy and delish! Here is what you need:

1/2 to 3/4 of a pound of chicken (cut into small cubes)
1 can green chili's (optional)
1 jalapeno, cut into a small dice (optional)
2 TBLS sour cream
2 regular sized (or 1 family sized can) of cream of chicken soup
8 tortillas (this time I used 7 because I was missing one...oh well)
2 to 3 cups of shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
*NOTE* (NOT PICTURED) 1 lime, both the zest and the juice (optional). I decided to add this to the filling this time and it was a hint of amazingness....

To start, you will put some oil in the pan with you jalapenos and let them start to saute. I also add onion flakes for flavor. This is what it looks like in the pan:

Once the jalapenos start to cook (they will become a rich green and you will start to smell them) then you add the chicken (I season my chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder) to the pan as well as the can of green chilis. (This is where I zested my lime and added the juice). Saute until the chicken is cooked through. This is is what you will be looking at:


After the chicken is cooked, you will add about half of one of the cans of cream of chicken soup to the pan and 1 TBLS of the sour cream. Mix it all together and you have your filling. This is what it looks like:


Here is a picture step by step on how to fill your enchiladas: (if you have questions, comment and I will let you know more details, but I think that the picture explains...)


Place the tortillas in a baking dish. I would have preferred one smaller than what I used last night, but it worked okay, and it was what I had!

To make your sauce, you will used the last can and a half of cream of chicken soup, the remaining TBLS of sour cream, and 2 TBLS milk. Wisk them together:


Pardon the sideways picture, but you will dump the sauce over the rolled enchilada's in your pan:


Top with the remaining cheese:


Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and the enchilada's are hot thought:

Soooo delish! Enjoy your adventures.

Rice a Roni Dinner

Today we are making Rice-a-Roni dinner. Here is what you will need:

1 pound ground beef
2 small cans tomato soup
2 small boxes or 1 family size box of chicken flavored Rice a Roni
1 cup shredded cheese
5 cups of water

Start out by browning the hamburger.. I don't drain it, but if you do, then you will just have to add the butter that the Rice a Roni box calls for.

After the hamburger is browned, add the rice and vermicelli from the box to your pan and saute until the vermicelli starts to brown


Next, you will add in the 5 cups of water and the seasoning packets from the Rice a Roni box


Bring the water to a boil, then cover and simmer for the 15 to 20 minutes that the box calls for, until the water is absorbed. It will look like this:

Next you will add in the tomato soup and the cheese:


Here is the final product. I put a little extra cheese on the top to make it look fancier for you, but you can leave that out.

Bean Dip! A crockpot dinner.

Trevor's mom makes this delicious bean dip. It is a hot bean dip. This is my version of said bean dip.

Ingredients:
3 cans of refried beans
1 can of green chilis
1 can chopped olives
1 lb of hamburger, browned
2 cups of shredded cheese
2 cups of ketchup
1 jalapeno, diced (you can just use a can)
Onion flakes (you can use fresh, but I didn't have any)
vegetable oil spray

Spray a frying pan with pan spray. Place diced jalapeno and onion into the pan and allow to saute until the jalapeno turns a dark green and you can smell it.


Then add the hamburger to the pan and brown it.



Meanwhile, open all of your cans and open them up, emptying the contents into your crockpot. add the ketchup and hamburger, once browned through, and the cheese. Stir together.


Cook on high for 1 to 2 hours or low for 3 to 4 until the cheese is well melted and all ingredients have come together. Serve with tortilla chips. Delish!!

Cake from scratch...

Last night we were having a small celebration for Caity's birthday at my mom's house. I know that it seems like Caity had a birthday that lasted a week, but now you know why I think my birthday is a week long. We celebrate with my dad and with my mom and sometimes even with Trevor's mom, if she is up. So yeah, that makes for 3 or 4 birthday parties.

Anyway, I remembered yesterday on the way to church that I hadn't made Caity a cake, and also, I didn't have a cake mix or frosting. I went over to my mom's to see if she had one that I could still, but she also had only brownies and no cake. I was about to go to the store to get a cake mix when I realized that I probably had everything that goes in a cake in my pantry. I came home, googled a recipe, and baked a cake from scratch. If you google 1-2-3-4 Cake you will probably find the exact recipe that I used, but it wasn't too delish, just okay. I also made the icing. I made that with 3 cups powdered sugar, half a cup of butter, 2 tsp vanilla, and a splash of milk. I also added some red and blue food coloring to make it purple. I would have to say that I am getting pretty crafty after all! dun dun dun!