Taco Meat

I have been trying to eliminate a lot of the prepackaged mixes etc. I'm doing good in some areas, still lots of work to go in others. Several years ago I decided to make my own taco meat from scratch, it's SO easy and tastes much better than the little seasoning pack + you know exactly what you're family is eating no weird stuff! If you buy a lot of beef on sale and want to cook up several meals worth, you can just portion out the cooked meat and put it in zip top bags and put it in the freezer.

Here's the recipe I use:

2 t Oil ( Whatever you have on hand is fine)
1 Small onion minced
3 medium Garlic cloves minced
2 T Chili Powder
1 t ground cumin
1 t ground coriander
1/2 t dried oregano
1/4t cayenne pepper
Salt
1lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth (you can also use beef)
1 t brown sugar
2 t cider vinegar
Black Pepper

Heat oil over medium heat add onion, cook until softened, add garlic and spices cook about 1 minute, add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Add tomato sauce, broth, brown sugar and vinegar bring to a simmer, reduce heat and simmer uncovered about 10 minutes.

Yummy, Easy Salsa

I know it's been hit or miss with my posts, but I really want to get serious about being more consistent with posts, so slowly but surely I'm getting back into the groove and hopefully by the time school starts I'll be back in the swing of blogging.

It's long past time for one of my favorite recipe finds! Scott and I LOVE chips and Salsa however, Scott only likes 1 or 2 brands because he has a thing about raw tomatoes (weird because he loves salsa???) and I have a thing about mushy cooked tomatoes. It's definitely a tomato thing with both of us. Now of course nothing compares to salsa made with fresh tomatoes, but really I've been trying to grow tomatoes for the last 3 years with a yield of 2 measly tomatoes. I've read every book in our library even those by locals about how to grow great tomatoes in the desert and followed their advice to the T and still a big fat F for me. I've given up momentarily but not for good. ANYWAY, I found this recipe that uses canned tomatoes, fresh ingredients and most importantly a blender, and I'm telling you WE LOVE this salsa. It's the next best thing 2 fresh and WAY better than store bought. give it a try it's a cinch and even if you don't like spicy be sure to add the jalapeno just take out the ribs and seeds. I left it out once and it was blah! I put it in wide mouth pint jars (easy for dipping chips) and the recipe makes 2 pints. It will last about a week in the fridge however ours has never been in the fridge that long except when we were on vacation!

Easy Blender Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1- 14 oz can diced tomatoes(I use fire roasted tomatoes)
• 1- 10 oz can orginal Rotel
• 1/2 small onion, roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1/2-1 jalapeno, seeded or not (depends on how spicy you like it)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• small to medium size handful of cilantro, washed
• juice of 1 lime

Directions:

Put all the ingredients in the base of a food processor or good blender and pulse to combine for 30 seconds or so until all the ingredients are finely chopped and salsa is desired consistency. Taste for seasoning and adjust to taste. Serve with chips or over tacos.

The Original Recipe is from Mountain Mama Cooks

French Toast For Dinner or Anytime!

I think it's time for a recipe. I don't know about you, but I LOVE French Toast. This has become a regular week night meal when we are short on time. I have no idea why, but the flour in this recipe makes it taste so good compared to other recipes I've tried. I like to use Texas Toast or thick cut homemade bread. It works best if the bread isn't super soft. Hope you like it as much as we do.

FRENCH TOAST

1/4 Cup Flour
1 Cup Milk
Pinch of Salt
3 Eggs
1/2 t Ground Cinnamon
1 t Vanilla
1T Sugar
12 Slices Bread

Measure flour into a large mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in the milk. Whisk in the salt, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla extract and sugar until smooth. 

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium heat. 

Soak bread slices in mixture until saturated. Cook bread on each side until golden brown. Serve hot. 

Recipe from All Recipes

The BEST Banana Muffins

It seems that I'm always buying banana's and they're always turning brown because we just don't eat them fast enough. But my kiddos LOVE banana muffins so in my quest to find the perfect banana muffin, I think I've finally found it.


This recipe is from one of my favorite food network chefs Giada DeLaurentis.

Muffins:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 ripe bananas, peeled and coarsely mashed

Frosting:

• 3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions

Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl to blend. Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the banana. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended.

Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Bake the muffins on the middle rack until the tops are golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out with no crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack and cool slightly. The muffins may be eaten warm or cooled completely and frosted.

These muffins are delicious with our without the frosting. I was a little hesitant at first about frosting on muffins, but it is not a traditional frosting it's more like cream cheese on a bagel--yummy! I did make a few adjustments. I added half a cup a butter and half a cup of oil. I prefer using butter, I'm not a super huge fan of vegetable oil. I would like to try substituting unsweetened apple sauce to cut the fat, but I keep forgetting to buy it at the store. Also, I didn't have mascarpone cheese which I know is more mild than cream cheese, so I just used all cream cheese. I'm sure the mascarpone would take down the tang a bit, but it was still delicious.

ENJOY!

Fettucine

This is one of my favorite recipes. It's a lighter version of Fettucine Alfredo. I have to say that it hasn't turned out perfectly every time which makes me a little crazy since it's such a simple recipe, but I'll tell you the little tweaks I've made. I got this from the Martha Stewart Website ages ago:

Fettucine with Mint, Peas, Ham, and Cream
2 leeks, white parts only, very thinly sliced (long ways)
2 T Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 C Chicken stock or broth
1 C heavy cream
3 oz. cooked Parma ham, cut into matchsticks
1 C frozen peas
Salt and Pepper
1 lb Fetuucine
1 C small mint leaves

Place sliced leeks in small bowl of cold water, Let stand 5 minutes to rid them of dirt and sand. Lift sliced leeks out of water and drain. Bring large pot of water to a boil and cook pasta according the package instructions. Heat Olive oil in lg skillet over medium-low heat. Add leaks and garlic, and cook until softened 2 to 3 minutes. Raise the heat to medium-high. Add chicken stock, cream, ham, and peas; season with salt and pepper. Let the sauce cook until it has thickened, about 6 minutes. Drain pasta, add sauce, sprinkle with mint and serve.

Okay so here are my tweaks. I have never added the mint, I don't know why, but I bet it's awesome, I'm going to add it next time!! I add a little butter to the olive oil and a little extra cream (about 1/2 cup). I also salt and pepper the leeks and then pepper again after adding the other ingredients. I use just regular deli ham, I have never been able to find parma ham, but I imagine it gives the pasta a great flavor. Don't leave the ham out our your sauce will be BLAND! Yes, I've done that. After I combine everything I also stir in about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Now, this part is really important, after you combine everything stir the pasta and then let it stand for a few minutes and then stir again every few minutes for about 10 minutes. It's really important to let the past soak in the sauce. I actually like this dish more the next day.

ENJOY!

Sloppy Joes--Not Just for Kiddos!

When was the last time you ate a Sloppy Joe? I think the last time I ate a Sloppy Joe, before I found this recipe, was a long, long time ago. I always thought of them as little kid food, and I never really liked that canned sauce or powdered mix. So, when I saw this recipe on 30 minute meals, I thought it looked yummy, simple and quick-SOLD! And I have to say it was all three of those things. So, if you haven't had a Sloppy Joe for awhile or even if you have, I promise you're going to LOVE this recipe.

Do you make your own Bread?

Do you make your own bread? Well, if you don't it's time to start. Now, I am super lazy when it comes to cooking, and the thought of mixing, kneading, waiting, kneading, raising, etc. etc. etc. !! Makes me totally unmotivated! BUT I have an old dinosaur breadmaker that belonged to my grandmother who never used it because she had no use for a breadmaker...she was the breadmaker! Anyway, it's so old that I couldn't even find a users manual online. But I decided to wing it, now usually when I wing it in the kitchen it turns into a disaster, but I figured I'd just follow a bread recipe, throw everything in that baby and see what happened. The good news is that it was a great success! YAY success in the kitchen with almost no work!! So, if you're kitchen lazy like me but want homemade bread either go searching through your grandmothers pantry for a breadmaker she doesn't use OR go the the DI and see what you can dig up. Oh sure I'd love to have the fancy model with the pizza dough setting and a paddle that could whip up a BIG loaf of bread but for Free, my little dinosaur is doing a fabulous job, and I haven't bought bread for about 1 year. AND we're eating yummy whole wheat bread--remember fresh ground wheat flour is about 1000 times better than store bought wheat flour. See my post here about the best thing I ever bought----my wheat grinder--L-O-V-E it!!

Here's my favorite recipe:
I got the original recipe from here (everydayfoodstorage.com), but I have modified it a bit:

1 1/4 C Warm Water

1 T butter

1/4 C brown sugar or honey

1t salt

2 3/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C Wheat Gluten (or you can use 1/2 wheat 1/2 white flour omit the gluten and increase flour to 3 cups)
2T Powdered Milk

1/4 C potato flakes

3/4 T yeast (original recipe called for 1T but it was too much and the bread tasted like yeast)

Just throw everything in the breadmaker in the order listed, set you breadmaker on the dough setting. When it beeps (don't forget that you have it in the machine--yes I have done this) take it out and shape it to fit in your bread pan, let it rise for 30 min. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. My oven cooks hot so I only bake mine for 25 minutes.

If you go to the Everyday Food Storage site, she's got tons of great recipes, videos, and food storage tips.

Yummy Granola Bars

FINALLY! I have finally found the granola bar recipe that everyone LOVES, and it's super simple. This is about recipe #6 and we've liked all of them, they just haven't been exactly right for us. You can find our favorite recipe here The great thing about granola bars is that you can adjust to your taste, the key is to keep the ratio of wet to dry ingredients the same as the original recipe. I used Rice Krispies in place of the nuts and seeds for my kids and actually added in some extra oats. The possibilities are endless, you can add nuts, raisins, craisins, seeds, peanut butter, really almost anything you can think of. These were gone in a day and a half!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Okay folks, time for a recipe. This one is a regular at our house because it's super quick and super easy. It's sweet and sour meatballs, but you can use chicken or pork or beef, whatever you have on hand. I use meatballs because I buy them frozen at Costco and Sam's so I always have them in my freezer and I've also used chicken, but it would be great with leftover pork or beef. So, here's the recipe:

1 small can pineapple juice
1 Can Pineapple (chunks or tidbits)
2 T cornstarch
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C Vinegar
2 T Soy Sauce
1 Pepper chopped (red, green, yellow, orange, whichever you like)
I always double the recipe and add 1 little can of pineapple juice

In a small bowl combine Cornstarch with enough pineapple juice to dissolve cornstarch set aside.

In small frying pan, sautee pepper in a little bit of olive or vegetable oil.

Over low heat in large skillet add remaining pineapple juice, slowly stir in cornstarch and juice mixture. Add brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce, bring to a boil until thickened, reduce heat, add pineapple and cooked meatballs or cooked shredded chicken and peppers.

Serve over rice.

So, simple and DELICIOUS!!

Keep your eyes out for those pineapple sales and coupons and then stock-up for lots of sweet and sour!

Salmon Chowder

What to do with all the cheap Salmon we bought at Walgreens last week???( I still have rain checks to redeem!) Well, here's my favorite Salmon chowder recipe. My family LOVES it, this is one meal that everyone eats. I tweaked the original recipe a little bit by adding half and half instead of canned milk.

Salmon Chowder

14.5 oz can salmon
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c chopped green pepper
3 T butter
1c diced potatoes
1c diced carrots
2 cans chicken broth
1t salt
1/2 t pepper
1/2 t thyme
10 oz package frozen peas
1 can cream corn
13 oz evaporated skim milk (I use 1/2 and 1/2 or cream)
minced parsley

Drain and flake salmon reserving liquid. Saute garlic, onion, celery, and green pepper in butter. Add potatoes, carrots, reserved salmon juice, chicken broth, and seasonings. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until vegetables are nearly tender. Add peas, cook 5 minutes. Add flaked salmon, corn, and milk. Heat through. Sprinkle with minced parsley.

This is a recipe from a good friend of my sister. ENJOY!

It's all about the flour!

Oh my gosh, I finally broke out my wheat grinder and I am so excited!!! I have been trying all kinds of bread receipes to get the perfect wheat bread and I have been getting a little frustrated. So, my last conclusion was that it had to be the flour. SOOOO, I broke out my wheat grinder, ground some wheat and FINALLY.....the perfect wheat bread!! It's all in the flour. So, sis. if you haven't used your wheat grinder yet, it's a must for the BEST wheat bread!! I will NOT buy wheat flour again.

Cream Soup Mix

Okay, it's recipe time again. I use a TONS of cream of chicken soup in fact I started to panic on Saturday because I actually used my LAST can! I always have plenty but the last couple of months I have let my usual stockpile run down so I'm in for some serious shopping as the sales come along. ANYWAY, my sis has a great recipe for food storage and to save money to sub for cream soup---BRILLIANT! So, here it is

2 cups non-fat dry milk powder

3/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup instant chicken or beef bouillon (I have used the granules and the powder)

2 Tbsp dried onion

1/2 tsp dried crushed thyme (optional)

1/2 tsp dried crushed basil (optional)

1/4 tsp pepper

In mixing bowl blend all ingredients. Store in an airtight contained. Yield equivalent to 9 cans of condensed soup.

To use as a substitute for one can of soup:

Mix 1/3 cup dry mix

1 1/4 cup water. Cook and stir over med heat until thickened. For a richer taste add 1 Tbsp butter. ( I do all the butter)

Muffins, Muffins and more Muffins!

I've got a couple of yummy recipes for you! I had to do a quick treat to take out to neighbors and thought muffins would be super quick and easy AND I wouldn't have to wait for butter to reach room temp. So, I found this super easy pumpkin muffin recipe at Money Saving Mom. I love this blog, she has great ideas especially for freezer meals--now I just need a freezer! Anyway, the muffins were great and really easy.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 (16 oz.) can pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cups oil
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 package chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and oil until smooth. Add in dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake 16-20 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 24-30 muffins.

Then I had some bananas that were going bad and I didn't feel like making a loaf of banana bread so I looked for another quick muffin recipe and found one here at Tammy's Recipes. They were delicious. When I saw that it called for mayo I kind of panicked but gave it try anyway and they were great. The only thing I would change next time is that I would add the choc. chips to the batter rather than put them on top.

Banana Chocolate chip Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
3 ripe bananas (the riper the better!!)
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. In large bowl, combine dry flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

2. In medium sized bowl, beat egg. Add banana and mash thoroughly, using a potato masher. Stir in Miracle Whip. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

3. Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full (12); sprinkle tops with chocolate chips. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until muffin tests done with toothpick. Allow muffins to cool 5 minutes in the pan, and then remove to wire racks to finish cooling. Store loosely covered to help prevent stickyness! :)

Stay tuned for more recipes. My sis sent me some goodies that I need to post!