Taco Pie

This is a perfect meal for a family of 4-6... it's a fun twist on taco night!

You'll need:

1 can diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
6 flour tortillas
1 lb ground beef 
1 onion
1 red pepper, chopped
1 small can green chilies 
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C cheddar cheese

1. Brush a 9" pie plate with olive oil, and spread 1 spoonful of the diced tomatoes on the bottom. Then place 4 tortillas so that it creates the bottom layer (they will overlap.)

2. Now cook the meat mixture! In a large skillet, brown the beef, and add the onion, pepper, and chilies. Drain the fat, and add the chili powder and cinnamon (I know, cinnamon?) Then stir in half of the remaining tomatoes, and cook for about 2 minutes. Pour onto tortillas in pie plate. 

3. Cut the remaining tortillas into strips, and layer over the pie. 

4. Sprinkle with cheese, and the rest of the tomatoes.

5. Bake at 400 degrees, uncovers, for about 20-25 minutes. 

Top with cilantro for that extra touch! Serve with sour cream/guacamole! 

Cobb Salad with a Garlic Herb Vinaigrette

Just a slight twist on the traditional Cobb...


For the Salad

lettuce
chicken
bacon
blue cheese
tomato
green onion
avocado










Garlic Herb Vinaigrette Dressing

3/4 C extra virgin olive oil
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tsp sugar
1 big or 2 small garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper

Homemade French Fries

These were actually pretty easy... Slightly time consuming, but worth it! And the whole bowl of fries was only ONE potato!

All you need is:
1 russet potato
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder 
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika 
Water
Vegetable oil 

First, peel the  potato. Slice into french fry pieces and soak in water.

Sift the flour, garlic salt, onion power, salt and paprika. Add water until it's a batter consistency.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet. I used my electric skillet and I had the temperature set at 375°. Coat them in the flour batter, and set them in hot oil, NOT TOUCHING. Once there browned, set them on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. :)

Slow Cooker Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches

Craving something sweet? Try these Hawaiian chicken sandwiches! :)

You'll need:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp honey

4 garlic gloves, minced

1 can crushed pineapple with juice

juice from 1 lime

Combine all these, and pour over chicken breasts in the slow cooker

Shred chicken in big pieces once cooked. Place on rolls.

I had these with shredded lettuce, cilantro, and onion.

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is not your typical chocolate chip cookie :) the steps are slightly different, and it requires separating one egg yoke (i know, difficult right?) but as long as you've got cornstarch on hand, and the patience to chill the dough either all day, or overnight... you're golden! Golden brown... like the cookies will be! ;)

Ok, enough chit chat... let's get started. Here's what you'll need:

2 & 1/4 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 & 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
3/4 C unsalted butter, melted
1 egg + 1 egg yoke
1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips
(I've used both milk chocolate chips, and jumbo semi-sweet chips... use jumbo semi-sweet chocolate chips for sure!) 

You'll need one large bowl, and 1 medium bowl for this... and NO HAND MIXER! :)

In the large bowl, sift the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt.) 

In the medium bowl, melt the butter. Then add the sugars, and whisk.

Add the whole egg, and then 1 egg yoke, whisk. Then add the vanilla. Whisk. 

So you've got the dry, and the wet. Pour the wet sugar mixture into the flour mixture.

Stir with a wooden spoon.

It'll turn to dough eventually ;) Then fold in the chocolate chips.

Now, the hard part. CHILL THE DOUGH... for at least 3 hours, but I chill it overnight. 

Now, the dough gets very hard in the chilling process, so I take the dough out at least a few hours before I want to form the balls. (See, I told you, patience is needed) This cookie sheet shown is a 16 x 12. So as you can see, they are big balls of dough! About the size of a lime maybe... 2-3 Tbsp of dough. 

Then the key to making them LOOK like bakery cookies (because they will taste like them!) is placing a few chocolate chips on top of the raw dough before putting in the oven. 

The temp for these delicious cookies is 325, at about 10-11 minutes. You cant them SLIGHTLY browned when pulled out.

This recipe makes about 16 bakery style cookies! 

Peanut Butter Heaven

Again, made this for my mom for Mother's Day. She LOVES peanut butter... and lemme tell you, I wish I could have recorded her reaction to this pie.

I think the key is the pie crust. It's not your typical graham cracker pie crust.



Also, this requires an overnight chill.



And by the way, she's already requested this for her birthday dessert..... her birthday isn't until October.





Crust:

1 1/2 C vanilla wafer cookie crumbs
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and peanut butter. Add in the cookie crumbs and sugar, and form into the pie pan like a crust. If you can, chill before baking. Bake for about 10 minutes.


Filling:

8 oz package whipped cream cheese
1 C creamy peanut butter
3/4 C powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
12 oz THAWED cool whip (whipped topping)

Blend cream cheese, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add in cool whip and mix more, until light and fluffy looking. (If the cool whip is not fully thawed, the peanut butter mixture will do a weird clumping together thing... just let it sit.)

Pour into crust.... and enjoy it the next day!

Shrimp Enchiladas w/ Jalapeno Cream Sauce

I made this amazingly delicious recipe for my lovely mother for Mother's Day... I doubled the recipe that I will put here, and there was enough for 6 people, and a bunch of leftovers! It's a little involved, so prep to help yourself out!  

And also, I apologize for no pictures... I originally was not going to blog this one... but was convinced to put it up ;)

Here's what you'll need:

1 lb shrimp, peel and deveined

olive oil

salt and pepper

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 C chicken broth

3/4 cup sour cream

2 jalapenos, minced

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper

1/4 C cilantro

2 gloves garlic

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups shredded green cabbage

2 carrots, peeled and grated

2-3 cups baby spinach

1/4 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

12 small corn tortillas

2 cups monterey jack cheese

Ok, first get the shrimp ready. Peel and devein, and toss in olive oil and salt & pepper. I cook mine in the cast iron skillet, but you can cook them however. Roasting in the oven is probably easy (400 degrees for about 7-8 minutes.) 

After they're cooked, and ready to handle, chop them into thirds (bite-size pieces.)

For the sauce (which is key to this recipe!) Melt butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in the flour until lightly browned. Gradually whisk in the chicken stock, and cook until incorporated (a few minutes.) Stir in the sour cream. Add Jalapenos and garlic powder, and simmer for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper and remove from heat. Then add the cilantro in.

Now, for the filling. Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large saucepan. Add the minced garlic and onion, and cook for a few minutes. Add cabbage, carrot, spinach, oregano, and cayenne. Cook until the spinach is not completely wilted. Remove from heat and add shrimp, stir. 

Now you're ready to assemble these little masterpieces! Pout a tiny bit of sauce to coat the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Roll tortillas with shrimp filling and cheese, and place seam side down. Repeat, repeat, repeat! Pour sauce over the enchiladas (saving some extra for after their baked!) and top with more cheese if you still have some. 

Bake at 375 for about 15-20 minutes... you're welcome ;)