Tostadas!

Horrible picture quality, I know.

The truth is, I had to take a quick pic because I wanted to eat it up, but I try to eat no/low carb for dinner most nights, so my meal was a bit different.

I started with Holly's Warm Bean Dip recipe.

I made some for the Super Bowl and had about 1/4 left over for this meal.

The final recipe looks like this:

Mexican Tostada

1 lb Ground Turkey

1.5 - 2 cans Refried Beans (I used black and brown)

2 oz Cream Cheese

1/4 cup Sour Cream

1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup Monterey Jack Cheese (+ some for topping)

1 packet Taco Seasoning

1/2 packet Enchilada Seasoning

1 package Tostada Shells

Taco Sauce for garnish

Brown the Ground Turkey; drain.

Add the Refried Beans, Cream Cheese, Sour Cream, Cheeses, and Seasonings and mix 'em up!

Spread a thick layer on top of Tostada Shells, top with Cheese and Taco Sauce.

Suuuuuuuper Easy.

Two thumbs up from Big Steven.

taco lasagna.

Since I've cut waaaaaaaaaaaay back on carbs at dinner time most nights, I only had a taste of this.  Since it took serious bribery to get Stevie to have a few bites, I had to make sure it wasn't gross.

On the contrary!  It was pretty nommy.

Taco Lasagna

1 lb Ground Chicken (or ground whatever you use)

29 oz Tomato Sauce

1 packet Taco Seasoning

12 Lasagna Noodles (I used the 'no boil' kind, which makes life easier and faster)

1/2 cup Water

1 -1 1/2 cups Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese

Preheat your oven to 350.

Brown your Ground Chicken (or whatever) and drain if necessary.

Add Tomato Sauce, Taco Seasoning, and Water; bring to boil.

Place 1/4 meat/sauce mixture in bottom of a baking dish (9x13) and top with 4 noodles.

Layer another 1/4 of the mixture on top of the noodles, topped with Cheese.

Yadda, yadda, yadda til it's all done.

Bake that bad boy for 25-35 minutes! 

Feed to a hungry man and a picky baby.

Crockpot Shredded Chicken Tacos

If you don't have a crockpot or don't use yours regularly, get out of my life.  Kidding, but please take advantage of the wonders a crockpot can perform!  It's a total time saver and tastes home-cooked every time. 

Big Steven was kind enough to pile his plate with two different ways to enjoy the Shredded Chicken I made.  Look at that versatility, folks!  It's topped with some more salsa for extra spunk.

Crockpot Shredded Chicken Tacos

1.5 lbs Chicken ( I even started with Frozen Chicken!)

22 oz jar of Salsa (more or less would be fine)

2 cups Frozen Corn

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

2 bags Minute Rice

Place Chicken in Crockpot (again, mine was frozen and it worked just fine).  Mix together 1/2 jar of Salsa and Cream of Chicken Soup; pour over Chicken.  Let this cook on High for about 4 hours.

After the 4 hours is up or when you get home from work, return the cooking to a Low heat and mix in the remainder of the Salsa as well as your Frozen Corn and Rice.  The Rice will cook perfectly in this mixture.  Allow this to cook on Low for another hour or so.

I served Steven the Chicken in a Soft Taco and also over some Tortilla Chips.  Your choice :).

Mexican Smoked Sausage Casserole

You Will Need:

serves 4

1 Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage (or other brand, doesn't matter)

4-6 oz Egg Noodles

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

2 Tbsp Paprika

1 Tbsp Garlic

1/2 Tbsp Red Pepper

1 Tbsp Thyme

1 Tbsp Black Pepper

1 cup Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese
1/2 cup Water

Preheat your oven to 350.

Boil Egg Noodles according to package; drain.

Brown your Sausage in a skillet over Medium heat; drain.

In a large bowl, combine Egg Noodles, Sausage, and all remaining ingredients.  Pour into a baking dish and top with Shredded Cheese. 

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

I served this with a Salad topped with Tortilla Strips and Ranch Dressing.

Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas with Homemade Tortillas

oooohhh la la :)

 Homemade Tortillas



I cannot and I will not take credit for this easy and delicious recipe.  Thank you, Mommy's Kitchen for sharing it with me!  I was pretty impressed with myself and even allowed myself a personal pat on the back for the way these turned out.  Are they necessarily more frugal than purchasing tortillas?  Not really; tortillas are often on sale and there are always coupons for them; HOWEVER, it definitely added a little something extra to the meal and I plan to make them again.



Garlic Lime Chicken Fajitas

This, too, was a little bit of a cheat.  Thanks to Harris Teeter Super Doubles this week, I scored some free McCormick Recipe Inspirations, but here are the spices included:

1 tsp Minced Garlic

1 tsp Minced Onion

3/4 tsp Ground Cumin

3/4 tsp Oregano Leaves

1/2 tsp Cilantro Leaves

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

You will also need:

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 lemon juice (the recipe calls for orange juice, but I had lemon and love it on chicken)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast cut into strips

8 flour tortillas

Mix lime juice, lemon juice, oil, spices and salt in a small bowl.  Save about 1/4 of the marinade for later and place chicken in a bag or air-tight container.  Refrigerate/Marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Cook and stir chicken in heated skillet on med-high heat.  After browned, add additional marinade and cook until tender.

I added some corn to mine and it was really yummy!

Easy Peasy Beefy Burritos

I couldn't find the 'open' burrito view!  DANG!

Inspiration and 'How to fold a burrito' came from Pie Birds, Buttons, and Muddy Puddles.

You will need:

1lb Ground Beef (or turkey or boca for my sis)
1 can Black Beans
3 tbsp Chili Powder
1 can Rotel Tomatoes and Green Peppers
2 cups Shredded Cheese
1 tsp Cumin
12 Flour Tortillas

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Brown Beef.  Drain

Return Beef to pan and add Cumin and Chili Powder.  Add Rotel and Black Beans.

Add about a spoonful to each burrito and top with cheese!

Visit Andrea to learn how to roll the perfect burrito!

Don't forget to grease the pan!

Easy Peasy Quesagna!

Tonight, we tried a little something I like to call 'Quesagna' for obvious reasons - isn't it obvious?  Maybe just to me.  It's a mix between Quesadillas and Lasagna.  YUM!  It was also ridiculously easy, so it's quite the Easy Peasy addition!

You will need:

1 lb Ground Beef

1 can Hormel Chilli w/ Beans

1 can Kidney or Pinto Beans

9 Tortillas

1.5 cups Shredded Cheese (whatever you have!)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Brown the beef in a pan w/ EVOO.  Drain.  Return to pain and mix with Hormel Chilli and Beans.  DONE WITH THE FILLING!

Put 1/2 of the mixture in a lightly greased baking pan.  Pile 3 tortillas on top and add 1/2 of what is left of the mixture on top as well as 1/2 of the cheese.  Layer 3 more tortillas and finish off with the remainder of the mixture and cheese.  Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until cheese melts!

DELISH!

Knock Their Socks Off Chicken Enchiladas!

It was my first time making these, and I have to admit - they were D E L I C I O U S.  It was like a little weekday fiesta!  Haha, okay maybe I'm having too much fun with this. 

I picked up a few basic recipes at Allrecipes.com (super fun site) and made it my own.  The coolest part about cooking is that it's not standard - once you learn the basics of cooking and learn how different products go together and taste, it's so easy to come up with something all your own.  I rarely use a recipe to the fullest because I'm kind of a picky eater (sorry Big Steve!), so I am constantly swapping ingredients and it works.

Knock Their Socks Off Chicken Enchiladas
4 Cups cooked and cubed/shredded Chicken (use whatever Chicken you want!)
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
2 Cups Salsa (I used Medium)
2 Cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Cup Monterey Jack Cheese
4 Tsp Chili Powder
10 Tortillas (not the small ones - around 6-8 in.)

Get your chicken cooking first, so you can start on other parts to make it more time efficient :)

Preheat the oven to 350.  Stir the Sour Cream, Cream of Chicken, Salsa, and Chili Powder in a medium bowl.  Transfer about 2 cups of this salsa mixture to another bowl and add your cooked Chicken and Monterey Jack Cheese.

Transfer chicken and salsa mixture onto tortillas; roll them and place in a baking dish.  When all tortillas are filled, pour the remainder of the salsa mixture over top of the rolled tortillas and top with some extra cheese if you'd like :) 

Bake for about 40 minutes and VOILA!

This would easily serve a normal family of four, but if you have a Big Steve, you might only have enough for 2 adults and a lunch the next day...LOL!  For small kids, I'd use a very mild salsa; I was too nervous to upset Little Stevie's belly, so he had a separate meal.

So yummy. If you try it, let me know how you like it!