Taco Pie

I haven't done a recipe post in awhile. Just haven't been able to find the inspiration, but it came this week in the form of organic ground beef on sale at Publix. I stocked up and was trying to think of how to use it when I remembered this recipe. It's a family favorite, but I haven't made it in a lonnnggg time because I quit buying canned biscuits - too many weird ingredients. I recently discovered Trader Joe's has a (relatively) healthy store version though so this recipe is coming back into the rotation.


Here's what you need:

1 lb. ground beef (sometimes I substitute the fake Morning Star Farms meat and no one is the wiser)
1 packet taco seasoning
8 oz. tomato sauce
8-10 oz. can of biscuits
1 cup refried beans
1 cup cheese (I use whatever's in the fridge)
1 small onion, chopped

Brown beef and stir in tomato sauce and onion. Heat until it begins to boil. Lower temp and simmer 15 minutes or until thickened. Lightly grease 9-inch pie plate. Flatten biscuits over bottom and up sides of plate. Spread beans over dough. Top with meat and bake for about 20 minutes at 375. Sprinkle cheese over top before serving.

This recipe is being linked with Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday, All The Small Stuff's Tuesdays At The Table, and At The Well's Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. Head to either of those for more yummy recipes.

Jen over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is also taking a poll to find out what brands we can't live without. In other words, if you found out a particular brand item was going to be discontinued, which ones would you stock up on. Here's my (not so short) list:

Coca Cola - No diet or zero stuff here. Can't beat the real thing.
Kroger Natural Peanut Butter - I could live with other brands if I had to, but this one is the best in my opinion.
Annie's Mac and Cheese - Spice is a mac and cheese addict. I don't feel quite so guilty when I serve her the Annie's all natural brand.
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - Nothing else compares...
Tostitos Restaurant Style Salsa - Nice and refreshing. The closest to actual restaurant salsa I've found in a jar.
Tostitos Baked Scoops - The perfect complement to the above mentioned salsa. These are the ONLY baked chips I like and they make my constant craving for chips and salsa a little less guilt inducing.
Crayola Crayons - The rest are just colored blobs of wax.
Oral B or Johnson & Johnson dental floss - All the other brands fall apart before the job is done.
Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner - The only one that actually works on the tub.

And No. 1 on the list...

Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning - My luxury item if I'm ever on Survivor. This stuff could even make grass taste good.

Head over to Jen's blog to see what brands other reader's are loyal to and feel free to leave a comment here telling me your favorites.

Roasted Carrots With Feta and Parsley

Hi all! I'm back from my extended hiatus to share this delicious recipe from Martha Stewart. Jen over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is looking for Thanksgiving recipes for today's Tasty Tuesday. I tried this for the first time earlier this year and have planned on adding it to our Thanksgiving feast since the first bite. Not only is it delicious, it's super simple to throw together and looks quite impressive.

Photo from marthastewart.com

Ingredients:

3 pounds medium carrots, cut 1/2 inch thick on the bias
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss carrots with oil on a rimmed baking sheet, and season with salt and pepper. Roast until carrots are caramelized and tender, about 25 minutes.
Transfer carrots to a bowl, and toss with feta and parsley.

Check out Jen's blog for more new dishes to add to your Thanksgiving feast.

Leftover Rice Lunches

When Hubby was stationed in Okinawa with the USMC one of his favorite meals out in town was TRC - Taco Rice and Cheese. He has talked about it often and I have tried to make it many times, but there's always something not quite right according to him. Last month he spent some time in the kitchen on our anniversary and whipped up some TRC for lunch. Even then he complained that it wasn't authentic enough. Well, I don't know how to help him, but I do know my kids loved the meal and have asked for it often since then. Hubby and I are not fans of leftover rice, but the kids don't mind it so I've taken to incorporating it into their lunches anytime we have it. TRC is pretty self explanatory...take some rice, add some taco seasoned meat and a little cheese on top and serve. Last time I made it I added in a little taco sauce too and got rave reviews.

Now, it's a rare occasion when we have leftover taco meat. The other day we had leftover rice and no taco meat, but the kids were clamoring for TRC. On the fly I came up with PRC - Pizza Rice and Cheese. I threw some rice in a bowl and chopped up a few pepperoni slices and some cheese. We didn't have any unfrozen pizza sauce so, in another moment of desperation, I stirred in some tomato paste and Italian seasoning. They LOVED it and I love having two frugal, easy meals to add to our lunch rotation.

I'll be linking these "recipes" to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday.

Angel Food Surprise Cake

It doesn't get any easier than this! All you need is this...

to make a delicious low-cal, low-fat, low-sugar dessert that the whole family will enjoy. (Well, except for Spice of course. She was out as soon as she saw that a fruit that was NOT grapes or apples was involved. Oh well, just leaves more for the rest of us.) To top it all off, you only need to dirty one dish - two if you count the spoon - to make this tasty treat.

Here's what you do:

Dump angel food cake mix in an ungreased 8 x 12 sheet cake pan. Add in 16 ounces of crushed pineapple in its own juice. Stir with a spoon and watch it grow. (Sport really likes this part. I'm sure there's a science lesson in there somewhere. I just haven't figured it out yet.) Once well mixed, pop it in the oven and bake at 350 for 25 minutes. We like to top it with Cool Whip - fat free of course.

This post is linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday and Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family because any dessert that my kids can make from start to finish works for me!

DIY Easy Bake Oven Recipes

I planned to save this post until next week's Works For Me Wednesday, but when I logged onto We Are That Family today and saw the topic for this week was favorite summer recipes I figured I'd better go ahead and get posting. This isn't your typical "summer recipe" but if you're looking for a way to keep the kiddos occupied, these are a lot of fun!

If you have a young 'un with an Easy Bake Oven, I don't have to tell you how expensive the mixes are. Lucky for us, Santa left quite a few when he delivered the oven this past Christmas. We've just about run out though, and honestly, they're not so tasty. Awhile back I came across a website with recipes to make your own EBO mixes. I filed it away in the back of my mind until last night.


Sport is in Louisiana visiting all the grandparents and cousins so Spice and I have been trying to do some girly things. Today she had a friend over so we broke out the EBO and they made their entire lunch in it. Who knew you could make things like pizza, quiche, and quesadillas with nothing more than a heap of plastic and a light bulb? Here are the two concoctions we cooked up today:

Bean and Cheese Quesadilla

whole wheat tortilla
cheese
Frito Lay bean dip
dab of butter
non-stick cooking spray
salsa

First we folded a soft taco size tortilla in half and cut out a circle the size of the EBO pan. (You can get 4 circles out of one tortilla this way.) Spray some olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Place one tortilla in the pan, cover with cheese. Spread about 1 Tbsp. of bean dip on the second tortilla then place it bean side down on top of the cheese. Put a dab of butter on top and bake for about 7 minutes. Serve with a side of salsa for dipping.

The girls gave this a big thumbs up.

For dessert, we made peanut butter cookies:

1-1/2 Tbsp. peanut butter
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp. butter
sugar
chocolate chips

Combine peanut butter, flour, butter, and 2 tsp. sugar in a small bowl. Stir until it comes together. Separate dough and roll into small balls (about 1/2 inch). We used natural peanut butter so we rolled them in a bit of sugar before baking to sweeten them up a bit. Place 3-4 balls in EBO pan and flatten gently with thumb. Place 1 chocolate chip in the center of each cookie. Bake for about 7 minutes.They're pretty crumbly when they come out so let sit for a few minutes before removing from pan. This made 12 tiny cookies.

Here are a couple of links for more EBO recipes. Soon I hope to have the kids cooking dinner with the thing.

EBO Recipes

Frugal Easy Bake Oven Mixes

Homemade Cake Batter Ice Cream

 

I admit, I have a thing for cake batter. My favorite flavor snowball is wedding cake. Even when I tell myself over and over that this time I'm going to order something different, I always cave at the end and go for the sweet taste of cake. On those rare occasions when I set foot in a pricey ice cream shop, the only thing that can tear me away from peanut butter and chocolate goodness is cake batter. If cake batter is on the menu, I'm ordering it. If I had been in Marie Antoinette's shoes, I would have shouted, "Let them eat cake...BATTER!" So I may be a bit biased when I tell you the kids and I whipped up some homemade cake batter flavored ice cream Sunday and it was awesome! It would have been even better if I hadn't scorched the mixture ever so slightly. It was barely noticeable though and the kids had no complaints. I'm sure if you asked them, they'd say they're used to mom burning stuff. But a day later there wasn't the slightest trace of ice cream left and Hubby wasn't even here to get in on the action. I hope to get
more made up for the 4th. It just isn't the 4th of July without homemade ice cream and this will make a nice change from boring old vanilla. Guess I'll have to replace the leftover red and green Christmas tree sprinkles we used for a topping with something a little more American though! I found the original recipe on All Recipes and made a few changes. Here's my lightened up version:

1 cup milk (I used 1% Hood Simply Smart)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
3 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups evaporated skim milk
3/4 cup white cake mix, sifted

Whisk all ingredients together in a saucepan until well blended. Cook over medium-low heat until mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Stir constantly! I only stopped stirring for a second to put the milk back in the fridge and the mixture was already beginning to stick to the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and cool in the refrigerator or freezer.

Pour the chilled mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions. Once it has the texture of soft-serve ice cream sneak a little for yourself all the while telling your kids it's not ready and needs to harden some more. Place whatever's left in the freezer in your ice cream maker's container or in a lidded plastic container to harden.

Next time I will double the recipe since this only made about 8 small servings. I also want to try cutting the sugar down to about 1/3 cup. As is, it was not too sweet, but I think the sugar could be reduced some without it making much of a difference.

This post is being linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Parade of Foods and Works For Me Wednesday.

Suffering Succotash

 

Before I came across the recipe several years ago, I didn't have a clue as to what succotash really was. The only reference I had for it was hearing Sylvester the cat exclaim, "Suffering Succotash" on a regular basis while watching Looney Tunes, and the way he said it didn't make it sound all that appealing.
I love Lima beans and nobody could cook them like my Grannie. When she passed away 6 years ago I actually mourned the fact that I would never have such great tasting Lima beans again. I can't cook 'em like her and don't know what her secret was, but once or twice a year I break out this recipe for family holiday feasts so I can at least enjoy Lima beans for a day or two. Balancing Beauty and Bedlam is looking for Easter meal traditions for this week's Tasty Tuesday so here's my contribution:

Succotash

5 bacon slices
2 green onions, chopped
4 cups corn
3 cups Lima beans
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 tsp. chopped, fresh basil or 3/4 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. Tony's (or you can use 1/2 tsp. each of salt and pepper)

Cook bacon in large skillet, drain, & reserve 3 Tbsp. of drippings. Saute onion in drippings for 2 minutes. Stir in veggies and broth. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir in crumbled bacon, tomatoes, basil, and seasoning. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Makes 10 servings.

Disclaimer: I serve this dish every year at Thanksgiving, but have never actually made it for Easter. For Easter, we make...reservations.

This recipe is being linked to these posts:

Our Favorite Meatless Meals

Lent is in full swing and for us that means no meat on Fridays. We usually have one or two meat free meals a week so it's not that big of a stretch for us, but I thought I'd share a couple of our favorite meatless meals today for Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday.

Taco Pie
(This recipe actually calls for a pound of beef. I cheat and use the Morning Star Farms "fake" meat found in a green bag in the freezer section, usually near the breakfast items.)

1 bag Morning Star Farm's Crumbles
1 small onion, chopped
1 packet or 2 Tbsp. taco seasoning
1 small can tomato sauce
dash of Tabasco sauce
8 oz can of biscuits
1 cup refried beans (Make sure to get the vegetarian ones if you use canned!)
1 cup cheese

Cook Crumbles and stir in taco seasoning, tomato sauce, onion, and hot sauce. Heat until hot and bubbly. Simmer 15 minutes or until thickened. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate. Press biscuits over bottom and up sides of plate. Spread beans over dough. Top with taco mixture. Bake for 20 minutes at 375. Top with cheese and cook another 5minutes or until cheese has melted.

Pasta Fagoli
This is our traditional Good Friday meal, served alongside a piece of crusty bread.

16 oz. elbow mac (uncooked)
4 small cans tomato sauce
1 can vegetable broth
1 can white beans
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/8 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
Olive oil

Start pasta. In a separate pot, saute garlic and oregano in olive oil. Do not brown (But if you accidentally do, don't worry. I usually burn it.) Add sauce, broth, beans, and Tony's. Simmer 10 minutes. Drain pasta and add to sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

Broccoli & Cheese Stuffed Potatoes
4 large baked potatoes (My favorite way to bake potatoes is in the crockpot. Pierce each potato several times with a fork. Wrap in foil. Cook on Hi 3-4 hours or Low 8-10 hours.)
3 cups broccoli florets & stems, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
2 green onions chopped
1 1/3 cup shredded cheese (I just use whatever's on hand.)
Tony's

Steam and drain broccoli. Cut a thin slice from the top of each cooked potato and scoop out insides, keeping skins intact. Mash potatoes and beat in sour cream until smooth. Add broccoli, onion, and 1 cup of cheese to mashed potatoes. Season to taste with Tony's. Refill potato shells. Arrange in shallow baking dish and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until cheese melts.

And of course it would not be a round-up of meat free meals without our family favorite, Bean and Cheese Enchiladas.

I'm also adding this to the Lent Link Up at Catholic Icing (one of my new favorite blogs). Check it out for lots of great Lent ideas for the whole family to enjoy.

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

A new year has begun and that means everyone is dusting off last year's resolution to lose weight and get in shape and starting over again. I found this recipe in All You magazine a few months back and have been using it on a regular basis since then. I love microwave popcorn for a quick snack, but let's face it the prepackaged kind is not the healthy treat popcorn is meant to be. If you've been forking over the big bucks for organic/all natural microwave popcorn like me, here's a recipe your wallet will love as much as your waistline.

Pour 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels in a brown lunch bag. Add 1 tablespoon of oil (olive or canola is best) and 1 teaspoon of salt. Shake well, fold over the top of the bag, and cook in the microwave for 3-4 minutes.

The real beauty of this recipe is you can easily forgo the salt and add other flavors like brown sugar, cinnamon, garlic salt...mmmmm, I better go get popping.

This post is being linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday and We Are That Family's Works For Me Wednesday.

Acorn Cookies

Here's a super easy and tasty way to keep the kiddies busy on Thanksgiving Day while the rest of the feast is still cooking.

Ingredients:
Mini Nilla Wafers
Hershey's Kisses unwrapped
peanut butter

Put a dab of peanut butter on the flat side of the Nilla Wafer and stick to the flat side of the Hershey's Kiss. Your done!

If allergies are a concern, chocolate frosting can be used in place of the peanut butter. Fill a dish with these little cuties for a festive look on your Thanksgiving table. We plan to use some of the fall-themed Hershey's Kiss flavors for a little variety this year.

Cranberries and Crust

My mom made this for us last Christmas and I've been thinking about making it since then. Well there's no time like the present. This is the perfect dish to add to your Thanksgiving feast.

1 bag of fresh cranberries (or 2 cups)
1/2 cup sugar + 2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 stick of butter, melted
3 Tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 10-inch pie plate and spread cranberries over the bottom. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of sugar and the pecans. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add 2/3 cup sugar. Beat until mixed well. Add flour, butter, and milk. Beat well then pour over cranberries. Bake 45-55 minutes.

Makes a good dessert or breakfast!

Cajun Oven-Fried Chicken

Chicken parts and pieces are on sale super cheap this week at Kroger ($.99/lb for Tyson or $1.99/lb for store brand organic chicken) so I thought I'd share this recipe. Sport loves this like there's no tomorrow. Makes him wish chickens had 8 legs. I picked up an extra pack of drumsticks just for him today with this recipe in mind.

3/4 cup buttermilk (I use regular milk and stir in a tablespoon of vinegar.)
1 cup breadcrumbs (Original recipe calls for plain. I usually use seasoned.)
1 Tbsp. Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (No kitchen should be without this. If I ever go on Survivor, Tony's will be my luxury item. It makes anything edible.)
2 tsp. minced dried onion
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 lbs chicken pieces with skin removed

Preheat oven to 400. Line a pan with foil and coat with cooking spray. Pour milk into a bowl. Combine all seasonings in a large zip-loc bag. Dip chicken in milk then place in bag. Shake to coat. Place on pan and coat chicken with cooking spray. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!

This recipe is linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday. Check it out for more great recipes.

Easy Green Beans

This is the only way I cook green beans. Very tasty!

1 pound fresh green beans
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 pack Italian dressing mix

Melt butter in a pan. Add beans and seasoning mix and saute until tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. For best taste, allow dressing mix to caramelize on beans.

I've also used Ranch dressing mix and the results are just as yummy.

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday. Visit Balancing Beauty and Bedlam for more recipes.

Muffin Tin Monday

We dine from muffin tins just about every Monday, but I don't usually participate in the themes posted by Her Cup Overfloweth. That would require planning ahead, so we just eat whatever's on hand. I knew we would have to participate this week though when I saw that the theme was Outer Space. We are studying the solar system at the moment and, besides that, it's one of Sport's favorite topics. Here's what I came up with at the last minute this morning.



Mini bagel for the rings of Saturn (Sport preferred to think of it as a black hole though.)
Cheese stars
Planetary pepperoni
Yogurt squeezer for astronaut food
Milky Way candy bar from the Halloween bucket for the galaxy
Crescent moon apple slices

Head over to Her Cup Overfloweth to see what other mom's did.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

This time of year, my thoughts turn to one of my favorite things to bake...chocolate chip pumpkin bread. This is based off of a recipe I found in Quick Cooking magazine several years ago.

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can pumpkin
1-1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips*

Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. In another bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and applesauce. Add pumpkin mix to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan then remove and place on wire rack. Slice one loaf and serve immediately. Wrap the other loaf up and stuff it in the freezer real quick so you won't eat it too. It's that good!

*The original recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups of chocolate chips, but I actually thought that was a bit too much and if I'm telling you there's too much chocolate you'd better believe it!

This recipe is being linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday. Head over their for more recipes.

Cheap and Easy Enchiladas

If you polled each member of our family about our favorite meal these bean and cheese enchiladas would come out the clear winner. Every week as I sit down to plan out our menu I ask for suggestions and this is always the first one out of Sport or Spice's mouth. I found this recipe in Family Circle magazine many years ago. Not only is it delicious, it's also cheap and easy.

Ingredients:
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp each of salt and cumin powder
2-1/2 cups shredded cheese (I use whatever's in the fridge)
2 cans enchilada sauce
8 small flour tortillas

Mix beans, chili powder, cumin, and salt in a bowl. Mash beans and add 1-1/2 cups of cheese and 1 cup enchilada sauce. Mix well. Cover the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish with enchilada sauce. Brush one side of a tortilla with sauce and add 1/4 cup of the bean mixture. Roll up and place in dish seam side down. Repeat with remaining tortillas and beans. Pour any leftover sauce on top and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Last week, I opted not to brush each tortilla with sauce (because I'm lazy like that) and just poured some sauce in the bottom of the dish then poured the rest of the sauce over the top of the tortillas. Can't say it tasted any different, but it did save time. I usually serve this with yellow rice and/or guacamole with chips.

This post is being linked to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday. Head over there for more great recipes.

Mmmmmuffins

I love to keep healthy (i.e. homemade) muffins in the freezer for the kids to eat for breakfast or a snack. I've been slacking in that department for awhile though and finally decided today it was time to restock. We usually make my favorite banana muffins, but since I did not have any really ripe bananas on hand we had to try something different. I found an apple muffin recipe from Hillbilly Housewife and decided to go with it. Boy are we glad we did. They are delicious! Even Spice couldn't get enough. I figured as soon as she dumped in the applesauce she would find an excuse not to eat them, but she did and raved all through our "breakfast" dinner about how yummy they were. I made a couple of changes to the recipe...doubled the cinnamon since we love it so much, doubled the allspice since I didn't want to hurt its feelings, and omitted the cloves since I only had whole cloves in the house. Here's our version of the recipe:

Ingredients
3/4 C canola oil
2 C sugar
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
2 C unsweetened applesauce
4 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 scant tsp allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine sugar and canola oil in a large mixing bowl and stir until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir until mixed well. Stir in the applesauce.
In another large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and allspice. Slowly add this to the sugar mixture and stir just until moistened. Spray muffin tin or papers with a non-stick cooking spray and fill each cup 3/4 full of batter. Bake 20 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness.

Hillbilly Housewife has tons of great recipes. If you're ever in a pinch because you're in the middle of cooking and realize you're missing a key ingredient, it's Hillbilly Housewife to the rescue. She has recipes for all kinds of convenience foods and even condiments like pizza sauce (I've tried this one and it's good), frostings, and even ketchup (haven't tried this one yet, but I plan too.) I've only found one problem with the muffins...they won't last long enough to make it to the freezer.