Taco Soup

This is a staple in our house. The boys love it. Logan asks for it alot.

Taco Soup
From: 30 Day Gourmet Website

1 lb ground beef (optional)
1 tbs chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (or cayene)
2 cans Mexican Chili Beans
2 cans undrained canned corn
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can black beans (optional)

On hand:
Cheese
Sour Cream
Corn Chips

Brown beef and drain. Put everyting in a big pot (I typically use my crockpot), stir well. Cook until heated through. Put corn chips in bottom of bowl, spoon soup over, and top with sour cream and shredded cheese, or whatever you have on hand that you want in it.

We usually have 1/2 of it left over, so I put it in a container and put it in the freezer. It thaws well, then just heat it up on the stove. We used to put the hamburger in it. I tried it this week with out the hamburger, and it was just as good. If you are looking for a meatless meal, this is a good one.

Cheesy Chicken

This is one of our favorite meals.

Cheesy Chicken

From: Marsha Bean

6-8 chicken breasts
sliced American Cheese
2 can cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup
1 can mushrooms (drained) (optional)
1 box stove top stuffing

Grease bottom of 13 X 9 inch pan. Lay chicken breasts on bottom. Lay sliced cheese covering the top of the chicken. Spread the mushrooms over top of cheese. Then spread the cream of mushroom soup over all. Sprinkle box of stuffing over top. Cover with Aluminum foil, and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Menu for Feb 23-27

I'm trying to do menus for the week. Here is what I have planned for this week.

Monday Feb 23: Chicken Cacciatore
Tuesday Feb 24: Cheesy Chicken
Wednesday Feb 25: Taco Soup
Thursday Feb 26: Unstuffed Peppers
Friday Feb 27: Tater Tot Casserole

Chicken Cacciatore

I wanted to try something new tonight. Greg and I both really liked it (I had to add a little salt to it).

Chicken Cacciatore
From:365 Quick, Easy & Inexpensive Dinner Menus by Penny E. Stone page 46

2 TBS Butter
2-3 lbs chicken breast meat, skin removed and discarded (I used 3 chicken breasts, cut into little squares, and worked great)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced (I didn't add this, and it was good)
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (I didn't have any, so didn't add)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used 1 tsp dried)
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
cooked rice or noodles

Melt butter over low heat in a large skillet. Add chicken breasts and cook until meat is cooked through and lightly browned. Remove chicken from skillet and let cool. Chop chicken into pieces and set aside.

Add onion and celery to skillet. Saute in remaining butter until vegetables are tender. Return chopped chicken to skillet; add chopped tomatoes and juice and remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve hot over hot cooked rice or noodles.

We used egg noddles. It was really good.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

This is a new recipe I tried when I had some friends over for supper. It was a little time consuming but it was VERY good.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake
From: 2000 Taste of Home Annual Recipes page 170

Crust:
1 3/4 cups crushed chocolate chip cookies or chocolate wafer crumbs (don't use Oreo cookies and crush them up, doesn't work very well)
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
Filling:
3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Cookie Dough:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 TBS water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided (I used regular sized)

Crust
In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs, and sugar; stir in butter. Press into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a greased 9 inch spring form pan; set aside.
Filling
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add eggs; beat on low just until combined. Add sour cream and vanilla; beat just until blended. Pour over crust; set aside.
Cookie Dough Part
In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add water and vanilla. Gradually add flour. Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls over filling, gently pushing dough below surface (dough should be completely covered by filling).
Bake
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight; remove sides of pan. Sprinkle with remaining chips. Yield 12-14 servings (I ended up cutting mine into 8 pieces).

This is a very rich recipe. But very good. Mine didn't turn out as pretty as the picture in the book, but it ate very well!

Easy Pleasing Meatloaf

This is another one of our favorite meals. It is good for a couple people (if you freeze 1/2), or for a bunch of people (use the whole recipe). I don't remember where I got this recipe, but I'm glad I found it.

Easy Pleasing Meatloaf

2 pounds ground beef
1 pkg stuffing mix
1 cup water
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup barbecue sauce, divided

Mix all ingredients except for 1/4 cup of barbecue sauce. Shape into 2 oval loaves, side by side in a 13 X 9 inch pan. Top with remaining barbecue sauce (I don’t measure it, I just put enough on top to cover it.) Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until no longer pink.

If you don't want to use it all. Put it in 2 loaf pans. Cook one for now, and put one in the freezer for later (freezes wonderfully). You can also add onions,cheese, or shredded veggies to make it healthier.

Unstuffed Peppers

This is a recipe I kindof "made up". My family and I like stuffed peppers, but liked the inside better than the peppers. So one day I thought to cut the peppers up, and not stuff them, and bake in the oven. And we REALLY like them. This is one of Greg's favorite meals. He can have this atleast once (or twice if I would do it), a week! Hope you enjoy.

Unstuffed Peppers

1 pound burger
1/2 onion
2 or 3 Peppers (cut up into chunks) (We freeze our own, so I just cut some up and put them in baggies in the freezer, and then just dump into the pot when I'm ready)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups regular rice (not instant)
3 cups water
1/2 tsp basil
some shakes of Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper and garlic to taste
shredded cheddar cheese

Cook the burger and onion together until done. Add the tomatoes, peppers, salt, pepper, garlic, basil, worshershire sauce, water and mix up good, and then add the rice. Mix together good. Cover. Cook at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or longer to make sure the rice is done, and to soak up the water.

When you put it on the plate sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top and let it get gooey. I found that it needed a little extra salt added to it.

I have also been knows to add parsley flakes, oregano, and garlic when i add everything.

You can use brown rice. It tastes ok, but it takes LONGER to cook. Make sure you read the directions on the package of rice how long to cook.

New Blog

This is going to be my new blog. I'm going to post recipes that I have liked and tried. Some of them will be our favorite recipes, and some will be new ones that I have recently tried. I will only post the ones we like!!!