Super Nachos!

This recipe has been a favorite for a very long time. I mostly remember my mom making this on Christmas Eve and I always thought it was cool that I could have Doritos for dinner!

I made this for Valentine's Day this year and it felt like a fun and out of the ordinary dinner. The kids and my husband loved it! This would have also been a great party dish for the Super Bowl.

I like how pretty it is with the lettuce on top. My mom always used chopped tomatoes, green onion, olives around the perimeter and a big scoop of guacamole in the center with some sour cream on top of that. Very festive! And the fun thing....use the Doritos to scoop and eat!

Super Nachos

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground beef
1 packet of taco seasoning
water according to packet

1 can of bean dip (I use Frito's original or jalapeno)
1 can refried beans
1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese
1 cup Cheddar cheese

Shredded lettuce
Sliced olives
Fresh diced tomatoes
Chopped green onion
Guacamole
sour cream

1 bag nacho cheese flavored Doritos

Directions:

Brown your ground beef, drain and prepare with taco seasoning according to package.

Combine the bean dip and refried beans and spread on the bottom of a 9"x13" casserole dish. Layer prepared taco meat on top. Sprinkle cheeses on top.

Place in oven a 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until cheese is browned and bubbly.

Arrange lettuce, tomatoes, onion and olives around perimeter of casserole dish.

Serve with Doritos, guac and sour cream.


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Shredded Pork Taquitos

This is the second time that I made Pioneer Woman's Spicy Shredded Pork and I am officially hooked on pork shoulder. I've always been afraid of large cuts of meat, but I feel like the pork shoulder is my friend now. We were pretty well snowed in this last weekend so I had all day to tend to this spicy pork. It made our house smell so so so yummy and we had some AWESOME taquitos to eat during the Super Bowl!

All you do is:


1. Make your pork:

PW's Spicy Shredded Pork

Ingredients

• 4 pounds (up To 7 Pounds) Pork Shoulder
• 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1 Tablespoon (to 2 Tablespoons) Salt
• Pepper To Taste
• 3 cloves (to 4 Cloves) Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon (to 2 Tablespoons) Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons (to 3 Tablespoons) White Wine Vinegar
• ¼ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 whole Onion
• Lime Wedges

Preparation Instructions

Rinse and pat dry the pork shoulder.

To begin, just throw the dried oregano, cumin, chili powder, salt, black pepper, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar and brown sugar into a food processor or blender. (I happen to love brown sugar in my cooking, but you can decrease or omit it if you like.) Cut one onion into quarters and put it in the food processor with the spices. Blend mixture until totally combined and then pour it over the pork shoulder.

Now rub it into every nook and cranny of the meat, tucking it under folds an in crevices. Let no stone go unturned. Then place the pork into a roasting pan or Dutch oven and add a couple of cups of water. Cover tightly and roast pork at 300º for several hours, turning once every hour. When it is fork tender crank up the heat, remove the lid, and roast it, skin side up for another 15 to 20 minutes to get the skin crispy. When it’s done let it rest for 15 minutes before shredding.

Shred the pork shoulder (two forks work well). When it’s all shredded be sure to pour the juices all over the meat. Serve with warm tortillas, lime wedges, sour cream, pico de gallo, guacamole, tomatillo salsa … whatever makes your skirt fly up!

2. Wrap your corn tortillas in damp paper towels and place in the microwave for about a minute to soften them up. Place some pork, shredded Monterrey Jack cheese and some homemade salsa (preferably) and roll. Place on cookie sheet with seem side down.


3. Brush taquitos with oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake at 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve with sour cream, salsa and guacamole. If you used all the shredded pork, you could make about 40 taquitos. I made mine the day before, wrapped the cookie sheet in plastic and kept them in the fridge until we were ready to eat.

Just a little side note:
This is why I love to cook! This is my little JD, but I remember licking the beaters, just like him, when I helped my mom make cookies! He is my little helper.... :)


If you haven't had a chance to read my review for DiGiorno 200 Calorie Pizzas and leave a comment to be entered to win a $200 Visa gift card, please click here for a chance to win!

Noche Buena Chicken Taquitos

I've been trying to think about what I want to make for Christmas Eve dinner. I don't really have a tradition yet, but I'd like to start.

Growing up in Southern California we would often have Mexican food on Christmas Eve. Mexican is always a crowd pleaser and the red tomatoes and bright green lettuce and guacamole look so festive on the Christmas table.

I made these taquitos a few weeks ago and they were awesome! I found the recipe on
Teresa's site that I love called A Blog About Food. I've been thinking about making these and having a "Noche Buena" theme which is how you say Christmas Eve in Spanish.

Do you have a Christmas Eve dinner tradition?

Baked Chicken Taquitos
Slightly adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup green salsa, green taco sauce and red salsa is also good
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 green onion, sliced finely
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup grated monterey jack cheese (use pepperjack if you like a little heat)
1/2 cup black beans
small yellow or white corn or flour tortillas
kosher salt
cooking spray

Directions

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix softened cream cheese, green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

Working with a few tortillas at a time, place 3-4 between two damp paper towels and microwave for 30-45 seconds, until tortillas are soft and pliable and don't crack while rolling. Place 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture on the lower third of a soft tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. Then roll it up as tight as you can. (A few of mine wanted to rebel and come unrolled so I stuck a toothpick through them to keep them right and tight.)

Place filled taquitos seam side down on the baking sheet, making sure they don't touch each other. When ready to bake, spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and lightly sprinkle some kosher (coarse) salt on top.

Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown. Serve immediately. Taquitos can be dipped in in salsa, sour cream or guac.

Layered Mexican Casserole

This was a fun dinner to make!

My husband was in the kitchen with me making salsa, the kids were playing together in the backyard and we had some good tunes playing in the background. It was one of those moments where everything was "right". I enjoyed that.


What made it even better was that everyone loved this dinner and it was placed on the "keeper" list.

Layered Mexican Casserole (8 servings)

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
2 TBSP taco seasoning
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups salsa (we used Bob's fresh salsa and I think it made all the difference)
6 flour tortillas
1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, grated

1. In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink and onions are getting caramelized. Stir in salsa, beans, taco seasoning and cumin Place 3 tortillas in a 2 quart baking dish coated with cooking spray. Layer with half of the meat mixture and cheese. Repeat layers.


2. Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover: bake 5-10 minutes longer or until heated through. Let stand for 5 minutes before topping with lettuce, sour cream, tomato, olives and cilantro.


1 piece equals: 357 calories, 12 g fat, 37 g carbs, 3 g fiber, 23 g protein.


And worth every bite!

Macho Salsa By Chef Bob

My husband has been on the quest to make the perfect salsa for a long time now. We've been married 9 years and I must say that the salsa has much improved thanks to two good friends. Trial and Error.

In the past the salsa has sometimes been:

too oniony
too salty
too tomotoey
burn your taste buds off hot
or just not quite right

But more often than not, it has been muy delicioso! It has ruined the kids for store bought salsa. They are such salsa snobs now!


So today we made some really good salsa and we actually measured things out for you. It definitely has some heat, but that can be altered to your taste. This salsa looks more green than red because of all the cilantro. If you like cilantro, this salsa is for you!

Macho Salsa

2 jalapenos, chopped (leave out seeds to decrease heat)
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped fine in a food processor
1.5 lbs of roma tomatoes (Drop them in boiling water until skin splits. Remove skins.)
1 level teaspoon of minced garlic

Place above ingredients in a large mixing bowl and use a hand held blender to blend the tomatoes together with cilantro, jalapeno and garlic.

Chop below ingredients in food processor and add to mixing bowl:

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
3/4 large sweet onion

Add:
1 Tablespoon salt
juice of 1/2 of a lime

Serve with baked tortilla chips for a guilt free snack. Salsa has zero points!

Hint: If you don't like hot salsa, add the jalapeno last. Start with a 1/2. If you want more heat add some more.

Maybe this post will inspire you to grow your salsa garden. Last year we had a great crop of red and green peppers, jalapenos and roma tomatoes. The kids loved watching their salsa garden grow.

Tortilla Soup

Here is a great soup to use up any leftover shredded meat from a rotisserie chicken. I had a bag of shredded chicken I had saved in the freezer and set out to find a good "blog worthy" recipe in which to use it. I had forgotten how good this soup is. Especially on a cold, winter night. This one had JD licking his bowl!
Tortilla Soup

1 Tbsp olive oil (could omit completely)
3 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp dried onion
1- 4 oz. can of chopped green chilis
1- 15 0z. can of beef broth
2- 15 oz. cans of chicken broth
2- 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
1- 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen sweet corn
1 tsp each of ground cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper
1 Tbsp steak sauce
1 cup water
1 1/2-2 cups of shredded chicken

Toppings:
grated cheddar cheese
baked tortilla chips
fat free sour cream

In a large dutch oven, saute onion and garlic in oil. Add rest of the ingredients (except for toppings) and let simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. To serve, top with chips, grated cheese and sour cream.

Upside Down Taco Bellies

Me
This is a lightened-up version of a family favorite: The Taco Belly

The original Taco Belly featured a layer of Frito corn chips on your plate, followed by steaming, hot chili and then topped with all the classic taco toppings such as cheese, olives, lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes (never on mine!) and onions.

I always liked this dinner until the taco belly got a bad rap and we stopped having it for a while. How did it get a bad rap do you ask? Well, basically it went down like this. After eating taco bellies, my family went to the church to a big musical production in which my Dad had an important role. The lights were dim, we were in about the fifth row and the musical was in full force. All of a sudden, my brother, Mike, started to moan and lean forward in his chair and said, "Mom, I feel sick". My mom, being the selfless person that she is, quickly grabbed her keys out of her purse and let Mike do what he needed to do. In her purse. Was it the singing? Was it the taco bellies? I don't think we'll ever know! But there is one thing I do know........

It's time to bring the taco belly back! (Lightened up of course!)

Upside Down Taco Bellies

This is for one taco belly. Adjust ingredients according to how many you want to make.

Finely sliced iceberg lettuce (Zero points! Go crazy!)
1/2 cup canned chili (Hormel came to 2 points)
1 Tbsp shredded cheese (1 point or less if reduced fat)
2 Tbsp fat free sour cream (Zero points)
3 olives, sliced (6 olives are listed as 1 point so...less than 1 point)
Tomatoes (Zero)
Onion (Zero)
15 Frito corn chips (2 points)

Put your lettuce in a shallow bowl or plate. Heat chili in the microwave until heated through and pour on top of the lettuce. Top with cheese, sour cream, olives and other free toppings. Finally, add the fritos to the top for some nice crunch.

Enjoy! (And don't think about the story I told you while you eat! Just think about all that goodness for only 5 points!)

Mexican Casserole and Naughty Cornbread

I am posting this to tell you how I store my ground beef. Maybe you do this too. I usually buy the cheapest family pack of ground beef available. That is usually the 73% lean ground beef. (I only use this for browned ground beef recipes like spaghetti sauce, tacos, sloppy joes and casseroles like this one. For meatballs and meatloaf I get a leaner ground beef.) I get a couple of big dutch ovens and cook up the whole family pack at once. I also like to add dried onions to give it some good flavor. When the beef is nice and browned, I transfer it into a colander with a plastic container under it to catch the fat. After the fat has been drained, I remove the plastic container and run very hot water over the beef in the colander. This will help drain even more of the fat off. When the beef cools, I measure out about 2 cups and put it in a small freezer storage bag. I place all of the bags of beef in my freezer. Now I have a lean, meal size portion ready when I quickly need ground beef for a week night meal. Ready for some recipes?

Mexican Casserole (makes two 9x9 to eat one and freeze one for later)

1 box of pasta, cooked according to package and drained ( I used wagon wheels)
15 oz can of tomato sauce
1 can tomato soup
3/4 can of water (soup can)
1 cup frozen sweet corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups browned ground beef
2 packs of taco seasoning or to taste
1 cup colby jack or whatever cheese you have on hand

Basically......mix it all together (except cheese), put it in the casserole dish, top with cheese and bake at 350 degrees, uncovered for 30 minutes or until bubbly. You can top it with sliced olives. sour cream, shredded lettuce or just eat it as is. My kids really liked this. Especially JD.

To use frozen casserole: Put into fridge the night before to thaw. Bake at 350 degrees, covered with foil for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes longer.

Naughty Corn Bread

1 box of yellow cake mix
2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix
eggs, oil and milk according to box mixes

Preheat oven according to directions on the cake mix box.

In a bowl combine all three box mixes. Add eggs, milk and oil according to each box mix. (Replace the water called for on the cornbread box mix with milk). Mix all the ingredients according to the cake mix directions.

This makes A LOT of cornbread, so I just make 2 batches of muffins and freeze what I don't use. They are really easy to defrost in the microwave for a quick meal.

Just bake these according to the cake mix directions. (About 20 minutes for the muffins and 30 minutes for 9x13 pan). Know your oven and make sure not to over cook these. Cooked just right, these are so moist!