Cheesy Taco Soup

This recipe is for taco soup, which is great in cold weather. We don't really have cold weather where I live, but it's still yummy.
Ingredients: 2 cans chicken broth (more if you want it more soupy instead of hearty), 1 can corn or hominy, 1 can diced tomatos, 1 can diced green chiles, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can olives, 1 packet cheesy taco seasonings, 1 can chicken or chopped leftover chicken (hamburger could also be used), 1 can kidney, black, or pinto beans--your choice.

Add all ingredients to crockpot and cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high 3 to 4 hours. Serve with chips or tortillas. Top with cheese, sour cream, avacado--be creative!

You can also heat this in a stock pot on the stove. Add all ingredients (brown hamburger first, if using) and bring to a boil. Turn to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Jammin' Jambalaya

My girls recently checked out Tiana's Cookbook (Princess and the Frog) from the library and this is one of the recipes in it. I tweaked it a little bit because my girls won't eat anything spicy, but it was still very good.

Here is the original recipe:

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks

1/2 lb. Andouille sausage, cooked and thinly sliced (I used kielbasa)

1 med. onion, chopped (I left this out)

2 large celery stalks, chopped

1 small bell pepper, seeded and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1/4 t. salt

1/8 t. ground black pepper

1 cup canned chopped tomatoes, undrained (I just used 1 can diced tomatoes)

2 cups uncooked white rice

4 cups chicken broth (about 2 cans)

2 t. Worcestershire sauce

1 t. hot pepper sauce (I left this out)

Directions:

Saute chicken in oil until cooked through, about 5 min. Stir in sausage, onion, celery, bell pepper, and garlic. Sprinkle on salt and ground pepper and stir again. Cook for about 5 min, stirring occasionally. Stir in chopped tomatoes and uncooked rice. Then stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire and hot pepper sauce.

Adjust the amount of Worcestershire and hot pepper sauce to make it as mild or as spicy as you would like.

This serves 6-8.

Salad Savoy

I participate in a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. I really enjoy being able to get quality produce inexpensively and it's a great way to meet others in my neighborhood. Occasionally, we get an item we haven't had before and I have the exciting task of figuring out what it is and how we're supposed to eat it.

This last time we got Salad Savoy. I had never heard of this before and to be honest it looks like one of the pretty plate garnishes that you see at fancy restaurants, that are just for presentation.

Since I had never tasted it before and wasn't sure we'd like it, I didn't want to make it the main dish or even the main ingredient. So, I used just enough in a vegetable dish, that we could try it out, but so the dish wouldn't be ruined if we didn't like the flavor.

Here's what I used:

leaves from salad savoy
1 carrot julienned
1/3 head of cabbage shredded
1 diced bell pepper
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 c. chicken broth

I combined them all in a large pan and then steamed them. I served them with chicken over brown rice.

Verdict: It was ok. My husband and I thought it was fine. My children picked out the salad savoy and ate the rest of the vegetables. The salad savoy has a strong, slightly bitter taste and is kinda tough, so I don't know that I would just use it in a salad unless I really wanted to chew. If I made this again I think I would use rice vinegar instead of the chicken broth. This isn't a vegetable I would choose to buy, but it was nice to try.

Tostadas

Last night I made tostadas. Mainly, because they're an inexpensive and fast way to feed my family when 1) I don't feel like cooking and 2) we won't all be eating at the same time.

If you want, you can make these a lot more complicated and longer to make by making your own refried beans and frying your own corn tortillas, but that defeats the whole "fast" part of it.

What you need:

corn tortillas (I buy mine already cooked)
1 can refried beans
shredded cheese
your choice of toppings (We like olives, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and salsa for ours.)

You can also add taco meat if you like.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread beans on corn tortilla and top with shredded cheese. Place in oven until cheese is melted (2-5 minutes). Top with desired toppings.

Spanish rice would make a nice side dish to this.

Crepes with Homemade Blueberry Syrup

I made crepes and oatmeal for dinner. I love having breakfast for dinner. For one reason, I'm not really a breakfast in the morning person--it's just too early to cook--and another is, aside from being good, it makes for an inexpensive dinner.

I found my crepes recipe here on The Prudent Homemaker.
I made my own blueberry syrup, with some blueberries I had picked up earlier in the year and frozen.

Blueberry Syrup
1 cup sugar
1-2 T. cornstarch
1 t. lemon juice
1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

In saucepan over medium high heat stir sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice until sugar is dissolved. Next add blueberries. Mash some of the blueberries with a wooden spoon while cooking and leave the rest whole. Bring to a boil. Pour over crepes. The syrup mixture will thicken as it cools and sits, just warm it up again to turn it back into liquid.

Crepes are also good with nutella, powdered sugar, ham and cheese, etc. Be creative!

Ratatouille on Pasta

I found some eggplant on sale for $1. I've only had eggplant once before on a pizza and my husband and girls had never tried it, so we decided to be a little adventurous.

I decided to use my eggplant in ratatouille. Here's how I made mine:

You need:

1 eggplant

2 zucchini

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with garlic

1 can tomato sauce

olive oil

salt

pepper

pasta

Dice up the zucchini and eggplant. Because the zucchini will take longer to cook, add it to a large skillet and drizzle with olive oil and cook for about 3 minutes or so, until it starts to become tender and then add your eggplant. Drizzle with more olive oil and salt and pepper. Cook for another 1-2 minutes and then add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to boil and simmer until vegetables are cooked through.

While cooking ratatouille, put on pasta to cook. I used miniature bow tie pasta and dittany, simply because that is what I had on hand.

The verdict:

My husband and I both thought this was very good. My girls refused to even try the eggplant, but really had fun with the pasta. I thought this would also be good with sausage.

Mushroom Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

I found mushrooms on sale for a dollar so I picked some up. I also had a few sweet potatoes and surprisingly an onion that needed to be used real soon in addition to muenster cheese in the freezer that I had picked up on sale a while back. What to do with all these? Make hamburgers and fries, of course.

I bake my hamburger patties in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, flipping once. I find this is easier for me than cooking them all in a skillet, especially since we don't have a grill. I sliced the onions thin and sauteed them with the mushrooms in Worcestershire sauce. As for the sweet potatoes, I peeled them and then placed them on a cookie sheet with some olive oil and salt and pepper for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.

White Chicken Chili

With the weather taking a bit of a turn and getting colder, I decided to make a nice hearty chili. While I made this on the stove, this could easily be put in the crock pot to cook.

Ingredients: 1 can chicken, 1 can diced green chilies, 1 can garbanzo beans, 1 can navy or white kidney beans, 1 can corn or hominy, i can sliced olives, 1 t. diced garlic, 1T oil (I use EVOO), 1 can chicken broth (or 2 cups if using homemade), 1t. cumin. If you want it spicy add 1/2-1 can of El Pato sauce (We add ours to individuals bowls after serving.)

Using a stock pot (or dutch oven) add oil, garlic, green chilies and cumin and mix together. Add in remaining ingredients. Bring to boil and simmer about 5-10 minutes. Serve with chips, cheese, salsa, tortillas, sour cream, El Pato, salsa, corn bread, etc.

If using a crock pot, cook on low 4-6 hours or high 2-3 hours.

This also makes a great food storage recipe, since all the ingredients are pantry friendly.

Kielbasa and Acorn Squash

I received a plethora of acorn squash over Christmas, so I've been coming up with recipes to use with the ones I haven't been able to give away.

This is just a twist on an old recipe.

Ingredients: 1 pkg kielbasa, 1 acorn squash, bell pepper, 1/2 c. orange juice, 1/4 c. maple syrup, instant rice, olive oil

Directions: Peel and cut up squash into 1 inch pieces. Dice bell pepper. Slice kielbasa. In skillet, pour approx. 1 T. olive oil and add kielbasa. Cook kielbasa to desired doneness (Kielbasa doesn't need to be cooked, but we like ours browned. So, if you want you can just add it along with the vegetables.) Add squash and bell pepper. Mix orange juice and syrup together and pour over meat and vegetables. Cook until squash is done, about 10 minutes. Prepare instant rice. Serve kielbasa and acorn squash over rice.

Shredded Pork Meals

Awhile back pork roasts went on sale B1G1, so I bought two and put them in the freezer for a later date. They were quite big, so one roast made several meals for us. Because I didn't want to have the oven on, I used my crock pot to cook it. Simply place the roast in the crock pot in the morning. I don't braise mine, first, but you can if you want. I flavored mine with some Worcestershire and lime juice. I didn't measure it, sorry. You don't need a lot, because the pork itself has plenty of flavor. Probably about 3T Worcestershire and 1T lime juice. Cook on low 6-10 hours. Once cooked, set on cutting board to cool and using either a fork or your fingers shred and place in a casserole dish. Pour in some of the juices from the crock pot (not a lot, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan) and drizzle with more Worcestershire and lime juice. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. This gives the pork a crispiness to it and is very delicious.

When it is done, remove it from the oven and use it in your recipes. We made taco's and BBQ sandwiches out of ours, but you could also use it for burritos or just eat it like it is.

For tacos: place in taco shell, cover with cheese and put in oven until cheese melts. Top with cabbage drizzled with rice vinegar and salsa.

For BBQ pork sandwiches (no picture): Place dollop of BBQ on bun, top with pork and cabbage drizzled with rice vinegar. You could also stir the BBQ sauce into the pork if you want.

Chicken Enchiladas

I found this recipe from Campbell's for Chicken Enchiladas and thought I would try it. While not the best I have made, they were still pretty good.


Ingredients:

1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. sour cream
1 c. salsa
2 tsp. chili powder
2 c. chopped cooked chicken

1/2 c. shredded cheese
6 flour tortillas, warmed (I used wheat)


Directions:

Stir soup, sour cream, salsa, and chili powder in bowl.
Stir 1 cup salsa mixture, chicken and cheese in another bowl. Divide chicken mixture among tortillas. Roll up and place seam side down in 2-qt. baking dish. Pour remaining salsa mixture over filled tortillas. Cover baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. or until hot and bubbly.

Chicken Black Bean Soup

I live in Arizona and normally it doesn't become soup weather until close to Christmas; however, the last couple days have been quite chilly and a hearty soup was just what we needed to keep the chill away.

Ingredients:

3 T. butter

3 T. flour

2 cloves garlic (or 1/2 t. minced garlic)

1/4 c. chopped onion

1/2 t. ground cumin

1 can green chilies

1 small can sliced olives (optional)

4 c. (or 2 cans) chicken broth

1 can black beans

1 c. sour cream

2 chicken breasts shredded or cubed

*If you would like this spicy add in El Pato sauce

Directions: Saute butter, garlic and onion until onion is soft. Add flour and to make a roux. Add broth slowly to avoid clumps. Add cumin and green chilies and bring to a rolling boil. Boil until soup starts to thicken. Once thickened add chicken, olives and beans and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.

The first picture is without the El Pato sauce. My girls will not eat anything spicy, so I simply leave the can of El Pato out and my husband and I add it into ours afterwards which works out quite nicely since he likes his spicier than I do.

This is the soup with the El Pato. You can add cheese on top or eat with tortilla's or tortilla chips or just by itself. This soup is a favorite for all of us and I love that I can make it spicy for my husband and I and plain for my girls.

For those who don't know, El Pato is mexican tomato sauce. So, basically it is tomato sauce with chilies. It is excellent for mexican dishes.

Green Pepper Soup

I found this recipe off of 5dollardinners.com while looking for a new soup recipe. My husband and I thought it was good. Our kids, not so much. I served it with homemade rolls.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground beef

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1/2 cup rice, uncooked

1T. brown sugar

4-5 c. water

1 beef boullion

salt and pepper

Directions: Brown ground beef and drain. In large saucepan, add all ingredients. Bring to boil and simmer until rice is done, 15-20 minutes.

Valley Fresh Chicken Pot Pie

I enjoy homemade chicken pot pie; however, I have yet to find one with a crust I like. Unfortunately, this one was no exception. This recipe came off the can of Valley Fresh canned chicken. The filling is different from my other recipe. (It is a simpler version, that requires only opening and emptying cans.) This one uses cut up canned biscuits. I was hoping that by cutting them up, the bottoms would cook, but alas, I ended up with golden tops and soggy bottoms. If anyone has a good chicken pot pie topping, I'd be interested in it.

Here is the Valley Fresh recipe:

1 can cream of broccoli soup
1/3 c. milk
1/4 t. coarsely ground pepper
1/8 t. dried thyme
1 can chicken, shredded and drained
1 pkg. frozen vegetables
1 can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (6 count)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In 1 1/2 quart baking dish, combine soup, milk, pepper and thyme. Stir in chicken and vegetables. Bake 20-25 minutes. Separate biscuits; cut into quarters. Arrange biscuits over chicken mixture. Bake 12-15 minutes longer or until biscuits are golden brown.

Cheese Ravioli with Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 package frozen ravioli
1 medium zucchini, julienned
1 medium squash, julienned
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
garlic pepper
1/2t. basil
1/4t. thyme
olive oil

Directions:

Put water for ravioli on to boil.

Place 1-2 T. olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add vegetables and cook until done, about 4-5 minutes. (You may also grill vegetables, if you prefer. Just slice them in half and finish slicing them once cooked.)

Cook ravioli according to directions. Add ravioli to vegetables. Add another 1-2T. olive oil, cheese and seasonings. Stir to coat.

Serve while warm.

Kielbasa and Potatoes

This is a quick dish with few ingredients and a new favorite for us.

Ingredients:
1 package kielbasa, cut into 1 inch slices
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 can green beans
1 can beef broth

In a skillet, brown your kielbasa. Next add potatoes and beef broth. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are soft. Add green beans last five minutes, to allow to warm through.

Reuben Chicken

Last week I tried this recipe for Reuben Chicken. It wasn't bad, but none of us like the sauerkraut on it. Something about cooking sauerkraut just ruins it. So, it was ok, but not one I'll be repeating. However, if you like reuben's or sauerkraut, you may give it a shot.

Kielbasa and Sweet Potatoes

My family really likes kielbasa, and sadly, I don't make it that often. This is one dish that we really like.

Ingredients:
1 pkg kielbasa
1 sweet potato
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup syrup
instant rice

I like to brown my keilbasa first, but its not necessary. While browning meat, peel sweet potato and place in microwave for 5 minutes (more or less depending on size, you don't need it completely cooked through, just a little soft to make dicing easier). Dice sweet potato and combine with kielbasa. Mix orange juice and syrup together and then pour over meat and potato. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Serve over instant rice for a meal or serve alone as a side.

Chef Salad

It's started getting hotter here, we're in the 90's all week and have been now for a couple weeks. It makes cooking unbearable, especially, since the apartment we're in doesn't have good air conditioning. So, I've been trying to avoid cooking, while also not eating out. I'm hoping I get more creative. The other night I made us all chef salads. Well, I made my husband and I one and our girls a vegetable plate. They won't eat it mixed together, but are fine if it's all separate.

I used: romaine, yellow bell pepper, tomato, cauliflower, carrots, cucumber, boiled egg, deli meat, cheese, olives.

You can add or leave out items given your personal preference. The picture below is one of the girls vegetable plates. They got a kick out of their "fancy" dinner.

Berry Salad

This is my all time favorite salad. I love it in the spring and summer. It consists of: baby spinach, romaine lettuce, craisins, feta cheese, sliced strawberries, and when I can find them on sale, blueberries and walnuts. I use a raspberry vinaigrette for the dressing and when I serve it as a meal, I cook grilled chicken lightly flavored in the vinaigrette dressing to serve on top. It is very delicious.