Simple Perfect Enchiladas

(photo from The Pioneer Woman)

I love going through all my favorite recipe blogs looking for new things to make. I have my favorites that I always go to first and one on them is The Pioneer Woman. She is awesome and very funny. Her name is Ree and you should really check out her website. Anyway, I found a recipe titled "Simple Perfect Enchiladas." These are WONDERFUL! Click HERE for Ree's recipe, or see below, I changed it a little. You should definitely try these:

• Sauce:
• 1 Tablespoon Canola Oil
• 1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
• 1 (10 oz.) can green enchilada sauce
• 1 (10 oz.) can red enchilada sauce
• 1 ½ cups Chicken Broth
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro
• 
  
• Meat:
• 1-½ - 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
• 2 cans (4 Ounce) Diced Green Chilies
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 
  
• extras to put in while assembling:
• 3 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• ½ cups Chopped Black Olives
• 
  
• 
  

Start by making the sauce:

In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a paste, cooking for one minute. Pour in the red and green sauce, chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30-45 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, start the meat:

Brown the meat with onions in a skillet. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies and seasoned salt. Set aside.

Then assemble them:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour ½ cup sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out. Spoon meat, a little grated cheese, a little black olives, and spoonful of sauce in the center of tortilla. Roll up and place, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat until pan is filled. Pour extra sauce over enchiladas. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

*My family LOVES rice, so I make Cilantro Lime Rice and put it inside the enchiladas as well.

Baked Ziti

This is a fun twist on the regular spaghetti dish. My family loves it and it is really easy to have a meat and vegetarian meal at the table at the same time:

you can leave it like this:

or top it with sauce (our family uses meat sauce, but you can do it without meat if you want)

1 box ziti noodles, cooked al dente (you can use penne or rigatoni noodles also)

1 red pepper, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

6-8 oz. of shredded cheddar cheese

6-8 oz. of shredded monterey jack cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp. pepper

½ cup Italian bread crumbs

1 cup half and half

spaghetti sauce (desired amount)

Heat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9x2 baking dish. Combine ziti, peppers, cheeses, and spaghetti sauce. Pour half and half and salt and pepper evenly over mixture. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover, top with breadcrumbs and bake additional 30 minutes.

Serve as is, or top with more spaghetti sauce.

Taco Soup

This recipe is so good and so easy. Big shout out the the Evans to bringing this over for dinner one night, then giving me the recipe. It is actually PERFECT for the night after tacos with the leftover meat. That's what I always do; and just FYI, it freezes really well. I usually freeze half of the soup and then thaw it out the next week or so later and it tastes just as good, and makes a really fast lunch of dinner for when you want it later. Can I again stress how FAST and EASY this is especially if you are using leftover taco meat. You really have to try it. It's delicious!

The recipe:

1 l.b ground beef

2 (10 oz.) cans Ro-Tel tomates with chilies

1 can corn (15 oz)

1 can pinto beans (15 oz)

1 can black beans (15+oz)

1-2 cans water (can use more or less to make soup thinner or thicker)

1 envelope taco seasoning

1-2 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (original recipe calls for 1 packet, but add extra if stronger flavor is desired)

1 large onion, chopped

1-2 green peppers, chopped

Brown the meat and drain. Stir taco seasoning in with meat until mixed well. In large pot pour all canned ingredients, I don't drain any of them and add about 2 cans of water. Stir the meat and Ranch dressing mix into the pot. Simmer for 45 minutes to thicken and blend the flavors. Add the onion and bell pepper before simmering if you want them well-cooked, or add them towards the end if you want them still crunchy. Can add pepper if desired; salt is usually not needed because of the salt in the taco seasoning and ranch mix.

Serve with grated cheddar or jack cheese and sour cream.

Serve with warm tortillas or tortilla chips.

My favorite way to eat the soup is with crushed tortilla chips on top!

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwich

I LOVE French Dip Sandwiches, and this is the best recipe I've tried. You have to try this, you won't be disappointed!

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
approx 3 1/2 lbs beef chuck roast
16-oz. beef broth (1 1/2 cans)
1 10.5-oz. can condensed French onion soup
6-oz red wine
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste
4-6 French rolls
sliced provolone cheese, optional

Trim excess fat off of beef roast and season meat all over with salt and pepper.
Pour beef broth, condensed French onion soup, red wine and garlic powder into slow cooker and place beef roast into liquid. The liquid completely covered my roast.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Since this is cooking in liquid, you don’t have to worry about the meat drying out in the same way you might if you were roasting the meat in the oven. I just took the meat out once it was done (I did mine for the full 8 hours) and put it on a plate and pulled it apart with two forks, cutting off any fat I saw.
Lightly toast the bread and evenly distribute cheese between rolls. Divide beef onto rolls and spoon the beef juice into ramekins or other small bowls and eat everything while it is hot. Serve each sandwich with its own dip. If you want a little spice add some slices jalapenos.

I found this recipe at Baking Bites, which is a totally awesome recipe blog!

Wontons

This recipe is from my Mom, and my family loves them, especially my four year old.

Wonton wrappers (found in produce section)

hamburger

green onions, chopped

minced garlic

soy sauce

Mix the raw hamburger and chopped onion and garlic together. Add soy sauce (as much as desired). Place approximately 1 tsp. of meat mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper.

Moisten two sides of the wrapper with water and fold in half to form a triangle. Seal the side by pressing with your fingers.

Deep fry in oil, turning once. Serve with soy sauce.

*UPDATE: My friend made these with ground pork and chopped green peppers and said that it turned out really good.

Tacos

So the little taco mixes are fine and dandy for a quick dinner, but I made these real tacos the other night and my kids (even mr. picky) had seconds, and my husband said "Don't ever make the other tacos again." I got this recipe from my Mom and she got it from a neighbor. There are a lot of ingredients, but it's not too bad and it is well worth it! In my Mom's words When you make it, everyone will think you are wonderful!"

The Recipe:

Cook one chopped onion in oil in a fry pan. When almost done, add

• about 5 chopped garlic cloves
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 4 tablespoons Chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (I added 1 tsp. because we like it spicy)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 teaspoons of Coriander (I only had coriander in the seed form, looks like this)

So I just put 2 tsp. of them in a little ziplock bag, and crushed them with the flat side of a meat tenderizer; however I think a rolling pin would work fine also. They looked like this when I was done.

(And just FYI, did you know that coriander is the seed of a small plant and the leaves of the plant are cilantro, I did not know that)

Stir together. Add 2 lbs. of hamburger and cook, breaking up meat and scrapping bottom until beef is no longer pink. Then add:

• 1 (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons of cider vinegar (I didn't have cider vinegar so I used regular white vinegar)

Bring to a simmer uncovered until liquid has reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes. Then enjoy!