Corn chip Chili Casserole

This recipe really threw me off when I first checked it out. I was confused by the instructions and wondered why you just couldn't put the chips on top of your bowl of chili??? Well, let me just say, I was surprised by the results. There was something about the chips being baked in with the meat, beans and cheese. It almost had an enchilada taste to it. It was pleasantly delicious!

I also ended up halving the recipe because we wouldn't eat a 9x13 baking dish size for our family. I baked it in a 9x9 baking dish instead.

Corn chip Chili Casserole

3 (15 oz.) cans of assorted beans: kidney, pinto, black, etc...

2 (10 oz.) cans red enchilada sauce

2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder

1 (9 3/4 oz.) bag of Fritos corn chips

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 medium sized onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

Sour Cream for topping

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

In a skillet over medium high heat, add ground beef, diced onion, minced garlic and brown until meat is cooked and onion is tender. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized mixing bowl, add beans, enchilada sauce and chili powder, stir to thoroughly combine. Add drained meat mixture to the beans and stir again to combine. In a 9 x 13" baking dish, place half of the meat & bean mixture on bottom. Next, layer with corn chips, cheese and repeat one more layer ending with the cheese. Bake in preheat oven for 30 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and chips are lightly browned. Remove from oven and serve warm with a topping of sour cream, if desired.

Note:

To half the recipe use: 2 cans beans, 1 can enchilado sauce, 1 lb. ground beef, 2 cups cheese, 1 tbls. chili powder, 1/2 of an onion, 1 garlic clove and 2/3 bag of corn chips. Regular corn chips, broken up, could also be used in place of Fritos corn chips.

Baked Ziti

My friend lead me onto this recipe about a month ago. She said she received it through a "Mom's site" email. She made the recipe and loved it. I decided one day to do some searching on Allrecipes.com to see what kind of Baked Ziti recipes they had to offer and to see if any of their recipes compared to this one she sent me. My search resulted in a recipe that had over 3,500 postitive reviews, so I pulled it up and lo and behold this was the exact same recipe she had sent me. Apparently, some "Mom's site" is emailing out Allrecipes.com recipes. With that out of the way, let me just say this was a really good dish. There's no need to go out to a fancy Italian place when you can this dish right in your own home. My only change would be to add more cheese on top before baking.

Baked Ziti

1 lb. dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. lean ground beef or sausage
2 (26 oz.) jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
6 oz. provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tbls. parmesan cheese, grated

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain.

In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Butter a 9" x 13" baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese an remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated over or until cheeses are melted.

Beef Taco Squares

I found this recipe online when I was looking for something different to make using ground beef. I think it turned out quite yummy and each of my kids liked it. They approved of me making this again in the future. This recipe reminded me of meat pockets without the sides being sealed off. We topped our servings off with the typical taco toppings: lettuce, salsa and sour cream. The meat mixture already had plenty of cheese so we didn't add more on top but you could if you wanted to. I usually like olives with my beef tacos and forgot to add them to this dish this time. I will have to remember them for next time. The recipe also called for chili sauce to be added to the meat. I didn't have any so I left it out. After tasting it I couldn't understand why it needed it??? There was plenty of flavoring as is.

Beef Taco Squares

2 (8-ounce) cans crescent rolls, divided
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 small onion, minced
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup chili sauce (optional)
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Toppings: sour cream, salsa, lettuce, olives

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.

Unroll 1 can crescent rolls, and press into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cook ground beef and onion in a large skillet, stirring until beef crumbles and is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in cheese and next 6 ingredients; spoon over first layer of baked crust.

Unroll remaining can of crescent rolls, and shape into a rectangle, pressing perforations to seal. Arrange over beef mixture. Press up to edges.

Bake again at 375 F degrees for 20 minutes or until golden. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve with desired toppings.

Debbie's Fresno Tacos

My friend Debbie had us over for dinner a year or two ago and made these yummy tacos. Their not what you would expect to find in a typical taco, but the ingredients really do mesh nicely together. Even my kids liked them and said they wouldn't mind if I wanted to make them again sometime. However, I do need to find out from Debbie where she got the recipe and how they got their name. Maybe she can post a comment and let us all know...???

Debbie's Fresno Tacos

Note: I can't give you the exact amounts to this recipe because this recipe can be so easily adjusted depending on the amount of people you are serving. I will list the ingredients in the amounts I made them and you'll have to be the judge on how much you need for your family. The secret to this recipe is adding as much garlic as you can handle. My husband also used some green salsa verde on his and thought it added just the right amount of flavor. My kids requested shredded cheese, but I think you can use the normal taco toppings and they would still taste great.

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 can diced potatoes, drained
1/2 head of green cabbage, thinly sliced
Corn tortillas
Oil for frying tortillas

In a large skillet, on medium heat, brown ground beef, drain and return to heat. Add minced garlic and cook until completely flavored. Add potatoes and sliced cabbage. Cook until cabbage is wilted and soft. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in frying pan and cook each tortilla until slightly firm but not crunchy. Remove and drain on paper towels. Add meat mixture to taco, fold, add extra toppings and serve.

Technique: draining any browned ground meat

For those of you who don't know this, you should never dump grease down your kitchen sink drain or any other sink for that matter. Grease can harden up when cold water runs through the pipes and I'm sure you don't need me to explain to you what happens after that. That's right a huge drain CLOG! If you are currently doing this, please stop this process NOW! You're only asking for trouble sometime down the road. I would like to offer to you another idea for this very common procedure in our daily cooking.

1. Turn off heat once your meat has cooked.
2. Take a small glass or ceramic bowl like a ramekin and prop up your skillet enough to let the grease run to one end of the pan without making the ground meat run with it.
3. Separate ground meat and wait for all the grease to run to bottom of the pan.
4. Place a few paper towels over the grease and let the towels soak up the grease. This may take a few minutes to do. (This is a good time to prepare the rest of your recipe that your meat is for.)
5. Once your towel looks heavy-ladened with artery-clogging, cellulite making grease, bring your garbage can to the stove or carefully bring your pan to the garbage and remove the towels using a fork or tongs.
6. Throw towels into garbage and return your pan to the stove. There is usually a tablespoon of grease left behind, but that's okay. You'll need that to help keep your meat from looking dry. Just stir to coat.

There you have it! Pipe friendly, drained ground beef. I've been doing this for many years and I would like you to give it try and let me know what you think. Happy cooking!

Bubble Pizza

Some of you may have seen this recipe before. I've always known it to be called Bubble Pizza. It involves the cheap refrigerated biscuits in a can, spaghetti sauce, cheese and all your favorite pizza toppings. It's very easy to assemble and you can get your kids involved in the process. If my youngest can help me, then it must be a very simple recipe. She quartered my biscuits using a pizza cutter and helped me add the toppings. I forgot to get a picture of what the pizza looks like on the inside. But it looks very like a bunch of bubbles smooshed together in a box and sliced in half. (If you can picture that in your head.) I like to serve this with a side salad too.



Bubble Pizza

2-3 cans of refrigerated biscuits
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 lb. of ground beef or sausage, browned and drained
1 pkg. of shredded mozzarella cheese
Any favorite pizza toppings: pepperoni, bell peppers,
olives, mushrooms, onions, etc...

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

Prepare any pizza toppings: slice, dice, chop veggies, etc... and set aside.

Remove biscuits from can and cut each biscuit into quarters. Place them a medium sized mixing bowl. Poor spaghetti sauce over biscuits and toss to coat. Add sauce until the biscuits are no longer sticking together. Pour into a 9 x 13" baking dish. Top with ground meat, toppings and cheese. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Crockpot Lasagne

First off, let me just say that I have never made a lasagne in the crockpot before. Second, I didn't even have a recipe when I made this. And finally, it turned out alot better than I ever expected it to. I made it just before we left for church and it was completely cooked by the time we got home. As for the recipe I'm just going to give you the ingredients I used this time around. If you have a favorite lasagne recipe, try adapting it to use in the crock pot. Just plan to add some extra moisture: water, sauce, etc...

Crockpot Lasagne
1 pkg. Barilla brand lasagne sheets, chipped
1 1/2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 lbs. of browned, ground beef
1 lb. container of ricotta cheese
2 eggs
Any veggies (cooked): broccoli, spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.

Prepare crockpot with some non-stick spray. Have ingredients ready: chip lasagne sheets (see pic) brown ground beef, open sauce jars, mix eggs into ricotta cheese and season to your liking, prepare any veggies you choose to add. And begin layering the lasagne into the crockpot. Begin with some sauce at the bottom, then add noodles, more sauce, meat, ricotta, veggies and mozzarella. Next add a generous amount of sauce and then begin layering process again until you've done about 3 layers. Top and end with more mozzarella. Cover with lid and set heat to high and cook for 3-4 hours.

Green Bean Casserole over Rice

Is Green Bean Casserole one of your favorite foods to eat at Thanksgiving? Well, then you've got to try this kicked-up version for dinner. I must say that this recipe is truly my own creation. And it has been a great, quick fix meal idea for when you're trying to squeeze in dinner. I also need to add that this was one of my recipes demonstrated in my cooking class. So if you never bothered to attend one, then you've just scored yourself a recipe. For those of you who know, I only gave out the copy of the recipe to those in attendance. It was too much for me to keep up on who needs what recipe and so on... My kids have their quirks about this recipe though. So get this: Kaylee has to have it with the green beans plain and set aside before going in the sauce, she likes the sauce to be separated from the rice. Kason won't touch the green beans or the sauce. He wants me to leave some plain ground beef set aside for him. So that he can have the rice and ground beef separate. And Jaynee will eat it all except for the green beans. She used to like them, but has since changed her mind. So in some shape or form my family will eat this recipe. You may also use fresh green beans in place of canned. Just pre-cook them to your liking and cut into bite size pieces before adding to the sauce. I also use the fried onions straight from the can. I never toast them because they are actually crunchier without the toasting process. But always do what you think your family will like.

Green Bean Casserole over Rice

Cooked rice
1 lb. ground beef, browned
1 can green beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 tbls. soy sauce
1 soup can of milk
1 can of French's fried onions

Prepare and cook rice while the sauce is being made.

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef, drain off fat and keep ground beef in the skillet. Pour in green beans and soy sauce and heat till warmed. Add in can of soup and milk. Stir to thoroughly combine and heat till sauce begins to bubble. Remove from heat and pour sauce over cooked rice. Top each serving with French's fried onions for a nice crunchy topping and extra flavor. Serve with a side of garlic bread or dinner rolls.

Note about photo: I guess I was in a hurry to eat because I forgot to add the fried onions before taking the picture.