Homemade Burritos

This is an old reliable family favorite at our house.

Mix a can of refried beans with some salsa and cheese until it is warmed through and creamy.


Cook your tortillas and melt some cheese on top.



Add some beans and fold it up into a burrito.




Sometimes I like to put cottage cheese on top of mine.

We usually end up making a few cheese quesadillas to go with it.

Broccoli Cheese Fettuccine Sauce

So this wasn't my fave, but it wasn't bad. My family ate it. It's all a part of the "try new recipes" kick I have been on this last week. The recipe called it Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce, but the overall flavor was Broccoli Cheese so I changed it. It may just have been different from what I was expecting. Here's to mixing it up with new food at the dinner table.

1 can Broccoli Cheese soup
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. basil
3 fresh plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
3 cups hot cooked fettuccine

In saucepan mix soup, milk, basil, tomatoes, and cheese. Over medium heat, heat to a boil cook over low heat 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss with fettuccine.

Beef Stroganoff

So I just made this recipe myself for the first time and it was delish. I used whole wheat pasta, I didn't thicken the sauce at all (besides the flour on the meat), and I didn't saute the mushrooms. This meat practically melted in your mouth it was so tender.

My other discovery: steam your broccoli in salted water. It didn't need any other seasoning on top of it and my family inhaled it. I've been cutting up the broccoli really small into nice size bites and everyone is eating more of the baby size broccoli bites than when I just cook the florets straight out of the bag. (As a side note, don't you think broccoli should be spelled with one "c" and two "l"s? Brocolli looks so much better than broccoli.)

4 lbs. top sirloin steak
2 can French onion soup
1 lb. sliced mushrooms
32 oz. sour cream
egg noodles
1 tsp. of sugar for each can of soup used

Cut meat across grain in thin strips. Dust the meat in seasoned flour and brown in electric skillet in a small amount of butter.

Remove meat from pan and add 2 cans of soup - deglazing pan at the same time (scrape off all the flour and meat pieces from the bottom of the pan).

Thicken soup with flour and water, then return meat to pan. Add mushrooms (can saute in butter first). Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours on low heat.

Reduce heat to warm and add sour cream. Don't let it boil as it will curdle the cream.

This works well in a crock pot.

Fajita Quesadillas

This is our own creation, perfected over many trials before Kevin entered it into the cooking contest at work.

1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 orange pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
olive oil

Cook the onions and peppers in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. This mixture will make 4 quesadillas.

1/2 package bacon, cooked till crispy and drained - this will also make you 4 quesadillas

We would cook the peppers and bacon ahead of time, save the leftovers to make them more quickly next time.

Then, per quesadilla:
about 3 grilled chicken strips, or 1 smoked mesquite chicken breasts (from Costco - these are small), depending on what flavor you want
1 1/2 c. shredded colby jack cheese
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 uncooked tortillas

Cook 1 side of each tortilla on a griddle. When you flip them over to cook the second side, cover each tortilla with 3/4 c. colby jack cheese and 1/2 c. mozzarella, spreading the cheese all the way up to the edges of the tortilla.

As the cheese melts, cover 1 tortilla with bacon, chicken, then the pepper mixture. When your cheese is completely melted, put the other tortilla on top of it all off and let it melt together a little bit before serving.

M&M Cookies

One of the few cookie recipes I like that uses shortening instead of butter. The hardest part is remembering to buy M&Ms at the store.

1 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. M&M's

Blend shortening and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Stir in 1/2 c. of candies. Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate cookies with remaining candies.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

*It was a good activity to let my kids decorate the cookies with M&M's right before they went into the oven. We could tell which cookie belonged to which kid because each happened to decorate with only their favorite color. For awhile we had several cookies with only blue, only orange, or only red M&M's.

Twice Baked Potatoes/Potato Boats

My kids call these potato boats.

Bake potatoes in the microwave. (Poke each potato several times with a fork, cook 10 minutes on high. Flip over, cook another 10 minutes. Let sit in the microwave and they will keep cooking.)

Cut each potato in half length wise, so that it will make a nice little "boat" to hold you filling. Carefully scoop out the soft inside, leaving the empty skins (it's okay to leave a little bit of potato in there to help hold the skin together).

Mix up your mashed potatoes however you like them. You can add butter, milk, salt, a little dry ranch dressing mix, whatever. Just make them creamy.

Put some bacon bits or bacon pieces in the bottom of the skins, along with some grated cheese. Spoon the mashed potato mix back into the skins.

Top with more cheese, bacon, green onions, whatever you like. Bake them at 350 for a little while until they are warm, or if you are in a hurry, just put them under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Chicken Enchiladas

8 flour tortillas
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 - 1 whole can 8 oz. can El Pato jalapeño salsa (depending on how spicy you like it)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
grated cheese
black olives, chopped (optional)
green onions, chopped (optional)
Mix together cream of chicken soup, El Pato, and tomato sauce with wire whisk in a bowl to make enchilada sauce. Spread about 1/2 c. of enchilada sauce in bottom of glass 9 x 13 dish.

Spread tortillas over counter to easily fill all of them at once. Spoon 1/4 c. enchilada sauce in a line down the middle of each tortilla. Evenly distribute chicken and cheese on top of the line of sauce for each tortilla.
Fold a tortilla in half, and then in half again as you fold the rounded part of the tortilla around the part with the filling. Place in dish, and repeat with each tortilla.




Spoon remaining enchilada sauce over the top to cover all of the tortillas (any tortilla not covered in sauce will dry out when you bake them). Top with grated cheese. Top additionally with green onions, or chopped olives if desired.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, until warmed through.
(I can't lie, I am flattered that my brother-in-law requests "Whitney's Enchiladas" for dinner on his birthday.)
*While I usually prefer the tortillas you cook yourself so they are fresh, just a regular bag of flour tortillas from the store taste better with these enchiladas. Of course, most of these pictures were taken with the bake at home tortillas because I didn't have any of the others on hand.
Serve this with some Zatarain's Black Beans and Rice or Rice a Roni Spanish Rice with a can of diced tomatoes mixed in.
 They would also be awesome with this recipe for Quick and Easy Black Beans.

Lite Lion House Rolls

I had these at a friend's house and can't get enough of them. This recipe is from the Lion House Recipes Lite cookbook.

1 Tbl. yeast
2 c. warm water
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. light margarine
2/3 c. instant nonfat dry milk
5-6 c. flour
2 egg whites
1 Tbl. olive oil

Use electric mixer. Combine yeast and water, let stand 5 minutes. Add sugar, salt, margarine, dry milk, 2 c. flour, and egg whites. Beat together until smooth after each addition. Add about 1 more cup flour, 1/2 c. at a time (in your mixer if it will take it, or by hand), until it is well mixed in. Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and kned until it is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes.

Gather dough into a ball. Scrape bowl clean and spra it with nonstick cooking spray. Return dough to bowl. Let dough rise in a warm (not hot) place away from drafts until about triple in bulk. (In a cool oven with a pan of hot water on a rack under it is a good place.)

Use the last of the flour as needed on the board for rolling and shaping the dough. (Don't use it all unless you need it.) Turn dough out onto floured board and let rest for 10 minutes so it will be easier to manage as you roll it. Roll or cut into desired shapes. Place on baking sheets sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Brush surface of rolls with olive oil. Let rise in warm place until double in size (about 1 1/2 hours).

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until browned.

Make 3 dozen rolls.

And here's the best part:
Per roll:
101 calories
1 g fat
151 sodium

Chocolate Eclaire Cake

From the kitchen of my friend Christie.

3 packages graham crackers
2 small vanilla pudding, or 1 large vanilla pudding
3 1/2 c. milk
1 can milk chocolate frosting (from the store)
8 oz. cool whip

Mix pudding, milk, and cool whip. Layer a 9 x 13 pan with package of graham crackers. Pour on half of pudding mixture. Add another layer of crackers. Pour on remaining pudding. Add last layer of crackers. chill at least 2 hours, then ice the cake. Chill in refrigerator 18-24 hours.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

I've been looking for a good recipe for these so I could make my own (as much as I love the ones at Macey's grocery store). Then I went to a party down the street and these were so good I had to get the recipe. Thanks Julie.

1/2 c. butter or margarine
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, pumpkin, and vanilla. Mix and sift baking powder, soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and flour. Add to creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips.

Drop onto well greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Makes 5 dozen.