Chicken & Black Bean Burritos

I made some chicken & black bean burritos today, they were sooo good!

Chicken & Black Bean Burritos

Filling Ingredients:

Cooked, shredded chicken

Black Beans

1 C cheese

2 cans Fiesta Corn 

1 can rotel

1 C sour cream

1 clove minced garlic

1 tsp lime juice

1 tsp ground cumin

salt & pepper (to taste)

8 lg tortillas, burrito size

Sauce:

Enchilada sauce

1 C sour cream

Top with shredded cheese

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine all filling ingredients.  

Take a burrito-size tortilla and scoop some of the filling down the midldle. Roll-up burrito-style and place in a pan.  ** If needed cut the burritos in half, they sometimes fit in the pan better. **

After all the burritos are in the pan, pour almost all the sauce on top, reserving about a cup.  Top with cheese and bake 350º for 25 minutes.  

When the burritos come out the oven add remaining sauce and top with some chopped cilantro.  Serve with mexican rice.  Serves 4-6

Chicken & Spinach Lasagna

White Cheese & Chicken Lasagna

Today I probably made the best meal I ever have.  My Tuesdays and Thursdays are normally very busy days for me, but today I was in the kitchen non-stop from 8am until 1pm.  I had two Chicken & Spinach recipes and I couldn't decide which to use.  I made one recipe last night and did not like it.  So I went with the other today.  WOW!  What a difference between the two, like day and night. I will not post the one I didn't like, but the one I did use for today's meal can be found here.

This recipe is definitely worth a try.  The original recipe called for ricotta, but I am not a fan, so I substituted it for cottage cheese.  This recipe has lots of freshness.  I used fresh garlic, baby spinach, onion, basil and parsley.  Northing from a can or jar in this recipe.  The homemade sauce is very easy to make as well.  

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Roast with Carrots, Potatoes & Onions

Made one of my husband's favorite meals tonight.  A simple roast with carrots, potatoes and onions.  So easy to prepare and fix and so yummy.  Makes you house smell wonderful!

The recipe is so easy.  Take a beef roast and add salt, pepper, garlic powder.  With a little oil in the pan, sear the meat really well on both sides.  Put your roast in pan and add cut potatoes, carrots and onions.  I like to add a gravy mix packet, a little water (1/4 cup), salt & pepper, 2 whole peeled garlic cloves and a few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.  Cover with foil and bake 300 for 4-5 hours.  

Sometimes I will change it up and add a Lipton Onion Soup mix packet or different herbs such as thyme and rosemary.  Honestly, you don't have to add anything but salt & pepper and it would still be good.

If you have left-overs from your roast, turn it into stew.  In a pot put your roast, 1 can of diced tomatoes, leftover carrots & potatoes and a can of peas.  2 cups of water and a brown gravy packet. Cook on simmer for a few hours and serve over rice.

On the rare occasion, I will even have stew left over.  I take that and make homemade vegetable soup. Just add more water and more veggies like green beans, corn, and whatever vegetables you need to use up.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for a couple of hours.  During the last 30 minutes add a handful of macaroni.  

Broccoli, Chicken & Rice Casserole

Made one of my daughter's favorite meals tonight.  Chicken with broccoli, cheese and rice.

What makes this so tasty is the buttery Ritz Cracker crumb topping.  I make this same recipe for our traditional Christmas dinner, but I leave out the chicken, rice & sour cream., its just "broccoli casserole".

This is the recipe I follow:

2-3 C cooked chicken
2 cups cooked rice
1 pkg frozen broccoli, boiled and drained.
2 C cheddar cheese (divided)
1 can cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup.
1/2 C mayo
1 egg
1/2 C finely chopped onion (optional)
1/4 sour cream
Salt & pepper to taste
Lowry's season salt to taste
1 "sleeve" of Ritz crackers crushed and mixed with 1 T melted butter

Mix all ingredients together except 1 C cheese and Ritz crackers.  Pour into a 9x13 prepared pan. Top with remaining 1 C cheese and Ritz cracker crumbs.  Bake 350 for 30 minutes.

Basic Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients:

Sauce

Ground Beef (cooked & browned with chopped onion & garlic and pan deglazed with 1/4C red wine)
Tomato Sauce
Crushed Tomatoes
Sm. tomato paste & 1 can water
Fresh Garlic
Fresh Basil
Fresh Parsley
Salt & Pepper
1 tsp sugar
2T olive oil

Filling

1 container small curd cottage cheese
1 egg
salt & pepper
1 cup parmesan cheese
fresh parsley
1 clove garlic minced

1 Box lasagna noodles (par-boiled)
Grated mozzarella cheese


Instructions:

Prepare the sauce using the above ingredients, let simmer at least 4 hours,

When ready.  Bring to a raging boil a large pot of salted water.  Add uncooked lasagna noodles and boil for no more than 5-7 minutes.  You want these half way cooked.

While that's boiling, make your filling.

Dain noodles and you are ready to start layering your pan.

Layer in this order:

1.  Put 1/4 C of sauce on the bottom of a 9x12 pan.  Spoon around until bottom is covered.
2.  Put one layer of noodles (3 to 4 noodles depending on how wide your pan is).
3.  Spoon some sauce over noodles.
4.  Sprinkle cheese over the sauce.
5.  Add another layer of noodles
6.  Add sauce
7.  Add cottage cheese mixture
8.  Add Noodles
9.  Add Sauce
10.  Add cheese

Bake covered 35-45 minutes on 350
Bake uncovered 10 minutes
If you would like - broil on low 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and let set at least 15 minutes or longer before cutting into squares.

Basic Lasagna

Recipe Review

Roasted Garlic Asiago Chicken & Potatoes

I love to try new recipes and I found a keeper!  Tonight I fixed this wonderful meal of roasted garlic asiago chicken & potatoes.  I found this recipe while browsing one day on Pinterest and I knew I must add it to the menu.  

I roasted 8 bulbs of garlic today and my house smelled incredible.  One interesting fact about this recipes is that all the ingredients I used are found around the perimeter of the grocery store.  I have always heard that you should shop the perimeter of the grocery store and not so much the aisles, and according to the Mayo Clinic, it's because it is healthier.  Who knows? but I did make that casual observation today and it made me feel a little bit better about eating this delicious dish. 

This recipe was quite easy to put together as well.  I pan grilled my chicken first and set it aside. Cooked my potatoes, added the chicken back in with the potatoes, along with the topping (best part), and baked again for 20 minutes on 400º.

The entire recipe can be found here.

Pork Chops & Rice

Pork Chops & Rice with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Tonight I tried a new recipe for my pork chops.  The only thing I would have done differently is use less chicken broth.  For this recipe I used about a cup and I should have cut it back to 1/2 cup, which I will do next time.

I have made a variation of this before using the old stand by (Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup), but this way is more healthy I'm sure!

I really like browning the meat in the skillet and finishing them off in the oven.  Just be careful not to over cook.  I used boneless chops for this meal and they are very lean and could easily get dried out if cooked too long.

The Recipe Can be found here

Classic Comfort Food

Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes

My favorite comfort food has to be meatloaf & mashed potatoes!  I love most any and every type of meatloaf.  My favorite meatloaf has onions and peppers in it.  Unfortunately I am the only one in my family that likes it that way.  So, I have to go to Cracker Barrel for that!

For my family, I use my mom's meatloaf recipe.  It's pretty basic, but so tasty.  It does not have any peppers or onions or any "stuff" as my children like to call it.  My favorite part of the meatloaf is the special ketchup glaze.  

If there are any leftovers, which around my house that is rare, I love a meatloaf sandwich for lunch the next day.  This recipe is great for that, because the meatloaf holds up so well for slicing.

My meatloaf recipe can be found here

Southern Shrimp & Grits

One of my favorite seafood meals is just plain ol' shrimp & grits.  I don't think you can find a more easier recipe than that.  There are so many recipes out there for shrimp & grits.  But I think I have found one I really like a lot.  

This recipe book was my mothers.  It looks like from the inside writing it was given to her by Dr. & Mrs. Johnson.  The inscription says, "Mary Jane, may you have fun trying new recipes".  It looks like my mom liked trying new recipes as much as I do!

I have taken a little here and a little there, but I think I have came up with the best shrimp & grits recipe, at least to my liking.  Give it a try!

The recipe for my shrimp & grits can be found here.

For this recipe, I used the Land O'Lakes Saute Express that I talked about in my previous post.  Instead of using 1T butter and 1 T olive oil, I just used a pat of the Saute Express Butter & Olive Oil butters.  It worked great!

Lasagna Stuffed Shells

Last night I made Lasagna Stuffed Shells my kids (all 5 of them) loved them! It is so hard to find something they will all enjoy.  Last night was a big hit, so I will definitely be making these again.

The recipe for Lasagna Stuffed Shells can be found here.

Sunday Dinner - Pork Tenderloin w/Pan Seared Gravy

I was so proud of myself!  I have been trying to perfect a gravy for my pork tenderloin for a very long time. After countless hours and recipes, I think I finally did it.

 Pork Tenderloin with Pan Seared Gravy

The Recipe:

For the Pork

1 Pork Tenderloin

Lowrys Seasoned Salt

Lemon Pepper

Garlic Powder

Sprinkle the pork with all the above ingredients

Heat 1 T of olive oil in a cast-iron skillet and sear meat on both sides

Add 1/2 C of water and about 2 T of worcestershire sauce to pan. 

Place meat in a 350 degree oven and bake for 45 minutes

The Pan Seared Gravy

1/2 C chicken broth

1 T cornstarch

1 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp bottled BBQ sauce

1/2 tsp Wright's liquid smoke

1 tsp worcestershire sauce

Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

When the pork comes out the oven, place the pork on a cutting board to rest.

Pour the chicken broth into the pan that had the meat, and heat on high, stirring and scraping the bottom of the skillet with a fork. 

Take some of the chicken broth out into a bowl and stir in corn starch, until well mixed.

Pour the cornstarch mixture back into the pan and stir constantly, until your desired consistency is reached.

Turn down to low and add remaining ingredients, stirring regularly.  

Slice Pork and serve with gravy.

Your finished tenderloin will look something like this:

I also made a side of easy creamy and cheesy potatoes to go with this along with green beans.