Mexican Lasagna

I found this recipe yesterday and decided to make it for dinner because I had all of the ingredients... and it turned out WAY good! :) We liked it a lot! The recipe was actually called Mexican Casserole but I decided that it should be called Mexican Lasagna. It's pretty much lasagna Mexican style... with tortillas instead of lasagna noodles. It was really easy and fast and really tasty! :)

Mexican Lasagna

1 lb. ground turkey or lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped

1 packet Taco Seasoning mix (1/4 cup)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can cream of mushroom soup

8-10 corn tortillas (12 oz package)

3-4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Haas avocado, sliced

sour cream

fresh cilantro

Brown meat with diced onion over medium heat. Add taco seasoning, black beans, tomatoes, and cream of mushroom soup. Stir to combine and warm through. In 9×13 inch pan, place a small amount of meat mixture on bottom (so tortillas won’t stick). Place a layer of tortillas down, then a layer of the meat mixture, and sprinkle on a little cheese. Repeat with another layer of corn tortillas, a layer of meat mixture… and top with remaining shredded cheese. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve topped with sliced avocado, sour cream, and fresh cilantro.


Enjoy!

Apple Snackin Cake

I saw this on "The Kitchen Boss", it looked good (and I had all the ingredients) so I tried it.  We had it at mom and dad's house with homemade ice cream... pretty good I thought.  It does get a little soggy the next day, still tastes good but I personally like it when it's more crunchy.

INGREDIENTS

2	cups all purpose flour
1	cup sugar
1/2	cup brown sugar (light or dark)
1‑1/4	teaspoon baking soda
1	teaspoon cinnamon
1/4	teaspoon nutmeg
1/4	teaspoon allspice
1/4	cup oil
scant 1/2 cup natural applesauce
2	large eggs
3	medium apples, peeled, cored, and cut into dice
1/2	cup chopped toasted walnuts
Topping:
1‑1/2	tablespoons sugar mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350°, center rack. Grease a straight-sided 9" x 13" baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt and spices. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, applesauce and eggs. Add the wet ingredients, the apples and the walnuts to the dry ingredients, folding in with a spatula until everything is moistened and combined. This is very thick and very chunky – more apples to batter.
3. Spread an even layer in the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Bake 40-45 minutes or until clean in the center.
4. Let cool before cutting.

Chicken Parmesan Bake

So here's a really easy recipe that Dyrk and I liked a lot.  I found a recipe online but just kinda went with what I had and what I wanted it to taste like.  I put some "about" measurements on the spices, really though I just sprinkled some in.  I actually measured the Garlic Powder out and when I smelled how strong it was I added the Lemon Pepper to calm it down a little.  So other than that one I just went with how much I thought should go in.
This is what I ended up doing:

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Butter
• 2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Lemon Pepper
• 1 cup slightly crunched Corn Flakes
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Tbsp Dried Thyme Flakes
• 1 tsp Dried Basil
• 1 tsp Dried Oregano
•   Salt
•   4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Melt the butter with the garlic and lemon pepper.  Stir the corn flakes together with the Parmesan cheese, thyme, basil, oregano, pepper, and salt in a bowl. Dip the chicken breasts in the butter, then press into the seasoned corn flakes. Place the chicken into a 8x8 inch baking dish.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the chicken is golden brown and no longer pink in the center, 50 to 55 minutes.

Peanut Butter Pancakes

Figured since our family tends to eat breakfast for dinner... here's a way to change the typical pancake.  This is one of Sybil's recipes.

• 1/4 C Melted Butter
• 1/2 C Peanut Butter
• 1 T Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/4 C Milk or Buttermilk
• 1 C Flour

Combine butter, peanut butter, sugar and eggs until smooth and creamy.  Then add milk and then flour.  Grill like a regular pancake!

Mmm ..... mmmmmm .... poppy seed chicken casserole

We found this recipe on one of the blogs that Abby is always looking at to get some new ideas for dinner. I decided to try out my luck with the chef's hat and boy, it sure tasted good. Hope everyone else enjoys it as much as we did.

Poppy Seed Chicken

5 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

1 cup sour cream

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup

2 cups crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 1/2 rolls of crackers)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 T poppy seeds

Additional Ingredients to make it fancy:

1 tsp Worchestire sauce

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp minced garlic

1 T lemon juice

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper until done. You can boil it with half an onion cut into large chunks to give it more flavor. Let chicken cool slightly and cut into one inch cubes. Place cubed chicken in a 9X13 casserole dish. (We just fried the chicken and added a couple of seasonings and it was pretty good)

Stir together the condensed soup and sour cream. If you wish to add the additional flavorings stir in the worchestire, celery salt, garlic, lemon juice, and pepper to the soup and sour cream mixture. (We added everything except the celery salt) Pour over the chicken.

In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, poppy seeds and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly. Serve plain or over rice. We like to eat it with steamed broccoli and we mix it all together.

Amazing Meatloaf

I made this for dinner last night, Chris & Alexis loved it.  Chris is really good to eat just about anything I cook (thank goodness) but he really liked this meatloaf.  I did make a few changes based on what I had in my kitchen.  I used some Parmesan in the containers and Mozzarella cheese and skipped the parsley.  Hope you enjoy it! 

Ingredients

• Meatloaf:
• 1 cup Whole Milk
• 6 slices White Bread
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• ¾ teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• ⅓ cups Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
• 4 whole Eggs Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon
• Sauce:
• 1-½ cup Ketchup
• ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Tabasco To Taste

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.
Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.
With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)
Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.
Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.
Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.
Serve with mashed potatoes. Yummy!

Aunt Harriet's Chicken

Ryan and I made this for dinner last night so I decided to post it.  We had this meal at Uncle David and Aunt Harriet's one Sunday and we both loved it!  We actually make this meal a lot because doesn't take long to get it in the oven, it's easy, and way delicious! 

Aunt Harriet’s Chicken

1 cup Water

1 cup Ketchup

1 ½ cup Brown Sugar

2 T Minced onions

Boneless Chicken Leg Meat

Combine and mix water, ketchup, brown sugar, and minced onion in a mixing bowl. Place chicken in baking dish and cover with marinade.  Make sure that the chicken is completely submerged in the marinade. (We use a 5x7 dish).  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for an hour and a half.

(We have also tried this recipe with chicken breasts but found we like it better with the more tender leg meat. It still works though and was still tasty! Also, I'm not exactly sure on the amount of chicken we usually use, but it's probably about 1-2 pounds. You can easily adjust the amounts to make however much you want!)

This chicken also goes great with rice pilaf. Here is the recipe we always use... we sometimes even double it because it's so good!

Rice Pilaf

1 cup rice

½ cup of vermicelli noodles

4 T butter or margarine

3 cups chicken broth

Fresh Parsley (optional)

Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Add rice and noodles and cook and stir for 3-4 minutes or until rice is lightly browned. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 20-25 minutes or until broth is absorbed and rice is tender. Stir in fresh parsley. (We tried this once and it was good, but we usually just stick with the plain rice pilaf.)

These two dishes go great together and we usually end up mixing it together.

Enjoy!