Creamy Chicken Taquitos

These are way better than the store bought version and don't take much longer to whip up. The kids (and hubby) love them and are easy enough to make that they can help along. In fact my little baker wrapped these ones up for me tonight ;)

 

Creamy Chicken Taquitos

1/3 c. cream cheese (I use 1/2c. because that's usually what I have laying around)
1/4 c. green salsa (once again red is what I have so that is what I use)
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice (or bottled ;) )
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3 Tbsp. cilantro (we aren't cilantro people so I omit and add more green onions)
2 Tbsp. sliced green onions
2 c. cooked and shredded chicken
1 c. grated pepperjack cheese (or cheddar ;) )
12 small corn or flour tortillas
cooking spray
kosher salt

Preheat oven to 425, and line a baking sheet with foil and cooking spray (I use my silicone liners and they work great). Heat cream cheese so it is soft, and add salsa and spices, mix well. Then stir in cilantro, onions, chicken and cheese. Place about 3 Tbsp. on bottom 1/3 of each wrap, roll up tightly and place seam side down on baking sheet. Spray tops with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 15 minutes or until crisp and edges start to brown.
Can serve with sour cream, salsa or guacamole, but we think they are awesome just the way they are, enjoy!

Cynthias Shredded Prok

Put this pork on a wrap with some spinach and a squirt of lime juice and you have an AMAZING supper with no leftovers! Finally made this in the beginning of December for the first time and well... its been on a bi-weekly rotation since (coming from the lady who loves to try new things, this is a big compliment).

 

 

 

Cynthias Shredded Pork

 

4 lb. pork shoulder

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 Tbsp. salt

pepper to taste

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 onion, quartered

lime wedges

 

Rinse and pat dry the pork shoulder. Put spices, oil, vinegar, sugar and onion into a food processor or blender. Blend mixture until totally combined and pour over pork shoulder. Now rub it into every nook and cranny, then place into a roasting pan and add a few cups of water. Cover tightly and roast at 300 for several hours, turning once every hour. When it is fork tender, crank up the heat to about 400, remove lid and roast skin side up for another 20 minutes to get the skin crispy. When it is done let it rest 15 minutes. Then shred meat, put in serving bowl and pour the juices all over the meat. Serve with warm tortillas, sour cream, salsa, spinach and lime wedges (I was going to skip the lime, but it sure adds an awesome twist to the flavour!).

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

This is our favorite use of leftover turkey, and it makes a second one for the freezer, perfect:)

 

 



Turkey Pot Pie

 

1 c. each: cubed potatoes, peas, carrots and green beans

1/2 c. celery, sliced

1/2 c. butter

2/3 c. onion, chopped

2/3 c. flour

1 tsp. each: salt & pepper

1/2 tsp. each: celery seed, onion powder & Italian seasoning

1 3/4 c. chicken broth

1 c. milk

4 c. cooked turkey, cubed

2 double pie crusts

 

Boil potatoes, peas, carrots, beans and celery for 8 minutes. Meanwhile sauté butter and onion for about 5 minutes until the onion starts to get tender. Whisk in flour and seasonings, slowly whisk in liquids, cook until thickened. Stir in turkey and vegetables. Put into 2 pie shells, top with a layer of dough, seal edges and cut slits on top to vent. Bake at 425 for 35 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Beef Stir Fry



A while back I was asked if I had a good stir fry recipe, and while my regular recipe is ok I have had this one in my To Try Book for a while. Well we finally got around to trying it and mm, mm, mmm, it was good :)

 

Beef Stir Fry

Marinade:
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. red wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Montreal Steak Spice

Mix marinade ingredients and marinate meat at least 1 hour, but not more than 3 hours. The original recipe never gave an amount of meat, I sliced up about 1 1/2 lbs. and it seemed the right amount of sauce).
Drain meat, reserving the marinade, and sauté meat in 1 Tbsp. hot oil until the meat is just browned. Remove from pan and set aside. Add another Tbsp. of oil to the pan and sauté vegetables:

Stir Fry: use a combination of whatever you have, but you should have an onion in there:
sliced mushrooms
sliced onions
red, yellow or orange pepper strips
sliced carrots
broccoli florets
zucchini, cut into strips (discard the soft centre)

When sautéing numerous vegetables remember to add the quicker cooking ones (broccoli-mid way through, and zucchini-very end) later in the cooking process. Saute till almost tender, add the meat, and sauce ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. orange juice
reserved marinade

And as much of the marinade as needed to make the amount of sauce you prefer. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Mix 2 tsp. cornstarch with a little more cold water and stir into the sauce in the pan. Cook until sauce thickens. (If needed you can add more cornstarch if you like it even thicker). Serve immediately over rice or thin noodles.

Best Garlic Strips and Pizza Dough

In our house we LOVE homemade pizza! This is my favorite dough recipe, and since it makes two round crusts I usually make a garlic pizza out of the second one, this is our favorite recipe...

 

 

Basic Pizza Dough

 

1 c. warm water

1 Tbsp. honey

2 Tbsp. oil

3 c. flour

2 tsp. salt

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (I use instant yeast)

 

I layer liquids, then flour, then yeast and salt in my bread machine, turn it onto dough cycle and walk away for an hour.

 

-If you don't have a bread maker: In a large mixing bowl stir yeast and honey into warm water, let sit for 5-10 minutes, until bubbles start to form and it starts to foam. Pour in salt, oil and 1/2 of flour and mix. Once incorporated, start adding flour bit by bit until you get a slightly tacky but doesn't stick to your hands consistency. Knead ~6 minutes, then put in lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap, let stand 1-2 hours.-

 

Roll out dough into 2-12 inch circles, top with desired toppings. Bake at 500 for ~10 minutes.

 

Garlic Bread Sticks

 

1/2 recipe Basic Pizza Dough

2 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 cloves garlic, minced (or less depending on your garlic tastes)

1/4 c. parmesan cheese

1/2 c. mozzarella cheese

salt & pepper to taste, optional (I just sprinkle with pepper)

 

(If you have a pizza stone: heat with oven). Mix butter and garlic in a bowl. Spread butter mixture over rolled out dough, top with cheeses and sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Bake 9-10 minutes, remove from oven and allow to sit a minute or two before slicing, enjoy!

 



 Regular Pizza

(My pictures are backwards)

Potato and Sausage Supper

It may not look fancy but this is a delicious comfort food, perfect for the cooler days.

 

Potato and Sausage Supper

5 medium potatoes, thinly sliced (peeling is optional if they have thin skins)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. butter
2 c. fresh sliced mushrooms
1 link garlic sausage, skin removed and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 c. milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped (I use 1 tsp. dried and grind it in my pestle)
1 1/2 c. grated cheese

Butter a 9x13. Saute onions and mushrooms in butter till onions caramelized and mushrooms are tender (I do the onions for a few minutes before I add the mushrooms). To make white sauce: melt butter, add flour, blend well, slowly whisk in milk till smooth, continue cooking till thickened, add rosemary, salt and pepper, stir well.
Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into 9x13, top with all of the onion/mushroom mixture, cover with a layer of 1/2 the sliced sausage, ladle 1/2 the sauce over. Top with the rest of the potatoes and arrange remaining sausage on top. Cover with the rest of the sauce and top with grated cheese. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, until potatoes are done.

Hawaiian Meatball Kabobs

We love to use our BBQ, and these are a super nummy way to use ground beef on the BBQ. Grilled pineapple, enough said.

Hawaiian Meatball Kabobs

1/3 c. your favorite BBQ sauce
5 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. grated gingerroot
2 tsp. liquid honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
32 precooked meatballs
32 1-inch chunks fresh pineapple
16 1-inch chunks red pepper
16 1-inch chunks green pepper
8 skewers

Sauce: whisk BBQ sauce, soy sauce, gingerroot, honey and sesame oil in a small bowl, set aside.

Preheat grill or BBQ to medium-high heat. For each skewer thread meatball, pineapple, red pepper, meatball, pineapple, green pepper, repeat. Grill for 12 minutes, turning and basting generously with sauce every 2 minutes, serve hot.

Piggies in a Blanket



Sunday nights are my 'no cook night'. We usually enjoy things like nachos, pizza, chicken nuggets or leftovers. But last Sunday the boys helped me whip up a batch of these, we had so much fun and they loved them! Fun way to dress-up hot dogs when you don't have any buns.

 



Here's my little baker (hence the blog name), Mr. T

 



 

Piggies-in-a-Blanket

1 1/3c. hot water

1 Tbsp. yeast

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3 1/4- 3 1/2 c. flour

 

Combine water and yeast, allow to dissolve and stir well. Add sugar and salt, mix well. Stir in flour and knead well.

[Now if your lazy like me you just skip the above steps, throw all ingredients into your bread maker, put on dough cycle and come back in an hour :)]

Allow to rise 1/2 to 1 hour. Roll dough into large rectangle ~1/4 inch thick, cut into 1 1/2-2 inch strips, wrap (spiral-type) around hot dog (I used 12 hot dogs). Place on greased baking sheet.

 

2 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. garlic powder

parmesan cheese, to sprinkle

 

Melt butter, stir in garlic powder and brush/drizzle over rolled hot dogs. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Serve with favorite condiments (mustard, ketchup, etc.)

Honey Garlic Ribs

We butcher our own beef, so we always had extra ribs that nobody in our family was super crazy about, until ... we tried this sauce, mmm, so good! Now the ribs disappear from the freezer faster than anything else (except maybe the tenderloin).

 

Honey Garlic Ribs

~4 lbs. pork side ribs (I just use beef short ribs, cause that's what I have)
1/2 c. honey
1 c. ketchup
1/4 c. soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt

Place ribs in large roasting pan with 1/2 inch of water. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 1/2 hours. Drain water from roaster. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over ribs, bake for another 1/2 to 1 hour. If you want you can baste every so often, I just leave them.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

This tastes just like something you would get in a restaurant, it is soo good! Just a few ingredients and 12 minutes later you're ready for dinner. To make it more economical, I've bought whipping cream on clearance and froze it, just defrost in fridge, and it tastes just as good.

 

Cajun Chicken Pasta

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into pieces
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
2 Tbsp. butter
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 c. heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp. sundried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. basil
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
4 oz. linguini (or spaghetti), cook according to pkg.

Season chicken with Cajun seasoning and sauté in butter for about 7 minutes. Add next 7 ingredients, heat through. Toss with pasta and serve with parmesan cheese. Easy peezy ;)

Steak Marinades

I often get requests for a good steak marinade, here are a few we use often (the first one is my personal favorite). I didn't post any pictures because I figured a steak is a steak is a steak, and I'm not the best griller in the world so mine don't always look perfect (but they taste good:))

Firehall Steak Marinade (~4 steaks)

1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
3 tsp. Montreal Steak Spice
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 c. Teriyaki sauce

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


Whiskey Marinade (~6 steaks)

1/4 c. whiskey
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. Dijon mustard
1/4 c. finely chopped green onions
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
dash Worchestershire sauce
pepper, to taste (I use ~1/4 tsp.)

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


Teriyaki Marinade (makes 1 cup)

1/2 c. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. oil
2 Tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 c. water

Combine and marinade steaks overnight.


We use others but these are definitely our most used. If you are in a hurry Club House makes an awesome packaged Mesquite Marinade.

Cola Marinated Pork Chops & Cola Cake

I guess it was a Cola kind of day, I made our favorite recipe for marinating pork chops using Coca-Cola, and decided to try this recipe for cake using the rest of the Coca-Cola. I love this icing, think it'll be my 'go to' chocolate icing for a while.

 



Cola Cake

2 c. flour
2 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1 c. Cola
1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. miniature chocolate chips
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. buttermilk (I just put 1/2 tsp. lemon juice in 1/2 c. measuring cup and fill with 2% milk)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine flour and sugar, set aside. In a saucepan bring cocoa, Cola and butter to a boil (I did this in the microwave in large glass bowl, and it turned out fine). Combine the boiled mixture with flour mixture. In separate bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, baking powder and soda, and vanilla, add to first mixture. Stir in marshmallows. Pour into greased 9 x 13 and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Icing:
1/2 c. butter
1 Tbsp. cocoa
1/3 c. Cola
4 c. icing sugar

In saucepan bring butter, cocoa and Cola to a boil (once again I just mic'd it). Stir in sugar and mix well, I found a whisk worked best for this step). Pour over warm cake, allow to cool and enjoy:)

 

I often down size this recipe for our smaller family, and I get to share the rest of the Cola with the kids :)

 

Cola Marinated Pork Chops

 

1 can Cola (1 1/2 c.)

1/4 c. soy sauce

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 tsp. ginger

3/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

6 pork chops

Combine first 7 ingredients to make marinade. Marinade pork chops 8 hours or overnight in refrigerator. BBQ 5-6 minutes per side over medium heat. (You can also set aside 1/2 cup of marinade before combining with pork chops and use it as a baste while grilling the chops)

Macaroni Jumble & Garlic Bread



Here is a quick and easy supper for those rushed nights (when you don't feel like having a frozen pizza again! It happens at our house too).

 

Garlic Bread

1 French Loaf
1/2 c. butter
1/4c. Mayo (not Miracle Whip, too sweet)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp. freshly chopped parsley
    *** I use frozen chopped parsley from my garden, but Im sure you could substitute 3 tsp. dried parsley***

Combine all ingredients (except bread), and spread on French loaf that is cut in half lengthwise. Broil until brown and bubbly.

 

Macaroni Jumble

 

2 c. macaroni

1 lb. ground beef

1/3 c. chopped onion

1 1/2 c. frozen kernel corn (or 1 can, drained)
7 1/2 oz. can tomato sauce (or more, we like our sauce)
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. water
2 tsp. chilli powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. seasoned salt
1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese (we definitely use more!)

Cook macaroni according to package directions, drain and set aside. Brown beef and onion, drain fat. Add remaining ingredients (except cheese), let simmer 10 minutes. Add macaroni, let simmer 5 more minutes, serve with cheese sprinkled on top.

Cowboy Casserole

This is a super easy, delicious favorite that everyone in our family devours! I love that it only takes minutes to throw together and doubles easily. I often throw it together the night before a busy day or freeze a second one.

 

 

Cowboy Casserole

 
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (or 1cup frozen) corn
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 bag (30 oz.) Tater Tots
    ** I usually use hash browns, and have even used diced potatoes pre-boiled for 8
       minutes.

Cook beef, onion and garlic together till beef is browned. Add corn, soup, 1 1/2 cups cheese, milk, sour cream and seasonings. In casserole dish layer 1/3 of the tots, all the beef mixture, remaining 2/3 of tots and top with 1/2 cup of cheese. Bake at 375 uncovered for 25 minutes.