Taco Soup

My neighbor gave me this recpie of her's (among with others which I will share later). Thank you, Maggie!

1 lb ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 t minced garlic
2 cans navy beans, undrained
1 can sweet corn, undrained
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can diced green chilies
2 packages taco seasoning
sour cream ~dallop per bowl
1 C shredded cheese (your choice)
Tortilla Chips

Brown beef, onion and garlic in large pot. Drain any fat. Add all other items to pot. Bring to boil and simmer 20 minutes or until heated through.

Serve soup in bowls, top with sour cream and cheese if desired (I recommend). We used the tortilla chips as our spoons. Kids LOVED this dish. They thought it was so much fun eating soup with chips.

I used cheddar cheese, you can use mexican blend cheese if you like. After you brown your meat, you can toss everything (except sour cream and cheese) in a slow cooker and let that go, on low, for a few hours in the afternoon.

Dijon Tilapia with Capers

You know what makes me feel terrible? I have tried new recipes and I can't remember to get on here and post them! Well, I guess working OT will do that to a person.

Tonight I didn't want chicken or ground beef. I saw the tilapia again... Yum. Ran out of cheese. Doesn't that put a damper on things? Typically, yes, but not today! My dish below I realized once I plated it was all white. However, you can tweak it, as always! My kiddos ate it, so I'm not complaining. The dijon mustard give it a nice flavor while the sour cream smooths it out.

If you don't know much about fish, or don't really eat it, you'll love tilapia. It is a VERY mild tasting fish. I say that because I like fish and tilapia doesn't taste like fish at all. It almost has no flavor. It's very bland and just cooking it with the pam give it a nice buttery flavor (I love butter). It is a wonderful fish to get to know and learn how to cook with.

3 Tilapia loins
Pam or some Butter
1/3 C Sour Cream
1 T Milk
1 T Dijon Mustard
2 t capers, drained

1 box scalloped potatoes, cooked according to pkg directions
2 C frozen broccoli and cauliflower, steamed

Spray a cookie sheet with pam. Place tilapia on the sheet. Spray fish with Pam. Bake at 450 deg for 4-6 minutes. Flip and cook another few minutes until cooked through if needed.

While your fish is cooking, mix sour cream, milk and mustard in a small pot over low heat. Do not bring to a boil! Add the capers once it's all mixed.

Plate your fish and pour (yes, it will be thick) the sauce over the fish. Serve with potatoes and veggies. *you could add more milk (careful here) to make it less viscous.

Casserole Surprise

I don't  know if I've posted this before, but I've learned that my kids do not like their dinner plate broken down into meat, veggie, starch, fruit. They pick at it. But.....if I make a casserole, it's gone in 5 minutes. Today's dish is created from a combination of my likes and the kid's likes. You got meat, starch and veggies all in one! Best part - NO ONE knew I put fish in this dish.......

8 oz of noodles - I used mini pinwheels
12 oz velveeta cheese
1/3 c skim milk
1 small frozen pkg of broccoli & cauliflower that you steam in the microwave
S&P to taste
3 tilapia loins
any seasoning you like (see below)
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 C bread crumbs

Heat oven to 350 deg. Cook noodles according to package directions. While noodles are cooking pan sear (cook) tilapia in butter and any seasoning you like (garlic, dill, sage, basil, etc..) Shred tilapia, set aside. Microwave veggies and dice. Drain noodles, dump back in pot. Return the pot to the stove and add milk, cheese. Mix until melted. Add veggies and fish - mix well. Place mixture in rectangle baking dish.Top with cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for 15 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

Cuban Chicken?

So, I used Cuban seasoning......would one call it Cuban Chicken? If you try the dish, let me know what I should call it! Inspiration from this dish came from Mario Batali, although I only used half of his recipe and changed it from Mediterranean to Cuban...yeah, I do that.

I made the meat part of this last night and put it in the fridge. It takes about an hour and a half to make the meat, so I thought I would do it ahead of time and warm it the next day. Today I made the rice and threw the chicken/stock into a pot over medium heat while the rice cooked. It warmed it up to a nice temperature and the dish was delicious! I will write out what I did and at the end let you know some suggestions that I will try next time. Don't get me wrong, I think the dish is fine as is, but dishes always have room for tweaking and changing to one's liking.

4-6 chicken thighs (boneless if you want), skinless
flour
1/4 C oil (plus a little extra)
1 Lg red onion, you may dice or slice thinly
10 shakes of McCormick Cuban Seasoning ~ okay maybe 2 t?
1 carrot, diced
4 C chicken stock
1C rice, cooked to package directions


Directions:

Dredge chicken in flour. In a deep dish pan (a pan with a lid) heat oil over med-high heat until smoking. Add chicken and brown on both sides, transfer to a plate. Repeat with any remaining thighs.

Turn heat to low. Add onions (and additional oil if necessary) to the dish. Cook for about 8-10 minutes or until soft. Add carrot and chicken stock, bring to a boil. Return chicken to dish and cover tightly. Bring temperature to Low and cook for 1 hour. Remove the lid and cook for 10 minutes.

Place rice on plate, top with chicken and sauce. Serve.

That all being said........


Mario's dish called for 1/2 t saffron threads to be added to onions, 1 C small green olives to be added to the carrot, and only add 3 C chicken stock. Also 6 servings of couscous instead of rice. Once you take the chicken out of the pot at the end, add 1/4 C fresh mint leaves. Stir leaves in sauce, then top over chicken.

What I would change to my dish......


I added another C of chicken stock because I wasn't sure if 3 was enough. The dish was DELICIOUS, but if you wanted less salt, try low sodium chicken broth instead of regular broth/stock ~ or homemade stock. I would also add more carrots and possibly celery or another vegetable. I'm sure the green olives would taste nice. I may add some fresh garlic to the onions and saute them together. I will use the McCormick Cuban seasoning again. I like that! I would have used couscous if I had any in my pantry. I think that's it.

Kid's Review:


Scott loved it! My 4 year old gobbled it up within minutes. My 2 year old is not eating much of anything right now, so I wouldn't put too much on him. And my husband hasn't had dinner yet......

Open Face Tuna Melts

One awesome thing (for a person like me) is trying new foods from people who come in to your family. I give thanks to my step-mother for this one!

2 sm or 1 lg can of tuna, drained
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 sm onion, diced (or onion powder)
S&P to taste
1/4 t dried dill
couple of T of mayonnaise
------> you're making tuna salad here if you haven't caught on. Make it how you like it!

3-4 English muffins, separated
1 tomato, sliced
6-8 slices of white american, provolone or any cheese you like I guess
2 green onions, sliced


Open your English muffins. Place them on a baking sheet. Mix all ingredients for your tuna salad.Place a couple spoonfuls on each muffin slice. Add more muffins if needed. Lay a slice of tomato on the salad and top with a slice of cheese. Sprinkle onions over cheese. Broil for about 5 min or until cheese is melted.

Another mac and cheese dish for kids

When I picked Scott up from school today he asked for macaroni and cheese for dinner. I asked him what meat should be in it. He replied hot dogs. Of course he did! We're trying to get away from hot dogs, even though they don't eat them that often. So.....I imper-vised!

1/2 box elbow noodles
1-1/2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 T butter
1 T milk
S&P to taste
Deli meat, cubed

Cook noodles according to package. Drain and let cool until most of the evaporation has stopped. (This will allow whatever sauce you're using to stick to your noodles better) Transfer noodles back to your pot and mix remaining items. Serve.

I used sliced turkey and diced it up. Being light in color and thin the kids didn't even know they were eating meat! You can use a whole box of noodles and add 2 C of cheese. You can do 1 C of sharp and 1 C of mild to mix it up. Add whatever deli meat you or your kids like.

Pork with Peaches and Pecan Sauce

First of all, thank you Campbells for this recipe! You can find it on the back of the Golden Mushroom condensed soup can. This recipe is flavorful and my kids ate it up!

1 T olive oil
1 lb pork tenderloin (I used 2 thick boneless pork chops, butterflied and cut into slices)
1 garlic cloves, minced
3 green onions, sliced (separate 2 and 1)
1 can Campbell's Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
1 can (about 15 oz) sliced peaches. Drain juice and set aside (you will use juice and peaches separately)
3 T (low sodium) soy sauce
2 T (Local) honey - I'm a local user ;)
1/4 C pecan halves, toasted and broken into pieces

1 C cooked rice

Heat oil in deep sided skillet over med-high heat. Add pork and cook until well browned on both sides. (Pretty much cooked) Remove pork from skillet and set aside.

Add onion (2) and garlic to skillet cook for 1 minute - don't let it burn though. Stir in soup, peach juice, soy sauce and honey. Heat to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until soup mixture is slightly reduced.

Return pork to skillet and heat to a boil. Stir in peaches. Reduce heat to low and cook until pork is cooked through. Stir in pecans.

Serve next to or on top a bed of rice. Sprinkle/Garnish with remaining green onion.