Nacho-rific Stuffed Chicken

I found this awesome recipe on Food Network and decided to give it a try. I did deviate from it somewhat, with the cheese choices and taco sauce. It was quick and effortless, yet delicious, and I liked that the website gave healthy product recommendations for ingredients.


You'll need:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 1/3 inches thick)
1/2 cup refried beans
4 wedges Pepper Jack cheese (or cheese of choice)
1/4 cup shredded Mexican-blend cheese (or cheese of choice)
1 teaspoon dry taco seasoning mix
1/4 cup of your favorite salsa
Salt and pepper, to taste
About 16 Tortilla chips, crushed
Sour cream, optional
Toothpicks


Filling: combine beans, cheese wedges, and shredded cheese in bowl and set aside.


Directions:
Crush tortilla chips by hand in a sealable plastic bag and add taco seasoning, set aside.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.


Place chicken breasts on a clean, dry surface, and season with salt and pepper.  Spoon filling onto the centers, dividing it evenly among all 4. Carefully roll each chicken breast up over the filling and secure with toothpicks (it's okay if some of the filling comes out the sides). Transfer to baking sheet. 


Cover each chicken breast with 1 tablespoon of salsa, coating evenly, and top with tortilla chip crumb mixture.


Cover baking sheet with foil and bake in oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil, and continue to cook for an additional 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.


Remove from oven and let cool. Top with sour cream, if desired.

Photo courtesy of Food Network.com

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San Francisco Pork Chops

I got this recipe from my boyfriend's mom. I'm pretty sure she originally found it on Grouprecipes.com and edited it a bit. This dish is great with pasta, rice, mashed potatoes, or any starch. I normally make it with a long-noodle pasta, your choice.

Photo courtesy of Grouprecipes.com

You'll need:
4 pork chops (about 1/2 to 3/4 inches thick)
1 tablespoon oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced


Sauce:
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons oil
4 tablespoons dry sherry, white
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Combine: oil, sherry, soy sauce, brown sugar, and red pepper in bowl.

Heat oil in pan and pork chops on both sides. Remove and set aside. Saute garlic and add the pork chops back to skillet along with sauce mixture. Simmer on low for 30 minutes. Add water to keep sauce from cooking down too low. Turn pork chops once.

Remove pork chops and add cornstarch to thicken. Pour sauce over chops and starch and serve.




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Semi-Homemade Barbecue Sauce

It's so much easier to buy a bottle of barbecue sauce than it is to make it from scratch, especially with the variety and number of different brands out there. I decided to take a bottle of regular sauce and spice it up a bit to get the sweet and spicy flavors I was looking for.

You'll need:

1 (12 oz) bottle barbeque sauce

1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup buffalo sauce (or you can use Tabasco or Texas Pete)

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

salt, to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 

Serve on chicken, pulled pork, or refrigerate for later.

Homemade Spanish Rice

I got this recipe from someone I used to know. It was his mothers recipe. I edited it a bit, using Rotel to make it spicy. If you prefer, you can substitute the Rotel for regular diced tomatoes.

Browned rice

You'll need:
1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 (10 oz) can Rotel
2 cubes of chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon ground black pepper
peas and diced carrots, if desired


In a blender, combine garlic, diced tomatoes, cumin, chicken bouillon, and pepper. Add water to make mixture a total of 2 1/2 cups. Blend until everything is thoroughly mixed and there aren't any chunks. Set aside for later use. 

Spanish rice half cooked

In a large saucepan, heat oil on medium to medium-high and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. [see "Browned rice" photo on right for exact color.]


Add contents of the blender to saucepan, careful of the steam and any splatter, cover and let simmer on low for 12 minutes. Stir occasionally. Like regular rice, you want the liquid to cook out, but it's very important to monitor because you don't want it to burn. Let sit for 5 minutes, uncovered.

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Quesadilla Casserole

This is a McCormick® Recipe Inspirations that I altered, adding more of some of the ingredients. You can find this and other Recipe Inspiration pre-measured spices at your grocery store or on McCormick®'s website.

You'll need:

1 pound ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cans (4 oz each) tomato sauce

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can whole kernel corn, undrained

1 can (4 oz) chopped green chiles, undrained

2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

4 medium cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1 tablespoon red pepper (optional)

7 flour tortillas (8-inch each), cut/torn in half

4 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese (or cheese of choice)

Brown ground beef with onions in large skillet, then drain. Put back into skillet and add tomato sauce, beans, corn, and green chiles. Stir in all of the spices except for the crushed red pepper, mixing well. Once mixture is brought to a boil, reduce heat to low and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Add red pepper to taste, if desired.

Spray 13x9x2-inch baking dish with no-stick cooking spray and add about 1/2 cup of the beef mixture to the bottom just to cover it. Top with 7 of the tortilla halves so that they cover corner to corner and one in the middle. Next, add half of the remaining beef mixture to dish, top with half of the cheese (2 cup), and cover again with tortilla halves. Repeat with remaining beef and cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until heated through.

Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

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"Mushroom Bruschetta"

I had a craving for the bruschetta that's on the menu at my last job, and though I didn't have scampi butter, thyme, boursin cheese or ciabatta bread, I came up with a quick and easy recipe using only things I had around the kitchen.


I used:

1/2 can original Ro-Tel
3 tablespoons butter
1 (4 oz) can mushrooms, sliced
1/4 medium white onion, sliced
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
3 slices provolone cheese
1 teaspoon ground red Cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 leftover hoagie/sandwich roll, sliced 
(the hoagie I used was large enough to make 6 slices)



In a high sided skillet, melt butter with minced garlic. Drain Rotel of any excess liquid and add to skillet, along with mushrooms, onions, and all seasonings. Cover and let simmer for 5-6 minutes, or until onions are cooked, stirring occasionally. 


While the toppings are simmering, put 1/2 slice of cheese on each piece of sliced bread (or enough to cover, depending on size). Put on baking sheet and bake at 350º just long enough to lightly toast and melt cheese.

Remove bread from oven, put on plate, and put contents of skillet on top.




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Spanish-Style Couscous

I found this recipe in my Rival Crock-Pot Cookbook and decided to try it for dinner.

You'll need: 
1 pound ground beef
1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth
1 small green pepper, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives, sliced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 1/3 cups water (for couscous)
1 cup uncooked couscous


What I added:
1 teaspoon ground Cayenne red pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
2 extra garlic cloves (to make 4 cloves total)
1/2 cup extra sliced green olives (to make 1 cup total)
1 small (4 oz) can diced hot green chili peppers


Brown ground beef in skillet on stove, drain and discard fat. Transfer to slow cooker. Add beef broth, green pepper, onion, garlic, cumin and thyme; stir well.


Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until green pepper is tender.


Bring water to a boil over high heat in small saucepan. Stir in couscous. Cover; remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes; fluff with fork.


Stir couscous onto plates and top with beef.

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Angry Mac©

One of my all time favorite foods is macaroni and cheese, and as much as I love Velveeta, nothing compares to homemade. I took my mom's recipe for baked Southern macaroni and cheese and spiced it up with some chopped jalapeños. This is a great side dish for any meal or add chicken or beef and make it a meal!




You'll need: 
One 16 oz box macaroni noodles/shells
One 16 oz block of sharp/extra sharp cheese, grated
1/2 stick butter
12 oz milk
1-2 tbsp plain white flour
1 jar/can pickled jalapeños slices, you can use fresh if you prefer
Roughly an 8x8 baking dish, can be glass or stone.

Cook macaroni noodles until they're al dente, adding salt to taste.


Blend jalapeños in food processor/blender until they're finely chopped.

In saucepan, on low heat, melt butter, then add flour, stirring slowly. Let the flour and butter simmer together for a few minutes. Add milk while still stirring mixture, try to avoid lumps. Slowly add 1/4 of the grated cheese to the mixture. Once butter, flour, milk, and cheese are mixed together, add jalapeños. If mixture gets too thick, add more milk. You want it to be soupy, so that it easily coats the macaroni noodles. It's important to keep the burner on low so as not to burn the milk.

Be sure to spray baking dish, so macaroni and cheese doesn't stick. Put half of the noodles into dish, pour half of sauce pan mixture over, then top with half of the remaining amount of cheese. Repeat once more, using remaining noodles, mixture, and cheese so that everything's layered in the baking dish. If you like a lot of cheese, you can always use more than directed. I like to put a lot on top.

Bake @ 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes.

Note: If you prefer a different cheese, or even to buy already grated cheese, that's perfectly fine. I don't always have the time or energy to grate a block of cheese. And again, if you want to use more or less than the 16 oz, that's fine too. As far as the jalapeños go, use as much or little as you like. I like spicy food and like to use about 5-10 oz depending on what else I'm making with it. I've also made this dish with serrano peppers before. The size baking dish to use can also be altered. I've made this in a 9x13, 8x8, circular stone dish, etc. My mom uses evaporated milk, but I find that it makes the mixture too thick, so I just use regular. I've found that one of the best parts of this dish, is being able to make it my own.




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