Taco Casserole

This is one of two recipes I have memorized.  When Rob and I got married, my sister had everyone included in our wedding party design a quilt square for us.  One of our host and hostess (my 2nd parents at the time) put the recipe for Taco Casserole on their square because I called her at least once a month to request it.  Then, after we were married, I'd run down the stairs at least once a month to read the recipe off our guest bedroom quilt.  I'm happy to report, I have finally memorized it.

Anyway, onto the recipe.  For what it's worth, I'm not a big taco fan, yet this remains one of my favorites.

Taco Casserole

1 lb ground beef
3/4 c water
1 packet taco seasoning
1 can refried beans
2 cups shredded cheese (I find regular works better than "finely" shredded)
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 pk crescent rolls

Preheat oven to 350.  In a 9x13 pan, unroll the crescent rolls and press them onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Bake this for 7 minutes then set aside.  Meanwhile, brown the hamburger in a skillet.  When browned, add the water and the taco seasoning.  Mix in the refried beans and remove from heat.  In a seperate bowl, mix together the cheese, egg, and sour cream.  Now, pour the meat mixture onto the semi-baked crescent rolls, spread it out.  Put the cheese mixture on top of the meat mixture and spread to the best of your ability (never seems like enough to cover it...but it works).  Bake this for 20 minutes.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.  We usually dribble a little taco sauce on our pieces.

Finding a side dish to go with this is difficult.  We have settled on either Fritos (yes, that counts as a side dish in our house) or corn. 

Also, I split a regular recipe into two seperate square 8 or 9 inch pans.  Just divide everything in half and make two seperate pans at the same time.  Before the final baking wrap one in cling wrap, then aluminum foil, then seal it in a gallon size bag and put it in the freezer.  I thaw it out the night before I'm going to cook it for dinner and just cook it the same as the other (350 for 20 minutes).  One night of work, two nights of dinner!

Sausage and Peppers over Pasta

I'm not even going to attempt to post a picture of this dish because most pictures of food I take give me the exact opposite reaction than they should.  But, trust me, this is delicious.  It has now become my favorite meal.  Since Tuesday was my birthday, I requested our in-house chef make this for me.  I don't know where he found the recipe.  Maybe he didn't find it, maybe he created it out of thin air, he's been known to do such things.  What I do know is that this is absolutely delicious, and absolutely not fat free.  Try it today!  Or, shop for the ingredients today, and try it tomorrow.  It's probably not stuff you have lying around. 

I strongly encourage you to read this recipe through before you make it, as I am kind of a random recipe writer and probably have things out of order.  As for measurements, well, our personal chef is more of a "visual" guy so these are his best estimates.

1 lb mild Italian sausage
1/4 c onion (whatever your favorite kind is)
1 yellow pepper, cut into strips
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1 can diced tomatoes (of course fresh is always better, but a can will do)
1 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
2 cloves minced garlic (we like garlic...maybe this is too much for some)
salt and pepper to taste

In one large pot, brown the italian sausage with some salt and pepper.  When completely browned, remove from pot.  In a seperate skillet, start heating some olive oil and garlic.  Add onions to this skillet and sautee until the onions are translucent.  Add the can of diced tomatoes (juice and all) and heat this all together.  Meanwhile, in the large pot, start heating a bit of olive oil and throw in the peppers.  We do these seperately because we like our peppers a little crisp yet browned and if we added them with the rest of the stuff, they would not get browned and might be overcooked.  Add the heavy whipping cream to the tomatoes mixture and heat through.  Throw the sausage back in with the peppers (in the big pot) and add the tomatoe mixture to the sausage and pepper mixture.  Mix this all up and serve it over your choice of noodles.  We like whole wheat thin spaghetti.  We also like to serve this up with garlic bread.

Yum!

Peppermint Marshmallows

These are good!  For the first time in 7 years (or more) we put fresh candy canes on our tree!  I know, gross!  Make a mental note never to eat a candy cane off our Christmas tree because you will never know how old they are (unless you come this year...they are brand new)!  And, maybe buying candy canes each year will become a new tradition because I used up most of the remainders to make these peppermint marshmallows.  They are very easy and require no candy making skills.  Candy making thermometers and I do not get along so this was a good thing.


GO HERE for a great tutorial and recipe!

I have added them to both my hot chocolate AND my coffee.  Both tasted better because of these dainty little treats. 

Chocolate Pretzel Rings

Salty, sweet....what's not to love.  Oh yeah, and easy!

I've gotten a little slack lately for this section of the blog not being updated.  Fair enough.  My friend Meggan sent me this recipe:

• Preheat oven to 225
• Spread aluminum foil on a pan
• Get those pretzels only available this time of year that are a "O" shape
• Spread them out on the aluminum foil
• Place a hershey's kiss/hug/caramel fill kiss....whatever you want in the center
• Bake for 2 minutes - just enough to melt the chocolate
• Remove from oven and immediately push an M&M into the middle
• Let cool.  Peel from foil and enjoy!

Super delish and easy!  Thanks Meggan!

Dump Cake

Remember when I told you, here, that my style was easy and leaned towards healthy?  Well, with today's post, you can forget all about that "healthy" bit.  Healthy is not how I would describe this dish.  Not in the least.  Easy though...easy is definitley in the description.

Here's what you need:

1/2 cake mix (I think yellow tastes the best with this)
1 can pie filling
1 stick of butter

Here's what you do.  Oh, and I should note, I have cut this recipe in half because that's plenty of dessert for us.  But, it's traditionally made in a 9x13 pan instead of a pie plate.

Okay, on with the show.

Preheat the oven to 350

Spray a pie plate with nonstick spray and dump the pie filling in.

Now take the cake mix, and dump half of it on top of the pie filling.  If you have a good eye, just guess where "half" is.  If you're a nerd like me, you can calculate that half of the cake mix is 258 grams and use your kitchen scale to get an exact measurement.  Save the other half for next time.

Now take that stick of butter (preferably right out of the fridge) and cut it into little pats (or is it "pads"?) and arrange them on top of the cake mix.

Then just pop it into the oven for 45-60 minutes.  When the filling is bubbling and the top looks golden, it's done.  Now would be a good time for me to insert a completed Dump Cake picture.  But, stop searching.  It won't be making an appearance today because as soon as it was done, we went over to our neighbors for game night and the dump cake went with us. No time for pictures.

Traditionally, when you do not half the recipe, a lot of people use one can of cherry pie filling and one can of crushed pineapple.  Maybe that sounds more appealing to you, but I will stick with my raspberry bliss.

Godiva Chocolate Martini

I didn't take that picture.  I'm not a photographer, that's my sister's job.  And someday, when I figure out how to make millions by keeping a blog, I will pay her to be my photographer.  In the meantime, I'm going to legally steal images that I find on the internet.

Why?  Because doesn't that look yummy?  It is.  Trust me!  Or, stop on by and I'll make you one.  They are delicious.  Smooth as chocolate milk and just as easy to consume.  Just ask my mom.  There is a funny story there and I'll happily tell you over a chocolate martini someday!

Here's the recipe:

1.5 shots Godiva chocolate liqueur

1.5 shots Creme de Cocoa

1/2 shot vodka

2.5 shots Half n' Half

Pour all the above into a shaker and shake it up.  Pour it into a glass, drink, and repeat.  But, remember to get up and walk around a bit inbetween each martini...right mom?

Peppered Steak

This is a recipe that Rob brought to the marriage.  We make it all the time.  Especially when our garden is spitting out all those peppers and tomatoes.  Also, because I was getting free stew meat from Target about 6 months ago and I have enough, in the freezer, to last us a lifetime.

Ingredients

1 lb stew meat
1/4 c worchestershire sauce
1/2 c beef broth
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 green pepper, sliced into 1 inch pieces
1 tomato, sliced into pieces
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water
salt, pepper

Brown the meat in a large skillet with the garlic, salt, and pepper.  Once the meat is browned, add the worchestershire and beef broth.  Once that reaches a boil, pour everything into a crockpot set on low.  I usually start this around 1pm and we eat at 6pm....do what works for you.

Right before dinner, transfer the goodness back into the skillet.  Add the pepper.  Bring to a boil  .  Mix the cornstarch and water and pour it, while stiring, into the meat mixture.  Continue this process until the sauce reaches your desired thickness.  Add the tomato last.  I don't like mushy tomatoes, so I add them just before serving making sure they have just enough time to heat through

We serve this over brown rice.  It's really great with some garlic bread too....but that's a luxury around here and only appears with this meal when I'm really on the ball.