Wendy’s Chili

I found this recipe on pinterest and have made it a few times..It’s delicious!

1 lb. ground beef
1 (29oz) can tomato sauce
1 (29oz) can kidney beans, with liquid1 (29 oz) can pinto beans,with liquid
1 c. diced onion
1 can diced green chiles
1/4 c. diced celery
1 qt. stewed tomatoes
2 t. cumin
3 T. chili powder
1 1/2 t. black pepper
2 t. salt
Brown ground beef in skillet. Drain off fat. In large pot,combine beef, plus all remaining ingredients & bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring every 15 minutes, for 2-3 hours. Serve with Cornbread! Yum!!

Pie Crust & Sweet Potato Pie

Pie Crust

2 C. Flour

1 tsp. Salt

3/4 C. Shortening

3/8 C. Chilled Water

*Put flour and salt in a bowl and mix. Cut in shortening. Add chilled water a little at a time. Cut in 1/2 w/knife. Flatten dough out with hands. Roll dough out 1/2” larger than a pie tin.

*Fill with filling

*Roll out 2nd 1/2 of dough same way and put over top of pie. Cut vent holes. Pinch to seal sides

*To prevent edges browning to soon, cover with aluminum foil until last 5 min. of baking time.

*Bake pie @ 425* til lightly brown

*Bake @ 350* for 30-40 minutes. or until knife tests done

 

Sweet Potato Pie

1 C. Hot mashed Sweet Potato

3 Tbsp. Butter

2 Eggs

1 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Evaporated Milk

Grated Nutmeg to Taste

2 Tbsp. Lemon Extract

*Add butter to potatoes, beat eggs, add sugar and beat again until light.

*Combine sugar and mix w/potatoes, add milk, nutmeg, and lemon extract

*Adjust flavoring. If needed add more lemon.

*Pour into 9” round pie shells.

*Bake according to pie crust directions.

Tasty Tuesday – Chili and Corn Bread

Isn’t chili the easiest thing to put together? Throw in whatever you want. I guess this is my own recipe and I like to make up a big pot of it because it is so good as leftovers.

1 lb. ground beef

1 medium onion, diced.

1 green pepper, diced.

1 can black beans, drained

1 Cup frozen corn

3 Cans kidney beans, drained

1 large can whole tomatoes, cut each into chunks.

1 packet of chili seasoning

1 can tomato soup

1 Cup water

Brown the beef, drain. Add onions and green peppers; cook for about five minutes until onions are softened. Add black beans (drained), kidney beans (drained), whole tomatoes ( cut into chunks), tomato soup, water, corn, chili seasoning, and whatever else you want to add. Let it cook on low for about a half hour so the corn is cooked and the beans are softened. You might add more chili seasoning to taste if you want to. To make it go further, add more tomato soup and water. Enjoy!

We make corn bread/muffins to enjoy with this meal.

Tasty Tuesday–Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

I found this on Ourbestbites the other day and HAD to try it QUICK! I did and it is AMAZING!! I just need to clear enough room in our freezer to keep some vanilla ice cream more permanently for the next few months! It’s a GREAT way to welcome in the Fall!

Pumpkin Pie Milkshake

(Click on the picture to go to the link for the recipe!)

Tasty Tuesday - Pico de Gallo Salsa

This recipe makes a big bowl full of the yummy deliciousness that is pico de gullo salsa. It’s a favorite at our house! It’s practically a meal in itself and we’ll eat it for dinner with chips or over/on burritos.

For a big batch of chunky salsa:

1/2 C chopped cilantro

1 medium onion, chopped

3-4 Green onions, chopped

1-3 jalapenos, deseeded and chopped (leave seeds in if you like it spicy)

3 lemons, juiced

3 limes, juiced

3 large tomatoes, diced

1 large green pepper, diced

3 tsp. salt

Add more or of what you want or less of something else. It’s hard to mess up the recipe. If you want it less chunky, cut it all smaller. You can also use a blender to take the chunks out all together, but it’s delicious chunky!

Tasty Tuesday - Hummus

Amazing! I didn’t realize how EASY hummus is to make! Here is the recipe I adjusted from the one I found on Allrecipes.com. (Real Hummus). Like I said, I made a few adjustments though. Here is my recipe:

1 can Garbanzo Beans

2 tsp. minced, Garlic

2 Tbsp. Tahini Paste

4-5 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Drain the liquid from the can of garbanzo beans into a cup. Empty the beans into your mixer (I use a magic bullet). Pour about 1/2 the liquid back into the beans. Add your garlic, Tahini paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Blend. If it’s too thick, you can add a little more of the bean liquid. Everything is “to taste”. So, if you feel it is lacking a little in any ingredient, just add a little more. You can drizzle olive oil over the top and put any kind of flavor you want into it.

This is just a basic hummus recipe. So from here you can add ground red pepper, or try cumin, dill, curry (I tried red thai curry paste and liked it), my husband added a few drops of juice from our bottle of jalapenos and loved it.. I’ve heard of peanut butter hummus, cucumber hummus, and many more. ..I would look up details on those though!

Eat with pita bread or pita chips! YUM!! Enjoy

It keeps in the fridge .. IF there is any left when you are done! I think we’ve gone through about 4 cans of beans in the last week! (Once you have opened your bottle of Tahini..that will also go in the fridge!)

Tasty Tuesday - Sweet and Sour Meatballs Over Rice

I used the quick meat balls recipe already posted under Tasty Tuesdays. So easy! We froze the rest and used them in spaghetti. Yum!

1 C packed brown sugar

1 Tbs cornstarch

1 Can pineapple, chunky

1 cup white vinegar

1 Tbs soy sauce

1 Green pepper, chopped

While your meatballs are cooking… in medium sauce pan mix brown sugar, and cornstarch. Stir in Pineapple with syrup, vinegar and soy sauce. Heat to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce heat. Add cooked meatballs; cover and simmer, stirring occasionally. (10 Minutes) Stir in green pepper. Cover and simmer until crisp-tender (5 Minutes).

Serve over rice. Jasmine sticky rice is my favorite! Enjoy!

Pork Chops with Black Bean Salsa and Rice

4 pork loin chops, cut 1 1/4 inches thick

1 tsp cajun seasoning

2/3 C corn relish (optional)

1 medium onion, diced

1 Tbsp. oil

1 can Black Beans, rinsed and drained

1 1/2 tsp lime juice

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 small can Green Chilies

1 tsp black pepper

sour cream (optional)

Rub pork chops with pepper and cajun seasoning and then cook your pork chops however you like them (broil, in a pan, etc).

Meanwhile, for salsa, in a small sauce pan saute diced onion until soft with a tablespoon of oil. Then combine black beans, corn relish, lime juice, green chilies and cumin. Heat to a boil and then serve over pork chops.

This dish is delicious served over white rice, sour cream optional. You might also try chicken instead of pork chops with this salsa and serve on tortillas...it's that good. You can do so much with this salsa!

It’s gotta be good if my one year old loves it!

Tasty Tuesday - Caprice Kabobs

I had these at a wedding a few weeks back and they were DELICIOUS! I’ve made them a few times this week..and they were gobbled up by my husband and 4 year old before I could even get them on the plate! Especially delicious with the fresh basil from my garden.. I am TOTALLY going to do cherry tomatoes next year! :)

Cherry Tomatoes cut in 1/2 and salted a little with sea salt

Basil torn into smaller pieces

Fresh Mozzarella marinated in a little olive oil.

Layer it and you are done! :)

My friend puts a little Balsamic Vinegar over her Caprice salad and I did that with a few of these..just on the tomatoes and it was delicious! And I’ll add a little focaccia bread next time to the stick too!

Tasty Tuesday – Passion Bars

When life gets busy..it's hard to keep up with everything! My husband is a Grad student working on his doctorate in Chiropractic. Every few months he has either boards or finals, so the kids and I pack up and head to Grandma's for a few days. ..but that means life is not the norm..so I lose track of the things I'm trying to keep up with, including my blogging!:) We had fun and are trying to get back into the swing of things, so bare with me!:) Until then, here is a yummy treat to try!
mmmm!  My MiL made this last week and it was delicious. I made it yesterday for a dinner with friends and we devoured it! Hope you enjoy!

Passion Bars

Ingredients

• 2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, brown sugar, salt and baking soda. Cut in the butter to form a crumbly mixture. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the crumbs, and pat the rest evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. In a medium bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter. Spread evenly over the oatmeal layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the peanut butter layer, then crumble the reserved crust over the top.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

(recipe from allrecipes.com)

also to try..

Popcorn Indiana.. Dark Fudge Chocolate Chip Kettle Corn, and Drizzled Cinnamon Sugar Kettle Corn..among others I tried this last week were AMAZING!!! WOW!mmmm..doesn’t begin to describe how good they are! ;) In the chip isle at the grocery store! ..tell me that doesn’t look AMAZING! :P

 

  

Tasty Tuesday - Sweet Pork Burritos

“Cafe Rio” Burritos

I’ve actually never been to Cafe Rio myself, I’ve heard it’s amazing though. A friend gave me this recipe a while back, and mostly I just want to get it online so I can refer to it when I am visiting family and don’t have it with me! :) These burritos are AMAZING, and the sauce is to die for!

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

Ingredients

4 lbs. Butt Pork, (thawed)

4 (8 oz.) cans Tomato Sauce

3 tsp. minced Garlic

3 C. Brown Sugar (more or less depending on how sweet you like it)

4 tsp. Cumin

4 C. Dr. Pepper

3 Tbsp. Molasses

1/2 tsp Salt

Pepper to taste

Instructions

1)In a crock pot add everything but the pork. Mix Well. Add pork roast, cook on low for 12 hours. Check every so often to see if tender.

2)When roast is falling apart, take it out and cool, remove fat, shred and return to crock pot. Keep warm until you serve it.

Cafe Rio Lime Rice

Ingredients

4 Tbsp. Bu11tter

2 1/2 C. Rice

4 1/2 C. Chicken Broth

1 1/2 tsp Salt

Juice of 4 small Limes or 4 Tbsp Lime Juice

4 Tbsp chopped Cilantro

1/2 tsp Cumin

Instructions

1)Combine all in a Rice cooker and let cook!

Creamy Cilantro Dressing

Ingredients

1 (16 oz.) jar La Victoria Green Salsa

1 pkg. Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, dry

1/2 C. Sour Cream

1/2 C. Mayonnaise

1 C. Cilantro, chopped

1tsp. minced Garlic

1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

1/2 tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Lime Juice

1/2 tsp. Cumin

1/2 C. Sugar

Instructions

1)Mix all ingredients together in blender. Blend until smooth, Chill and serve

**When everything is cooked and made and ready to go, just build your burritos like you would any burrito. We usually eat this meal with salad or corn, but it really has everything in it. And the Creamy Cilantro Dressing is good on anything you can think of..eggs for breakfast, nachos, and lots more :) Enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday: Tomato Cream Pasta w/Sausage

 

This was so delicious. I had purchased the wrong kind of sausage links for another dish I made, so I looked up a recipe that called for Sweet Italian Sausage and this is what I found on All Recipes. I had all the ingredients on hand, so I whipped it up and it was SO good!

Ingredients:

• 1 (12 ounce) package bow tie pasta (I used penne in mine, anything will work)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (28 ounce) can Italian-style plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
2. Heat oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Cook sausage and pepper flakes until sausage is evenly brown. Stir in onion and garlic, and cook until onion is tender. Stir in tomatoes, cream, and salt. Simmer until mixture thickens, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Stir cooked pasta into sauce, and heat through. Sprinkle with parsley.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did/do!

 

BACK TO RECIPES!

Tasty Tuesday: Sausage Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

Pene Pasta
Onion
Green and Red Peppers
Italian Sausage, med.
Mushrooms(optional)
1 jar Basil Pesto

Instructions:
Cook pasta according to directions on package. Meanwhile, Cook Sausage and cut or crumble into pieces.
Cook Onion, peppers in skillet with a little EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil). Add mushrooms last few minutes. Cook all till tender.
When noodles are done, drain them and add everything together into large pot. Noodles, pepper/onion/mushrooms, sausage.
Add as much or as little pesto until you think it is tasty!
We are usually pretty healthy eaters at our house, however, this recipe is greasy..sorry! Just the way it is. We eat it often, but not too. It is DELICIOUS!

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Tasty Tuesday: Amazing Dough #3: Pigs in a Blanket

Tip: When making this bread, the lecithin is VERY VERY sticky..even more than honey. I put my lecithin in a bottle with a point tip on it for easier squeezing. When you put the lecithin into the recipe, make a divot in the dry ingredients with the back of your teaspoon, then you can fill the divot with your easy squeeze bottle until the lecithin looks about the size of a quarter! No mess and no sticky teaspoons that you can’t get clean!

Pigs in a Blanket!

Chocolate Dipping Party

A friend of mine that moved here not too long ago had a Chocolate Dipping Party for Valentine’s Day! It was a blast! It is a tradition one of her friends did in the last town she lived in, and she is carrying it on. I think it’s a FABULOUS idea, and I hope to use it when we move as well! I always forget to get pics. while we are doing it..so, I didn’t get any of us dipping. I pulled out the camera when we had all the little kids sitting and eating their lunches, and I thought it was just too cute! Mine are the two cute curly red heads..green shirt boy, and pink shirt girl in front facing away!

  

mmm.. strawberries, marshmallows, rice crispy treats, Oreos, brownies, almonds, pretzel sticks and lots more! After we dipped, we drizzled white chocolate over the brown, or vice versa.. or put sprinkles, or dipped in the crushed Oreos!

This is what I gave my husband for Valentine’s Day!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day too.

Sushi

While my Mother-in-Law was here this past week, among other things, we celebrated the Chinese New Year. New Year was on the 3rd this year, but the celebration lasts for two weeks. A tradition I hope to build and grow on in the years to come! Her family is Hawaiian Japanese, but they enjoy celebrating and eating Chinese food. I think every time we are all together, we always go out for Chinese! While she was here, she taught me how to make Sushi! Just California rolls, and some with crab. None of the..non-cooked fish kind..I don’t think I could stomach those. They are pretty easy and fun to make. They take some time, and it’s hard to keep them on the plate before you are done making them in our house! Along with rice, seaweed wrappers and crab, we also had cucumber, and avocado, then rolled some of them in sesame seeds. The rice was mixed with some different sushi spices and dry vinegar sushi packets. We have a GREAT Asian store here where we live too. I love to go there, even though I can’t understand what most of the packages are saying! It reminds me of the days I lived in Virginia and had a lot of friends and knew a lot of people from Asia!

 

  

The next day, my husband made a few more from the leftovers, so we have been enjoying them!!

 

I wish I had gotten a picture of the other stuff, I feel another Chinese dinner coming on soon!

We also ate Pad Thai, Pot Stickers, and some Manapua. As well as a Mango Bubble Drink..that was probably my favorite!

Do you like Sushi? Have you ever made it? What else do you like in your Sushi?!

Tasty Tuesday: Amazing Dough #2: Breadsticks & Rolls

Breadsticks:

Roll out 1/2 of the dough and cut it with a pizza cutter into breadsticks size pieces.

~Sprinkle with garlic salt. Let rise 10 min and bake @ 350* for 10-15 min. Use remaining pizza/marinara sauce for dipping.

~or sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mix for sweet sticks –dip in honey cinnamon butter).

Rolls:

With 1/2 of the dough, roll into 1 1/2 - 2" balls and put on a cookie sheet or cake pan. Let rise 10-15 min and bake @ 350* for 10-15 min.

Tasty Tuesday: Amazing Bread Dough #1 :Pizza

Dough Recipe

5 C. Bread Flour

1/4 C. Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 Tbsp. Active Dry Instant Yeast

2 tsp. Soy Liquid Lecithin

2 C. warm Water

Mix dry ingredients. Add Lecithin by making 2 divots in dry ingredients and filling up to 2 tsp. worth. Add 1 1/2 C. of warm water and start mixing..gradually add the other 1/2 C. water. Knead for 7 minutes. Divide dough into 2 balls. (No need to prep yeast!) May feel a little sticky. DO NOT ADD ANY MORE WATER OR FLOUR!) Use Spray Pam on your hands to shape, or to roll it out.

**You can find the LIQUID Soy Lecithin at your local Whole Foods Market, usually in the vitamin section, but make sure it is liquid and not capsules or anything! Or you can order it online here: ...

**Recipe makes 2 items…2 pizzas, 2 loaves bread, pizza and breadsticks, Cinnamon Rolls and Dinner Rolls, etc.!

Pizza:

Roll out dough (1/2). On a round pizza stone you could split some cheese sticks in 1/2 and roll them into the crust for ‘stuffed crust’, I just use a cookie sheet. Spray the pan first with non-stick spray (Pam) and roll out the dough.

**Remember Dough may feel a little sticky, just use non-stick spray (Pam). on your hands, rolling pin, counter, wherever you may need it.!!>>(DO NOT ADD ANY MORE WATER OR FLOUR!)

Spread your favorite pizza sauce on your pizza and add toppings! Bake 350* 15-18 min.

(I use RAGU’s homestyle pizza sauce! It’s DELICIOUS!-also as a marinara for dipping breadsticks. I like my pizzas saucy and cheesy..So I tend to use almost the whole jar of pizza sauce (reserving a little for dipping) and a whole 16oz. brick of mozzarella cheese)

My favorite pizzas have been:

**Alfredo sauce, mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken, spinach, mushrooms and artichoke hearts!

**Pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, sausage, pepperoni, green pepper and olives.

**Another addition to this recipe next week! :)

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