Beef Enchiladas

This is a great dish- however my kids didnt like, adults did. It makes A LOT and so either half or make one for the freezer or friend. But it's good enough that I will make it again, and maybe it was just an off day for the kids.

From Jamie Cooks it up

SAUCE:

1 T canola oil

1 T flour

1 28 ounce can enchilada sauce (I used mild)

2 C chicken broth

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

2 T fresh cilantro, chopped

MEAT and FILLING:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 4 ounce cans green chilies

1/2 t salt

12-14 white corn tortillas

3 C cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 C black olives, chopped

1 C green onions, chopped

1/2 C cilantro, chopped

1. Heat up a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Pour the oil in followed by the flour. Whisk them together.

2. Pour in your Enchilada Sauce,

chicken broth, cilantro, salt and pepper. Whisk it all together to combine.

3. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

4. Heat up a separate skillet and toss in your ground beef, onion and the salt. Brown the meat over medium high heat, stirring occasionally.

5. When your meat is brown and the onions are transparent remove your pan from the heat and pour in your green chilies.

6. Chop up your green onions, olives and cilantro.

Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Pour about 3/4 C of your red sauce into the pan.

7. Take your tortillas one at a time, dip it into your red sauce, making sure that the sauce covers both sides. dip it into your red sauce, making sure that the sauce covers both sides.

8. Lay the smothered tortilla onto a cookie sheet and cover it with meat, green onions, olives, cilantro and cheese.

9. Roll the tortillas up and lay them seam side down into the pan. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top of the sauce.

Top with any leftover green onions and olives.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until bubbly.

10. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve.

Delicious Turkey Tacos
I love this recipe because its easy and adds great flavor to the turkey. Great for not only tacos, but burrito filling, lasagna, pasta casseroles, etc. And of course you can use ground beef instead.




Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey (or ground beef)
1 small diced onion
1-2 cups of salsa
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
*corn tortillas- I lightly saute both sides in canola oil to crisp them up, yummy!

Saute onion till soft, add ground turkey. Generously season with salt and pepper and cumin. When cooked through, add salsa, put lid on pan and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Serve with cheese, tomatos, sour cream, avacado, lettuce etc.

Freezer bag method:
Follow directions above. Let mixture cool. Add to plastic freezer bag, or freezer contatiner.
Reheat to serve, add a little more salsa when reheating.

Mini Meatloaf

I love this recipe and my kids ALL eat it because it is in a little muffin size rather that a huge lump that for some reason freaks every one out. I don't have exact measurements for this recipe- I made it Italian style- little of this little of that :)

Ingredients:

Ground beef (about 1lb)

1 piece of buttered white bread, crumbled

Onion, about 1/4 of it, minced

Milk, 2-3 T

Egg, whole

Tomato paste, about 1/2 - 3/4 of the little can

Grill seasoning, any brand- I use Emeril Lagase

Directions:

Make a well in the middle of the ground beef

Add all the ingredients and then lightly combine. Try to handle the meat as little as possible.

Fill a sprayed muffin tin with a ball of mixture.

Glaze:

Katsup about- 1 C

Brown Sugar about- 1/4 C

Worcestershire Sauce- about 3t.

Orange marmalade- about 1 T

Spread on top of each meatloaf "muffin"

Bake 375 until center reads 165 degrees

I serve with red potatoes and cooked baby carrots

Freezer Bag Meals!

Simplify your life by making Freezer Bag Meals!

For me, this method of freezer meals is a life saver! There are a few days out of the week that are the hardest, due to our schedule, for meals to get on the table. So, I needed something always ready to pull from the freezer and put in the crock pot. NO prep mess, EASY clean up!I take one day in the beginning of the month to do my freezer bag meals. I put together anywhere from 5-8 meals in only a few hours. Get your meat on sale, chicken or chuck roast, and save for your freezer meals.


All you do is trim meat, rinse and pat dry with paper towel, then place in a freezer bag. Add all your ingredients (except cheese, beans, corn, etc.) Anything you want cooked the full amount of time in the crockpot will do.
Place bags laying flat into the freezer. Take bag out of freezer the night before and let it defrost in the fridge. The next morning dump contents into crock pot, or place on grill, or in casserole dish for the oven! Some of these recipes you can use for grilling or baking as well. Thats the great part about it, you can use whatever method of cooking you want, or that your recipe can work for.


Here are some of my favorite recipes. Just prep your meat the way you want it to be in your crockpot or grill etc. Depending, I will sometimes cut mine up in chunks,for beef stroganoff, or Creamy italian chicken) or leave chicken the way it is for other recipes, like grilling.




Make sure you label your bags with the date and recipe, you could also add any other special cooking instructions.

Italian crock pot chicken- (Add all ingredients to bag, just dice up cream cheese and butter into cubes)-serve over rice or noodles-
Creamy Southwestern chicken -(just salsa and chicken, add black beans and corn later!) Use leftovers for tacos,burritos, tortilla chicken soup, quesadillias
Cafe Rio Chicken- (Mix together all ingredients, then pour overn chicken in the freezer bag)- Burritos, nachos, quesadillas, soups
Cheesy crock pot chicken- (Mix all ingredients together, then pour over chicken in freezer bag)Over rice or noodles
Roast chicken- Along side baked or roasted potatoes
Beef Stroganoff or Roast- (Mix all ingredients together, then pour over chicken in freezer bag)- Serve Along side mashed potatoes or over rice or noodles
BBQ Chicken- serve with rice or potatoes
Thai BBQ chicken (Mix all ingredients together, pour over chicken, I love this one for an all ready to grill chicken dinner!)

Click here for Grilling Freezer Bag meals and more recipes!

Crock pot roast

This is a Fabulous and Easy recipe for crock pot roast.

Our star ingredient.....


Montreal Steak Seasoning from McCormick!

Ingredients: 1 beef roast (rump, cross rib or chuck)
1 onion, sliced
McCormicks Montreal Steak seasoning

Put roast in crockpot, cover with seasoning (I used 3 TBS) and 1 sliced onion.
DO NOT add water! Cook on low 8 hours. Meat just falls apart and the onions are camalized and delicious. I topped mashed potatoes with the onions, but you could thinken the broth with flour if you want a gravy.

Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:
1 lb. stew meat, cubed

½ C. dried minced onion

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can mushrooms, drained

¼ tsp. garlic salt

1 C. sour cream (for richer taste, substitute
1 pkg cream cheese)




Combine all ingredients except sour cream in greased slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat 6-8 hours. Add sour cream the last hour of cooking. Makes 4-6 servings
Spoon over noodles

Classic Roast

Cross Rib or pot roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 sliced onion, into rings
1 pkt lipton onion soup mix
*optional- potatoes, carrots

Place carrots and potatoes in crockpot. Place roast on top. Mix cream of mushroom soup with lipton soup mix. Pour over roast. Scatter sliced onions all over top and botton. Cook on low 6-8 hours! Delicious and perfect everytime!!

Oven Porcupines

1lb Ground Beef 1/8t. Garlic Powder
½ C Uncooked rice 1/8t. pepper
½ C Water 1 Can Tomato Sauce (15oz)
1/3 C Chopped Onion 1 C Water
1t. Salt 2t. Worcestershire Sauce

Mix meat, rice, water, onion, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Shape into balls. Place into baking dish. Stir together remaining ingredients. Cover with foil and bake 45 min. Uncover and bake 15 min. longer

French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 jigger dry sherry, optional
2 cans beef consommé, found on broth and soups aisle or beef broth
1 1/2 pounds deli sliced roast beef
Grill seasoning blend for steak, such as Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend, or, coarse salt and pepper
4 torpedo sandwich rolls, split

Directions
In a large, shallow skillet over moderate heat, melt butter. Add shallots to butter and sauté 2 minutes. Add flour to butter and shallot and cook a minute longer. Whisk in sherry and cook liquid out. Whisk in consommé in a slow stream. Bring sauce to a bubble and allow simmering over low heat until ready to serve sandwiches.
Pile meat loosely across your cutting board or a large work surface. Season meat with grill seasoning or salt and black pepper. Set out 4 ramekins or small soup cups for dipping sauce, 4 dinner plates and 4 split torpedo rolls. To assemble, using a pair of kitchen tongs, dip meat into loose au jus sauce and pile into rolls. Set ramekins or cups with extra dipping sauce along side the sandwiches.



Food Storage Way to do this meal:

1pkg. Au Ju
1 Can Roast Beef
4-6 Rolls or home made rolls

Mix your sauce according to package directions. Remove about ¼ Cup of sauce and set aside. Add shredded roast beef to your sauce and let stew for 5-10 min. Warm your rolls, slice in half and then spoon mixture into rolls. Dip into reserves sauce.

Taquito's

Awesome Food Storage Recipe

Can Roast Beef- shredded

Mozzarella Cheese

Corn or Flour Tortilla

Olive Oil

Sour Cream

Avocado

Marinara sauce

Heat tortilla in microwave for 25 seconds to make rolling easier and prevent tearing

Drizzle oil in med heated fry pan. Roll beef and cheese up, place seam side down in pan and fry 2 min on each side. Serve with favorite toppings.

These are great to freeze for quick kids meal.

Smothered Beef and Bean Burritos

Alright, we tried out this Food Storage Recipe and it is a definite go! You can do a lot of different things to it by way of topping. I just did cheese this time, but I think after baking, next time top with sour cream, shredded lettuce and olives and oh my goodness- heaven!

Sorry about no picture, we ate them so fast when it dawned on me to take one they were demolished!

Ingredients:

2 cans pinto beans
½ lb ground beef
1/2 pkg taco seasoning
½ onion, chopped
½ jar salsa
8 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 can diced chilies
8-10 flour tortillas (the uncooked Costco kind are the best-cook first, obviously)
Red Enchilada sauce

Directions:

Brown meat, drain, then add onion and taco seasoning (add about ¼ c water to pan). Cook until onion is tender. Add chilies and salsa. Puree beans in blender until smooth, and then add to pan. Stir in cheese, mix well. Spoon onto tortillas and fold up. Wrap in foil and bake @ 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove foil, place in baking dish, and smother with enchilada sauce and shredded cheese, return to oven and bake at 425 until cheese is bubbly. You can also freeze them in the foil for a quick meal later. Just bake at 350 for 45 min (in foil). For kids, I omit the hamburger and just have bean and cheese burritos.

Taco Soup

Gotta have this in your food storage recipes! This freezes beautifully!
One our most favorite comfort meals. You can be versitile with what kind of beans you use!

(picture from Dinners ready)
Taco soup

½ lb ground beef, browned
1 can tomato soup
1 can water
1 can corn (drained)
1 can kidney beans (drained)
1 can chili beans (drained)
1 can stewed or crushed tomatoes
1 can green chilies
½-3/4 package taco seasoning
Fritos
sour cream
shredded cheese
Combine all ingredients, except Fritos, sour cream and cheese. Cook over med heat until heated thoroughly. Top with Fritos, cheese and sour cream.

Mini Meat loaves

This idea came from the magazine Kraft Food & Family. I subscribe to their quarterly magazine and it’s FREE! It has great easy recipes with lots and lots of pictures (every recipe book needs pictures!) They do advertise using almost all Kraft products, but I just use whatever I’ve got at home already.

Mini Meatloaf Recipe:

Favorite Meatloaf recipe
bbq sauce
salt & pepper
cheese - cheddar, or something stronger would be yum
(Source: Makeandtakes)
Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray. Place in a handful of prepared meatloaf into each muffin tin. Press your thumb into each meatloaf ball, making a space for toppings. Squirt a dollap of bbq sauce into the space and salt and pepper. Bake in a pre-heated 375* oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through (160F). Add your favorite cheese and bake for another 5 or so minutes.

Crock Pot Lasagna

(source: Tammy's Recipes)
Slow Cooker Lasagna
* 8 lasagna noodles, uncooked
* 1 lb. ground beef
* 1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
* 28 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
* 1/3 cup water
* 4 oz. can mushrooms
* 15 oz. ricotta or 24 oz. cottage cheese
* 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation
1. Break noodles. Place half in bottom of greased slow cooker.

2. Brown ground beef. Drain. Stir in Italian seasoning. Spread half over noodles in slow cooker.

3. Layer half of sauce and water, half of mushrooms, half of ricotta or cottage cheese and half of mozzarella cheese over beef. Repeat layers.

4. Cover. Cook on low for 5 hours. (You can also double these ingredients and make 3 layers.)