Taco Soup

I made this on Halloween, the perfect fall soup!  This soup is even acceptable to the mister bc it's definitely hearty!  It's a Paula Deen recipe so you know it's that good!  And easy?  Yes!

For this soup, you'll need:

• 2 lbs ground beef (I used about a pound and a half)
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 - 15 1/2 oz cans pink kidney beans
• 2 - 15 1/2 oz cans pinto beans
• 1 - 15 1/2 oz can of niblet corn, drained
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz can Del Monte mexican tomatoes*
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz can Del Monte tomatoes with chilies*
• 1 - 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 - 4 1/2 oz cans diced green chilies*
• 1/2 cup green olives, sliced - optional
• 1 - 1 1/4 oz pkg taco seasoning mix
• 1 - 1 oz pkg Hidden Valley Original Ranch salad dressing mix
• Corn chips
• Sour cream
• grated cheese
• chopped onions

**I used 2 cans of Rotel instead of the Del Monte tomatoes, I couldn't find them

**I used one - 7 oz can of diced green chilies

Brown meat with onion, drain fat.

Pour in beans, corn, tomatoes, chilies, olives, and seasonings.  If using crockpot, cook on low for 6-8 hours or simmer on low heat for an hour in stockpot for an hour.  I simmered mine on the stove for a little more than an hour.

To serve, we tested fritos on the bottom, before ladling the soup, or topping soup with fritos.  Both me & the hubby agree, topping with fritos is better than putting fritos first - the crunch was much better to us than soggy chips!

After the chips, I also topped it with sour cream, shredded cheddar & green olives.  I guess black olives would work, too, but this mama gets grossed out by black olives so they don't make it to anything cooked in this kitchen :)

Doesn't it look yummy?!?  Totally Yummy!!

Breakfast Tacos...for Dinner

I LOVE this meal!!  I love it because it's simple, easy, the possibilities are endless, it's super yummy, and...I didn't cook it!  Haha!  The hubby did the cooking!  Score!  (I did notice that he didn't do the clean up, as well, but Rome wasn't built in a day :)

We were in need of dinner on Saturday night and had all these ingredients so it came together nicely!  The pic shows flour tortillas, but we also had corn tortillas (leftover from the King Ranch Chicken) and I loved it with the corn tortillas!  Such a yummy change!  I plan to have these on the menu more often now that I realize how simple & easy they are.  (And bc Hubby will cook the eggs :)

For this you'll need:

• eggs
• milk
• shredded cheese (we used mexican blend and cheddar)
• green pepper, diced
• butter
• pepper (to taste)
• tortillas (corn or flour)
• your favorite salsa
• sour cream, optional
• guacamole, tomatoes, pico de gallo, really the possibilities are endless!!

Saute green pepper until crisp/tender in about 1 tbsp butter

Now this is the even sweeter part - the Mister took some pictures!  LOVE it!  He wanted to show the ridiculous amount of eggs I got on sale at Albertson's last week :)

And the pyrex cup that he mixed the eggs (he used NINE, no you don't have to use that many, NO we did not eat that many, it was TOO much), about 1/3 cup milk, pepper to taste and whisked it in the pyrex cup.  He then poured it in a nonstick pan that he had already coated with melted butter (1-2 tbsp).    When eggs are beginning to set, scramble them, and continue to scramble them until desired doneness.  

Add choice of cheese and stir in until melted.  Add green peppers and any other additions at this point.

Yum, yum, yummy!!

We all loaded up ours differently - I did sour cream, eggs, salsa - it was fabulous!!  We will be having these again!  Thank you, Hubby!

Sinfully Awesome Mashed Potatoes

Oh my heavens, if you're watching what you eat, you need to just skip this recipe.  Don't even look at it.  Seriously, it's not good for you.  At. all.  But it's DELICIOUS!!!  Sinfully Awesome, actually!!  I started from a Twice Baked potato recipe from the same place I got this , decided I wanted to make mashed potatoes instead of individual, and referred to my favorite red & white Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, and voila!  Sinfully Awesome Mashed Potatoes!!  A must try!!  But only if you love cheese, butter, sour cream, and bacon!!

For this you'll need:

• 8 medium russet potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into slices (you could probably use a bit less butter, like 1/4 cup :)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cups grated sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 2 green onions, sliced

Start by peeling and slicing the potatoes.  I then put them in boiling salted water for 20 minutes.  While they are cooking, I got started on the rest it...

Cook the bacon till brown and crispy.  Drain on paper towel.

Combine butter, sour cream, milk, bacon, green onions, 1/2 cup cheese, seasoned salt and pepper.  Mix and put in refrigerator until potatoes are ready.

After potatoes are drained, season with additional seasoned salt and pepper to taste.

I was going to use a mixer to whip my potatoes, but decided that I really just like mine kind of lumpy so I just used a large fork to mash.  It worked well and was super easy.

Then mix potatoes with butter mixture

Put in greased dish.  Top with cheese (I used about 1 cup of cheese, but you may want to use more :)  Bake in 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until sides are bubbly and cheese is melted.

Looks pretty good when it comes out!

And AMAZING on your plate!!  Seriously. Amazingly. Yummy.

And we had some with the beef stew from the night before - a perfect compliment!  And, yes, I only ate the beef pieces out of the stew - no squash was had by me :)  But I sure did have a second helping of those potatoes!!

Game Day Steak Fajitas

I don't know why I never tried fajitas before - they were SO easy!!  I started from a recipe off the back of the Mission tortilla bag and went from there.  I didn't get a "before" ingredient picture because I prepared everything in stages.  Again, I did a quick freeze on the meat so that I could cut it into strips - this makes it SO much easier!  I even had some that defrosted a little too much so I just stuck it back in the freezer a little longer and once it firmed up, easy once again.  Start to finish, cooking time for this meal took less than 30 minutes.  It took about 15 minutes to prep the meat and slice the veggies, prior to that, but all in all, an easy meal!  You'll need:

• about 1 pound of sirloin steak
• Italian dressing
• chili pepper
• 1 green pepper, cut into strips
• 1 sweet onion, sliced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• tortillas
• tomatoes (optional, garnish)
• avocado (optional, garnish)
• sour cream (optional, garnish)
• shredded cheese (optional, garnish)

The original recipe said to marinate steak strips in Italian dressing for 6-24 hours beforehand.  This would be great if I had made time to do this that far in advance.  However, reality strikes and I marinated my steak for about 2 hours prior to cooking.  It turned out fine, but I'm sure the longer time in the marinade, the better.  Use enough Italian dressing to thoroughly coat all meat.

Before you get started cooking, wrap tortillas in foil and put in oven to warm.  I put mine in at 350 and then lowered it to 'warm' after about 15 minutes until we were ready to eat.

Cook marinated meat in 2 tbs olive oil, over medium heat until browned

Add onions and green peppers, cook to desired tenderness.  I covered the pan here and it worked well.  In the last few minutes of cooking, I added about 1 tbs chili pepper.  You can easily adjust any of these measurements to suit your own taste.  We like chili pepper at our house, so the more, the better!

This next step is only for mushroom-loving crazies like me.  I've decided that I have a love of mushrooms that parallels my love of garlic powder.  You get the idea.  Anyway, so I removed the meat/onion mixture and left the juices in the pan...and you know what comes next - I added the mushrooms right to that!  Oh, yummmmmy!  (I know for you fajita enthusiasts, this is blasphemy, but I'm telling you, I just wanted mushrooms on this night.  And let me tell you, it worked!)

Last step - load up your fajitas!!  We will be having these again!  I was initially skeptical about the Italian dressing marinade for the fajitas, but it totally works.  Everyone in the family made their fajitas differently and the way they wanted so it was fabulous!

What's your favorite fajita?

Corn Dip

This is one of my favorite dips - perfect for football watching!  This is my favorite time of the year and I thought this entire week would be dedicated to football food on Cowtown Cooking!  No matter what team you cheer for, all of these foods will be perfect for your next game watching party.

I was first introduced to this dip in Chicago, by my teacher friends, and I have loved it ever since!  Now, I know that it may seem a little strange, but trust me, it's yummy!  And I'm not a mayonnaise person, but it works in this dip.  I just put it in really fast and mix it up so I don't have to think about it being in there - ha!  But all the flavors just work together and make for an easy, yummy dip for Fritos or Tortilla Chips.

You'll need:

• two cans Mexicorn (drained)
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cups finely shredded cheese (your choice, I used a Mexican blend)
• 3 green onions, chopped
• optional:  3 diced, seeded jalapenos (to taste)

Just mix all ingredients in a bowl and chill until ready to serve.  Serve with chips.  Let me know if you like it!

Beef a la Duetsch

I will be trying this very soon!  Thanks for sharing, Emily!

http://strongprojects.blogspot.com/2011/02/beef-la-duetsch.html

Creamy Cilantro Sauce

Thanks to Lori for our first contribution!  I agree this would be great heated up as a sauce or chilled as a dip.  Enjoy!

Creamy Cilantro Sauce
1 pint of sour cream
1 bunch of cilantro
2 jalapenos, 1 seeded and 1 whole

Throw all in a blender until smooth!