Beef Enchilada Casserole

OH. MY. YUMMINESS.  This is a Pampered Chef recipe, modified, and I can’t TELL you how easy it is to prepare!!

Photo credit and an alternate recipe

Preheat: 350* OR Microwave
Categories: Casserole, Pampered Chef, Mexican, Enchilada, Easy, Pictures!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey
1 10-oz can enchilada sauce
2 Tblsp taco seasoning
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup water
½ cup chunky salsa
12 yellow corn tortillas
1 Tblsp dried cilantro
1 cup shredded Colby jack cheese

1. If BAKING, preheat the oven to 350*

2. Combine the turkey, taco seasoning, and salt and brown the meat.

3. Add enchilada sauce, water, and salsa.  Bring to a simmer.

4. Meanwhile, cut tortillas into 1/2” – 1” strips.

5. Layer into a 9x13 pan.  I used my Pampered Chef Covered Baker (no, this is not a paid advert!)! 

Layer #1: 1/2 of tortilla strips
Layer #2: 1/2 of meat mixture
Layer #3: 1/2 of shredded cheese
Layer #4: remaining tortilla strips
Layer #5: remaining meat mixture
Layer #6: remaining cheese
Layer #7: sprinkle the cilantro for garnish.

5. If BAKING, place pan into oven and bake at 350* for 30 minutes or until bubbling hot.  If MICROWAVING in your covered baker, microwave on HIGH for 3-5 minutes.  Either way, let it rest for five minutes before serving.

 

P.S. This is a test—Please leave a comment to let me know if you can see Janda Quirkygirl as the font.  :)

Broiled Orange

This should actually be called A Little Bit of Heaven or something like that…  This recipe is from DelightedMomma.com.  She posts regular HEALTHY, YUMMY recipes!  My husband (who doesn’t care for oranges and/or citrus) AND my children (who are incredibly picky) rated this a 10/10!

Ingredients

A large orange (I used seedless, hahaha)
1 tbs of coconut sugar or raw brown sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 tsp of cinnamon

Preparation

1. Slice orange in half. Remove seeds.
2. Using a sharp knife detach the orange from the peel. Slice the orange into sections following the natural pattern of the orange. This will make it easy for bite size pieces
3. Turn your broiler on high.
4. Sprinkle mixture of sugar and cinnamon onto orange. I would pre-mix the sugar and cinnamon next time…  just to make the carmelized sauce a little more cohesive.
5. Place orange halves into an oven safe dish and broil for about 6 minutes or until the sugar is brown and bubbling. Six minutes was PERFECT for me.
6. Enjoy right away! This little treat is best when it's straight out of the oven.  Mmmm, nom, nom, nom.

Asian Honey Chicken

I haven’t blogged a lot of new recipes because they’ve simply been lacking!  But I’ve started following some different food blogs, and these ladies are awesome!  They plan out their week’s menu using online links, or their own creations, giving the links for each.  If it sounds good, I put it into my Cozi meal planner and then plan out my menus from the recipes I have copied/pasted.

This menu item is from Leanne at SavingDinner.com, and OH BOY is it good!  You can subscribe to her and receive a daily e-mail, and I’d say about 1/4 of them have delicious recipes included.  She also offers meal plans for a reasonable price and has, I think it’s four, books out right now, filled to the brim with amazing recipes.  As if that weren’t enough, she has an online radio show every Wednesday filled with good tips (the link I gave you goes to the website and there’s a wealth of archives).  I have learned a LOT about nutrition and healthy, delicious substitutes (along with ways to prepare them).

(This is not a paid advertisement—I found Leanne through FlyLady.com and love her!)

Without further ado, here’s Asian Honey Chicken!

Ingredients

1/4 cup Sesame Oil (I didn’t have this in my pantry and picked it up for about $4 at Kroger.)
1/4 cup Honey
1/4 cup Low-sodium soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, pressed
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, sliced into strips (I did a double-take—that’s a lot of chicken!  I ended up using FIVE, and it made enough for dinner for 4, lunch for my husband, and TWO MORE frozen… I LOVE having things in my freezer that are delicious and easy-to-heat!!!)
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
5 green onions, minced (I forgot to get these, so I used some dried chives that I had on-hand)
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 small carrots, grated

Serve with Brown rice (I used my yummy white rice recipe because I’m on a tight budget and I have a huge bag of white rice to get through—delicious!!)

Preparation

1. Mix together oil, honey, soy sauce & garlic. Marinate chicken for 8 hours or so.

2. Heat vegetable oil in wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté chicken until nearly all cooked then add remaining ingredients. Cook until veggies are tender, and chicken is cooked thoroughly.

Spinach-Fruit Smoothies

Here’s another invented recipe that we’ve been enjoying.  I wanted to make a smoothie that had spinach.  I had heard it was surprisingly good!  But I didn’t want to have to add any sugars… not even honey, or other less traditional sugar substitutes.  I think you’re going to like this one!

Preheat: --
Category: Smoothie, Spinach, Fruit

2 cups Frozen, chopped fruit (you can buy some yummy fruit mixes, or you can pre-chop and freeze in batches—customizing is half the fun!)
2-4 cups Milk (we used skim milk)
1-2 Apples, chopped (we used a Gala apple, and NO, you don’t have to peel.  Heck, I didn’t even CORE the apple!!)
1 cup Yogurt (we used strawberry yogurt)
1 Orange, chopped, optional
2-3 cups Spinach leaves

1. In a blender, pour in 2 cups of milk to start, then add the chopped apple(s) and orange.  Blend until smooth.

2.  Add the frozen, chopped fruit.  Blend until smooth.  Add milk as needed for texture and blending purposes.  Obviously, your concoction is going to be thicker or thinner for your taste, based on how much milk you end up using.  We like the texture of a thicker shake, so I will push the frozen, difficult-to-blend fruit, guiding it to the blade.  Caution: The blade can rip through many things, including a wooden spoon!  Just ask my husband!!  :)

3. Add the cup of yogurt, and through the open lid, start adding the spinach.  Blend until smooth and green.  Mmmm, nom, nom, nom, this sounds so good.  The green color is off-putting, I’ll admit, but my kids LOVED it, and so did my very skeptical husband.  And for the record, there were no wooden spoon bits in my smoothie!!

4.  Serve cold.  And if you’re like us, all smoothies taste better when consumed through a straw.  And a chilled mug.  :)

Classic Pancakes–Revisited!

I have long had a favorite pancakes recipe.  But since we are changing up our eating lifestyle at our house I thought that if we were going to have pancakes, maybe I could do something to make them have more UMPH!  We’re kicking it up a notch!!  (And by the way, these tasted no different to my kids than regular pancakes, BOO-YAH.)

This is a double batch, but since I haven’t tested it with a halved batch, this is what you get!  Half at your own risk.  ;)

Preheat: --
Category: Breakfast, pancakes, oatmeal

12 Eggs
3 cup Milk
2 1/4 cup Oatmeal, finely ground (I used my little food processor, but you can also use a blender)
4 cups All-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Table. Oil
4 Table. Baking powder
1 Table. Salt
1 Table. Sugar

1.  In a large bowl, mix together the ground oatmeal, flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

2. In a second large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, and oil.

3. Pour the whisked liquids into the mixed dry ingredients and whisk well.

4. Heat up the griddle until water sizzles.  Turn the heat down to about an 8, or the higher side of medium-high.  Prepare pan surface with non-stick spray.

5. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, measure out a serving of batter onto the hot griddle.  Cook until bubbles form, and the middle bubbles do not refill.  If your pancake is burnt at this point, turn the heat down!

6. Serve hot with your choice of syrups, jams, powdered sugar, or just plain.

Pan-Seared Sirloin Steak

MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, Yummy.  I know it’s simple, but it’s a delicious classic.

Category: Beef, steak

Ingredients:
1 lb. Beef sirloin steak, 1” thick
1/4 teas. Lemon pepper seasoning
1 teas. Grated lemon peel
1 Tbsp. Soy sauce
2 Tbsp. Olive oil

Directions:
1. Sprinkle beef with lemon pepper
2. Mix in other ingredients + 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
3. Brush on beef.
4. In a 10” skillet, heat up the other tablespoon of olive oil  at a hot medium heat.
5. Add beef for 10-12 minutes—browned on both sides.

Black Bean Soup

This is a recipe from Mrs. John W. Fox, who knew we’d want the recipe!

Category: Beans, Soup
Preheat: --


Ingredients:
1 can of Black black beans (Or you can use my yummy, no-soak crockpot beans recipe)
1/2 cup Vegetable broth
2 Carrots, chopped
1/4 cup Onion, chopped
1-2 cloves Garlic
1 Tbsp. Olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup Corn (frozen or canned)


Directions:
1. Cook carrots, onion, and garlic in the vegetable broth.
2. Add in black beans
3. Add corn, olive oil, salt and pepper
4. Cook until corn is tender or crisp, your preference.