Taco Sauce

It's been a while but I'm still around. Super busy trying to get the house sold though so I'm low on time. I did however try my hand at making taco sauce! I was making the amazing burritos I posted previously and realized I didn't have any so I went out searching and found a recipe at Terri's Kitchen blog. and it was awesome.

Please feel free to ignore the mess around and enjoy this great recipe that is super easy to make and WAY cheaper than buying it in a bottle. Especially if you consider that (at least for me) 1/2 the bottle ends up going bad in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:
1 can tomato sauce
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp  onion powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce

Directions:
Combine everything! SUPER easy right?
Original instructions say to wait 30 minutes to let the flavors marinate together but I just used it and it was great.

So, as for cost, you've got like $.35 in the can of tomato sauce (I think), cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder are all $.99 per large jar at aldi. Oregano and the worcestershire sauce are probably the big expenses but I already have them in the house generally.  Still FAR less than spending $2-3 on a bottle of the stuff.

Spicy Sausage Supper

Picture taken from original recipe page
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/recipes/dinner/spicy-sausage-pasta.html#_a5y_p=668423&_a5y_p=976718

So we made this awesome casserole last night. Its called Spicy Sausage Supper and I honestly didn't think it would be too bad. I mean take a look at the ingredients, none of them are all that spicy. I didn't change a couple things but not too much. You can find the original by clicking the above link.

Here is my sad looking picture. Its just leftovers at this point because
I didn't have the camera around last night.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil
1 lb smoked sausage
Handful of diced onion
1/2 a spoon of minced garlic
2 cups water
1 (10 oz) can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, Mild
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz penne pasta
2 cups Colby Jack cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to a skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Add sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
2. Add broth, tomatoes, cream, pasta, and stir. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Add cheese on top of the skillet. Leave on heat until cheese is melted.

Synopsis: 

This dish was really yummy and full of flavor. It was a bit spicy for me but not too bad. Andrew loved it and said it was perfect taste/spice wise.

White Bread

I did it! After quite a few attempts at bread I finally had a loaf of bread turn out. The whole rising thing was really getting to me but I finally had a batch that turned out and it is delicious. I got the recipe here from Delia Creates.

So, here is how you do it.

Ingredients and directions:
If you want step by step pictures please view on the site I found the recipe on. 
Step 1: Whisk together in a large bowl; 2.5 cups HOT water, 1/3 cup oil, 1/3 cup sugar or honey, 1 tbsp salt
Step 2: Add 3/4 cup flour, whisk for 30 seconds
Step 3: Add 1.5 tbsp , whisk for 30 seconds
Step 4: Add 5-7 cups of flour and kneed until dough is soft and no longer sticky (if you are doing it by hand and not a mixer, please refer to the linked recipe for instructions on adding flour). It should be at least 5 minutes.
Step 5: Let rise in clean greased covered bowl for 30 minutes. Set your oven for 450 degrees for a minute or less then turn it off before placing the oven safe bowl inside.
Step 6: Remove dough from oven and preheat to 175
Step 7: Grease your bread pans and counter and divide the dough. I did 3 medium loaves using a loaf pan and putting the other 2 in a 9x13
Step 8: Roll the dough into an oblong shape getting all the air bubbles out.
Step 9: Roll the dough in a cylinder form and tuck the ends under.
Step 10: Place dough in 175 degree oven for 30 minutes until the dough rises and fills the pan
Step 11: Turn oven up to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow.

So, I used honey for my sweetener because I had some lying around that wasn't getting used and I think its a little healthier than sugar. The bread turned out amazing. Its a little dense but tastes amazing. Austin even had a jelly sandwich with it today for lunch. The two loaves I sat in the 9x13 pan came out a little flat as they spread out more than up when rising but the one I did in the loaf pan (middle loaf) turned out nicely. The loaves are taller than they look I just took the photo at an odd angle apparently.

Also, for the yeast I ended up using a rapid rise yeast. The 1.5 tbsp is 1.5 packets  if that helps as well. I hand whisked everything and once ready to mix with flour I put it in my mixer and used my dough hook.

Don't forget to let me know if you try this recipe or any of my other ones. I'll be making cake this weekend and probably another dessert as well so stay tuned for some more great recipes.

Chicken Tacos (Croc Pot Recipe)

I tried a new chicken taco recipe late last week and we totally loved it and it was super easy.

Ok, I don't have a picture of this. I thought the recipe would be online but its not the same as what they (Taste of Home) has in their cookbook. It's from their kids pleasers cookbook if you wanted to know.

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs chicken breast (ish)
1 jar of salsa (I use meijer)
1 can of corn (or frozen) drained
1 can of black beans drained

Directions:
Mix the corn and black beans together
Layer 2/3 of the above mixture, 1/2 the salsa, chicken, then remaining 1/3 mixture and 1/2 jar of salsa in your slow cooker.
Cook on high for 3-4 hours.
Shred the chicken and cook for another hour or just keep it warm.
Serve with: tortilla shells, sour cream, lettuce, shredded cheese, and whatever other taco toppings you prefer.

As for the 2.5 lbs of chicken, I used 2 think large chicken breasts, cut them in half, and it made 1 layer of chicken in the crock pot.

This was a HUGE hit here that everyone loved it made a TON too. We had leftovers for quite a while and that was eating it all the time. :)

Found a picture that it kind of looks like but keep in mind, this is NOT top notch photography! :P

Egg Free Pancakes!

Okay, so you all may not be as excited as I am but I tried a new recipe tonight for pancakes without egg. And, for those of you who are not aware, my son can not have egg therefore I've been trying to figure out breakfast foods he can have. So, here we have it....


Photography by Ben Dearnley via taste.com - image is linked to original recipe

Ingredients: 
slightly adapted for us conversions and my taste
2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups milk
3 tbsp butter (melted)
4 tsp white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Combine flour, sugar, and baking soda.
Create well and pour milk, butter, vinegar, and vanilla in.
Mix together (I left a couple clumps)
Pour into pan, flip when they bubble and then serve.

The original recipe was 1/2 of this and called for 1/4 cup of sugar. Some of the reviews stated that the pancakes were a bit on the sweet side so when I doubled it I went with 1/3 instead of 1/2 cup. They came out plenty sweet.

As soon as Andrew tasted these he said he loved them. I have to say (along with many of the reviews at taste.come/au) that these taste better than a lot of the pancake recipes I've tried with egg so they are definitely going to become the pancake of choice here.

Taco Pizza

I have a whole bunch of newer recipes to share with you today. Hopefully I'll get each done. I'll post separately so you can link to or pin just the ones you like.  First up is...

Kid-Pleasing Taco Pizza

Photo  from Taste of HomeRecipe is adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1 Pizza Crust
1 lb ground pork (you can use beef or turkey as well)
Taco Seasoning (or 1/2 tbsp of garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and onion powder)
1 can refried beans
1.5-2 cups shredded taco/mexican blend cheese
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1 bag of shredded lettuce
Optional Extras: Sour Cream, Taco Sauce, and Salsa

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425
Bake the crust until its slightly brown on the edges. Even if its a premade crust this will make it a little crispier.
Meanwhile, brown the ground meat until no longer pink. If your meat isn't real fatty go ahead and put the following seasoning in while you brown. If you will need to drain the meat, you'll want to wait to add seasoning after you drain it
Add taco seasoning OR the garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and onion powder)
Mix in the can of refried beans
Spread mixture over the pizza crust (mine was really think on a smaller premade crust)
Sprinkle cheese over the meat mixture
Bake at 425 for 5-7 minutes until cheese is melted
Top with lettuce and tomato.

Note: You can also serve it as is, providing all the lettuce, tomato, salsa, taco sauce, etc as toppings so you can fix it however you like.

Summary

This recipe was awesome! Due to the crust size (standard pre made crust) the meat mixture was really thick, it still tasted great. If you used refrigerated dough you could probably spread it out a lot more.

I made mine with tomatoes and lettuce (just about a full salad on top of my piece) and loved it. Andrew did salsa and taco sauce  the first time and bbq sauce the second and really liked it. We'll definitely be keeping this one on the list for a long time!

Mock Chicken Parmesean

Ok, I saw the post (linked above) on SixSister's today and thought I would give it a try tonight with a few changes. I already had everything in the house anyway. They actually turned out pretty well. Not a gourmet meal by any means but quick, easy, and cheap!

Here is what you need:
8 chicken nuggets
1 can of crescent rolls
Spaghetti Sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Butter
Garlic Powder
Italian Seasoning

How to do it:
Unroll all 8 crescent rolls from the can.
Place 1 chicken nugget in each of the rolls (on the large side)
I used a regular teaspoon to scoop some sauce on top of each nugget (not a measuring spoon)
Add some cheese to the top of that (I used as much as I could get to stay on top)
Roll up the crescent rolls
Bake @ 350 for about 15 minutes. You'll want to take them out when they start to brown.

How it turned out:
They were pretty good. Not restaurant quality by any means. I used basic chicken nuggets and they were a little soggy instead of crispy. If I had more time I may try and bake those first. They could have used more sauce but wasn't much room in the roll for that so we just dipped them in the extra sauce.  Everyone, including Austin, enjoyed them so we'll definitely do them again.


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