Mexican Cornbread

Here is Trent's mom's recipe for Mexican Cornbread. Made this over the holidays with our tamales.
Trent raved about it (I think I might try it next time without the bacon drippings)

1Cup yellow cornmeal
2 eggs well beaten
1Cup milk
1/2 tsp. soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 can cream style corn
1/4 Cup bacon drippings

Mix all above ingredients & set aside.
Saute 1/2 lb. ground beef--drain
1large chopped onion
1/2 lb. grated sharp cheddar cheese
2-4 chopped jalapeño peppers--seeded & deveined

Mix with other ingredients; heat 2 iron skillets w/oil & sprinkle a thin layer of cornmeal on the bottom. Pour batter in & bake at 360 degrees for 45-50 min. Or until it is done.

Cheesesteak Sandwiches

Found this recipe on "our best bites" website. We think it's a keeper! 

Ingredients:

1 lb. thin sliced steak

butter or cooking oil

1 green bell pepper

1 medium yellow onion

provolone cheese

s&p, garlic salt

hot sauce (optional: like tabasco, Cholula or Frank's Red Hot, etc.)

mayo (optional)

4-6 hoagie rolls

Directions:

1. Slice steak into thin strips (or however you prefer it sliced) & season it up (I used s&p and garlic salt)

2. Slice bell peppers & onions

3. Heat oil or butter in skillet, add the steak and stir fry

4.When meat is about half cooked, add peppers & onions. Stir occasionally cooking until meat is cooked through & onions/peppers are soft

5. Season with a little hot sauce 

6. Place this mixture inside open faced hoagie roll & top with provolone cheese

7. Place under broiler for 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted and bread is slightly toasty 

8. Add a little mayo to the bun if you like

Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This reminded me of California Pizza Kitchen's BBQ pizza, but we liked it better because the flat bread kept it from being so filling (we like thin pizza crust anyway)! This is definitely now on the top of our make-again list!

Wanted to have a visual on the exact ingredients I used!

Ingredients:

whole wheat tortillas (or flat bread)
cooked, chopped boneless, skinless chicken breast (I used 1 pkg of boneless, skinless ckn tenders)
BBQ sauce
Shredded cheese (the original recipe called for Gouda, but I used the kind in picture above)
red onion, thinly sliced & cut in slivers
fresh cilantro chopped

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. I seasoned my chicken tenders w/ s&p, garlic salt and brushed them w/BBQ sauce, baked them for 20 minutes & shredded them beforehand
3. Place tortillas on pan (I used my pampered chef bar pan, but you could use a cookie sheet...may need to spray it first?)
4. Spread a little BBQ sauce all over the tortillas (use this instead of pizza sauce)
5. Toss shredded chicken with a little more BBQ sauce; divide chicken among tortillas and sprinkle each with cheese & onions.
6. Bake for 5-7 minutes until cheese melts & tortillas are lightly browned.
7. Remove from oven & sprinkle with the cilantro.

Baja Taco Blitz

This is a Weight Watchers recipe so it's healthy and yummy! I tweaked the recipe slightly (mainly I seasoned the chicken with the same ingredients from the Pioneer Women's Chicken Tortilla soup recipe) it makes the chicken taste divine! This is a great keeper! I served pinto beans as a side.

Ingredients:

1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic pwd
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili pwd
olive oil
boneless skinless chicken breast tenders
corn tortillas
sliced onion
sliced bell pepper

optional toppings:
sliced avocado
fat free sour cream
shredded lettuce
shredded fat free cheddar cheese
salsa
fresh chopped cilantro

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a small bowl mix the first 4 ingredients/seasonings. Place chicken on a bar pan or some other type pan that has a ridge (so chicken grease won't drip off). Drizzle the chicken tenders with olive oil then sprinkle the entire bowl of seasonings over the chicken--tossing to ensure they're fully coated.
Bake the tenders for about 15-20 minutes until no longer pink.

3.  While chicken is baking saute the bell pepper & onion; place to the side after cooking.

4.  Remove chicken from oven, allow to cool & then shred/cut into bite size pieces.

5. In the same skillet used for onion & bell pepper--add a little olive oil and heat on low heat.
Place a corn tortilla in skillet and cook, flipping gently, occasionally until tortilla is soft. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.

6.  Fill each tortilla with the chicken, onions/bell pepper & toppings of your choice.

Homemade Sushi!

I really did make homemade sushi with my friend Ellen! I am going to attempt to post these pictures here & explain this process...this is not really a recipe, but more of a way for me to try and retain this! 

 For starters, you can make this amazing super easy sauce that you see pictured here. Ellen called it "Volcano sauce."  It is basically that sriracha hot chile sauce that you can buy in the asian section at Walmart, mixed with mayonnaise! But I'm telling you, this stuff is amazing inside these Californian rolls!

 The ingredients we used were: japanese rice (she said to use this kind of rice b/c it's just the right amount of stickiness). We used sliced avocado, sliced cucumber, crab meat & the seaweed wraps. She bought all of these items at Kroger!  It is also helpful to have those small bamboo rolls--she said you can buy these at World Market, but Ellen said you could also just use a dish towel to roll the sushi if you don't have this mat.

So you lay a piece of saran wrap down on top of the bamboo mat. You spread out a layer of the cooked japanese rice--spread it nice and evenly in a square shape (basically the same size & shape of the seaweed wrap). You can see if you look closely at this picture that the rice is laid underneath the seaweed wrap.  Then inside the wrap you place your crabmeat, sliced avocado, sliced cucumber & top it off with a little volcano sauce.
The tricky part is just using that saran wrap to pick up the entire stack you've just created and you fold it over...kind of rolling it up (see the second picture for what it looks like once you've accomplished this).  After you've made the roll, use a sharp serrated knife to cut your sushi into the sushi rounds you see on the platter.  That's it!!
Ellen said there are many you tube videos showing you technique, etc.
I could not believe how "easy" it was to make this. Now I am hungry for sushi!
Hope I get brave enough to try this again before long!! :)

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Chicken

Got this recipe out of the August issue of Eating Well magazine. This was easy & good!

1 8oz can tom sauce
1 4oz can green chiles, drained
3 TBS cider vinegar
2 TBS honey
1 TBS sweet or smoked paprika*
1 TBS tom paste
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp ground chipotle*
1/2 tsp salt
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken
1 sm onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

(*side note on these ingredients: I found a McCormick spice called "Perfect Pinch" Southwest Sweet 'n Smoky. This one ingredient had both the paprika & chipotle in it & worked great)

1. Stir tomato sauce, chiles, vinegar, honey, paprika/chipotle, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, chipotle seasoning and salt in a slow cooker until smooth. Add chicken, onion & garlic; stir to combine.
2. Put the lid on; cook on Low until chicken can be pulled apart, about 5hrs.
3. Transfer the chicken to cutting board & shred with fork. Return to sauce, stir well & serve.

I served this on those whole wheat sandwich thins with a little shredded cheddar to help tone down spiciness, but my girls were able to eat it, so it wasn't too spicy.

Dark chocolate M&M cookies

Updating this recipe because I made a few changes that made it better! I substituted Coconut Oil instead of the butter and used the full 12oz bag of Dark Chocolate M&M's and that is the way to go!

3/4C light brown sugar
3/4Cwhite sugar
1C coconut oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
12 oz bag of Dark Chocolate M&M's

1.  Cream the coconut oil and sugar together.
2.  Add the vanilla & eggs and beat well.
3.  Add the flour, salt & baking soda, blend well.
4. Add the full bag of M&M's and mix in
5. Drop tablespoons onto cookie sheet.
6.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes

Banana-Chocolate Chip muffins

I've been making these every few weeks from that Devi Titus Home Experience book (& getting that giant book out every time I need this recipe!) I decided it'd be easier to type it here so I could print it off--Also, thought I should share this great recipe b/c it's one of the best banana/bread recipes I've had!

Ingredients:

3-4 ripe bananas

1 C sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 C flour

1/4 C melted butter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 C chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x5x3 loaf pan or muffin tins.

Mash bananas in a lg bowl, add remaining ingredients & mix well.

Pour batter into pan & bake for 1 hour (if baking in loaf pan). 20 minutes(approximately) if using muffin tins.