Quick Asian Skillet

 

This was a recipe that I found this weekend and we had most of the ingredients at home which made it very desirable.

Quick Asian Skillet

2 packages of chicken flavored ramen noodles

16 oz bag of frozen stir fry vegetables

1 lb of pork tenderloin

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon oil

1. Prepare ramen noodles according to package directions and set aside.  Pour oil in a large skillet and place over medium heat.  Add frozen vegetables and cook, stirring often until veggies are tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.  Set aside.
2. In same skillet, place meat  Cook until browned, about 6 minutes.  
3. While meat is cooking, stir honey and soy sauce together until blended.
4. Remove meat from skillet and slice into strips or medallions.  Return to skillet and pour sauce over the meat.  Lower heat to medium and cook, flipping occasionally.  Cook about 10 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.
5. Remove meat.  Add vegetables and noodles and stir to coat with sauce.  Place meat on top of noodles and serve hot.  

Adapted from southernplate.com

 

Easy Taco Tamale Pie

Blogging has not been on my list of most important  things to do in the past few months, but I've tried out several new recipes and found a few that I wanted to share over the next couple of weeks.  I used a cast iron skillet so that this dish became a one  pan meal.

This taco tamale pie is one that look interesting, but after reading the reviews on the website, I knew that I wanted to change it up.

Easy Taco Tamale Pie

1 pound ground beef
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can chili beans
1 can tomatoes with chilies
 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 boxes or packages of corn muffin mix
1 packet taco seasoning mix
3/4 cup hot water

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Cook the beef in a 10 inch cast iron skillet until it is is browned, add the taco seasoning packet, can of corn, can of beans, hot water, and tomatoes.  Simmer.
2. Prepare the corn muffin mix according to package directions.  
3. Sprinkle cheddar cheese over the meat mixture.
4. Spoon the muffin mix over the top of the cheese and meat.  Gently smooth out the surface of the mix.
5. Bake in preheated over for 25 minutes or until the corn muffin topping is golden brown.
    
   Adapted from Campbell's Kitchen

Easy Cheesy Beef Broccoli Stroganoff

 

Last night we needed something quick and easy, I had to work late and had a call scheduled from college.  Hubby was getting himself and our son ready to take his mom to visit with her sick brother.  So it was another hectic Tuesday night.  Checking my e-mail, I found a recipe that looked interesting, but also looked like it could be improved a little bit.   Much better than hamburger helper and just as easy. So here's my take.

Easy Cheesy Beef Broccoli Stroganoff 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 12 oz bag of frozen chopped broccoli

2 cups water

3 cups egg noodles, uncooked (about 1/2 of a 12 oz bag)

1/2 lb Velveeta, cut into small cubes

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 can cream of mushroom soup

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Brown meat  and onion in large skillet; salt and pepper to taste; drain.
2. While meat is cooking, heat broccoli, about 1/2 the time recommended on the package.
3. Stir in water,bring to boil. Add noodles and broccoli.  Cover and simmer on medium-low heat until noodles and broccoli are tender.
4. Add Velveeta, soup and more pepper; cook an additional 5 minutes or until Velveeta is melted and mixture is blended.  Stir frequently.

I used ground venison, so I would recommend a low fat ground meat.  Additionally, you could use whatever vegetables you had on hand.  I think this would be great with frozen peas and canned mushrooms.

Recipe adapted from:Kraft Recipes

Breakfast Bowl Casserole

Watching the morning news, hubby saw an advertisement for breakfast bowls and thought they looked really good.  I'm a cheapskate, plus I'm not a huge fan of buying frozen foods, maybe some frozen veggies or a frozen pizza for a quick dinner, but usually we don't each much frozen prepared foods.  After looking at the bowls, I figured I could make them pretty easily.  The first time I tried to make them, the sausage was overcooked by the time the potatoes were done, so I thought, let's try a breakfast casserole and see if it works.

Here's my take on the Breakfast Bowl, a breakfast bowl casserole, chocked full of sausage, potatoes, peppers, onions, cheese and eggs.  Sometimes hubby eats this with topped with salsa.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground breakfast sausage
2 cups chopped potatoes
1/2 green bell pepper
1 medium onion
1 cup grated cheese (I used a cheddar & jack mixture)
4 eggs
1 cup biscuit mix (Bisquick or Jiffy Mix)
2 cups milk
1 to 2 Tbsp oil
salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Directions:

1.  Chop potatoes into small pieces, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. 
2.  Heat oil in large skillet, add potatoes and sausage, cooking about 5 minutes.
3.  Add pepper and onion. Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.  Cook until sausage is brown and potatoes are starting to turn golden brown.
4.  Pour into a prepared 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
5.  Top with grated cheese.
6.  Mix biscuit mix, eggs and milk.  Pour mixture over the sausage/potato mixture.
7.  Bake 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Recipe adapted from: Cooks.com

German Chocolate Surprise

I love using cake mixes to make fabulous cakes and this cake is no exception. The first time I had this cake was when a co-worker brought it in for someone's birthday. I took a taste and said, "I think I taste coconut in this cake." She said that I did and then I ask her what the nut was that I couldn't identify and she told me the secret to this cake. It was why I have called this cake, German Chocolate Surprise Cake, you dump a can of German Chocolate Cake Frosting into the cake mix and bake it. I wanted to share this cake with everyone because it is a huge hit at my house. I made it on Sunday evening and by Monday morning, it was gone.

 Ingredients: 

1 German Chocolate Cake Mix and the ingredients to make it
1 can or carton of German Chocoalate Cake frosting
1 can of Chocolate Frosting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven and mix cake according to package directions.
 2. Once the cake is well mixed, dump in the can of German Chocolate frosting and mix well.
3. Place in prepared bundt cake pan.
4. Bake according to package directions.
5. Once the cake is cooled, remove from pan.
6. Microwave can of chocolate frosting for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until the frosting is runny. Using a spoon, drizzle the chocolate frosting over the cake. Hint: If this is just too much chocolate for your taste, you can also sprinkle with powder sugar instead of drizzling with chocolate frosting.

Additionally, when making cakes, I usually subsitute applesauce for the oil that is called for in the directions. It makes a much moister cake and adds a lot less fat to the overall recipe.

DIY Taco Salad Shells

I don't know about you, but where I live the local grocery store has a taco salad shell kit that comes with 4 flour tortillas and paper shells to bake them on.  It costs a little over $4 for this kit and frankly, I find that to be outrageous.  With a little effort, the same shells can be achieved for a little under $2.00.  The first step is to invert a muffin pan and place it on a cookie sheet.  Then take four wide-mouth canning jars and place them on the muffin tin, as seen below.

Next spray the jars with nonstick spray and drape one 10 inch flour tortillas over each jar.  Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 6 to 8 minutes.  I had to move my oven rack to the lowest setting in order to put the tray in the oven.  

 

Then fill with your favorite taco fillings and serve.  

Berry Cobbler

I had planned on posting this several weeks ago, but on Labor Day weekend, our house was struck by lightening.  It has been a long process working with our homeowner's insurance, getting quotes to have our stove, refrigerator, laptop, washing machine, and hubby's shop equipment repaired or replaced.  We almost immediately bought a new television but are still without our blue-ray player and I think all of us are having Netflix withdrawals.  At least our son can watch his cartoons on the Kindle.  We were without internet and phone service for almost a week because of the holiday weekend, so I had to go "old" school and get out my cookbooks to find something new to put on the table.

One of the features on the evening news that I used to love to watch was Mr. Food, so well before hubby and I were married, I had bought several Mr. Food cookbooks.  I remembered that on these segments he always seemed to use common items that most people would have in their pantry and this berry cobbler was no exception to that rule.  The original recipe called for blueberries, but I didn't have enough in the freezer to make a this recipe, so I substituted blackberries for the one in the picture.  Since then I've made the same cobbler using a mixture of frozen strawberries and blueberries (my favorite) and also using canned peaches (hubby's favorite).     

Berry Cobbler

3 cups fresh or frozen berries
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups biscuit mix (Bisquick or Jiffy Mix)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup butter or margarine cut into small slices for dotting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, toss together the berries, lemon juice, vanilla and Splenda.  Spoon the mixture into a prepared 8-inch square baking pan.  In another bowl, combine the biscuit mix, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Sprinkle over the berry mixture, then dot with the sliced butter.  Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until just crispy.

This recipe was adapted from Mr. Food Cooks Real American by Art Ginsburg (Mr. Food)