Mexican Pizza

1 premade pizza crust or one you can bake (pillsbury or boboli)

8 oz to 10 oz. ground beef

2 tbs + (to taste) taco seasoning mix

1/4 c. water

1/3 c. chopped olives

1/3 to 1/2 c. corn

1/2 to 3/4 c. cheese (more or less to liking)

1/4 c. tomotoes, diced

2 tbs. green bell peppers

1/2 c. pizza sauce

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium skillet, brown ground beef; drain well. Add taco seasoning mix and water, cook for about 1 minute until most of the water has evaporated. PLACE PIZZA CRUST ON A COOKIE SHEET!! (It is very heavy when all the toppings are on top!) Spread pizza sauce over crust to within 1 inch of the edge. Sprinkle meat with and cheese over top; top with rest of toppings and sprinkle more cheese on top.

Bake 10 minutes or until crust is crisp and cheese is melted.

Extra tidbits:

This is pretty good. You could even do without the pizza sauce and try refried beans. Then after it comes out add lettuce and salsa.

I had bought a can of diced tomatoes WITH green bell peppers in it and put it on the pizza...it was good! You might want to try that. OH, and dip this in sour cream. The kids loved that!

CORDON BLEU MELTS

1 loaf baguette bread
¾ c. ham, chopped finely
1 green onion w/ green top, thinly sliced
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 c. shredded Swiss cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice baguette bread into 20-25 slices. Arrange on a cookie sheet. In a bowl, combine the ham, onion, cream cheese, mustard, and ¾ c. Swiss cheese. Scoop one small teaspoon onto each bread slice. Spread to the edge of each slice. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Immediately sprinkle remaining cheese over each melt. Serve hot.

Extra Tidbit:
I totally stole this hook, line and sinker from my friend, but I couldn't help it! She made them for SuperBowl '08 and I think I ate about 15 of the 20 slices. SO GOOD!

FANTASTIC CHICKEN ENCHILADAS

3 c. chicken, cooked, shredded and seasoned (more or less for your family)
Lots of shredded cheese (we use the Mexican blend, but cheddar works great too)
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 pkg of Cream Cheese (softened and cut into squares)
Sour cream (not a full container, but you do use quite a bit)
1 small can of MILD diced green chilies
red MILD enchilada sauce
Tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.
1. CHICKEN MIXTURE: Place cooked (and still warm/hot) chicken into a kitchen aid. Add a little bit of cheese and the pkg of cream cheese (yes, I do add the WHOLE thing!), and the diced green chilies. Mix well.

2. SOUR CREAM MIXTURE: In a separate bowl, mix the cream of chicken soup and the sour cream together. Usually I put in close to equal parts of sour cream to the soup. (About 1 cup)

Take a tortilla and spread it with sour cream mixture. Put some cheese on it and then fill each tortilla with equal portions of chicken mixture. Roll up and place them in a greased 9x13 pan.

Use the rest of the sour cream mixture and slather over enchiladas. Pour enchilada sauce over the whole thing, sprinkle with cheese and place in oven.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Extra Tidbit:
To soften the cream cheese so that it is both not TOO soft nor too clumpy, take out of box and put the cheese (still in the foil-like wrapper) on top of the preheating stove. It will warm it up without melting it.
This recipe usually makes quite a few...about 15 or so. Great for leftovers!

Serve with green salad and/or spanish rice

Spanish Rice

Buy a Rice-A-Roni Spanish Rice box and follow directions.

BLACK BEAN CHICKEN BURRITOS

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (Seasoned!! Salt, Pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, etc)
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
4 green onions, chopped
2 T. lemon juice
½ tsp. cumin
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. black pepper
1 lb. Pepper jack cheese, shredded (or any cheese you have in the house...pepper jack IS the best for this recipe)
8-10 tortillas
Sour cream
Salsa
Aluminum Foil

1. In a small bowl combine beans, green onions, lemon juice, cumin, and ½ tsp. salt. Mix well.
2. In another separate bowl place cooked and shredded chicken, chili powder, pepper, and remaining ½ tsp. salt. Mix that well.
3. On tortillas, place grated cheese in a line near one edge of each tortilla. Top cheese with black bean salsa and then with the chicken mixture.
4. Roll up burritos and wrap each one separately in foil and place in a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until cheese melts. Top your tortilla with sour cream and salsa.

Extra Tidbit:
We LOVE these! We have fed many-a-people with these and they have all enjoyed them.
We serve it with a green salad AND Spanish Rice.

HOT TACO RICE

1 lb. Ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 ½ c. medium salsa
1 chicken bouillon cube (crushed) or 1 tsp. chicken granules
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce or more to taste
Cooked Rice
Garnishes: Tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, tomatoes, sliced black olives, sour cream.

Brown beef and onion in a skillet. Add salsa, tomato sauce, and bouillon cube. Bring to a full boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile prepare rice as directed on package. Serve beef mixture over rice and top with desired garnishes.

Extra Tidbit:
I got this recipe from a friend and haven't changed much other than adding MORE tomato sauce. This has a little kick to it from the salsa and even my kids will eat it when they dip their chips into it. YUM!

Stir-Fry

Stew Meat (I buy the pre-cut packages at the store. Doesn’t matter if it is cubed or in strips))
½ TB. Olive Oil
Carrots (I usually use a small bag of baby carrots)
Celery, opt.
Bell Peppers (I use ½ red, ½ yellow, and ½ green), sliced
2 packets of brown gravy, prepared
Worcestershire sauce
Rice (prepare as much as your family will eat- I usually do the minute rice and do 2 c.)

Cook stew meat in oil. Season well (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, etc)
Add carrots and celery. Cook through.

Stir in prepared brown gravy and season with Worcestershire (a few tsp. to taste)
Add sliced bell peppers. Simmer on a lower temperature until the brown gravy starts to thicken.
(Do a taste test. We like it when the sauce has a little kick in it. If it doesn’t add a little more Worcestershire sauce. Be careful: a little sauce goes a LONG way!)

Cook rice per package instructions.

Serve over rice.

Extra Tidbit:
This may not be your regular stir-fry, but we :heart: it in our family. Have fun with it and let me know if you like it or not!

Dinnertime Quesadilla

2 c. shredded cooked chicken (after shredding-add salt, pepper, and other seasoning i.e.: onion
powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt to taste)
½ c. drained canned whole kernel corn
½ cup sliced green onions, opt.
½ c. drained canned black beans, rinsed
1 c. salsa
1 c. Mexican style shredded four cheeses
8 flour tortillas
1-2 tsp. RANCH DRESSING (add more to taste)

Layer chicken, corn, onions, beans, salsa, cheese and a squeeze of ranch over half (ONLY HALF) of each tortilla.
Fold tortillas in half to close filling.
Cook one quesadilla at a time in large non-stick skillet on medium-high heat about 3
minutes on each side or until quesadillas are lightly browned on both sides and cheese is melted.

Extra tidbit:
**Don’t throw away leftover chicken, beans or corn!! Use it on a salad—Southwestern style! Eat with a mixture of ranch and salsa for dressing—YUM!!

First Post

I was lying in bed, "just like Brian Wilson did"....ohhh, ooooookk! Anyway, I really was lying in bed and thought I needed to get a food blog started. I realize that EVVVERRRYYYOONNNNEEE and their dog has one and I am even a member of a few, but decided that I wanted a place where I could post recipes that my family likes (or doesn't like) in one place.