Taco Braid

Have I ever mentioned how much I love delicious, easy recipes???

I do.

And this is one.

Taco Braid
Ingredients

• Lean ground beef (80/20)*
• 2 cans crescent rolls
• Mexican blend cheese
• taco seasoning

*You can use as little as 1 lb and probably as much as you want.  I used about 1.5 lbs.

1. Brown ground beef and drain.  Then add taco seasoning as you would when making tacos.

2.  While taco meat simmers, lay out your crescent rolls, (large ends are placed on the inside) and press together.

3. Fill in the center with the taco meat.

4. Sprinkle with the cheese.  (Another great thing about this recipe...how much you use is TOTALLY up to you.  The original recipe doesn't even put cheese on the inside.  I thought that was nonsense.)

5. Fold in the ends, and bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Then sprinkle more cheese on top, and bake until melted.

I think I was too excited about eating this to take a picture once it was baked and the cheese was melted.  Plus, someone was home from work and wanted to eat so....

I made a packet of the Knorr Spanish Rice sides with this, and it was great!  You can also serve with taco toppings: salsa, sour cream, taco sauce, lettuce, etc.  Scott put salsa, taco sauce, and the rice all on top of this, and he loved it!  I tried it as is, and I loved it that way, too!  Make it your own! :)  You can have it as an appetizer, a side, or a main dish.  It's great for pot lucks, too!  You could cut slices and then cut them in half by going straight down the middle!

I made this taco braid on the tray from my Celebrating Home hospitality set in the Simply Summer stoneware pattern.  This used to be a piece that only hostesses could get after two friends booked parties.  In our Fall/Winter 2014 catalog, we have them available in two stoneware patterns: Berry and Sonoma Villa.

3-Piece Berry Hospitality set (bowl, tray, stand)

3-Piece Sonoma Villa Hospitality Set (bowl, tray, stand)

Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup

I was on a soup kick last week.  (Hey, it's not really spring-like in PA yet!)  I made my creamy potato soup (again), and the next day I decided that broccoli cheese soup sounded good!

This recipe is super easy, and it literally came printed on a box of Velveeta cheese.

Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients

• 1/4 c. chopped onion
• 2 T butter, divided
• 2 T flour
• 2 1/2 c. milk
• 3/4 lb. (12 oz.) Velveeta cheese product, cut into cubes
• 1 pkg. (10-12 oz) frozen broccoli, chopped
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

1. Cook and stir onion in 1 T. of butter in a saucepan on medium heat until the onion is tender.

2. Add the remaining butter and flour.  Cook for one minute or until hot and bubbly, stirring constantly.

3. Gradually add milk, stirring until well blended.  Bring to a boil, and reduce heat to medium-low.  Simmer for one minute.

4. Add chunks of Velveeta cheese and pepper.

5. Cook until Velveeta is melted and soup is heated through, stirring occasionally.

And there you have it!

I'll be honest, friends, I know that Velveeta is NOT real cheese, and it's probably not the best thing for you.  It just melts so smoothly, and it tastes so good!  The recipe itself does actually mention using Velveeta Light (which is weird because it came on a box of the regular stuff), and I use nonfat milk to make mine.

Anyway, if you're looking for something warm and yummy on a chilly spring day, this is certainly worth a try! :)

A Yummy Dinner

On Saturday, I managed to pry myself off of the couch because I wanted some chili for dinner.  As it turned out, I had everything I needed to make chili....except for chili powder.  At this point, I was pretty annoyed because I couldn't have what I wanted, and I was hungry! 

It's a good thing I had some products on hand from Tastefully Simple.  My cousin, Jaime, is a consultant with Tastefully Simple, and I had a pretty successful party for her in November!  I got a bunch of free goodies, and I was really glad I had them.

This is the Tuscan Tortellini Soup and the Perfect Parmesan Biscuits.

The soup was good.  I think I've figured out that I do prefer my soups to have thicker or creamier broths, though.  BUT none of that stopped me from having two helpings. 

The biscuits taste a lot like the biscuits from Red Lobster.  The directions call for cheddar cheese but state that you can use any cheese.  I used Kraft Mexican blend cheese because we didn't have any cheddar cheese here.  I think that they may taste more like Red Lobster's biscuits if I used cheddar, but they were super yummy anyway!  :)

If you're in need of any delicious mixes to have on hand for days like mine, feel free to click on the link above!  It will take you directly to my cousin's Tastefully Simple page! 

Dinner Time Tuesday 4/2: Burritos

It's Dinner Time Tuesday!

As I shared in Monday's post, Scott & I started the diet plan associated with the Insanity program.  However, before I start sharing those meals, I have one left that I wanted to share.

Here's an idea:

Burritos!

 

 

I made mine by browning ground beef with a chopped onion.  I drained the beef, and added taco seasoning.  I also bought a can of refried beans and heated those in the microwave.  Then I put the refried beans and meat on a warmed tortilla and topped it with Mexican blend cheese, salsa, and lettuce.

Quick, easy, and delicious!  We love tacos, and this was just a nice twist.  :)

 

Come link up below!

BBQ Sloppy Joes

Here's another recipe from my WordPress archive.  You will love how simple this is! :)

Easy Cheesy Barbecued Sloppy Joes*

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 cup barbecue sauce
• hamburger buns
• cheese singles (preferrably KRAFT, because, really, is there any cheese single that's better??)

1. Brown meat in a large skillet and drain. Add peppers and onions. Cook and stir until crisp and tender.
2. Stir in BBQ sauce and cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.
3. Fill buns with meat mixture and cheese singles.

*This recipe hails from the awesome FREE cook book I've used in numerous posts. It was distributed on day at Sam's Club and sponsored by KRAFT.

Seriously, I loved this take on the sloppy joe.  Scott thought that I could've used less BBQ sauce because he felt it was too sweet, but it was RIGHT up my alley.  UPDATE: The BBQ sauce I used for this was Kraft.  It IS a sweeter sauce.  I have made this recipe other times, and I used Sweet Baby Rays Barbeque Sauce.  The sloppy joes weren't nearly as sweet with that sauce.

Delicious No-Bakes!

Mmmm...these sound so good right now.  So I thought I'd move this recipe over from my old blog today.

So I am possibly a little bit too excited about this recipe, but for a couple of good reasons. #1 In total, making these cookies probably took me 15 minutes. (And I really don't even think it took that long!) #2 D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!! I'm really happy with how they turned out. Granted, cooling takes about 45 minutes, but it's not like you have to stand in the kitchen and watch them cool. Therefore, I am all about this quick and yummy recipe! Here goes:

I found this recipe online. This is the link http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/no-bake-cookies-i/Detail.aspx, but I provide the recipe and my notes below.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa.

Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. (There was a tip at the beginning of the recipe to make sure you start timing when the mixture has reached a full rolling boil. This will help you avoid over or under cooking. Over-cooking will make the cookies crumble and fall apart. Undercooking will not allow them to form correctly. The recipe didn't say whether or not to stir the mixture while it's boiling, but I was a little afraid to just let it sit! So I stirred a few times throughout the 1 1/2 min. boiling time.)

Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. (I added one cup of oats at a time and stirred well each time.)

 Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.

South-of-the-Border Chicken & Pasta Skillet

Before I share today's recipe....have you liked my Facebook page yet??  How about you hop on over there and give it a quick click!  :)

This is another one of my recipes from my WordPress blog.  I actually made this for dinner yesterday, but I didn't use any chicken for a couple reasons.  1) I didn't have any chicken to use.  2) I have decided that I don't actually like the chicken in this.  I think it's just the way that I cook the chicken.  If you know how to make juicy, flavorful chicken pieces, definitely use the chicken.  If not, just skip all the stuff about chicken here. 

This recipe has a long name, but it doesn't take long to make.  It comes from a ccookbook that they were handing out at Sam's Club.  The cookbook was sponsored by Kraft. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups medium-size pasta, uncooked (I use rotini.)
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb.)
• 16 oz. salsa (about 2 cups)
• 10 oz. frozen corn, unthawed (about 2 cups)
• 4 oz. (1/2 8-oz pkg) cream cheese, cubed
• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 cup Mexican style shredded cheese, divided*

*I don't measure the cheese. I just added cheese until I felt like it was enough.

1. Cook pasta as directed on package.
2. Meanwhile, cook and stir chicken in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat for 6 minutes or until done.
3. Add salsa, corn, cream cheese, and cumin; simmer on medium-lo heat for 6 minutes or until corn is heated through and cream cheese in melted, stirring occasionally.
4. Drain pasta; add to skillet with half the shredded cheese. Simmer 3 minutes or until heated through.
5. Top with remaining shredded cheese; cover. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

You could make this slightly healthier by using wheat pasta and low-fat or fat free cream cheese.