Taco Bar!!!!!

My Taco Meat:

1 TB canola oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 red bell, chopped
1.5 lbs ground sirloin
1 15oz. can of Enchilada Sauce
1 packet of taco seasoning.

1. Add the oil and brown the veggies. Add the ground sirloin. Brown. Drain any grease. Add the Sauce and seasoning packet. Cook for a little longer.

My Guacamole

2-3 TB of red onion
2-3 TB of cilantro
2-3 TB red bell pepper
2 TB Jalapeno (optional)
pinch salt
1-2 TB lime juice
3 avocados.

1. Throw the veggies in a food processor. Then add the avocados and mash them with a potato masher. Add the lime and salt. Mix.
(I sometimes roast the bell pepper and garlic and put it in my guac. It taste amazing. It is only when I have time or company.)

Spiced Blackbeans

1 15 oz. can of black beans
2 jalapenos
1 clove garlic
1/4 cp. onion
1 TB canalo oil

1. Add the oil and saute the veggies. Add the beans and cook for 20 min.


On the bar:

2 cps. Lettuce
2 cps. Cheddar cheese
My Homemade salsa (Below)
My Spiced Black beans
My Guacamole
2 cps diced tomatoes
1/2 cp diced jalapenos
Of course, the ground beef.
I used both hard corn taco shells and soft flour shells.


I just put each in their own dish....Self serve.
My daughter tried tacos for the first time tonight...She loved that she could make her own and she loved them. It is a great idea to do with kids. Add your own condiments...Enjoy!!!!

Leftover Ham Recipe 2: Cuban Sandwich

1 loaf of Cuban bread

1 lb pork, (I cooked a small tenderloin for an hr. with a BBQ rub on 350)

1 lb. of thinly sliced ham

1/2 lb. Swiss cheese

pickles

mustard

1. I cut the Cuban bread in half then sliced it lengthwise. I then put three slices of cheese on each side. Then I added the meat (as much or as little as you want). Topped it with pickles mustard. I closed the sandwich and used my sandwich press. If you do not have a sandwich press use a cast iron frying pan.

Leftover Ham Recipes: Navy Bean Soup

2 TB Canola Oil

2 Onions, chopped

2 Carrots, chopped

2 Celery stocks, chopped

4 cps. chicken stock, low sodium

3cps. water

1 cp. milk

Ham bone

3 15oz. cans of navy beans.

2 cps. chopped ham

1 tsp. cayenne (optional)

1. brown the veggies in the oil. Add the stock, water, milk. Add the rest of the ingredients. Let simmer for until the liquid evaporates by half.

This is sooo good.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast....

What can I say? My family loves cinnamon rolls. I make a ton and we usually eat them for desserts too. These rock. I make them often. They are a little time consuming. I usually make them at night. Let them rise and then put them in the fridge. In the morning I wake up and throw them in the oven. So simple. The best smell ever waking up in the morning.

Cinnamon Rolls

1 egg, room temp.
1 cp. hot water
1/4 cp. oil
1/3 cp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 1/2 cp. bread flout
1 1/2 tsp. active yeast

1. I add this in a bread machine. In this order. If I did not have a bread machine I would probably put it in my food processor until formed into a ball and then let it rise for an hour.
2. Now this is where you roll it out and add all the goodies
1 stick of butter at rm. temp
1/2 cp. white sugar
1/2 cp. brown sugar
2 TB. cinnamon

3. Roll the dough out in a long rectangle. Add half of the butter. Then top with the sugars and cinnamon. Then begin to roll it like a jelly roll. As I roll it I add a little butter to the other side with the other half of the butter.
4. When finished rolling the cinnamon roll start cutting into about 1-2 inches thick. Put on a greased baking sheet.
5. Let the dough rise another hr. until it is doubled in size.
6. Ready to bake. 350. for about 15-20 minutes. I like mine a little soft in the middle.

Icing:

I just add 2 1/2 cps. powdered sugar, 2 TB milk, 1 tsp. vanilla. ( You can add cream cheese too. But my husband prefers no cream cheese. It is yummy, though)


Finished Product.....Enjoy!!!!

P-I-Z-Z-A

This is a staple at my home. My kids and my husband love homemade pizza. I make this about twice a month. Alex, my four year old loves the entire process of pizza making. I let her help roll out the dough and put the toppings on. The only problem is .... I can't get her to stop eating the peperoni. Tonight I made three different types of pizza. I had leftover pulled pork, so I made pulled pork and smoked Gouda pizza. I made the traditional cheese and peperoni. Lastly, I made garlic and Roma tomato pizza. I made a ton of pizza because we tend to nibble on it all weekend. I hope you enjoy the recipes!THE TRADITIONAL PIZZA

The Dough:

1/2cp. + 2 cps of hot water
package of yeast
pinch + 3 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 cp. yellow corn meal
2 TB olive oil
8 cps. of flour (bread flour)
(I know this sounds like a lot. It is. I usually make three pizzas and still have dough left over. With the leftover dough I make pizza rolls, Stromboli or freeze it.)
1. Add the 1/2 cp water, yeast and pinch of sugar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes.
2. Add 2 cps of hot water, sugar, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the yeast mixture and the corn meal. Add the flour one cup at a time. Knead until elastic.
3. Sit a bowl for 2 hrs. Until it doubles in size.
4 Separate into four equal balls. (Here you can either leave in four equal balls or roll it out and form into pizza pans and put in the fridge) Put the dough in the fridge 4 hrs-Overnight. I usually make the dough in the morning. Let it rise the 2 hours and then put it in the fridge until dinner time. I also usually form the dough onto cookie trays with a little olive oil and more corn meal at the bottom of the pan. It also prevents the sticking.

The Sauce:

1 8oz. can of paste
1 8oz. can of water
2 tsp fresh oregano
1 tsp. fresh basil
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1tsp. sugar
1/4 cp. parm cheese.

1. Add all ingredients and cook in a sauce pan until it is all combined. I heat until warm and incorporated.

When the dough is done (The 4+ hrs in the fridge) top with the homemade sauce, 4 cps. fresh mozzarella shredded and fav. toppings. My daughter loves peperoni.. I top the pizza with fresh parm and some shredded oregano.
****My husband and daughter love their peperoni crispy. To make sure it is crispy add the peperoni to a frying pan for a few minutes until lightly browned.

I always bake my pizza @ 415 until it is brown around the edges and the cheese is bubbly
My Madres Pizza

3-4 tsp. olive oil
3 fresh garlic cloves minced
2-3 Roma tomatoes
4 TB fresh basil
1/3 cp. fresh parm cheese.
salt and pepper

1. Add the olive oil to the pizza. Make sure all of the surface has olive oil. Add the garlic. Top with the tomatoes, then basil and last add the parm cheese.
I usually add just a little crushed red pepper.
Bake on 415 until brown. (10-15 minutes)
Smoke Guoda and Pulled Pork Pizza

3-4 tsp. olive oil
3 tsp. bbq rub
Leftover pulled pork, about 3 cps.
8 0z. smoke Gouda
Red onions (1/2 onion)

1. Add the olive oil to the pizza crust. Make sure that the crust is covered. Add the bbq rub. Top with the leftover pulled pork. Shred the Gouda and top the pizza. Add the red onion rings on the top.
2. Bake on 415 for 10-15 minutes.

This pizza was awesome.

Grilled Steak with Caramelized Onions

I am going to give everyone another easy and amazing dinner. This dinner took a total of twenty minutes. I love quick meals. I take care of two crazy kids. A one yr. old and a four yr. old. My husband is the biggest kid of all and loves to have dinner on the table when he gets home. Needless to say, I like to have meals I can get done quick, but still is full of flavor. Not to mention, I can grill all yr. round in FL.

2lb skirt steak

Any Marinade (I used the marinade they make at my Meat Market. It rocks.)

2 Vidalia Onions

4 TB butter

1. First of all, I marinaded the steak for two days!!! It taste amazing. I am not sure if it does a difference then overnight. It just happened that way.

2. I put it on the grill for 10 minutes each side and rest for 15 minutes.

3. While the meat grilled I added the butter to a hot skillet then the onions. Cook until brown.

I served this with salad and french fries....

ENJOY

Breakfast Burrito for My Husband

My husband loves mexican and breakfast and I combined the two. I made him some kick butt breakfast burritos...Hope you try them and Enjoy!!!!

2 TB veg. oil
1/2 lb. of mexican chicken sausage, out of casings
1/2 red bell chopped
1/2 sweet onion chopped
jalapeno, chopped
4 eggs
cheddar cheese
flour tortillas

My homemade salsa (Below)

1. Add the oil to the pan and saute the veggies. Add chicken sausage and brown. When the chicken is cooked through add the eggs. Cook until eggs are set and ready.
2. I threw my tortilla on my panini press to warm and added the cheese. When it was a little crispy I took it off the press and filled it with the egg and sausage mixture. Served with a side of salsa (and sour cream, but my husband DESPISES sour cream)