Taco Soup

Tastiness for the cold in ya :)

What you need:

1 lb hamburger (or ground turkey)

1/4 c chopped

1 can red kidney beans

1 can of tomatoes with liquid

1 can of corn with liquid

1 can tomato sauce

1 package taco seasoning (if you don't have taco seasoning, see my post about how to make your own)

What to do:

Brown the hamburger with the onion. I always add a little garlic powder because that's how we roll at Mrs. B's. Make sure to add salt and pepper to taste. Drain the hamburger. Now, I am a less is more when it comes to doing dishes, so I brown my hamburger in the same pot i'm going to make my soup in :) Add everything else to the pot. Stir will to make sure the seasoning gets evenly mixed in. Cover and let it simmer on low heat for about 30 mins and woot woot! You gots yourself some tasty as soup :) I always serve with cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream. When you put in the cheese and sour cream, it taste alot like Chili's tortilla soup :)

Chicken Noodle Soup

With the weather getting icky, it's time to bust out the 'ole pot and get to soup making. I don't know about you guys, but our weather here on Sunday was cranky! It was super windy and rainy. It definitely was a soup and bread day :) I had invited my parents over the day before and they were more than happy when they got to have some hot soup and warm bread! I made quite a few things Sunday. First-homemade chicken noodle soup! It's so easy you'll be surprised!

What you need:

1 whole chicken, cut up or you can do 4 chicken breasts

all depends on what's cheapest and if you like pulling cooked meat off of bones

chicken bullion ( i use the cheap stuff you find in the "ethnic" part of the store its just pollo stuff :) I use roughly 4-5 cubes

chopped onion

chopped carrots

chopped celery

egg noodles*

water

salt and pepper and what ever other seasonings you dig.

What to do:

Boil the chicken! :) I rinse the chicken off and remove as much of the skin and fat as I can. If you're using boneless skinless breasts-then no worries. I'm a huge fan of kosher salt (Thank you Alton Brown!) So, I put a few good pinches of salt in the water. Also add some pepper to taste :) Mine's usually about a dime size amount. I boil my chicken for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I remove the chicken from the pot and let it cool while I add the bullion to the pot. I let the pot simmer for a little bit while the chicken cools. Then i pull the chicken from the bone and tear it into smaller pieces and add it to the simmering bullion. I let the chicken simmer for about 30 minutes while I chopped up the vegetables. You're probably wondering why I didn't put like how many carrots and what not. It's all your personal taste. I like lots of chicken and don't want it to be over powered by veggies. So, I chopped roughly 5-6 carrots and 4 stalks of celery. I chopped, well no, dice a medium sized onion. Add everything to the pot. Simmer for about one hour or until the veggies are tender, NOT mush. Add the egg noodles. Now, you can use homemade and I'll include a recipe for that in a later post. I felt lazy and used just some wide egg noodles courtesy of our local market. Cook the noodles until al dente. You are ready to go! This soup goes GREAT with home made rolls, which I did :) or bread bowls! It warms you from the inside out :)

Pancake & Sausage Casserole

I recently decided to try some new funky ways to do breakfast for dinner. I was cruising some recipes and found one for pancake & sausage casserole. The recipe I found needed some "tweekage", but it turned out pretty dang good :) I got a happy hubby and a happy son :) Josh said it was like a fluffy McGriddle :)

What you need:

1 lb pork breakfast sausage. use bulk so you can break it up easy while it cooks.

2 C white flour

2 TB white sugar

2 TB brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/4 C milk

2 TB oil

2-3 tsps vanilla extract

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray your baking dish with cooking spray. I used a small Pyrex dish. This recipes feeds "4" If you have a bigger family and decide to double it, use a cookie sheet! Brown and drain your sausage. In bowl mix dry ingredients and then add the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix WELL! Fold in the sausage. Pour into baking dish and bake for roughly 25 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it cool for about 5-10 minutes after you take it out. Drizzle or drench with maple syrup-all depends on your likes! It's super tasty. I fully plan on making it for breakfast the next time I have a huge clan for the morning meal.

CARAMEL APPLE PIE

****UPDATE****
HEY GUYS! With the holidays coming up, I've been thinking of ways to update some pies. My buddy Tisha hook me up with a cool trick :) To make this super easy, SUPER tasty pie tastier, add 12 caramels, chopped up, to the apple mixture.!!!! OH SO TASTY :) Caramel Apple Crumb Top PIE! OH BABY!!

Hi ya kids! So again, spoiled hubby :) But this time, he wasn't the only one! We were going to family get together on the 4th of July and I was in charge of dessert. I had no clue what to make. I knew that I was outta cocoa and other fun stuff. I looked in the fridge at least 3 or 4 times. Apples. Apples. Apples. But I didn't want to make the effort to make 2 pie crusts and stuff. It was FREAKIN' hot. How could I do this easy?! I didn't wanna make a crisp...to plain LOL So...I did a google search for one pie crust apple pies. CRUMB TOP was the first thing I saw. So, I went with it! Now, this recipe is strictly a made by Mrs. B's. Some of the measurements are not EXACT. I got that nasty habit from my Grams-no measuring everything :) But, I have faith it will turn out no matter what :)
What you need:
Filling:

1 unbaked pie shell-
you can use either a store bought one, or make my super easy pie crust
1/4 C sugar
1-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
1/8 tsp salt
Enough apples to fill crust-roughly 5-6-peeled, cored and sliced. I usually use some red delicious, fujis and at least 1 granny smith.
Topping:
3/4 C brown sugar, packed
3/4 C flour
1/3 C butter, NOT margarine.
What to do:
Preheat over at 375. Combine apples, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Spoon into crust. In seperate bowl, or if you hate during dishes like me, you just use the bowl from the apple mixture :), using a pasty cutter, cut together the brown sugar, flour and butter. Cover entire pie with crumb mixture. Bake for 35-40 mins at 375.
It's super tasty with french vanilla ice-cream.

Easy Meatloaf

Now, I know most of you are thinking-meat LOAF?! Who wants a meatloaf recipe?! Well, Josh has had his fair share of nasty meatloafs. He has from rare meat (like still moo-ing in the middle) to so crispy that it can used as a hockey puck. I've used this recipe I came up with by tweeking my Gram's old one SEVERAL time and NEVER had a complaint :) I'll give you the recipe that feeds a family of 4 unless you have some serious meat-eaters :)

What you need:

1 lb ground beef (i've never tried ground turkey...but it should work)

1/2 diced green bell pepper

1/2 med onion, diced

1 egg

1/2 sleeve crackers ( i used the walmart ritz crackers for added flavor)

roughly 1/2 cup milk

What To Do:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Honestly, just mix it all together with your hands. Put into a bread loaf pan-or if you're super gung ho they have the coolest meat loaf pans at Walmart :) I'm asking Santa for one :) Bake for a minium of 45 mins. Cover with Ketchup and bake for another 10 mins and ta - da :) I always do some kind of tater side dish (100% Idahoan for me and my taters LOL) And either a side salad or whatever veggie your family digs :) I LOVE it with green beans.

Spiced Applesauce Bread

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since August!! I'm a slacker. Just for that, I'm going to do a few posts this week :) I'm in this funky "bread" mood. I made Spiced Applesauce Bread. I'm making Peach Bread tonight. :) And we're going to try a Pear Bread this week too!

BUT FIRST :) Some of the tastiest bread :)

Spiced Applesauce Bread

What you'll need:

1 1/4 C applesauce

1 C granulated sugar

1/2 C vegetable oil

2 eggs

3 TBs milk

2 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp bake powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp salt

**1/2 C chopped pecans or walnuts

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9*5 loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine applesauce, sugar, oil, eggs, & milk. Beat well. Stir in remaining ingredients. Mix until smooth. If you are using nuts, fold them in now. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for one hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean :) Let cool for at least 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan.