Crunchy Taco Cups

I had this as an appetizer at a get-together and decided to make it into a main dish. I really don't like pre-packaged taco seasoning, but if you want to speed things up go ahead and use it. But, you'll be missing out on the delicious fresh flavor of mixing in your own taco seasoning. Plus, it only takes about 1-2 extra minutes to make your own and it's so much tastier and healthier. We've had these divine little taco cups several times. I love the double layered wonton with the meat and cheese all nicely squished inside together. It's so much easier to eat than the classic taco too, way less mess! We also really enjoy how quick this is to make and how tasty it is to eat! This recipe makes 12 taco cups, but when we make this for our family of 8 we double the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 10 ounce can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
1/4 tsp chili powder (add 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp for a hotter flavor)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

1 TBSP flour
24 Wonton wrappers
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican blend cheddar cheese
optional: sour cream, avocado, and chopped green onion

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Generously coat a standard size muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat and add the ground turkey, breaking it up as you brown it. Drain off any extra liquid and then add the drained tomatoes, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, ground cumin, salt, and black pepper. Heat and stir until all heated through, add the 1 TBSP flour and stir until no more liquid remains and it thickens up. Remove from the heat.

3. Line each prepared muffin tin with a wonton wrapper and press down into each muffin cup. Add 1 TBSP taco mixture to each wonton filled muffin cup, then add 1 TBSP cheese. Fill each 12 muffin cups this way. Then to make a second layer, place another wonton wrapper on top of the cheese and press down into the sides of each cup. Top with another 1 TBSP taco mixture and 1 TBSP cheese for the final layer.

4. Bake for 11-13 minutes until the cups are heated through and the edges are golden.

5. Remove each baked wonton taco cup from the muffin tin and set on a cooling rack so the bottoms can air a bit before being placed on a plate.

6. Top each taco cup with a dollop of sour cream, an avocado slice, and a few chopped green onions.

Orange Julius Copy Cat

I have a couple of picky eating kids and I wanted to soup up our usual breakfast juice with something that had a bit more to it. We have some dairy milk sensitive bodies in our family so I tried a few variations with almond milk rather than dairy milk. I'm a die-hard dairy milk favored gal and actually don't enjoy the almond milk that most of my family drinks. I can't stand it on cereal. But, this Orange Julius with the almond milk is so much better than with dairy milk, trust me. Plus, it's naturally sweeter than dairy milk so you don't need to add vanilla or sugar to the recipe like most of the ones floating around the web. We love the delicious flavor and frothy goodness!

Ingredients:

1 12 ounce can orange juice concentrate
2 cups Almond Breeze reduced sugar vanilla almond milk
2 cups water
2 cups ice cubes

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend to your hearts desire! Serve immediately.

Breakfast Casserole

A few months ago we decided to jump onto the breakfast casserole bandwagon. We found a nice recipe online and made two pans, freezing one and baking the other. It tasted awful and we sadly tossed the leftovers and the uncooked frozen casserole in the trash. We found this recipe through a friend and our kids (even the pickiest ones) rave about it. We like turkey so much better so we subbed the ground sausage for turkey sausage. This one is a winner and now our regular Saturday morning family breakfast!

Ingredients

1 24 ounce bag of frozen hash browns
1 cup butter
1 lb. uncooked turkey sausage
9 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Warm oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, melt the 1 cup butter and then add the hash browns. Cook for about 15 minutes, browning and stirring at regular intervals.

3. While the hash browns are cooking, warm another skillet to medium-high heat and brown the turkey sausage, breaking up the sausage as it cooks so that it's a crumbly texture.

4. Once the hash browns are nicely golden brown, put them in the bottom of the prepared 9x13 pan. Top them with the browned crumbled turkey sausage.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, sour cream, salt, garlic powder, and pepper until smooth. Then, stir in the grated cheddar cheese. Pour the wet ingredients over the hash browns and sausage. Stir all the ingredients together in the 9x13 pan.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm.

Chopped MInestrone Soup

The first day of snow and we had to have soup and this one was the winner. It is delightfully beautiful and deliciously tasty. It's not like any other Minestrone soup because - PESTO! Oh, I love Pesto so much. It adds the perfectness to this yummy soup. There is some work chopping everything into nice little bite-sized pieces, but well worth it.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups diced carrots
1 1/2 cups diced celery
2 1/2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1 (15 oz) can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups ditalini past, uncooked
2 Tbsp store-bought pesto
freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for topping
12 oz precooked bacon, chopped, for topping

Directions:

1. In a large pot heat up the olive oil until rippling. Add the onions, carrots, celery, squash, garlic, and thyme and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 - 10 minutes, until the vegetables being to soften.

2. Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper and bring the soup to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

3. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, according to package directions.

4. Stir in the beans and pesto. Heat through. Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed, and add any additional chicken broth if the soup is too thick. We like it on the thick side.

5. Serve with the Parmesan cheese and bacon.

adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Catalina Salad

I've had Catalina dressing a few times and thought it was pretty awful, but this homemade version is divine. I had to pour it over my salad 3 times just that I could savor every single bite with dressing. My husband and I raved and raved about this recipe and I promised him I'd save it here on our blog. There's something about almost being 40 with a handful of kids and not having much brain space left to remember where we had found a fantastic recipe. If only we could remember what the name was or some of the ingredients in that amazing chicken recipe we had a few months back. We're kicking ourselves we didn't save it here. 

We adapted this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 head romaine lettuce, chopped

1/2 head ice berg lettuce, chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 cup cubed cheese, cheddar, Monterey Jack, etc.

1 cup corn

1 can olives, sliced

1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

1 avocado, chopped

crushed tortilla chips

Dressing:

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup onion finely chopped

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large, nonstick skillet, brown the ground turkey with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper until cooked through. 

2. For the dressing, combine all the dressing ingredients together in a blender and process until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve. The dressing can be made up to 3-4 days in advance.

3. We like to make our salads individually, so the original recipe called to add all the salad ingredients into one large bowl. We put each ingredient in small individual bowls at the center of the table and everyone makes their own salad with the toppings they enjoy. 

Creamy Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Pasta

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
salt and pepper to season the chicken
1 lb bowtie pasta
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 cup half and half, room temperature
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
12 oz. jar roasted red peppers, sliced

Directions:
1. In a large frying pan or skillet, heat the vegetable oil on medium high heat until rippling. Toss in the chicken pieces and season them with salt and pepper. Let them fry until golden on each side, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, in a large pot cook the bowtie pasta according to the package directions. Drain, and set aside.

3. In the same pan that was used for the chicken, turn it to down to medium low heat and melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 3 minutes.

4. Transfer the onion and garlic to the large pot used for cooking the bowtie pasta and turn it up to medium or medium low heat. Carefully whisk in the half and half, chicken broth, and fresh basil. Then, stir in the salt and shredded mozzarella. Lower the heat if needed to keep the sauce from boiling, but keep stirring until all the mozzarella has been melted into the sauce.

5. Add the chicken, cooked pasta, and roasted red peppers to the large pot of sauce and heat everything through for about 1 - 2 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Shepherd's Pie

It was exactly 15 years ago that I sat at the table of a sweet elderly friend and ate Shepherd's Pie on an abnormally sunny day in West Yorkshire, England. Since then, I've tried to create that same comfortable meal and I feel like I've finally gotten pretty close. Now, if only I could transport all of you to a quaint British dining room with sheep herding on the green nearby hills. Then, you'd have the final ingredient to this Shepherd's Pie.

The meaty bottom layer and all it's gravy-ness is the perfect compliment to the mashed potatoes. Please, please (PLEASE!) don't wimp out on making the layer of mashed carrots. I know, it'd be easier to just throw in a bag of frozen peas and carrots or something, but the mashed carrots are perfect and don't take too much extra time to make.

This is a wonderful recipe to whip up with leftover gravy and mashed potatoes. Sometimes, when I made Sunday dinner I purposely make a huge amount of mashed potatoes just so I can save them in the fridge for making this delicious meal the following day or two. The leftover gravy could easily displace the 1 cup beef broth and turkey gravy packet.

Makes 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:
for mashed potatoes - you could also use leftover mashed potatoes
6 large potatoes, peeled, and cubed
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup Milk, half and half, or cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

for mashed carrots
10 medium carrotts, peeled, and sliced
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons milk
Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 of a medium-sized onion, chopped
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup beef broth
1 packet of turkey gravy
1 - 1 1/2 cups peas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Set oven temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 x 13 glass pan and set it aside. Side note: I find it best to do steps 2 and 3 at the same time to save some time.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add cubed potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain potatoes and add butter, milk (or half and half or cream), and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

3. Bring a medium sized pot of salted water to boil. Add sliced carrots and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain carrots and add butter, milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

4. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and ground turkey and cook until it is well browned. Pour off excess fat. Stir in the flour, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth, and turkey gravy packet. Cook for about 2-4 minutes or until thickened.

5. Spread the meat mixture into the bottom of the 9 x 13 glass pan. Evenly top the meat with peas. Carefully spread a layer of mashed carrots over the peas and meat using a rubber spatula. Top it with an evenly spread layer of mashed potatoes. Sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese over the mashed potatoes.

6. Make in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then serve.