Easiest Beef Stroganoff

So, if you haven't noticed, I've been on an easy-meals kick. And it doesn't get much easier than this one. It has never taken me more than 15 minutes start to finish. Beat that Rachel Ray.

-2 cans Beefy Mushroom Soup
-1 pint Sour Cream
-1/2 Brick of Cream Cheese
-cubed Beef or Ground Hamburger
-diced or julienned Onions (if you have them on hand)
-Mushrooms (if you like them)
-Salt & Pepper to taste. I also add garlic powder.
-Rice, potatoes or noodles of some sort.

Start your rice, potatoes or noodles cooking. Saute onions in oil or butter, add mushrooms (optional) and then your meat. In a separate pot mix your soup, sour cream and cream cheese. You can add milk to thin it out if needed. Warm. Once your meat is done add that pan to the sauce mixture and serve over rice, potatoes or noodles. So freaking easy and really yummy.

Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

This is such an easy recipe! My friend posted it on her blog and I made it yesterday. It's very good, makes great leftovers, and bonus- I almost always have all the ingredients on hand.

Crock Pot Chicken with Black Beans and Cream Cheese

4-5 boneless chicken breasts
1 (15 1/2 oz) can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 (15 oz) jar salsa
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste. I add a lot of salt once it's on the plate.

Take 4-5 frozen boneless chicken breasts and place in crock pot.
Add black beans, salsa and corn.
Cook on high for 4-5 hours or until chicken is fully cooked.
Add cream cheese (just set on top) and let sit for 1/2 hr.
Mix melted cream cheese and serve.

P.S. This would be amazing over cilantro rice if you were so inclined. I want to try that next time.

Pulled Pork Salad with Cilantro Dressing

This isn't exactly the quickest meal but it is really yummy! I have three different recipes for it and I usually just pour in a bunch of stuff so here is what I do:

Ingredients:
1 Pork Roast
1 Coca Cola bottle
1 Cup Salsa
1 cup brown sugar
1 Cup Ketchup
To taste:
salt, pepper, garlic salt, cumin

Put the pork roast in a crock pot. Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic salt and cumin. Pour in 1 cup of the Coke, the salsa, and the brown sugar. Cook on low for 8 hours. One hour before it's done, put 1 more cup Coke and 1 Cup ketchup in a small sauce pan on the stove. Heat and stir. Shred the pork in the crock pot. Pour the coke and ketchup mix over the meat and let it cook the remaining hour.

Cilantro Dressing:
1 Jar Green Salsa Verde
Equal amount of prepared ranch dressing (we make our ranch or you can use Hidden Valley)
1 bunch cilantro

Place equal parts salsa verde and ranch dressing (I usually do a cup of each, can do more) in a blender or food processor with cilantro leaves and blend to smooth. Put it in the fridge til your ready to eat.

Other ingredients for salad:
Shredded lettuce (or I just buy the bagged lettuce)
Wheat, flour or corn tortillas
Black beans (I just warm up a can)
Cilantro lime rice (steamed rice with chopped cilantro leaves and fresh lime juice, to your liking)
Diced tomatoes (or I get really lazy and buy already made pico), onions etc
Shredded cheese (whatever kind you like)

After the meat is done, just layer a tortilla the way you like it and enjoy. It's so yummy!

My Go-To Recipe: Chicken Enchiladas

Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Sauce:
1 pint sour cream
3/4 soup can of water
2 cans cream of chicken soup

Mix all together

Filling:
2-4 chicken breasts, (depending on the size of your family, we use two) cubed & sauteed.
1 small can green chilies, diced.
3/4 green onion (we often use white or whatever is on hand)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese. (Optional in the filling.)

12 corn tortillas
1&1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Soften tortillas by lightly wetting them with water, then warming in the microwave. This keeps them from splitting.

Fill tortillas, placing the fold side down in a cake pan. (or casserole, or whatever pan)
Pour the sauce over the tortillas.
Sprinkle cheese over the top.
Bake at 325 F. for 30-40 minutes

Cheesy Zuchinni Soup

Sautee until tender:

-2 medium zucchini chopped (I use 1 green & 1 yellow zucchini)

-1 medium onion

-2 Tbls. Parsley

-1 tsp. dried basil

-1/3 cup butter

Stir in:

-1/3 cup flour

-1 tsp. salt

-¼ tsp. pepper

Stir in:

-3 cups water

-3 chicken bouillon cubes (or 3 cups chicken broth)

-1 tsp. lemon juice

Bring to boil 2 minutes

Add:

-1 can tomatoes

-1 can evaporated milk

-1 pkg. corn or 1 can drained

Reduce heat. Simmer 5 minutes

Add:

-¼ cup parmesan cheese

-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

This recipe has been posted on my personal blog before but I thought it would be good to post it here as well. It is my very favorite soup recipe!!

Crock Pot Brats & Potatoes

These are so simple and will easily be the best brats you've ever eaten!Ingredients:
-Brats
-Potatoes
-Onion

1) Bake brats for 20-30 minutes turning once halfway through.
2) Peel and slice potatoes (however many you want, I've done anywhere from 4 to 8) and onion and place in the bottom of the crock pot. (Or, if you're opposed to eating an actual onion like we are, I just substitute with onion powder.)
3) Place the brats on top of the potatoes and cook on low for 4-5 hours.

Seriously, they will just melt in your mouth!

Easy, One-skillet Chicken Pasta- DELISH!

Ok ladies, this one is a total keeper. I've made it twice now and we LOVE it, plus it can all be made in one skillet on the stove. I made it just this week and Dan had 4 helpings!

I got the recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs, and the blogger had gotten it from some skillet cookbook. Anyway, I changed a lot of things in the recipe (partly to make it healthier and partly to use what vegetables we had available) so I will post the recipe as I made it. If you want the original go here.

Ingredients:

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into squares/chunks

salt/pepper

garlic powder

olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

Mushrooms, chopped

1/2 tsp dried oregano

8-12 oz. whole wheat penne (if you don't love whole wheat pasta like we do, you can use white, of course)

3 cups water

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Frozen Sugar Snap peas (last time I used broccoli, and that is good too)

1/2 jar of roasted red peppers, chopped

1 to 1 1/2 c. milk

1 cup grated parmesean cheese (more if you like it extra cheesy)

1 lemon (optional)

Use your biggest non-stick skillet. Add a couple of drizzles of olive oil, add your chicken and diced onions, and season with salt/pepper, garlic powder and oregano; cook your chicken until almost all of the pink is gone. Add mushrooms and sautee until cooked. Add your pasta, 3 cups of water, and chicken broth. Bring to boil over high heat, and cook until much of the liquid is absorbed (12-15 minutes?), stirring occasionally. Stir in the snap peas and roasted red peppers. Turn heat to medium-high. Add the milk and the parmesean cheese. Simmer, uncovered for a few minutes until the cheese is melted through and the sauce is thickened. If your sauce is too thin, thicken with cornstarch (add 1-2 TB cornstarch in a small bowl of 1/4 c. milk. Mix until its totally dissolved BEFORE adding to the hot skillet, or else it will clump. Pour into the skillet mixture and stir until sauce is thickened). Once it's done, you can remove from heat and squeeze in a little lemon juice if you like. Season with more salt/pepper if it needs it, and top with a sprinkle of parmesean if you want. (PS, I didn't have any on hand, but I think this would be so pretty garnished with fresh parsley!)

Street Tacos

This isn't so much a recipe, as an assemblage. So, easy, easy, easy. I fell in love with "street tacos" in Tijuana and crave them about once a month. Here is our version.

Corn tortillas- Corn tortillas instead of flour. Much more flavor! I sprinkle them with water and then heat them in the microwave for about 25 seconds to make them pliable.

Chicken- Cut up into small pieces and sauteed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. But you can season them however you like. The simpler the better.

OR/ But Not Both!

Hamburger- Browned with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. You could also use actual cuts of meat cut into small pieces and browned.

White Onions- Cut very small. Do not cook these!

Cilantro- Taken off the stems and roughly chopped.

Limes- Cut into wedges to squeeze onto the tacos.

And that is it. Five ingredients. Assemble. You can add avocado or salsa, or get creative, but I find I don't like them as much when we add too many ingredients. A super fast and relatively healthy dinner. Like I said, not exactly a secret recipe handed down from my grandmother, but I get requests every time I've made them for people. I tell them it's just what they see, but they swear there is some trick. No trick. You can double the tortillas for a heftier taco... but ya, no real science to this.

Taco Salad

Layer:

Tortilla chips (I love Snyder of Hanover chips)
Salad- with any kind of salad toppings, usually include red or green onions
Beans- Any kind is yummy
Top with cheese and dressing!

***I usually serve with muffins.
Super easy, and one of my favorites!! Enjoy!

Chili for Ann :)

The Best Vegetarian Chili in the World

I had a pumpkin carving party at my house last night and made a huge batch of this for my entire family - it was a hit! SO hearty that the boys didn't even know it was vegetarian! I did add one can of chili beans and used Morningstar brand veggie crumbles. Just before serving I topped it with shredded cheese, sour cream and green onion and served over spaghetti noodles (sounds weird I know but that's how we do it in my fam - it's good!). YUM! Enjoy!