Skillet Lasagna

This is another Pinterest recipe, as most of my recipes are either from Pinterest or my favorite food blog All-Things-Delicious.  Now I don’t know about you, but I LOVE lasagna, really I haven’t met a pasta I didn’t like (well I’m not a huge fan of gnocchi, but that’s a different story). Anyways making a whole pan of lasagna is an ambitious task, so to save myself some time I decided to give this skillet lasagna recipe a try… I made a few tweaks to the original recipe (for example the original didn’t call for meat, but I like meat!!).

Skillet Lasagna:

1 ½ TBS. extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion chopped

1 cup of mushrooms (I did not put these in, I don’t like mushrooms)

2 garlic cloves, minced (I didn’t do this either, I hate using garlic cloves, I did use garlic powder though)

2 (14.5 oz) cans of Italian diced tomatoes, drained

¼ cup tomato sauce

3 basil leaves, chopped (I didn’t have any basil leaves so I omitted these as well)

¼ tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. sea salt (or regular salt works)

½ Cups skim ricotta cheese

½ Cups part skim mozzarella cheese

3 TBS Parmesan Cheese

About 6 ounces lasagna noodles, broken into thirds (or smaller) fully cooked

2 TBS parsley (dried or fresh)

1lbs browned ground beef (if you want).

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and cook until softened, about 4 minutes.  Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until garlic is fragrant, about one minute.  Add in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, salt and pepper.  Cook mixture until it thickens up a bit, around 5 minutes.  Add in browned meat.  Add noodles to skillet and stir into the mixture well.  Add scoops of ricotta cheese over the noodles; add in mozzarella and Parmesan.  Stir in parsley.  Cook about 2 more minutes or until mixture is thick.  Serve immediately with additional basil or parsley.

I didn't get any pictures of this, but I think this was a very yummy meal, I enjoyed it for lunch!

Colorado Burritos

Ok so I have seen several different recipes for this on Pinterest and every time I see a photo I just want to eat one in that moment.  I finally worked up the courage to attempt this recipe and I have no idea why I waited so long! These were amazing! I may have eaten a burrito every day for lunch for a week straight (yeah they were that good!).

Not to mention they are super easy to make, and it is a crock pot freezer meal… I LOVE THESE!!

Colorado Beef Burritos:

2 lbs. stew beef

2 12oz cans of red enchilada sauce

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup beef stock

6 flour tortillas

2 cups of shredded cheese

So if you are planning on freezing this to make at some future moment follow these directions:

Label bag and add the stew beef, 1 can of enchilada sauce, onions, and beef stock.  Freeze until ready to cook.  Thaw slightly and place in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours until beef is tender.  Remove beef and shred (you can do this step in your kitchen aide if you have one, it makes life so much easier!!).  Divide beef between the flour tortillas, place in greased baking dish, top with other can of enchilada sauce and cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Serve with salsa, guacamole, shredded lettuce and tomatoes.

I just ate the burritos without any additions… now next time I make them I’d like to try a Mexican rice recipe because I feel like that would be absolutely delicious!! Enjoy and be ready to share with someone, or else you might eat the whole pan because they are that good!!

I'm sorry this pic just doesn't do these burritos justice.  I'm not much of a photographer, but I need to start being better, because these burritos were AMAZING!!!

Taco Soup and Chocolate Chip Cookies

So to start out the recipe-palooza I will start with two recipes that are tried and true recipes in my family, these are not new recipes, they are my go to when I need something quick and easy. I will be giving out my taco soup recipe and my family’s top secret chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I have made both these recipes so many times I have them memorized! Get ready to be hungry!

Taco Soup:

1 lb ground beef

2 cans of corn (drained)

1 can of pinto beans (drained)

1 can of stewed tomatos

1 can of tomato sauce

3 cups of water

1 pkg of taco seasoning.

So what you do is you brown the beef and you can either add the taco seasoning directly to the beef, or just add it to the soup (I don’t have a preference either way is fine). While browning the beef add the water, corn, beans, tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes into a big pot on the stove.  Once the beef is browned add that to the pot and make sure to not forget to add the taco seasoning. Once everything is added together and bring to a rolling boil for about 20min and then let it simmer and it is ready to be served. I like to eat this with tortilla chips (the scoops are my favorite) with sour cream and copious amounts of shredded cheese!  This is so easy and perfect for a cold rainy day!

Now as promised I will be giving you two recipes in this post, and this is if you are in need of a good cookie recipe.  These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten, and I have been told by several different sources I should open a cookie shop just for these cookies!

Grandma Henson’s Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Mix together in a large bowl:

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of shortening (NOT BUTTER FLAVORED)

1 tsp vanilla I sometimes add a little more because I love vanilla

2 eggs (you need to beat these separately before adding to above mixture)

Sift together in a separate bowl:

2 ¼ cups of flour

1tsp salt

1 tsp soda

¼ tsp nutmeg (SECRET INGREDIENT ALERT) I sometimes add a little more because I like the taste

Once the two mixtures are well mixed start adding the dry ingredients to the wet ones, you’ll want to use your electric mixer for this, I have noticed that ever since I’ve gotten a kitchen aide my cookies have gotten so much better! But it’s ok if you don’t have a kitchen aide or bosch.  Continue mixing until all the ingredients are integrated.  Then add a bag (or less how ever many you want) of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, and the trick is you want to take them out when they are not quite done so they finish baking on the sheet. This method takes some getting used to and may take a few trials to get right!

These are delicious fresh from the oven, or frozen, or really any way you want to eat them! Enjoy and thank my great grandma Henson for this recipe!

Resolutions

Well I resolved to be better about blogging, and I have so many posts to write about. I feel like I have been a cooking queen the last few weeks because well I have so many recipes that I’ve made since my last post that need to be put up! Not to mention the millions (ok that may be an exaggeration) of recipes I have tried in the last year that I need to update y’all about. Anyways I will be making several posts in succession because I need to get all these recent recipes up because my coworkers I eat lunch with have been breathing down my neck for these recipes… yeah they are THAT good!

Over the next few posts these are the recipes I’ll be putting up:

My Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Taco Soup

Mini Meatloaf

Skillet Lasagna

Chocolate Chip cookie truffles

Pumpkin Curry

Cheesecake Brownies

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Colorado Burritos.

Now I may not post these in that order, and only one of the recipes on the above list was not a winner (the pumpkin curry was just not my favorite).  So if you are in a recipe slump, check these out because they are serious winners!!