My Favorite Taco Soup

I've been meaning to post this recipe for ages. I love soup! That's not a secret. I love Taco Soup and this recipe has such a great flavor, it's the one I use all the time. This recipe is adapted from The Food Nanny's Cookbook. There are just a few changes that I've made to it and it really is the best. Warning: This recipe makes a lot. Either for a big family or a small family with company, this soup can feed the masses for cheap!

My Favorite Taco Soup

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cans red kidney beans, drained (Personally, I like one can kidney and one can pinto)
2 cans corn (not drained)
1 2.5 oz can sliced olives (not drained)
2 cans diced tomatoes (not drained)
1 can beef broth
1 small can tomato sauce (optional)

Top with cheese, sour cream, and chips

1. Brown ground beef with chopped onion and green pepper. Drain fat if needed. Add all other ingredients and cook on medium heat until soup is hot and flavors all blended. (You can also put it all in a crock pot and let it cook on low for 5-6 hours)

Lessons learned while making this cake!

I once took a cake decorating class. I loved it because, I got to decorate cakes. I did not make the cakes. I did not make the frosting. I got to explore my creative side with colors and piping tools and my canvas was the cake. When I finished my cake decorating class, I made one cake. I actually bought the frosting for the cake from a bakery,... and the cakes. I like to bake. And I like to decorate cakes. Putting those two processes together has always been overwhelming to me. So I gave all my cake decorating supplies to my sister in law and washed my hands of the idea.
Mel came into my life and inspired me to be creative again. She asked me to make this cake for her son's first birthday. (I won't show the original that I was trying to copy... It's too embarrassing.) I was excited to try cake decorating again. I was also excited to finally overcome my fear of butter cream frosting. And this is what I learned in the process. And I did learn all of these lessons the HARD way.
1. It takes 30 minutes to bake a cake in two 6X2 inch cake pans. (8 inch is the smallest it goes on the instructions on the box.
2. You can NOT use regular food coloring to die white chocolate. It doesn't work. You have to buy a special kind that is oil based not water based.
3. When following a recipe for butter cream frosting, the couple of tablespoons of milk it says to add are not suggestions. You should actually add them.
4. When using gel food coloring (with frosting not chocolate) a little goes a long way.
5. Piping frosting onto a cake that doesn't have enough liquid, doesn't stick very well, and is a lot of work.
With those lessons learned, I am more prepared to make the same cake next week. I will update on the progress I make. It should be a much simpler and smooth process.

So many good recipes....

I have tried so many good recipes lately I have been a little overwhelmed to blog them all. I am going to write about a few of them here and add the link so you can find them. I will go back and include the recipes later. You can click on the titles or pictures to find the recipe page link.

Slow-Cooker Lasagna Soup

This is the sauce this recipe calls for.
It's in the soup isle. 

This is not exactly a summer time dish, but I made it tonight and it was soooo good. It is also really easy and bonus, way less calories than regular lasagna. I think I really even like it better than lasagna because it is not so overloaded with cheese. Cheese is only a garnish on the top. Oh my goodness this was good. I also really liked the Italian Turkey Sausage. I will always use turkey sausage when making this because I imagine it would be quite a bit greasier with regular sausage. YUM!!


P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

These really are spot on. Maybe even better. I added just a little more heat when I made them with just a little more chili garlic sauce. If you don't want any heat just flavor I suggest only one teaspoon of the chili garlic sauce instead of the two that it calls for. I also added about half the peanut butter because I don't like a strong peanut flavor. It can be over-powering sometimes. James and I both agree it doesn't really need the nuts at all, and instead of half a can of water chestnuts I used the full can. Because I love water chestnuts. They were also super easy to make and the ground chicken really made a big difference too. Sometimes it's hard to find but it's not overly expensive. This is another really good and healthy recipe. I will be making this one again and again, and probably never going to P.F. Chang's again.



Olive Cheese Bread

A friend introduced us to this recipe quite awhile ago, but I didn't ever try it myself until tonight. This is NOT a healthy recipe but it sure is tasty! I am not particularly an olive lover, especially green olives, but they really bring this recipe together. I don't like pimento stuffed green olives so I just used plain green olives. This is a really good recipe to make when you have company because you can have a little and you will be reassured that the rest will get eaten with no leftovers to taunt you in your fridge.

Nutella Brownies

These were delicious and about the simplest brownie recipe you will find. I will include the recipe below because it's just that simple. I think they need just a little bit of salt so I have included it in the recipe below. The link on the internet shows them made in individual brownie cups but honestly I think it is best just in a 8X8 or 9X9 glass pan. They will be more moist that way. Also get creative with the toppings. I used white chocolate and pecans, but I think they would be great with chocolate chips, toffee, caramel, any kind of nut... you name it.

1 cup Nutella
2 eggs
10 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
toppings

mix together and bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees.

More recipes to come. I promise.

Mexican Rice

I learned how to make "real" Mexican rice in Mexico. I love it. But honestly it was without a recipe and it doesn't always turn out. It is delicious when it does however. I have been looking for a recipe that tastes similar but has instructions and measurements I can follow. I hit the jackpot with this recipe. It's delicious, easy, and doesn't take too long. Plus it's way healthier than the rice I used to make.

Mexican Rice

2 cups long grain white rice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 medium tomatoes
1/4 onion choped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
4 cups hot chicken broth (Or 4 cups water and 2 bullion cubes)
1/4 cup frozen or fresh peas
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add rice, stir to coat with oil. Lower the heat to medium and cook until each grain is separate and pale golden- approximately 8-10 minutes.
2. While rice cooks place the tomatoes, onions, and garlic (and boullion cubes if you are using instead of chicken broth) in the blender and puree.
3. Increase heat to medium-high and pour tomato mixture over the rice. Mix well.
4. Add hot broth (or hot water) peas, carrots and salt, stir. Replace the lid and let sit for 10-15 minutes. If any liquid remains, replace the lid and cook for several more minutes.

Fuity-O's

This is a Stewart recipe. If my sister-in-law were available to read this blog she would laugh at me for adding this recipe (She's on a mission). I was a skeptic for a long time about this recipe being any good. I for one think Cheerios are disgusting and didn't think there was a way you could make them taste good. The first time she made them for me, I didn't like them at all, but she admits she was a frugal college student and bought all off brand items to make them. The first time I "really" tried these was Christmas 2011 at my in-laws house in Silver City. I was sold! I could not stop eating these yummy simple treats. And best part they are even easier to make than rice crispy treats and a lot less calories. So if you need an easy treat to take to a scout meeting or a neighbor down the street and you have 5 minutes... cook up some Fruity-O's!

Fruity-O's

This is a double batch

1 (3 oz) package of Jell-O
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 Tbsp butter (or margarine)
4 cups Cheerios

Grease a 9X9 pan or baking dish. In a large sauce pan, blend dry Jell-O, corn syrup, and butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in Cheerios until thoroughly coated. Turn into prepared pan. Grease spoon or spatula and spread mixture in pan. Refrigerate. When set, cut into squares.

Asparagus Cashew Rice Pilaf (with chicken)

My friend Rachel shared this recipe with me. I forgot to ask her if I could share it, but I know she got it from somewhere else so I'm sure it's okay.
I LOVE ASPARAGUS! Growing up it used to grow out at my Grandpa's farm. We would get a couple of bunches each year from him, but there wasn't much and it seemed like a treasure each time. My mom would make Cream of Asparagus soup. We loved it. I don't think she ever bought asparagus, because the only time I remember having this soup was when my grandpa would give it to us. Maybe, it was as expensive then as it is now and that's why she didn't buy it. Regardless, whenever I find it on sale (and sometimes just when I want it) I buy a lot of it. I also make cream of asparagus soup, although I make it different than my mom did growing up, but it is so delicious. I didn't have a lot of other recipes for asparagus so that was mainly what I used it for. Rachel made this for my family one night and I have loved this recipe ever since. It is so light and yummy and for some reason it brings out the asparagus flavor better than any other recipe I've tried. So enjoy!

Asparagus Cashew Rice Pilaf (with chicken)

2 Tbsp Butter
2 oz uncooked spaghetti noodles (broken)
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/4 cup uncooked Jasmine rice
3 cups vegetable (or chicken) broth
1/2 lb asparagus (cut into inch pieces, and you can use as much or as little as you want. I like more rather than less)
1/2 cup chopped cashews
1 grilled chicken breasts diced or shredded (The original recipe doesn't call for chicken but that's how Rachel served it to us and that's how I've made it. I just rub a little olive oil and salt and pepper and bake it, but it would be so good with grilled chicken)

1. Melt butter over medium low heat. Add rice, onion, and garlic. Saute until rice starts to turn a light golden brown color. Add broken noodles and saute a little longer. Add broth, bring to a boil. Cover, turn down the heat and simmer on low for 20 minutes or until rice is cooked through and liquid is gone.

2. Grill or cook chicken breast, shred, or cube. Set aside.

3. Broil asparagus on foiled baking sheet for 3-4 minutes. Throw rice, chicken, and asparagus together and serve warm topped with chopped cashews.

Stuffed Green Peppers with Brown Rice, Italian Sausage, and Parmesan

After the last successful stuffed pepper recipe I was searching for more delicious recipes. This is one I stumbled on and we love it. I have made it twice already and like I've said before if we make it more than once and my family will eat it, it's a keeper.

Stuffed Green Peppers

1 cup long grain brown rice
4 large green peppers
1 large onion diced
2 tsp olive oil
2-3 links of Italian sausage, browned
1/2 tsp ground fennel
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1/4 cup mozzarella shredded cheese

(I'm lazy and don't want to type the directions so they are copy and pasted from http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2010/09/recipe-for-stuffed-green-peppers-with.html 
It's really not that difficult. It seems like a lot of directions....).

 Cook rice according to package directions, or using a rice cooker. (Rice can be cooked ahead and used in this recipe later.)

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on. Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of peppers, then remove seeds. Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that you've sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil. (A dish that's close in size to the peppers will work best.)

Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane, then dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dice. Heat 2 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet, then saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes, until they are starting to soften but aren't browned. Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl, add 1 tsp. more olive oil, then squeeze sausage out of the casing and cook until it's lightly browned, breaking apart with the back of the turner.

Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage, add the dried spices, and saute 2-3 minutes to blend the flavors. Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season the mixture with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.

Stuff the filling mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it's tightly packed into the pepper shell. (A few years ago I stopped pre-cooking the peppers before stuffing, and now I prefer peppers that are stuffed raw.) If you have any extra filling, you can put it in a small ramekin and bake along with the peppers. Bake peppers for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and put a generous pinch of grated mozzarella on top of each pepper. Put peppers back into the oven and bake about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned. Serve hot.

You can freeze leftover peppers for a month or two, although the frozen peppers will be a little softer in texture (but still very tasty.) I cut them in half top-to-bottom before freezing and freeze two halves in a small baking dish with a snap-on lid.