My Mexican Dish! & also a few things I made in the crock pot

It's been another busy week here in the Garrison-Hickman household.  The girls have been running around, still non-stop, since my last post.

Kaydon came to stay the night on Thursday night & stayed all day Friday too.  He got ahold of my camera and out of the 100 or so pictures he took, this one was the only one worth keeping.

He kept me super busy for the day....but we love when that little man comes to hang out with us.  Having an active day just comes with the territory.  :)

So, I tried my hand at a Mexican dish this week in addition to a couple other things.  It turned out GREAT.... taste-wise....the Enchiladas, aesthetically, could have used some work.

This Week's Dinner Menu:  

Monday - Sour Cream Enchiladas & Mexican Stuffed Shells.

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork & Mustard & White Wine Potato Slices 

Thursday - I tried my hand at 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos (I can't seem to find the link anywhere on my Pinterest boards ::sigh::)

Sunday - Cheesy Chicken & Rice in the crock pot

SOUR CREAM ENCHILADAS

Ingredients:

5 Corn Tortillas

Canola Oil

1 - 10 oz can Enchilada Sauce

1 cup Sour Cream

1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Cayenne

Directions:

Mix together the Sour Cream, half of the Cheese, Cumin & Cayenne.  Heat the Oil in a skillet over Medium heat and the Enchilada Sauce in a separate skillet over Medium Low heat.  Use tongs to fry the Tortillas for 5 secs on each side then dunk 'em in the warmed Enchilada Sauce.  Lay each Tortilla flat on a plate, spoon 2-3 spoonfuls right in the middle of the Tortilla & roll 'em up.  Place Enchiladas face down in an 8x8 baking dish & cover them with the remaining Cheese.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 mins or until the Cheese is nice and bubbly.

So, the Enchiladas tasted great.....but they fell completely apart once they were removed from the baking dish.  ::sigh:: Will try again soon...I've heard they're tough to get perfect.

MEXICAN STUFFED SHELLS

Ingredients:

1 lb Lean Ground Beef

1 package Taco Seasoning

4 oz Cream Cheese

11 Jumbo Pasta Shells

1 1/2 cups Salsa

1 cup Taco Sauce

1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 cup Monterrey Jack Cheese

Sour Cream, for garnish

Directions:

Brown the Ground Beef, add the Taco Seasoning & prepare according to the package instructions (this usually only consists of adding 2 cups of water).  Add the Cream Cheese & simmer until completely melted.  Blend well, remove from heat & set aside.  Cook the Pasta Shells according to package instructions & drain.  Set the Pasta Shells out on a baking sheet so that they're not touching.  Pour Salsa on the bottom of your baking dish.  Stuff each Shell with the meat mixture & place open side up in the baking dish.  

We used the leftover meat mixture & sour cream mixture from the Enchiladas to make a Nacho Appetizer while everything cooked.  

Pour the Taco Sauce over the shells, cover with foil &  bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins.  After 30 mins, sprinkle the Shredded Cheddar Cheese over the top of the shells and cook for an additional 15 mins, uncovered. 

I have to say the Enchiladas and Stuffed Shells were ALOT of work but man were they worth it.  I'm excited that I made good Mexican food.  :)

SLOW COOKER PARMESAN HONEY PORK 

Ingredients:

2 Pork Steaks

2/3 cup Shredded Parmesan, Asiago & Romano Cheese Mix (I didn't have straight up Parmesan Cheese in stock)

1/2 cup Honey

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

2 tbsp Basil

2 tbsp Minced Garlic

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 tsp Salt

Directions:

Spray the inside of the crock pot with non-stick Cooking Spray & place your Pork Steaks in the crock pot.  Combine all other ingredients in a bowl & pour over the Pork Steaks.  Cook on Low for 6 hours.

Look at that smokey goodness  :)

MUSTARD & WHITE WINE POTATO SLICES

Ingredients:

4 Russet Potatoes, sliced

3 spoonfuls Spicy Brown Mustard

2 tbsp Butter

2 tbsp Olive Oil

1 clove Minced Garlic

3 tbsp White Wine

1 tsp Salt

Side note:  I originally bought Fingerling Potatoes to use for this recipe....but I guess they don't stay good in the fridge for very long.  I bought them on Sunday and when I went to cook them on Tuesday, they were green.  :(  That's OK....I'll stick to regular ol' Russet Potatoes any day.  Another side note:  I'm probably the only person that purchased a slicer so I won't cut myself AND STILL END UP CUTTING MY FINGER RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE.

Directions:

Whisk together all ingredients but the potatoes.  Add your Potato Slices to the same bowl and toss 'em til they're all coated in the mixture.  Lay Potato Slices on a foil lined baking sheet & cook at 425 degrees for 30 mins.

 I love potato slices.

3 INGREDIENT CROCK POT CHICKEN TACOS

Ingredients:

3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Salsa

Taco Seasoning

Directions:

Blend (or just mix if you prefer chunky salsa) the Salsa & Taco Seasoning until the chunks are no more.  Our usual Salsa wasn't in stock when I went to the store so I had to improvise for the sake of Chris' "texture issues".  :)  Place the Chicken Breasts in the crock pot & pour the Salsa mixture over the top.  Cook on Low for 6 hours.  I forgot to take a picture of the final product.  We made tacos with flour tortillas, shredded cheese & sour cream this night.  Then made Street Tacos with the leftovers & corn tortillas on Fri night.  Mmm mmm mmm....will definitely be making this again.  :)

CHEESY CHICKEN & RICE (in the crockpot)

Ingredients:

3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Rice

2 cups Cheddar Cheese

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1 can Whole Kernel Corn

Directions:

Place Chicken Breasts in the crock pot and cover with Cream of Chicken Soup. Cook on High for 4 hours.  About 30 mins before the cooking time is up, cook Rice according to package directions.  Add Rice, Corn & Cheese to the crock pot and mix it all together til the Cheese is melted.

YUM YUM YUM!  This was so good!  Using extra Cheese was definitely a good move.  :)

Well, that's all we had for this week.  I can't say enough times how proud I am of myself for trying a Mexican dish too.  This cooking thing is getting to be kinda fun!  :)

Until next time......

-Samantha

Steak & Pork Chops

I took a couple days off from the kitchen (Thursday & Friday to be exact).  It was just enough time for us to ready ourselves for

the craziness of the new sisters!  Theyhave gone non-stop since we brought Joy home Friday night.  LEELOO IS LOVING IT!

But you're here for the food.....right???  Here's the menu for my Saturday & Sunday night.

Saturday's dinner was Creamy Basil Pork Chops & Pierogi Lasagna  

And on Sunday, we had Country Bumpkin Fried Steak (still can't get over how great I actually made this....I heard from a little birdie that it was easy to screw up)  & Cheddar Mashed Potatoes  

CREAMY BASIL PORK CHOPS

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Pork Chops

2 tbsp Olive Oil

2 cloves Minced Garlic

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pepper

1/4 cup Heavy Cream

1 tbsp Basil

Directions:

Heat oil over Medium heat.  Add Garlic, Salt & Pepper & saute for about a minute or so.  Saute pork chops until browned on both sides & cooked all the way through.  Remove to a plate.  

Whisk heavy cream & basil into remaining pan drippings over Medium heat until sauce thickens slightly.  

Pour the gravy over the chops & BAM!  I forgot to take a final picture.  :(

PIEROGI LASAGNA

Ingredients:

12 Lasagna Noodles

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 packets Roasted Garlic Instant Mashed Potatoes

1 Packet Buttery Instant Mashed Potatoes

I don't know why I had cooking oil out......just ignore that part of the picture

Directions:

Coat a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.  Cook Lasagna according to package directions, drain & separate noodles so that they don't stick together.  I laid them across baking sheets covered in Wax Paper.

Cook the Mashed Potatoes according to package directions then add the Pepper & Cheese & mix well.  Lay 3 Lasagna noodles across the bottom of the baking dish and layer the Mashed Potato mixture on top of it.  

Repeat until you have 4 layers of noodles with 3 layers of Mashed Potatoes in between.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins.

COUNTRY BUMPKIN FRIED STEAK

Ingredients:

3 "Flat Iron" Steaks (as I like to call them)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1/2 cup Buttermilk

1/2 cup Yellow Cornmeal

1/4 cup Vegetable Shortening

3 tbsp Flour

1 1/2 cups Milk

Directions:

Season Steaks with Salt & Pepper.  Place Buttermilk & Cornmeal in 2 separate dishes & dip each steak in the Buttermilk then COVER in Cornmeal.  I heard that the secret is to double dip them.  I just made sure to press extra Cornmeal all over them instead of sticking them BACK in the Buttermilk.  

Heat the shortening over Medium-High heat & add the steaks.  Cook until the coating is Golden & then remove to a paper towel lined plate.  Then, add Flour, Salt & Pepper to taste to the remaining pan drippings.  Cook until flour is browned, stirring constantly.  Whisk in the milk until gravy thickens and serve over the steaks.

CHEDDAR MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients:

4 Russet Potatoes

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 cup Buttermilk

1 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Pepper

Directions:

Boil potatoes until tender.  Drain & mash.  Stir in the Cheese, Buttermilk, Salt & Pepper.  

Final products:

This meal tied with my Crockpot Taco Chicken for my fave of the week.

Welp....that's it for last weeks' meals.  I've got lot's of good meal planning coming up this week too.

Until next time......

-Samantha

Exciting things & FOOD

Well, it's been almost a week since I posted last.  We've had lots of great food cooking and exciting things going on.  Exciting things first:

MEET JOY!  She's the newest addition to our little family.  Leeloo absolutely LOVES playing big sister to her  & having someone to play & cuddle with.

Another big exciting thing that happened this week:  Texas Rangers baseball is back!!!  I love love love (can't say it enough) BASEBALL SEASON!  There's no other sport that I love more than a sport that I can watch 6 nights a week and NOT get sick of.


And then of course, the last exciting thing that happened this week:  Easter at Mom's :)   We had a wonderful lunch and spent some time just hanging out, which we don't do often enough.


Here's Kaydon checking out his Easter Basket from Aunt Sammy & Uncle Chris 

And eating Easter candy

Now.....on to the 1/2 week in food (I'll post the other half tomorrow) -

Monday night I made a Cheddar Bacon Dip for us to snack on before our Honey Glazed Chicken & Bacon Bites & Cheesy Garlic Bread.  I halved everything in the Cheddar Bacon Dip since it was just Chris & I eating it.  It made for a great snack while dinner was cooking.  I also used entirely too much bread for the Cheesy Garlic Bread.  We would have been just fine with 1/4 of our loaf of French Bread.  ::sigh::  I promise I'll get bread baking right someday.

Tuesday night we had Lemony Garlic Chicken & Homestyle Mac & Cheese (and no, it wasn't by Kraft....as much as I love theirs, I figured I'd try another one)

On Wednesday, I made Crockpot Taco Chicken & Chili's Copycat Salsa.  I have to say that this was a pretty dang good meal.  Extra Spicy, which is how we like it in our household.

CHEDDAR BACON DIP

Ingredients:

1 cup Sour Cream

1/2 packet Ranch Dressing Mix

1/2 bag REAL Bacon Bits

1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Mix 'em all together and stick in the fridge for a bit.

HONEY GLAZED CHICKEN & BACON BITES

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into strips

Enough bacon to wrap around each strip (9 in my case)

2 tbsp Honey

1 tsp Spicy Dijon Mustard

1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Directions:

Combine the honey, mustard & lemon juice in a bowl.  Wrap one slice of bacon around each strip & place on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Tip:  The foil makes for easy clean up later on.  Brush each strip heavily with the marinade.

  Bake at 425 degrees for 13 mins.  Flip the strips and brush heavily with marinade again then cook for an additional 13 mins.

OOOOH WEEEE!!!  Don't ya wish ya had some!

CHEESY GARLIC BREAD

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf French Bread

1/2 cup Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/4 cup Mayo

Salt to taste

1/2 stick Butter

2 cloves Minced Garlic

Directions:

Mix all 3 Cheeses with the Mayo & Salt and set in the fridge til you're ready to use.  

Melt 2 tbsp Butter in a skillet and add 1 clove Minced Garlic.  Place 1/4 Loaf of Bread face down in the skillet and swirl around so the bread soaks up all the garlicky, buttery goodness while it's toasting.  When bread is slightly toasted, place on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Remove the used Garlic & Butter & repeat these steps as many times as necessary.  Spread the cheese mixture over each toasted 1/4 loaf & bake at 425 degrees until the cheese is melted.

See....too much bread  ::sigh::

LEMONY GARLIC CHICKEN

Ingredients:

2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1/3 cup Lemon Juice
1/6 cup White Cooking Wine
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1/8 cup Parsley
4 cloves Garlic
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper

Directions:


Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.  Combine Lemon Juice, Wine, Olive Oil, Parsley & Garlic in a bowl.  Season the Chicken with Salt & Pepper and place in baking dish.  Pour the marinade over the Chicken, cover & place in the fridge for about 20 mins.  

Then bake uncovered at 375 degrees for an hour.




HOMESTYLE MAC & CHEESE


I'll be honest....I got a little sidetracked while cooking and totally forgot to take pics.   A note to add, I actually ended up using 2 different types of pasta that were NOT elbow macaroni.  I didn't have any on hand.....


Ingredients:


1/2 lb Penne Pasta
1/2 lb Rigatoni
1 stick + 2 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
4 cups Milk
4 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup Crushed Saltines

Directions:

Cook Pasta according to package directions.  Drain & set aside.  Coat a baking dish with cooking spray.  Melt a stick of Butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add Flour, Salt & Pepper & mix well.  Gradually add milk, bring to a boil, and cook until smooth and thickened, stirring constantly.  Add Cheddar Cheese and stir until melted.  Add Pasta and mix well.  In a separate bowl, melt 2 tbsp Butter and mix Saltine Crumbs until evenly coated.  Spoon Pasta into the baking dish & sprinkle Saltine Crumbs over the top.  Bake at 375 degrees for 30 mins.

And VOILA!!!

Final product for our meal that evening:

CHILI'S COPYCAT SALSA

Ingredients:

2 cans Diced Tomatoes, drained

1 can Whole Jalapenos, drained

1/4 cup Minced Onion

1 tsp Garlic Salt

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cumin

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Lime Juice

Directions:

Mix it all together in a blender and liquefy to the consistency of your liking. 

This salsa was so incredibly SPICY....much better than Chili's!  :) 

CROCKPOT TACO CHICKEN

I only had 1/2 a jar of Salsa so I used some of my Chili's Copycat Salsa in this recipe too.  Made for extra spicy Taco Chicken.

Ingredients:

2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 jar Salsa

1/2 lb Frozen Corn

1 tbsp Chili Powder

1/2 tbsp Cumin

1/2 tbsp Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Cayenne

1/4 tsp Salt

Pepper to taste

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in Crockpot and stir coating chicken evenly with the mixture.

Cook on high for 4 1/2 hrs.  Near the end of the cooking time, cook rice according to package directions.  While rice is cooking, shred chicken in the crockpot with 2 forks.

That's all the yummy goodness I had for the week.  :)

Until next time......

-Samantha