Low-Carb Tacos

I mentioned the other day I was thinking I could make taco salad like my friend makes (although I was going to go with iceberg shreds instead of a bed of romaine as I already had the shreds), so the boyfriend found this recipe.  Which turned out really quite good.  Love the cheese, sour cream, and salsa mixed in.  I wasn't as sure about the avocado, but it worked nicely.  If you don't want it though, feel free to leave it out.  Oh, and we skipped the jalapeno and used rotel canned tomatoes instead of chopping a tomato, as well as regular cheese and sour cream.  It's not a pretty dish, but tasty.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 onion, diced

1/2 (4 ounce) can diced jalapeno peppers

1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

2 cups shredded lettuce

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup low-fat sour cream

1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and sliced

Directions

Cook and stir ground beef, onion, and jalapeno peppers together in a skillet over medium-high heat until meat is browned and crumbly, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir taco seasoning into meat mixture; bring to a simmer and cook until flavors combine, about 5 minutes.

Stir meat mixture, shredded lettuce, tomato, Cheddar cheese, salsa, and sour cream together in a large bowl. Divide taco mixture among 4 bowls and top each with avocado slices.

Cheesy Chicken with Mushrooms

The boyfriend has been finding lots of new recipes for us to try lately.  This is one of the recent ones.  I wasn't thinking clearly at the store that evening, so I grabbed regular chicken breasts - next time I will definitely take the poster's advice of getting tenderloins.  A bit of browning the breadcrumbs on the chicken and layer in the pan with mushrooms and mozzarella cheese - add a bit of broth to keep it moist and you're done!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup (112 grams) Italian bread crumbs
• 16 ounces sliced mushrooms, divided
• 4 tablespoons (57 grams) salted butter, divided
• 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup (237 ml) chicken broth

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread half of the sliced mushrooms over the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish.
3. Place the eggs and bread crumbs in two separate shallow dishes (pie plates work great for this).
4. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg, then into the bread crumbs, patting them to adhere.
5. In a 12-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until melted. Add half of the breaded chicken to the pan and saute until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove the chicken from the skillet and place on top of the mushrooms in the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining butter and chicken breasts.
6. Sprinkle the remaining sliced mushrooms over the chicken, then top with the shredded mozzarella cheese. Pour the chicken broth into the bottom of the pan.
7. Bake until the cheese is melted and browned, and the chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.

RECIPE NOTES:

• I recommend using the thin sliced chicken breasts, or chicken tenders.
• This dish is also great with Swiss cheese instead of mozzarella.
• You can choose to cover the dish with aluminum foil while baking to retain the juices, however the mozzarella cheese will not brown.

Baking Powder Biscuits

This recipe comes from my 7th grade Home and Career Skills (aka Home Ec) class.  This is the version I keep coming back to, it's tried and true and I've never had it go wrong.

2 cups sifted flour (I don't sift, just make sure the flour isn't packed)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
cut in finely: 1/4 cup shortening (I usually use butter)
Stir in to make a soft dough: 3/4 cup milk
Round up on lightly floured board.  Knead lightly about 30 seconds.  Roll out or pat out about 1/2 inch thick.  Cut.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 450* for 10-12 minutes.

Caroling Cookies

I found this recipe a number of years ago in a book called All Occasion Cookies (ISBN 1-57954-952-7). I used M&Ms for the candy bits. And as you can see, they look so festive. And even better, no matter the name of the cookies, switch out the color of the M&Ms and you can make these for any holiday - pastel for Easter, orange and black for Halloween, red and pink for Valentine's Day. And being a drop cookie, they're a lot less time consuming than cutouts (which I do love, but usually don't have time for).

Caroling Cookies

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 package (10 ounces) white chips

⅔ cup butter or margarine, softened

⅔ cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 package (10 ounces) holiday candy bits

Preheat the oven to 325*F.   Combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a bowl.  Melt 1 cup of the white chips.

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in the melted chips.  Stir in the remaining chips and the candy bits.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until very light brown.  Transfer to racks to cool.

Source: All occasion cookies.

Greek Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner

The boyfriend has been finding all sorts of new recipes lately.  Among them was this winner (I haven't tried most of them yet to be fair) - it's quick to put together (and I'll be faster with more repetitions and less double checking measurements) and the whole meal is cooked together.  I used the full package of chicken thighs (six, but there's always one or two that are quite small) and found "rainbow carrots" at the store, which seemed close to the heirloom it calls for.


Ingredients
2 medium lemons
4 (4-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 pound baby red potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
12 small (12 ounces) heirloom carrots, trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, divided
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
Directions
Adjust the oven racks in the center and bottom third, and preheat the oven to 450°F. Line two large rimmed baking sheets with foil and spray with oil.

Slice one lemon into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Cut the second lemon in half.

In a large bowl, combine chicken, potatoes, carrots, juice from 1/2 lemon, olive oil, 1 tablespoon oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, garlic powder and pepper to taste, and toss well with hands until everything is evenly coated. Spread out in a single layer along with the lemon slices, without overcrowding, onto the prepared baking sheets.

Roast until the bottoms of the potatoes are golden, about 14 minutes. Flip the potatoes and carrots, rotate the baking sheets and roast until carrots are tender, potatoes are golden on both sides and chicken is cooked through, another 14 minutes.

Squeeze the remaining 1/2 lemon over everything. Top with feta, lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon oregano. Serve immediately.

Crunchy Beef Casserole

Before onions & cheese

I'm still on a cool weather casserole kick.  Last night's casserole was also from Southern Plate, just like last week's.  As she says the green pepper is optional, I only ended up adding in about a half cup.  This is a very easy recipe to put together.  While the pasta cooks, cook the ground beef, and between tending them, chop your green pepper and start putting your soup and tomatoes in your mixing bowl.  I also threw on some extra cheese on top of the french fried onions.  Because why not?


Ingredients
2 Cups Corkscrew Macaroni (Rotini)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¾ C Shredded Cheddar Cheese
¾ tsp Seasoned Salt
1 lb Ground Beef
1 can (14 oz) whole or diced tomatoes
¾ C Green Pepper (optional - I leave it out for the kids)
1 can french fried onions

Instructions

Cook pasta as directed, rinse and drain. Brown beef, drain fat. Combine all ingredients except french fried onions. Pour into greased 2 quart casserole. Cover and bake at 350 for thirty minutes. Uncover, top with french fried onions, and bake five minutes longer.

Country Casserole

This had been on my list to make for a few years now and the cooler weather we've finally been having made it a good time to give it a try.  It's fairly quick and easy to throw together.  And it definitely makes a good amount.  If I start running into occasions that I need to bring food to somebody, this would definitely be a good place to start (I mention this because if you read Christie's blog, she specifically states that).

Ingredients

• 2 cups small shell pasta, cooked and drained
• 3 cups frozen mixed vegetables, cooked and drained
• 2 cups shredded cheddar, divided
• One can French fried onions, divided
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (can use canned chicken or rotisserie )
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine everything in a large bowl, reserving half of the cheese and half of the onions for topping later. Spoon into 9x13 casserole dish. Bake for twenty five minutes. Top with remaining onions and cheese, bake until cheese is melted, about five minutes more.