The Cookbook Experiment: Cheesy Nacho Bake

The final cookbook experiment of the night is Mrs. Susan Strom's Cheesy Nacho Bake. Susan is a woman at church who I greatly admire. She is a very brave and courageous woman who believes and loves with her whole heart.

Cheesy Nacho Bake by Susan Strom

(1 1/2) pounds ground beef or turkey
(1) 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, unstrained
(1) package Taco seasoning mix (1 1/4 ounce)
(1/2) cup water
(1 1/2) cups sour cream, divided
(1) 5 ounce package tortilla chips (8 cups)
(1) 8 ounce package Shredded Colby and Monterrey jack cheese
Chopped tomatoes and green onion for garnish

Brown meat, drain. Add tomatoes, 1/2 cup water and seasoning mix. Cook, uncovered 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Stir in 1 cup sour cream. Place 1/2 of the chips in a 13" x 9" baking dish, cover with 1/2 the meat mixture and 1/2 the cheese. Repeat layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.  Top with remaining sour cream, chopped tomatoes and green onions if desired.

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• This was very easy and very tasty
• The sour cream blended with the meat and tomato mixture was just perfectly creamy.
• Adding the fresh grape tomatoes and green onion on top with some sour cream was wonderful.
• This is definitely going on the list of things I will make again and again. Thanks Susan!

The Cookbook Experiment: Italian Meat Loaf

Tonight's cookbook experiment is once again courtesy of Doris Baynes. To be honest, I was not too sure about the recipe as my husband is pretty particular about his meatloaf. I decided to go ahead and give it a try as it sounded a lot different from any meatloaf I have ever made.

Italian Meat Loaf by Doris Baynes

( 1 1/2) pounds lean ground beef
(1) small onion, chopped
(1/4) teaspoon garlic powder
(1) egg
(1) teaspoon oregano
(1/4) teaspoon pepper
(1) cup tomato sauce
(1) 8 ounce package grated Monterrey Jack cheese

In a large bowl mix the ground beef, onions, garlic, egg, oregano and pepper. Spoon half the mixture into a loaf pan, then add 2/3 of the cheese and 1/2 the tomato sauce. Add remaining beef mixture to pan. Top with remaining tomato sauce and remaining cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.

My take-a-ways for this recipe:

• I did not use a loaf pan. I did not have 1 1/2 hours for the meatloaf to cook. I had a hungry husband so I put it in my 9" x 13" cake pan and made it not so thick so it would cook faster. It took approximately 45 minutes to finish. The meatloaf fell apart easily but that is probably because I did not use a loaf pan.
• As I am never allowed to put ketchup on top of my recipe of meatloaf I was a little bit worried about how this one would be received. As I suspected, my husband declared it "too tomatoey" if that is even a word.
• I am enjoying all of Doris' recipes. She seems to have been a very smart lady. Thanks Doris!

The Cookbook Experiment: Cheese Potato Puff

Tonight's cookbook experiment is a recipe from another amazing woman at church: Sally Dowdy. She is one of my heroes of faith, someone who you know if she says she will pray for you, she will.  She is a beautiful, courageous woman and I am grateful to know her.

The recipe is called "Cheese Potato Puff". This recipe is wonderful because I had all the ingredients on hand. It is also wonderful because it will satisfy not only my meat-eaters in the house but my vegetarians as well.

Cheese Potato Puff

(12) medium potatoes, peeled
(1) teaspoon salt, divided
(3/4) cup butter
(2) cups shredded cheddar cheese
(1) cup of milk
(2) eggs, beaten
fresh or dried chives

Place potatoes in a large kettle; cover with water. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook until tender.  Drain; mash potatoes until smooth. In a saucepan cook and stir butter, cheese, milk and remaining salt until smooth. Stir in potatoes; fold in eggs. Pour into a greased baking dish. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until puffy and golden brown. Sprinkle with chives if desired.

Here are my take-a-ways from making this recipe:

• I was not exactly sure what size "medium" potatoes are. I made my best guess as you can see from the picture above.
• I chopped my potatoes before boiling them. I am not sure if that was correct or not but I was in a hurry to get dinner done and knew that chopped potatoes would soften faster while boiling.
• Because I am a cheese snob (I can't help it, I love cheese) I would encourage you to use really good cheese. I used some Murray's sharp cheddar.
• My eggs are so bright yellow because I now only buy cage-free brown eggs. Don't look up the differences in grades/types of eggs unless you want to be disturbed. I looked it up when I was trying to figure out egg safety and because of what I read, I now only use cage-free.
• You will need to temper the eggs when you go to fold them in if you potato/cheese/butter mixture is still hot. Don't scramble your eggs in the potatoes or you will have to start over.
• This recipe is DELICIOUS!!  I encourage you to try it. My whole family loved it. Thanks Mrs. Dowdy!!!

Long potatoes, cheddar and ham

I had a lot of potatoes to use up from Thanksgiving. I think I kept forgetting how many I had and kept buying them. With how chilly it is outside plus needing to use leftover ham, it seemed like a good night to make a nice potato dish.

I peeled approximately three pounds of russet potatoes and cut them long-ways.  They were placed in a 9" x 13" dish, dotted with chunks of smoked ham and hunks of extra sharp cheddar cheese.  I combined one large can of cream of mushroom soup with almost 2 cans of  evaporated milk and poured over the top. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for one hour.  That's it!  It is super easy!

It was a big hit with the family tonight! A very good belly warmer!

Taco Bar!

Today my sweet husband asked for soft tacos for dinner.  I decided to go a little crazy and give my family LOTS of things to add to their soft tacos!

Here is the list of what was on the table:

1. Seasoned ground beef (of course!)
2.  Fried chicken strips cut into chunks (no I did not fry them, got them from Harris Teeter pre-made and on sale!!)
3.  Fresh baby spinach leaves
4. Fresh salsa (courtesy of Harris Teeter again!)
5. chopped jalapenos (with the seeds left in!)
6.  Chimichurri sauce (which I made from scratch)
7. chopped tomatoes
8. chopped green onions
9.  bean sprouts
10.  alfalfa sprouts
11. Daisy sour cream (love the dollop! :) )
12.  Mexican blend of four cheeses, shredded
13.  chopped cucumber
14. re-fried beans
15. flour tortillas
16. Goya Spanish rice
17. Newman's Own Salsa con Queso
18. Broccoli slaw with fresh lime juice squeezed on it

Whew!! That was a lot to get ready! Of course, I cheated a little bit by using a few pre-made things from Harris Teeter.

The chimichurri sauce I made tonight was the best one I have made yet.  I did not follow any specific recipe, I just threw a bunch of ingredients in the blender and then blended and tasted until it was good.  I used a lot of it on my tacos.  It was delicious.  I love a "make it anyway you want" kind of plate! It was nice to have the whole family at the table.  My husband and children are such blessings!!

Billieanne's Pizza Pockets!

My oldest daughter, Billieanne, posted a recipe titled "Pizza Balls" on my Facebook page a few days ago.  I did not really feel like making dinner so I decided to stop on the way home and pick up the ingredients for the recipe she posted and let HER make dinner.

The ingredients are pretty simple:

(3) cans of buttermilk biscuits (eight in each can)
(1) package of pepperoni slices
(1) block of cheese (we used mozzarella)
(1) can/jar of pizza sauce
(1) beaten egg
garlic powder, dried basil

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Slice the block of cheese into squares as shown.  Open biscuits.  Smash one biscuit flat, put on a piece of cheese with a piece of pepperoni on each side of it.

Weird camera angle! Sorry!  That is one flattened biscuit with one piece of cheese and two pieces of pepperoni.  Wrap biscuit around the cheese and seal.  Put the sealed side down into a pan sprayed lightly with cooking spray.

Repeat until you have used up all three cans of biscuits (or however many you choose to make!).  Brush the beaten egg on top of the biscuits.  Sprinkle afterwards with garlic powder and dried basil.  Bake for approximately 18 minutes and serve with warm pizza sauce.

This is what the end result looks like! It was SOOO YUMMY!!  Billieanne did a great job making it and we all did a great job eating it!  I think this was quite a successful recipe find and I am proud of Billieanne for making it!

It doesn't always have to fancy, sometimes it just needs to be QUICK!

It's Monday! I was tired after a stressful day of work and then running around grabbing children from their school activities.  I was also HUNGRY!!  What to fix?

I chopped an onion and threw it in a skillet with garlic and ground chuck (poor chuck)!

I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees while browning the chuck (poor chuck).

In a separate bowl I mixed one standard size can of Cream of Mushroom soup with a soup can of milk.

When the hamburger was done I mixed it with the soup mixture and put in the bottom of a 9" x 13" glass pan.  After spreading that in the bottom, I put a layer of jalapeno jack cheese slices over it all.  I then put a layer of frozen tater tots over all of it.

I baked it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes I sprinkled some shredded cheddar cheese over the top and put it back in the oven for 10 more minutes.

This is what it looked like (after I had already dipped some out).  We all liked it and it must have been good as evidenced by the next picture.....

It's all gone!!!  It was quick and it was good.  It certainly was not very low calorie! Stuff like this feeds teenagers really well!! I am sure I will make it again!

Meatloaf is in the oven!



That is a bowl full of fresh ground chuck and pork, bread crumbs, seasonings, an egg and my "secret weapon" some Parmesan Romano cheese! I mixed it all up and it is in the oven right now.  I just put some salted water on to boil, making homemade mac & cheese, gonna slice up some tomatoes and fresh mozzarella....yummy dinner!