Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes (for adults and kids!)

Prep: 15 minutes  Cook: 6-8 hours

This is a recipe with so many opportunities, just off the top of my head I can think of three tasty treats; of course the All-American Sloppy Joe, a stuffed baked potato with all of your favorite toppings, or spoon over tortilla chips to make some unbelievable nachos.

Ingredients

3 pounds ground turkey or beef

1 large white onion, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

1 ½ medium stalks of celery, chopped (about 1 ½ cups)

1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

1 can Sloppy Joe sauce

12 hamburger buns

The process

1. Cook turkey or beef and onion in a frying pan over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally until all of the meat is no longer pink.

2. Pour the meat and onion mixture into your slow cooker and add celery, barbecue sauce, and sloppy joe sauce. Mix together.

3. Cover and cook on a low heat setting 6-8 hours; or if you are in a rush cook on a high setting for 3-4 hours) until the vegetables are tender.

4. Uncover and cook on high heat setting until desired consistency. Stir well before serving. Fill your buns, baked potato, or top some tortilla chips and pair it with some veggie sticks and chips. Enjoy!

Tomorrows Tasty Tale:  Cuban Style Pork Chops

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Topped with Toffee

Ingredients

1 small package of strawberries (or as many as you can eat)

1 cup Semi-Sweet chocolate chips- or get adventurous with dark/white chocolate

1 package of toffee bits- usually found right new to the chocolate chips at the store

1 Tbsp. of EVOO- Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

A cookie sheet lined with Parchment paper or Wax paper

The Process

1. In a small sauce pan combine EVOO and chocolate chips. Melt the EVOO covered chocolate chips on a very low heat stirring often. This will prevent your chocolate from burning.

 

2. Once the chocolate chips appear to be completely melted remove from the heat and spoon the chocolate to one side of the pan. While holding the handle of the pan grab one strawberry by the green and dip it into the chocolate as seen below. (I like to dip mine a few times for an extra chocolaty treat)

3.  Go directly over to your plate of toffee and place one side into the toffee. While keeping that side on the plate, turn your wrist as far as possible to cover about half of the strawberry. I like to leave at least ¼ of it without toffee so it lies on the parchment paper nicely.

4. Once the strawberry is covered place the side with no toffee on the parchment paper and continue the process with all of your strawberries. Remember to stir the chocolate mixture occasionally so it does not start to harden.

 

5. After the process has been repeated on all of the strawberries, place them in the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes or until the chocolate appears to have hardened.

6. Enjoy!

Homemade Spanish Rice

Prep: 10 minutes   Cook: 20 minutes

I must confess that this recipe was one of the harder ones for me to perfect, but like I said a lot of practice and a bunch of mushy rice later I have finally perfected it! So stick with it because you will not be disappointed when you too are able to cook yourself some unbelievable tasty rice.

Ingredients

1 cup white rice

2 cups chicken broth

½ small white onion finely chopped

1 ½ Tbsp. tomato paste/sauce

1 Tbsp. oil

1 tsp chicken flavored bouillon

The Process

1. Heat 2 cups chicken broth in a small pan, bring to a boil.

2. In a large flat skillet add oil, rice, and onions over a medium heat. Saute ingredients till rice turns a light golden color.

3. Add in tomato sauce and chicken bouillon. Mix together until all the tomato sauce is covering the rice. Add the boiling chicken broth to the rice and then cover. Reduce heat to low.

4. Continue to cook the rice until all of the chicken broth is absorbed into the rice. Try to resist opening the lid to sneak a peek, this process takes awhile.

5. At last you have your final product! Enjoy!!

Tomorrows  Delectable  Dessert:  Chocolate covered strawberries sprinkled with toffee bits! Yum!

Homemade Chicken Taquitos

Prep: 15 minutes   Cook: 35-40 minutes

I would first like to say that once you start making these chicken taquitos you will not be able to stop eating them! They are very addicting and are super tasty with a wide variety of meats inside them, so take your pick! While there are only a few short steps to process, the recipe takes a little skill. But I have faith that practice makes perfection and you will learn in no time how to make perfectly delicious taquitos. 

Ingredients

1 pack of 30 corn tortillas

1 whole cooked rotisserie chicken finely shredded

1 package of your favorite cheese- I love Monterey Jack

About ½ cup vegetable oil

A plate cover with a double layer of paper towels

The Process

1. In a deep pan heat the oil over a medium heat. The oil should measure about a ¼ inch at the bottom of the pan.

2. Microwave about 10 tortillas at a time for 30 seconds on each side of the stack. Take warm tortillas and stuff with a little pinch of cheese and chicken; like seen below.

3. Roll the tortilla tight, pinch the taquito closed with a pair of tongs and place it in the hot oil. Make sure the fold is on the bottom so it is not able to unfold inside of the pan; see below.

4. Repeat this process for each tortilla until the pan is full. Watch each taquito carefully and flip taquito when the bottom is a nice golden brown color; see below

5. Once each side is a nice crisp golden brown remove from the pan and place on a plate covered by a paper towel. Keep adding the stuffed tortillas until you reached enough to feed your hunger =)

**To complete the recipe make some yummy guacamole to dip your crunchy homemade taquitos in!

Chili Bean Taco Casserole

Prep: 15 minutes      Bake: 30 minutes

My Chili Bean Taco Casserole is a quick and easy one dish kind of meal that can be served on those nights when you just don’t have enough time or thought to put into a meal.

Ingredients

1 pound of ground beef

1 can (about 15 ounces) of chili beans in sauce, undrained

1 can (about 8 ounces) tomato sauce- or salsa is an option

2-4 teaspoons of chili powder

1 teaspoon of garlic powder- or a little garlic salt

2 cups of coarsely broken tortilla chips- the ones at the bottom of the bag are great!

1 cup sour cream

½ cup (or to your liking) of chopped green onions

1 cup of cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 cup of your favorite cheese – I used Monterey Jack

** If you are looking for a healthy twist use fat-free or reduced-fat sour cream and baked not fried tortilla chips. This will save you both calories and fat without compromising tastiness.

The process:

Heat the oven to 350*

1. In a casserole pan, line the bottom with the coarsely chopped tortilla chips as shown below.

2. Cook beef in about a 10 inch skillet over medium heat 8-10 minutes. Stirring occasionally until brown and then drain the grease. Stir in beans, tomato sauce, chili powder and garlic powder. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. This is what it should look like.

3. After all those yummy ingredients come together, pour the beef mixture on top of the chips inside of the casserole dish. Spread the sour cream on top of the beef mixture and then sprinkle the green onions, tomatoes, and cheese on top like so…

4. Bake uncovered 20 to 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Arrange additional tortilla chips around the edges of the casserole for the final touch! And let dinner be served!

Tonights tasty treat: My famous homemade Chicken Taquitos with a bonus recipe for homemade Spanish Rice. 

 

Where the Tales Begin

Having a home cooked meal on the dinner table every night was something my mother and father did almost religiously while my sister and I were growing up.  Dinner time became a daily ritual where we would talk about the excitement and sometimes heartache the day had brought. If I was out playing down the driveway; most of you that have seen my house know our long driveway, the sound of my mother’s whistle brought me to the dinner table every night. Some of my most vivid childhood memories are in the kitchen with my mother. She is the true master of the kitchen (and should be the one starting this blog), an encyclopedia of knowledge, and has the ability to create a wonderful meal from the scraps in the refrigerator. 

As I grow older and start to fend for myself when it comes to cooking, I have found myself hounding and watching over my mother any chance I get, subscribing to multiple cooking magazines, and watching some of my favorite girls on the Food Network Channel. Needless to say, the recipes that I will be sharing come from many different sources. I am starting my cooking journey now at the young age of 23 in order to develop and gain the skills in the kitchen that I will need when I have a family of my own. I want my children to look at me like I look at my mother now, an endless body of knowledge and surprises when it comes to making a meal. It is my hope that many of you will take my tales and apply them to your kitchen and never let the art of learning and cooking go out of style. So this is where it will all begin...