Beefy Mac & Cheese

So this is my adaptation of a recipe, and I have to admit that I was a little skeptical but was pleasantly surprised. This may become my new favorite comfort food. :-) I did use Ground Turkey and Whole Wheat Noodles to offset all that cheese. Ha.

Beefy Mac & Cheese

1 lb Ground Beef (or Turkey)
Chopped Onion (optional)
Minced Garlic (optional
Noodles (I used half a box of Whole Wheat Penne)
6-8 oz Tomato Sauce
1 Jar Ragu Cheese Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Get your noodles cooking. Brown and drain the meat, and I added Chopped Onion, Minced Garlic, Salt and Pepper.

Add the Tomato Sauce

Noodles

Add them to the meat mixture

Pour on the Cheese Sauce and stir

It's not very pretty but it tastes good! Like I said, I was skeptical, especially since I'd never had the Ragu Cheese Sauce before.

Chili Casserole

I realize this looks "interesting" but it's definitely one of those "don't knock it till you try it" sort of thing.


Chili Casserole

Canned Chili or leftover Chili
Veggies (I usually prefer Corn and Green Beans)
Grated Cheese
Fritos
The Chili

Add your Veggies. (Cary doesn't like Green Beans in it, otherwise I would have put some in there too)

Mix it up

Cover with Grated Cheese

Cover with Fritos (you can crush if you prefer)

Bake at 350 until bubbly. I like Sour Cream on top. :-)

Enchiladas (Pioneer Woman)

I've been eyeing this recipe of Pioneer Woman's for quite a while, but it looked rather intimidating because of all the steps. I went ahead and did it anyway but I got short on time and had to do some shortcuts. (If I don't serve dinner on TIME the men around here get really CRANKY) :-) So if you want to see how she does it, I put a link there for you to go to her site, but I'll post her recipe here and tell you what I did.


PW’s Favorite Enchiladas

THE SAUCE
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large (28-ounce) can enchilada or red sauce (I was trying to scale it down so I used a 20 oz can)
2 cups chicken broth (and 1 c broth)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped Cilantro
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a past, cooking for 1 minute. Pour in other red sauce, chicken broth, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.

THE MEAT
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I only used 1 pd)
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 4-ounce cans diced green chilies (I forgot to get these)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Brown meat with onions in a skillet. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies and seasoned salt. Set aside.

TORTILLAS
10 to 14 corn tortillas (I'll use Flour Tortillas next time, but just because I like them better)
½ cup canola oil
Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. One by one, using tongs, fry tortillas oil until soft, not crisp—about 30 seconds per side. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried. (I thought the frying was unnecessary, but I did it anyway, and wouldn't do it again)

ASSEMBLY
Sauce (above)
Meat (above)
Tortillas (above)
3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
½ cup chopped black olives
1 cup chopped green onions
½ cup chopped cilantro
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Pour ½ cup red sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out.
Dip each tortilla into red sauce, then remove to work surface. Spoon meat, a little grated cheese, a little black olives, and green onions in the center of tortilla. Roll up and place, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat until pan is filled. Pour extra red sauce over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheddar cheese.
Bake for 20 minutes or until bubble. Sprinkle chopped cilantro over enchiladas before serving.

Brown the meat
Mix the Oil and Flour

Add your Chopped Onion, and I forgot to buy Green Chiles so I didn't have any of those.

Cook the Oil and Flour until bubbly and then add the Chicken Broth and Enchilada Sauce

Stir together.

Heat up the Corn tortillas (for future reference, I'll be skipping this step next time)

Add chopped Cilantro to the sauce

Chop up some Green Onions, Olives, and Cilantro. ( Cary doesn't like Olives, but PW said everyone has to try them anyway) :-)

I went ahead and just mixed the Cilantro, Olives, and Green Onions to the Meat.

And Cheese

I put some of the Sauce in there too since I knew I didn't have time to dip the Tortillas in the Sauce before filling and rolling.

Pour some of the Sauce into the bottom of the pan

Fill up Tortilla's, roll, and put seam facing down in pan.

Like so.

Pour remaining Sauce over the top

Spread remaining grated Cheese over the top and bake at 350 until bubbly

After it's done, garnish with chopped Green Onion and Cilantro

Top with Sour Cream

Cary and I both liked this recipe, but we're not big fans of Corn Tortillas and so next time I'll probably use Flour Tortillas.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I got this recipe from Taste of Home. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Crunchy)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 package (13 ounces) miniature peanut butter cups


DRIZZLE:
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon shortening


Directions:
In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
Roll into 1-1/4-in. balls. Press a miniature peanut butter cup into each; reshape balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
For drizzle, in a microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and shortening; stir until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Yield: about 3 dozen.
Creaming the Butter, Sugars, and Peanut Butter
Add Eggs and Vanilla

Mix in Flour (We didn't put the dough in the fridge like we were supposed to)

Covering the Peanut Butter Cups

We also didn't do the balls as small as we were supposed to either.

Ready to go in the oven at 350 for 12-15 minutes

The ingredients for the drizzle

All melted

I put it in a ziploc bag and cut a tip off to drizzle the drizzle.

This is why you are supposed to refridgerate your dough and do them smaller. :-)

Chicken Bake

I didn't know what to call this, so I called it something not very original. :-) I got this from someone on my mom board.

Chicken Bake

4-6 pieces of Chicken (the more Chicken you do the more Cr of Chicken you may need)
8 oz Sour Cream
1 can Cream of Chicken
1 sleeve Ritz crackers

Cooked Rice
Veggie

Start cooking your chicken in a pan.

I also got my rice cooking. I did brown and wild mixed. (1 cup Rice - 2-1/2 c Water)

I cut up the Chicken while it cooks

Crush up the sleeve of Ritz crackers

Add the Cream of Chicken (This is NOT a 9x13 pan, I think it's 7x9)

Add the Sour Cream

Spread in baking dish

Spread the crushed Crackers over the top. (Mix the crackers with melted butter or spray with cooking spray) Bake at 350 until bubbly.
Serve over or with Rice and a Vegetable.