Rice and Black Bean Enchiladas

This recipe was posted on Modern Bliss, but it's from Allrecipes. It's fan-freaking-tastic. My husband, who likes Mexican more than me and definitely more spicy than me, really likes this recipe.

I've made some changes to the original, but I'm including my changes below.

• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chilies (I use Ro-tel)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 - 2 cups meat, cooked (I use leftovers)
• 1/4 cup picante sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 12 flour tortillas, warmed
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup reduced fat shredded Cheddar cheese

1. In a large nonstick skillet, saute the green pepper, onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add the beans, tomatoes, corn, meat, picante sauce, chili powder, and cumin; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until heated through and mixture thickens. Add rice; cook 5 minutes longer or until heated through.

2. Spoon a rounded 1/2 cup down the center of each tortilla. Fold sides over filling and roll up. Place in a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon salsa over each tortilla. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with cheese and cilantro. Bake 2-3 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Pigs in a blanket

Ah, comfort food. Not really healthy, but very kid friendly and good for those nights when you don't have a lot of time. And really good if you have a toaster oven. I highly recommend one, especially for the summer. (It doesn't heat the house the way the regular oven does.)

4 hot dogs

1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough

1. Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray.

2. Open the can of crescent rolls, and separate into four pieces, squares instead of triangles.

3. Wrap the hot dogs in the crescent rolls.

4. Cook according to the package directions of the crescent rolls.

In my house, these are served with macaroni and cheese (usually from a box) and veggies. It's great for those nights when I really need my toddler to eat something. She's super picky but will usually eat hot dogs, even if not the mac and cheese. You can serve it with whatever you usually have hot dogs with.

Scarborough Fair Pork Roast

I did this with a bone in pork shoulder roast, but it could definitely work with a beef roast!! I didn't much care for the veggies, but I prefer steamed veggies in general, but they add SUCH good flavor to the meat.

1 med onion, cut into slices

2 stalks celery coarsely cut

1 cup carrots, cut into one inch pieces (I used baby carrots cut in half)

1 large pork roast....I'd guess mine was about 3 lbs.

3 large potatoes, cut into chunks

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp sage

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup chicken broth

Mix the spices together and rub on the outside of the roast. Feel free to use more if you have it. I really just eyeball it on spices and then guesstimate how much I used for the recipe.

After you've rubbed on the spices, throw everything in the crock pot however it will fit. I'd originally had the onions and veggies on the bottom, but there wasn't room for everything else and I have a 7 qt crock pot.

Cook on low all day and enjoy!!

This made WAY too much for my family of 4 (only two adults eat, and one toddler picks), but I'll be having a pulled pork sandwich for lunch. The meet is very flavorful, but not so spiced that it can't be repurposed for other recipes.

By the way, have you figured out how this recipe got it's name???

Cheesy Chicken and Hashbrowns

This is one of my crockpot recipes that I've actually gotten raves on from others that have tried it. I appreciate the feedback. This is actually a bastardized version of this recipe from Better Homes & Gardens. I used what I had in the house, and did originally use already cooked chicken, but figured, in the crockpot, it didn't matter if the chicken was cooked yet or not.

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 lb frozen hash browns (about half a bag)

1 cup sour cream

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1. Place all ingredients in the crock pot. Stir and cook all day on low.

I'm sure you could add some veggies to this, since the original recipe calls for potatoes with onions and red peppers, but I prefer just to steam a veggie and serve that on the side.

Loaded mashed potatoes

My husband is Irish and can eat potatoes every day of the week and twice on Sunday. It's been only a very rare occasion when he hasn't liked potatoes I've made in some way, shape or form. I love to experiment with potatoes, be it roasting, mashing, different toppings for baked potatoes. They feel like a perfect cooking canvas at times, because they're hard to screw up.

I also love loaded baked potatoes at restaurants. It's my favorite way to eat them. Heck, I've even been known to order loaded french fries. So I gave it a shot and they turned out great, if I do say so myself.

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut up

2-3 Tbsp sour cream

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

5 slices pre cooked bacon

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 milk

1/4-1/2 cup chicken broth (I eyeball it)

1. Boil potatoes until they're tender and ready to be mashed. Drain and return to pot.

2. Add butter, milk and chicken broth to potatoes and mash by hand.

3. Cook bacon according to package directions and cut up into small pieces

4. Add bacon, cheese and sour cream to mashed potatoes and stir until cheese is melty.

Really easy and really yummy! A great side for steak.

Product Raves

I must say that there are some really good products out there that can make you a fantastic cook, if you just know a little bit of what you're doing.

My husband LOVES to grill. All summer long, it's some sort of meat on the grill. Heck, he'll even grill in the winter if there isn't too much snow. (So not this winter.) For his birthday, his sister gave him a package of grill rubs from William's Sonoma. We didn't even look at them until recently. I used the chili lime rub with chicken to make fajitas. Oh my goodness. YUM. And tonight, I used the Adam's Steak Rub on steak. Fan-freaking-tastic. It was also the first time I didn't overdo the steak in the broiler (I'm still new to that). Even my toddler liked the steak, and she's a horribly picky eater.

I'm sure there are other fantastic companies out there (I know people who swear by Tastefully Simple), but this is what I've used so far. I highly recommend them.

I also have fallen in love with the steam in bag frozen veggies. These are awesome, and a great way to mix up what veggies we have for dinner. Our grocery store currently has them on sale for $1 and I'm tempted to go back and stock up like crazy. I love frozen veggies, but being able to just stick the bag in the microwave for 5 mins while doing other things is great. I hate overdone veggies, and it seems to be impossible to do that with these.

Pseudo Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

So, we just got back from vacation, and I did manage to get groceries, but I wanted something easy and yummy. I adore pasta, in just about any variety, but my husband won't eat just spaghetti and sauce. He wants it heartier. So, I throw this together every once in a while, and I can usually get enough out of it to freeze enough for another dinner.

Please be advised that measurements are approximate. I tend just to toss stuff in, especially with things I make often.

1 lb ground beef

1/2 a large onion, chopped

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

dash black pepper

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

2 or 3 cups jarred spaghetti sauce (depending on how saucy you like it)

Brown ground beef. Drain and set aside. Saute onions and garlic, then add beef back to the pan. Add the can of tomatoes, spices and sauce. Simmer on low until heated through. Serve over hot pasta.