Everything's Coming Up Green

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Today I’m sharing with you an easy recipe that my mom frequenty made for us in high school. With all the super duper cheep biscuits I got a while back I have been whipping these Taco cups up for an easy meal.

Taco Cups

• 2-8ct cans of biscuits (not buttermilk- it makes them too sweet)
• 1 lb of hamburger
• 1 pkg Taco seasoning
• Shredded Cheese

Brown hamburger and prepare meat according to the instructions on the taco seasoning package. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Smoosh down the biscuits flat and  stretch out until you think they are big enough to fill the cup of a muffin pan. Press into the muffin pan making sure there is room for the meat (I use stoneware so I don’t need to grease the pan. If you think there might be a problem with sticking then go ahead and grease it.) Spoon in taco meat and sprinkle shredded cheese on top, however much or little you would like. Cook for about 20 min or until biscuits are no longer doughy inside.

Two cans makes 16 cups.

 Depending on how much you put in each cup will determine if you have any meat left over. For my family I make three cans and use the whole pound.  Three cups for each adult is quite filling though if you have growing boys who knows! The men folk like them straight up, but my mom and I like to dip them in salsa!

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday!

  What I am about to share with you holds the distinct possibility of changing your life forever. You will never look at food the same way again. I am going to reveal the simple ingredients for a cracker spread that will make you the star of each and every party you bring it to.

Pineapple Cream Cheese Spread

1 pkg of softened Cream Cheese

1 8.75oz can of crushed Pineapple

2 Scallion stems green and white part.

Drain pineapple and slice scallions. Add to cream cheese in a bowl and blend. Serve with crackers.

Yes it is that easy and yes the pineapple and the scallions are amazing together.

Sorry no picture again. I am scatter brained these days and forgot to take a picture when I brought it to a party this weekend. I will say that it was a big hit and it ran out fast. So if you are going to a party with more than a couple of people you may want to double the recipe!

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday!

I have a confession. I am perfectly capable of following a recipe; it’s just that most of the time I sort of throw things together. Take this amazing deliciousness for example.

My mom sent me home with leftovers from dinner-rice, smoked chicken and veggies. I decided to use the rice and chicken. I added a can of Rotel tomatoes and three slices of Velveeta cheese (like ¾ of an inch thick). I threw it in the microwave for several minutes until the cheese had melted. Stir it up and serve with taco chips. It made enough for Joel and I plus lunch for Joel the next day. There was plenty of kick from the tomatoes, so if you increase the quantity you could probably stick with one can of Rotel, unless you like it spicy!

This was a huge hit with the hubby. We’ll see how well it turns out next time. The smoked chicken gave it a distinct flavor that I don’t know if I will be able to replicate. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesdays!

During my Cooking for the freezer day I made a delicious batch of Mostaccioli Bake. I thought that I would share my “recipe” for this favorite family dish. I use recipe loosely since I sort of throw everything together.

I use a 9×9 pan. There are only three of us and this leaves us with enough leftovers for lunch the next day. You’ll want to increase this depending on you’re the size of your family. My husband likes his pasta on the dry side, not a lot of sauce. I will also note that I don’t use a lot of meat in our meals. I use ½ a pound, you may want to use a whole pound.

Mostaccioli Bake

½ Jar of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce

½ lb Browned hamburger

1 pkg of cooked Penne Pasta

1 cup Mozzarella Shredded Cheese

Stir together sauce, hamburger, and past, then dump into the 9×9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 Min. Add shredded cheese and bake for an additional 5 min. Take out and cool. Eat and Enjoy!

Lasagna is one of my favorite meals ever. Since I was a little girl I would choose lasagna as my birthday meal. I tried my hand at it this last week. The recipe that my mom gave me over the phone was rather loose, so it didn’t quite turn out right. Not bad, but not oooh so good. I talked to my mom this weekend so I will give you the adjusted version instead of the one I used.

Mom’s Lasagna

1-Jar of Garlic and Onion spaghetti sauce

1-Box of lasagna noodles

1-pound of ground beef

2-eggs

1-small container of cottage cheese

1-bag of mozzarella cheese (2 cups)

Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Boil noodles and fry ground beef-season to your liking. Blend eggs and cottage cheese together. Mix spaghetti sauce and ground beef together.

Start with a small amount of red sauce on the bottom. Next layer your noodles. Spoon and spread red sauce then white sauce (egg and cottage cheese mix). Sprinkle with a small amount of mozzarella cheese. Repeat until top layer. Just use red sauce and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Add parmesan cheese on top if desired.

I know this may seem like a cop out considering how simple these are but they are a favorite in my house. Sorry there is no picture. I forgot to take pictures over christmas and there are none left, go figure.

Chocolate Covered Aprocots

What you need:

A bag of dried Apricots

Chocolate Almond bark or chocolate chips (I have found the almond bark to work better because it doesn’t melt as easily.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Dip half to three quarters of the apricot into the chocolate and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. You can set them in the frig or put them in the freezer for 10 minutes or so. I use a deep freezer so 10 minutes is plenty. A regular freezer may take longer. And Viola! You have a delicious treat!

You can find more delicious ideas over at Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday!

Well we started kind of late this year on our baking day (last weekend to be exact), not that I can compare to previous years because this is the first time in my adult life we have had a Christmas cookie baking day. And really it was two days for us. Partly because we decided to have our baking day the day after my mom’s last day of school which was at the end of a very long week, and partly because, well, we thought we’d do a triple batch and we really only needed to do a double. But we got them done with a little one year old in toe to boot! Also during our baking extravaganza I made chocolate covered apricots as well as cranberry and pumpkin mini loafs. We had tons of fun cutting out cookies and frosting them. Emma even helped me cut out one. After that she was more interested in trying to eat the dough than help me press down on the cutter. Next year will be lots more fun though, and I can’t wait.

Why was I doing all of this you ask, because I had decided that I would do gift boxes this year for my husband’s boss and his business partner. I am one of those people that like to put together baskets herself instead of purchasing prepackaged ones. I like the challenge and as I have become better at couponing and, well, baking it has become even easier and more fun! You can go here to read my post about what I put in there and the cost of it all.

I am hoping to do some more cookie baking before the baby comes around Valentine’s Day so that I can bring cookies to the nurses at the hospital. They were so phenomenal when Emma was born that I would really like to bless them and say thank you. Of course this all depends on when baby girl #2 decides to grace us with her presence!

I thought I’d share with you the recipe for the yummy cookies we made.

Butter Cookies

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Salt

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour baking powder and salt and add to mixture. Chill 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-8 min depending on size of cookie.

Frosting: Mix milk and powdered sugar. Should be slightly runny. I added a little vanilla as well. Just add desired color and have at it!

I’ve had a couple of people ask about the recipe for the homemade Runzas I made with my mother-in-laws over thanksgiving. These are the greatest and sooo delicious. Make them up and freeze them individually and just pull them out as you like.

MAKE AT HOME RUNZAS

Sweet roll dough

• 4 1/2-5 cups of Flour
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 pkgs Dry Yeast
• 3/4 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Shortening
• 2 Eggs-room temp

Measure 1 1/2 cups Flour into bowl. Stir in Sugar, Salt and Yeast. Heat Milk, Water and Shortening until 120-130 degrees. Pour into Flour mixture. Add Eggs and beat 30 seconds on low, 3 minutes on high. Stir in the rest of the Flour mixture. Knead 3 minutes until smooth. Cover and let rest 20 minutes.

Filling

• 2lbs Ground Beef
• 4 Onions chopped
• 2tsp Salt
• 8 cups Cabbage chopped
• 8t Butter
• 1/2 tsp Pepper
• 3 cups Motzarella Cheese

Brown Beef and Onion. Wilt Cabbage in Butter (about 2 minutes in the microwave). Add Beef mix with Salt and Pepper to Cabbage.

Assembling

Break off golf sized dough balls. Roll out into thin circles (the thinner the better. When you fold them up it will create less dough at the bottom). Sprinkle cheese in the center. Put 1/4 cup mix on top of cheese (if your bowl is big enoug you can add the cheese to the filling mix). Fold dough to center and pinch to seal. Place folded side down on greased sheet. Let rise for 40-60 min or when indentation remains when pressed. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until done.

When they have cooled wrap them in plastic wrap and either store in a container or a freezer bag in the freezer.

To reheat: Microwave for about 40 seconds.

Got a sweet tooth? Looking for a healthy,purhaps vegan treat? Then you need to check out Oh She Glows post on the vegan Cinnamon rolls she created. They look oh so yummy and at only 73 calories who could resist.

If you have any great vegan recipes posted on your blog let us know!

Thanks suburban Jungle for the heads up!