Baked Taquitos

Here's a quick little dinner recipe that tastes great and is a healthy alternative to the fried taquito.  Although these are baked, they didn't come out soggy.  Instead that were nice and crispy, similar to fried taquitos.  I served mine with cilantro lime rice and it was a perfect pair.   


I found the recipe I based these off of on Pinterest.  The original recipe provides that the taquitos can be frozen and baked later.  I didn't get a chance to try freezing them because I ate them all.  But, I'm pretty sure you would have the same success freezing my modification of her recipe.  


Modified from: Pennies on a Platter


Here's what you need:
3 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup Salsa
1 Lime
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
2 cloves Garlic, minced
3 tbsp Cilantro, finely chopped
2 tbsp Green Onions, sliced
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 Taco Meat Season Packet of your choice
1 cup Mexican flavored cheese, finely shredded
12 small Tortillas
1 tbsp Butter, melted
Kosher Salt


Here's what you do:
1.  Cook the ground beef thoroughly.  Season according to instructions on your season packet. 


2.  Combine cream cheese, salsa, juice of half of the lime, cumin, chili powder, onion powder, garlic, cilantro and green onions. 


3.  Add the ground beef to the cream cheese mixture.  Mix well. 


4.  Add the cheese to the cream cheese mixture.  Mix well. 


5.  Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. 


6.  Microwave 2 or 3 tortillas for about 20 seconds to make them pliable and easy to work with.  Fill each tortilla with a portion of the mixture, beginning on one edge.  Roll the tortilla up, beginning with the edge that was filled.  Place seam side down in a baking dish or cookie sheet.  Repeat until all of the mixture is gone. 


7.  Brush the top of each tortilla with the melted butter. 


8.  Sprinkle the kosher salt on top of the tortillas. 


9.  Sprinkle the lime juice of the remaining one half of the lime on top of the tortillas. 


10.  Bake for about 20 minutes.   Remove when the tortillas begin to crisp.  

Sirloin Skillet

I'm always looking for a quick, easy dinner recipe.  This is an old recipe that I had printed out at one time (apparently) and came across in all this moving mayhem.  It still looked good, so I decided to give it a shot.  It was simple and quick and tasted delicious.  I served it over white rice.  I think it would be delicious on a tortilla too.

Slightly adapted from: Campbell's Kitchen

Here's what I used:
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Lb Boneless Beef Sirloin Steak, diced
1 Large White Onion, diced
2 Medium Red Peppers, sliced
2 Medium Green Peppers, sliced
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Can (10.75 ounces) Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 Cup Water
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese

Here's What I did:
1.  Heat one tablespoon of Olive Oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

2.  Cook the steak in the oil until thoroughly cooked.  Removed meat from skillet.

3.  Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining (1 Tbsp) oil to the pan.

4.  Add onions and peppers to pan.  Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5.  Add garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender.

6.  Stir in condensed soup and water.  Heat to boil.

7.  Return meat to the skillet and reduce heat to low. 

8.  Cover and cook for about 2 minutes.

9.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Enjoy!

Taco Bell Mexican Pizza

Last week I decided that I wanted a Mexican Pizza from Taco Bell.  So I googled recipes and gave it a shot.  I combined the basic ideas of the various recipes I found and added my own twist.

I think it turned out really good.  And, it was surprisingly simple.  3 out of 4 people who ate them thought they tasted just like Taco Bell.  The fourth thought it tasted really good, but thought the meat was a little different than Taco Bell  (psssht.  Whatever!).

Anyway, this is my version of the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza.  It's delicious.  Try it.  Because I said so.

What I used:
2 packages of 6 -7" FLOUR tortillas
Crisco
16 Ounces Taco Bell Brand Refried Beans
1 Lb. Ground Beef
1.25 Ounces (1 Package) Taco Bell Chipotle Taco Seasoning Mix
1 Large Tomato, diced
1 Bunch of Green Onions, thinly sliced
2.25 Ounces Sliced Black Olives
8 Ounces Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded
16 Ounces Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
16 Ounces Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
16 Ounces Enchilada Sauce

What I did:
1.  Cooked the beef thoroughly, making sure to crumble it up into very small pieces as it was cooking.

2.  Added the taco seasoning mix to the beef, following directions.

3.  Preheated the oven to 400.

4.  Put a skillet on the stove on medium heat.  After the skillet had heated up a bit, added about 4 tablespoons of Crisco.  Melted the Crisco.

    Hint:  You want just enough melted Crisco to cover the bottom of the skillet -- you don't want
      to completely submerge the tortilla in Crisco.

5.  Cooked each flour tortilla in the skillet until each side was golden brown (about 30 - 45 seconds per side).  After each tortilla cooked, I transferred it to a plate covered in paper towels to drain off the grease.

     Hint:  If air bubbles form in the tortillas while you are cooking them, pierce
      the bubbles so your tortilla remains fairly flat.

6.  Warmed the refried beans in the microwave.

7.  Assembled the pizzas in the following order:

• One cooked tortilla.
• Spread 3-4 Tablespoons of refried beans on top of the tortilla
• Sprinkled 2-3 Tablespoons of seasoned ground beef on top of the refried beans.
• Topped with another cooked tortilla.
• Spread 1-2 Tablespoons of enchilada sauce on top of the top tortilla.
• Sprinkled about 2 Tablespoons of each cheese on top of the enchilada sauce.
• Sprinkled diced tomatoes, green onions, and black olives on top of the cheese.

8.  Placed each pizza on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Placed the cookie sheet in the oven and baked it for 3-4 minutes, or until the cheeses were thoroughly melted.

9.  Removed pizzas from the oven and cut into four smaller pizza slices.

I served these with a side of Mexican rice and condiments such as sour cream and picante sauces. 

This made a TON of food.  I got 7 pizzas out of this recipe and I found them to be quite filling.  I was able to eat a serving of rice and 1 slice (1/4 of each pizza) before I got full, so be prepared.

Enjoy!

Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo with Mozarella Stuffed Meatballs

I went to lunch at Applebees with a couple of friends not too long ago.  Amber suggested I try their Provolone-Stuffed Meatballs with Fettuccine.  I did and they were pretty good.  So, I decided to make my own version of them.  This is what I came up with.  It turned out pretty good.  I'll experiment next time with different cheeses, I think.  Making the meatballs is a little time consuming, but the rest of the meal is quick and easy to make.  I used this recipe to make the meatballs, but I toned it down some so it was a little less spicy.

Here's what I used for the Meatballs:

½ Cup Green Onion, finely chopped

¼ Cup Italian Style Bread Crumbs

3 Heaping Tablespoons of Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 Pound Ground Beef

1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

2 Tablespoons Crushed Red Pepper (for a less spicy meatball use 1 Tablespoon – or less – Crushed Red Pepper)

8 oz Mozzarella Cheese

Here's What I did to make the Meatballs:

1.  Preheated the oven to 350 degrees. 

2.  Cut the Mozzarella Cheese into small cubes.  Set those aside in a bowl.

3.  Mixed together the Green Onion, Bread Crumbs, Parmesan Cheese, Garlic Powder, and Crushed Red Pepper. 

4.  Crumbled the Ground Beef on top of the mixture of dry ingredients.  Then, using my hands, I mixed the ground beef with the dry ingredients. 

5.  I picked up one piece of mozzarella and formed a meatball, approximately 1 inch in diameter, around the piece of cheese.  Repeat until either all of the cheese or all of the meat mixture has been used.  I ended up running out of the meat mixture before cheese. 

     Hint:  Try to form the meatballs around the cheese as tightly as possible. 

     Any gaps will allow some of the cheese to melt out while the meatballs

     are baking.

6.  Placed the meatballs in a glass baking dish with about 1 inch in between each meatball.  

7.  Baked for about 25 minutes.  Remove them from the oven when the outsides are brown and the insides of the meatballs are cooked fully.  Some of your cheese will likely melt and run out of the meatball while they are baking.  Don't be concerned -- I still had plenty of cheese inside the meatballs.

While the meatballs were baking, I made the pasta. 

Here's what I used for the Pasta:

16 oz Fettuccine Noodles

2 Jars Alfredo Sauce

1/2 Jar of Roasted Red Peppers

Here's what I did to make the Pasta:

1.  Boiled water and cooked the Fettuccine Noodles as directed on the package. 

2.  While the noodles were cooking, I sliced up half of the jar of Roasted Red Peppers (use only the peppers, not the juice).

3.  Put the Alfredo Sauce on the stove in a sauce pan to heat. 

4.  Added the cut up roasted red peppers to the alfredo sauce.  Heated til warm.

To serve, I spooned some fettuccine noodles into a bowl and topped that with the roasted red pepper sauce.  Then I placed a few meatballs on top of the pasta.  I also served this with garlic bread.  It was delicious!

Enjoy!

Spicy Meatballs

I was asked to make spicy meatballs for a 4^th of July get together that I was attending.  This is what I came up with.  They were a hit!  But, when I say spicy, I mean Four-Alarm-Fire-in-Your-Mouth kinda spicy.  The heartburn was totally worth it.  I’ll make some suggestions below for making them a little less spicy in case you like your meatballs a little more on the mild side.

Here’s what I used:

½ Cup Green Onion, finely chopped

¼ Cup Italian Style Bread Crumbs

3 Heaping Tablespoons of Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 Pound Ground Beef

1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder

2 Tablespoons Crushed Red Pepper (for a less spicy meatball use 1 Tablespoon – or less – Crushed Red Pepper)

1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce

Here’s what I did:

First, I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.  I mixed together the Green Onion, Bread Crumbs, Parmesan Cheese, Garlic Powder, and Crushed Red Pepper.  I crumbled the Ground Beef on top of the mixture of dry ingredients.  Then, using my hands, I mixed the ground beef with the dry ingredients.  I formed meatballs with the mixture, making each ball about 1 inch in diameter.  I placed the meatballs in a glass baking dish with about 1 inch in between each meatball. 

I baked the meatballs for about 25 minutes.  Remove them from the oven when the outsides are brown and the insides of the meatballs are cooked fully.  Here are what mine looked like straight from the oven:

I poured the Spaghetti Sauce into a crock pot and turned the crock pot on low.  Finally, I added the meatballs to the spaghetti sauce.  Be sure to keep an eye on your crock pot to make sure it isn’t getting too hot and to stir the meatballs occasionally.

Enjoy!