Fiesta Lasagna

Looks aren't everything. It was too dark by the time dinner was ready to get a good shot of this yummy meal. The last time we made this with ground beef, but this time did ground turkey because we were having sauce & meatballs the next night. Also I usually add black beans right after the re fried beans, but didn't have them this time. That is what I like about dinners like this, you can really fix it any way you want. Add chopped peppers, tomatoes or anything you'd like!

Fiesta Lasagna
Corn Tortillas (soft taco size)
1 lb Ground Turkey or Beef
1 Jar of salsa
1/2 a sweet onion minced
Shredded Cheese
1 large can re fried beans
1 regular can of black beans
Sour cream for serving
1 packet Taco Seasoning OR DIY, I like this recipe from ALL RECIPES

Preheat oven to 350
In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the meat & drain.
Add taco seasoning & a bit of water, stir and simmer about 5 minutes.
Heat beans in a medium sauce pan (heat re fried and black beans in separate pans if using both.)
In a medium oval Corning wear start the first layer of the lasagna. I put two whole tortillas and then ripped one in half to cover the sides where there was a gap.
Then spread a layer of re fried beans over the tortilla layer.
Spoon the taco meat over the re fried beans. Next a layer of black beans, then onions then spread a layer salsa using the back of a large spoon.
Then cover the salsa with a layer of shredded cheese.
Repeat the layering process twice more.
Tortillas, re fried beans, black beans, onions, salsa, cheese.
Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips & sour cream.

Zucchini Bread

I had never had this before, and quite frankly I did not think I would like it. Nate convinced me & he shredded up all the zucchini and we made a few loaves of zucchini bread. I do like it, but it's just not my fave, it was fun to make something new and different though!




We sort of improvised the recipe but got tips from several reviews on ALL RECIPES

3 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 large eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. no sugar added apple sauce
2 T. vanilla
1 c. loose brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chopped walnuts

Grease 2 regular loaf pans
Preheat oven to 325

In medium bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder,baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg. In separate bowl cream eggs, sugars, vanilla, oil, applesauce until well combined. Sift & mix in dry ingredients until well combined. Fold in zucchini using spatula or wooden spoon, stir in walnuts.
Pour into prepared pans, bake 40-50 minutes or until a knife (or shish-kabob stick) comes out clean.

Root Beer Slow Cooker Pulled Pork~

AKA "The best crock pot dish I've ever made", according to Nate.
This is the famous recipe from All Recipes. Click Here for the original recipe.

We had friends over for dinner and I wanted there to be leftovers so we amended the recipe a bit.
I bought 2 pork tenderloins that were about 1-1.5 lbs each so it was just under 3 lbs. I used 2 12oz. bottles of Henry Weinhart's Root beer
Into the slow cooker for just over 7 hours (because traffic was yucky)on LOW.






I removed the pork from the Crock pot, drained the liquid and shredded it with a fork in a large bowl & mixed in about 3/4 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce.
Served smothered in a bit more SBR's sauce on Toasted wheat buns.

Chineese Chicken Salad

We made Chinese Chicken Salad Wednesday and I was really happy with how it turned out! The only bummer was I couldn't find won ton wrappers at the store to bake for the little crispy strips. Definitely something we'll do next time.
The measurements on the dressing were non-existent, we just kept tasting it until it was perfecto!



Salad
Chopped Cilantro
Chopped Red Cabbage
Chopped/torn Romaine Lettuce
Grilled Chicken Breast cut up into bite sized pieces (marinate in dressing for extra flavor)
Chopped green onion
Thinly Sliced Almonds
Won-ton wrappers cut into strips and baked- (couldn't find them at the store I happened to be at)
Roasted sesame seeds
Shredded Carrots
Rinse and prepare all ingredients and toss in a large bowl
Top with dressing

Dressing
About 3 Large spoon fulls of Hosin Sauce
A small (like tip of a butter knife) spoon full of Chinese Hot Mustard
Rice Vinegar, Sesame Oil and Low Sodium Soy Sauce (just kept adding bits of each until the taste & texture were right)
A dash of sesame seeds
Whisk with fork until all ingredients are well combined

Cheesecake Brownie Bars

Ahh, my favorite type of desert~ This can be as homemade or semi-homemade as you like it and the possibilities are endless. Next time I will either top this with crushed oreo cookies and drizzle with chocolate syurp, or top with fresh fruit like we did tonight (sliced strawberries) OR I'll add a layer of either black cherry or blackberry pie filling in between the brownie & cheesecake layer.
I made these the other night LATE while Nate was playing with his new toy~ The Xbox360~





Start by preparing your favorite brownie recipe
Or Make brownies from a box
I use the Ghiradelli recipe (shown here below) or This One from ALL RECIPES

2 Eggs
3/4 C Sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 butter, melted
3/4 Cup sweet Ghiradelli ground chocolate powder
2/3 C unsifted flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Combine eggs, sugar, vanilla, butter- mix well
Sift in chocolate powder, flour, baking powder and salt
Mix well and bake in a 9 x 13 or 8 x 8 pan greased baking pan at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let Cool completely
Prepare the No-Bake Cheese Cake mix
8oz Cream Cheese
1 T Lemon Juice
2 tsp Vanilla extract
A bit of lemon zest
1/3 C White sugar
Lastly, either 2 1/2 cups of heavy cream whipped or 1 tub of coolwhip thawed (your choice)

Mix the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, zest and vanilla until smooth, but with out overmixing- fold in whip cream
Spread evenly over cooled brownies and refridgerate covered for 2 hours before serving.

Black & Blue and Good All Over!

I love alllll cheese, but Blue Cheese is one of my favorites. Last night I made Blue Cheese Burgers (sometimes called Black & Blue's because of the black pepper and blue cheese) This was a super easy meal that took very little time and was oh so delicious!





Burgers (recipe by ME)
1 lb ground sirloin
Whole Wheat Buns
4oz Blue Cheese (this is the size of the container, I used almos all of it but not quite)
Fresh Ground Black Pepper (to taste)
Chopped Green Onion (2 of them)
Worcecstershire Sauce 3-4 big dashes
Pinch of Kosher Salt
3 pieces fully cooked bacon crumbled or chopped up
(I usually make bacon in the oven of easy clean up) line a baking sheet with foil lay bacon on sheet and back at 350 for about 15 minutes or until as well done as you'd like it :)
Avacado for the top :)

Knead everything but the buns and the acvacado in a medium bowl and form burger patties. Grill over medium low heat for about 7 minutes each side. Lightly toast buns on the grill for about 2 minutes. Top burgers with avacado slices & dijon mustard or condiments of choice and served (in this case) with Sweet Potato Fries~

On the Side
Sweet Potato Fries
This was so simple! I just ran one large sweet potato through the mandoline, put them on a foil lined baking sheet, sprayed with Olive Oil using my Misto and sprinkeled lightly with kosher salt. Bake at 325 for 20-25 mintues

Nate's Crab Cakes

Nate LOVES crab cakes~ and I do too! This was our first time making them, and we looked up a few recipes Like This and Nate decided to make his own recipe based on crab cakes that he's had that he liked (and avoiding ingredients that are not his fave like celery)
This was totally a make-it-up-as-you go type of deal, and really the only thing we'll do differently next time is either make a smaller batch or make the same sized batch and size the crab cakes as silver-dollar sized apps. This recipe made 7 crab cakes about the size of the palm of my hand.




1 lb crab meat (we used cooked snow-crab clusters from the fish market- YUM!)
Olive oil
Small Maui Sweet Onion
8-10 minced radishes
3 T Dijon mustard
Bread Crumbs
1/2 C mashed potatoes - cooled (... and we happened to be making mashed red potatoes as a side dish with our main course)
1/4 c mayo
2 1/2 T chopped finely chopped chives
3 T chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 tsp cayenne or to taste
Juice of 1/2 a lemon or to taste
Zest of 1/4 (or a little less)of a lemon

Spicy Mayo~
Mayo 1/2 to 3/4 C
1 T finely chopped chives
a few dashes Tapitio or Tabasco to taste
Juice of 1/4 lemon
Salt (a pinch of Kosher salt)
a bit of horseradish like 1/2 tsp
Mix up all of the above

Medium Pan, saute onions and radishes, seasoned with salt for 5-7 minutes in a few T of Olive Oil. Remove from heat and let cool. In a large bowl combine (mix after each ingredient- use a fork to keep the larger piece of meat from crumbling) crab, mayo, mustard, lemon juice, tarragon, chives, mashed potatoes cayenne bread crumbs (adding by the 1/4 cup until they're good patty making texture.) Season with salt & pepper. Carefully stir in radishes and onions, add a little more lemon juice to taste or bread crumbs if necessary. Form big or little cakes by hand- coat both sides with bread crumbs. Heat oil in a medium or large skillet- saute about 4-5 minutes each side or until golden & crispy on medium heat.

They were totally spectacular- we actually went to a beautiful dinner at a great restaurant a few nights later and I liked Nate's crab cakes better!!
My photos are no bueno on this one, they do not do them justice~ I am dreading daylight savings time.