Mexican Stuffed Shells

I'm not sure why, but I really have a thing for stuffed shells. I just like the idea of them. Such a fun way to make a meal unique. We've had chicken stuffed shells a few times in the past year, but I wanted to try something new. These Mexican Stuffed Shells fit the bill perfectly. They are really similar to my very favorite Taco Pasta, but in stuffed shell form. So good. 

Mexican Stuffed Shells
Source: Adapted from The Girl with the Wooden Spoon, sourced from The Way to His Heart

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup bell peppers, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons cumin
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

2 Tbs green onions

15-16 jumbo pasta shells

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta shells according to package directions. Drain and place on paper towel until cool enough to handle.

Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium high heat. After a couple of minutes, add the onions, peppers, chili powder, paprika, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Cook thoroughly. Add the cream cheese and stir until well combined. Remove from heat and add in 1 1/4 cups of cheddar cheese. Stuff each of the shells with the meat mixture and arrange in the baking dish and bake 20 minutes. Top the shells with the remaining cheddar cheese. Put back in the oven and bake until cheese is melted.

Pork Chimichangas

I was visiting a friend the other day right before dinner and something smelled so good! I immediately knew that I needed the recipe for whatever was in the oven. Karli gave me this recipe and I love it. My favorite part is that with the one pork roast, we had enough meat for 3 meals worth of chimichangas and two meals of Shredded Pork Sandwiches (I just added barbecue sauce to the already shredded pork).  It was awesome! Obviously, when we have more kids - one roast won't go as far. But as for now, it's awesome to get 5 meals out of one roast. 

Pork Chimichangas

Source: Adapted from Karli Shields

Ingredients: 

5 lb Pork Rump Roast

1 medium onion

2 cups cooked rice

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp cumin

2 (4 oz) cans chopped green chilis

2 (7 oz) cans salsa (the original recipe calls for green salsa, but I used red)

4 Tbsp flour

Directions:
Place roast with 1/2 cup water in the crock pot. Cook on high 6-8 hours. After it is cooked, place it in large bowl of kitchen aid and use the paddle attachment on medium speed for 50-75 seconds. You want your meat to be shredded, but not mashed. If you leave the mixer running for too long, your pieces will be too small. It's better to have a few big pieces that you shred by hand rather than over-shred the rest. 

Slice onion and brown in a large skillet. Add shredded roast, seasonings/flour, chilis, and salsa to skillet. Add rice and enough juice from the Crockpot to make it moist, but not a runny consistency. Mix and heat through. 

Fill large flour tortillas with mixture and fry in hot oil until golden brown or bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

*Serve with assorted toppings.

My favorite part about this recipe is that it is so easy to freeze. Prior to baking, I wrapped the extra chimichangas in a small piece of paper towel and placed in bags to freeze. (I used two bags of tortillas, so I just used those empty bags, and then I placed them both in a gallon-sized freezer bag.) Four chimichangas per bag + two bags = two weeknight freezer dinner meals for us! Just defrost in microwave for a couple of minutes, then bake at 425 for 15 minutes. 

Grilled Taco and Lime Chicken

David and I really like chicken tacos, however, sometimes I get bored with plain old shredded chicken.  This yummy dish is the perfect way to make chicken tacos. It's packed full of flavor and so delicious! I found this recipe at Picky Palate, and as I was reading through her full tutorial (check it out, her pictures are beautiful and showcase all of the details brilliantly) I kept wishing to myself that I had a pan like hers that I could grill the chicken on inside. I even read through the comments and saw where she had posted a link to a website where you could buy a similar grill pan. When I finally saw the pan as a whole, a audibly gasped. It was just like that random cast iron pan in the back of my cupboard that I didn't know how to use! I was giddy like a school-girl, ran and grabbed the pan, made sure I was right and then cooked up this chicken for dinner. I'm so in love! What an awesome way to be able to grill chicken on the stovetop. Shout out to whomever gave us that grill pan for our wedding. I love it! 

Grilled Taco & Lime Chicken

Source: Picky Palate

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (regular paprika works too)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
3-4 medium to large boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 limes, split

Directions:
Combine cumin, salt, pepper, paprika and garlic salt in a bowl.
Place chicken breast into a large bowl or large ziploc bag. Coat chicken with seasonings then squeeze the juice of one whole lime over chicken and seasonings. You can marinate up 1-5 hours or grill immediately. 

Preheat grill pan to medium high heat. Spray grill lightly with cooking spray then carefully place chicken onto grill. Let grill 5-6 minutes each side, or until cooked through. Let chicken rest for 10 minutes. Thinly slice chicken and sprinkle with last of lime juice.

Top with lettuce, spinach, cheese and any other toppings. Serve with lime wedges and creamy salsa sauce (equal parts  Hidden Valley ranch dressing and salsa). 

Meatball Sandwich

This yummy meal is super easy and very yummy. Someday I would like to try making it with homemade meatballs, but it's less expensive and a whole lot easier to just use frozen meatballs. (One package of 20 Banquet frozen meatballs in zesty marinara sauce is $2.99. One pound of meat is at least that, plus the rest of the ingredients, plus the marinara sauce.) I know that homemade is healthier, but for an occasional quick-fix, this recipe is pretty darn good. Plus, we only use about half of the meatballs, so I can use the other half for leftovers. Often times I'll grab a can of biscuits and then wrap the extra meatballs in a biscuit, bake it, and serve it with the remaining sauce. Two easy, easy meals.



Meatball Sandwich

Ingredients:

1 pkg Banquet Zesty Marinara Meatballs

4 hamburger buns/sandwich rolls
4 slices cheese (mozzarella or cheddar)
Parmesan Cheese

Directions:
Microwave the frozen meatballs according to package directions. Toast the inside of the bun in the oven for just a minute, just enough to toast it up a bit but not long enough for it to turn brown.  Cut the meatballs in half and place 5-6 on half of each bun, cover other half of bun with marinara sauce. Place cheese on top of meatballs and bake in oven at 350 for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Top with parmesan cheese and serve with a side salad. Enjoy! 

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

We love potatoes at our house. Especially David. We love to eat them with pretty much anything. Most of the time we eat mashed potatoes with gravy, but sometimes we like to simplify and just eat some yummy garlic mashed potatoes. We have two recipes: an easy-instant recipe, and then a from-scratch recipe. The recipe we choose depends on our time limit, ingredients available, and energy level. Both are delicious! 

Easy Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients: 

8 servings instant mashed potatoes

1 1/2 tsp. Garlic Salt

2 tbs butter. 

Green Onions

salt and pepper to taste 

Directions: 

Make instant mashed potatoes according to directions on the box. After potatoes are ready to go, add garlic salt, butter, salt and pepper. Top with green onions/chives. 

Real Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Source: Adapted from Steamy Kitchen

Ingredients: 

1 head garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

4 medium russet potatoes or 6 large red potatoes

3-4 tablespoons butter

1/4-1/2 cup milk or heavy cream 

1/4 cup sour cream (optional)

3/4 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon green onions

Directions:

Roast your head of garlic. Cut off the top 1/2-inch of the head of garlic. Place on tinfoil and drizzle olive oil into opening in garlic cloves. Close the tin foil over the top. Roast in an oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until the garlic has softened completely and is very tender. Let cool and squeeze out the roasted garlic cloves, making sure that all papery skins are discarded. Coarsely chop. 

Make potatoes. Peel skins for creamy potatoes, or scrub well and leave skins on for restaurant style potatoes. Cube, then place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil then cook for 25 minutes over medium heat, until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes.

Place potatoes into kitchen-aid and add butter, milk, salt, pepper, and garlic. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until you reach the desired consistency. (Mix longer for creamier potatoes, but be careful not to mash for too long or else potatoes will break down and become glue-like.) Top with green

For an extra step, put the potatoes into an oven safe dish and then place under a broiler for just a minute, to brown the tops.

BBQ Pork Chops

I've been on the lookout for yummy pork chop recipes that are a little different than our usual. Pork keeps going on sale for like $1.40/lb, which is pretty killer and so I've been trying to rotate it through our meal plans fairly frequently. I'm so glad that I stumbled across this recipe. The sauce by itself was pretty tart, but when it was thinly covering the pork chop it added the perfect amount of flavor. I was very impressed! Plus, the addition of the carrots and onions on top were delicious. I paired this with some yummy garlic mashed potatoes. Add a side salad and maybe a piece of fruit and this is a perfect Sunday Dinner. 

BBQ Pork Chops
Source: Adapted from Crock Pot Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4-5 pork chops
1/2 cup carrots, sliced
1/2 cup onion, sliced
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
2 table spoons vinegar
2 table spoons Worcestershire sauce
1 table spoon yellow mustard
dash of salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:
In a small sauce pan, combine barbecue sauce, lemon juice, water, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and yellow mustard. Add carrots and sliced onions. Simmer 5 minutes.

Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Brown in a frying pan, 2-3 minutes on each side. Place in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Pour sauce and vegetables over pork chops. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Other options:
Place in crockpot. Cook 8 hours on low or 3 hours on high.

One-Hour Dinner Rolls

All growing up my dad would make the yummiest dinner rolls, but after I got out on my own - I was too intimidated to make them. Every time I would try, I would end up with these pasty, dry, pale rolls with little to no flavor. Add that to the time it took to make them, and it just seemed easier to buy rolls at the store. However, I came across this recipe and LOVE it! It is originally a recipe for "Hamburger Buns", but I love it for dinner rolls as well. I usually make half of the batch of rolls, and then the other half I make a little bigger for a sandwich type dinner later in the week. (See photo at the end of the post.) It works out really well. It doesn't even take a full hour from the time you start to the time you have warm yummy rolls coming out of the oven! 

One-Hour Dinner Rolls

Source: Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add oil and sugar; let stand for 5 minutes. Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic. Immediately shape into balls (you can get about 14 dinner rolls, or 8 hamburger buns - depending on the size). Place on baking sheets lined with tinfoil. 

Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Bake at 400° for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cover tops with butter and remove from baking sheet to cool. 

Tomato-Zucchini Bake

We have been loving zucchini this summer so I thought that I'd give this zucchini bake a try. I wasn't expecting David to love it, but I had a couple of zucchini that needed to be used and I thought that it would be good enough to fill us up. David. Loved. It. I'm pretty sure that he told me it was the best new recipe that we'd had in months. To say that I was surprised is an understatement. However, it was delicious. I loved that it didn't have any major carbs in it (most of my zucchini recipes are basically just added to pasta). Just a yummy summer dish.  

Tomato-Zucchini Bake 
Source: adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 medium zucchinis, thinly sliced
1 can petite diced tomatoes

1 cup shredded chicken

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl combine cheeses, oregano, basil, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Arrange half of the zucchini slices in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cheese and herb mixture on top. Arrange half of the tomatoes, and top with another 1/4 of the cheese mixture. Repeat layers.

Remove foil, and bake until the top is crusty and the vegetables are tender, about 35 minutes.

*Note: The original recipe calls for a bread crumb topping. I just put some of the cheese mixture on the top. However, if in the future I decide to add the topping... here are the instructions. 

1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

--Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, and cook until soft and translucent. Stir in breadcrumbs; cook until they have absorbed the butter. Sprinkle on top of casserole.