Chorizo, potato, and cheese Frittata

I have been trying to make breakfast more often lately since I now have two very hungry men to feed in the morning (one happens to be 3 feet tall, but has the appetite of a lumberjack). Both of them like eggs, but I really don’t. I’ve tried omelets, fried eggs, and scrambled and I just don’t enjoy them. I have seen people on the food network make frittatas and they were described as light and fluffy so I thought, why not?

I basically winged this one, I had a potato on hand, some chorizo, cheese, and eggs. I thought that sounded like a good combo. This came out fantastic!! It was so much better than I was expecting. I loved it and so did the boys. I will definitely be making this in the future.

Ingredients
1 large russet potato
5 eggs
2 tbsp milk
½ lb chorizo sausage (or any sausage really)
Cheese, for topping
Salt
Pepper

Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 400 F

2.Dice the potato and boil pieces until they are fork tender (not too soft). Drain the potatoes.

3.Meanwhile, cook the chorizo on medium heat in an oven-safe skillet and then scoop and set aside to drain on a paper towel.

4.Cook the potatoes in the skillet using the grease from the chorizo. Cook until crispy.

5.Return the chorizo to the skillet with the potatoes.

6.Beat the eggs with the milk and the salt and pepper.

7.Pour the egg mixture over the chorizo and potatoes and let the eggs “set” for 2-3 minutes.

8.Sprinkle the top of the egg with cheese and place the skillet in the oven.

9.Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees F, the frittata will be light and fluffy and the cheese will be bubbly.

TGI Friday's Black Bean Soup

I found this on recipezaar.com when I was searching for some vegetarian recipes. I have never had TGI Friday’s black bean soup, so I can’t compare, but this recipe is fantastic! My 1 ½ year old son gobbles it up every time. I usually make this with a quesadilla or grilled cheese sandwich. This time, I made it with some baked salmon and crispy, oven baked tortilla chips and it was a wonderful dinner.



Ingredients
•2 tablespoons vegetable oil
•3/4 cup diced white onion
•1 cup diced carrot
•1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
•2 tablespoons minced garlic
•4 (15 ounce) cans black beans
•4 cups chicken stock
•2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
•2 teaspoons chili powder
•1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
•1/2 teaspoon cumin
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•1/4 teaspoon hickory liquid smoke

Garnish
• shredded monterey jack and cheddar cheese blend, blend
• chopped green onion, sour cream

1.Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium/low heat.

2.Add onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic to the oil and simmer slowly for 15 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

3.Keep the heat low enough that the veggies don't brown and be careful not to burn the garlic.

4.While you cook the veggies, pour the canned beans into a strainer and rinse them under cold water.

5.Measure 3 cups of the drained and strained beans into a food processor with 1 cup of chicken stock.

6.Puree on high speed until smooth.

7.When the veggies are ready, pour the pureed beans, the whole beans, the rest of the chicken stock, and every other ingredient in the list (down to liquid smoke), to the pot.

8.Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 50 to 60 minutes or until soup has thickened and all the ingredients are tender.

Meatball Sandwiches

I am always looking for ways to save money lately and I started noticing a while ago how much it is costing for our family to pick up lunch at a restaurant on the weekends. It costs about $20 per meal depending on where we go. I decided this weekend to cook up meatballs in the crockpot while we go out, and then we'll have lunch ready for us when we get home.

This worked out great, I made the meatballs at 8am and by lunch time they were perfect. It only costs about $10 for the ingredients and we have a ton of leftovers to have for lunch tomorrow and probably a meal that we can freeze. A comparable meatball sandwich would cost about $5-10 per person, so we saved some cash by doing this. I will definitely try this again.

Sauce

•1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce
•1 (28 ounce) can tomato puree
•1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
•1 (8 ounce) can tomato paste
•2 teaspoons olive oil
•3 garlic cloves, minced
•1/2 sweet onion, chopped
•1 teaspoon salt
•Italian seasoning

Meatballs

•4-5 lbs meatloaf mixture (ground beef and pork)
•1 cup breadcrumbs
•2 slices bread, cubed and soaked in milk
•3 eggs
•1/2 cup parmesan cheese
•2 garlic cloves, minced
•1 teaspoon salt
•1 teaspoon pepper
•Italian seasoning

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix breadcubes soaked in milk, breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, garlic, pepper, and seasoning in the bottom of a large bowl.



3.Add meatloaf mix and combine with other ingredients using your hands. Don’t mix too much, just make sure all ingredients are well blended.

4.Roll mixture into balls using your hands and arrange meatballs on a cookie pan (with sides, not the flat kind).

5.Bake meatballs for 30 minutes. You can brown them under the broiler for a few minutes if you like a crunchier meatball.



6.In the meantime, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil on low heat until translucent, do not burn.

7.Combine the sautéed onion and garlic to the rest of the sauce ingredients in a large crock pot or stock pot. Turn crock pot on high (if using a stock pot, bring contents to a boil).

8.When meatballs are done in the oven, mix into the sauce mixture. Cook in crock pot for 4-6 hours on high heat. If using a stock pot, reduce heat and simmer meatballs for 4 hours or until ready to serve. (I serve them on rolls with some Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top)

Watermelon Cupcakes for Labor Day

I first saw these on Bella's Bistro and I knew I had to give them a try for Labor Day. We had a pool party at my parents house with my friends and their kids so I wanted to make something everyone would enjoy. These came out great! They were so cute and they tasted good too. I made my own icing (see recipe below) but I followed the same basic instructions. These are great for a summer party, I will definitely be making them again!



Ingredients
1 batch of your favorite vanilla cupcake mix (from scratch or a box)
1 batch of your favorite vanilla frosting (from scratch of a can)
Mini chocolate chips
Red food coloring
Green food coloring

Directions
Once your cupcake batter is made, add some red food dye and stir until it is the desired color.

Stir in some mini chocolate chips (I used probably about 1/2 cup) and fill cupcake tins 3/4 full.

Bake according to directions, allow to cool completely.

Stir some green food coloring into the frosting. Pipe it onto the cupcakes or frost with a knife.

Basic Cupcake Icing
•1 stick butter, softened
•1 lb box/bag 10x powdered sugar
•Milk (about ¼ - ½ cup)
•1 Tsp vanilla (optional, the icing is good with or without the vanilla flavor, you can use other flavors too)

Directions

1.Beat softened butter with about ¾ box powdered sugar (reserve some sugar) with hand mixer on LOW setting.

2.Add milk and flavoring (vanilla, lemon, etc) gradually until you reach a thick paste

3.Add more milk and/or sugar as needed to reach a spreadable icing consistency, use a knife to test thickness.

Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork

This is a great weeknight dinner because I can stick the pork roast in the crockpot first thing in the morning and by the time I get home from work it’s nearly ready to serve. I don’t usually have a chance to brown the meat before I put it in the crockpot, but I found that it comes out fine without that step. I use a pork shoulder so I like to remove the fat and bone from the pot before I add the BBQ sauce. I usually serve this with Oven baked fries or baked chips.



•2-3 lb pork shoulder roast
•½ cup cider vinegar
•2 cloves garlic
•1 cup BBQ sauce
•Bread for sandwiches

1.Put pork roast, garlic cloves, and cider vinegar in crockpot and set to LOW for 8-10 hours.

2.Drain the pork in a colander and remove bones and excess fats from the pork.

3.Pull the cooked pork and return it to the crock pot.

4.Set the crockpot to high and add 1 cup BBQ sauce, mix well with the pulled pork.

5.Cook the pork with the sauce on high for 15 minutes or up to one hour, mixing the meat often.

6.Serve on buns for sandwiches

SPICY Chicken Tortilla Soup

My husband and Son have both been feeling a little under the weather lately so I wanted to make them some soup. Instead of making chicken noodle, I decided to make a chicken tortilla soup that would have lots of yummy broth but would also be a hearty meal. I used a recipe I saw on “Rescue Chef” and change it up a bit to make it a more balanced meal. I found the two Jalapenos to be very very spicy, so just cut out one of them or use milder chili peppers instead if you don’t like super spicy food.



•2 tablespoons vegetable oil
•1 small onion, finely diced
•2 tablespoons minced garlic
•2 jalapenos, finely diced
•6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
•1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes (I used Hunt’s brand)
•1 (14.5-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
•1 cup instant brown rice
•3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
•2 limes, juiced, plus wedges for garnish (optional)
•Salt and freshly ground black pepper
•1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
•1 (8-inch) flour tortilla, grilled, cut into thin strips ( I used pita, tasted just as good)

Directions
1.In a large saucepan heat the vegetable oil. Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes.

2.Once the onions have softened add the garlic and jalepenos and cook for another minute.

3.Pour the chicken broth, tomatoes and beans into the pot and bring to a boil. Once at a boil lower heat to simmer and add your chicken breasts. Cook the chicken for 20 to 25 minutes.

4.Once chicken is cooked remove from pot. When cool enough to handle, shred it and return it to the pot.

5.Add brown rice and simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes until rice is cooked.

6.Add lime juice and fresh cilantro to the pot. In a serving bowl, ladle soup over chicken and top with a lime wedge, and grilled tortilla strips.

Pizza Night!

After several take-out pizza experiences that ended in stomachaches and indigestion for my husband and I, I decided to start making our pizza instead. We usually do pizza night on Thursdays, so to save time I get a frozen, pre-made pizza dough from the grocery store and thaw it out while I’m at work. My husband prefers calzones, so I break up the dough into four parts and make him two calzones and I make two small pizzas for my son and I.

My pizza-making is still a work in progress, I change up the toppings, the pan that I use, and the heat/time that I cook the pizza. I would like to get a pizza stone soon so I can try that out, but right now I use a nonstick pan.

I assemble the pizza and calzones by rolling out the dough and shaping them. Then I fill the calzones and fold them over, I use a fork to close them up. For the pizza, I just roll out the dough and shape them into an oval. I spray the calzones with olive oil and top them with a little bit of Italian seasoning. I cook them at 425 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until the crust is crispy. YUM!!

Creamy Chicken Casserole

This is an old standby, I used to have this all the time growing up and now I make it for my Husband and Son. It can be modified to make it more healthy, or you can add veggies, it’s a pretty versatile recipe. I am not sure where it originated, but I know the recipe by memory now. I usually serve this with either a salad or green beans.

Ingredients (feeds 4-5 people):

1½ hours | 1 hour prep



•4 skinless chicken breasts
•1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
•1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
•4 cups herb stuffing mix
•4 tablespoons melted butter
•Salt and pepper to taste

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.Boil chicken breasts in water for 25 minutes.



3.Let chicken sit until cool and then shred chicken.



4.Combine shredded chicken, salt and pepper, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup and spread evenly into a casserole dish.



5.Combine melted butter and stuffing mix in a bowl to soften the stuffing. Sometimes I will soften it even more using some broth from the boiled chicken.



6.Pour stuffing mix over chicken mixture and spread evenly.



7.Cover casserole dish with aluminum foil and cook for 20 minutes.

8.Remove Aluminum foil and cook for an additional 10 minutes to make the topping crispy.

9. Let sit for 5-10 minutes and enjoy!

Zesty Tomato Bruschetta

I love a nice crispy piece of french bread covered in a tangy tomato bruschetta. I learned to make this years ago from my Mother but I have changed the recipe recently because of some great bruschetta I got at BJ’s Restaurant.

For the tomatoes, I use whatever looks the best at the grocery store that week. It’s usually a roma or vine tomato, I find the beefsteak tomatoes to be a big bland for this recipe. I don’t use canned because it can make the bruschetta soggy.



I start out with cutting two tomatoes into quarters and squeezing out the seeds into the kitchen sink. I will then chop them into small pieces and set them aside in a bowl





I will then finely chop three garlic cloves and add them to the bowl with the chopped tomatoes



Then, chop about 2 tbsp fresh basil and add it to the bowl



Add 2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (the good stuff) then add 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar



Gently stir the mixture until all ingredients are combined



Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve