Mexican Hamburger Casserole

 Hi everyone!  So I have a been a bit under the weather lately, so today after a nice afternoon nap I grabbed my laptop and started looking for something to have for dinner that would be fast and easy and hopefully taste good.  My search brought me to Cooks.com where I found several options.  I decided on the one that looked the easiest.  I made a few minor modifications.  First I made the whole thing in one pan, from frying the burger to baking in the oven I used a large cast iron skillet... once again I think I love cooking with cast iron.  It also called for 4 pounds of kidney beans, I cut that down to 2 cans and then I added 2 cups of frozen corn. Finally, I omitted the butter and used a tiny bit of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) instead.   In the future, I think I will add more corn and more cheese.  But this turned out to be a pretty good dinner, it was quick, had good flavor and David said to keep the recipe which is a good sign that it was liked!  So next time you need something quick and easy, give this one a try!

MEXICAN HAMBURGER CASSEROLE

COOKS.COM

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1 pound ground beef                              2 tbls butter
1 large chopped onion                          1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp chili powder                                 1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin seed                                  1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp oregano                                        Dash pepper
2 Cans kidney beans                             1 can tomato sauce

2 Cups frozen Corn                                           

3/4 cup crushed corn chips
1/3 cup Burgundy wine (optional)
1/3 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Brown meat in heavy skillet; spoon into a 2-quart casserole. Melt butter in skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté until onion is clear. Add spices, beans, tomato sauce, corn chips and wine. Mix thoroughly and spoon over meat. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in oven (350°F.) for 30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly.

Makes 4 servings.  This is a pretty good quick casserole.  I would add a bit more corn when making it again and a bit more cheese.

Today, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Today's new recipe turned out wonderful and there is a surprise inside!  Thanks to Cupcakerecipe.com for this fun recipe and boy are they red.  I put them in red cupcake liners and they turned out beautiful.
They have a delicious, moist slightly chocolate flavor and the cream cheese frosting was very rich and yummy...   Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

Ingredients -

24 Chocolate Kisses Batter: 3/4 cup Butter, softened 1-1/2 cups Sugar 1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 1 teaspoon Baking Soda 1 teaspoon Salt 1 teaspoon Vanilla 2 Large Eggs 1 cup Buttermilk 2 tablespoons Liquid Red Food Color 2 teaspoons White Vinegar 2-1/2 cups Cake Flour Frosting: 2 (8 ounces each) Cream Cheese, softened 1/2 cup Butter, softened 1 1/2 cups Confectioners Sugar 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. 2. Line 24 regular size muffin cups with foil liners. 3. Put 1 kiss in the center of each. 4. Beat the butter, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and vanilla in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until creamy. 5. Beat in the eggs until blended. 6. Stir in the buttermilk, food color and vinegar in a 2 cup measuring bowl until blended. 7. Beat in the flour alternating with the buttermilk mixture. 8. Beat until blended. 9. Spoon 1/4 cup batter over the kiss in each cup. 10. Bake for 25 minutes or until done. 11. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. 12. Remove from the pan and cool completely. Frosting: 1. In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. 2. Add the confectioners sugar and vanilla. 3. Beat until smooth and fluffy. 4. Frost the cupcakes and garnish as desired.

Tomorrow I am going to make a Lemon Cream cupcake and later this week I am making Rachael Ray's Roasted Pablano Chili with nachos on top.  I watched her make it on the Cooking Channel and it looked delicious.  I think I will also make cheese filled italian rolls on wednesday and another batch of Creamy White Chili!

Creamy White Chili

I found this wonderful recipe on someones blog, I would love to give credit to whomever posted it, but the link I had for it is no longer working and after searching high and low I still can't find it so if this is your recipe, my compliments to the chef it is now one of my very favorites!!!  (Please let me know so I can give you credit).  I made it a couple of nights ago and have to admit I was skeptical, wasn't sure anyone in my house would eat it, let alone like it.  Wow was I surprised, they emptied the pot and Joyce even grabbed 2 bowls so we could take it for lunch the next day.  Thanks Joyce best lunch I have had in a long time.  My advice is don't skimp on anything in this recipe, I used the hot variety of canned green chili's which gave it a bit of a kick, but I like spicy.  Last night my husband asked for a bowl of left over "Chicken Chili" and I had to tell him it was all gone, needless to say he was very disappointed so this recipe just became a permanent fixture in my list of menus.  Enjoy!   Cathy

Creamy White Chili
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth
2 cans (4 oz) chopped green chilies (for less kick, add just one can, more kick use the HOT version)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream

In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. This is especially good served with tortilla chips. Makes about 6 servings.

LET'S TALK MEATLOAF

Meatloaf is a classic "cheap" meal.  People either love it or hate it.  But with all the varieties out there, there really is something for everyone.  Meatloaf can be topped with anything from ketchup to BBQ sauce.  There are even vegetarian versions.  Everything from chicken meatloaf to low carbohydrate meatloaf, meatloaf is a versatile main course.  I even found a website dedicated to meatloaf!  I am kind of a traditionalist, so the next recipe is for my favorite meatloaf recipe.   Traditionally, I make it with lean ground beef, but recently since my husband brought home an entire elk and put it in our freezer I have made it with Elk.  Elk is a wonderful meat, extremely lean which makes it a great diet food, but because of it's lean nature when using elk I add about 1/3 pound of lean ground beef to give it a little fat.  (If you would like to try Elk, many health food stores carry it in their meat department.)  So here is my favorite meatloaf recipe...

1 1/2 lb ground elk + 1/2 lb ground beef
or
2 lbs ground beef (extra lean)
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
2   egg, lightly beaten
1 14.5 ounces can diced tomatoes (without juice)
1 cup quick-cooking oats or 1 cup bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients together well.  Place in lightly greased cake pan and shape into a loaf.
Mix topping ingredients together.
Topping:
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon prepared mustard
Lightly brush over top of meatloaf and then bake for one hour.  Check for doneness, to test use a meat thermometer -- temperature should measure 160 degrees.  Pour rest of topping over the meatloaf and place in oven for an additional 10 minutes.

As a side note, I like to shape the loaf into a donut shape and then cook.  While the meatloaf is cooking I make my favorite mashed potatoes...

2 pounds potatoes diced and cooked until soft
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup crumbled bacon (optional)
Place all ingredients in a bowl and mash thoroughly.

When the meatloaf (donut) is done, I heap the mashed potatoes into the middle of the meatloaf.  It makes a fun potato bowl.  When my kids were little this was one of their favorite meals.  It looks like a meatloaf volcano with mashed potato lava on top... or snow covered mountain. 


 

Granny's Green Beans and New Potatoes

So while I was busy posting Granny's recipes on here I thought I would include her green beans, they were always my favorite thing at any meal.  Years ago I asked her for the recipe and she told me get a little bit of ham hock maybe 1/2 a pound, add string beans from the garden and cook till they are about done, then add your little new potatoes on top with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook until they are soft.  I have translated that into the recipe below.

Granny's Green Beans and Potatoes:
1 Ham hock - if you don't know what it is ask your butcher but basically a chunk of bacon that hasn't been sliced - sort of
3-4 pounds of green beans, fresh, snap them and remove any strings
3 pounds of small new red potatoes (fresh from the garden is nice and the smaller the better)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper or to taste


In a large pot saute your ham hock add enough water to cover the ham and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add beans, cover and continue cooking another 45 minutes, I cook until the beans are just barely tender soft. Add potatoes and salt, cover and cook until potatoes are tender. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

Granny used to make this for Sunday dinner and she would make a wonderful meat loaf to go with it or her fried chicken we'd have sliced tomatoes and cucumbers out of the garden, it was a little bit of heaven!  Followed by blackberry pie or her chocolate cake.  I think my mom has her meat loaf recipe, I really need to get a copy of that too.  Happy eating!

Made with Love - Granny's Blackberry Pie

My grandmother was one of the most amazing cooks I have ever known, I like to think that I take after her, I know she is the one who taught me to cook and instilled in me a love of cooking and probably my love of food in general.  The above picture is me (wasn't a cute kid?), my Mom, Marilyn Neuberger and my Granny and Papa, JL and Mary Gregory in Germany.  As a kid in Kentucky, I would go with my Granny and Papa on saturday mornings and we would find a blackberry patch and then spend a couple of hours picking blackberries.  I would come away with permanently purple fingers and usually a tummy ache from eating as many berries as I saved.  There was also the occassional tick (I hate those creepy little creatures) and of course, countless pricked fingers from all the blackberry thorns!  When we got home we would wash the berries and then put them in bags to freeze so we could have blackberry pie all year round.  I live in Utah now and blackberries don't just grow on the side of the road here.  But recently, on my honeymoon, we discovered a wonderful place on the coast of Oregon where berries grow wild. We stopped and picked a huge bag of them and then put them on ice in the cooler and carried them lovingly home.  The pie in this picture was made with those beautiful blackberries and is filled with the memories of my granny and I sitting in her kitchen making pie!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have through the years!

GRANNY'S BLACKBERRY PIE:

• 6 cups blackberries or marion berries   (fresh or frozen)
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 8 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoon tapioca
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter, chopped
• 2 (9 inch) pie crusts

Thoroughly mix sugar, flour, tapioca and cinnamon.
Sprinkle over berries, then gently toss to coat.
Pour into pie crust (I prefer homemade, but the Pillsbury refrigerated dough will do in a pinch.)
Place dots of butter all over top.
Place top crust on top and cut 5 slits through top crust.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour or until crust is light brown. Serve warm with homemade vanilla ice cream.