Breakfast Cups

Found this recipe on Pinterest last week and decided to make them on Saturday. Original recipe only calls for bacon, eggs and cheese. I added hash browns to the bottom of each cup. I recommend to use aluminum cupcake cups to make cleaning easier. Also, next go around I will place butter pieces ontop of hash instead of at the bottom.

 
Ingredients:

12 strips of bacon
1/2 cup of Sharp Cheddar (divided)
1 1/2 cups Frozen Hash Browns
8 eggs
1/2 Stick of Butter cut into 12 pieces
Salt
Pepper
 
Instructions:

1. Preheat over to 415 degrees. Spray cupcake container with cooking spray, spray them very well.
2. Wrap bacon inside each cup and drop a piece of butter in each cup.
3. Mix hash and 1/4 cup of cheese and fill each cup half way with hash mixture. Bake until bacon has crispy edges. Take out and reduce heat to 350 degrees.
4. In small mixing bowl beat eggs with fork and fill cups 3/4 of the way.
5. Add salt and pepper on top of each egg cup. Then top off with cheese.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until eggs is golden brown and they don't jiggle.
7. Take out with a fork and enjoy!

 

If Anyone tries this recipe out, please let me know how they turn out. Or any tricks your tried.

Picadillo

Picadillo is easy to make and a great dish on a cold Winter day. You can make it with ground or shredded beef.

Ingredients:
2 lbs Ground Beef (any)
2 Cups Diced Tomatillos
1 Cup Diced Onion
2-3 Medium Diced Potatoes
2-3 Diced Carrots
3-4 Diced Zucchinis
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Ground Pepper
2 tbsp Salt
3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Large can of Red Enchilada Sauce

Instructions:
1. In large stock pot, fill half way up with water and boil. I usually add 1/4 onion to flavor the broth.
2. In large bowl blend ground beef, garlic powder, ground pepper and salt. Easier to blend with hands.

3. Make 2-3 inch meat balls with ground beef and slowly place in boiling water. Turn heat down to medium. Cook for about 30-45 minutes or until no longer pink in the center.

4. Take meat balls out and set aside. Place broth in a separate container, we will need it later.
5. In same stock pot add vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. Sauté diced onions and tomatillos until translucent.
6. While sautéing onion and tomatillos, crumble meat balls. Careful, they are hot. Then place into stock pot and cook with onion and tomatillos.
7. Add diced potatoes, carrots and zucchinis.

8. Add broth to stock pot until meat and veggies are covered. I prefer my picadillo to have more broth so I usually add all the broth. Its up to you on how "soupy" you want your picadillo.
9. Slightly cover and boil until potatoes are cooked through.
10. Once potatoes are cooked add 1 can of red enchilada sauce and boil for another 10 minutes then taste for salt. Add more salt if needed. I enjoy making the chili from scratch but with a kiddo and no time, enchilada sauce is much faster and they are both made with the same type of chili.
11. Serve and Enjoy! You can eat Picadillo with corn tortilla chips, warm tortillas or on its own.

Very Simple Beef Stir Fry

I love making and eating stir fry but sometimes I don't have the time to make it. I've tried a few recipes online but they all take too long after chopping up all the veggies and also trying to find the right seasonings at the store. After years of making stir fry, I have FINALLY found a seasoning that works and can be used with other dishes. 

For this recipe and for all my future stir fry recipes, I used a Steak Grill Time Seasoning from Kroger. All the spices it contains are perfect in bringing the flavors together in any dish.

Ingredients:

2-4lbs of Beef for stir fry
1 med. red onion sliced
10-15 med mushrooms sliced
1.5lbs of Asparagus rinsed and cut into 1 inch pieces
2tsp. of Steak Grill Time Seasoning
1-2tbsp. of Soy Sauce
1tsp. Corn Starch
2tbsp. Sesame Seed Oil

Instructions:

1. In large skillet add sesame seed oil and heat over high heat. Add beef, seasoning,  soy sauce and sliced onions. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
2. Add sliced mushrooms and asparagus once meat. Cover and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes or until asparagus is a little tender.
3. Dissolve corn starch in cup with a little bit of cold water and add to stir fry. Keep in mind that after you add your veggies they will let some juice out. Don't let the juices evaporate, you want to add the corn starch mixture to the juices. This will make your thick sauce for the stir fry. Cook for 2 minutes and you're done!
4. Serve over your choice of rice.

Please keep in mind that I only used a few veggies to make this fast but please feel free to add as many as you want. I also add pineapples to it but didn't have any on hand this time.

P.S. Sorry for the black spot in my photos...its not on the food, its from my phone. ;)


   

Vacation

Good Morning Friends,

Sorry that I haven't posted lately, I have been very busy preparing for my trip to visit my family in California. I will not cook while I'm out there, I will however help my mom cook so I will be posting her delicious recipes online. Stay tuned for some very good Mexican recipes.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

It was too hot this weekend to cook anything fancy but I still decided to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and try out the bag of snickerdoodle cookie mix I had in the cabinet that I received as part of a gift. The mix was called Grammy's Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix from the Women's Bean Project and all I needed was 1 cup of butter, 2 eggs and a hot oven. I made the cookies and they were deeeeelish. I managed to get 24 large cookies out of the mix, not bad.

If you don't know about the Women's Bean Project, here is a little about their history: "The Women's Bean Project is a non-profit business dedicated to helping women break the cycle of poverty and unemployment. Our goal is to provide each program participant with a safe, accepting work environment where she can learn to identify and build upon her talents while building the skills necessary to get and keep mainstream employment. We do this by providing employment training in our gourmet food production business."

If you are from Denver, CO., you can purchase their product at any King Soopers or visit their website for out of state orders. You can purchase their products online at: www.womensbeanproject.com and help support this GREAT cause.

Calabasitas con Elote

 Potluck Time at Work! 

For today's potluck I decided to make a warm veggie dish that my family has been making for many years called "Calabasitas con Elote" or "Zucchini with Corn." If you like corn and zucchini, this is the dish for you. I decided to make this for our potluck since we have a few student employees and coworkers who are vegetarian, vegan or have dietary restrictions. For a vegan dish, don't add cheese. 

 

This dish tastes better when you use fresh corn on the cob. What you will need to do is remove the husk and silk (hair) from the corn and slice the kernels off with a knife. This process is about 5-10 minutes longer but very well worth it when you consider the benefits of fresh corn that hasn't been processed or canned. If you do decide to take the easier route, use frozen sweet white corn for this recipe. One 10-12oz bag is all you'll need.

This dish will make your taste buds dance in your mouth. The combination of zucchini, sweet corn and cheese will have your taste buds begging for MORE!

Ingredients:

1-2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 onion sliced

4 diced roma tomatoes

5 medium zucchini's diced

6 fresh corn on the cob sliced

1 tsp salt & pepper 

1 package of Queso Fresco crumbled-I use Cacique brand, see image above.

In large pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat and saute onions and tomato for 5 minutes or until onions are tender.

Add diced zucchini's, salt & pepper, stir together, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Let cook for 5-10 minutes or until zucchini is half way tender.

Uncover, add corn, stir and cover. Let cook for another 10 minutes. Then turn off.

Now you are ready to eat! Serve and add crumbled queso fresco on top.  

*Note: Zucchini's retain a lot of water, so as soon as you start cooking them you will notice a lot of juice at the bottom of the pan. Don't worry just use a serving spoon with holes and dump the juice out once you are done.

Creamy Cheesy Tomato Pasta

Hello Friends,

Today I'm sharing with you what I grew up calling Mexican Mac-N-Cheese. My grandma and mother used to make this yummy dish for us when we were kids and now I make it for my daughter. Its an easy and fast dish to make that can feed a very small family for days or large family for one day. This recipe is enough for 4 servings.

Ingredients:
5 cups Egg Noodles (or pasta of your choice)
1/2 cups of butter
1/2 sliced onion
1 medium jalapeño sliced long ways and devanned (optional) (not in picture)
1 bay leaf (not in picture)
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can tomato sauce

 Directions:

1. Boil noodles in large pot, drain and set aside.
2. In same pot, melt butter and saute onions and jalapeño over medium-low heat. Add tomato sauce and bay leaf and simmer for 2 minutes. Mix in sour cream and stir for 1 minute. Add noodles and stir until sauce has been evenly distributed over all noodles. Add cheese on top without stirring, cover and turn the stove off. 
3. Serve once cheese has melted all the way through. Serve with your choice of meat and bread or just have a big bowl of it.