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.

Breakfast Enchiladas

Potato recipe will be posted soon.

Hello Friends,

This weekend I made a Breakfast Enchilada Casserole that I saw on Pinterest which was pinned from Inspired Taste. Credit for the original recipe goes to Adam and Joanne Gallagher (giving credit where credit is due).I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided to make it about three weeks ago. It was delicious but it needed a few tweaks, so I gave it another shot this weekend with some improvements. The original recipe calls for flour tortillas, half and half and flour. I switched those out for corn tortillas, 2% milk and Bisquick. If you would like the original recipe please click on Inspired Taste. I would like to apologize in advance for the black spot on the pictures. I took the pictures with my phone and my camera lens has a spot on the inside from dropping it.

Breakfast is my favorite meal to make and I always enjoy eating anytime of the day! With this recipe you can make it a night before without adding the egg to it or just chop all your veggies the night before to cut your prep time in half. Once you are ready to enjoy your Breakfast Enchiladas you can add your favorite salsa and sour cream on top and serve with potatoes. 

For this recipe I cut it in half since its only three of us but you can easily double or triple the recipe to feed a larger crowd. I brought my leftover breakfast in to work and my coworkers were very happy.

Ingredients:

1 cups of ham or choice of breakfast meat

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper of your choice (I used green)

5 mushrooms (optional)

1/4 cups sliced green onions (I used regular, since I didn't have any at home)

1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)

6 corn tortillas (or more for large crowd)

4 eggs

1/2 cups 2% milk

1 tablespoon of Bisquick

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Directions:

1.    In large bowl combine ham, chopped bell pepper, mushrooms, green onions, 1/2 cup of cheese, and set aside. Warm up tortillas in microwave for 30 seconds or on the stove. This will make it easier to roll the corn tortillas. 

2.    Lightly spray 8x8" glass baking dish. Place 1/4 cup of mixture in middle of corn tortilla and roll it up into a taco. Place it in glass dish facing down. When finished add any remainder mixture to fill any gaps. If you choose to make this the night before, cover and refrigerate after this step.  

3.    In another bowl beat eggs, milk, Bisquick and salt. Pour over rolled tortillas, cover and bake.

4.    If making the morning of then preheat oven for step one. Bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 35 minutes covered. Uncover, add 1/2 cup of cheese and bake for another 10 minutes until egg is set and cheese is melted. If you are a cheese lover, add more than 1/2 cup cheese. Let stand for 5-10 minutes and its ready to serve.

Giving It A Go!

  Hello Family, Friends & Bloggers.

I got this crazy idea yesterday while at work to start a blog on Cooking and Anything Fun. I'm new to blogging so if anyone has any ideas please send them my way. I love to find recipes online and trying them at home for my little family. I also enjoy making changes to our family recipes to make them easier for others to try.

If you see a recipe online and are too scared to try it, send it my way and I will Give It A Go and post my successes, fails or changes for the recipe. Also, if you have any great Chocolate Dessert recipes please share them with me. I'm a Chocolatier with Dove Chocolate Discoveries and I'm always looking for Chocolate recipes to try.

Thank you for reading my blog and hope to get some recipe recommendations to start trying.