2-Point Weight Watcher Taco Soup

I literally "stole" this recipe from my neighbor, Mel a month or so ago when she was organizing her recipes!!! I have been dying to try it so yesterday, I finally got around to making it (with a few minor changes)! And it was YUMMY! The best part, it's only 2 points for ONE CUP of soup! And left overs can be frozen to zap in the microwave for a quick lunch or dinner later on! Woohoo!

What You Need:

1 lb ground turkey, ground sirloin, or lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove minced garlic
1 (1oz) envelope Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix, dry
1 (1oz) envelope Taco Seasoning mix (hot or mild), dry
1 (16oz) can pinto beans
1 (16oz) can chili beans (hot or regular)
1 (16oz) can whole kernel corn
1 (8oz) can diced Mexican-style tomatoes
1 (8oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (4oz) diced green chillies (mild or hot)

**Note, I subbed a can of Hunts Tomato Sauce for the tomatoes since D wont eat the things**

1. Brown meat with onions and garlic and drain.
2. Mix ranch dressing and taco seasoning into meat.
3. Without draining, add all of the other ingredients
4. Simmer 1 hour or in crock pot on low as desired, stirring occasionally.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped black olives, and crackers or Fritos!

Meal Plan Monday November 5

Here's what we're having this week!

Monday - Papa Murphy's Pizza (late night, going to get Maddie's dresser so we need to eat quick!)

Tuesday - Ranch and Herb baked chicken, red potatos, and salad

Wednesday - Layered Meatball Bake

Thursday - Easy Stovetop Stuffing and Chicken Casserole

Friday - Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Saturday - Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

Sunday - Spaghetti and Meatballs at D's mom's house! Yum!

(For more Menu Plan Monday ideas, visit OrgJunkie!)

Recipe Favorite! Italian Stuffed Peppers

Last night I tried a new recipe! It was unplanned but both D and I had been craving them---and I'd never had them or tried to make them before but they've always sounded good! So between Trick or Treators, I made them and didn't get to eat 'til I actually turned the porch light off THREE HOURS LATER!! Guess that's what happens when you live in a neighborhood!

So here's my recipe! Hope those of you who try it, enjoy!!! And it was super easy to make! We had a bit of meat left over as we only did three peppers so I just baked it as meatloaf and D had leftovers for lunch today!! ;)

ITALIAN STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS

1 lb+. ground meat (we used beef, but pork or turkey would work as well).
4 eggs
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves fresh garlic (I used the minced garlic in a jar)
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste---I used a generous amount
2 cans tomato sauce or 1 large jar of Spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup cooked white rice
4 large *green* peppers (can also use yellow, red, or orange---we used yellow), sliced in half or hollowed out if you prefer to use the whole pepper.
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Grease bottom of 13x9 baking pan with olive oil. Mix meat, eggs, bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, and all seasonings in large bowl. Cook rice and mix into meat mixture. Slice peppers so that you have 8 halves, and remove stems and seeds (you can also slice off the top of the pepper and use the whole pepper instead). Stuff peppers with meat mixture. Place in pan and pour tomato or spaghettic sauce over top and along bottom of pan. Bake uncovered at 350 for 1 hour; sprinkle shredded mozzerella cheese over peppers when there's about 10-15 minutes left on timer. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf Recipe

My aunt was over visiting from Spokane this weekend for my baby shower and brought along a few tasty recipes with her that she left behind for me to try!! This one caught my eye and I decided to share it with you all!

Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf

What you need:

• 1lb ground beef
• 10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 8oz grated cheddar cheese
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
  
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 3 Tbsp. mustard
• 3oz can French Fried Onions

What you do:

Preheat oven to 350.

In large bowl, combine hamburger, bacon, cheese, eggs, breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix well.

In small bowl, combine ketchup and mustard. Stir 1/4 of mixture into meat mixture. Reserve remaining ketchup mixture.

Press meat mixture into greased 9x5 loaf pan.

Spread remaining ketchup mixture over loaf.

Bake 40 minutes.

Top with French Friend Onions and bake additional 10-15 minutes, or until done.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

**NOTE: You can also add barbecue sauce to taste to give it a BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger taste!

Meal Plan Monday

Wow, it's been a while since I've checked in! Such is the life of a full-time-working-first-time-mommy-to be, I guess! So perhaps I need to get used to that?!

Anyways, so we'll ease back into this with a Menu Plan for the week!!

Monday - Chicken Alfredo Fettuccini (with garlic bread and salad, of course!)
Tuesday - Pork chops, red potatos, and green bean casserole
Wednesday - Biscuits and sausage gravy (served with corn)
Thursday - Grilled lemon pepper chicken, parmesan noodles, and salad
Friday - Papa Murphy's Pizza night!!
Saturday - SURPRISE!!! We'll be finishing up the Maddie's room so who knows where the day will take us!
Sunday - Lasagna (with garlic bread, salad, and brownies!!). We're having our families over for the "Nursery Unveiling" and dinner!

Finally Friday!!!

Happy Friday, ya'll!! Hopefully if you're reading this from somewhere BESIDES the Great Northwest, you've got sunshine!! It is POURING here and has been for days. Ugh. Where did our summer go?!!

Today's Crazy Craving: Donuts. Either a Krispy Kreme or a chocolate sprinkle donut. So what's wrong with that? I am not a big fan of donuts at all. In fact, usually can't stand 'em!! So weird!

So if you read my post for Monday, which was my first attempt at Meal Plan Monday, then you probably read that last nights dinner was Surprise ala Doyle! LOL =) And surprise it was indeed!! The man is an amazing cook! And not just that, but he does the dishes too!! On top of going to the grocery store after work to pick up the necessary dinner items (he gets off work a couple of hours before me!)!! Wow!!! What a man!!

When I got home from work, dinner was just coming out of the oven and dishes were already done!! And dinner was AMAZING! Here's what we had!

Potato Casserole

7 medium potatoes

¼ cup butter, melted

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1 (8 oz) carton sour cream

1 (10-¾ oz) can Cream of Chicken soup, undiluted

2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

1-½ cups herb seasoned stuffing mix

Cook potatoes in boiling water to cover, 30 minutes or until tender. Drain; let cool to touch. Peel and cut into ¼-inch strips. Set aside.
Pre-heat oven to 350.
In large mixing bowl, combine ¼-cup butter, chopped onions, salt, sour cream, and Cream of Chicken soup. Gently stir in potatoes and cheese.
Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 13x9x2 inch baking dish.

In separate bowl, combine 3 Tbsp. melted butter and stuffing mix, sprinkle over potato mixture.
Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Serves 6-8.

Meal Plan Monday

Okay, so I'm trying a new feature here called Meal Plan Monday, thanks to my friend Mel.
It's nice having a man around the house again to cook for who APPRECIATES being cooked for and likes what you make! And being pregnant now, it's nice to try to eat healthier and establish a routine for when the baby is born and as she/he grows. I love to cook, however have sadly neglected that particular "art" over the past year. So I'm slowly trying to work my way back into that routine! Besides, he'll even stop by the grocery store after work to pick up what I need! How sweet is that?!

So here's what we're having this week!

Monday: Chinese Food (dinner with a friend!)
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Hamburger Gravy and Mashed Potatos
Thursday: Doyle Surprise ---he's cooking and suprising me so I'll let ya'll know what it is!
Friday: Out to dinner with brother and sis-in-law and movies! Popcorn...yay!!!
Saturday: Out to dinner, Mexican food
Sunday: BBQ steak, baked potato, and corn

Okay so it's not much, but it's a start! =)

For more fantastic meal ideas and great recipes visit Laura and the other bloggers participating in Menu Plan Monday.

Recipe Favorites!!

Okay, so growing up I'm sure you all had a favorite recipe or dish that your mom, grandma, great aunt, or great grandmother used to make, right?! For me, it was my grandma. She made the absolute BEST homemade applesauce. I haven't had any as good since. I think her secret was a TON of sugar! LOL Which would explain my obsession!! =)

Well, grandma has long since given up in the kitchen. She's going to be 88 this August, widowed, suffering from Dementia, and living in an assisted care home not far from my folks. The other day another one of my favorite dishes that she made for us came to mind...and I haven't had it in YEARS! Mom and I tried to make it 6-7 years ago (even went out and bought a meat grinder and all! LOL) but alas, it just wasn't the same as granny's.

Since it popped into my mind, I have of course, true to pregnancy form, been craving it! LOL So I made mom spend two nights searching for the meat grinder--which she finally found (um, in the EXACT place I told her she'd stored it!)! Yay! So this weekend I am going to attempt to make Roast Beef Spread Sandwiches! I even found a recipe on the web for it---so it wasn't just some creation of granny's mind! =) Wish me luck, ya'll!

Shredded Roast Beef Salad Sandwiches

This is a delicious way to use roast beef. Feel free to change the amount of mayonnaise to moisten to your taste. Instead of making sandwiches, you could serve the spread with crackers for a party, along with chopped red onion in a separate dish.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound cooked roast beef
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped celery
• 1/2 cup bread and butter pickles (granny used sweet pickles)
  
• 1/2 to 1 cup mayonnaise
• pickle juice, to taste (again, granny used juice from sweet pickles)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, optional
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• slice of cheese (your choice), for topping
  
• sliced red onion, for topping
• lettuce, for topping
• sliced wheat or white bread

PREPARATION:

Put beef and onion, celery, and pickles through a meat grinder with the coarse plate, or mince the ingredients or process in a food processor until evenly chopped. Add remaining ingredients, with enough mayonnaise and pickle juice to taste and moisten as desired.

Serve as a spread for crackers or melba rounds or as a spread for sandwiches. Toast the bread, if desired, and then spread with a little butter or mayonnaise. Add lettuce leaves; spread a layer of the beef spread over the lettuce, then top with sliced red onion.
Makes enough for 6 to 8 sandwiches.

Crazy Cravings! Chocolate Covered Cherries!

Okay, so my pregnancy cravings (combined with quitting smoking, I'm sure) have definitely kicked in and been working overtime...yesterday all I could think about was eating Chocolate Covered Cherries. So I went in search of a recipe to make some from home! Here ya go!

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Submitted by: Meredith Rated: 5 out of 5 by 63 members

Prep Time: 1 Hour

Ready In: 1 Hour Yields: 60 servings

"Maraschino cherries are wrapped in sugar then dipped in chocolate flavored confectioners' coating and chilled."

INGREDIENTS:

60 maraschino cherries with stems 3 tablespoons butter, softened 3 tablespoons corn syrup

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 1 pound chocolate confectioners' coating

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Drain cherries and set on paper towels to dry.
2.	In a medium bowl, combine butter and corn syrup until smooth. Stir in confectioners' sugar and knead to form a dough. Chill to stiffen if necessary. Wrap each cherry in about 1 teaspoon of dough. Chill until firm.
3.	Melt confectioners' coating in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Dip each cherry in by its stem, and place on waxed paper lined sheets. Chill until completely set. Store in an airtight container in a cool place. Best after 1 or 2 weeks.

Quick and Simple Meal Idea

Monday night we made the infamous Wal*Mart trip to our new local Super Wal*Mart. Yippee...now rather than cruising aisles for an hour stocking up on household necessities and "must haves" and weeding out the "want to haves", you can spend TWO HOURS doing the same thing, now that the grocery department is open. Oh joy. LOL No, but really. The bargains are great, as always with Wal*Mart. They carry a HUGE selection. However, by the time we'd strolled from the back of the grocery department (where, idiotically enough) the frozen foods are located (ie, ice cream) through the meats and produce section, our guilty pleasure (said ice cream) was more like melted mush cream....ugh.

So, arriving home two hours later, stocked up on all kinds of goodies from a rice cooker to cat litter we decided that we were way too tired to attempt to cook dinner. Even after planning out 4-5 meals and purchasing the goods for them.

Finally, about 8:30pm (2030, Mel time!) we sucked it up and decided to cook. We were tired, cranky, and HUNGRY! We settled on Biscuits and Gravy---something that I'd been craving for a couple of days now. Funny, considering that the first time I'd ever even HAD biscuits and gravy was some two months ago.

15 minutes later, we were eating!! I am not kidding you, this was one of the easiest, most filling, delicious, and easy to clean up meals I'd made in a while...

So if you get home from work (or Wal*Mart) late, in a hurry to get the kids off to baseball or soccer practice, or just want something satisfying yet simple, here ya go!

Quick and Simple Biscuits and Gravy

1 roll refrigerated Pillsbury Country Style biscuits - (makes 8 biscuits)
1 - package Country Style Gravy mix
1 - package Jimmy Dean sausage

Doyle browned the sausage while I baked the biscuits (14-17 minutes, but they were done at 15) and made the gravy, which took about 5 minutes, max. We garnished it with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light, salt and pepper (hot sauce for Doyle), and served it with corn. =) YUMMY!!!

Oh and the cost of the whole meal? $6.98. And we had two leftover biscuits. Beat that, Denny's!!!

Weekend Recipe!

Have to share this AMAZING recipe that I got from my friend Misty. She's made it several times and I've been lucky enough to be invited to dinner two to three of those times! I finally pestered her enough to give up the recipe---so you're in luck because I'm sharing it!! I plan on making it sometime this weekend! =) Yum! Enjoy and if you try it, do let me know what you think!

Chicken Bistro Twist

What You Need:

1 pkg boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 container parmesan cheese (1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. or more as desired)

1 pkg (~2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese

1-2 garlic cloves, your preference (pressed) 

Italian seasoning – to taste

1 egg white, beaten

1 red pepper diced in small pieces

1 yellow or orange pepper small pieces

½ cup Mayo 

2 packages pizza crust or French loaf 

Olive oil

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 350.

Coat chicken in Italian seasoning and bake in olive oil at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until done.

In large bowl, mix parmesan cheese (minus 2 tbsp), 1 1/2 cups Mozzarella cheese, diced peppers, 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning, garlic pressed, mayonnaise.   Chop chicken into small pieces and add to mixture.

Roll out dough on cookie sheet, side by side, and scoop chicken mixture into center of each piece of dough. Press ends together and turn over, crossing over each other, like a braid. 

In separate bowl, beat egg until blended and brush over dough. 

Sprinkle Italian seasoning and remaining parmesan cheese over the top. 

Bake at 350 until golden brown (and dough is done).

Inspired to...cook?!

Okay, so it's been FOREVER (aka. last July, basically, after kicking the ex out) since I've cooked anything close to resembling a decent meal---bar Easy Mac at 3AM as a hangover-preventative or the occasional pot of coffee if I can't make it to the nearest Starbuck's. So when I stumbled across this recipe quite accidentially this weekend, I decided that I might have to try it! Sounds good. Looks simple. What's not to like?! =)

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Prep: 5 minutes Cook: 30 minutes Serves: 4

1 can - (10 ¾ oz) Campbell’s Cream of Potato Soup

¾ cup - milk

1/8 Tsp. - ground black pepper

1 cup - frozen mixed veggies - thawed

2 cans - (4.5 oz each) Swanson Premium Chunk Chicken Breast – drained

1- egg

1cup – All purpose baking mix

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix soup, ¼ cup milk, pepper, veggies and chicken in 9” pie plate

Mix remaining milk, egg and baking mix in separate bowl

Pour over chicken mixture.

Bake 30 minutes or until hot and topping is golden brown

I'll let ya'll know after I try it, just how EASY it really was! =P