One of my favorite stories that my Mom likes to tell is when my brother Mickey, at a young age, said to my Mom (whose name is Betty), "You're no Betty Crocker." I think she is a good cook but I, on the other hand am not. I truly am no Betty Crocker. I burn things, put in 1 1/3 Cups of water when it only called for 1/3, etc, etc...just ask my husband. BUT I have been getting better and I have found a couple recipes that are easy and quite tasty so I thought I would share!
Taco Pizza
It may sound wierd, but it's so so good.
1 lb ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 C water
(They could have made it a whole lot easier by saying make 1 lb of Taco meat according to seasoning package. You can also make it with ground turkey. Aldi's has fit and active lean ground turkey that I've used quite often. My husband, a meat lover, hasn't minded and says it doesn't taste that different.)
2 prebaked Italian bread (or regular like I used) shell crusts (12 inches each)
1 can (16 oz) refried beans (I used the authentic stuff found in the Mexican aisle. They were also fat free and didn't taste bad at all.)
3/4 C salsa
2 C coarsely crushed tortilla chips
2 C (8 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
2 medium tomatoes, chopped, optional
1 C shredded lettuce, optional
In a saucepan, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in taco seasoning and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes; set aside (In other words...make the taco meat).
Place crusts on ungreased pizza pans or baking sheets. Combine beans and salsa; spread over crusts (after making it I wished I had gone lighter on the bean layer. Thinner is better).
Top with beef mixture, and cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with chips, tomatoes, and lettuce.
Yield: 2 pizzas (6-8 servings each.)
The icing on the cake is taco sauce. You can buy it for like $2 or something and it really adds to the pizza.
Another recipe that we love is one we just ate tonight. Chris's Mom Sherry made it for us once and it was easy enough for me to replocate.
Oriental Chicken Salad - Ready in one hour or less.
Dressing:
1/2 C sugar
1 Tb cornstarch
(I stir these two ingredients before adding the others and before turning on the heat. One time I made it and the cornstarch "bunched up" for lack of better verbage and ruined the batch. I had to remake it. If you stir the two and actually add all of the ingredients together before turning on the heat, you'll be fine.)
1/4 C water
1/4 C Vegetable Oil
1/4 C Ketchup
3 Tb Cider Vinegar
1 Tb Soy Sauce
Salad:
1 Med head of Iceburg lettuce
1/2 - 3/4 of a Romain head of lettuce
2 C cubed cooked chicken
1 C salted cashews
1 can (8 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained
1 package (6 oz) frozen snow peas, thawed (using fresh is much better in my opinion)
1 can (3 oz) chow mein noodles
1/4 C chopped green onions.
In a small/med saucepan, combine dressing ingredients and bring to a boil. Cook and Stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. (The oil sometimes is hard to emulsify into the dressing) Cool.
In a large salad bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; add dressing and toss to coat. Serve immediately. Yield 8-10 servings. (Yeah right. If this is the only thing you're eating, you'll eat more than that and it won't make 8-10 servings. It's too good! You might want to go double for the dressing. The last two times I've made it I've had to make a second batch of dressing for the leftover salad. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment