Taco / Enchilada Filling

A few weeks ago, we were in the mood for tacos for dinner. I usually use a taco seasoning packet but we didn't have any left in our pantry. Instead of sending Joe out to pick up a seasoning packet or just planning something else for dinner, I decided to check out my cookbooks and see if I could find a basic recipe that I could match up with items in my pantry.

I found a recipe for Tacos in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook and I had just about all of the ingredients, but as usual, I tweaked it a bit to fit our tastes.

Taco/Enchilada Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 3 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup diced chili peppers, drained
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• salt
• hot pepper sauce to taste
• 1 can chili beans

Directions:

• In skillet or dutch oven, cook ground beef, pepper and garlic until meat is browned and onions and peppers are tender.
• Drain fat.
• Stir in the chili peppers, chili powder, and salt.
• Add several dashes of hot pepper sauce to your liking.
• Add canned chili beans and cook until heated through.
  

We made soft tacos that night for dinner and I froze the leftover filling.

Tonight, I thawed the frozen filling and made enchiladas with it. We LOVE enchiladas and LOVE that we now have another type of filling for them.

There is still a bit of the filling left, so later this week, I plan on making a taco pizza using Pillsbury Pizza Crust, some salsa, Mexican blend cheese and the last bit of the taco/enchilada filling for the pizza toppings.

I'll be linking this recipe to the following blogs this week:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Cranberry-Walnut Fudge ~ Easy Holiday Treat

I love fudge! It's one of my favorite sweet treats made even better because of the sweet memories that involve fudge.

I think my first memory involving Fudge is when my Mom made a pretty big batch of it one Christmas. That year, we had a group of Christmas Carolers come to the door. We didn't have cookies to offer them since Mom hadn't done any baking yet, but Mom did give them some of her fudge.

My next memory of having fudge would have to be our trips to the Jersey Shore and going to the candy shops on the boardwalk to buy fudge. They had so many different flavors, but plain chocolate was always my favorite!

Then, I remember staying with my Gram for a week when I was about 11 or 12. My Gram has a huge sweet tooth (I think I inherited it from her)! She taught me how to make a batch of fudge while I was there. It was surprisingly easy. And when we finished eating that batch, she sent me into the kitchen to make more! I never made it again after that (until recently) and I'm not sure why. Since it was such an easy treat to make!

After that, in my late teens, a huge mall opened and they had a fudge shop. They made a huge production of making the fudge and people lined up to watch them! I remember going to the movies with my friend Lisa and stopping to get some fudge to eat during the movie! By that time, my favorite was chocolate peanut butter!

A few years ago, I wanted to do some baking for Christmas. Not being much of a baker, I didn't know what I would need. I sent hubby out to get me some ingredients and he came home with huge bags of chocolate chips! I didn't even put a dent in them and had tons left over. So, that spring I found a recipe on VeryBestBaking.com for Easter Basket Fudge that used chocolate chips. I had all the ingredients (surprisingly) but decided to leave off the icing and jelly beans.

Not only was I able to use up all of our chocolate chips before the summer came (I was afraid they would melt in our hot, second floor apartment), I was also able to take a nice, big batch of fudge and chocolate covered strawberries to my parents' house for Easter.

Since then, I like to make fudge during the holidays. It's easy. I usually have all the ingredients. And almost everyone likes it!

Here's how my Mom requests that I make the batch that comes to her house:

Cranberry-Walnut Fudge

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 cups mini marshmallows
• 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup craisins

directions:

• Line 8x8 baking dish with foil.
• Combine sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in saucepan.
• Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
• Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in marshmallows, morsels, craisins, nuts and vanilla extract.
• Stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows are melted.
• Pour into foil lined pan and refrigerate until firm.
• Lift from pan; remove foil.

I've also used milk-chocolate morsels for this recipe, but we prefer the semi-sweet chocolate.

Note: The original recipe claims to get 48 pieces from batch! No way would a piece that small fill my sweet tooth! I cut into much bigger pieces. I get about 24 pieces of fudge from an 8x8 pan.

I'm thinking that this holiday season, I'll be making a lot of fudge to take for visiting.

I'll be sharing this post on the following blog carnivals:

• Works for Me Wednesday
• Food on Fridays
• Tasty Tuesday
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table

Ultimate Recipe Swap: Breakfast: Potato-Asparagus Omelet

It's Thursday! It's time for another Ultimate Recipe Swap hosted by Life As Mom. This week's theme is Breakfast!

I'm terrible at making breakfast. I think the reason I am terrible, is because growing up, I never saw it being prepared. Now, I don't mean that my parents never cooked breakfast. Oh, they did. But I HATED breakfast food (even cereal) as a kid/teen and I usually hid in my room until everything was cooked, eaten and cleaned up before making my way downstairs on the weekends! If I was lucky, Dad forgot to save me a plate of eggs! (Sometimes, I wasn't so lucky...blech!)

So, while I watched other meals being prepared, I never watched to learn how to fry an egg or cook bacon or make a pancake.

My tastes have changed a lot since then. I like most breakfast foods now and can even cook some. To this day, I've never made a single pancake! French toast or scrambled eggs are more my speed!

A couple of years ago, I wanted to make my husband a nice Easter Sunday breakfast before traveling to visit my parents. I wanted something a little fancier than just scrambled eggs. I don't have exact measurements, because really, anything goes with this one!

Potato-Asparagus Omelet

Ingredients:

• O'brien potatoes (frozen)
• oil
• eggs
• milk
• leftover asparagus (chopped)
• Canadian Bacon (diced)

Directions:

• Cook Canadian Bacon until slightly browned, remove from pan, set aside.
• Cook O'brien potatoes in hot oil according to directions on package.
• Add Canadian bacon and asparagus to potatoes and heat until asparagus is warmed.
• Scramble eggs and milk and pour over potato mixture.
• Cook until eggs are done.

Notes:

• Cheese would be a good addition to the recipe.
• This can be "chopped up" as the eggs are cooking or left solid more like and omelet.
• Leftover asparagus works best, since it's already cooked. If you don't have leftover asparagus, be sure to steam the asparagus before adding to the potato mixture. Otherwise, they'll take too long to cook with the other ingredients.

I've made this a few times since that first time and have switched it up according to the ingredients on hand. Sometimes with the meat, sometimes without. Sometimes without the potatoes. Whatever. Just throw in what you have, throw in what you like!

Angel's Pound Cake

One of my favorite cakes is pound cake. Growing up, I have some fond memories of birthday cakes from the local bakery that were pound cakes. There's a bakery in Philly that makes the absolute best pound cake. You can buy it as a birthday cake, wedding cake, even in loaves. All with their signature sugary icing. Mmmmm!

As an alternative to the pound cake from the bakery, Mom would often buy Sara Lee pound cakes from the freezer section of the grocery store. A favorite treat was sliced strawberries with vanilla pudding on top of a slice of Sara Lee pound cake. Mmmmm!

As an adult, I was introduced to homemade pound cakes. One of the ladies I worked with would often bring in a cake to share with us. What a great treat for a Monday morning! Seriously, I remember being on the bus on my way to work on a Monday morning, thinking to myself: "I really hope Angel brings in a pound cake today!" Angel enjoyed to cook and brought in all sorts of treats for us, but the one that sticks out in my mind the most is her pound cake.

Even after she left to move to another state, we still had her pound cake. She gave us all the recipe and occasionally someone would make it and bring it into work. No matter who made it, we still always called it Angel's Pound Cake.

Angel's Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks margarine, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 oz. Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. almond extract
• 6 large eggs
• 3 cups flour

Directions:

• Cream margarine, butter, cream cheese and sugar together, well.
• Add flavoring. Blend well.
• Add eggs one at a time with 1/2 cup flour with each egg, beating well with each addition.
• Pour batter into prepared (greased and floured) tube or loaf pans.
• Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.

Notes:

• Do not preheat oven.
• To make a marble cake, reserve one cup of batter. Add 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto the batter in the pan and swirl with knife.
• Angel also baked these pound cakes in coffee cans. Perfect size cake for a small group!

This cake is great when topped with this frosting:

Fantastic Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 small box instant pudding (any flavor)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 8 oz. cool whip

Directions:

• mix ingredients well and frost cake

I'll be sharing this recipe with the following carnivals:

• Tasty Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Be sure to check them out for great recipes!

Also, in addition to hosting Tuesdays at the Table, Cole is having another giveaway this month in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Click here to read more about it and don't forget to enter!

An Award....or two!!!

I am very lucky to have been given this award by two of my new blog friends. Thanks so much Geri from Heart N Soul Cooking and Mandy from Home is My Paradise. They were both very kind in sharing their awards with me. (Sorry ladies for taking so long to follow up on this, it's been a tough couple of weeks!)

I am super excited to get this award, since I am so new at this whole thing! I've wanted to start a blog for a while, but it took a little fire under my butt to get me motivated to actually do it! My friend Lisa, started her blog Extraordinary Life, and I immediately felt left out! I had to have one too! Except, now, I have two blogs - this one and Under the Big Oak Tree!

I'm having loads of fun sharing recipes and ideas with other ladies all over the internet and of course "meeting" new friends!

Neno's Award—Rules and Regulations

1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.

3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.

4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.

5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.

6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.

7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

I'd like to share my awards with a few of my blog friends:

Lisa @ Extraordinary Life

Joy in My Kitchen

Cole @ All the Small Stuff

It's a Very Cherry World

I could go on and on listing great blogs to pass the award on to, but then we'd all be here for a while!

Thanks again to Geri and Mandy for thinking of me (and my blog)!!!

Swine Flu....we got it....Oink! Oink!

I want to thank everyone for their wonderful comments on my recent posts here and on my other blog. I have not gotten a chance to read or answer all of them yet. I am currently dealing with swine flu.

On Monday, I wasn't feeling well and on Tuesday I felt worse. My husband came home from work early and took me to the doctor. We just figured I had a cold and let's take care of it quickly since we have the baby now. He waited in the car with the baby while I saw the doctor. Boy was he surprised when I announced it was swine flu!

At the suggestion of my doctor, we called Grace's pediatrician on our way home to see if they wanted to start some sort of precautionary treatment. Pediatrician said no.

This morning, Grace woke up around 6:00; much earlier than her normal 10:30 am. Her face was very red and her hands were warm. (Her hands are usually very cool.) I took her temp. and she had a 101.4 degree fever. I had to wait until 8:00 to get a doctor on the phone. The doctor didn't seem too concerned that I have swine flu and that the baby had a fever but I scheduled an appointment anyway for my own peace of mind.

Joe (my husband) came home from work and is now on the way to the pediatrician's office to get her checked out. I'm going to take a quick shower and make up the beds before he gets home that way Grace and I can get some rest when they get home.

I'll be back to blogging as soon as things are back to normal. I'll try to update about our recovery if I get the chance.

Baked Beans with Apples ~ Crock Pot Recipe

I've mentioned before that we love baked beans. We eat them often and have tried several different versions before sticking to our current favorite beans.

Today I am posting another one of our favorite bean recipes. In fact, this is the recipe that I used just prior to finding Our Favorite Baked Beans.

Baked Beans with Apples

Ingredients:

• 2 cans (28 oz each) pork and beans
• 1 1/2 cups onion, diced
• 1 1/2 cups Granny Smith Apple, diced
• 2 Tbs. mustard
• 1/2 -3/4 cup brown sugar
• 8-10 slices Canadian Bacon

Directions:

• Combine all ingredients (except Canadian Bacon) in crock pot.
• Top with Canadian Bacon.
• Cover and cook for 4 hours on High or 8 hours on Low.

I made a few changes to the original recipe that I found on Food Network. It's a Paula Deen recipe. I left out the salt, replaced raw bacon for Canadian Bacon and cook them in the crock pot instead of the oven.

I'll be sharing this recipe with the following blog carnivals this week:

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
• Tuesdays at the Table
• Tasty Tuesday

Be sure to check out Crock Pot Wednesday for more easy Crock Pot recipes.