The Foods We Love

Veggie Smoothies

2010-06-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

I figured that I should probably post our favorite meal, and perhaps the healthiest one. We have Smoothies every other night for the last couple weeks for dinner. They are so delicious they are two-straw worthy.

Here are the basic ingredients, give or take what we have on hand:
1 Cup water
1 scoop of frozen OJ concentrate (I always have one in the freezer as the designated smoothie OJ)
1 banana
2 carrots
2-4 Cups fresh spinach
A couple leaves of Kale
1 cup or so of frozen strawberries
1 cup or so of frozen pineapple

Those ingredients are staples in the smoothies around here. I also use raspberries, blueberries, plain yogurt, squash, watermelon, basically any fruit or veggie that I see while I'm making the smoothie. If it's too sour or bitter try adding a tablespoon of powdered sugar or honey, but only add it if you absolutely MUST. Try using pineapple to sweeten it first.

We always eat outside on smoothie night, such a treat. We love it out there.

The best thing about these smoothies: They are chuck full of goodness and my son thinks it's dessert. He drinks as much as I do! We love them and this lighter dinner has helped us shed a few extra pounds. They're good for breakfast too!

Wheat Tortillas

2010-06-15T13:38:00.001-07:00

Alright, I haven't been posting all of my new experiments in the kitchen because we've been experiencing a lot of failure lately. :) Doesn't matter though, I'm still feeling pretty determined to eat healthy.

Here is a recipe that I tried yesterday that I was very pleased with because it is 1)CHEAP 2)WAYYYYY better for you than store bought 3) EASY. I made a few adjustments after reading the comments here is my version:

WHEAT TORTILLAS

1/2 Cup flour

4.5 Cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1.5 cups boiling water

1. Put flour, salt and oil into a mixer and mix until it's crumbly looking. I used the beaters for my Bosch.

2. Switch to a dough hook and add the boiling water. Mix until the dough is consistent and not sticking to the edge of the bowl (a couple minutes).

3. Make balls and put them on a cookie sheet. Next time I'll make them a little bigger. Rolling them out this size I got 18.

4. IMPORTANT: Cover them with a damp towel (I just wet paper towels) and let them sit for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours. Next time I'm going to try freezing a couple at this stage and see if I can pull them out and make fresh tortillas. I'll let you know how that goes.

5. Roll out a ball as thin as you can get it. The thinner the better, to me and least. Fry them on medium high heat in a frying pan, don't use oil or butter. When you see the first bubble then flip it over and let it sit on the other side for 30 seconds. Then flip it back to the original side for another 30 seconds. I didn't really time it, but it goes by fast. While you're waiting for them to cook just roll out the next one. These are supposed to cook fast.

6. Stuff with ingredients. Last night we had brown rice, beans, corn, spinach, cilantro, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese. I LOVE adding cilantro, it is SO good. This morning I made scrambled eggs with onions, tomatoes, Kale, spinach, and squash and we had breakfast burritos. Both meals were excellent and pretty healthy.

This was the first time I've ever attempted tortillas so I don't have much to compare them with. I do know that pretty much every tortilla is normally made with shortening which is the WORST form of hydrogenated oil you can get (you can tell because it's a solid at room temperature). Replacing that with olive oil makes these a MUCH healthier option. Plus, other recipes add a whole cup or more of the oil and this recipe only used half, and they tasted great!

Now I just need to figure out how to make them look prettier. :)

BBQ Pork Pitas

2010-06-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited about this recipe. Not because it was the most amazing thing ever, but because it's new and something we haven't had before and I have lots of ideas to make it even better.

I made my own pitas and filled them with a BBQ pork and veggies mixture.

PITAS
Here is the link I followed the recipe almost exactly, except I accidentally added 1 tablespoon of oil and used honey instead of sugar. I'll let you follow the link if you want to make your own. I plan to experiment with the yeast and oven temperature until I get them to puff up just right. They tasted fantastic, they just didn't look like pitas. I'll do a full pita post when it's mastered.

FILLING-
I've been looking for a way to use pork from our Sunday Roasts that we have every other month or so. Since meats not super healthy I like to mix in lots of veggies. This is the perfect solution!

-Leftover Pork Roast, shredded
-1 onion
-1-2 green peppers
-1-2 zucchini
-1-2 squash
-Your favorite BBQ sauce (I found a hippie organic brand that doesn't have all the junk in it, of course it didn't taste quite as good, but that's okay, health is more important).

1. Chop all your veggies, shred your meat, and put it in a frying pan.
2. Dump in BBQ sauce until it's coated.
3. Fry until everything is warm and the veggies are at the consistency you like. We like a little crunch to ours and we fry them about 10 minutes.

4. Stuff a pita with it.

Any suggestions about what foods go good with the BBQ taste? I'm especially curious about what seasons would go well. I thought of cilantro while we were eating, but I wasn't sure. It's hard trying to figure out how to get a booming taste without adding lots of salt.

Of course, suggestions are always welcome!

Strawberry/Raspberry Fruit Leather

2010-05-26T20:58:00.000-07:00

I am just going to say it now, this post has a very sad ending. Prepare yourselves.

Thanks to my Sis-in-law Sheena for this recipe and to the person she got the recipe from. Here is the link. I decided to add raspberries. :)

Strawberry/Raspberry Fruit Leather
3lbs Strawberries
12 oz Raspberries
2 cups of unsweetened applesauce
Juice of ½ lemon
1 Cup Sugar

1. Blend all the fruit together. I am LOVING my blender these days.

2. Add sugar and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling turn the heat down and let it simmer. Scoop off all the foam with a spoon. Let it simmer for 30-45 minutes or until it starts to thicken up like applesauce. Mine never really got that thick so I gave up and put it on the pan. :)

3. Pour on a pan lined with parchment paper. I used wax paper. It does not work well and I don't recommend it. I learned that there is a difference between the two today. Lucky me.

4. Bake at 170 for 8-10 hours. You're basically dehydrating it. I forgot about mine, went to bed and woke up at 2am and jumped out of bed because I realized that it was STILL in the oven!!!! I cooked mine for 13 hours. I also had the heat at 200 for the first 6 hours so it was even worse!!!!

Mine is ruined and all of it is in the trash. The wax paper won't really come off of the fruit leather (and it ruined my cookie sheet) and the fruit is crunchy and tart and overcooked. It took me about an hour to go back to sleep last night because I was SO upset about it. I just couldn't stop thinking about all of those BEAUTIFUL strawberries and raspberries and the last of Grandma Packer's applesauce and all the time and energy my poor oven went through. UGH! Just thinking about it is infuriating. I hate kitchen disasters.

One time I made a very beautiful, delicious, huge potato salad for a family reunion at Bear Lake. When we arrived I put it in the fridge in our condo to stay cool and then we left for a few hours to explore town. When we went back to the condo to get our food for the pot luck we couldn't find the salad. We talked to the manager and she had THROWN IT ALL AWAY thinking it belonged to the last people!!!! I reacted as any four-year-old would have and I started to cry, stomped out of the office, and sat in the car and ignored everyone for an hour. The salad had taken me ALL day to make and it was just really upsetting and I didn't care about being "good."

Usually I am a pretty even tempered, well behaved, mature adult. But there is something about tragedies in the kitchen that unleash the inner, more immature child in me. I just can't get over the wasted ingredients, RASPBERRIES for heaven's sake, and the TIME. It is just sickening.

Will I try these again? Perhaps. When the grief and pain wears off. :) Hopefully I can have a success soon to wear away the pain. But I think you should try them and give me some tips. Happy Cooking.

Granola Bars

2010-05-26T20:36:00.001-07:00

I have been keeping out an eagle eye for good snack foods to send with my hubby to school or to take in my purse for my little guy. These seemed to be perfect. I completely stole this recipe and put it in a word document and I can't figure out which website it's from. SORRY!

Granola Bars:
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup raisins

3 T. oil (I used half Extra Virgin Olive Oil and half applesauce)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup natural smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 T water

1. Mix nuts, raisins, and oats in bowl.
2. Whisk other ingredients on the stove on low heat until the sugar dissolves. I know, it looks like a spatula in there...but you should really use a whisk.

3. Dump the wet stuff over the dry stuff and stir it up.

4. Press it down on a pan. I made a double batch. So if you're just making it regular I'd use a square pyrex dish. Make sure to line it with parchment paper.

5. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes or until it starts to brown around the edges. I cooked mine for 35 and they're not crunchy, more of a chewy texture.

6. Slice and dice em' and put in personal sized baggies for a quick snack.

Notes:

- This is basically a cookie, you saw how much sugar is in these babies. Maybe I'll cut it in half next time or use honey instead.

-Next time I will use all oil, I think that's a part of the reason that mine were so cookie-like.

-Next time I will add more oats/almonds/raisins to the mixture. They are a little too gooey. After eating them today I think that that is the problem. I will post again when I make them next and let you all know how that goes. :)

Our favorite food EVER=Peanut Butter

2010-05-26T20:26:00.001-07:00

Today I spent ALL morning in the kitchen. It was the best. My little guy was super excited about helping me so we had a ton of fun together. Our first project was homemade peanut butter. Since this is a favorite of our family I knew it was important to make sure we were getting the natural stuff.

I talked to a lot of people about how to make it and looked online and everyone basically said that you just stick peanuts in a blender and add salt and sugar to taste. I had to add a little olive oil too because my blender wasn't strong enough.

Peanut Butter:
Roasted Peanuts
sugar
salt
extra virgin olive oil

1. Start with 1 C of peanuts and 1 T. of Oil. Blend until creamy (it's okay if its still grainy, just blend until it's looking like peanut butter.

2. Keep adding peanuts, 1/2 cup at a time and blend until it's all blended in and just keep adding. If your blender gets stuck and the peanuts are too thick you can always add a little bit of oil to help it out. My goal was to add the smallest amount of oil possible since peanuts already have a lot of oil and I'm trying to get a healthier alternative to Jiff.

3. Once you added all the peanuts you want (I used about 4 Cups) then turn the blender on and let it run for a few minutes so that you can get it nice and creamy. This is also a good time to add sugar and salt if you want it. I'm guessing that I added about 1.5 teaspoons of salt and 1-2 tablespoons of sugar. Just keep tasting it and see what you think it needs for YOU.

4. Pour in jars or Tupperware and store in the refrigerator.
We love it! Zac said that he prefers it to the store bought brands by a lot. YEAH! I love to hear that!
I was SHOCKED at how easy this was. It was cost effective too. It cost me less then four dollars to make two pints.

Raspberry Crepes

2010-05-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

My focus has always been on providing a healthy dinner for the fam, everything else I just sort of let happen. Now I have a new determination to make breakfast for them too...who knows what's next...well probably lunch.

I've been on the hunt for yummy breakfast meals and I found a great recipe for crepes here:
Link

They aren't as quick as cereal, but they also don't have as much crap and sugar in them as cereal so it's a pretty good trade off. The batter is no big deal to make because you just throw everything in the blender, but it does take a while to cook them since it's a one at a time deal.

CREPES
1 cup freshly ground white wheat flour
1/4 C powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs

1. Throw everything in the blender. Blend until smooth, it doesn't take more than 30 seconds.

2. Pour about a pancake size amount onto a small pan. Then swirl the pan around so that the batter spreads out to the edges. I didn't understand this instruction at first, but you actually have to pick the pan up and move it around so that the batter spreads and the crepe becomes super thin.
3. They cook best at a heat a little less then medium (3.5 on a scale of 1-10) but this means it takes longer. Flip it when it has turned light brown (I forgot to take a picture).

4. You can add a little butter to each side and refry each side if you want them a little crispier.

5. Put any fresh fruit inside and eat like a burrito. You can sprinkle with powdered sugar or cream if you want. We used raspberries today because they were on a great sale!

They looked and tasted awesome, I'll try to remember to take pictures of the finished product next time I make them. I love these because there's a higher fruit-to-crepe ratio than you get with pancakes or waffles. This is going to become a staple in our home!

Notes:

-I doubled the batch and it made 16 large crepes, it took quite a while to cook them all! About 2 minutes per side or more. Me and Mr. T just set up some legos in the kitchen and played while we waited - I set a timer so I wouldn't forget to flip them. :)

-I'm putting them in the freezer so that I can just pull out 4 or 5 for breakfast on mornings when I'm short on time. You can just refry them to defrost so they don't get mushy.

What to do with a Fridge full of veggies...

2010-05-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was farmer's market day, WHOO! I love it! Check out my loot:

Dinner was stir fry here is my very simple recipe:

Stir Fry:

Broccoli

Pea Pod

Carrots

Zucchini

Squash
onion

Chicken

Terriyaki Sauce

1. Cut up all the veggies into chunks. I make the carrots smaller cause they take forever to cook and the zucchini bigger so they don't get mushy.

2. Add the veggies one or two types at a time in order of time they need to cook. For example, carrots need to fry for like 20-30 minutes before they're soft and zucchini needs like 8 minutes. Here is the order I used:

1. Carrots & onions

2. Peas

3. Broccoli

4. Chicken

5. zucchini/squash

Not putting all of them in at the same time made a HUGE difference in the texture. The taste was the same, but the veggies weren't so soggy. I always feel like I have to cook it forever for the carrots to get done, this was the brilliant solution from Zac.

3. I just put terriyaki in there throughout the process and add some water if the veggies are sticking to the pan. This isn't as much of a recipe as it is an idea. Just do things for your own taste. :)

4. Serve over rice.

This meal is SO adjustable. I realized afterwards that I forgot peppers, but it was fine. It works for any vegetable and it is so healthy. My body is craving it now!

Creamy Poppyseed Dressing

2010-05-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

This recipe came from a friend of a friend of a friend's mom I think...haha Thank you Hall family for you contribution. :)

Salad:

Spinach

Iceberg lettuce

Bacon

Broccoli

Avocados

Hard boiled eggs

Mozzarella cheese, grated

Dressing:

1 C oil

3/4 C vinegar

3/4 C sugar
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

½ red onion, sliced

1. Put all of the first 5 dressing ingredients into a blender and blend until it's creamy.

2. Add Poppy seeds and red onion, mix it up, and refrigerate over night. You can eat it if it hasn't been refrigerated, but it just tastes better once all of the flavors are blended.

3. Make your salad. Now obviously you can add whichever ingredients you want for the salad, but I just gave some suggestions.

4. Enjoy this DELICIOUS dressing and salad as your dinner or as a side dish. We tried the baked chicken again with the egg whites and it was a major success! Such a delicious combo with the salad and chicken, yum!

Really from scratch spaghetti sauce

2010-05-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I'm proud of myself on this one because I made up the recipe myself. I did have to call my mom and ask a few questions, but I think it's really delicious and it is really healthy!

Spaghetti Sauce:
12 Medium Sized Tomatoes cut in fourths
8-10 cloves of garlic, minced
3 small onions, cut in fourths
2 peppers, cleaned and cut into fourths
1 jalapeno, cleaned
Basil (1 bunch fresh...maybe 1-2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 can Tomato Paste
1-2 lbs cooked ground beef or sausage

1. Cut up all the veggies, you don't need small pieces because they're going to take a ride in a blender.

2. Blend all of the Veggies. I had to blend the ingredients in two groups because my blender wasn't big enough. It is going to look a little pink and foamy and maybe make you nervous, but don't worry, after it simmers it looks normal again. Note: you can add zucchini and broccoli too, just jam the stuff full of veggies!)

3. Put in a large pot/pan and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil and let simmer for a few hours. You can also put it in a crock pot.

4. This is mine after about 1.5 hours of simmering, notice how it's more red instead of pinkish now. Mine was a little watery tasting so I just let it simmer a little longer to evaporate some of the water.

5. Serve over noodles OR use as a sauce in lasagna. I used it for lasagna and it was enough to make a HUGE lasagna plus another little one in a bread pan.

I love that this is so packed with veggies and tastes so good. Next time I do this I'll probably freeze it in quart sized jars and store them in my freezer for future meals.

If you have a special ingredient that you put in spaghetti that I missed please share it! I don't think this recipe is perfect....yet. :)

Yummy Alternative to Fried Chicken

2010-05-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

So about 6 months ago I posted a yummy recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken. For the recipe we deep-fat-fried the chicken in vegetable oil (soybean oil really). Instead today we found a recipe for breaded and baked chicken that is still delicious but a healthier option. It was EASY too, and the clean up was quicker.

Here it is on allrecipes.com.

Oven-Fried Chicken
1 Cube of butter
1 Clove of garlic, minced

3/4 Cup dried bread crumbs
3/4 Cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1.5 Tbls Parsley
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

2 Chicken breast, cut into strips

Steps:
1. Melt the butter with the garlic and put in a bowl.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl

3. Dip the chicken strips in the butter, then roll them in the breading mixture and put on a pan.
4. I like to line my pan with aluminum foil, just so that clean up is easier.

5. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Turn them over and bake for 10 more minutes. We used really small pieces of chicken because we were hungry and wanted them to cook fast, but next time I'll probably just make a few larger pieces and increase the cooking time. Make sure to check that the chicken is fully cooked before you eat it!

This chicken went PERFECTLY with the veggies/rice/sweet & sour sauce taste. Yum. Dinner was way good tonight.

Looking back I will try a couple things differently to make it healthier.

1. use bigger pieces of chicken so that there is less butter per part of chicken

2. Use beaten eggs instead of butter for coating the chicken.

The butter does help it get nice and crispy though...it's a toss up. :)

happy eating.

Health Nut Muffins

2010-05-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

I LOVE these muffins. Teagan thinks they're "cupcakes" and gobbles them up, but they're secretly full of great stuff. I try to keep them on hand for healthy snacks when I don't have time to make something. I double the batch and put them in the freezer so that they don't all get eaten in 2 or 3 days. :)

The original recipe is here on allrecipes.com. I changed and added a lot so here is my version:

Muffins
2 Cup Shredded peeled apples (1 apple makes about 1 cup)
1 1/3 Cup Sugar

1 Cup craisins or raisins
1 Cup finely shredded carrot (about 2-3 carrots)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 Cup Sour Cream (optional)
1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 1/2 Cups Whole wheat flour
2 tbls Ground Flax Seed (optional)
1 tbls baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tbls Cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

1. Put the shredded apples and sugar in a bowl and let them sit for 10 minutes. (As you can see I accidentally through in the carrots and had to try to take them back out). I really wonder if this step is necessary, but I'm too afraid to leave it out.

2. Mix all the other ingredients in the bowl. I am bad and never mix the dry ingredients separately, I HATE dirtying extra bowls, but it probably wouldn't hurt to do that since EVERY baking recipe says to.

3. Pour the batter into your cupcake pan. Using cup cake holders isn't mandatory, I've sprayed my cupcake pan before with pam and put the batter straight in and it works fine. But these sure make clean-up easier

4. Bake for 20 minutes at 350. I would do the toothpick check. The original recipe says 25-30 minutes, YA RIGHT! They would be crispy if you let them go that long!

Note: All of the items that I marked as "optional" I didn't use today because I didn't have them on hand. I have used those items in the past though and the muffins are still delicious, if not better. They didn't raise quite as pretty before, I think because of the flax seed, but they still tasted fantastic.

Chicken Pot Pie

2010-05-11T13:32:00.001-07:00

This blog is going to have a little bit different of a focus now. It's going to focus on my discoveries. Our family is striving to live a healthier lifestyle with little to no processed foods and TONS of fresh fruits and veggies. When I find a delicious and nutritious meal that my husband loves and 2 year old will eat then I'll put it up because that means it's got to be a keeper.

I am unleashing the most popular meal item that is served at my home. My husband, Zac, told me it's his #1 meal and requested to have it once a week. My 2.5 year old, Teagan, gobbles up his whole plate. I think it's pretty darn good and I know that it's healthy so we're all happy.
Here is the basic recipe, I'll explain each step with pictures below.

Chicken Pot Pie
5 Carrots, chopped
1 head Broccoli, chopped
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1-3 Chicken Breasts, cubed

1 onion, small diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced 1/4 C of Butter
1/3 C Whole Wheat Flour (white's okay too)
1/4 tsp pepper 2 C Chicken broth
2/3 C Milk (I use 1 %)

1-2 pie crusts

1. Wash the Veggies, aren't they beautiful, I just love how bright they are. You can also use peas, zucchini, squash, and celery but we didn't have any of those on hand so this is what we had. Just remember that if you add another veggie to use a little bit less of the others. The possibilities for this one are endless.

2. Chop/dice/cube/cut all the veggies. You're going to boil them so try to make the about the same size.

2. Cut up the chicken. I use 1 chicken breast because we are poor and meat is expensive so we use it sparingly for sure! I think that 2 would be ideal and 3 chicken breasts might be a little too meaty.

3. Throw the veggies and chicken into a pot full of boiling water and cover them up. You can add salt or a bullion cube to add flavor to the veggies, I never do though because I'm trying to lower our salt intake.

4. Cut up the onions and cloves of garlic and put them in a pretty big pan.

5. Saute until the onions are transparent.

6. Add flour and pepper and mix it all up so it looks like this:

7. Add in milk and chicken broth. NOTE: For the broth I just use bullion cubes with water. Also, I didn't have any milk when I made this today so I just left it out and did extra broth, it wasn't as good and I don't recommend it.

8. Mix it together until the sauce starts thickening. Make sure you get out all the lumps. After you let it simmer for 5 minutes or so it will start thickening up.

9. When the veggies are soft, or at least pretty close, drain out the water and put them into a casserole dish or a 9X13 pan. I use a casserole dish because it comes with a lid and 1 pie crust fits perfectly. If you use a 9X13 you probably will need 2 pie crusts.

10. Pour the Sauce on top of the veggies and mix them. I personally don't like it super wet so this is what mine looks like. You can always pour a little milk on top if you don't think there is enough of the liquid part.

11. Top with your favorite pie crust and make a few slits just before popping into the oven. I used a whole wheat variety.

12. Bake at 425 for 45-50 minutes or until the pie crust is golden brown. I let mine go the full 50 minutes today and the crust was a little over done, still tasted great though.

Pros to this recipe:

1. Lots of veggies

2. VERY easy to make during nap time and just let sit until an hour before dinner. I love that all of the dishes and pans can be cleaned before dinner even starts.

3. CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP
4. Guys LOVE it. We have had other couples over, Zac's friends, the missionaries. The girls all like it and say it's delicious, but the guys go crazy for some reason.

Cons:

1. half a cube of butter

2. not a super quick and easy recipe, it usually takes about an hour from start until the mess is cleaned up.

3. Chicken bullion is full of junk that I can't pronounce

We love this and I hope you will too. :)

Yummiest Prettiest Pancakes!

2009-12-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

We got an early Christmas present from my sister in law that I am already loving! (I got in a little trouble from Zac for opening it early) It was all the fixins to make pancakes really fun.

First of all, this mix was the most delightful pancake mix I've ever used. They were seriously amazing taste wise. I don't know why I ever bother with making them from scratch!

This tool makes pancakes a very creative, fun activity! You must the mix inside and you can use it as a "pen" to make different designs for pancakes. I didn't take pictures of my creations, but I did make a Christmas tree, the letter T, a car, and a blob. :) It is the best kitchen tool!

Then these are the crowning jewel of pancake making! It's basically a cookie cutter but for pancakes. I got reindeer, elf, and a snowman that are all way cute!

Fun, Fun! Thank you Rebekah! What a fun breakfast! I would recommend a pancake pen and pancake molds to everyone out there, and it was a GREAT christmas present!

Spaghetti from Scratch

2009-09-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Spaghetti is one of those things that I dreaded making for a while because I started hating the store bought spaghetti sauce. It just had a nasty flavor so I didn't make spaghetti for a while. Then I ran across this recipe which is fantastic on allrecipes.com. Everything is from scratch.

You basically mix some tomato sauce, spices and seasons, cooked veggies and meat and let it simmer for an hour or so. It is VERY yummy this way and we love it, but I found a way that is a little cheaper and easier and still yummy.

Ingredients:
2 Large peppers or 3-4 small ones (I like green for spaghetti best)
2 onions
6 cloves of garlic
1.5 lbs of hamburger meat or sausage
2 large cans of spaghetti sauce*
1 tsp Italian Seasoning

*I buy the Hunt brad and usually get it for $.99. With the original recipe I ended up spending $4-5 just on tomato sauce so this saves a few bucks. I know it's not that much, but when you're trying to stick to a budget 2 or 3 dollars a meal makes a huge difference!

OPTIONAL
You can also add a couple cans of tomato sauce if you want it to go further and don't like the sauce too thick. If you do you should add a little sugar, salt, and Italian seasoning.

1. Chop up the veggies
2. Fry the veggies and meat until the meat is cooked, drain off the grease
3. Add the spaghetti sauce and seasons and extra sauce if you want more
4. Let it simmer on the stove for an hour or cook on low in the crockpot for 3 or 4 hours. I like the crockpot method better.
5. Serve over noodles
6. Bag and freeze the extras for lasagna or another spaghetti dinner.

This is really yummy, healthy, cheap, and relatively easy. I love the fact that it makes enough for two full meals. This sauce makes lasagna REMARKABLE! I usually store the extra sauce in the freezer for a few weeks and then make lasagna with the leftovers. Yum

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with Fudge Frosting

2009-08-06T13:57:00.001-07:00

Alright, this is our favorite chocolate cake around our house. It is a little more expensive to make so We only eat it on special occasions. Luckily, my mom graduated from college so I got to make for her party!

This recipe was found my my husband, Zac. While working at the Sleep Institute he was thumbing through the "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine and he came across the recipe and picture and brought it home. What a find!

Cake:
1.5 C Flour
.5 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Shortening (I use butter!)
1 1/4 C sugar
1 tsp Vanilla (the real stuff)
3 oz Bittersweet chocolate chips melted and cooled (we use milk choco)
1 8oz carton Sour Cream
2 eggs
1 C milk

1. Mix dry ingredients and set aside
2. Beat sugar and butter until combined and fluffy, beat in eggs, vanilla, chocolate, and sour cream.
3. Alternately add flour mixture and milk.
4. Bake 25 min at 350 in two round cake pans.

The batter is super fluffy and delicious, try not to eat too much before you bake it!

The Frosting
12oz package Semisweet chocolate chips (again I used milk)
1/2 C Butter
8oz Sour cream
4.5 C powdered Sugar

1. Melt Chocolate and Butter in pan on stove, use low heat!
2. Let it cool for 10 minutes
3. Stir in sour cream
4,. Stir in sugar. You really have to whisk super hard for quite a while or use electric mixers to get out all the lumps, but they do eventually stir in (my electric mixer is busted!).

This frosting is good enough to be eaten by the spoonful, and this recipe makes WAY too much unless you really load it on. I made a cake shaped like a graduation cap so I had to frost a piece of cardboard and I still had at least 1/2 cup of frosting leftover. Click on the picture and you'll be able to see the little cake in the middle.
I had to cut off some of the cake because the base of my grad cap was too big, so what do you think I made with the leftovers??? CAKE BALLS! I found a new way of doing them so that they are easier to eat and easier to dip!

1. Break up the cake, mix in enough frosting that they'll roll into balls, but not too much that they stick everywhere.
2. Roll them into balls (I have Zac spray Pam on my hands cause it gets pretty sticky).
3. Melt a small amount of the chocolate for dipping. Dip a toothpick into the chocolate and then into the cake balls.
4. Put them into the fridge or freezer to harden up.
When they are solidified take them out and dip them into the chocolate. Here is a little video demo. When the chocolate started getting to thick and not deep enough in my bowl I started tapping the toothpic on the side of the bowl to get off the excess chocolate.

I made some of them into fancy shmancy graduates.

I used skewers instead of toothpics, then I took a square of Dove chocolate and glued it onto the cake ball with some melted chocolate. I took some sour straws and cut them in fourths first. If you leave them whole they are too thick to droop over the side. After they were skinnier sour straws I cut them the right length for the hats and glued them on with chocolate again. I think they are awesome!

TA DAH: Graduates:

Homemade BBQ pizza is Fantastic!

2009-07-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is one of our top 5 meals for sure at our house, I LOVE IT and it feels sort of healthy.

I found a great recipe for whole wheat pizza crust here. The only change I make is that I use all wheat flour, no white. My sister new pizza idea is buying the crust, that will definitely speed up the process!

We like thinner crusts at our house so I just sprinkle some flour on the counter, throw down the dough and roll it out until it's pretty thin . Then I put it over our pizza pan like this:

The dough definitely overlaps the pan so I get a pizza cutter and cut off the excess. Thus we have a perfectly thin, and round pizza crust. I let it raise for 15 or 20 minutes then put it in the oven for 5 minutes.
After it's been zapped in the oven we spread the bbq sauce and top it with yummy toppings like peppers, onions, chicken, cheese, tomatoes and any other veggies we have laying around. I put it in the oven for another 8 minutes or so and out comes a delightful pizza!

With the extra dough I made yummy breadsticks (you can see them below). Here's how I make them:
1. Roll out the extra dough, pretty thin
2. Use the pizza cutter to cut into strips.
3. Let raise for 20 minutes or so
4. Cook for 4 minutes
5. Brush with oil and sprinkle on parmesian cheese and garlic salt (those big salts like on preztels would be way good!)
6. Put in the oven for another 5 minutes.

And there you have a yummy, moderately simple recipe that is moderately healthy ( we could have cut back on the cheese :)

Strawberry Jam Catastrophe

2009-07-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

So I was strolling down the isles of my favorite Henry's Market and I was shocked at the price of strawberries. 77 cents!!!!! I have never seen a pound of strawberries so cheap. So naturally I bought 18 pounds. (This picture is only showing half of them, I have an impulse problem! I was determined to make strawberry Jam so I got the pectin, sugar and strawberries and headed home for the big project.First I took the leaves off of them, I borrowed a GIGANTIC bowl from my neighbor. I don't think you can understand how many strawberries I bought, it was ridiculous.

Here are all of them, they almost took up the whole top shelf of the fridge.

So, I decided to use the freezer jam recipe inside of the pectin package. It called for 8 cups of mashed up strawberries. I didn't have a potato masher so I decided to throw the strawberries into the blender. BAD BAD IDEA! Apparently when you do this the strawberries expand and get all foamy. I didn't realize the problem at this point so I continued following the recipe. 8 cups of strawberries and 16 cups of sugar...seemed like a lot of sugar, but I just went for it. Notice how liquidy the stuff is.

My lovely assistant, Mariela, made the pectin and we added it to the strawberry/sugar mixture. I tasted the final mixture and it was SOOOO SUGARY. I started blending more strawberries and adding them into the mixture. DISASTER! I finally gave up.

I had all these empty cans from my grandma's applesauce so I decided to fill them anyways. The jam is pretty sugary, but I still loved it. It never set up, so I have to use a spoon, but it is great as syrup on pancakes!

After the catastrophe I started asking around and I got some help from family and friends, here are some lessons learned on freezer jam.

1. Just buy a potato masher for $5 and don't use a blender

2. Never add as much sugar as they say. My mom said that she never felt right about adding more sugar than fruit. (I'd like some help in this area still to get a feel for exactly how much sugar to add).

3. NEVER try to reinvent the wheel. I don't know why I didn't ask one of the 15 immediate relatives I have that already know how to make freezer jam for help. Next time I will be smarter!

I still have 5 quart bags full of strawberries that were leftover so I will be trying this again in a while when we run out of jam (probably not any time soon). Hopefully take two will be better!

Red Velvet Cake is a Scam!

2009-06-05T12:26:00.001-07:00

Zac volunteered me to bake a Red Velvet Cake for his good friend's wife's surprise birthday party. I was a little nervous since I've never attempted red velvet cake and it sounds hard, but luckily Zac told me that his mom makes a delicious red velvet cake so I called her and gave it a whirl.

The reason it is a SCAM: I thought that there was something special about the ingredients of a red velvet cake that was very different from a normal cake that made it red like cherries or something...not true. You just add red food coloring, shocking. I was so surprised. I think I'll make blue velvet cake next time, just because I can. :) Nevertheless, this was a delicious, moist, WOW cake that I recommend, thank you Shelly for the recipe!

Here's the recipe:

Cake
2.5 C Flour
1.5 C Sugar
2 tsp Cocoa
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 C oil
1 C Buttermilk ***
1/4 C Water
red food coloring (as much or little as you want)

Put it all in a big bowl, stir, put in pans, bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes depending on pan, just do the toothpick test. I used my 3 piece set of oval casserole dishes so I had to take them out at different times.
Frosting:
8 oz package softened cream cheese
1 cube real butter
2.5-3 C Powdered Sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together and frost. I like to put it in the fridge to harden it up to make frosting it easier.

On my list of things to buy: Something to put a cake on besides a cookie sheet, the cookie sheet is SO tacky! Yuck!

Chocolate Covered Cake Balls II

2009-05-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

I meant to get a picture of the cake balls closer up. I put on a baby shower for my friend today and I attempted to decorate the cake balls. You can click on the picture to get a close up. I melted white chocolate and added food coloring and put it in a little cake decorating thing to decorate the tops but it was SOOOO difficult. The chocolate was all over the place. I definately am not an expert in this field. Oh well, they taste freakin awesome so I didn't care too much.
PS: We put peppers on the veggie tray and they were YUMMY, I've never thought to do that before since I'm not a huge raw pepper fan.

Chocolate Covered Cake Balls

2009-05-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

I saw these on my friends Lisa's blog and then tried one at my friend Erin's house and I HAD to try them out. I'm doing a babyshower this weekend so I practiced them last weekend so I could get the hang of things. There are about a MILLION varieties using this same idea.

They have also been called 'Bakerella Balls' because that is the original creater. Here is a link to some of her other similar creations: link

1. Bake a cake-I chose chocolate.

2. Let the cake cool completely, then break it up into small pieces. Mix a container of cream cheese frosting with the cake. ( Other people have tried broken up oreos and broken up nutter butters)

3. Roll them into little balls and stick them in the freezer or fridge until they are nice and firm.
4. Dip them in chocolate and return them to the fridge to harden. I dipped them in melted hershey's kisses, melted white chocolate chips, and melted cookies and cream bars. The cookies and cream were definately my favorite! I heard that if you mix a little shortening with the melted chocolate the chocolate sticks better. I'll try that next time!
It makes a LOT, luckily we had plenty of friends to share them with or else I may have gained about 20 lbs! We had 85 balls!

Aunt Jeanne's Potato Salad

2009-05-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

If any of you know my Aunt Jeanne you know she is an excellent cook! Her potato salad is excellent and I tried to make it for the second time and I learned some things that I don't want to forget!

1. Make a 1/2 batch!

2. Do not put in too much sweet relish!

3. Do not let the potatoes cook too long!

Here is her recipe:

5 Large potatoes-cubed and boiled

15 hardboiled eggs cut in pieces

1 package of celery hearts chopped up

1 sweet onion finely chopped

1/2 container of cream cheese

3 raw eggs

1/4-1/2 C flour

3/4 C sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C vinegar

1/2 C water

1/4 bottle honey mustard

1 1/2-2 C Miracle Whip

1 tbl Sweet Relish (add to taste, start small!)

1. Mix the red ingredients until they are really smooth.

2. Bring the green ingredients to a boil on the stove and then add the red ingredients. Mix until they are all smooth and thick then add the purple ingredients. This makes the dressing.

3. Mix the dressing with all of the blue chopped veggies.

4. Enjoy
As you can see from the picture, this recipe makes A LOT of salad! It made a perfect side dish for memorial day!

Sweet N' Sour Chicken: the fried variety :)

2009-05-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

This was really similar to the sweet n' sour you would get at a chineese restraunt...really good! If I had to rate parts I'd give the chicken a 10 and the sauce a 7, I'm looking for improvements on the sauce so any ideas are welcome. Here is the original recipe with my adjustments.

It basically is veggies and fried chicken over rice all covered in a sweet n' sour sauce...yummy

Sauce:

1. Mix 1/4 c water and 1/4 c cornstarch in a small bowl

2. Mix the following 4 ingredients until they boil, then turn off the heat and slowly add cornstarch while stirring.

Pineapple juice from an 8 oz can
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
2 drops orange food color

3. Add pineapples

Veggies:

Chop up your favorite veggies, we chose green and orange pepper but if I wasn't so lazy I would have done onions and carrots too. Fry them up in a little butter or oil until they're just soft enough.

Chicken:

1. Mix the following ingredients to make a batter...it kind of resembles a thick pancake batter. Then add 2-3 breasts of chicken that have been cut into little pieces and mix it all up.

2 1/4 cups self-rising flour OR 2 C regular flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 1/2 tsp baking pwdr
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 egg
2 cups water

2. Heat up the oil( I used medium heat) and use tongs to scoop out the pieces of chicken and plop them into the oil. They cook WAY fast and they are SO good!

I tried to make it in the afternoon and then warm it up that night and the chicken was not nearly as good as it was fresh from the grease...I will remember that for next time. It was literally the best fried chicken I've ever made, you should try it!

Here is the final product, I forgot to take the picture until Zac was already almost done...dang

Chicken Noodle Soup

2009-05-08T10:45:00.001-07:00

Alright, this was delicious and I was able to freeze half and save it for next week (the week before finals for my students).

As always the basic recipe was taken from allrecipes.com, but I made a few adjustments.

Ingredients

3 cloves garlic

1/2 chopped onion

5 chopped carrots

3 medium potatoes

1/2 package of cooked noodles

2-3 cans 14.5 oz chicken broth (next time I'll use boullion and water since there is no difference)

1 can vegetable broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

Diced and cooked chicken (I use about 1/2 pound)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Chicken Boullion to taste

1. Sautee the veggies in butter for 5-10 minutes.

2. Add in all of the broths, soups, and seasons

3. Let it cook on the stove on medium heat until the carrots are soft.

4. Take it off the heat because if the potatoes cook to long the soup gets all starchy.

5. Add the noodles just before you serve.

When I make it there isn't a lot of the actual soup/broth because I like it that way so add more broth according to how you like it. Also add salt and pepper to your own family's taste. It was a little bland which is why I added a boullion cube. Overall this is a delicious, inexpensive meal that isn't too hard to make. You can chop all the veggies in the morning and throw it all together at night.

Chicken Broth vs Chicken bouillion with water?????

2009-04-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

So, I'm looking around for a yummy chicken noodle soup recipe and I found one that got great reviews. It calls for 4 cans of chicken broth...my question, can I just use my chicken boullion with water? I've never used chicken broth so I'm just wondering what the difference is.

I'm not sure if anyone reads this, but it you know the difference please share your knowledge since I'm NOT experienced in this area.

Fruit Cobbler

2009-04-21T20:13:00.001-07:00

When I'm trying to be healthy this is what I make for dessert. The problem is that it is so tasty I usually eat half of it the first night. Oh well.

This is the recipe I use and follow to a T for the topping. Cobbler It is basically a cookie with less flour. :) So healthy.

For the Fruit here are the combinations I've tried:

1. Cherries

2. Cherries and Apples

3. Cherries and Strawberries

4. Apples

5. Peaches(canned, I know, I'm lazy) and Strawberries

All of them are delicious. Just lay down whatever fruit you want and pour the topping over top. If you're using sour cherries or apples I would sprinkle sugar over the fruit first. I usually have to let it cook at least an hour sometimes more, for some reason the topping has a really hard time cooking. Any ideas?

The best Slow cooker Beef Stroganoff!

2009-04-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is a gem of a recipe. I found it here and with over 1500 reviews, I think this ones been perfected. Here is my version of the recipe with all the comments put together.

Ingredients:

-1-2 lbs beef (I get stew meat and cut off some of the fat)

-2 cans GOLDEN MUSHROOM Soup

-1/2 cup water

-1/2 cup chopped onion

-3 cloves chopped garlic

-1 tbl Worcestershire Sauce

-1 beef boullion cube

-1/2 packet onion soup mix

-1 can mushrooms sauted

-4 oz cream cheese

-1 large scoop sour cream

I know there are a ton of ingredients, but I promise this is totally worth it.

Just put everything besides the mushrooms, cream cheese, and sour cream into a crockpot and cook on low for 5-6 hours. Add in the final 3 ingredients and serve over egg noodles or rice.

I've tried with cream of mushroom soup and I thought this was nasty. With golden mushroom soup it is WAYYYY better, I loved this last night! Zac said it was one of his favorites!

Homemade Pizza

2009-04-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

We had BBQ Chicken Pizza and it was yummy. I used this recipe for the crust and it was SO yummy Pizza Crust. It is a great crust recipe and it is really simple. We cover it with BBQ sauce, onions, garlic, peppers, chicken, and cheese. SO good!

The hardest part is making the crust a circle, I'm kind of a professional at it so you could probably learn a lot from this video. ;)

Pigs in a Blanket-this is one for the hubbies!

2009-04-17T20:42:00.001-07:00

These were a HUGE hit tonight, Zac loved them and so did Teagan. I liked the taste, but knew they were probably horrible for me so it was too hard to enjoy completely. The best thing about it was that I spent a total of $2 on this meal and it took about 15 minutes to put together. Thank you Kim for the great idea.

Ingredients:

-pre-made biscuits (I got the jumbo size)

-5 or 6 hotdogs

-taco meat

-cheese

For the pigs in a blanket I cut the biscuit into thirds and flattened them out a little. I cut the hotdog in half and then cut them in half again so that the cross-sections were semi-circles. Just wrap the doggies up in the biscuits.

After making a half a cookie sheet of these I decided that I wanted something else for me so I made taco pockets. I took some leftover pork taco meat and cheese and made hot pockets! I'm guessing you could do the same thing with spaghetti sauce or ham and cheese. Maybe I'll jot down some ideas next time I'm walking down the frozen food isle.

I cooked them at 350 for about 2o minutes and they were fantastic. I didn't get a good picture of the finished product because we were too hungry.

As a side note, I made a huge thing of broccoli that we ate while these were cooking so that we would have at least something nutritious. I should have taken a picture for proof!

Tostadas

2009-04-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

Something about San diego has gotten me excited about Mexican food! My favorite meal lately is tostadas, I am ALWAYS in the mood for them! They are great because you can make it nice and fancy for company or keep it simple on a busy night. Here are a few of our favorite toppings:
1. Pork
--2 cans of sliced green chillies
--3 cloves of garlic chopped up
--3 tbl taco seasoning (I usually add 2 at the beginning and add more at the end if it is too bland)
--1 tbl Chili powder
--1tsp oregano

Just mix all the ingredients into a paste and rub it over a pork roast. I cook mine in a crock pot on low for 6 or 7 hours. About an hour before serving I get a couple forks and shred the meat and adjust seasoning and such and let it cook another hour.

2. Beans
--Beans
--chicken/tomato bullion
--2 cloves of garlic
--onion.

These i have NOT mastered yet. I put everything in a pot with plenty of water and let it cook on low heat until the beans are soft. I usually have to add water a few times through out the cook time. It took 2 hours yesterday!!! They are yummy though. Does anyone have any suggestions, I know canned beans are nice.

3. Rice

I make my rice like normal: twice as much water as rice, but I add the chicken/tomato bullion. The bullion makes a HUGE difference. I find it in the Mexican food isle of my grocery store. This rice is YUMMY!

This pic has the rice, beans and meat, all homemade and yummy! Too much salt, but that's better than fat!

4. Cheese
5. Guacamole- so good, but we never have avocado unless my mom is with us!
6. Lettuce
7. Tomato
8. Sour Cream
9. Ranch
10. Salsa

Pretty much anything goes on these babies. Just pile it all onto a tostada (these are like a huge round chip). We put the cheese down first and zap it in the microwave. yummy!

Omelets tonight.

2009-04-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

Whenever I am not in the mood to cook we have breakfast for dinner. Usually the clean-up and preperation are super easy, what's not to love?

Tonight was omelets. I chopped up some veggies, cheese, and sliced ham in about 10 minutes and with the help of my amazing husband we had the yummiest omelets tonight.

Do you notice the egg arrangement? I have a serious OCD problem with eggs. I have to take them out of the carton in a specific pattern. I had to include them in the picture when I opened the carton and saw the perfect design.

Omelets aren't complicated...but I took pictures and wrote explanations anyways.

1. Pour some egg into a greased pan and let it cook on medium low for a few minutes

2. Pile on the veggies, cheese, and meat to your hearts content. let it keep cooking until the egg isn't too runny.3. Fold it over and let it finish cooking. Zac squishes it with the spatula to make any uncooked egg come out of the omelet and finish cooking on the pan.
4. Enjoy. The great thing was that I dirtied one knife and one pan. Me and Zac were even able to share a plate because I was done eating mine by the time his was done cooking.

Tie-Dyed Cupcakes!

2009-04-08T12:41:00.001-07:00

I found this great idea off of this blog. They are normal cupcakes with a tie dye twist. Perfect for a 70's birthday party or EASTER!

You start with your choice of white cake. I didn't remove the egg yolks and it made the colors look a little browner, I would recommend removing the egg yolks for a true WHITE cake.

This is the recipe I used, it is really good, but you need to follow the instructions very carefully!
White Cake
Decide how many colors you want and divide up the batter and put in the food coloring.
Mix them all up.
This part allows for creativity. The idea is to just spoon a scoop of each color into each cupcake holder. It doesn't have to be neat. I found that if I wanted the colors to really swirl I needed to only put a small amount of the last color on top. Does that make sense? This is what mine looked like about half way through. I just randomly scooped different colors into each tin.

Then use an object to stir the batter, LIGHTLY. A toothpick was too small. I used the head of a screw driver. A chopstick would probably work too. Some turned out awesome, some were just okay. I stirred my second batch too much and then ended up meshing all together.

Bake normal and you get party cup cakes! ( Do you see what I mean about the brown tint? You live and learn!)

The bottom 4 are from the first batch where I put too much in each scoop and on the top color so the colors didn't really blend. The top 8 are the second batch. I did lots of small scoops of batter and stirred alot. I think some combination of the two would be the ultimate winner.

I was so sad to frost these babies, and cover up the art, but what is a cupcake without a heap of cream cheese frosting on top???

Here is how I make frosting.

Mix a package of cream cheese with a big scoop of margarine and a small scoop of shortening until it is nice and fluffy. Add about a capful of vanilla and keep adding powdered sugar until it tastes good. Very rich and healthy!

New Blog

2009-04-07T16:52:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone.

I love cooking, but I am SUPER new to the cooking world. I'm always trying new recipes and constantly reading reviews trying to perfect them. Then I forget the changes that I make and I have to start over from the beginning. This blog is going to be my personal recipe book so that I can keep track of exactly how I make The Foods We Love.

I'm really looking to create a bigger pool of meals to pick from, but I can never think of any. Please let me know if my list on the right is missing any of your family favorites.

If you have any suggestions to make my food better please leave a comment. Check out my birthday enchiladas below.

Pork Enchiladas

2009-04-07T16:19:00.000-07:00

These enchiladas are SO yummy, but they look a little weird...I will explain how to fix that though. I took an enchilada recipe from allrecipe.com and then picked my hispanic neighbor's brain on how to make the sauce. Together they make a DELICIOUS dish. I use fat free and reduced fat items and it still tastes good.

allrecipes link:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cottage-Cheese-Chicken-Enchiladas/Detail.aspx

Here's how I make them. You make a cheese mixture, the meat mixture and sauce and put them into tortillas and bake 'em up.

Ingredients:
10 tortillas
1-2 C grated cheese (do you like them super cheese, or not super cheesy?)
everything listed below

1. Cheese Mixture: Mix the ingredients in a bowl
--2 C. Cottage Cheese
--1/2 C sour cream
--1/3 package cream cheese (adjust to your desired richness and fat content :)

2. Meat Mixture:
--1 lb of cooked shredded meat (beef, pork, chicken)
--1 can diced green chillis
--1/2 onion-chopped
--3 cloves of garlic cut into tiny pieces (minced???)
--1 package taco seasoning
--1 tbl oil

Fry the onions and garlic in the oil first, then add everything else and cook on medium for a while... I usually let it simmer for 20 min.

3. Sauce:
Either:
--1 can of enchilada sauce
OR
The ingredients shown below
--4 small tomatos
--2 tomatillos (green tomatos)
--1 jalapeno
--3 cloves of garlic
--a bundle of cilantra
--chilli pepper

Boil the everything but the garlic and cilantra until soft. The jalpeno and chilli take a little longer. put it all in a blender (including garlic & cilantra) and blend it up to get your sauce.

Change the ratio of tomatos to jalapenos to get a more spicey sauce...this was VERY mild, there was a small kick though. I wouldn't recommend using both tomatoes and tomatillos since it made a puke brown sauce (still very tasty though).

Assemble the enchiladas:

--Use 10 tortillas. Put in a scoop of the cheese mixture, meat mixture, and a little shredded cheese in each tortilla. Wrap the tortillas and put them in your baking dish. I put a little sauce in each enchilada and then drizzled the rest over the top. I used 2 square pyrex dishes and put one in the freezer for a meal a week later (still tasted delicious).

Some pointers:

1. You can put as much or as little cheese and meat into each tortilla, if you are a meat eater then you might want to double the meat mixture so you can really load them.

2. For the meat I tried making it in the crockpot the night before and it worked beautifully! I got a pork roast and mixed all of the ingredients for the meat mixture together and smothered it all over the roast. I let it cook on low all day and then shredded it up. We used it for tostadas that night and then i used the leftovers to make the enchiladas. It eased up a lot on the work!
3. You can be very creative with the sauce. My neighbor originally told me to just use 2 jalapenos and 3 large tomatoes. Then she said if I wanted it fancier I could add all the other stuff.