Taco Salad

I know we all know how to make a taco salad. I'm only posting this because for the first time I made them at home with the Aztec Taco Salad shells that you find by the cheeses. You know when you out for Mexican and order a Taco Salad but you can never finish it because it's so darn big. And you can't take you home as leftovers because the shell will just get all soggy. Nope, not these one. These are the perfect size! For once I actually finished the entire meal! That NEVER happens!!!!

Basically, they just lay out on this card board box and you let cook in the oven until they are crispy and brown..I don't have the directions because this was from earlier this week but I think it's for about 6 minutes. (Yes, I'm not perfect and my pans aren't either! :-O but hey, that makes it all the more "real" doesn't it?)

And they turn out like this!!! :-D

Apple Sandwich

I'm always looking for healthy snacks for my daughter. I found this one online awhile ago and today I gave it a shot since we love every ingredient it calls for! This is the simplest snack to make and super delicious!

Ingredients:

Apples

Peanut Butter

Granola

Chocolate Chips

Asian Chicken Sandwhich

Chicken Sandwiches are my all time favorite when we go out to dinner. We rarely ever make them at home. But when you have 2 kids and one is only 3 1/2 months old, it's a little bit harder to go out. So I decided to make them at home for once. I found this recipe in my Taste of Home Chicken Cookbook. Now this recipe calls for marinating the chicken overnight...well I didn't read the directions until I decided I wanted to make them that night and only marinated them for about an hour and they turned out AWESOME!...Imagine what they would taste like marinated overnight!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Orange Juice

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

2 hamburger huns, split

Lettuce leaves and tomato slices, optional

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Set aside 1/4 cup for basting chicken; cover and refrigerate. Pound chicken breasts to 3/8-in. thickness. Place in a resealable plastic bag; pour remaining marinade over chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate overnight.

2. Discard marinade. Grill chicken, uncovered, over medium heat for 6-8 minutes on each side or until chicken juices run clear, basting several times with reserved marinade. Serve on buns with lettuce and tomato if desired.



Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes

This was so easy and so good!! I love Philly Cheesesteaks! My husband doesn't mind them...but only without onions and green peppers. Well I'm always trying to find recipes for him but for once I wanted to try something that I wanted. I chopped the onions and green peppers up so tiny that he wouldn't see them. Of course the smell of onion stunk up our kitchen so he knew before it even landed in his mouth. But I convinced him to just try it and if he didn't like it, he wouldn't have to eat it..He barely noticed it!!! keyword being "barely" but he ate it all!! Woo hoo!!!!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 softball-sized onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons steak sauce
1 cup beef stock
Salt and ground black pepper
4 dinner rolls
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
1 cup provolone, shredded

Directions:

1. In large skillet over medium-high heat add the oil and then brown the ground beef, about 5-6 minutes. Add the onion and green pepper and cook another 3-4 minutes, until the vegetables start to get tender. Stir in the steak sauce and beef stock, season with salt and pepper, bring up to a bubble and cook about 2 minutes.

2. Split open rolls and remove most of the soft insides, leaving a bed to hold the meat mixture. Toast the rolls and set aside.

3. While the meat is cooking, melt the butter in a medium-size pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the flour and cook about 1 minute. Whisk in milk, bring up to a bubble and let thicken, about 2 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in the cheese.

4. To serve, place a scoopful of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the rolls, then top with the cheese sauce and replace the top of the roll.

Adapted from Rachael Ray

Buffalo Chicken Salad

(I've been slacking on updating this the past month, it was crazy busy for us!) My husband likes Chef Salads. I like them but get bored with them so I try to find new salads. My husband is a suck for hot wings so I thought this one I thought would be perfect for us!

Ingredients

1 head Romaine, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup matchstick cut carrots
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
4 slices crispy bacon, chopped
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise to make thin cutlets
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper
your favorite hot sauce or wing sauce
homemade blue cheese dressing recipe

Blue cheese dressing ingredients

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 clove grated garlic
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
a drop or two of Worcestershire sauce

Directions:
1. Preheat grill or skillet. Add bacon and cook until crispy. Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and paprika. Remove bacon when done. Add chicken to the same skillet and cook until done.

2. Prepare salad by adding romaine, celery, tomatoes, carrots, blue cheese and cooked bacon to a large bowl.

3. When chicken is done, slice and add to a large bowl. Toss with hot sauce. Add to salad. Add all ingredients for blue cheese dressing to a bowl and mix well. Drizzle dressing on salad and serve.