Beef Taco Bake

This is a true Shayla recipe! Super fast, super easy, basic ingredients, and SOOOO Tasty! My husband loved this one so much he was complimenting me throughout the entire meal! I really enjoyed it and it will DEFINITELY make an appearance in our house again! Thanks so much to Real Mom Kitchen for another fantastic recipe! By the way, we really like things SPICY in our house. If you aren't really the spicy type, use mild salsa and leave out the cayenne pepper. Also, you can't fail using flour or corn tortillas. I don't usually like corn tortillas but used them because we had them on hand and REALLY enjoyed them!

BEEF TACO BAKE
From Real Mom Kitchen

1 pound ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup (regular or 25% Less Sodium)
1 cup salsa OR picante sauce
1/2 cup milk
6 flour tortillas (8-inch) OR 8 corn tortilla (6-inch), cut into 1-inch pieces (I use my pizza cutter to do this)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)
¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Cook the beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it's well browned, stirring often. Pour off any fat.

Stir the soup, salsa, milk, tortillas, cayenne pepper and half the cheese in the skillet. Spoon the beef mixture into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Cover the baking dish.

Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes or until the beef mixture is hot and bubbly. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese. (I put it back in the oven for 5 min to get the cheese nice and melty).

 *NOTE: I used a 2.5 quart stoneware cooking dish and cooked it for the 30 minutes with the lid on and it was PERFECT. When I added the extra cheese I left the lid off to let it get a little bit brown while I cooked it for 5 more minutes.  

Classic Repeat : IHOP French Toast

This is a classic! A great way to change up your french toast eating habits which, around here, frequent dinner more than breakfast. We love it! This time I made it with imitation strawberry flavoring in place of the vanilla. Next time I think I will use both for french toast so good it doesn't even need sugary syrup! Thanks again to THE SISTERS' CAFE for the great picture!

http://shaylaskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/02/ihop-french-toast.html

Meat-Lover's Supreme Lasagna

Healthy? HA HA HA HA! No. Delicious? OHHHHHH YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This turned out FANTASTICALLY. We are huge fans of supreme pizza at our house and this was a great variation. It requires more ingredients than I would usually post about, but it is WELL worth it. Sprinkle it with a bit of red pepper to finish it off and OHHH MAN! Honestly, if you don't like supreme pizza you could adapt this to pretty much any kind of pizza. I am tempted to try pineapple and canadian bacon. Yum!

MEAT-LOVER’S SUPREME LASAGNA
Shayla Original

10 lasagna noodles, cooked
1 large can/jar favorite marinara sauce
20 slices pepperoni
1 lb. ground beef, browned
6 slices precooked bacon, cut into small pieces
½ green pepper, sliced
½ red onion, sliced
1 can medium olives, sliced
Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Parmesan Cheese, grated

Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on box; drain. In the meantime, brown ground beef and drain. Put a little bit of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 dish so noodles won’t stick. Layer half of: noodles, ground beef, bacon, pepperoni, green peppers, onions, olives, sauce, cheddar cheese, and parmesan cheese; repeat once more with all layers. Cook uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes.

*NOTE: Just sprinkle the cheeses on to your personal preference, there isn't an exact measurement.

Balsamic Roasted Red Potatoes

We got a 10 lb. bag of potatoes from Wal-Mart for $0.58 so I was online looking for ways to use them up. This recipe from Allrecipes.com got great reviews and smelled SOOOO good cooking up in my kitchen. The only thing I would do differently next time is to either thinly slice the wedges or poke holes in the potatoes before cutting them up. The flavoring on the outside was fantastic but it didn't get into the middle of the potatoes and so we just dipped our wedges in some more balsamic vinegar. They were definitely yummy!

BALSAMIC ROASTED RED POTATOES
From Allrecipes.com

• 2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
• 2 pounds small red potatoes, quartered (I used russet potatoes)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion (I used red onion and it was fabulous!)
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes, onion and garlic; toss to combine. Add the thyme, rosemary and nutmeg; toss well. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until potatoes are hot.
2. Transfer to a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are golden and almost tender. Add the vinegar, salt and pepper; toss well. Bake 5-8 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches

This is a great and simple lunch! I got the original recipe from Mindika Moments and slightly adapted it. Check out her blog! It is awesome!

The only changes I made were to use canned chicken instead of chopped boiled eggs and onion powder because I used the last of my onion in a different recipe. It was great! I loved that there was not very much mayonnaise so it stayed light. Try this one out! Ymmy!

CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES
Adapted from Mindika Moments

1 can premium chicken chunks, mixed into shreds
1/2 C. celery; diced (about 1 or 2 stocks)
1/4 C. red onion; minced (or green onion)* (or onion powder if you still want the flavor and not the raw onion)
1-2 T. fresh parsley; minced
1/4 C. mayo
1 1/2 t. lemon juice
1/2 t. paprika
salt & pepper

1. In a small bowl combine the mayo, lemon juice, and paprika. Mix well.
2. Add the canned chicken, celery, onion and parsley. Fold to combine.
3. Salt & pepper to taste.
4. Serve on your favorite bread. (serves 4)


*If you're not a fan of raw onion, try adding diced radishes. They add a wonderful crunch and a bit of spice without the overpowering aftertaste of onion

Pulled Chicken Suiza Sammies

This recipe has been a lot of places on the blogosphere, but from what I can tell it is originally from Raechel Ray and adapted by a blog called Taste and Tell. These were very uniquely flavored. The tomatilla salsa that we used was VERY spicy to begin with, and it didn't get a whole lot better in the end, so make sure that you don't use salsa that is too spicy. I really want to try these ones again with less spicy salsa because they really were good, but the spice was a bit overpowering.

PULLED CHICKEN SUIZA SAMMIES

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 cups store-bought tomatillo salsa or salsa verde
1/2 cup sour cream
1 rotisserie-style chicken, skin discarded and meat shredded
4 sandwich rolls, split
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

Preheat the broiler. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and honey, then stir in the salsa and heat through. Mix in the sour cream. Stir in the chicken to coat.


Pile the chicken mixture on the roll bottoms. Top with the cheese and broil to melt. Set the roll tops in place and serve with the chips.

Roasted Green Cabbage Wedges

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM!!!!!!!!! I LOVE cabbage and this is my new favorite way to eat it! I never even thought about roasting my vegetables but it is seriously the best way to cook them. My husband was RAVING about this and that is always a bonus. And talk about cheap? It will cost you for the cabbage as long as you already have oil, salt, and pepper on hand. YUMMY!!! The picture is courtesy of a fabulous new cooking site I found called Meet Me in the Kitchen. You can find the site and recipe here. Thanks to Mary Ann Murray for this wonderful new recipe!

Roasted Green Cabbage Wedges from January 2010 Martha Stewart Living

Serves 8

1 small head green cabbage (about 2 1/2 pounds), cut into 8 wedges, core intact
1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Arrange cabbage on a rimmed baking sheet. Brush both sides of wedges with oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Roast, flipping half-way through, until edges are brown and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes.

Squeeze lemons over cabbage.