Super Simple Taco Rice Bowl

Our great friend Michael Anderson came over to our house and made us this wonderful fast, simple, and tasty dish. The longest part of the whole dish is waiting for the rice to cook. Try it! It is really good! The picture is courtesy of Closet Cooking and can be found here.

TACO RICE BOWL

1 lb. ground beef, browned, drained
1 packet taco seasoning
2 cups white rice, cooked
1 bag Nacho flavored Doritos
Lettuce, Cheese, Tomatoes, Salsa or anything else you want to put on top

Get your rice cooking first as it will take the longest. Brown the ground beef and drain. Put ground beef back in pan and mix with 1 packet taco seasoning and water as indicated on package. Layer ingredients in bowl as follows: rice, beef, crushed Doritos, toppings.

See? I told you it was easy!

Breakfast Pizza

We just love breakfast foods around here! Sausage, bacon, french toast, pancakes, waffles... you name it! We actually had this recipe for lunch but it was STILL delicious! Flavorful and meaty with just the right amount of cheese. Try it and you will love it too! This recipe and picture are from Three on Food and can be found here.

BREAKFAST PIZZA
From Three on Food

1 can refrigerated pizza dough
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 cup frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Unroll pizza dough and place on a greased 12-in. pizza pan; press up sides of pan to form a crust. In a skillet, brown sausage over medium heat; drain and cool slightly. Sprinkle sausage, hash browns and cheddar cheese over crust. In a bowl, beat eggs, milk and pepper; pour over pizza. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 28-30 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Balsamic Chicken Noodle Bowl

If you are looking for a quick and easy meal with mostly ingredients that you have on hand but that will taste like a fancy dish you would get from a high-end restaurant - this is it!!! I didn't have feta cheese or a red pepper on hand, but they weren't too expensive to come by. The whole meal was ready to put together by the time it took the noodles to boil! My camera is out of batteries so the picture is courtesy of My Kitchen Cafe (and so is the recipe!). It can be found here.

BALSAMIC CHICKEN NOODLE BOWL
From My Kitchen Café

1 pound linguine
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips
4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) balsamic vinegar
5 garlic cloves, finely minced (or 5 tsp. minced)
½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons dried basil (can substitute 1 cup fresh basil)
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 1/2 cups shredded or cubed mozzarella cheese
½ cup feta cheese

Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Add the linguine and cook until just tender according to package directions. Drain.

In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. When combined, slowly whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is completely combined.

While the pasta is boiling, heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat and add the bell pepper. Cook briefly until crisp-tender. Add the cooked chicken and cook for 1-2 more minutes, until the chicken is heated through.

When the noodles have been drained, add the hot noodles to the skillet with the red pepper and chicken and toss. Add the shredded or cubed mozzarella and toss quickly to combine before the cheese melts. Pour the dressing over the top and toss with tongs to coat all the ingredients with the dressing. Sprinkle feta on top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*NOTE: Do NOT leave the red pepper out. It adds SOOO much to the dish. And it is even better if served with bread!

IHOP French Toast

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this AMAZING French toast yet! Oh man, it is good! The first time I made it we did Italian bread, thickly sliced. This time I didn't have Italian bread, so we did English Muffins. SOOOOO good! I am not even sure which one I like better. This is INCREDIBLY easy and INCREDIBLY tasty! Try it! You won't be sorry. I haven't tried the coconut syrup yet because the ingredients are a bit more obscure, but I am sure it is tasty as well. This recipe and picture are from The Sisters' Cafe and can be found here.

IHOP French Toast
from http://sisterscafe.blogspot.com/

2 eggs
½ c. milk
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 T. flour
6 slices of thick sliced French bread

First beat eggs, then add remaining ingredients with electric mixer. Dip both sides of bread and place in hot buttered pan. Flip over when browned. Serve with Coconut Syrup.

COCONUT SYRUP

7-8 T. butter
¾ c. buttermilk
1 c. sugar
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp coconut extract

Place butter, buttermilk and sugar in a pot. Then turn stove on medium and stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil one minute. Remove from heat and add soda and flavoring. It will bubble up; just continue to stir and give it a few minutes for the 'fizz' to reduce before serving.

Monte Cristo Sandwiches and Potato Pancakes

The Monte Cristo Sandwiches are a classic repeat for this house! Sweet but with a wonderful complement of meats and cheeses, they are DELICIOUS! The Potato Pancakes were a new recipe I found on "Recipes of a Cheapskate." We have TONS of leftover mashed potatoes from our good old chicken fried chicken with gravy, corn and mashed potatoes dinner yesterday... so I decided to use some of them up. Yes, I said mashed potatoes. I was skeptical too but they turned out DELICIOUS! Put a little bit of salsa on top and I liked them even better than the Monte Cristos! SUPER easy to make too! The pictures are not mine. I give full credit to "Recipes of a Cheapskate!"

MONTE CRISTO SANDWICHES

2 eggs
1/4 c. maple syrup
4 slices of bread
cream cheese
2-3 slices deli black forest ham
2-3 slices deli turkey
2 slices Swiss cheese
powdered sugar
Raspberry Jam (or any jam you like)

Mix eggs and maple syrup together with a fork and pour in a shallow dish. Dip the bread in the egg (make sure the bread is well-covered with the egg mixture) and cook on a griddle or in a frying pan (as if you were making French toast). Spread a good amount of cream cheese on half of the toasts. On the same toasts, add half of the ham and turkey and a slice of Swiss cheese. Top each sandwich with the remaining toasts. Turn the griddle to a low heat and add the sandwiches. Warm each sandwich until cheese is melted. Remove from heat and sprinkle each sandwich with powdered sugar. Cut into halves or fourths and serve with raspberry jam.

POTATO PANCAKES
From Recipes of a Cheapskate

• 1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup flour
• chopped, cooked bacon
• seasonings of choice (salt, pepper, seasoned salt, garlic, etc.)
• onion (optional, I use onion powder)

Mix together the eggs, flour, seasonings, and bacon. Add the potatoes and mix well. Make your patties and cook in a little bit of the bacon grease, or oil, until crisp on each side. Drain on a paper towel.

Classic Repeat: Mom's Chicken Sour Cream Enchiladas

We love enchiladas and this one is definitely a keeper! I also tried the Spanish rice again and it turned out MUCH better once I remembered not to add the powders too early.... This is a relatively easy meal with relatively basic ingredients! Try it!!!

http://shaylaskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/12/moms-chicken-sour-cream-enchiladas.html

http://shaylaskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/oven-fried-chicken-chimichangas-spanish.html

Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

Okay, so I said last night that we were definitely Mexican people. Well, I am back to say that we are definitely Italian people! This dish is so quick and easy that I got off work at 7:00 pm and we were FINISHED eating just after 8:00 pm. Very basic ingredients and VERY tasty! Try it and LOVE it!

CHICKEN & BROCCOLI ALFREDO

8 oz. uncooked linguine or spaghetti
1 c fresh or frozen broccoli florets
2 T butter or margarine
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/2 c milk
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 t pepper
½ t salt
½ t garlic powder

Prepare linguine according to package directions. Add broccoli for last four minutes of cooking time; drain. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink, stirring often. Add soup, milk, cheese, pepper, salt, garlic powder and linguine mixture; heat through, stirring occasionally. Serve with additional cheese. Salt and Pepper to taste.

*NOTE: I added the salt and garlic powder to the recipe. If you want to eliminate it, go for it. We have also had this with all sorts of noodles. Tonight we had it with penne and we loved it!