Mexican Bean Soup

It's been a wild two weeks.  Work is booming.  Too many patients and not enough nurses.  I hate to admit it, but we have been having a lot of frozen pizzas, hot dogs and eating out.

I was in the check-out line at the grocery store and saw a Taste of Home hamburger meat cook book.  I had to buy it.  There are many great recipes in it.  The weather has been a bit cool the past couple of days, so I thought I would try some soup.

This was a super-easy meal!  I had all the ingredients in my cupboard.

Mexican Bean Soup

adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

2 pounds ground meat

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cups water

2 cans tomato sauce

1 can Rotel tomatoes

2 cans whole kernel corn, drained

1 can Ranch-Style beans

1 can pinto beans, drained

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2-4 teaspoons taco seasoning

1 envelope original dry ranch dressing mix

Directions

Brown meat in a large stock pot until no longer pink, rinse and drain. Return to pot, add next 9 ingredients and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer about 30 minutes.  Serve with garnishes of choice.

It is very close to my goulash recipe; without the noodles.

Oh yeah, and, it makes a lot of soup.  I'm going to freeze some for later and take some for work this week.

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Mexican Pork Chops

I know, I said the old blog would be down today.  I got so excited about my new layout, I just had to go ahead and apply it!  I hope you like it.

Oh, it has been so nice in Texas the past week!  We are actually feeling up to eating again.  Last night, we had a recipe I've had for so long.  I think I originally found it on Food.com, could have been AllRecipes.  I'm really not sure!

Mexican Pork Chops

Ingredients

8 boneless pork chops

2 cups brown rice, uncooked

2 cans pinto beans, drained

2 cans whole kernel corn, drained

1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained

1 can stewed tomatoes, in juice

1-2 tbs oil

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350˚.  In a big skillet, heat oil.  Salt and pepper pork chops to taste, then brown them on both sides, set aside.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, Rotel, beans, corn and rice, bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute.  Transfer rice mixture in to a baking dish.  Arrange pork chops on top and bake covered for 30 minutes.  Uncover, and bake for 10 minutes more.

I had honestly forgotten how great this recipe is!  If you ask my kids, the rice should be made without the tomatoes.  I hope you'll try them one night.  

Happy Thursday!

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Crock Pot Enchiladas

Well, the pool set up has gone awry.  We realized, late last night, that we missed our 'mark', so, the pool was not level.  We are now in the process of draining it. We're never going to get to swim!!

Maybe tonight, we'll get the thing ready.  I'm hoping we can move it without disassembling the whole thing! I'll keep you posted.

We had another new-to-us meal last night.  A crock pot meal.  I'm considering leaving my crock pot on the counter and using it everyday!  It makes life so much easier.

Now, on to the meal:

Ingredients:

1 pound ground meat

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp Adobo seasoning

1tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 can enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso)

4 burrito sized tortillas

2 cups shredded cheese

Directions:
Brown ground meat with onion and drain.  Add Adobo, salt and pepper. 
In a small bowl, mix together tomatoes and enchilada sauce. 
Spray crock pot with cooking spray, and place 2 tortillas in the bottom. Cover with half of the seasoned meat, half the tomato mixture and half the cheese.  Make another layer starting with tortillas and ending with cheese.  Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours.  I served this with Spanish rice and refried beans.  


I did find out that the dish can be cooked on high for 2-3 hours.  {I forgot to plug the pot in.} Good grief, Charlie Brown!  And, you may want to use a couple of paper towel in the lid to keep the condensation down.  I didn't, and the tortillas were just a bit soggy, but good, nonetheless. 


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I Can't Believe I Did It!

Last night night's menu was taco salad.  Now, I had never made taco salad before I met maintenance man.  When we got married, he made it one night, but instead of using a taco 'bowl' he used crunched up Doritoes.  It was actually very good.  We have been making them this way ever since.

That is...until last night.  I saw a commercial for a taco salad bowl maker over the weekend.  What a better alternative.  Because they are baked, not fried.  Well, little miss frugality is not going to spend money on something when she has Google.  Google is my friend.  

I found this recipe; or maybe more of a tutorial on how to make them myself.  

Whew..authors note to self. Don't take pictures on your black stove. 

I did skip placing a piece of aluminum foil over the cans just out of sheer forgetfulness, but the tortillas came off just fine.   

Maybe they aren't as 'formed' as they would be if I bought the pan.  But, you know what?  They held my taco salad just fine. ;)

Taco Tuesday

I really like Mexican food.  I could have it almost everyday.  The rest of my family...not so much.  I decided last night to make my husbands rendition of Taco Salad, only to find we had no Taco Seasoning.

I have made my own taco seasoning once before, and the family hated it.  Well; desperate times.....so I made my own again. I did not tell any of them I made the seasoning, and no one had a comment except for how great it was!  {hehe}

Taco Seasoning

 4 Tablespoons Chili Powder

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

1 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper

1 teaspoon Oregano

2 teaspoons Paprika

2 teaspoons Salt

4 teaspoons Black Pepper

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl; store in an airtight container.  Mix 1-2 teaspoons to your meat.  This is a great way to be able to control the heat of your dish. Enjoy. :)

adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/

Linkin to:

Soft Taco Bake

Yet another hit this week.  I think I'm on a roll!  This recipe actually came from a box, but I did not use the nacho cheese included and I added the refried beans.

Soft Taco Bake

1 pound ground meat

1 can refried beans

8 oz cheddar cheese, grated

3 large tortillas (burrito sized)

taco seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 350˚, and lightly grease a 8" pie pan
2. Brown ground meat and drain
3. Add taco seasoning and cook according to directions
4. Spread refried beans on tortilla and place in pan
5. Add about 1/3 cup of meat to pan, and cover with cheese
6. Repeat process until all meat is gone
7. Bake for about 15 minutes until cheese is thoroughly melted
8. Garnish with toppings of choice

Mexican Casserole

We have many favorite, go-to dishes at my house.  One that we love and I actually  made last night is

Mexican Casserole

1 pound ground beef or turkey                 

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can Ranch-style beans                           

2 tsp chili powder

1 can diced tomatoes                                

1 package corn tortillas

4 cups cheese, shredded

Brown ground meat (I always brown mine with onion and garlic) and drain.  Add soup, tomatoes, chili powder (I used Rotel tomatoes and omit the chili powder because my family does not like extra hot dishes) and Ranch-style beans.  Heat thoroughly.

Lightly grease a 9x12 baking dish.  Line the bottom with a row of corn tortillas, pour half of the meat mixture on top.  Make another layer of tortillas and meat mixture.  Cover with half of the cheese.  Cover and bake at 350˚ for thirty minutes.  Uncover and use the rest of the cheese and bake for 5 minutes more. 

This is a great, fast, easy dish for any night of the week.