Pesto Meatballs

When I have a gap in my meal planning, I just dig around on Mix and Match Mama's blog and it never fails, her recipes are always sound. Plus, I love that she sneaks veggies in. Like these meatballs with SPINACH in them! Smart Mama she is!

The recipe is here. I made them with ground turkey and they tasted great. They make a ton! We ate 6 of them and then froze the rest- my favorite kind of recipe! Easy dinner in a few weeks for us! 

Creamy Beef Stroganoff

I really like beef stroganoff that cooks all day in the crockpot, but I hadn't found a version of it that I really loved. I have made beef cubes in the oven which is good, but it isn't creamy like this new recipe. And, the Worcestershire sauce gives it a little extra flavor. I really think you'll like this one.

Creamy Beef Stroganoff
recipe courtesy of The Crockstar

2 pounds cubed stew meat
2 cans Condensed Golden Mushroom Soup
1 largish onion diced
3 tablespoons of Worcestershire
1/2 water
8 oz of cream cheese 
couple of dashes of Garlic Salt (1 tsp?)
couple dashes of Hot Paprika (see I just can't believe this would be good without some sort of kick)

In the slow cooker stir in all the ingredients, except the meat AND the Cream Cheese, together. Once combined add the meat and mix together.

Cook on Low for 8 hours. Cut up the cream cheese into cubes just before serving and turn crockpot on high. Stir the cream cheese in until all combined. You might have to put the lid back on and leave for 10 minutes.

Serve over egg noodles or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

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Spicy Chicken Tacos

After having great success with cakes from Mix and Match Mama, I decided to try one of her dinner recipes. Oh my- these spicy chicken tacos were so good and you would never know spinach was in there! Not a fan of the leafy green, but know how important it is. It just sneaks in under the tastes of salsa and chicken. I will make these again and again!

Here is the full recipe, courtesy of Mix and Match Mama.

1 pound cooked and shredded chicken breast 

1 jalapeno, chopped (remove the seeds)

1 package taco seasoning

1 box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of all the excess water

2 cups salsa

2 cups Pepper Jack cheese, shredded

5 stand and stuff taco shells 
Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, add chicken, jalapeno, taco seasoning, spinach and salsa and a tablespoon or so olive oil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer about 5 minutes.

In an 8x8 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray, line up your 5 taco shells.  Place the chicken mixture inside the shells.  Top tacos with cheese and place in the oven.  Bake about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Enjoy!

3 Ingredient Sloppy Joe Sauce

I went to make Meat Cupcakes the other night and then changed my mind mid-stream. I had browned my meat and whipped up the sauce, but realized I had buns about to go bad. So, I decided to use my meat and sauce from the meat cupcakes and put them in my buns instead of baking them inside biscuits.

photo courtesy of French's mustard

It made the best sloppy joes! Just three ingedients made the perfect sweet barbecue sauce for my sandwiches. And get this, you likely have all three just sitting in your kitchen everyday! Perfect last minute meal!

Homemade Sloppy Joe Sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

1T mustard

2T brown sugar

Mix it up and enjoy! It is the right mixture for about a pound of hamburger meat. You can adjust as needed to match your meat. 

Pulled Pork for Pork Chile Verde Soup

I love each season when it starts and am normally so ready for the next by the time it is over, but I will miss soup season. We have been over 70 degrees most each day this month and this is our "cold" month in the Texas Hill Country. So, spring and grilling is just around the corner.

Before soup season ended, I whipped up a new soup thanks to my good buddy Pinterest. We made Heather's Pulled Pork (served on hamburger buns) last week and then used the leftover pork for Pork Chile Verde last night. Love this soup- it tasted like soup you would have at a nice restaurant. We paired it with little cheese quesadilla wedges. Delicious!

Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken

 I am bored with planning meals and God willing, I have many more years of meal planning ahead of me. So, this 2 week period, my husband and I went through my hundreds of recipe pins and decided which new dishes we wanted to try. We are trying 8 new things over the next 14 days. I'll share them with you over the next month. Hopefully, we find some new dinners for the regular rotation!

We eat lots of chicken and we never fry it. But, we both love a good fried chicken strip from the local fast food joints. So, this recipe appealed to us.

You make a yummy honey mustard sauce that serves as the marinade and the dipping sauce. Then, the "wet" chicken strips are dipped in crushed pretzels. 

Marcus ended up making this one since my hair appointment ran long and we both liked it! We'll make it again especially since we have all the sauce ingredients in the pantry now. It had good flavor, was crunchy after baking and my 4 year old ate it.

You can find the recipe from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice here. 

Emmett's Chicken Marinade

We recently had dinner with some friends and they grilled the best chicken for us! Emmett brought out the bowl of marinaded chicken and I knew it was going to be good. I had him send me the recipe and it was a cast of characters that I'd never used before.

I had to do a little grocery store searching to find the Goya products! They are on the "Ethnic Foods" aisle in my local (Texas) grocery store. I don't know if they are carried everywhere.

When everything is mixed together- it looks like this. Oh, and it smells like beer! This makes enough marinade for at least 6 chicken breasts. After I made this up, I ladled out and froze half for our next grilled chicken night.

The longer the chicken soaks the better! I let ours soak for about 6 hours.

We ate our chicken with mango salsa I had bought that morning at the Farmer's Market and it was delish! 

Emmett's Chicken Marinade

1 packet Sazon Goya (box includes 8 packets)
1/2 bottle Goya Mojo Criollo
1 can beer, any type will do
1 T agave
1T minced garlic
pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients and add chicken. Soak at least 6 hours and grill. Enjoy!

So Simple Pulled Pork

I love Pulled Pork and I do an awful job making it, until I found this recipe. I'm so glad I didn't give up on it.

So Simple Pulled Pork

(from Pinterest I think!)

Pork Tenderloin

1 bottled root beer (16 oz)

1 bottled BBQ sauce

Place tenderloin in crock pot and pour root beer on top. Cook on low until done (mine was about 4 hours). Shred with fork and toss with BBQ sauce.

Enjoy!

Best Roast Ever

I came across a recipe for a pot roast here and it was so easy and she raved about it that I had to give it a try. I haven't made another roast since- there is so much flavor in this!

1 3# tender chuck roast ( I buy rump roast)

1 stick butter

1 package dry Ranch dressing mix

1 package Au Jus Gravy Mix (found with taco seasoning)

4-5 pepperoncini peppers (the bright yellow ones often seen at salad bars)

Place the roast in the crockpot. Sprinkle the powders on top. Place the stick of butter on top with the peppers. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Enjoy!

Tacos Al Pastor Recipe

I had Tacos al Pastor about 3 months ago. And, I fell in love! So, I dug around online and found the simplest recipe that seemed to match the restaurant taco I so enjoyed. These were super simple to make and both Marcus and I thought they were amazing! A new favorite!

• 1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 (8-oz.) can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon Mexican-style chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 6 (8-inch) soft taco-size corn or flour tortillas, warmed

• 1. Combine pork and next 9 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic freezer bag. Seal and chill 4 to 24 hours.
• 2. Cook pork mixture in hot oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, stirring often, 10 minutes or until pork is done. Serve mixture with warm tortillas and

Really, only 2 steps and most ingredients are already on hand! Enjoy!

Beef Cubes and Rice Recipe

This is my friend Heather's recipe. She shared it with me about 6 years ago at a slumber party. I make it on Sunday afternoons. My husband and I love it! Here is the recipe in pictures:

Heather's Beef Cubes

Put 1 - 1.5 pounds of beef stew meatinto a loaf pan like this.
Pour on top of meat, 1 can of this
and 1 can of this.
Cover in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 2.5 hours.

Pour on top of cooked rice and enjoy!

I know- super duper easy and really flavorful. We've made it over egg noodles as well and it is just as yummy!

Southern Living Recipe

Southern Living magazine has given me many of my favorite recipes, including this flavorful slow cooked brisket. It is wonderful!

Southern Living Beef Brisket

Note- you marinate this the day before you cook it. Plan ahead.

4-6 lb. brisket

5 oz. liquid smoke

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

12 oz. BBQ sauce

chopped onion

2 t. garlic salt

2 t. salt

Pleace thawed brisket in large shallow pan. Cover in liquid smoke, onion, garlic salt and salt. Cover and chill for 8 hours.

Remove brisket from pan and place on a large piece of foil. Pour Worstershire sauce over brisket and close foil to seal meat in. Please on broiling pan and cook at 275 for 5 hours.

Uncover and pour BBQ sauce on top. Bake for 1 more hour uncovered.

Slice and enjoy!

Meat Cupcakes

Yea, the name threw me off a little, too! But I quickly got over it when I ate these delicious cupcakes that I found on another blog last night for dinner. They are really easy and were made completely by my husband in the time that I fed our daughter. Yummy!

Meat Cupcakes

3/4 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 c ketchup

1T mustard

2 T brown sugar

1 can (10) biscuits

1/4 c shredded cheddar

PReheat ocen to 400. Brown meat. Mix ketchup, mustard and brown sugar together. Drain meat, add sauce. Fill muffin tins with biscuits and press down to form cups. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Top with cheese and enjoy!

PS- If you are watching what you eat, these came out to 4 Weight Watchers points each. Two cupcakes with vegetables were filling.

Best Chicken Ever!

I can not endorse this chicken recipe with more enthusiasm! Marcus made it for the first time tonight on the recommendation of two of my girlfriends and it is easy, involves minimal dishes, quick, low fat and super tasty! What more could you want?

French's Crunchy Onion Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 cups/4 ounces French's Original or Cheddar Fried Onions (we used cheddar because cheddar is better!)

2 tbsp. flour

1 egg, beaten

Crush onions with flour inside plastic bag. We used a quart size baggie.

Dip chicken breast into egg and then coat in onion mixture.

It'll look like this.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 short minutes and enjoy!