Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas - Kevin and Amanda

Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas

1 (16 oz) jar Salsa Verde
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
3 cups (12 oz) cooked, chopped chicken
8 medium (soft taco size) flour tortillas

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon a thin layer of salsa verde into the bottom of the dish.
Combine chicken, 1 cup salsa verde, and 1 cup cheese in a bowl. Spoon about ⅓ cup mixture down the middle of a tortilla. Fold sides over and place seam side down in prepared baking dish. It’s okay if they overlap a bit.
Top with remaining salsa and 1 cup shredded cheese. Bake uncovered for 20-30 minutes until bubbly. Serve and enjoy!

Makes: 8 enchiladas.

Canning 101

Mom's Salsa

10 quarts tomatoes

6-9 bell peppers of different colors

6 caribe hot yellow peppers

4 jalapeño peppers

1/2 a bunch of celery

4 medium onions 

3 bulbs garlic

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup vinegar

2 tablespoons pepper

1/2 cup salt

4 teaspoons cumin

4 teaspoons paprika

Chop up all peppers, garlic, and celery. You can do this the night before and put it in a ziplock bad the night before with all of the spices. 

Rinse tomatoes and scald them by boiling them in hot water until the skins crack. Then dump them in cold water to peel the skins off. Then pulse them in the food processor until they are desired chunkiness. Drain the juice into a separate pan and measure the tomatoes. Do this until you have 10 quarts of tomatoes. 

Add tomatoes to peppers and spices and simmer for 1-2 hours until salsa is desired thickness. 

Put in sanitized bottles with sanitized rings. Can for 20 minutes if doing pints, 40 for quarts. 

To prep the lids: Boil water, then remove from heat and add lids. Let the lids sit for two minutes in the water before putting them on the jars. 

Tomato Juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vinegar

tomato juice

Add salt and vinegar to every jar, then use the juice from the salsa to fill quart jars almost to the ring part of the jar. Don't overfill. Can for 40 minutes. 

Stewed Tomatoes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vinegar

tomatoes (1/2 bucket gets about 6 quarts)

Rinse tomatoes and scald them by boiling them in hot water until the skins crack. Then dump them in cold water to peel the skins off. Quarter tomatoes and cook them down in a large pot until they are desired chunkiness. Add salt and vinegar to every jar and fill with tomatoes. Can for 40 minutes. 

Apple/Pear Sauce

Cook fruit in big pot until they are very soft, almost falling apart. Then put them through the juicer. If the sauce that comes out is thick enough, continue until fruit is all juiced. Add sugar if desired and bottle. Can for 20 minutes for pints. 

Enjoy!

Chicken Parmesan Pot Pie - Picky Palate

24 oz. Prego sauce

1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken (I used a rotisserie)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 box refrigerated pie crust, room temperature

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 tablespoon shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Put one of the pie crusts into the bottom of a pie tin. Pour sauce into a large bowl. Season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, stirring to combine. Add chicken and gently stir to incorporate into sauce. Put in the bottom pie crust. Top with Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.

3. Unroll pie crust and lay over chicken and cheese. 

4. Brush a light coat of olive oil over crust. Stab a few holes in the top. Top evenly with Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Crockpot Refried Beans - Chef In Training

• 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinse to clean beans
• water
• 5 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 Tablespoon garlic salt
• ½ medium sweet onion, don't chop. Just peel off outside skin layer (discard that outer layer) and use the whole half as is
• ½ cup butter

1. Put dry pinto beans into slow cooker.
2. Fill crock-pot nearly to the top with water, about ¾ of the way full.
3. Crush chicken bouillon cubes over the top of water, sprinkling evenly. Next, sprinkle garlic salt evenly over top. Drop the half medium sweet onion into slow cooker.
4. Cook on low until beans are soft, about 8-10 hours. (stir occasionally during cooking process. You may have to add more water as beans absorb water, so check on them periodically.)
5. Strain beans or pour off juice, saving the juice in a separate bowl.
6. Add ½ cup of butter and a small amount of juice that beans cooked in.
7. Use a hand blender to mash beans. Add juice and blend to obtain desired consistency. You want to leave beans a little runny as they will set up quite fast.

Chili Colorado Burritos - Food Pusher

• 1 1/2 to 2 pounds stew meat or other beef cubed (top sirloin is great)
• 1 large can mild (red) enchilada sauce* (at least 19 oz.)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes 
• 5-7 burrito size flour tortillas
• 1 cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:
Put beef, whole bouillon cubes (do NOT add water), and enchilada sauce*** into a crock pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours**, or until meat is very tender. (Can also cook on high for maybe 3-4 hours.)  

When beef is done (very tender and flakes off when stirred), taste and add more salt, if desired. Roll into a burrito (hopefully you know how to roll these). Pour some of the remaining enchilada sauce from the crock pot over the burrito to cover it. Sprinkle with some cheddar cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly, about 2-4 minutes.

Cheesy Enchilada Casserole - Six Sister's Stuff

1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean) 
1 large onion, chopped or season with Onion powder or minced onion 
2 1/2 cups salsa 
1 can (15 ounces) black beans or red kidney beans, rinsed and drained 
1/4 cup reduced-fat Italian salad dressing 
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium taco seasoning 
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 
6 flour tortillas (8 inches) 
1 small can of drained corn, or about 1 1/4 cups of frozen corn (optional) 
3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream 
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend 
1 cup shredded lettuce 
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

Directions
In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in the salsa, beans, dressing, sour cream, corn (optional), taco seasoning and cumin.
Spoon a generous layer of meat mixture on bottom of 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Place a flour or corn tortilla on top of meat mixture. Layer with half of the meat mixture, and cheese. Repeat as many layers as you like.
The last & final layer should be a healthy dose of grated cheese.
Cover with foil that has been sprayed with pam or other and bake at 400° for 25 minutes, or until hot & bubbly. 
Let stand for 5 minutes before topping with lettuce, tomato and cilantro.

Ham And Swiss Sliders

I've combined two different recipes to make one that I like for these sliders.

12 King's Hawaiian rolls
Good deli ham
Swiss cheese

For the sauce:
1 stick butter
minced onion
1 Tablespoon mustard
1 Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Melt all the sauce ingredients together and pour on prepared sandwiches in a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Ranch Chicken Burritos

• 3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 package chicken taco seasoning
• 1 package ranch dry salad dressing
• ½ cup bottled ranch
• ½ cup salsa
• 1 can chicken broth
• 
  
• Cook the chicken in the slow cooker with the ranch packet and taco seasoning packages in the chicken broth for about 3-4 hours. Shred and add ranch and salsa. Put in burritos or quesadillas with rice and cheese. 

Reeses Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats - Recipe Snobs

     6 cups Cocoa Krispies Cereal

     16-18 Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, diced

     5 Tbs butter or margarin
     3 Tbs light karo syrup
     1 (10 ounce) package plus 2 heaping cups miniature marshmallows
     1/3 cup peanut butter
     1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine cereal and diced Reeses. Set aside. Spray a 9 x 13 in. pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large pot melt butter over low heat. Add karo syrup and marshmallows and stir continuously until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and add cereal mixture into the pot and fold together just until cereal is evenly coated. (Peanut butter cup pieces will fall apart as you fold together your ingredients, so don’t over mix this.) Press mixture into the sprayed 9 x 13 in. pan. Set aside.

In a small microwave safe bowl, add peanut butter. Microwave for 30 second to a minute to melt. Set aside to let cool slightly. In a separate small microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate at 30 second intervals, stir between intervals, until smooth. Set aside to let cool slightly.

When peanut butter is cool enough to handle, transfer into a small zip lock bag. Clip a small piece out of the corner and pipe onto rice krispie treats, zig-zagging back and forth. Repeat steps with chocolate, placing in a small zip lock bag, and piping over the peanut butter. Either let treats sit at room temperature to allow chocolate to set up, or you can pop the pan into the fridge for about 5 minutes to speed up the process. Cut and serve.

Makes a 9 x 13 in. sheet of treats.

Grandma Betty's Meatballs - The Parsley Thief

(I use a cookie scoop and get 20-25 meatballs. I also only make half the recipe.)

For the Meatballs:
1 3/4 cups fresh bread crumbs {3 3/4 ounces}
1/2 cup milk
2 pounds ground beef
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
2 large eggs, beaten
1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper {about 10 grinds}

For the Sauce: 
2 {28 ounce} diced Italian tomatoes
1 large clove garlic, smashed
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

(1 can tomato sauce)

Begin a double, modified batch of Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter {or your favorite Marinara Sauce recipe} by adding all of the 'Sauce' ingredients listed above to a large, heavy saucepan, and bringing the mixture to a boil, over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer, and cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Begin the meatballs by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Add the bread crumbs to a large mixing bowl, and pour in the milk. Toss to coat the bread crumbs, and let them soak for 10 minutes. 

Add all of the remaining 'Meatball' ingredients to the bread crumb mixture, and mix gently, using your hands. You want to mix just until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed, but try to avoid over-mixing. 

Using your hands, shape the mixture into 2" balls, and lay them out on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, then use tongs to transfer the meatballs to the sauce. Simmer the meatballs in the sauce for another 10-15 minutes. Serve with your choice of pasta, topped with an extra sprinkle of grated Parmesan.

Some Notes/Options:
// Store-bought, dry bread crumbs can be used in a pinch, but making your own is worth the effort, whenever possible. To make your own fresh breadcrumbs, process sliced bread in a food processor until evenly ground. Or, you can cube fresh, or day-old bread {crusts removed} by hand. Any type of sandwich bread will do - you can even use whole wheat, if that's your preference. I have given the proportion of bread crumbs by dry measure, and by weight, to make this easier.
// If you use extra-lean ground beef {i.e. ground sirloin, or 90% lean} you'll need to line your baking sheet with parchment, or give it a quick coating of non-stick cooking spray, to prevent the meatballs from sticking.