Skillet Enchiladas

My mother-in-law gave me this RECIPE years ago, as I'm sure my HUSBAND was begging for it! It's really delicious and cooks up much FASTER than your standard enchiladas! (Sorry again about the weird photo! I'm working on it!)

Skillet Enchiladas
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 small can diced green chiles
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, plus more for garnish
Flour tortillas
Sour cream

Brown the meat with the onion in a large skillet; drain. Stir in the sauce, soup, milk, and chiles and let simmer about 5 to 10 minutes.  Stir in the cheese until melted. Serve in warm flour tortillas—we usually do a scoop down the center of each tortilla, roll it up, and then top with another big scoop of the sauce. Sprinkle the whole thing with cheese and top with a scoop of sour cream.

TIP: Other great toppings for this dish would be shredded lettuce and sliced avocado.

Traditional Shepherd's Pie

I love this dinner! It is such a classic COMFORT food, and really pretty SIMPLE to make. This version always just says HOME to me. (Sorry for the awful picture! I can't get my new camera to work very well with blogger!)

Traditional Shepherd's Pie
1 pound hamburger
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon pepper
Salt
1 can green beans, drained
1 small can mushrooms, drained
1 heaping cup frozen corn, thawed
1/2 cup flour

1 cup milk (and more if needed)

1 to 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2 to 3 cups mashed potatoes

In a large skillet, brown the hamburger with the onion, garlic, pepper, and salt; drain. Stir in all the veggies to combine. Sprinkle the flour over top and stir to coat. Pour milk over mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, and stir until a nice thick gravy forms. (You may need to add more, it just depends. The last time I made it, I probably ended up using 1 1/2 cups!) Pour mixture into a 2- to 3-quart glass baking dish and then top with desired amount of cheese. Spread the mashed potatoes over top and spread out to seal around the edges of the baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the potatoes have a nice golden color. Let stand about 5 minutes and then serve!

TIP: To simplify the gravy, try using a can of cream of mushroom soup thinned out a little with some milk. Or try using a can of tomato soup for a totally different taste! Also, you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand. Just use anywhere from 2 to 3 cups and you'll be good!  (Frozen peas and carrots are yummy too!).

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

Man, what can I say? We seriously LOVE quesadillas at our house! I often have leftover CHICKEN in the fridge, so since quesadillas are so EASY and always seem to taste so GOOD, this is my latest concoction!

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
1 cup cooked chopped chicken
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup (or so) BBQ sauce

4 tortillas

Grated cheddar cheese

In a bowl, combine the chicken, onion, corn, and BBQ sauce until all is well coated with the sauce. Lay the tortillas on your work space and sprinkle some cheese over 2 of them. Split the chicken mixture evenly over each (although I grabbed a 5th tortillas and made a half) and then sprinkle with a little more cheese. Top with the remaining tortillas and then cook in a quesadilla maker, or heat in a large frying pan sprayed with nonstick spray, turning half-way through cook time so both sides brown. Makes 2 quesadillas (and a half!)

TIP: I served this with a small bowl of ranch dressing on the side, mixed with some BBQ sauce and it was a hit! (I'm sure plain ranch would taste fine too though.) You could also do some variations on the sauce and dip, for example, use a spicy BBQ sauce in your quesadilla mixture and dip into blue cheese dressing! Yum!

Chipotle Black Bean Quesadillas

Quesadillas are a quick go-to DINNER at our house a lot. We put all sorts of STUFF between two tortillas! My husband thought these ones were EXTRA special, so I decided to SHARE them with you!

Chipotle Black Bean Quesadillas

8 whole wheat tortillas

Grated cheddar cheese

Grated pepper jack cheese

1 cup corn

Salsa

2 or 3 Morning Star Chipotle Black Bean Burger patties, cooked according to directions

Lay 4 tortillas on your counter. Top each with some cheddar and pepper jack cheese. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup corn over top of each, followed by small spoonfuls of salsa (according to your liking!). Break apart or cut the cooked patties into 1/4-inch size pieces. Sprinkle the broken patties over top, followed by a touch more cheese. Cook each quesadilla in a Quesadilla Maker (my preferred method) or in a large frying pan on your stovetop. Just make sure to flip it halfway through. :)

TIP: These are pretty versatile, as you can obviously add whatever ingredients you feel like or have on hand. I would have loved some roasted red peppers added in if I'd had them! Also, I bought a big box of these burgers at Costco in the freezer section. I just like to have them on hand!

Easy Zucchini

Does anybody else find it hard to be CREATIVE with veggies over the winter? If anyone has some great IDEAS, please let me know. In the meantime, here is one of my always TASTY old stand-bys.

Easy Zucchini

Olive oil

2 small zucchini, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
Salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and then add the zucchini and onion. Let cook several minutes and then toss. Season with some salt and pepper, and continue cooking for several more minutes, or until the zucchini and onion have a touch of brown around the edges.

TIP: Just make sure you don't cook them too long or the zucchini will turn into mush! This is also great with some sliced yellow squash mixed in, sprinkled with lemon pepper instead of the regular black pepper.

Stuffing Casserole

It's hard for me to stop thinking about STUFFING when the holiday season is over. It's just so GOOD! Anyway, here is a super SIMPLE little casserole that always pleases at my house.

Stuffing Casserole
2 cups cut-up rotisserie chicken
1 cup peas
1 cup corn
1 can cream of chicken soup (I use the light version)
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 box Stovetop Stuffing, cooked according to directions

In a bowl, combine all ingredients except the stuffing. Pour into a 2-quart casserole dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Spread the cooked stuffing over top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until filling is bubbling and heated through. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

NOTE: You can use whatever vegetables you prefer. For example, a bag of frozen peas and carrots would be fine, or even broccoli and cauliflower. Whatever you choose will be good!

Chicken Parmesan

OK, so we've established that I LOVE cheese. I also love MARINARA sauce. A LOT! This recipe is so easy, and always TASTES amazing on a cold winter's day.

Chicken Parmesan

2 eggs, beaten

Italian breadcrumbs

Grated Parmesan cheese

10 to 12 boneless skinless chicken tenders

About 1/4 cup olive oil

10 to 12 slices mozzarella
Spaghetti sauce (I used traditional Prego)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with nonstick spray; set aside.

Put the eggs in a bowl and set aside. Put the breadcrumbs in a shallow pan and combine with the Parmesan cheese and set aside. (Try using a 2:1 ratio, breadcrumbs:cheese.)

In a large frying pan, heat the oil. When the oil is ready, start dipping the chicken tenders first into the beaten eggs, then roll in the breadcrumb mixture to completely coat. Fry the tenders about 2 or 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and slightly crisp. Place the cooked strips in the prepared 9 x 13-inch pan and then top each piece with a slice of mozzarella cheese. Spoon the spaghetti sauce over each slice, as well as around the bottom of the pan to cover. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until chicken is done.  Serve with some sort of noodle on the side!

NOTE: If you don't have Parmesan, try Romano or Asiago. I actually even like to combine all three. Also, if you want to cut calories, skip the breading/frying part, sprinkle each piece of chicken with the Parmesan cheese, top with the mozzarella and sauce, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cooked through.