Mexican Lasagna/ Mexican Blend Herbs

3 pounds hamburger
12 tortillas, cut in half
23 ounces ranch style beans
14 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
10 ounces rotel tomatoes with green chilies
10 ounces cream of mushroom soup
1 onion chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder

Brown meat with onion. Drain. Add chili powder. In a baking dish layer 12 tortilla halves. Place 1/2 of meat on top. Top with beans. Place a layer of cheese over this. Place remaining tortilla halves over this. Mix together remaining meat and sup and rotels, Pour on top. Cover with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Notes: This was way too much for us the first time I made it. So I now make half the recipe. It is very good. The original recipe just called for tortillas as written above. But I've made it both ways, you really want to use corn tortillas. Also instead of using plain chili powder, I used a blend of Mexican spices, about 2 tablespoons. And finally I add a 4 ounce can of sliced mushrooms to the Meat/soup mixture [for half recipe so add 2 for the whole one].


Mexican Blend Herbs

3 Tablespoons oregano
2 tablespoons dry cilantro
1 tablespoon cayenne
2 tablespoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons cumin
pinch cloves
1 tablespoons onion powder
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder

Blend well. Store in an airtight container.

Spanish Beef/Chicken

1 whole chicken, boiled and boned
1 (10oz) can cream of chicken soup
1 (10oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup onion, chopped
4 ounces grated cheddar cheese
crushed tortilla chips

Stir together all ingredients; pour into greased baking pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Note: Instead of Using Chicken, I used 1 pound browned hamburger meat. This turned out just as good as with the chicken. And I would imagine that it would be good with ground venison, lamb, pork, or other meats; these are the two ways I've tried though.

Hamburger And Potato Hash

Tonight:

He loves this. It is often his request.

1 pound hamburger
salt
pepper
seasoned salt
potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
water
cheese


Brown hamburger meat, seasoned with salt, pepper, and seasoned salt. Drain. Place hamburger meat and potatoes in a large pot and mix together well. Add enough water to steam potatoes. When potatoes are tender add cheese to taste. Serve hot.

Shoping Day 9-28-2007/ Grilled Hamburgers/ Salad

Ok. Here Goes.. He had three days off and we were all over East Texas in these three days. This is the first time my computer has even been one this weekend. So here's my belated weekly menu and the recipes from the weekend and tonight.


28th
Grilled Hamburgers and hot dogs.

29th
Salad

30th
Chicken Jambalaya

1st
Mixed Beans

2nd
Pizza

3rd
Club Sandwich

4th
Hamburger And Potato Hash


Grilled Hamburgers and Hot Dogs.

This is an interesting feat every time. He's not used to using wood, he's always used charcoal. Given my choice I'd use wood every time. So guess who gets to start the grill and get it ready>>> Imagine that! A guy who doesn't know how to start a wood fire grill. I keep telling him it isn't much different than using charcoal, but he hasn't tried starting it yet. After the grill is ready he does the rest though. [I'll get him taught eventually though. LOL.]

The hamburger patties are the same jane old patties that he makes indoors. But as they are finishing on the grill, he places mushrooms on the top, lets them heat through and then places a slice of cheddar cheese on top of that. once that melts he takes them off the grill. This is delicious.

Salad

Salad is pretty simple and straight forward. Pretty much lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and anything else you'd like to add on your salad. This is a pretty big salad, huge might even be the word. Yes, at this size it's a meal all by itself. Sometimes on a given day it's all we want. Ah, delicious, good ol' salad. [Yes, my nick name could be buggs bunny. Love rabbit food.]

Pizza/ German Chocolate Cake/ Pizza Skillet Casserole

Well, the anniversary of the day I came into this world was alright. We had pizza [Digorno] and German Chocolate Cake [actually a simply a chocolate cake mix with the Coconut Pecan Frosting out of a tub]. Nothing real impressive. He didn't complain.

Here are Recipes for Dinner tonight and Good recipes for the German chocolate Cake and the Frosting [both of which are excellent].

Pizza Skillet Casserole

5 cups egg noodles
1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 package McCormick* Italian Style Spaghetti Sauce Mix
1 cup water
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Cook egg noodles as directed on package. Brown ground beef and onion in large skillet on medium heat. Drain fat. Add tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce mix and water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in cooked egg noodles. Top with cheese; cover. Cook on low 5 minutes or until cheese melts.

Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Start to finish: 30 minutes

German Chocolate Cake

1 package sweet chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1 teaspoon soda
2 1/2 cup sifted caked flour
1 cup buttermilk
4 egg whites

Melt chocolate in boiling water. Cool. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla to chocolate mixture. Add chocolate mixture to the batter. Sift together salt, and flour, add alternately with butter milk to chocolate batter, beating well after each addition. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Pour into 3 8- or 9-inch greased pans, lightly lined on the bottom with paper. Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool. Frost with Coconut Pecan Frosting.

Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1/4 pound margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 cup pecans

Combine evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, margarine and vanilla in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens, about 12 minutes. Add coconut and pecans. Beat until frosting is cool and thick enough to spread on cake.
Yield: enough to frost 1 cake.

Meat Loaf Stuffed Peppers/ Lasagna For Two/ Hot Dogs

Well, the weekend went well. No complaints, and no requests for anything different. The new recipes are on Wednesday and Thursday. We will really see what's up then.

The weekend's recipes are:

Meatloaf Stuffed Peppers

1 pound hamburger
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 medium onion
salt and pepper
seasoned salt
1/2 row crackers
garlic powder
1/8 cup celery
celery salt
4 bell peppers
8 ounces tomato sauce

Boil peppers for 2 minutes, cool in ice water. Saute celery and onion in butter until tender. Combine all ingredients, except peppers, mixing well. Stuff into peppers. Bake at 350* for approximately 50 minutes.

Lasagna For Two
Note: If you need the original full recipe just let me know and I will post it for you. It was just simply too much for the two of us to eat by ourselves.

7 1/2 lasagna noodle
3/4 pound Italian sausage, or ground beef
20 ounces pasta sauce
7 1/2 fluid ounces ricotta cheese
4 fluid ounces pesto sauce, optional
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Lay flat on foil to cool. In a large skillet, brown meat; drain. Stir in pasta sauce, mix well. In a 3 quart dish layer 1/3 meat sauce, 5 pasta pieces overlapping slightly, 1/2 ricotta, 1/2 pesto, and 1/2 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers. End with remaining pasta and sauce. Top with Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.

Servings: 2

And Hot Dogs are pretty much easy enough for everyone to enjoy.

Enchiladas / Hamburgers

I have been ill so I did not post yesterday. The Mickie Stew was very good. I have not had it for quite some time and it was as good as I remembered. He liked it.

Last night we had Beef Enchiladas. They were delicious, and between us we ate the whole pan. Not bad for a sick person I must say. But, I've been looking forward to these for the whole week.

Tonight we are having hamburgers. [He's cooking]

Enchilada Sauce:

2 cups chicken broth
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin [the original only called for 1 tsp.]
2 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon sugar
5 tablespoons cold water [I added 3 more of chicken broth to create a pouring consistency]
5 tablespoons white flour

Combine all ingredients, except flour and water. Boil for 3 minutes, whisking often. Combine flour and water [and chicken broth]. Very slowly pour into sauce while whisking. [the original just didn't look like it would pour right, so I thinned it a little to make it pour slowly.] Cook 1 minutes, whisking constantly. Take off heat.

For the meat I simply used a meat mixture using Mexican herb blend herbs. You could probably use taco meat. 2 pounds.

To soften the corn tortillas you either dip them into the hot sauce; but it's thick and you will have to drain some off of the tortilla. Or you an dip them in and out of hot oil until the are soft but not fried.

Put a thin layer of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the saucepan. Fill and roll corn tortillas and place seam side down in pan. Once all meat mixture is used and enchiladas are made, pour sauce over the top, then cover with cheese. Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.


Hamburgers [His way]

His hamburgers are really simple. They are small though and you may want to use more meat. This however is just about right for the two of us.

1 pound hamburger
seasoned salt

Sprinkle hamburger with seasoned salt [he uses a lot]. Form into 4 patties, and fry in skillet as normal.

Mickie Stew 1

Wow, this weekend got away from me. Well, Friday night we had breakfast for Dinner. It went well as always. He likes it. And We ate good that night. Monday night we had another one of his favorites, Pizza Casserole. He love this, and I could make it for him all of the time if I wanted. It is I have to confess very good.

Tonight we are having Mickie Stew 1.

This was my mothers Brian child when I was a very young girl. The beauty of Mickie Stew is that you can do just about any thing with it. It is only limited by your imagination and pantry. You can add just about anything to it. A few can goods, and a little ground beef and viola. You have a meal.

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 (15oz) can cut green beans
1 (15oz) can new potatoes, quartered

Brown beef and drain fat. Add onion and cook until tender. Add beans and potatoes and their liquids to meat and cook until liquids have almost evaporated.