New Recipe: Number 12 ~ Taco Bread Bake

I joined a co-op dinner group. It makes my life so much easier. I made this recipe for the group & for us. I found it at this Fabulessly Frugal blog when I was searching for good freezer meals. I'll share how we do our co-op tomorrow.


I, of course, tweaked the original recipe to my likes. We made ours a little different then the 10 meals I made for the co-op. This is the recipe to make just one dinner. I simply multiplied it by 10 to do for the co-op.

Taco Bread Bake

Ingredients for the Family:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 white onion
• 1 tbsp Garlic Garlic (Tastefully Simple)
• Spices: onion powder, chili powder, cumin & Fiesta Mix (Tastefully Simple)
• 1 can of Rotel 
• Cheese (for this Irish broad, we can only agree on a nice Irish cheddar which may not make sense in a Mexican dish...but that's us!)
• Loaf of bread dough
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• Egg (beaten for an egg wash)
• Cookie Sheet

Directions:

Brown ground beef with onions, Garlic Garlic & spice mixture (I use spice to taste). Mix can of Rotel into the meat. Roll out bread dough and spread meat mixture in the middle third.

Roll out dough...use flour to keep it from sticking.

Meat mixed with Rotel

Cover with cheese. Cut each side into 8-10 strips and then fold them over each other (best to just look at the picture). 

Sides sliced to be braided on top.

Braided on top,

Sprinkle with Crushed Red Pepper Flakes and Egg wash. 

Red pepper flakes & egg wash.

Bake 350˚ for 25-30 minutes (just long enough to cook the dough being the meat is cooked.

Beautifully baked!

To Freeze:

After assembling (omitting egg wash until right before cooking), wrap in plastic wrap and then tin foil and freeze. To prepare after freezing, allow it to thaw completely, apply egg wash and then cook as directed above at 350˚ for 25-30 minute.

When I made this for our co-op, I altered the ingredients a bit. Our co-op rules are no spice and we also fill out sheets for allergies, likes & dislikes.

Ingredients for the co-op (10 dinners):

• 5 cans of refried beans
• 9 lbs ground beef
• Taco Seasoning (used my big container from Sam's Club & followed directions for the amount of meat)
• 10 can of Mexican Tomatoes
• 2 large bags of Mexican Shredded Cheese from Sam's Club
• 10 Loaves of bread dough
• Glad Ovenware large container

Refried Beans

Ground Beef

Mexican tomatoes (forgot the cheese picture)

Wrapped ready for freezing.

I did not do the braid for this large amount. I assembled by spreading about 1/2 a can of bean on the bottom, then meat and tomatoes and then covered with cheese (sorry, no picture of the cheese). I folded the sides over, wrapped in plastic wrap, flipped it so the seam was on the bottom and then put them in Glad Ovenware large sized dishes. I froze these prior to bringing them to co-op. 

The instructions included: thaw completely, remove plastic wrap, brush with an egg wash or melted butter and bake at 350˚ for 25-30 minutes (or until golden brown).

New Recipe: Number 11 ~ Ground Beef & Sliced Potato Hot Dish

 Okay, I'm from the Midwest and I now I just gave that away by using the words Hot Dish instead of Casserole. I think the first time I said Hot Dish out here in CO, my friend looked at me and said, "What's a Hot Dish?" Of course, my response was it a Hot Dish. Well that cleared it up. Hot Dish is what Midwesterners call Casseroles...okay is that clear?

"Hot Dish"

Anyway...on to the new recipe, so I was struggling with what to cook for dinner one night and did a FB shout out for the mama's out there to suggest a dinner that used ground beef and potatoes. Just as I feared, the very first response was shepherd's pie. Not to say that shepherd's pie isn't good, it just isn't something my family likes. I have a hardy Irish brood (well and a bit Asian) over here and they wouldn't touch an English dish with a 10 foot pole. I used to work at a wonderful little English tea room and luncheonette and learned to cook several standard English dishes. Each time I've tried to make them, my family has revolted. My husband says "his people" fought long and hard to not be English and he certainly wasn't going to start now...whatever that means because his family though they may be Irish have lived in America for generations. Okay, off track again...the recipe.

I didn't find a great suggestion in time and jumped on Pinterest (evil sometimes). If you need an invite, email me, it's a wonderful site to store recipes, organizational tips and all kinds of inspiring nonsense. I found a link to this recipe, "Hamburger Potato Casserole" on Allrecipes.com looked it over and then created my own version and doubled it because we have a big family (plus I was hoping for leftovers because I was going in for dental surgery the next day).

Ingredients:
-1-2 lbs of ground beef (depending on how meaty you want it, I only used 1 lb)
-6-8 potatoes peeled and sliced thin (I used my food processor)
-6 cloves of garlic minced
-2 tbps Onion Onion (Link to order from Tastefully Simple)
-2 tbps Bacon Bacon (Link to order from Tastefully Simple)
-2 cans of green beans
-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
-2 cans of milk
-Parmasen cheese

Preheat the oven to 350˚.

Brown the ground beef with minced garlic and Onion Onion seasoning. Salt and pepper meat to taste.

In a pan with oil on medium heat, lightly cook the potatoes with the Bacon Bacon. They don't need to be cooked all the way but I like to cook them a little for texture it gives them. If you put them in raw, you will just need to cook the "Hot Dish" longer.

Potatoes to be sliced in the food processor

In a medium bowl, mixing the cream of mushroom soup and the milk.

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Layer the potatoes, meat, beans, soup and cheese. I made 2 full layers, starting with some soup on the bottom (to prevent sticking) and ending with the rest of the soup on top with a nice layer of cheese.

Layered yumminess

Cook for 30-40 minutes if you precooked the potatoes. Cook for 60-75 minutes if the potatoes are raw (or until the potatoes are tender).

In the oven

Dinner is served.

Crock Pot: Day 13 ~ Beef Stroganoff

I got inspiration for this recipe, Beef Stroganoff, from the Tastefully Simple website. I've never made beef stroganoff. Though I love cooking, this is just one thing I've never made our family. This is a new recipe as well as a crock pot delight.


Ingredients:
-6 Garlic Cloves minced
-1 Tbsp. Tastefully Simple Spinach & Herb Dip Mix
-2 lbs. cubed beef stew meat
-1 Chopped medium onion
-1 Package sliced mushrooms
-2 c beef broth
-2 Tbsp. Flour
-2 Tbsp. cold water
-8 oz. chive and onion cream cheese spread
-Prepared hot egg noodles

Cast of Characters

Combine garlic, Spinach & Herb Dip Mix, beef stew meat, onion, mushrooms and beef broth in the crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. 


Combine flour and cold water; stir until smooth. Whisk mixture into crock pot until thickened about 30 mins to an hour before serving. 


Add cream cheese 30 minutes before serving and stir until blended. 


Serve over hot noodles.

Yum

Okay, so the kids and I loved this...hubby not so much (which explains why I've never made it). So though it's a great recipe, I'll probably won't put it into our regular rotation...

Crock Pot: Day 12 ~ Salmon & Green Beans

I found this recipe idea from the blog Crock Pot 365.

This was not a total success for us but we thought of ways to improve it.

Totally new recipe as well as a new technic. I've never tried to make fish in a crock pot. I did a lot of research online before I attempted this. I would not recommend this for those new to crock pot cooking.

Ingredients:

-Salmon
-Green Beans
Sauce:
-1/2 c Soy Sauce
-1/2 c Tastefully Simple Pomegranate Chipolte Sauce (link to purchase this item) *this is a new sauce for me to try.
-1/4 c Lemon Juice

I got this at Sam's Club

1 Package of fresh green beans also from Sam's Club

Place beans in the bottom of the crock. Place salmon on top of the beans. Pour sauce over the salmon and green beans.

I used 5 Salmon filets and had to layer them.

Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

All cooked up nicely.

I served this with garlic mashed potatoes that I seasoned with salt, pepper, Tastefully Simple Onion Onion and Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon.

Dinner was a hit!

I used frozen salmon. It really needed to be thawed before cooking so it took much longer for it to cook. When the salmon was finally cooked, the green beans weren't cooked enough for our family so I cooked them in the microwave with the sauce. (I never microwave food so this was a bit disappointing.)

The family loved this meal and I will make it again with a few changes. I will probably start the beans with the half of the sauce and cook them a couple hours longer on low before adding the thawed salmon and the other half of the sauce to the crock. It was fun trying something new in the crock pot.

Crock Pot: Day 11 ~ Chicken & Potatoes

Chicken & Potatoes

This is a new recipe but I just made it up. It turned out great. The chicken was really soft and tender and the potatoes had a great favor.

-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (this was enough for our family of 6)
-Potatoes (1 per person plus 1...for our family of 6 I used 7 potatoes)
-Salt
-Pepper
-Garlic Pepper
-Basil
-Thyme
-Rosemary
-Oregano
-Olive Oil

Cast of Characters

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of the crock pot, coating the sides and bottom. Slice the potatoes about 1/2 inch thick and toss into the crock pot. In a small bowl, mix a heaping tsp of each of the spices. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and toss 1/2 the spice mix over the potatoes & mix. Use the other 1/2 of the spice mix to toss over the Chicken. (My chicken breasts were frozen so I used a little oil to make the spices stick). Place Chicken on top of the potatoes.

Sliced Potatoes

 Turn crock pot on low for 5-6 hours. Occasionally check to make sure the potatoes are not sticking to the sides or bottom of the crock. Remove chicken and slice.

Hubby thought I should take a picture with his Irish beer being this was meat & potatoes.

Tonight we served this with green beans cooked with Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon (link to purchase this item) & a pad of butter as well as fresh homemade bread.

Yummmmmm

Crock Pot: Day 9 ~ Nacho Meat

This meat can be used for tacos or nachos. Tonight, we did build your own nachos. It was a big hit. The kiddos liked the idea that they were making their own dinner.

Ingredients:
-1 lb Ground Beef
-1 can Rotel
-1 tbs Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
-1 tbs Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
-3 tbs Taco Seasoning
-3 c Water

Throw it all in the crock on low for 4-6 hours. You don't need to cook the beef in advance, in fact you can put it in frozen (if you do, you'll need to put it on high and check it after an hour).

Meat all seasoned

Kiddo 1's nacho's

Kiddo 2's nachos

Kiddo 3's nachos

My nachos

Crock Pot: Day 8 ~ White Chili

I love this recipe! This is a family favorite in my house. This is a chicken white chili. I've done a white chili before but this is a new twist on an old favorite using a new spice (Tastefully Simple Wahoo Chili).

Ingredients:
-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
-2 cans of Garbanzo Beans
-2 cans of Diced Green Chili
-1 qt Chicken Broth
-8 Garlic Cloves Minced
-1 Onion Diced
-1 tsp Cayenne
-1 tsp Cumin
-1 tsp Chili Powder
-1 tbs Tastefully Simple Wahoo Chili (Link to purchase spice...only available till 3.11.12)
-16 oz Sour Cream
-8 oz Whipping Cream

Cast of Characters

Throw all the ingredients (with exception of Sour Cream & Whipping Cream) into the crock pot on low for 6-7 hours.

Throw it all in the Crock Pot

After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the crock pot. Add the sour cream and the whipping cream. Shred the chicken and throw it back into the crock pot. Cook for another 30 minutes and serve.

Yum!

Sometimes we serve this with grated cheese and sour cream. It is not very spicy...my kiddo that can't handle spice eat it all up. The others in the family have to add chili oil to spice it up. It is a nice and hardy dinner.

Crock Pot: Day 6 ~ "Stir Fry"

"Stir Fry" in the crock pot isn't really stir fry but it was really good. I checked out a few other food blogs to see what people did to make "stir fry" in the crock pot and then used my own recipe. I used this blog's "Stir Fry" recipe as an inspiration. Therefore this is one I am considering a new recipe.

Ingredients:
-1 Red Bell Pepper
-1 Orange Bell Pepper
-1 Yellow Bell Pepper
-1 Onion
-6 Garlic Cloves
-1 8 oz Package of Sliced Mushrooms
-3 cups of Broccoli Florets
-3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

Cast of characters

Dice the raw chicken and throw into the crock pot. Mince garlic and throw into the crock pot. Dice all the veggies and throw into the crock pot (hold back the broccoli). Turn on low for 6-8 hours.

Look how beautiful the peppers are!

More veggies

The Sauce:
-2 c Water
-1 c Soy Sauce
-1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
-4 tbs White Vinegar
-2 tbs sriracha sauce
-2 tbs Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic (Link to purchase this spice)
-4-5 drops of sesame oil
-2 tbs Flour

Pour the sauce over the chicken and veggies.

Whisk the sauce

Add the broccoli 30 minutes before ready to serve.

Add the broccoli at the end

Serve the wonderful "stir fry" over rice.

Served over sticky rice

This dish had a wonderful flavor. Usually when I make stir fry, I marinate the chicken for 24 hours. Doing this dish in the crock pot, there was no need for that. The meat was flavorful and tender. The family loved it!

Crock Pot: Day 5 ~ Chili

This is another easy crock pot dinner. I made an all meat chili to be served over homemade mac 'n' cheese (or rather pasta & cheese being I am using ziti today) for a wonderful chili mac dinner.

The ingredients:

-2 lbs ground beef (or another ground meat)
-Rotel (I use 1 can per pound of beef, so 2 today)
-Tastefully Simple Wahoo! Chili (link to purchase this spice...only available till 3.11.12)
-Tastefully Simple Onion Onion (link to purchase this spice)
-Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic (link to purchase this spice)
-seasonings

The spices

Put beef in the crock pot and turn it on high and brown meat in the bottom of the crock pot, stirring occasionally to get all the meat cooked equally. I am using frozen beef so it will take about 2 hours.

Beef in the crock pot with the spices

After the beef it browned turn crock pot to low and add Rotel, garlic, onion and seasonings. For today's chili, the seasonings I am using are: chili powder, Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic, Tastefully Simple Onion Onion and Tastefully Simple's Wahoo Chili seasoning. This is my first time using Wahoo Chili seasoning and it was a wonderful blend of savory seasonings.

This all meat chili is a wonderful topping on pasta and cheese.

I also roasted some broccoli in the oven as a topper to the meal. Roasted broccoli is a family favorite in our house.

To make roasted broccoli:

You need:
-Olive Oil

-Kosher Salt

-Broccoli Florets

Roasted Broccoli

Break up the broccoli in small bits (the smaller the better) onto a cookie sheet. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt over the broccoli and toss (I use my hands). Pop into the oven at 325˚ for 40-50 minutes or until the broccoli browns and crisps. Serve on top of the pasta and chili.

Broken up broccoli on the cookie sheet

Dinner...cheesy pasta, meat chili and roasted broccoli

Crock Pot: Day 4 ~ Broccoli Cheese Soup

I have not found another recipe done this way, this is just how I do it. It turned out so good and was such a family favorite that they have not stopped asking for me to make it again. I thought this would be the perfect time to make it again.

The ingredients:
-1/4 lb of Butter (1 stick)
-1 Onion (I used yellow)
-1/2 c Flour
-1 tbsp Salt
-1 tbsp Pepper
-A pinch Nutmeg
-Broccoli (I use 1/2 or so of the bag I buy from Sam's Club which is a 3 lb bag so about 1-2 lbs of broccoli)
-1 qt Heavy Whipping Cream (can use 1/2 & 1/2)
-2 c Milk
-3 c grated cheese (today I'm using Irish Dubliner, Cheddar & Parmesan. I don't use equal parts. I used mostly Dubliner today)

Cast of yumminess

*Remember, I'm a cook so I don't really measure. These are all approximates. I'm trying to see about how much I use along the way so that you can follow my "recipe".

Saute onions in butter until they are translucent.

Don't be scared to use this much butter...it will make the roux.

Then add about 1/3 cup of flour to the butter and onions to make a roux. Cook for 1 mins or so and then add to the crock pot.

Add heavy whipping cream and milk and stir.

Chop broccoli finely (I don't blend my soup but I don't like it really chunky so I chop my broccoli) and add to the crock pot.

Chopped up broccoli.

 Add salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Cook on high for 4-6 hours.

20-30 minutes before serving, add cheese.

Serve.

YUMMY Soup

Tonight we ate it with steak and served it with crusty bread and Roasted Garlic Infused Oil (link to purchase this...only available till 3.11.12) and Tuscany Bread Dipping Mix (link to purchase this...only available till 3.11.12) Seasoning from Tastefully Simple but we've eaten it as a meal by itself. It's a nice hardy soup and a crowd pleaser in our house. What's especially great is there is enough soup leftover that I won't need to cook tomorrow.

I think everyone was saying "Mmmm" the entire dinner. Steak cooked to perfection by hubby.