Layered Enchilada Bake

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 Lg. onion, chopped
2 C. Thick n' Chunky salsa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 c. Zesty Italian dressing
2 Tablespoons Taco seasoning
6 flour tortillas
1 C. sour cream
1 pkg. mexican blend shredded cheese

Optional:
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Cilantro

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brown beef and onions in a large skillet and drain when cooked through. Add salsa, beans, dressing, and taco seasoning to the beef mixture and mix well. On the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan place 3 flour tortillas broken up to fit in bottom. Cover tortillas with layers, half of each, of the beef mixture, sour cream, and cheese. Repeat all layers and cover with tin foil.
Bake for 30 minutes. Take foil off and bake for additional 10 minutes.

Top with chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, and chopped cilantro.

Orange French Toast

Ingredients

- 8 Thick slices of bread
- 4 eggs
- 1 C. heavy cream
- 1/4 C. honey (melted in microwave)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons grated orange zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 C. butter


Directions

in a medium bowl, beat together eggs, cream, salt, cinnamon, orange zest,vanilla, and honey.

Melt butter in a large frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Dip both sides of bread in mixture, transfer onto hot pan. Brown both sides, and serve with syrup, powdered sugar, whipping cream, berries, or chopped pecans.

We LOVE this recipe! It has a different taste than the regular French toast and you can use less or more of the ingredients depending on what taste you like, you could also use less cream to make it less fattening and substitute with milk or half and half. We like it with the cream!

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Lg. onion, chopped
3 Lg. cloves garlic, minced
4 cans black beans, un-drained
2 cans reduced sodium chicken broth
3/4 c. corn
1/3 c. Franks Original REDHOT cayenne pepper sauce.
1/4 c. fresh cilantro leaves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
sour cream
cheese


Directions
Heat oil in 4 quart sauce pan; cook onion and garlic until tender. Add beans with their liquid, corn, broth, Franks sauce, cilantro, and cumin. Bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat; simmer, partially covered, 30 minutes. Stir occasionally, Remove 1 C. soup mixture and blend in blender until smooth. Stir back into soup. Serve with sour cream, and cheese.

p.s. looks are deceiving this may look yucky, but it sure tastes yummy!!!

Spinach Artichoke dip

Ingredients

1 can artichoke hearts, Chopped
1/2 c.-1 c. Frozen chopped spinach, thawed
8-12 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
dash of pepper
diced tomatoes (optional for garnish)


For dipping
crackers
chips
toasted bread

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine spinach, artichoke hearts, and cream cheese until well blended. Set aside a small amount of parmesan cheese for topping. Add remaining parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, salt, garlic powder, and pepper to cream cheese mixture until well blended.
Place all ingredients in a 9x9 baking dish add remaining cheese and bake in oven for approx. 15-20 min. until heated through. Garnish with tomatoes if desired. Serve warm and enjoy!

Caramel Cinnamon rolls

I altered this recipe it started as a dutch oven recipe, so I changed a few things and it still tastes delicious!!! The picture doesn't do it justice trust me!!!

2 reems (I think that is what they are called!?!) of refrigerated cinnamon rolls
1 pint whipping cream
1/2 cube butter
2/3 c. brown sugar

I like a little extra sauce so sometimes I add a little extra of the whipping cream and brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 350
cut butter into small pieces, and melt on bottom of pan by placing in oven until melted.
pour in whipping cream.
Sprinkle brown sugar evenly into pan.
Place cinnamon rolls in pan.
reserve frosting that came with cinnamon rolls.
Bake for 20- 30 min. or until golden.
After taking Cinnamon rolls out drizzle the frosting on and dig in! Make sure you have a glass of milk ready!!!

Trifles

These recipes are from www.Kraftfoods.com With a few revisions. If any of you haven't been on this website it is a great resource for cooking, fitness, and even shopping for produce.


Strawberry Trifle




ingredients
3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese, softened
1-1/2 cups cold milk
1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
2 cups thawed COOL WHIP, divided
2 cups frozen pound cake cubes (1 inch)
2 square BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate


COMBINE berries and sugar; refrigerate until ready to use. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; mix well.
BLEND in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP. Spoon half into 2-1/2-qt. bowl.
TOP with layers of cake, berries and remaining cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Brownie raspberry trifle




ingredients
3 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) Chocolate Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP, thawed, divided
1 baked 9-inch square brownie layer, cooled, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 5-1/2 cups)
1 pt. (2 cups) raspberries

Directions

BEAT milk and dry pudding mixes in large bowl with wire whisk 2 min. or until blended. Stir in 1/2 cup of the whipped topping.

PLACE half of the brownies in 2-qt. serving bowl; top with half each of the pudding mixture, Cool whip and raspberries. Repeat all layers.

REFRIGERATE at least 1 hour. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

cake

So here is the cake I made for Pam's wedding shower. Keep in mind this cake was done quite quickly I hope you like it. Nothing too fancy and actually quite simple to do. I used a stencil, and some thinned out butter cream frosting. If you go to www.cakecentral.com they have a video you can watch on how to do it.