My version of Heuvos Rancheros

(Not sure about all the Spanish spelling here, but you get the idea. LOL)

Huevos Rancheros

What you will need:

Chorizo (Mexican sausage, they sell this in pretty much every grocery store around these days.)

English muffins

4 eggs

Fresh Salsa

Taco blend cheese

Cilantro

Remove the Chorizo (sausage) from the casing and crumble in skillet.  Brown over medium- medhigh heat.  Drain grease and set aside.  Cook 4 eggs over easy (or to your preference.) 

Split english muffins in half and place on plate.  Top each half with an egg.  Spoon salsa on top of eggs.  Sprinkle taco cheese over salsa and top with cooked Chorizo.  Place under broiler until cheese melts.  Garnish with chopped fresh cliantro.  Yum!



Another Football Saturday Recipe - Buffalo Chicken Bites

This is similar to a recipe I found on Pinterest.  Next time I'm going to add 1/2 block of cream cheese to it.  They were good, but seemed to be missing something to me. :-)

What you will need:
1.5 cups finely diced cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce
6 Tbsp. butter melted and cooled
3 cans crescent rolls (8 count)
Mini muffin pans



Preheat oven to 350. Spray coat your mini pans with Pam or whatever you have.) Dice cooked chicken.  In a small bowl, combine the chicken, blue cheese, cheddar cheese, hot sauce,and softened butter (here is where I will add in the softened cream cheese next time.)  Mix together and set aside.

Keep your crescent rolls refrigerated until you are ready to use them.  They are much easier to work with cold.  Unroll the crescent rolls and cut each triangle in half (to make 16 pieces from each package.)  You may have to stretch them to make them cover the tins.  Push the bottom down in the greased muffin cups.  Place a spoonful of chicken mixture in each crescent (I used one of the fruit ballers for this, the large end.)  Pull the dough up around the mixture and twist the corners together.  Sprinkle the tops with shredded cheddar cheese.



Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, until tops are golden brown.  (This will depend on what type of pans you use, so keep a close eye on them after 12 minutes.)  Let them cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes.  Then remove and enjoy!

This recipe makes 48 Buffalo Bites.

Roll Tide Roll! :-)

Pickled Peach Turkey Burgers... just try them!

I haven't made these in awhile.  I misplaced the recipe somewhere, but I have found it again and will be making these very soon!  They are soooo good!

Grilled Turkey Burgers with Pickled Peaches

Makes 4 Burgers

Ingredients:
3 peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped
1 red onion, cut in half, half finely chopped, half sliced lengthwise
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs water
2 Tbs brown mustard, divided (I like the grainy kind for this)
1 Tbs sugar (I use Splenda)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Grill Seasoning to taste (I use Montreal Steak seasoning)
2 tsp EVOO
1 1/2 lb ground turkey
fresh spinach
2 Tbs chopped parsley
whole wheat pita bread

Put peaches, sliced onions, vinegar, water, 1/2 of the mustard, Splenda, salt & pepper into a small pot and bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat to med-low and simmer until liquid is thickened and peaches are very tender and starting to come apart (7-10 minutes.) Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Grease grill pan with oil and preheat to med-high. In a bowl combine turkey, chopped onion, chopped parsley, remaining mustard, and grill seasoning. I usually use a fork to mix the meat, it gets everything mixed well without having to put your hands in it. Divide meat into four sections and form patties. I found that it works better if you make them into oval shapes, this way you don't have lots of excess bread around the meat. Grill, flipping once, until golden brown (about 10 mins.)
Tuck spinach into pitas, cut burgers lengthwise down the middle and add to pitas. Top with peaches.

B.L.T Night (Or some version of one anyway)

Like I stated earlier, I enjoy trying new/different things.  I love to experiment with flavors!  Every couple of weeks I get in the mood for a good B.L.T. sandwich.  I've always loved BLT's!    I'm not sure you would actually call what resulted a BLT, but it was a great sandwich anyway. :-)

Sammich Night

To begin this recipe (of sorts), I'm going to share how I cook bacon.  If you've never cooked bacon this way, try it... it will change your life! lol Preheat oven to 400.  Lay bacon pieces on a greased rack over a cookie sheet (I use the cookie wire cooling racks for this, they fit right in a cookie sheet.)  You may wonder why you need to grease the rack, being that bacon is so full of fat already, but it will stick!  Cook bacon in oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on how crisp you like it.  No more getting spattered by grease, worrying about when to flip it, or smoking up the kitchen.  You put it in the oven and it comes out perfect every time! 

What you will need:
1 package bacon
Turkey lunch meat
Mozzarella cheese slices (or whatever you have handy or like)
Blue cheese crumbles
lettuce
Mango Salsa (Remember this from previous post?)
Sandwich bread
Herb mayo (the squeeze kind)
Mustard

Prepare your bacon.  Once it is done remove it from the rack onto a paper towel.  Pile up your turkey meat on the rack, sprinkle with Blue cheese, top with cheese slice.  Place back in the oven until cheese melts.  Go ahead and toast your bread lightly. 

OK, so the secret to a great sandwich  (or one of them) is how you build it.  Think flat stuff on bottom, same rules go for burgers, etc.  It just makes it easier to eat! (i.e. no falling apart or losing items.)

Slather on your mustard and mayo, I'm a little OCD at times, so I put one on each piece of toast.  Next layer on some lettuce, I like ALOT!  Add your bacon.  Top with turkey/cheese stacks.  Then add about 1-1.5 Tbsp. of the mango salsa on top of the cheese.  Top with other slice of toast. Mash together and cut in half on the diagonal. 

We ate these with some kettle cooked chips (because that's what we had), but they would be fantastic with sweet potato fries! 

Let me know what you think of the flavor combo! :-)

Homemade Pizza...Kinda

With so many other things going on lately, I'm finding that I don't have as much time to make things from scratch (like I used to.)  No worries though, you can still make great food from store bought items in record time! 

To begin this post, I want to share 3 items that I ALWAYS, ALWAYS have in my refrigerator.  Pesto, Brushetta, and Mango Salsa.  I get all 3 of these items at Sam's Club.  They are located in the area around the meat and cheese usually.  If you keep these on hand, there are endless possibilities of last minute meals you can throw together, that taste wonderful! 

Chicken Pesto Pizza

What you will need (this makes 2 Pizzas):

2 - Pillsbury thin pizza crusts (in the canned biscuit section)

Prepared Pesto

Prepared Brushetta

Frozen (or any other pre-cooked) grilled chicken strips

Shredded Italian Blend Cheese (or just Mozzarella will work fine, this is just what I had.)

Crumbled Goat cheese

Prepare crust according to package directions.  Spread Pesto over each crust. Chop chicken strips into small pieces and sprinkle over crusts.  Add Italian cheese, then crumbled goat cheese.  Drain juice from brushetta and layer tomato mixture over other toppings.  Cook ~ 6-7 minutes.  So yummy and a fast dinner!





It's tailgating/football party time people!

Hot Bacon Onion Dip



As most of you know... I LOVE college football!  The Crimson Tide is my team, but I love watching every game!  This is a wonderful dip that I threw together last weekend for the season opener, to carry to some friends' house.  You could easily make this ahead of time and then just pop it in the oven come game time. 

What you will need:
2 Tbs. butter
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 -  red/purple onion
1 -  yellow onion
3 -  8 oz. cream cheese @ room temp.
3/4 c. mayo
1 bag of the already prepared real bacon pieces (Oscar Meyer makes them I think, or you can make your own, I was crunched for time so I went with store bought.)
1 cup Italian blend shredded cheese
Dried Parsley & Oregano (Optional)

Preheat oven to 400.  OK to get started, I chopped the red/purple onion in the food processor (you want your onions chopped really fine, since this is a dip.)  Melt about 2 tbsp. of butter in a skillet on med to med/high heat.  Add the garlic, if it sizzles your butter temp is good, if not turn up the heat a little and wait a few minutes.  Next, add the chopped purple onion.  Saute` the onion and garlic for ~5-7 minutes, just until they begin to sweat and turn transparent and golden.  (This adds a nice sweet flavor to the dip.)  While your onion is browning, go ahead and chop your yellow onion in the food processor.  Stir together your mayo, cream cheese, and Italian cheese.  Add in the chopped yellow onion. Add in the cooked red/purple onion and bacon pieces. Mix well and pour into a 9x13 baking dish.  Bake at 400 for ~20 minutes.  This can be served with tortilla chips, or any kind of crackers.  I really like it with sea salt pita crackers! Enjoy! :-)