Mexican Pizza

We love having this for dinner.
Stuff tostada shells with a creamy combination of ground beef, taco seasoning mix, refried beans and shredded cheese. The result will be tasty and satisfying.
Ingredients
8 ozs. ground beef
3/4 cups water
1 package (1.25-oz.)Taco Seasoning Mix
1 can (16-oz.) Refried Beans, divided
1 package (10-ct.) Ortega Tostada shells
2 cups nacho and taco blend shredded cheese, divided
Toppings: shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sliced ripe olives, sliced avocado, chopped fresh cilantro, sliced green onions, sour cream, guacamole, whole kernel corn, black beans, ORTEGA Thick & Chunky Salsa
BROWN beef; drain. Stir in water and seasoning mix. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes or until mixture is thickened.SPREAD 2 tablespoons beans over each tostada shell. Top with 1/2 cup meat mixture and 1/4 cup cheese. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Garnish with desired toppings. www.Ortega.com

Ginger!

I read a tip on a blog. Buy ginger, peal it, freeze it and use it straight from the freezer. I bought this ginger and my daughter said it looked like a demented person!

Oreo Cake!

We were looking for a new cake to have for a birthday a few years ago and I asked my sister and she found this recipe for us. We love it. We have tried it with a few different kinds of frosting, but we like it the best with whipped cream and oreos!

1 White Cake Mix
1 1/4 Cup Water
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil
3 Egg Whites
1 1/2 Cup Oreo Cookies, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine cake mix, water, oil, and egg whites until smooth; gently stir in crushed cookies. Pour batter into greased and floured 9 x 13 pan. Bake 25 - 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

Whipping Cream

Crushed Oreos

Beat cream and stir in oreos!

Blueberry Torte!

E remembered this as one of his favorites. So he asked for it for his birthday.

1 1/2 Cups Flour
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Cube Butter

Blend as for pastry. Press into an 8-by-11-inch pan. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely.

Cook 2 large packages vanilla pudding according to package directions. Cook pudding is the best. Cool. I wanted to cool it fast. So I put the pudding in a plastic bowl and put ice and cold water in a larger bowl. Placed the pudding bowl in the ice and stirred the pudding until it was cool. Spread over crust.

1 can Stewart's blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
Cook until thick. Spread over pudding. Chill. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
or:
You can use
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch.
Cook and stir until thick.(This is what I do when blueberries are in season. You can even use frozen.)

Asparagus with Breadcrumbs and Parmesan

This was delicious. I quartered the recipe.

4 slices white bread(3 oz)

3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan

Course Salt and Ground Pepper

2 Large Bunches Asparagus(about 1 lb each), ends trimmed, stalkes peeled

1/2 Lemon

Preheat the oven to 425'. In a food processor, process bread until coarse crumbs form. Transfer breadcrumbs to a small bowl. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil. Add the parmesan, season with salt and pepper, stir with a fork to combine. Arrange the asparagus in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and season with salt and pepper. Top with breadcrumb mixture and bake until breadcrumbs are golden brown and asparagus is tender, about 20 minutes.(Don't use extra thin asparagus or it will be to overcooked.) Squeeze with lemon juice before serving. (I didn't use lemon juice.)

Lamb!

Birthday dinner for Hubby!

I did a combination of a couple of recipes and I think it turned out great!

2 Heads Garlic
3 Tbps Olive Oil
1 Leg of lamb, Boneless
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 Tbsp Rosemary, chopped (I used dry)

Preheat the oven to 350'. Cut off the tops of the garlic heads and brush the cut section with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Set garlic cut side down in a pan and roast until it is soft to the touch, about 30 minutes*. Let the garlic cool for 5 minutes, then squeeze the roasted cloves out of their skins and into a bowl. Mash with a fork and spread over the top of the lamb.

*Meanwhile, (if the roast has netting on it, cut it off. After you are done seasoning the roast and putting the garlic on it, tie it with kitchen string) place the roast in a roasting pan and season with salt, pepper, and the rosemary. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. (The time it takes for the garlic to cook.) Preheat oven to 450'. After spreading the garlic on the roast let sit on the counter until the oven is heated. Bake the roast 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350' and bake until the meat thermometer reaches 125-130 (125 was to rare). Tent the roast with foil and let it rest 20 minutes before slicing. This lets the juices reincorporate into the roast.

Biscuits and Gravy!

I Love to get biscuits and gravy when we go out to breakfast. E does not like to go out to breakfast. He can't stand to spend money on something he can make better at home. So I tried the Pepper Gravy recipe I got from my friend V and added sausage or just cooked sausage patties. SUPER DELICIOUS! I found an excellent biscuit recipe and tweeked it a bit. It was so easy I don't know why I didn't try it before.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes about 15

4 Cups All-purpose Flour
4 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Sugar
2 Cups Buttermilk
1 Cup (2 sticks) Butter, cut into pieces
1. Preheat oven to 375'. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
2. Add butter, use a pastry blended until the largest pieces are the size of peas.
3. Add buttermilk, and stir just until mixture comes together; the batter will be sticky. Use a 1/2 cup scoop, a large cookie or ice cream scoop, to scoop the dough onto the cookie sheets.
4. Bake until lightly browned, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven; cool on a wire rack. Serve warm.

BLACK PEPPER GRAVY
1/4 Cup Butter
1/4 Cup Flour
4 Cup Milk (I like whole milk)
2 TSP Salt
1 1/2 TSP Black Pepper
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in flour and saute until light brown. Add milk whisking constantly. Add salt and pepper.

English Breakfast Scones

My sister Holly, when she lived in Lovely downtown Los Angeles, went to this Lovely little tea shop a couple blocks from her home. They were kind enough to give her the recipe for these delicious Scones. this is one of our favorite desserts. We love to use the left over cream, when there is any, for the filling for crepes.

English Breakfast Scones

3 Cups Flour

3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, cut in pieces and chilled
½ Cup Sugar

4 oz Cream Cheese, chilled
1 Tbsp Baking Powder

1 egg or 1/4 Cup Egg Substitute
½ Tsp Salt

½ Cup plus 2 Tbsp Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400'. Grease or spray a large cookie sheet. Combine flour, sugar, powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter and cream cheese until like course meal. Add the egg and buttermilk and mix until dough forms. Do Not overwork or the scones will be tough.
Add one of the variations:
Strawberry: 1 9oz Jar Strawberry Jam or Jelly OR 2/3 Cup Frozen Strawberries, chopped
Blueberry: ½ Cup Frozen Blueberries
Peach/Apricot:1 9oz Jar Apricot Jelly OR 2/3 Cup Dried Peaches or Apricots Chopped
Turn the dough out on a board and pat to ½ " thickness. Cut into 2' squares OR scoop dough directly from bowl with a ice cream scoop for extra tender scones. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10 minutes; reduce heat to 375' and bake 15 more minutes until light. Serve with cream.

Cream
8 oz Sour Cream ½ Lemon, Juice of
Powdered Sugar 1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Pint Heavy Cream
Combine sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla, and powdered sugar to taste. Whip the cream in a separate bowl adding powdered sugar to taste. Fold together and chill.
(I will add a picture of how it looks with cream next time I make them.:)

Oreo Delight

At christmas we had the yummiest (is that a word) dessert at my sisters house. So I got the recipe and we made it with vanilla pudding, because E is a chocolate. . . hmmm I can't say he hates all chocolate, but close enough. It turned out very good. I forgot to take a picture of it with the crushed oreo's on it. It looked great.

OREO DELIGHT

35 Oreo cookies (1 whole pkg.) - my sister prefers mint flavor

6 Tbsp. margarine, melted

1 pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. sugar

2 Tbsp. milk

1 (12 oz.) tub Cool Whip, thawed

3 1/4 c. cold milk

2 pkg. instant Jell-O pudding

optional: more crushed Oreos or Andes Mint baking chips to sprinkle on top

Mix crushed cookies and butter in medium bowl. Press firmly onto bottom of 9" x 13" baking dish. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and 2 Tbsp. milk in medium bowl with wire whisk until blended. Stir in 1 1/4 c. Cook Whip. Spread over crust.Pour 3 1/4 c. milk into bowl. Add both pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk for 2 minutes. Pour over cream cheese layer. Let stand 5 minutes. Drop remaining Cool Whip over pudding and spread. Sprinkle more crushed Oreos or Andes Mint baking chips on top. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Broccoli Cauliflower Soup

This is my Moms Broccoli Soup recipe that I make with half Broccoli and half Cauliflower. It is one of those comforting foods that I love to make when it is cold or rainy or snowy or I just have broccoli and cauliflower that I need to take care of before they walk out of my fridge on their own.

Broccoli Cauliflower Soup

1 ½ Lbs Broccoli, Cauliflower, or half and half
2 Tbsp or 6 Cubes Chicken Bouillon
½ Cube Butter
1 Small Onion or 1/4 Cup Dry Chopped Onion
3/4 Cup Flour
2 Cups Milk
1 Large Can Evaporated Milk

Combine in a large stockpot; 2 cups water, boullion, broccoli, and/or cauliflower. Bring to a simmer and cook until Barely tender, about 5 minutes. In another pot saute ½ cube of butter and the small onion until the onion is translucent, if using onion flakes just mix until the butter is melted. Take it of the heat and whisk in 3/4 cup flour. When well combined slowly whisk in 2 cups milk and evaporated milk until smooth. Cook on low heat until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Add the flour mixture to the broccoli-cauliflower mixture and heat. DO NOT boil or it will curdle. If it is too thick you can add a little more milk. Enjoy!