Roasted Potato Tacos --Leftover Extravaganza

We cooked a lot this weekend.  As a family that has kind of turned into one of our things.  Every once in a while though, we look in the fridge and wonder what the heck we are going to do with all the leftovers that are in there, and this Monday was one of those occasions.   I do love leftovers, they make life easier on harried busy weeks, but just like everyone, I sometimes forget what I have and they go to waste.

This recipe was my solution to the leftover situation this week.  We had potatoes leftover from a slow cooker dish I made, and we had made Chiles Rellenos Bake so we had the fixin's for tacos laying around.  My one problem was, we were a little short in the meat category.  Then I remembered a glorious dish that my husband used to get at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, I don't remember the exact name, but it equated to mashed potato enchiladas.

This meal came together pretty quickly thanks to the fact that practically everything was already cooked, the potatoes just needed a quick dice, a squirt of olive oil and a quick 15 minutes in the oven to warm them up and give them a little crust.  I cheated just a little by putting the refrigerator-cold potatoes in the microwave for about two minutes after dicing them up.  This saved some time by getting them warmed up before they went into the oven, otherwise the baking time would have been longer.  It was declared by one of the kids as the best weeknight meal I had made. . . ever!  (I'm going to just take that one with a grain of salt considering the audience)

6-8 Small or Baby Potatoes Baked or cooked
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Taco Seasoning

For Serving:
Tortillas
Sour Cream
Tomato
Lettuce
*Anything else you have laying around that could go on a taco.

1.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and spray a baking sheet or small oven safe pan of your choice, with non stick cooking spray.

2.   Take the potatoes and dice them, you are looking for pieces that are easily managed by a taco, I cut mine up into something like you would see in a bag of diced hashbrowns.  Put the diced potatoes into a bowl,.  If they are leftovers like mine and cold from the fridge, just toss them in the microwave for about 1-2 minutes.

3.  Once the potatoes are a little warmer, add your olive oil and taco seasoning to the bowl and toss or stir to distribute the taco seasoning onto all your little pieces of potato.

4.  Put the potatoes in the baking sheet or pan and put in the oven.  After 7-8 minutes remove the pan and stir the potatoes up a bit, turning them over, and put the pan back in the oven for about 7-8 more minutes.  Remove from oven and assemble your tacos.

Weeknight win!!!

Chocolate French toast

Sunday mornings at our house usually entail some type of "fancy"  breakfast.  It has become our routine.  Egg sandwiches and bacon, eggs in a basket, and pancakes often make the rotation, but every once in a while, when I find a good loaf of bread, french toast is where it is at.  I love French Toast and it is incredibly easy to make.  This recipe can easily be doubled to make a big batch.  Leftover breakfast food to reheat during busy school mornings can be absolute Heaven!

One quick note on Brioche and dunking your bread in the egg mixture.  Brioche is a very soft bread, so when in doubt dunk the bread for a little less time or you may end up with your bread falling apart on you.  

Chocolate Brioche French Toast

1 loaf (approx 14.11 ounces) of Chocolate Brioche, sliced into 3/4 inch slices if not already sliced.

3 eggs 

1/2 Cup Milk 

2 Tbsp Unsalted Butter 

Fruit i.e. raspberries or strawberries, powdered sugar or maple syrup for serving (optional)

1.  Turn your oven onto warm or its lowest setting, get out an ovenproof plate or serving dish. 

2.  In a pie plate or shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs and the milk until the whites and yolks are thoroughly combined.

3.  Spray a griddle or large skillet with non stick spray, set over medium. heat, and add 1 Tbsp of your butter.

4.  Once the butter is melted.   Lightly dunk the bread slices into the egg mixture (I count to three then flip and count to two) and place them into the hot pan.  Cook for about 2 minutes per side.  Remove from pan and place onto your serving dish or plate and place that batch into the oven.  

5.  Melt another slab of butter if you need to and repeat with remaining bread slices until they are all cooked.  Serve with butter, fruit, powdered sugar, or syrup.

Spicy Cowboy Caviar Salad

It has been a great summer so far, and although we have had some realy scorcher days, and some super humid ones, like wet warm towel humid, we have had some spot on perfect days too.  Magical days where you just don't want to go inside, We've had lots of projects this summer that have kept us busy, but we've also been making an effort to eat at home and eat home cooked food too.  On busy workdays,  a salad like this, that can be paired up with a sandwich or something grilled can turn a potential boring meal into a complete meal. 

You could definitely add tomatoes to this salad if you want, we are coming into that time of year, however, if you are planning on eating this over a couple of days I would leave them out as the vinegar in the dressing tends to break them down and make them a little mushy.  

Cowboy Caviar Bean Salad

What You’ll Need:

For the Dressing: 

½ Cup Vinegar

½ Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil

For the Salad:

1-Bell Pepper Diced

1-Small Red Onion Diced

1-2 Jalapenos (Optional-and seeds and ribs removed if you don’t want too much heat)

1 15 oz can Black Eyed Peas, drained and rinsed

1 15 oz Can Black Beans, drained and rinsed

1 15 oz Can Chick Peas

1 15 oz Can Kidney Beans

1 15 oz Can White and Yellow Corn (or about 1 cup of frozen or fresh sweet corn)

½ Cup Chopped Cilantro

½ Cup Chopped Green Onions

To make the dressing: 

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small pan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.  Boil for a minute and then remove the pan from heat and allow to cool.

To make the salad:

Combine all the remaining ngredients in a large bowl except for the cilantro.  Add the cooled dressing and stir well to mix.  Refrigerate the salad for at least an hour before serving, add cilantro and mix before serving.  

Serve alongside your main course of choice, or eat with tortilla chips. 

Super Easy Lasagna Soup

Oh my goodness, it might actually be spring!  We've been having 40 degree shifts in the weather on a daily basis it seems.  This last weekend was stunningly gorgeous, and it was all you could do to drag me back inside.  With spring comes the yardwork, mowing, cleaning out old brush and leaves, and getting ready for the planting season.  With that being said, sometimes it is nice to have the option to throw some food in the crockpot and get back outside to the things that need to get done.  This is pretty much a dump, stir, and walk away type of meal, once you have your sausage browned, (I just threw mine in the oven while I was working on other things).   Grab yourself a loaf of bread for dipping and you are good to go.

**One note, depending on the brand of sausage and chicken broth, this soup can be very salty.  I suggest adding everything but the broth into the crockpot and then taking a little sip of the liquid.  If it is salty I would substitute water for the broth, if it is bland go with the chicken broth.

1 Package lasagna Hamburger Helper (reserve the noodles)
1 lb Italian Turkey Sausage, browned
1 lb Frozen sweet corn
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic
1 Tbsp parmesan Cheese
2 Cups Chicken Broth (low sodium if possible)**
3 Cups Water**
Parmesan & Mozzerella cheese for serving

1. Add all the ingredients to the crockpot, except for the noodles (you can put them in now, just be warned the texture is going to get a little mushy) and cheeses.  Stir to combine.
2. Cook on high for 1 hour.
3. Add noodles and continue to cook for 30 minutes until the noodles are cooked.
4. Serve with the cheese, and nice loaf of bread for dipping.

Roasted Veggies--Weeknight Salvation

I'm putting this very simple recipe out here because sometimes I think we forget how simple and easy it can be to eat healthy.  With a little planning and pre-chopping, this is ready to go in the oven in about two minutes, and then you walk away while it cooks.  Add some grilled chicken, shrimp, or fish, and you have not only prepared a delicious meal, but you've given you body something healthy and full of nutrients.

This is not a very exacting recipe, turn the oven on super hot, chop up a bunch of veggies (hopefully, you've already washed and chopped them on the weekend), give them a shot of olive oil, salt, and pepper and bake until cooked and crispy.  That's all there is to it.  My vegetable combination is usually broccoli, cauliflower, (one of my great delights has been discovering how much I love roasted cauliflower) onions, & bell peppers.  Occasionally, mushrooms and zucchini make the pan too.

4-5 Cups Chopped Vegetables of your choice (broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, onion, etc)
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil (you can use olive oil cooking spray if you like)
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.


Combine your vegetables in a large bow, or directly onto the pan if you want to get rid of one more dish.  Drizzle the olive oil over the vegetables and then add the salt & pepper, or seasoning of your choice.  Use you hands to distribute the oil and spice over the vegetables.


Bake for 20 minutes, bring the pan out and stir the veggies around a little.  If you are satisfied with how the vegetables are cooked at this point in time, go ahead and serve.  I usually put them back in for 10 more mintues, I like some crispiness on the broccoli and cauliflower.

Pull out of the oven and sprinkle with parmesan cheese if you like.

A Note on Breakfasts

I don't like eating breakfast. Yes, as a general concept I love the thought of a freshly baked muffin or egg sandwich on a quiet morning, but who has those during the week? Breakfast more often than not is just something that I know I have to do, and need to get it done quickly. I'm not a cereal eater, somewhere along the way from kid to adult, its appeal just went away. I do sometimes get an odd hankering for a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch or raisin bran for a snack in the evening. Now add to this aversion, the fact that if I'm counting calories, the muffin, the cinnamon roll, oh the poor doughut, they are out the window as breakfast options. If I'm going to have any chance of staying on track throughout the day I've found that protein is the way to go. Once I have the taste of sweetened goodness, it"s kind of over, especially if I'm at the starting line. So here are some breakfast go to's that I keep coming back to.

Boiled Eggs
2 oz lunchmeat (any kind), cheese, and blueberries
Mini Bagel with light cream cheese or laughing cow cheese, red pepper jelly, & smoked turkey
Protein smoothies 

Cashews (just be mindful of the serving size)

Banana and  Cheese Stick

Apple and 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter 

Half an Avacado, mashed and spread on Toast 

Dr. Pepper Smoked Cod

Something amazing has happened!  Someone GAVE us a smoker.  Oh my goodness, there are going to be lots of smoker recipes coming your way.  I'll have to give part credit to my husband as I post them because so far this has been a collaboration between us.  We are rocking the smoker.  

You are getting first, what we do best, fish, and it is amazing. Don't be discouraged from trying this dish grilled.  Even without the smoke, the marinade for the fish still shines.  

What I have learned about smoking so far is that it is not an exact science.  If you are new to smoking like I am, make sure that you start simple and get yourself a good digital meat thermometer.  I'm guessing everyone's smokers are a little different, and it is very important to go by temperature of your meat, and not necessarily the cooking times that you may see in a recipe.   

Marinade:

1 Cup Dr. Pepper (fully loaded, no diet)

2  tsp. Salt 

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Freshly Ground Black Pepper 

1 to 2 lb Cod Fillets

Disposable Aluminum cookie or baking sheets

Meat Thermometer (mine is digital)

Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a plastic bowl or bag and then add the fish.  The fish only needs to marinade for about 30-45 minutes.  

Get your smoker going, you are looking for a temperature somewhere in the area of 200 to 225 degrees.  Spray your disposable pans with cooking spray.  

Remove your fish from the marinade and place them on the prepared disposable pan.  

Place the pan full of fish on the grate inside your smoker, and close the lid.  Your smoker's temperature may spike since you had the lid open, so just keep and eye on it and get ready to close your vents a little if you need to bring the temp down. 

After about 30 minutes on the smoker, you want to check the fish and see if they are done.  You are looking for an internal temperature of 145 degrees, so when you get there, it's time to take them off.  

Smoked fish is awesome served hot or cold, so if you got 'em, smoke 'em.  

Shrimp Cocktail Dip

We are now entering the post Christmas season, however, there are still family gatherings, office parties, and lest we forget, the Super Bowl is coming, too.  This recipe is easy to assemble, and you can add the ingredients to your list of things that you keep on hand, just in case you need to throw something together on the fly.  

This dish is appealing on many different levels, it can be made the day before, it travels really well, and of course, who doesn’t love Shrimp Cocktail?  

1 8oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature, you need it soft so that you can spread it out.

1 jar Cocktail Sauce, your choice

1 bag extra small, cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, and with tails off

1 Cup Sharp Cheddar, Shredded

½ Cup Green Onions, sliced (You'll notice these are missing from the picture below
Crackers or Fritos for serving 

• In a 9"x11" cake pan, spread the cream cheese out over the entire bottom of the pan.
• Pour the cocktail sauce over the cream cheese and spread it over the cream cheese.
• Now, depending on what you choose to eat this with, you may want to consider quickly chopping up your shrimp.  Sometimes if they are a little on the larger size, it makes for awkward eating, and dicing them up just helps keep more of them on the cracker or chip. Whatever you decide to do, go ahead and spread the shrimp over the cocktail sauce.
• Sprinkle the cheese and green onions over the shrimp and you are ready to serve.

**If you are making this well before when you are going to serve it, you want to make sure you take it out of the fridge at LEAST 30 minutes beforehand, The cream cheese has to have some time to soften before eating, or it won't cooperate when you try to scoop it up with the chip or cracker.**