Taco Cornbread Bake

My friend Misty made this recipe and said how yummy it was on her facebook wall.  Of course, I had to google it and look it up.  HOLY yum!  We had it for dinner tonight and really liked it!  The cornbread topping was awesome because it was a sweet flavor on top of the spicy mexican under layers.  Loved this one!

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 Packet of taco seasoning
1/3 Cup water
1 Can of Rotel, drained
1 Can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Can corn, drained
1 Box Jiffy cornbread (plus the ingredients called for on the package)
1 - 1 1/2 Cups shredded cheese
Salsa and sour cream to top it off

Directions:
*In a pan, cook your ground beef on top of the stove.  Then drain the juices/fat out.

*Put your taco seasoning and water into the cooked and drained beef.  Stir well.  Simmer/cook for 2-3 minutes.

*Pour your beans, Rotel, and corn into the ground beef mixture.  Stir it up well.

*Add half of your cheese to the meat mixture.  Stir it up.

*Spray a square baking dish down with cooking spray.

*Turn your oven on to 400*F.

*Make your Jiffy according to the package.  (Mine called for one egg and 1/3 a cup of water.  I let it sit a couple of minutes, then stirred it up again.)

*Pour your meat mixture into the baking dish.  Pour the cornbread on top of the meat mixture.

*Place dish into your oven and bake for 20 minutes.

*After the 20 minutes, pull it out and top it with the remaining cheese.

*Put back in the oven for 2-4 minutes until the cheese has melted.

Be careful, it is really really hot to the touch when it comes out of the oven!  Top it with sour cream and salsa. Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Cookies

I'm a plain cookie fan.  I am!  I am not one to go crazy for loads of sweetness or chunks of anything in my cookies.  This one is from Crico.  I like them!

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Crisco
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1 1/4 firmly packed brown sugar
1 Large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
*Heat oven to 350*F.

*Mix together the shortening, butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract.

*Once the ingredients are light and fluffy, add the flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix well.

*Shape the dough into one inch balls.  I put mine into those fun shaped cookie pans and they took the shape pretty well.  Next time when it is not a holiday I will do the balls however!

*Place the balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet or onto parchment paper (I greased the pan I used...oops).

*Bake for 12-14 minutes.  Remove pan from the oven and let sit for a couple of minutes before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack.

Almond Cookies

These are called Swedish Heirloom Cookies in the cookbook my Mom got them out of.  The problem with naming cookies names like that though, is you are always questioning which cookie they are because you remember them as "the one's with the almonds in them."  These are a thick dense cookie that doesn't expand much when cooking.  They are easy to make and I like them because they aren't one of those cookies you will eat a million of them.  One and you are totally satisfied!

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup shortening (like crisco)
1/2 Cup butter, soft
1 Cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Cups flour
1 Tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 Cups chopped up almonds (buy the sliced one's then cut them up a bit more)
Additional powdered sugar

Directions:
* Put the butter and shortening into a large bowl and mix until fluffy...(ours didn't get fluffy but we mixed it for about 2 good minutes on a medium speed on the mixer).

*Add the salt and powdered sugar.  Mix on low speed until well blended.

*Still mixing on slow speed, add the flour.

*Add the water, vanilla, and almonds.  Continue to mix until everything is well mixed.

*Shape the dough into one inch balls.  I use an ice cream scoop because its always the perfect little ball size.

*Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.

*Use a fork to flatten them down a bit.

*Bake at 325*F for 12-15 minutes.  (Bake until well firmed or lightly browned)

*Coat the cookies in additional powdered sugar if you would like!

Santa Cookies

Its that time of year again: Christmas Season!  I love love love the holidays.  I must admit though, its a little more stressful now that I have kids.  I've been doing so much and finally had a chance to get some baking done.  Here are a bunch of the cookies my Mom and I made today.  Hope you like them!

Ingredients:
2 Boxes of Red Velvet cake mix (If you can find one with pudding inside, I couldn't)
2 Eggs
1 3/4 Sticks of butter, melted
1/4 Cup water
2- 3 Cups white chocolate chips (do to your liking)

Directions:
*Mix the first 4 ingredients together until well blended.  (Mine was SO thick I had a HECK of a time mixing it!  Almost to the point I almost through the batter out haha!)

*Add the white chocolate chips and stir well.

*Spray down a baking sheet with baking spray, or line the baking sheet with parchment paper.

*Pre-heat your oven to 375*F.

*Drop the dough by tablespoons onto your baking sheet.  They really spread out so be careful not to put them too close together.

*Bake for 9-11 minutes.  I only needed 9 minutes, but all of our stoves are different!

*Let sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Burrito Bowl

The other night I was dying for some Chipotle Mexican food... This was easy and I'm sure any of you would have come up with it on your own.  BUT, I feel guilty for not posting in so long so I will just go ahead and post this so you don't all feel left out!  Oh, and 1500 views on the blog isn't too shabby!  Thanks guys!

Ingredients:
2 Cups fast cooking white rice
1 Cup frozen rice
1 Can black beans
2 Chicken breasts
1/2 Cup shredded cheese
1/4 Cup sour cream
1/4 Cup salsa
Dash of lime juice (if you have it)
Dash of salt

Directions:
*In a pot, cook your instant cook white rice.  You can make more or less than the 2 cups if you want...

*Cut your chicken in halves.  Put into a skillet with a drop or two of oil.  Turn onto medium heat.

*Open your can of black beans and rinse them all off.  Put into a bowl and microwave them, or put them into a pot and cook with a drop of water (so they don't burn).  Just heat them up however you want.

*Cook the corn however you want too, pot or dish...

*Cook your chicken through.  Once it is fully cooked pull it out.  Take two forks and shred it by pulling it apart.  Put back into the skillet onto low heat to keep it warm.

*If you want to add some lime juice and salt to your rice you can (chipotle and Qdoba use this in their rice...along with cilantro, but I didn't have any of that!)

*Put your rice on a plate.  Put the chicken on top of the rice, then the corn, then black beans, salsa, cheese, and finally sour cream.  YUMMY!