Beef Enchiladas

Sooo here's my recipe for these yummy beef enchiladas! :)

Ingredients:

1 can of enchilada sauce
8 flour tortillas
1 package of ground beef..i use the 90 and above lean ground beef just because we don't need the extra fat to keep this beef mixture soft.
1 large onion finely chopped
1 package of taco mix (or you can create your own taco mixture. I used the package for convenience!)
1 package of shredded cheddar cheese (or whatever mixture of Mexican cheeses you like!)
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce finely chopped (this comes in a small can usually found in the spanish section of the super market..you can place the left over in a Ziploc bag in the freezer if you think it will be awhile again until you use it or in your fridge)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 tablespoons of Sofrito (this can also be found in a jar in the spanish section of your super market)

Directions:
Turn oven on to 350 degrees. In a large skillet or pan, begin heating the olive oil on medium heat. Add the diced onions and black pepper and have them sweat out (meaning cook until transparent..adding a few pinches of salt will help them "sweat" faster). Once the onions begin to look a bit transparent add the sofrito. Mix well for a minute then begin adding you ground beef. Add the entire taco seasoning package. Mix everything in the skillet well. Spoon the meat to break it down into fine pieces while it is cooking for 3 minutes. Add a 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into the meat mixture. Continue to stir all the ingredients and break down the meat with a spoon for 15 minutes. Once this is done turn off the heat and grab a tray. Place 1/4 of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan. Place the remainder enchilada sauce in a wide bowl. One at a time dip a flour tortilla into the enchilada sauce in your bowl (The sauce does not have to be evenly distributed on both sides of the tortilla however you can just rub the sauce around it with your fingers. Don't be afraid to get dirty!!) place the wet tortilla in tray. add a couple of tablespoons of the meat mixture then wrap it. The finish tortillas should lay close to one another. I happened to fit 8 perfectly in this tray. I had a little bit of meat left so I kept the rest in a container for lunch tomorrow.. It would make a great quesadilla filler. :) Top the tortillas with the rest of the enchilada sauce then with shredded Cheddar cheese. As much as you like! Don't use the low fat cheeses because they do not melt well at all. You can then, you don't have to, sprinkle the cheese with a little bit of chili powder and paprika. Once your done with that, cover the tray with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with olive oil. This prevents the cheese from burning under the heat and the oil prevents the cheese from sticking to the aluminum. Let this cook for 30-45 minutes depending on how hot your oven is. Take the aluminum foil off and let it then bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown. Once your tray of enchiladas looks like the picture here.. It's then ready to be eaten!!! Enjoy!!! :)

Crockpot Chili with Crockpot cornbread

So I know I haven't been on in a while..I've been quite busy. However, I always make time to cook. I'v been using my crockpot quite often because I find it convienant to just drop whatever I like into the pot in the morning, go out and run errands, then when i come back home I have a warm meal waiting for me.

This is one of the chili's I like to make. I just recently began cooking cornbread on top. Let me just say, I will never make chili without cornbread dumplings ontop. Its delicious, sweet, and moist.

This is a must try. It's super easy..and delicious!

Ingredients for this chili:

1 can pureed tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1 chopped onion
3 chopped chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce in can (you can find this in a small can in the spanish section of your supermarket)
3tspns of the adobo sauce from the chipotle chili pepper can
2 tablespoons of cumin (you can add more or else..but without it, the sauce will not taste like chili)
2 tablespoons of chili powder
2 tablespoons of paprika or smoked paprika
1 large red pepper chopped
2 teaspoons of onion powder
2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of red pepper powder
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar (white or brown is fine. also you can add more if you like depending on how sweet you like your chili)
1/2 package of ground beef
1 can of black beans (washed and drained)
1 can of red beans (washed and drained)
1/4 cups of water
1/2 a package of steamed corn (you can leave this out..but I like the sweetness it brings to the chili)



After a couple of hours, it will look like this..

This is the brand of steam corn I like to use for pretty much all the recipe's I make with corn.

This is the brand of cronbread mixture I like to use. Follow the instructions (1/3 cups of milk, 1 egg (I use two egg whites instead because it makes the corn bread more moist), and the mixture). I add in the other half of the packaged steam corn to this. You can omit this, but once again, I like it because it add more texture and sweetness.

Once your done mixing the corn bread mixture drop spoonfuls into the crockpot right over your chili. Let the chili and cornbread cook for 45 minutes or so. You can check to see if the cornbread is cooked thoroughly by placing a toothpick or nice through it. If it comes out clean with no batter on it then it is cooked!!.

I don't have a picture of the final product but next time I create this dish I'll be sure to place it on this blog!.. It may not look beautiful in the end..but dont worry!! It will be delicious. YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG WITH THE CROCKPOT!! :)

Pizza

So since I have a bit of time before I leave to go bowling I figured I'd start making this post. This was dinner tonight! I used the left over sauce from my previous post from today. It came out good overall. This was my first time making pizza. I did not make the dough however. I went to my local pizzeria and asked to buy some dough and to my surprise, I was given the dough for free!..In the future I will use a pizza stone. This time, I used aluminum and parchment paper because it was all I had. The pizza was good without the stone however the stone would have gave me a crispier crust.

Ingredients used:
Enough dough to make a large pizza
Olive Oil (Just enough to grease the top of the pizza before adding the following toppings..)
SP&O Sauce (check previous post for recipe)
1 package of Shredded Whole Milk Mozzarella
1/4 cup of parmesean cheese
Chopped fresh parsley to throw on top after pizza has been cooked (as much as you like!)

Cook in oven on 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes (depending on how hot your stove gets). The cheese should be bubbly and brown. At this point you can then throw your chopped parsley on top. I just loved the taste of fresh parsley on any hot italian dish.

I loved how this recipe was less then 6 bucks! I also loved how easy and fast it took me to put this all together too!

One day I am going to attempt to make my own dough. But for now I'm taking it one recipe at a time.

Junior's Cheescake from Brooklyn, NY

Plain Cheesecake, Devil's Food Cake Cheesecake, Marble Cheesecake

One word-> Delicious!

It's pricey but worth it!!