Tortilla & iced coffee recipe

Two great recipes that I never want to forget.

First homemade tortillas.  The recipe and making them are extremely easy, but rolling out each tortilla is a little time consuming, but I have some tips!  Here's the link to the recipe I found and use http://www.cooks.com/recipe/b93hx9nf/easy-homemade-flour-tortillas.html.
Four ingredients! I love it!  Here are my tips from research and experience - when mixing the dough, start with the flour and salt and mix them together with your hands, then add the oil and mix with your hands until it's a crumbly consistency, add a little less than one cup if just warm water not hot and mix/knead with your hands.  You do not want the dough to be really sticky and tacky otherwise it makes the rolling out process ten times more frustrating.  I use my cutting board, put a little flour on it, pull off about a small fist full of dough and roll it into a ball and then use my fingers to pinch it out into an even consistency in the shape of a circle.  Pat it down on the cutting board and put a tiny bit of flour on top so as you roll it out it doesn't stick to your rolling pin.  Roll it out very thin.  In a preheated nonstick skillet (I have found right around the 7 setting is good but by the end I have to turn it down between 6 & 7) put your dough in and wait until you see air bubbles coming up, flatten them a little and flip and shortly it's done!  This recipe usually makes about 8-10 tortillas and they're good size.  They are really good for home made pizzas and garlic cheese sticks too! (For those I make a pizza with whatever sauce and toppings we want preheat oven to 425 degrees, bake 6 minutes and then put under low broil for 2-3 minutes).  While that may have sounded difficult, it's not, the tips I added have taken me several times of making these to learn and will help cut time significantly!

Okay iced coffee, my friend Gwen from church brought this to my house and it was amazing! Now I used a different coffee the her and mine did not turn out as tasty and I don't think added enough vanilla.  I plan to get the same coffee for next time! In a large container with a tight lid, like a big Preggo jar, that's what Gwen used and left with me so now I have a container just for iced coffee!  Put 6 heaping tablespoons of finely ground coffee (she used Walmart brand decaf).  Next add 3 heaping tablespoons of light brown sugar.  Add a dash of vanilla and a tiny shake of cinnamon.  Then add 3 1/4 cups cold water.  Seal it up tight, shake it up, and refrigerate over night.  In the morning shake it again strain it out (she uses a small sieve lined with a paper towel to keep the coffee grounds out).  And the creamer she gave me was so good with it, which is caramel macchiato! I've only made this once so far and it did not turn out as delicious as hers but like I said I used a different coffee and I thinks it was stronger but it was still very good.  Thanks Gwen for opening my eyes to delicious iced coffee and creamer!  It was so good I had to share the recipe!

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

So I got this recipe on allrecipes.com - I love that site! Anyhow every time I make cookies they turn out different. I think I may finally have the best recipe, in Kyle and my opinion, figured out. I am writing it to share it and also so I never lose this recipe!!!

First get your dry ingredients together in one bowl - 2 cups of all purpose bleached flour (I don't sift, don't own a sifter), 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Mix it with a spoon, set aside.

In a big bowl that you plan to have all your dough in melt 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter. I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, your goal is not to get it watery melty, it's basically to get it soft and able to mix well with the sugar to create a pastey type yummy substance. Kyle thinks I'm crazy b/c I think the butter and sugar mixed together is delicious! Okay so melted/softenedish butter, add 1/2 cup white sugar, and 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar. Mix together with a spoon until creamy and yummy. Then add 1 tablespoon of vanilla, 1 egg yolk (I do the yolk only first in case I accidentally mess up and have a second chance at doing it again, but it really isn't hard, it's just an extra precaution), and add 1 full egg. Use a mixer and beat this together - I put it on the 2nd speed and try not to mix too long, just until well blended and beaten. Then I pour in the dry ingredients and mix it with a spoon. Then I stir in the chocolate chips, if you want melty chocolate like us, use semi-sweet, if you don't want melty chocolate use milk chocolate.

Bake at 325 degrees, on parchment paper or on the pan itself - DO NOT BAKE COOKIES ON ALUMINUM FOIL! I did this foreeeever and it makes them cook weird - I'm cheap, parchment paper isn't, but I will never make cookies on aluminum foil again. Bake for 15 minutes (give or take depending on your oven and how you like your cookies). These are the bomb! And what we like to do is make some right away, after I make the dough, but just enough that we'll eat that evening or a few left over for the next day and then refrigerate the rest of the dough and make them through out the week so we can have fresh cookies. MMMM! Hope you enjoy! 

Meals for this week and next...

So our meal plan is a little off this week and next - it should be good for me though b/c I shouldn't need to go to the store (at least for a big trip) next week. We have six options.
1.)Pot Roast, potatoes, carrots, and rolls (still haven't done this one b/c we had too many leftovers so I froze the roast)
2.)Crockpot Lasagna (didn't do this last week b/c my hubby surprised me with our 2nd honeymoon)
3.)Chicken Fajitas (a favorite that we haven't had in a couple of weeks)
4.)My mom's vegetable soup (freezing the leftovers)
5.)Jalapeno Popper Creamy Sandwiches (first time try, got 5 stars) I'll probably add a little bacon to it as someone suggested in their comments
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jalapeno-popper-grilled-cheese-sandwich/detail.aspx
6.)Baked BBQ chicken, shells'n'cheese, crescent rolls

My mom's veggie soup (so good - way better than what I tried to make before)
She boils her beef first, but we don't actually care for the meat in the soup but we like the flavor. So I'll be using beef stock. She fills a big pot up about 3/4 of the way with water (I think, I'll have to check with her on this) puts salt and pepper. I'll add beef stock. 1 can peas with the juice. 1 can corn, drained. 1 can green beans, drained. 1 can carrots drained.1 potato. 1 can tomato sauce. YUMMY! We like to put tobasco sauce on it. Have I mentioned we like spicy food?! See meal option 5!!! I feel like there is probably more to this soup than I know so I'll double check with my mom but this is what she told me! I should probably apologize to my mom too - I was such a picky eater when I was little, now I LOVE her food. So glad my tastebuds have matured. Love you mom!

Mom call and tell me if this recipe is wrong or missing something. Thanks! And I'll correct the recipe on here if I'm wrong.

By the way the more I do this the more I LOVE it! I find cooking to be much easier. I know when I need to look for easier recipes. To be honest I haven't done any really hard ones. I actually am prefering to eat at home as opposed to out for probably the first time in my life. I like being in control of what we're having and being able to change it if we don't like it. I hate paying for fast food or even restaurant food and then not really enjoying it. I feel like the Lord has blessed my efforts to serve our family in this way and I'm grateful for it. It may sound silly but it truly is a blessing to enjoy cooking and eating with my family.

More meals...

This week...
1.)Nachos (we had them tonight delicious!)
2.)Pancakes/Waffles
3.)Crockpot Lasagna
4.)Chicken Tender Sandwiches & French Fries

Nachos recipe:
We used Taco Seasoned Ground Beef instead of chicken. There were 3 of us eating, Kyle's friend joined us, and I used the small Velveeta Cheese, one can HOT Rotelle, & added a little jalapeno. It only took about 45 minutes on low to melt. I kept it on warm until we were ready to eat, we topped out chips and cheese with sour cream and lettuce. It was very spicy but we like spicy. Here's the link that inspired us. We'll definitely have this regularly. We had some leftovers too.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/01/chicken-nachos-crockpot-recipe.html

Crockpot Lasagna recipe:
Never made it but I'm excited to try it. I won't be making quite as big a portion since we don't want too many leftovers. I'll let you know how it turns out. (I'll be using prepared sauce, as many others said they did in their comments, and I'll be mixing ricotta with the cottage cheese for more flavor I may add some frozen spinach like others too to add a healthy veggie to it.)

http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-lasagna-21706


Oh and here is our van for anyone who missed it on FB.

Meal Plans and Recipes!!

Below is the list of things I have made for dinner lately (except the roast & white chili, I'm making those later this week). My list is still growing, so I'll keep you all updated as I get new and approved dinners! We are definitely finding out though that with just the two of us and Tommy eating, we need to account for more leftover meals, or share with others!

Meals for Dinner:


1.) Chicken Fajitas & chips and salsa
2.) Pancakes/Waffles
3.) Homemade Pizza
4.) Soup (vegetable, potato, white chili, etc) & grilled cheese
5.) General Tso chicken and fried rice (lo mein)
6.) Baked Ziti & Garlic Bread
7.) BLT’s & chips/fries
8.) Chicken Tenders/Chicken wings & fries
9.) Chicken Parm, Garlic Bread, Salad
10.) BBQ & Mac’n’cheese
11.) Mom’s Sloppy Joes & Mac’n’cheese/corn
12.) Pot Roast & crescent rolls
13.) Italian Chicken, potatoes, carrots



1.) Chicken Fajitas!
This is one of our absolute favorites! Very inexpensive and fairly easy.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts (we get the frozen Tyson chicken, I usually take out one large chicken breast, and one small, they differ so much in size, but that's the perfect amount for the veggies)
1 Package of Fajita Seasoning
1 bag of frozen Pepper and onion mix from Kroger ($1.29, no chopping or wasting of unused veggies)
1 bag of Mission brand Whole Grain tortillas (they don't taste weird, we usually don't get whole grain but can't tell the difference and it's healthier, that is until I fry mine :) )
1 bag of Rice Sides Taco Rice
Sour Cream
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Tortilla Chips
Salsa

Preparing: Thaw chicken, cut off fat, cut chicken into small slivers or chunks (I just use my kitchen scissors). I fry my tortillas in a small amount of oil, I think they are better that way, Kyle eats them the healthy way, nonfried. I do that first to get them out of the way and to skip cleaning the skillet in between items. Add a small amount of oil to the frying pan and cook your frozen veggies, once they are tender add in your chicken. Let your chicken cook through, then there should be enough liquid from the thawing of the vegetables to just add your fajita seasoning. (If it looks dry add some water to mix the seasoning). Let everything bubble, then let it simmer so it can thicken up. Make your rice in the microwave in between time. Then build your fajitas! DELICIOUS! Leftovers are pretty good but definitely better fresh!

2.) Pancakes and Waffles - we do the instant mix, Kyle LOVES chocolate chip pancakes and waffles

3.)Homemade Pizza (from Kelley Sisson)
This pizza dough is easy to make and so very cheap! I had tried other recipes and failed horribly and I didn't want a recipe where I had to wait hours to make the pizza. Thanks again Kelley! I cut her recipe in 1/2 and actually we even like to cut it in 1/4 b/c we like really thin crust. I'll post the 1/2 recipe (we use the 1/2 recipe to make 2 large pizzas, she uses the regular recipe to make 2 large)
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon yeast (1 of the small packages of yeast from Kroger, they come in a pack of 3)
1 Cup warm water
2 1/2 Cups flour (I would use a little less flour b/c I sprinkle the cutting board with it when I'm rolling out the dough, maybe do 2 1/4 cups)
1/8 Cup oil
1 Teaspoon sugar
1 Teaspoon salt

Mix ingredients, kneed until firm. Press and roll into pizza pan. Prick dough with a fork. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Brush edges with oil, top with sauce, cheese, and toppings. Bake for 15 more minutes.
*Be sure to spray your pan good so you can get the pizza off easily, for some reason I never spray it quite enough*

4.) White Chili (we also like veggie soup, taco soup, or regular chili) and Pepperjack Grilled Cheese (recipe from Sarah Lewis aka Critter!)
This is the full recipe which apparently even halfing this recipe makes a ton, but I plan to freeze leftovers. I will be halfing this, I just copied and pasted this recipe from an email she sent me. I will also be trying a few shortcuts: using canned chicken, minced garlic from a jar, frozen chopped onion, and I'll be adding some Fiesta Corn.
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (boil for at least 20 mins)
1 clove garlic minced
1 cup chopped onion
4 cans ckn broth
5 cans Bush's Great Northern Beans (not drained) (also, I bought the store brand and they were just fine)
1 16oz jar salsa verde (in international food aisle)
1 can chopped green chilies
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp oregano flakes
1 T ground cumin
juice of 1 lime (1/2 before cooking and 1/2 before serving)
1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
In the biggest pot you got (seriously, i had to use my two biggest), brown the chicken breast in olive oil. (Or just boil and skip this step). Let chicken cool. Add chopped onion and minced garlic to pot with olive oil. Cook until onions are translucent (and smell really really yummy). Shred chicken (with hands is the easiest way) and return to pan with onion and garlic. Add next 8 ingredients to chicken mixture. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours if you have that much patience. (It will be find if it simmers for 45mins-1hr). Add rice and other half of lime juice. Cook until rice is tender. Another can of chicken broth can be added if soup is too thick. Serve with shredded pepperjack cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips. YUM.
 
5.) General Tso Chicken and Fried Rice (I'm trying to find Lo Mein)
We made this once and it was actually really good. Not quite restaurant quality but we're going to tweek it as people commented on the website. I'll post the link. The suggestion from them were to use less cornstarch in the sauce (I agree it got super thick), use brown sugar instead of regular (we also think this makes sense it may help make it a little sweeter). Some of our own tweeks will be to just bake the chicken instead of frying it (Kyle thought the fried taste was overwhelming and it took forever and was messy) and we didn't use the pepper they said we just put red pepper flakes in the sauce and it worked out great. For rice I just bought a microwave rice but next time I'll try something a little tastier.
 
http://www.food.com/recipe/general-tsos-chicken-164706
 
6.) Baked Ziti and Garlic Bread (used to use Chelsea's recipe but I lost it, this is similar if not the same)
This is also from a website. We cut this in half, unless we need to take a family dinner from church, b/c it makes a whole lot! We like to mix some Garlic Parmesan sauce with the marinara for the middle mixture - it makes it a little richer and the marinara sauce isn't overwhelming. Kyle prefers to have some chicken or ground beef on his portion but I like mine without it. Then we just make frozen garlic bread to go with it. So good!
 
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/baked-ziti-ii/detail.aspx
 
7.) BLT's and chips or fries (we use frozen fries) - pretty self explanatory
 
8.)Chicken Tenders/Chicken Wings and fries (all frozen foods, easy dinner)
 
9.)Chicken Parmesan on Garlic Bread with Salad (from Sarah Lewis)
Super easy recipe and it was tasty.
Ingredients:
Frozen chicken tenders
Frozen Garlic Bread
Marinara Sauce
Mozerella Cheese
Salad
 
Cook your chicken tenders, set aside. Cook your garlic bread (I topped our's with cheese). Put the tenders on the garlic bread, pour a little sauce over each one, and add cheese, bake for a couple more minutes (I took the bread out a little early b/c I wanted to melt the cheese on top and knew I would be putting it back in). Serve along side with a salad.
 
10.) BBQ and mac'n'cheese
Crockpot!
Ingredients:
3 thawed chicken breasts
BBQ sauce (our favorite is Kraft Hot BBQ Sauce)
Can of soda
Some onion if you have it
We add red pepper flakes (we like our food spicy)
Buns
Mac'n'cheese
 
Put your chicken, bbq sauce (I eyeball it, we usually use a whole bottle b/c we like it to marinate in it and the bottle is only $1), 1/2 can soda, onion, pepper flakes into the crockpot. I stir the sauce mixture. Turn your crockpot on high and cook for 3 hours or so. Once your chicken falls apart with the fork it's ready. Shred your chicken, you can use some of your sauce in the crockpot or if you have leftovers in the bottle (sometimes the sauce in the crockpot is really thin, that's why I say 1/2 can soda). It's delicious BBQ! Serve with Mac'n'cheese.
 
11.)Mom's Sloppy Joes! (from my wonderful mom!)
1lb Ground Beef (brown it first and drain fat)
Sauce:
1 1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard
1 onion (chopped, I have found that buying frozen prechopped veggies at Kroger really cuts down on prep time, I also get the green pepper this way)
1 green bell pepper
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
2 shakes of hot sauce
2 shakes of chili powder
And 1/2 stick of butter melted mixed with 3/4 cup brown sugar packed

What I do is melt the butter and brown sugar together in the microwave and then add all the other ingredients, mix them together, and pour it over the ground beef.  Add your onion and pepper, and let it cook on the stove top until everything gets bubbly, then let it simmer for 20 minutes or so to let it thicken up. You don't have to let it simmer that long, but it's better if you do. We eat it on buns, usually with mac and cheese. SOOOOO good! And the left overs are amazing too!

12.) Pot Roast, veggies, and crescent rolls (from Sarah Lewis)
I will be using baby carrots instead of big ones & I got a 2 1/2 pound roast, b/c roast is expensive, so it probably won't need to cook quite as long! So excited to try this!

Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4oz.) Campbells Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 pouch (2oz.) dry onion soup & recipe mix
6 small red potatoes, halved
6 medium carrots, cut into 2" pieces
3-3.5-lb boneless beef bottom round roast or chuck pot roast

Stir soup, onion soup mix, potatoes and carrots in slow cooker. Add beef and turn to coat. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-9hrs (4-5hrs on high if you must, but it will turn out better on low). Super easy. Super yum.
 
13.) Italian chicken, veggies, and bread
I would recommend making this recipe on a different week then the Pot Roast #12, the vegetables are pretty much the same. So we're freezing our roast b/c we just had the chicken last night. But it's a cheaper alternative to the roast! I got this from a website as well and we were very pleased with it. I read the reviewers comments and used a can of chicken broth, cut my potatos small, added carrots, onions, and by choice only did 3 chicken breasts (and I just realized I forgot to add cheese, oops!). I'm guessing that my crockpot cooks hot, b/c it did not need as long as the recipe said. I think it took about 4 hours on low.
 
http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotchicken/r/bl111c7.htm
 
LONGEST BLOG POST EVER! haha! Hope it gives you all some good ideas! I'll let you know when I find another! If you know of any good ones, please share!! And a picture of the minivan will be coming soon! I LOVE driving it!