{Recipe} No Measuring Healthy Taco Filling and Seasoning

Funny, my kids aren't real crazy about meat but they love tacos!  Love tacos!  So this is my chance to feed them healthy ingredients since they will eat well when it's "taco night".

The two things I do:
1.  Add a can of black beans.
2.  Homemade taco seasoning

3 reasons for adding black beans:  it  almost doubles my quantity of filling, it adds good protein and fiber, and it reduces the cost.  (My kids prefer ground turkey but sometimes I use a good ground beef and they eat it all the same.)

3 reasons for using homemade taco seasoning:  I already have the ingredients on hand, waaaay less salt, and I know exactly what is in it.

I need to preface this recipe by saying the amounts of seasonings I use give the meat/beans a mild flavor and is not spicy.  My kids don't like spicy.  This is for a pound-ish of meat plus one can of beans...obviously add more seasoning if you use more meat or want a stronger flavor!

No-measuring Homemade Taco Filling:

Ingredients:  OH, and I don't measure! (Because you don't have to unless it must be exactly the same every.single.time you make it.) 

• A BIG palmful of chili powder...
• Medium size palmfuls of the cumin, onion powder, oregano, garlic powder, and paprika.
• Just a small amount of salt (unless you prefer more).  I give it a good sprinkle around the pan and use sea salt with large granules. 

I am using ground oregano because I bought it for something and am (still) trying to get rid of it.  Also, sometimes I increase the cumin to a big palmful if I feel like it.


Directions:

1. Add everything to meat either during or after it is browned.  I tend to add seasoning to the partly cooked meat and then the beans to the fully cooked meat- in case you were wondering!
2. If the meat is getting dry (maybe because it is lighter fat), add some water.  About 1/4 cup.  This will help everything mix.

{KITCHEN TIP}
Now with the doubled the amount of filling needed to feed my family, I put the rest in freezer bags once cooled.  And VERY often, I cook up 2 pounds of meat and 2-3 cans of beans.  It is just as easy to cook 2 or 3 pounds of meat as it is to cook one.  I just have to pull out the bigger skillet, that's all!

I cook once and have dinners in the freezer for later!!



I am entering a contest to win a $75 Amazon.com gift card here:  My entry into Just Something I Whipped Up sponsored by Appliances Online and the Bosch Washing Machines, .

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"Real Simple's" Tomato Soup

Last month I told you how I was going to go right down the list of quick dinners from Real Simple Magazine's  list of easy dinner recipes... Well, not exactly knocking them out!  I have made about 4 of them.  I have to make them when my husband is home (which is rare these days) because my kids don't have the appreciation for the food.  

From RealSimple.com

This recipe here, might have changed my life.  I don't know if I can ever buy a can of tomato soup again.  I am sure I will.  But I will regret it.  The soup recipe is e.a.s.y with a capital "E"!!  And delicious, delicious, delicious!!  AND...it freezes great!!!!  (Bonus.)

**Only one thing...I did not make the roast beef and horseradish paninis to go with the soup.  I made ham and swiss paninis- more of a crowd-pleaser in our house.

Tomato Soup With Roast Beef, Cheddar, and Horseradish Panini

Serves 4| Hands-On Time: 20m | Total Time: 45m

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the grill pan
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
• 3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish
• 8 slices sandwich bread
• 8 ounces thinly sliced roast beef
• 8 ounces sharp white Cheddar, sliced
• 2 cups baby arugula (1 1/2 ounces)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the tomatoes (with their juices), broth, thyme, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Working in batches, in a blender, puree the mixture until smooth.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and horseradish. Form sandwiches with the bread, roast beef, Cheddar, arugula, and half the horseradish mixture. Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat and cook the sandwiches until the cheese is melted, 5 to 6 minutes per side. Top the soup with the remaining horseradish mixture and serve with the sandwiches.

Kate's Two Cents:  Simple to make this way (vs. the canned).  Where has this been all my life?!  The taste is like you would expect in a restaurant!  I didn't measure the thyme.  I eyeballed it and probably used more...but it was perfect to me.  Everyone loved it!  

Next time I will:  not be lazy and dump the whole box of chicken broth in the pan because I didn't want to measure out 3 1/2 cups.  Or maybe I will!  The soup was a bit thinner than it was supposed to be, but still awesome!   Also I will probably double it and have more to freeze.

Camouflage Birthday Cake

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Haven't you ever wanted to ask your party guests:  "Chocolate or Camouflage?"

It's pretty fun!  

My son, Nicholas, turned seven last week.  He asked for a G.I. Joe cake.  I don't really make cakes.  I just whip up some box cake mix and some buttercream icing (oh how I love buttercream icing!) and put them together to be somewhere between "not hideous" and "not embarrassing".  

So the inside of the cake was camouflaged, too!  I added a bunch of food coloring  to good ol yellow cake mix.  The green is just regular food coloring liquid.  The brown is actually the Wilton icing color brown.  Then I just blobbed cake batter in different colors in the pan.  The key was to do small blobs and don't swirl it.  I did about two "layers" of blobs.  I wanted camo in each bite!

Nicholas' party was last night but his actual birthday was earlier in the week.  He got this Boba Fett helmet as a gift.  When he was done playing with it, Stella and I gave it a try!

Then our tradition of measuring the kids on the growth chart....

He grew 3 inches since last year!

Then another tradition...my husband and the kids make me a cake for my birthday.  Which is two days after Nick's.  November always means a lot of cake for us!  

I've got some great hair, yes, thanks.

And if you are trying to count the candles, go right ahead.  

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{Bucket List}:: #28 Zucchini Fritters - made and eaten!

Yes, I really did scratch another one off my Craft Bucket List!  Woot woot!


This one, I know is kinda weird for a bucket list...I mean, it's zucchini!  But, I really like zucchini.  I do wonder if it has anything to do with the one summer, when I was a kid, when the zucchini from our garden were the size of your thigh!!  And we had tons of them!  I remember we started calling them "zukes" for short.  My mom cooked it every which way possible.  She even hid it in recipes just so it wouldn't go to waste.  We had enough zucchini bread in our freezer to feed every family on our street (if we shared, that is! YUM!)  Maybe that's why I like it.  Or, maybe it is that zucchini is such a neutral flavored veggie that I can pair it with any kind of meal.  Ok, that and the zucchini bread!


But I was really excited to see a *new* way to cook up my favorite squash.  Kelly at Creating a Family Home posted this very easy zucchini recipe and I just could not resist.  The basic recipe was simple:  zucchini, breadcrumbs, eggs, herbs of your choice, and garlic.


So, Completed:  #28. Zucchini Fritters {@ Creating a Family Home}
This is what mine looked like mixed up.  Probably a little too wet.  I had a giant zucchini so I added more breadcrumbs.  Then to compensate for the dryness, I added an extra egg.  Maybe it was too much.

Here is a round of fritters in the pan...

And here are some burnt-looking fritters with a meatball sub.  They were not burnt tasting though!  They were really good.  I really tried not to brown them up but I couldn't help it.  It doesn't bother me, but my son always complains if food has black on it (even grilled hot dogs).

I just picked up a 3-pack of zucchini today at the store for 99 cents!  I bet I will make these again this week.   I am happy to have a new side dish to add to my repertoire!

Simple, Real Simple Recipes

You know the magazine, Real Simple, right?

Did you see in last month's issue, they featured a month of easy dinner recipes?  They have invited their readers to follow along with their staff and make the recipes- their staff will be blogging all about it.  I looked at the recipes, and since they are healthy and yes, easy, I have decided to try them out.  They even made a printable shopping list for each week!  I mean, this might be easy enough for even me!

All of their photos just look so pretty.  And just from a photo, you know the ingredients!  No creamy mystery sauces or veggies hiding in cheese.  Fresh proteins.  Fresh veggies.  Fresh herbs.  A natural approach to flavor, I suppose you can say.

My plan is to select one or two each week to try out.  I will only be making ones I think have potential to be made again and again.  Which means, they have to pass the kid-test.  And the lazy-chef test.

I thought I would review the recipes that I have made here.  Real Simple is a very popular magazine so maybe you already saw the "Month of Dinners" article, the gorgeous photos, but haven't yet tried them out.  

First up:  Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina.

Recipe From Real Simple:

Ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash (2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 pound fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
• 2 ounces fontina or Gruyère, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450° F. On 2 rimmed baking sheets, toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once and rotating pans halfway through, until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, fontina, ¼ cup of the cooking water, and ½ teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat (add more cooking water if the pasta seems dry). Sprinkle with additional fontina

I was so proud- I tried my very best to follow all the directions to the T!  I did alter a couple of ingredients but only slightly.  I just used a package of pre-sliced non-fancy mushrooms.  I also used dried sage (rubbed sage to be exact) instead of the fresh because that is what I already had.  I probably over-seasoned the veggies, but man oh man, they were SO good.  

Kate's Two Cents:  Super easy.  Few ingredients.  Everyone loved it!  

Next time I will:  not mix the veggies until *just* before serving.  I felt like I was bruising the squash when I mixed it up.  

In case you wondered...it did not look like the picture!  I love the presentation of a meal just as much as the taste.  I think next time, I will show you the "real-life" pictures of what the dinners look like.  

{Recipe} Fudgy Pumpkin Brownies (made with 2 ingredients!)

I wanted to call everyone I know today to tell them about these brownies!  

Because I made them with 2 ingredients.  Only.  Nothing else.  

I did not come up with this recipe.  My sister told me about it this summer.  And she got it from her co-worker.  It sounded too easy.  I just could not imagine how it would turn out.  How would it taste?!

Brownie mix + Canned Pumpkin = awesome fudgy brownies

I promise.

Just dump them in and mix.

I used a 13x9 pan and baked it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

(If you want thicker brownies, use a smaller pan and adjust time/temp.)

Ok, I will tell you, they are not cakey brownies at all.  They are a very chewy, soft, fudge-like consistency.  You know when you try to turn your recipes to fat free with applesauce and splenda??  OK.  Well not quite as weird-rubbery-chewy as those.  Think like brownie fudge- but less fat and calories and more fiber!

Pumpkin Brownie Love!!!!

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{Recipe} :: Pumpkin Everything Cookies (Free printable recipe card)

I signed up to bring the snacks for Stella's preK class this week. Lucky me, I got a short week (and didn't even realize it when I signed up). Since we were out of town this weekend, I had to stick to my old reliables for healthy school snacks.

1. Fruit.  Today I sent bananas and a plastic knife so the teacher can cut each banana in half.
2. String Cheese.
3. A "mix". I just use a few items. These are the 4 I used today: chex cereal, pretzels, yogurt covered raisins, and mini marshmallows.
4. My Pumpkin Everything Cookies. I know they are cookies, but they are made with some good-for-you ingredients.

Since it is so close to fall, I was eager to make my first (of many) batches of these this year. They are fully customizable, too!  I just use whatever "everythings" I have on hand.

...Here is my recipe for a very ADAPTABLE pumpkin cookie that FREEZES very well, too!...

{Recipe} Pumpkin Everything Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground cloves

And the "everything" part:
1 cup chips - -chocolate, white, mini, peanut butter, etc.
1 cup crunch - - oats, granola
1 cup nuts - - slivered almonds, chopped walnuts, pecans
1 cup dried fruit - - cranberries, golden raisins, raisins, etc.

1.  In a large bowl, mix butter and sugars. Beat in egg and pumpkin.

2.  In another bowl, combine flours, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cloves. Gradually add this to the pumpkin mixture. Stir in the "everything" ingredients.

3.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a baking sheet. They don't really spread out when you bake them, so about 2 inches apart is good. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Cool on wire racks. These cookies also freeze very well!!

The recipe made about 48 cookies.  So after I bagged up all the cookies for Stella's classmates, I was left with just four.  What is four cookies?!  A snack for me.  I had opened one of those huge cans of pumpkin to make these and just froze the leftover pumpkin for future cookies.  (There is about 3 cups of pumpkin in one of the big cans. I divided the pumpkin into two ziplocs and put into the freezer.)


These are just my favorite go-to cookie that I don't feel bad giving to my kids.  I always over measure the pumpkin, too.  Today I used craisins, mini choc chips, and oats.  I didn't know if the kids would eat them if I put a nut in them.  No allergies in the class, I just thought they would freak out and not eat them.  They may not eat them anyway, I realize that.  These kids are 4.

If you would like to print out this recipe to keep, click below and print.  

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