Mexican Lasagna

I got this from Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals and adapted it to my own liking.

What you need:

• 2 pounds ground turkey (or chicken or beef, whichever you prefer. We've found that the turkey tastes best!)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/2 red onion, chopped (I hate onions, so I don't use these, but the recipe called for it)
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 taco seasoning packet
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels (or 1 can drained corn)
• 8-12 Tortillas (I use corn, but flour would be fine)
• 2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
• 2 scallions, finely chopped (optional for the top, I always forget!)

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add meat and season with chili powder and red onion. Brown the meat, 5 minutes. Add taco sauce. Add black beans and corn. Heat the mixture through, 2 to 3 minutes then season with salt, to your taste.

Cut the tortillas in half or quarters to make them easy to layer with. Build lasagna in layers of meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. Repeat: meat, tortilla, cheese again. Bake lasagna 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Top with the scallions and serve.

Chocolate chip cookies

These are Nestle Toll House cookies! I made them for a recent Bible study and they were really good!

What you need:

2-1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup butter (2 sticks)

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups chocolate chips (12 oz package)

1 cup nuts (optional)

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 375

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well after each egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheet

Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

Banana Bread (Muffins)

After trying twice to make banana bread with NO success (the outside was burnt to a crisp, and the inside was still runny! GROSS!!), my mom-in-law suggested making muffins instead. Total success. I had to play with the times and I have a gas stove, so if yours is electric you will have to figure out your own time. I just use the Betty Crocker recipe

What you need:

1-1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter (softened)

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk (the recipe called for buttermilk, but I never have any so I always use regular milk)

1-1/2 cups ripened bananas (3-4 whole bananas)

1 tsp vanilla

2-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup nuts (optional)

1 cup chocolate chips (optional, and I don't use them)

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl. Beat until creamy. Stir in the eggs.  Add bananas, milk, and vanilla, beating until smooth.  Add in flour, baking soda, and salt (I normally stir the baking soda and salt into the first cup of flour so you don't get a salty spot in your muffins!) Beat until smooth. Stir in the nuts. 

Line muffin tin with muffin cups. The muffins don't rise a ton so you can fill them close to the top.

Cook 25 minutes (it took me a while to get the timing perfect. I normally pull them out when they are lightly browned on the top and take them out of the muffin tins so they don't keep baking.

My husband and I LOVE to have these as a nice change to the daily granola bar breakfast. And it totally makes me feel like a good wifey since I can bake breakfast muffins!!

Basic Crepes

I found this recipe online, and adapted it based on some reviews and some personal findings.


What you need:
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (One time I didn't have milk so I used 1/4 c water, 1/4 c hazelnut creamer, and it was really good!!)
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs melted butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup powdered sugar (I add this to make the edges a little crispy)


What to do:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, milk, water, and melted butter.  Gradually add in the flour, salt, and powdered sugar (I mix the dry ingredients in another bowl before adding to wet ingredients).


Heat your griddle to medium high. I butter the pan a tiny bit.  Use 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe and tilt the pan in a circle to get the batter to coat the pan.  *If the batter is heating too much to swirl, then either you are waiting too long to swirl or your heat is too high!


Cook until the under side is lightly brown, then flip. 


Then enjoy!!




-This one's for you Cátia!

Chicken Enchiladas

If you are like me, you are not very creative when it comes to cooking. Give me a recipe and I can recreate it, but I could never win an Iron Chef competition. I'd be the one standing there, holding the mystery item and thinking through the recipes I'd seen on Pintrest, just hoping there was one (or even better, five!) with eggnog, or duck, or some dessert made with bell peppers! Then I'd look up and realize that I wasted 3 precious minutes coming up with...nothing. So, I'm starting a blog. Maybe it will help me remember some meals I successfully recreated, or maybe it will help you to try a new meal.

On tonight's menu; Chicken Enchiladas.
(this makes enough for 2 9x13 pans of enchiladas. You can freeze them or have them for leftovers)


3 thawed chicken breasts
3 cans of enchilada sauce (the small ones, or 1 family size and I like Old El Paso brand better than others)
1 bag of shredded cheese (again, the small one, not e family size)
18-20 corn tortillas (they are easiest to roll when they are room temperature)


I figured out that these are a lot of work, but a big time shortcut for me was to put the chicken in the crockpot instead of trying to boil, shred, and assemble after a long day of teaching middle schoolers!


I put 1 or 1 1/2 cans of enchilada sauce on top of the chicken breasts and cook it on high for 4 hrs or low for 8hrs.


When you get home, take the chicken out of the crockpot and shred it with two forks.


Preheat oven to 350. Pour a small amount of enchilada sauce in the bottom of each glass pan, enough to cover the bottom without creating a lake!


Take a tortilla and put a small amount of chicken and cheese and then roll it, laying it in the pan with the roll on the bottom so it doesn't unroll. Repeat until the pans are full. If you run out of chicken, but still have room, you can fill them with just cheese.


Before I put them in the oven, I pour a small amount of enchilada sauce on top of each enchilada, so they don't get hard and crunchy in the oven. I finish them by sprinking the rest of the cheese on top of the pans.


Put them in the oven for 10-15 minutes. I normally take them out once the cheese is nicely melted and the sauce looks like it is boiling a little. The chicken is fully cooked, so this is just to melt the cheese.
Serve with refried beans (we use canned beans and add 1/3 cup of coffee and 1 tsp of garlic powder to make them tase more authentic)








-Hope you can successfully recreate it!