Oven Baked Tacos

One of my 1st Pinterest inspired dinners.  This could become a staple in our home.  I could see this as a great thing to make for game day/Super Bowl as well.  I halved the recipe below and it turned out great.

Ingredients
2 lbs. ground beef
1 can refried beans
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
18-20 hard taco shells
lettuce, salsa, sour cream, etc

Directions
Brown ground beef.  Drain off any fat and add refried beans, tomato sauce, and seasoning.

Spoon the mixture into taco shells

Place filled shells into 9X13 pan, standing up.  Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes or until heated through.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Pepper Stew

My friend Sandy, who is an excellent cook shared this recipe.  I made it for a cousin who just had a baby and shared some with my dad.  My dad gave it a big thumbs up (haven't heard from the cousins yet....).  I really enjoyed it as well!  I'll be making it again soon.

Ingredients
2 lbs ground meat
1 28 oz. tomato sauce
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained)
2 cups of cooked rice
2 cups chopped green pepper
2 beef bouillon cubes
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper

In a large pot brown the meat and then drain.  Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil  Reduce heat, cover & simmer for 30-40 minutes.  Stir regularly.

Blue Ribbon Chili

We usually make a pretty complicated, many ingredient chili recipe. A cold, cold winter day called for chili but not the one with too many ingredients. We found this recipe on All Recipes.Com. we'd definetly use it again for a quick go to chili. It was good & extremely easy & quick to make.

Blue Ribbon Chili
Source: AllRecipes.com

Ingredients
2 pounds ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 (8 ounce) jar salsa
4 tablespoons chili seasoning mix
1 (15 ounce) can light red kidney beans
1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans
(the only thing we added was about 1/2 lb. of hot italian sausage to kick it up a bit)

Directions
In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the ground beef and the onion and saute for 10 minutes, or until meat is browned and onion is tender. Drain grease, if desired.

Add the ground black pepper, garlic salt, tomato sauce, salsa, chili seasoning mix and kidney beans. Mix well, reduce heat to low and simmer for at least an hour.

Served with fritos, cheddar cheese & sour cream.

Jasmine Rice-Stuffed Peppers

I've craving stuffed peppers. This is a good recipe. The peppers don't get soggy like some other ones I've had. I can see a merit to both ways ~ crispy peppers or soggier. I'd make these again. I did put some in the freezer - we'll see if they are a good make ahead dish!

Jasmine Rice-Stuffed Peppers

Source: Cooking Light

Yield: 4 servings, 2 pepper halves

Ingredients

4 large green bell peppers

Cooking spray

1/2 cup onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalepeno pepper, minced

1/2 cup uncooked jasmine rice

1 cup fat-free, less sodium chicken broth

2 cups tomato sauce, divided

1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 large egg, slightly beaten (I must admit to forgetting to put this in! I didn't even notice)

2/3 lb. ground sirloin, extra lean

1/3 lb. ground turkey breast

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.

Cut bell peppers in half lengthwise, discard seeds and membranes, leaving the stem intact. Place on a foil lined jelly roll pan, cut sides up.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, garlic, and jalapeno to pan, saute 5 minutes or until onion is lightly browned. Add rice, and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add broth, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cool completely.

Combine rice mixture, 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/4 cup cheese, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until blended. Spoon about 1/2 cup meat mixture into each pepper half. Spoon remaining 1 cup tomato sauce evenly over peppers.

Cover and bake at 400 for 45 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese, bake 3 minutes or until cheese melts.

Sloppy Jo Jo's

My friend Jo Jo is a great go to girl for deceptively healthy recipes. Her Sloppy Joe recipe didn't disappoint. A whole bag of carrots slyly included!

Sloppy Jo Jo's

1 TBSP Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup green bell pepper
1/2 cup carrots
1 1/4 pounds ground beef
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
1 TBSP chili powder
1/2 salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
dash hot pepper sauce

Heat Crisco in large skillet on medium heat. Add onion, celery, green peppers and carrots. Cook & stir until tender.

Add meat, cook until browned, stirring occasionally. Drain. Stir in ketchup, water, chili powder, salt, black pepper & hot pepper sauce. Reduce heat to low.

My notes
That's how the original recipe reads. I used olive oil to cook the veggies. I made a huge batch like 3 lbs. of ground of beef, an entire pound bag of carrots (I shredded it into oblivion in the food processor). Add a whole stalk of celery. I loaded up with a whoe lot of ketchup - for 3 lbs of meat about 2 1/4 cups of ketchup. I also added about 1/4 of brown sugar to take the zing out of the ketchup. I cooked over high heat in the crockpot for 3-4 hours. Then lowered on low for a couple hours.

Boilermaker Tailgate Chili

I dug up this chili repice on Allrecipes.Com. We've made it in the past - it's the best chili recipe I've found yet. We made it early on in the day and enjoyed it during the Steelers game (too bad they didn't coorporate).

Ingredients
2 lbs ground beef chuck 1/4 cup chili powder
1 lb bulk Italian Sausage 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
3 (15oz) can chili beans, drained 1 TBSP minced garlic
1 (15 oz) chili beans in spicy sauce 1 TBSP dried oregano
2 (28oz) cans diced tomatoes with juice 2 tsps. ground cumin
1 (6oz) can tomato paste 2 tsps. hot pepper sauce
1 large yellow onion, chopped 1 tsp. dried basil
3 stalks celery, chopped 1 tsp. salt
1 green bell pepper, seeded & chopped 1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper, seeded & chopped 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 green chili peppers, seeded & chopped 1 tsp. paprika
1 tsbp. bacon bits 1 tsp. white sugar
4 cubes beef bouillon 1 (1o.5 oz) bag corn chips - Fritos
1/2 cup beer 1 (8 oz) package shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Crumble the ground chuck and sausage into the hot pan, and cook until evenly browned. Drain off excess grease.
2. Pour in the chili beans, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the onion, celery, green & red peppers, chile peppers, bacon bits, bouillon, and beer. Season with chili powder, worcestershire sauce, garlic, oregano, cumin, hot pepper sauce, basil, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and sugar. Stir to blend, then cover & simmer over low heat for at least 2 hours, stirring occcasionally.
3. After 2 hours, taste, and adjust salt, pepper or chili powder, if necessary. We moved it to the crock pot at this point to simmer/ heat for a couple more hours.
Great topped with Fritos & cheddar cheese.
Excellent the next day.