Pumpkin Black-Bean Turkey Chili

I like to spend my spare moments looking over cookbooks. I know that may sound odd to some of you, but I've found I enjoy it much more than reading a magazine. Sometimes I visit thrift stores just to pick up some new ones.

Mexican Garden Goulash in the Slow Cooker

We had just a few garden items left including tomatoes, onions, and green peppers. I created this dish to help use them up before they spoiled. It makes a large batch which is perfect to make dinner prep non-existant another night. Just freeze any leftovers in meal size portions and reheat another night.

Overnight Chili Cheese Mac

I read a recipe in an old cookbook for an overnight pasta bake. It intrigued me since I had never tried this method. I decided to give it a try with this chili cheese version. I mixed it all together in the morning and then baked it up at dinner time. It left me free

Southwest Black Bean Pasta Salad

Spring is here and summer is just around the corner! I love salads - potlucks through the summer are my favorite since there are usually so many salads to choose from. It is no surprise to my family to have a salad of some kind

Pulled Pork and Black Bean Quesadillas

Having some pulled pork frozen and ready to go in the freezer makes for quick dinner options. I posted about how I cook my pulled pork here.

Add some chopped green pepper and onions as well as a can of black beans (or use some frozen, pre-cooked ones) and you have some tasty quesadilla filling in a flash. Just cook over medium heat until the peppers and onions are tender.

Add a little shredded cheese just before grilling.

I learned to use a stiff spatula to spread just a hint of butter on the tortillas. They brown up so nicely on our large pancake griddle. Flipping them is always a trick. I often end up losing just a bit of my filling.

Slice up using a pizza cutter and top with sour cream, guacamole, and our favorite fresh garden salsa. Everyone is happy at my house!

Taco Filling or Taco Soup for 100

Every now and then, I get the assignment to be in charge of feeding a large crowd. Sometimes it is a family reunion, a neighborhood party, or a church social. I decided I should start recording what I did so I could refer back to it the next time an assignment comes around. I figured there were others out there like me. You could easily reduce this recipe if you didn't have such a large crowd. It freezes very well so I always make it ahead and store in the fridge or freezer until the day of the event. When ready to serve, just heat and eat. This served 100 when we had about 40 kids in our group. If you were serving only adults, you should plan on it feeding 80.

Taco Filling for 100

4 lbs dry red beans (or pinto)

4 cups brown rice

10 lbs hamburger

2 large onions, chopped

2 cups taco seasoning mix

1-2 lbs frozen corn

3 #10 cans crushed tomatoes

Toppings - 

6-9 lbs of lettuce salad mix (2-3 large bags lettuce from Costco)

2 quarts Ranch dressing

4 lbs sour cream

3-4 lbs shredded cheese

2 quarts salsa

9 lbs tortilla chips (3 large bags of Costco tortilla chips)

Soak and cook the dry beans. Cook the brown rice. Brown the hamburger with the onions. (See my trick on how to do this large quantity here.) Mix the beans, rice and hamburger with the remaining ingredients. Store in gallon ziplock bags until ready to heat and serve. It fills 6-7 gallon bags. This mixture freezes well so you can do it well ahead of the big day.


To serve - Place tortilla chips on the plate and top with taco mix. Add additional toppings as desired. This mix could also be rolled in flour tortillas.


To make taco soup, add 2 more #10 cans of crushed tomatoes, adjust taco seasoning amount to taste, and add water if needed. Serve in bowls and top with chips and other toppings as desired.

Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas

Remember my last post for Salsa Verde Shredded Chicken? Finally, I'm grabbing a chance to give you the instructions for making some amazing enchiladas using up all that yummy broth left from cooking the chicken.

Here is my crockpot full of the chicken broth salsa combination after I removed the chicken breast for shredding,

Add to your broth one 8oz brick of cream cheese. Allow it to melt and mix well.

Add back in some of the shredded chicken.

I like to stuff them full of white beans also.

Here is the enchilada filling all ready to go.

I like to use the green chile sauce when I make chicken enchiladas.

Pour a little sauce in the bottom of your 9x13 pan.

Roll up the enchilada filling in flour tortillas. Top with more sauce and a layer of shredded cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350 until heated through. It usually takes 45 minutes or so. I have also been known to cover them with plastic wrap and microwave them for about 10 minutes. (I made sure when we bought our microwave that it would accommodate a large pan and still have the tray rotate. That feature has been a life saver many times when it comes to having dinner on the table in time for the rest of the night's activities!)

Bag up and freeze any remaining enchilada sauce and filling for another day. Or, make up an extra pan of enchiladas and freeze the entire thing ready to go. 

This dish is one that all of my kids love! Enjoy!

Preparing for holiday baking

There are lots of preparations going on in everyone's homes this time of year. The last couple of weeks, I have been preparing for all the holiday baking. 

I made 3 batches of my All-purpose Christmas Cookie Dough. It is in the freezer for later. We did cook up a few dozen pinwheel cookies that we took to the kids' piano recital.

I made extra bean puree so I could give more "healthy" treats to neighbors and friends.



I made a double batch of the dough for these Molasses cookies. It is also in the freezer.




Yesterday, I made a large batch of this Chocolate chip cookie dough. I only added chocolate chips to some of it so I can play with the other dough. It can be an all-purpose dough also. I plan to put a Hersheys kiss in some of the cookies as well as add some of the other fun flavored chips they have available this time of year. I have put a Rolo candy in the top of each cookie, similar to what you do with the Hersheys kiss. I have also used the green and red M&Ms and pressed them in the top of each cookie before baking. There are lots of possibilities once you have a great flavored dough!



The final kind of cookie dough I hope to get to today is my Chewy Cinnamon Cookies.

Since cookie dough freezes so easily, I usually begin my preparations in November. When it comes time to take a platter to a recital or dinner party, I can pull 2-3 kinds of dough from the freezer and bake a dozen of each kind. The platter looks like I worked hard in the kitchen all day, when in reality it only took me the few minutes to form the cookies and bake them. Some years, I have even given the frozen dough as a gift to neighbors and friends. They love the chance to do some baking with their kids or grandkids without the full time commitment.

Once cookie preparations are done, I will move on to the homemade candies. All the decorating, card writing, and package wrapping also has to fit in. I'm using my crockpot most nights to give me a bit of extra time. I'll be posting some of those new recipes soon.

I learned long ago that I have to find joy in the preparations - the years that pregnancy kept me in bed over the holidays helped me realize how much I counted on the preparing as part of the actual holiday for me. Hopefully some of these recipes or tips can help you enjoy the preparations as well.

Mexican Rice

A one-pot meal is always a welcome sight to my children when it is their dish night. This dish is hearty enough to be a meal all on it's own or you can serve it beside another favorite Mexican dish.

I made some quick cheese quesadillas on the griddle and served tortilla chips on the side. You can freeze any leftovers that remain and add them to taco filling the next time you make tacos. The other way I have used the leftovers is as a filling in quesadillas. Add a little shredded pork or chicken and top with shredded cheese before sandwiching it between tortillas and cooking on a hot griddle. It is also great with some salsa, sour cream, and shredded cheese stirred in and then you can serve it as a chip dip. There really are endless possibilities with this recipe. I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do.

Mexican Rice
⅓ cup dried, minced onion	8 oz tomato sauce
1 tsp garlic powder	2 Tbsp bacon bits
1 cup rice	1–1½ cups cooked kidney beans
1 tsp chicken bouillon	1 can corn, drained
1 cup water	Salt and pepper to taste
Mix together onion, garlic, rice, bouillon, water, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer 20–25 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in bacon, beans, and corn. Heat through. You can use 1 can of kidney beans, rinsed. I love the precooked real bacon bits for this recipe. They make it convenient and easy.