Green Chili Chicken Tacos AND 10-Minute Steak and Potatoes Dinner

Chicken Tacos from Ladies' Home Journal

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 gloves garlic, minced
2 4-oz cans chopped green chiles, rinsed
2 T flour
3 C (1 lb) chopped or shredded cooked chicken
1 C chicken broth
1 T fresh lime juice
1 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. chili powder

In a large pot, heat oil over medium high and add onion and garlic.  Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are soft and translucent, about 6 min.

Stir in chiles and flour.  Add chicken, broth, lime juice, cumin, salt and chili powder; stir well.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 6 min.  Serve or store, refrigerated, up to 2 days.

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Notes:  I used low sodium chicken broth.  I also used canned chicken from Costco.

Verdict:  Everyone ate it.  I don't think anyone LOVED it though.  It was good... just not amazing.  I served it in warm flour tortillas, with rice.  Maybe I should have done something fancier with the rice... like cilantro???  Not sure.  I'll probably make this again for a Mexican food buffet.


10-Minute Steak and Potatoes Dinner
from Woman's Day Magazine

1/2 tsp each pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme and salt, mixed well
1 lb. skirt steak
oil
1 1/3 C milk
2 2/3 C frozen mashed potatoes
1/2 C shredded Cheddar cheese

Rub the seasoning mixture on the steak.  Heat a little oil in a large nonstick skillet.  Add the steak and cook two minutes on each side for medium rare.  Meanwhile, make Cheddar Mashed Potatoes by heating milk in a medium saucepan and adding frozen mashed potatoes.  Cook, stirring a few times, until hot.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese.  Thinly slice the steak against the grain.

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Notes:  I doubled this.

Verdict:  I can see no value to cooking this inside when we have a perfectly good grill outside.  :-)  We will make this seasoning mixture again, but will grill the steaks outside!  The potatoes were yummy... my kids love mashed potatoes and enjoy mix-ins to change things up a bit.

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Postscript:  I am not giving either of these recipes a 5-star.  They were good, and I might repeat them... but they were not amazing!

Mom's Stove-Top Hamburger Casserole

source:  Tasty Kitchen

8 whole medium sized white potatoes
2 lbs. ground beef
1/4 C onion, diced
1 can Cr. of Chicken Soup
1 can Cr. of Celery Soup

Peel, rinse and chunk potatoes into about 1-inch cubes.  Boil potatoes in a soup pot until just tender.  While the potatoes are boiling, drain and save back about a half a cup of water.  Combine the potatoes, burger, and soups in pot.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and heat on medium-low until warmed, stirring occasionally.  If the casserole seems too thick, add some of the saved water until desired consistency is reached.

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Notes:  I used a "seasoned" pepper that also had some garlic in it.

Verdict:  The entire time I was making this I thought to myself what on earth appealed to me about this recipe to print it and put it in our untried recipe box.  It sounds so weird.

My ENTIRE FAMILY loved this dish!!!  LOVED IT!!!  I was so shocked.  So... here are my thoughts about this recipe... it is total comfort food.  It would be so perfect after a day of skiing, or sledding, or some other frigid winter activity.  I could see an entire group of teenage boys inhaling this.  Seeing as it will never be cold enough at my house for these winter activities, we'll probably try it again after a high school soccer game... when it is cold for us.  (And to be honest... we'll feel cold when the temp hits 70 degrees!!!)

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

source: allrecipes.com

2 T olive oil
2 lbs. pork tenderloin
1/2 C teriyaki sauce
1 C chicken broth
1/4 C brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 fresh red chile pepper, finely chopped
1/2 large onion, sliced
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Brown tenderloin on all sides, about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix together teriyaki sauce, chicken broth, and brown sugar in a bowl. Stir in garlic, red chile pepper, onion, and black pepper.

Put browned tenderloins into slow cooker, cover with the teriyaki sauce mixture.  Cook on High for about 4 hours, turning 2 - 3 times during the cooking time to ensure even doneness.

Remove tenderloins from the slow cooker and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.  If desired, spoon liquid over slices when serving.

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Notes:  I didn't use the red chile pepper.  My kids are wimps.  I also did not brown the tenderloins, because I forgot.

Verdict:  Maybe a foodie could tell me why I would need to, or should, take the time to brown the sides... because baby... this meat was so tender... fall off the bone tender, but there isn't a bone for it to fall of.  Until someone tells me WHY I should do that for this recipe specifically, I will forever and ever skip that part.

This was so good!!  Everyone loved it!  No complaints.  As a matter of fact, my mom had some as leftovers and asked me to make her some for a dinner she was hosting at her house last weekend.  It was a hit with her generation as well.

I used the leftovers two nights later and made teriyaki bowls.  Very, very good!!!

Pudding Pie

from Lynn Family Cookbook

1/2 C chopped nuts
1 stick butter
1 C flour

Cut butter into the nuts and flour.  Press into a 9x13 inch pan.  Bake 15 minutes at 350.  Cool.

1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 C powdered sugar

1 C Cool Whip

1 large pkg. your favorite instant pudding

2 1/2 C milk

Whip the Cool Whip, powdered sugar and cream cheese and spread over the crust.  Mix the milk and instant pudding and spread over top of the filling.  Chill and top with Cool Whip.

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Notes:  I used a store-bought graham cracker crust.  The "extra-serving" size.  I made two pies... one with vanilla pudding, one with cookies and creme.

Verdict:  Very easy and well received by the kids.  I think the crust as listed in the recipe would make it even better!!!

Marinated Grilled Chicken

from Kelly Mower

1 C Sprite
1/2 C salad oil
1/2 C soy sauce
chicken strips

Marinate overnight.  Grill.  Enjoy.

*****

Notes:  1 can of Sprite works too.

Verdict:  A favorite!  We loved it!  Easy and yummy!!!

Cookie Salad

from the Lynn Family Cookbook

2 C buttermilk
1 large pkg. vanilla instant pudding
1 large can pineapple tidbits
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 can diced peaches
1 can mandarin oranges
Fudge Stripe Cookies

Mix pudding and buttermilk, then add Cool Whip.  Drain all the fruit, well.  Add to pudding mixture and then crumble as many Fudge Stripe cookies as you would like and fold in.  Decorate the top with additional cookies.

*****

Notes:  Don't fret over the size of the cans of fruit that you use.  I'm a rule follower and it concerned me that the exact sizes were not listed.  (Ok, I'm not good at following recipes as is evident in previous recipe posts...)  Anyway, I called my friend who is a member of the Lynn family... she gave me a copy of their family cookbook... and asked her.  I read her the recipe and her response was CLASSIC.  It is a conversation that I will never forget...  She said, "oh, that recipe.  It sounds disgusting.  You'll have to let me know how it is."  She said this as I was prepping the recipe for dinner THAT night!!!"

Kendall picked this recipe.  Probably because of the title of the recipe.  Ok, not probably... but definitely.

Verdict:  Don't let Kendall pick out recipes based solely on the title.

Smores Bars

Smores Bars

from See Jane in the Kitchen

1/2 cup butter, soft
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars
1 small jar marshmallow cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.

3. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. This is tricky, I made balls as if I was making cookies and flattened them, then arranged them on top.

4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

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Notes:  I didn't use KING sized Hershey's bars.  Dang!  I should have.  I really need to learn to read the entire recipe before starting!!!  Arghhhhh...

but...

Verdict:  WOW!!!  So good!!!!!  And rich!!  We actually ended up with leftovers.  Ok... I did double the recipe because I'm pretty sure that a single batch would not have been enough!  And the leftovers were sooooooooo good!  I packed a bar in my kids' lunches the next day... MAJOR Mom points for me!!!!