Beef and Bean Enchiladas

You will need:

1-2 pounds ground beef
1 10oz. can refried beans
1 16 oz. can red enchilada sauce
1 package tortillas in soft taco size
cheese


In large skillet, brown and drain ground beef.
Return to skillet and add refried beans.
Mix until well blended with beef.
Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto tortilla, roll, and place in pan.
Continue until pan is filled with rolled tortillas.
Shake Enchilada sauce, and pour over top or rolled tortillas.
Top with as much cheese as you like.

Bake at 350 until bubbly.

Eat!

Summer Salad

1 or 2 packages ready to eat salad (I like romaine and spinach)
1/2 package Craisins
1 Bartlett Pear, sliced thin or thick, your preference
1 package Bar-S bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 small Red Onion (optional)
1 jar Brianna's Poppy Seed Dressing (this is the BEST!)

Add all together and enjoy!

You can also mix it up by adding chunks of Swiss Cheese, Radishes, Mandarin Oranges, or whatever else would make a yummy mix of sweet and salty with the bacon.

Philly Cheesesteak Pie

Soooo yummy! And Easy!

1 lb. Stew Meat
1 med red pepper
1 med yellow onion
mushrooms (optional, and I didn't use any)
1 can Campbells beef broth (get the kind that says "double rich, double flavor under the title)
Mozzarella cheese (I like cheese, so use as much as you'd like)
1/3 C. flour
1 Tbs Italian Seasoning
2 Tbs. Olive Oil (although I use Grapeseed because it has a higher temperature rating)
1 package Flaky Layers rolls
Casserole Dish
Deep sided skillet

Preheat oven to 350, and spray casserole dish lightly with Pam.

Add Olive (or Grapeseed) Oil to skillet, and heat on medium heat
Cut pepper and onion into small strips and add to warmed pan
While veggies cook, mix 1C of beef broth with flour
When veggies are limp, add stew meat, Italian seasoning, and broth mixture to pan.
Cover and simmer until thickened.

Meanwhile, take Flaky Layers rolls and pull each roll apart to double the batch. Take half and put along bottom of casserole dish. Lightly brush with melted butter.

When meat mixture is thickened, add to casserole dish. Take Mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks, and disperse throughout mixture. Top with remaining Flaky Layers rolls. Brush lightly with melted butter.

Cook until top is browned and bubbly.

Eat.

When I made this, the whole family loved it, and ate the ENTIRE thing! I will double the batch next time and freeze some of the meat mixture to make an easy meal even easier!

Pico de Gallo & Gwock

I discovered a great looking recipe for pico de gallo and guacamole. I'll be trying them this weekend, only because the pictures (from the link below) look sooooo delicious. (Check out the link, it's a photographic recipe)

I found it here on this blog.

Chocolate Praline Cake from a mix (outstanding!)

Here's a show-stopper of a dessert, a fancy layered thing with a quick praline of butter, brown sugar, cream and pecans in the bottom of the pans, and chocolate batter on top. You sandwich the layers with sweetened whipped cream. Works well with a pudding-in-the mix cake, but if you want to use plain devil's food cake mix, that works great too.

• Preparation time: 12 minutes
• Baking Time: 35-37 minutes
• Assembly time: 15 minutes

• 8 T. (one stick) butter, cut up
• 1/4 C. heaving (whipping) cream
• 1 C. packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 C. chopped pecans
• 1 package of devils food cake mix with/without pudding
• 1 C. water
• 1/2 C. vegetable oil (canola, corn, safflower, soybean, sunflower)
• 3 large eggs
• Sweetened Cream (see below) made with 1 C. heavy whipping cream and 1/4 C. confectioners' sugar
• 1 square (1 oz) semisweet chocolate, grated or shaved for garnish
  

1. Place rack in center of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set aside two 9-inch round cake pans.
   
   (NOTE: Alternatively, for a cake that totes easily to other locations, bake this cake in a 9x13 inch baking pan for 55 minutes. Cool the cake for 10 minutes in the pan, and then invert the cake onto a serving platter. Let it cool completely, then frost with the sweetened cream and garnish with the grated chocolate. Not as high-impact visually, but still an attractive cake that everyone will devour!)
   
   
2. Place the butter, cream and brown sugar in a small heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring, until the butter is melted, 3 minutes. Pour the mixture evenly into the cake pan(s) and sprinkle it evenly with the chopped pecans. Set aside. (I won't tell if you lick the saucepan too...YUM!)
   
   
3. Place the cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pan(s), pouring over the pecan mixture, then smoothing it out with the spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
   
   
4. Bake the cakes until they spring back when lighly pressed with your fingers, 35 to 37 minutes. Remove them from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack to cool, praline side up.
   
   
5. Meanwhile, prepare the sweetened cream.
   
   Place a clean, large mixing bowl and electric mixer in the freezer for a few minutes while you assemble the ingredients (1 cup heavy whipping cream and 1/4 Cup confectioners' sugar). Pour the whipping cream into the chilled bowl and beat with the electric mixer on high speed until the cream has thickened, 1 1/2 minutes. Stop and add the sugar. Beat the cream and sugar on high speed until stiff peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes more. Makes enough to generously fill or thinly frost a 2 layer cake, 12-cup bundt cake, 10-inch tube cake or 9x13-inch sheet cake.
   
   
6. Grate the semisweet chocolate for the garnish.
   
   
7. Place one cake layer, praline side up, on a serving platter and spread half the sweetened cream on top. Place the second layer, praline side up, on top of the first, and frost the top of it with the remaining cream, working with clean, smooth strokes. Scatter the grated chocolate on top of the cake. Slice and serve.
   
   * You can store this cake, covered loosely in waxed paper, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.