Mouth-watering Wednesdays--walking tacos

Do you know what a walking taco is?  I think it is a Mid-West thing.  It is a staple at the fall craft and county fairs around here, and it is really good.   It is basically just a taco salad, but at the fairs they open up a small bag of Frito's chips, dump a cup of meat sauce in the bag and then have cheese, olives, sour cream, salsa, etc for you to top off your bag with and then you get a fork and eat your taco from the bag as you walk along thus the name--walking tacos.

This recipe is my friend Cathy's, and it is loved at my house.  We don't serve ours in bags, but we put the chips on our plates and then pile everything on.  It is also a great crock pot recipe.  Enjoy!

Walking Tacos Meat Sauce

2 lbs hamburger, browned and drained

1/4 cup taco seasoning or 1/2 to 1 package taco seasoning, depending upon how spicy you want it

1 can diced tomatoes, don't drain, puree

2 cups salsa

2 cans kidney beans, drained

Cook meat, then combine all ingredients in a crock pot on low for a couple hours (you can simmer it on the stove also).  When ready to eat layer chips, sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, salsa, cheese or whatever you like on a taco.  Enjoy!

**Also, if you have lots leftover (which we rarely do :), this freezes well for another meal a different day

Mouth-watering Wednesday--DeeDee's chili

This is my DeeDee and Grum.  They are my maternal grandparents and my kids' great grandparents.  They live 1150 miles away (give or take a few), and we miss them a lot.  DeeDee is an amazing lady.  She is also an amazing cook.  Anything and everything DeeDee makes is so good!  She is most well-known for her chocolate chip cookies of which she has made literally thousands and given away.  This is her chili recipe.  It is a sweet chili which is why I like it.  I don't like anything spicy, but there is chili powder in it, and if you want it more spicy, add more. 

DeeDee's Sweet Chili

1 lb ground beef

2 cans stewed tomatoes, don't drain, but blend up

2 cans red kidney beans with juice

1/3 cup ketchup

1/2-1 tes chili powder

1 small chopped onion

1 small chopped green pepper

Cook the ground beef with the onion and green pepper.  Drain if needed.  Put meat in crock pot with other ingredients and put on low for several hours.  You can also just cook this on the stove top and simmer a couple of hours.  Enjoy!

Mouth-watering Wednesday--pork roast

As I have mentioned before I am a simple cook, a hamburger and boneless, skinless chicken breast cook.  I occasionally do a pot roast.  I am okay with those.  The other day I actually bought a pork roast, and I had no idea what to do with it?  I was thinking that pulled pork sandwiches would be good and that I wanted to use the crock pot.  I went to my 'go-to' recipe site online allrecipes.com  I love that site.  I put in pork roast and found several ideas, but the easiest was this, put your pork roast in your crock pot and then pour in a can of root beer.  Cook on low all day, then take out and shred.  Put on a bun and top with your favorite BBQ sauce.  It was so easy, and so good!  So today I recommend the root beer pork roast crock pot recipe :)  It doesn't get any easier than that!  Enjoy!

Mouth-watering Wednesday--sugar cookie bars

Have you heard about sugar cookie bars?  I have seen them several places, and I have made them lots of times.  I personally got the recipe from my dear friend Patty (thanks Patty!).  They are wonderful!  I love sugar cookies, but rolling them out is a pain.  No rolling out here, just put all the dough in a pan and bake, then when cooled just frost the whole pan.  They freeze really well also (if there are any leftovers :).  Enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Bars

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

5 cups flour

1/2 tes baking soda

4 large eggs

2 tes vanilla

1 tes salt

Cream together butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time and mix well after each is added.  Add in vanilla and stir.  Add in all dry ingredients until mixed well.  Spread in greased 13x18x1 pan (or a jelly roll pan) and bake 375 for 10-15 minutes or until light brown and toothpick comes out clean--do not over bake.

Cool completely and frost.

This is my favorite butter cream frosting.  It is supposedly from the New York Magnolia Bakery, but who knows?  I just know it is good.  The secret is to beat it for a long time after each addition.

Best Butter Cream Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (but I use salted because I rarely have unsalted)

8 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tes vanilla

Beat butter and then add 4 cups sugar and mix well.  Add milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy.  Add in 1 cup of sugar at a time beating well after each until desired consistency is reached. 

**This makes a lot of frosting, so make an extra cake or two, or you can just half it.

Yum!  Enjoy!

Mouth-watering Wednesday--Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake

I love cake mix recipes.  They always taste so good, are easy, and work out well.  Simple, yummy, and easy is what mouth-watering Wednesdays are all about here.

I got this recipe from my mom.  She made it a lot when I was a kid. 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake

1 chocolate cake mix (German chocolate, devil's food, whatever) made according to cake directions.

Pour cake mix into greased jelly roll pan (I use the Pampered Chef bar pan.)

In your mixing bowl, combine

-1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese

-1 egg

-1/4 cup sugar

Mix well then stir in 

-1/2 cup chocolate chips

"Plop" the cream cheese mix all over the cake and then stir/swirl gently in with a knife.

-you can top with more chocolate chips and nuts if desired. 

Bake according to cake mix directions for about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Enjoy! 

Yum!



Mouth-watering Wednesday--peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

I think I can honestly say I have never met a cookie I didn't like--especially one with chocolate chips in it.  I like peanut butter cookies--my favorite are the ones you stick the hershey's kiss in the middle right after it comes out of the oven--heaven!  But just plain peanut butter cookies are really not my favorite, and then I found these. . .

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies--oh my, does it get any better than this?

I found them at Mel's Kitchen Cafe which I love.

She shares her recipe here.

Happy dunking!

Mouth-watering Wednesday--crock pot beef stroganoff

Welcome to another edition of Mouth-watering Wednesday where I share a very simple, good, quick recipe.  This one I got from my aunt.  Super easy and so yummy!

Crock-Pot Beef Stroganoff

In your crock pot mix together

2 lbs beef stew meat

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can French Onion soup

Cook on low 6-8 hours, serve on top of rice, pasta, or egg noodles and garnish with sour cream.

It doesn't get any easier or more yum that that.  Enjoy!

Mouth-watering Wednesday

Okay, I don't know if that blog post is quite accurate, but I wanted to start sharing some more recipes and can't figure out a way to do it or when, so maybe "mouth-watering Wednesdays" will be my recipe sharing day.  What do you think? 

So, like I have mentioned before, I am so "not a gourmet" cook--so much a "simple and easy" cook.  I love crock pot recipes that I can just throw everything in during the morning and then take it out ready to eat in the evening.  That is a lot of my cooking style and recipes.  So, if you are looking for gourmet and complex, this is not the place to be :)  Simple and easy is my motto, and I don't make up my own recipes.  I usually get them from somewhere else, so if  I know where I got them, then I will share that too, but I will only share what my family of 6 likes a lot and what we make often.  Enjoy!

Creamy Black Bean Chicken

In your crock pot place 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (it is fine if they are frozen, how easy is that?)

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained

2 cups salsa

Cook on low for 6-7 hours or however long you need (high for 4 hours), about 30 minutes before you serve take out the chicken and shred it, add it back in, stir it around and then drain the excess liquid off, then you have either one of 2 choices. . .

1.  Add in one 8 oz package of cream cheese (1/3 reduced fat works great too), cubed, stir until starts to melt, put lid back on for 30 minutes then serve over rice or in tortillas with cheese on top

OR

2.  Add in 1 cup sour cream (low fat or fat free works good) and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese and let warm, then serve over rice or in a tortilla with more cheese on top :)

Option #1 I got from my sister-in-law

Option #2 I got from 365 Days of Slow Cooking a great crock pot website to check out if you like simple, quick, and easy crock pot recipes.  It is a favorite of mine.

This also freezes really well.  It makes a lot, so freeze whatever you don't use and have it for dinner another day.

Happy Eating!