Taco Cassarole

We had nearly a pound of leftover taco meat (we'd had friends over and mis-estimated how much we would need), and since it was seasoned I couldn't really use it for anything with a different flavor palate... so I invented this. It was a big hit.
Tastes like tacos!!

Makes a 9x13 pan.
about 20-25min prep time + 15-20min of baking time

1 pound or so of ground meat
2ish cups uncooked rice (I did a mix of white and brown, it made about 5c cooked)
1 can tomato sauce
2 cans diced tomatoes (or 1qt home canned)
1/2 onion, chopped small
1 can black beans (or pinto) (or about 1-2 cups cooked dry beans)
chilli powder, cumin, garlic powder salt and pepper or taco seasoning
about 8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

If you are cooking your own beans instead of using canned, you will need to prepare them ahead of time since they take hours to cook.
Put the dry rice in a pan with the tomatoes and their juice, and add enough water for cooking (I don't measure, I just pour in water about twice as high as the rice, then let it simmer with the lid off and check it every couple of minutes, stir it, and add more water if it ever runs low).
While the rice is cooking, brown the meat with the seasoning. You can add the onions if you like them cooked. Drain off the grease. Set aside.
As the rice is getting nearly done, add the tomato sauce and mix it in.
Put the cooked rice, meat, onions (if they're not with the meat), beans, and half of the cheese into a 9x13 baking dish, and mix them all up. You can add additional seasoning if you like (I put in about 1 Tbs garlic powder, 1 Tbs chili powder, 1 Tbs cumin, and 1/2-3/4 tsp salt and just a little pepper).
Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, and bake at 350 until everything is warm and melted--about 15-20 minutes.

Basic Biscuits

There is a cheese biscuit version of this recipe as well...this is the plain versionYou can make them with plain white flour of course, but I like putting in a little wheat because it makes them heartier.

3 c flour (I usually do 2 white 1 wheat)
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cream of tartar (you can technically skip this, but if you have it do use it, it helps with fluffiness)
1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c lard  or room temperature butter (or you can substitute in part bacon grease, but if you do that be sure to add it with the liquid part)
*1 1/2 c milk or buttermilk (or milk with 1Tbs of lemon juice in it)

1 egg (optional)



Preheat oven to 450.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Cut in the solid fat (lard or butter) until all is consistently crumbly.
Add liquid ingredients all at once, and stir with a fork just until moistened.


*Put in blobs on a baking sheet (just like cookies). If you have parchment paper that is really nice because the cheese can melt out and stick to the pan.
Bake at 450 for 10ish minutes.

*If you prefer to do rolled and cut out biscuits instead of drop biscuits, reduce the milk to 1c, roll out the dough 3/4 inch thick and cut out in rounds, and bake for 12-15 minutes...otherwise the recipe is the same.

Granola

Take this recipe as a guideline...I have indicated things that I adapt, but honestly I do it a little differently every time, and I don't usually measure very carefully... I've been complimented on this granola many times. Enjoy!
Oh, and use a big bowl. A really really big bowl. Or do a half recipe.

• 14 cups of rolled grain (the original says 8 cups oat and 6 of wheat, but I usually do more like 10 oat and then a little barley, rye, wheat, whatever I have around. If you can't have gluten, you can do this with all gluten-free grains!)
• 2 c untoasted wheat germ (or not, if you don't have it or can't do gluten if you don't do it, then do the higher amounts of coconut and/or nuts)
• 2-3 c shredded coconut (do the larger amount if you don't do the wheat germ, or add nuts)
• 1-2 c nuts if desired (I like doing sliced or slivered almonds. You can also add them at the end, but I like them to get coated in all the good stuff...)
• 1 T salt (yes that's a tablespoon)
• 1 1/4 c brown sugar

Mix dry ingredients together. Then pour the following over the top.

• 1 c oil (I strongly recommend coconut oil--melt it before pouring it in)
• 1 c water
• 1/2 c honey
• 1 T vanilla

Mix the liquids into the dry ingredients until all flakes are moistened and separated. (It will seem like it's not enough liquid, but just keep stirring, it will work out I promise!) Spread the granola onto 2 cookie sheets and bake for 2 hours at 200* or until golden. Stir them every half hour or so to break up the bigger chunks and to make sure it dries out evenly. (But don't stir TOO vigorously or it will all be separated flakes with no awesome crunchy chunks!)

If desired, add dried fruit, seeds, nuts, etc. (I prefer to add a cup or two of sliced or slivered almonds with the dry ingredients, so they get coated and toasted.


Store in an airtight container.

Homemade Oreos

I got this recipe from a friend, and the frosting was great but the cookie part came out really dry and hard when I made it. So I'll include that original cookie recipe at the bottom (in case you like hard/dry oreos), but the main recipe here is adapted from a different recipe I had before. 

Makes about 32-36 cookies (so 16-18 finished oreos)

Chocolate cookies:
3/4 c butter
1 c + 2 Tbs sugar
2 regular eggs (only 1 if extra large)
1 t vanilla
2 c flour
1/2 c cocoa powder (add with sugar or flour)
Whip butter, add sugar gradually, whipping frequently. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and cocoa and mix well. It will probably seem a bit dry, but keep mixing and it should moisten up. Dough will probably be a bit sticky. You can chill it, but it will probably be firm enough to just roll out right away. Use plenty of flour (I use a pastry brush to brush off excess flour so the cookies stay brown rather than white). Roll 1/4 inch thick and cut into 2 inch rounds. Bake at 350 for 10ish minutes.


Cream filling:
1/2 c butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c powdered sugar
Whip together until light and very fluffy. Pipe onto one cookie and put another on top.
Alternately, use a little cream cheese in place of (or in addition to) the butter. The batch in the photo I made part plain frosting, then added some strawberry cream cheese to the other half and made strawberry oreos, which is why the ones on the left are pink. They were fantastic. ☺



~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Original chocolate cookies:
1/2 c soft butter
1/2 c confectioners sugar
1/2 c cocoa powder (dark is best)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c flour
Cream butter until fluffy, add the sugar and mix well. Add the cocoa and vanilla and mix well.
Work in the flour until dough is soft but not too sticky. Knead lightly and chill for 40 minutes.
Dust chilled dough lightly with flour, then roll out 1/4 inch thick between two pieces of wax paper. Cut into 2 inch rounds. Bake at 350 for 10-12 min. Cool.

Bread Pudding

I have never been fond of soggy bread, so the idea of bread pudding sounded simply awful to me. However, my mother in law made this and I tried it and loved it. Rather than being like soggy bread, as I had feared, it is basically a mild custard (egg-based pudding), and the bread gets absorbed so that it doesn't break up the texture much, but it give it some body and stability.
My mother in law gave me the tip that it is best to use two different types of bread, half of each. She usually uses one white (such as a buttermilk bread) and the other a cinnamon raisin, such as SaraLee's cinnamon swirl loaf.  I really like using the cinnamon raisin bread, it rounds out the pudding nicely.

makes a 9x13 pan

about 8 slices of bread
4 eggs
1 c sugar (use 3/4 c if you use a sweet bread such as the cinnamon raisin)
4 c whole milk, cream, half&half, or some combination of them (you could use any milk, but fattier milks will obviously make a nicer pudding)
1 tsp vanilla
cinnamon, nutmeg, or cinnamon-sugar to sprinkle on top.

Preheat oven to 350.
Put the eggs in a bowl and mix them with an electric mixer for 5 minutes. (If you have a stand mixer set them going while you do the bread, otherwise really do set a timer and mix them for the full five minutes. It makes a much smoother nicer pudding.)
Tear or cut the bread into chunks and spread it around in the pan, about two layers deep. Don't pack it tight, just drop it all in there. If you use two kinds of bread, mix them up. The pieces don't need to be bite-sized, because they will break easily once they've been soaked and cooked, so big chunks are fine.

Set the pan aside, and go back to the eggs. Add sugar, vanilla, and milk/cream. Beat until mixed. Pour over bread. Poke the bread a little if it floats, so that it all gets soaked. Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar/nutmeg over the top (I do plain cinnamon).
Bake for 45-50 minutes. (My mother in law says she has one cookbook that says to do it at 350 and one that says to do it at 325, so if your oven runs hot, try the lower temperature or the shorter time.) The pudding will set up like a custard--when it is done it will be solid on the edges but jiggly in the center of the pan. The bread will rise to the top and make a somewhat crusty top.

really, what's not to love!

Pumpkin Pie Muffins

A lady from church brought me a mini-loaf of this bread shortly after we moved here. The next month she asked if she could do anything for me and I said YES! I need that recipe!!
The original recipe calls for this to be made in mini-loaves, but it also works well as big muffins. Or probably as regular muffins, I don't know, I don't have a regular-size muffin pan. ☺ They have the pumpkin pie spices, so they have a flavor much like pumpkin pie, thus the name. Also a lot of sugar, like a pie...but they're kind of amazing so just pretend you didn't notice how much sugar there was, or use whole wheat flour to make up for it, or something!

[no picture, but they really don't look like anything special...they just taste fabulous!]

3 cups flour
2 Tbs pumpkin pie spice (3 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 tsp ginger, 3/4 tsp nutmeg, 3/4 tsp allspice)
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 c sugar
1 15oz can pumpkin (2 cups)
4 large eggs
1 c vegetable oil (feel free to do this a little shy...)
1/2 c water (if you use home-processed pumpkin, which is much less dense/more watery than the stuff from a can, then leave out the water.)

Combine flour, spice, soda, and salt. Set aside. (Or you can cheat like me and not mix these up in advance...)
Combine sugar and pumpkin, beat. Add eggs, oil, and water. Beat until just blended. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture. Stir until moistened.
Makes about 5 mini-loaves, or 15 jumbo muffins (about 30 regular muffins I think).

Bake at 350* for 50-60 min for mini loaves
Bake at 350* for 30 min for jumbo muffins
Bake at 375* for 16-25 min for regular muffins (I haven't done this size, I'm estimating...start with 16 and then start checking them!)

Cream Cheese "Blondies"

My husband called these 'blondies' because they look like brownies, only they're blond...
They are sortof naughty, because they start with a cake mix...I very rarely bake with premade mixes like that. But these are so yummy, and worth the exception. (Or, if you're resourceful, you could probably figure out how to make a from-scratch 'cake mix' and use that!) Since cake mixes come in gluten-free varieties, this recipe can easily be adapted for that.

Base layer:
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
2 eggs
Mix together. It will be pretty thick, like cookie dough. Press it evenly across the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.

Top layer (frosting):
8 oz (on package) soft cream cheese
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
3ish cups powdered sugar (a little more if it seems thin)
Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and eggs and mix well. Gradually add the powdered sugar. It should be about the consistency of frosting--very easily spreadable, but not thin enough to pour. Spread it over the base layer in the pan.

Bake at 325 for about an hour.