Cooking with KP

Taco Stuffed Shells

I found this recipe on Pinterest, tweeked a little, and it is delicious.

1 lb ground beef

1 small yellow onion, diced

1 (1 1/4 ounce) package taco seasoning (can use low-sodium)

1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese

14 -16 large pasta shells

1 cup salsa

1 cup taco sauce or enchilada sauce

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup Monterey jack cheese, shredded

3 green onions, chopped

1 cup sour cream

1 small can sliced black olives (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a frying pan cook ground beef with onions, add taco seasoning and prepare according to package directions. Add cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. Set aside and cool completely.

While the ground beef is cooking, cook the pasta shells according to directions; drain. Set shells out individually on baking sheet so that they don’t stick together.

Pour salsa on bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Stuff each shell with the meat mixture placing shells in dish open side up. Cover shells with taco sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add shredded cheeses and bake for 10-15 more minutes, with the foil removed. Top with green onions and black olives and serve with sour cream and/or more salsa.

Crockpot Pork Chops

Here is a recipe that I found a long time ago on a soup can. It is tasty.

4 pork steaks
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup of low sodium chicken or beef broth
1 package brown gravy mix
1 package of ranch dressing mix.
1 large yellow onion
pepper
garlic powder (not salt)

Spray the crock pot. Season the pork steaks with some pepper and garlic powder. Put pork chops in crock pot. Mix soup, broth, gravy mix, and ranch mix in a bowl. Pour on top of pork steaks. Slice onion into rings and put on top. Cook 4-6 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Makes lots of gravy that is great on mashed potatoes or rice.

Lemon Blueberry Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This is an easy to make recipe that is simply delicious.

1 lemon cake mix
1 3.4 ounce package of instant lemon pudding mix
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
3/4 c. oil
3 eggs
1 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
2 cups blueberries
1 c powdered sugar
2-3 T fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.
In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, pudding mix and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in water, oil, eggs and cream cheese. Beat on low speed until blended. Scrape bowl, and beat 4 minutes on medium speed. Stir in the blueberries. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice, adding one tablespoon at time until you have the right consistency to glaze the cake. Pour on top of cake close to edges so that it drips down.

Blueberry Coffee Cake Made with Biscuits

It is blueberry season here and so I decided to post a few recipes that I have found tasty. This is one I got from Paula Deen.

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (12 ounce) can Pillsbury Grands refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup rolled quick-cooking oats
1 1/2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Generously grease a 9-inch square baking dish.
In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon and mix well with a fork. Set aside.
Separate biscuit dough into 8 biscuits, and cut each biscuit into quarters.
Dip each biscuit piece into the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture to coat well. Arrange in a single layer in baking dish.
Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the oats.
Combine blueberries and sugar in a bowl and toss to coat.
Spoon blueberry-sugar mixture over oats and biscuits and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup oats. Drizzle remaining melted butter on top.

Bake for 25 minutes or until cake is golden brown and center is done.
Cool for 10 minutes, serve warm.

Kay's BBQ Chicken Casserole

Here is what I am cooking for dinner tonight. I slightly modified this recipe from one I found online. I will top my slice with sour cream and black olives.

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 can creamed corn

1 cup sour cream

1 can chopped green chiles, drained

1 medium onion,sauteed in olive oil until soft

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix

2 eggs

3 cups cooked chopped chicken

1-1.5 cup BBQ sauce (I like a lot of sauce so I often use the entire bottle)

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray.

Mix together corn, creamed corn, sour cream, green chiles, and sauteed onion cornbread mix and eggs.Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes.

Toss chicken with BBQ sauce.

Remove cornbread casserole from oven. Top with chicken mixture and top with 1 cup cheese. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and cornbread is done.

Pecan Pie Muffins

Recently saw these on a rerun of Trisha Yearwood's cooking show. I changed a couple of things and here's my version.

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups pecans, finely chopped
1 cup of butter, softened or lightly melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 T vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray muffin pan with cooking spray or use muffin cups. Mix flour, pecans, and sugar in large bowl. Beat eggs and pour into another bowl with butter. Mix butter and eggs well. Add vanilla and stir. Now, mix into wet mixture the dry ingredients. Fill muffin cups 2/3 way full. Bake for 30 minutes. Run knife around the edges of muffin tins if you didn't use cups and let set 5 minutes before removing. Great with coffee.

Kay's Citrus Pecan Summer Salad

As the temperatures warm, there is nothing better than a nice, crisp summer salad. Here is a quick. light and delicious one to try.

8-10 chicken fingers
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 T orange juice
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 cup finely ground Ritz cracker (about 35 crackers)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 T olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a Ziploc,
bag mix chopped pecans, cracker crumbs and pepper. In a bowl, mix mayo and orange juice. Toss the chicken fingers in the mayo and juice blend. Put in Ziploc and shake to coat. Put chicken on baking pan that has been brushed with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Turn mid-way baking. When done let rest 5 minutes. Slice each chicken finger into 4 pieces.

Salad

Lettuce
Mandarin orange segments
Pecan bits

Dressing

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 T orange juice
2 T honey
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Whisk all ingredients

On salad plate, make a bed of lettuce top with orange segments and chicken slices. Sprinkle with pecan bits. Top with dressing.

Cheaper Cuts of Beef Don't Have To Be Tough

Most people avoid the cheaper cuts of beef because they tend to be tough. With 8 children and three adults in our home, my mother had to find ways to tenderize the cheaper cuts of beef. One way to cook "down", as my mother used to say, a tough cut of beef steak is to season both sides of the steak with garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper. Lightly brown the steak in a large skillet and on top add a diced green bell pepper, medium onion, a bay leaf, parsley flakes, a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce, and a can of diced tomatoes. Cover with lid. Let the steak simmer for 30-50 minutes. Remove lid and thicken juices by cooking 5-10 more minutes. You can also do the same with a cheap beef roast in a crock pot. Add all the ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. The flavor is simple, amazing and great with mashed potatoes.

Fall Vegetables for a Healthy You

As the fall approaches, we will all start to stay indoors more hours. This will lessen our vitamins, such as vitamin A, D, and K, which are enhanced by sunlight. Below are a few vegetables you might want to increase in your diet as the fall and later winter days approach. Besides, they are very tasty. In fact, in the next few weeks, I will be posting recipes that incorporate many of these delicious veggies.

Sweet potatoes and yams are very rich in carotenoids, vitamins A, B6, C, potassium, iron and fiber and are delicious when baked and eaten plain (without butter) or used in soups, casseroles or stir-fries.

Bell peppers are great sources of potassium, manganese, fiber and vitamins A, B, C and K. These sweet peppers are flavorful additions to salads and healthy stir-fries. You can choose from a rainbow of colors, including: green peppers,yellow peppers, orange peppers,and red peppers.

Summer and winter squash are rich in carotenoids, vitamins A and C, potassium, magnesium and fiber and can be served alone or added to many dishes.

Just a few tips for you...

Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato- based sauces. No more stains!

Use lifesavers candy to hold candles in place on your next birthday cake! Kids love them.

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugarcone to prevent ice cream drips!

Zap garlic cloves in the microwave for 15 seconds and the skins slip right off!

If your celery begins to wilt in the fridge, fill a large cup half full of water and place celery in the cup. Put back in the fridge for two hours--it will be crisp. (Learned this from my mother).

Cooking Myth Busted

A Potato Can Save a Salty Soup or Stew. True or False? False. "This is an attractive idea, but it doesn't work because potatoes are not particularly absorbent," says Wolke, who conducted his own soup-and-potato experiment for his Cooking Myth Busters book. "There is no reason they would attract salt." If you remove the raw potato from the soup, the potato will taste salty, but so would a sponge — it has simply soaked up some of the salty liquid. Still, there is hope for salty stews: Adding a bit of vinegar or sugar can "cancel out" the saltiness by giving your taste buds competing flavors.

Super Moist Turkey

If you are looking for a way to get a moist turkey, you might try one of these family hints:

1--bake the turkey upside down--breast down for the first half of the cooking time. It will help the darker meat cook more thoroughly and the fatty juices of the darker meat will drip down to the breast and add moistness. Use a deep roasting pan for this.

2--bake the turkey with the breast up, but rub it with butter, garlic powder and pepper only. Do not salt the skin. Instead, mix salt in a cup of warm water and pour that cup of salted warm-not hot-water inside the cavity of the turkey. The salt water will steam up into the turkey, making it very moist.

3. bake the turkey with the breast up and slice two lemons and one orange in halves. Place the halves inside the seasoned turkey and the juices will steam into the meat, adding moisture and flavor.

Hint of the Week

Here is something I learned from my wonderful Mother, the greatest cook I have ever known. When you have just a small serving of cooked vegetables leftover from dinner, don't throw them away. Keep a large plastic container in the freezer and put the vegetables in the container. Mix them--carrots, corn, green beans, broccoli, etc. When the container is full make a pot of soup or stew. Also, if a recipe calls for 1/2 a chopped onion, chop the whole onion and add the half to the freezer container. My mother made the best vegetable soups from this idea.

Hint for the Week

With Fourth of July quickly approaching, you might be thinking of making Deviled Eggs. If you want perfectly boiled eggs, place eggs in a large pot and completely cover with cold water. Do not layer eggs on top of one another. Bring water to a rapid boil for 2 minutes, reduce to simmer and let eggs simmer 8 minutes, return to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and empty hot water and fill pot with cold water. Let sit for 5 minutes. To peel easily, slightly crush shell in your fist and roll on counter with a firm grip. Of course, you don't want to push through the egg, but by making the shell crack in many small pieces, it is easier to peel. My father saw this on a cooking show years ago and taught me this. It truly works.