Quck & Easy Nacho Cheese

Have you been wondering where the heck have I been?  Perhaps not, but I'll tell you anyway.


Back in February I went to South Carolina for a month with my kids.  We stayed with family, I worked full time, and I cooked very little.

Strike one for the blog.

Right before we left, I also discovered that I was pregnant.  For me, this generally results in an aversion to cooking for a few months.

Strike two for the blog.

So before I strike out completely I thought it was time to get back into the swing of things and start blogging again.  Hopefully the eight of you that actually used to keep up with it haven't given up on me completely!

This little recipe is one that was hatched one night while trying to come up with something to do with leftovers that my kids would eat.  Desperation is often the motivation for innovation.  Didn't someone say that once?  If not, they should have.  Regardless, I browsed a few online recipes for Nacho Cheese and wasn't happy with any of them.  They all called for things that I didn't have or my kids wouldn't eat.  Like jalapeno's for instance.  So we scrapped those ideas and just made up our own.

Nacho Cheese

1 Tbsp real butter
1 heaping Tbsp flour
1/3 to 1/2 c. milk
1 c. shredded cheese
2-3 Tbsp salsa

Start by melting your butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Sprinkle in flour and mix till absorbed into the melted butter.

Add the milk a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well.

If you add the milk too quickly (like I did here), you'll end up with clumps.  No worries, just break up as many as you can with your spoon and move on. 

Now it's time to stir in the cheese.  I used a 4-cheese Mexican blend for this batch, but you can use whatever you think you'd prefer. If you like your nacho cheese a little spicy, try some pepper jack!

Once the cheese is just about melted, go ahead and stir in the salsa.

Continue cooking and stirring until cheese sauce is completely melted together.

You can serve this any number of ways.  You can use it as a dip like any other nacho cheese, or you can make fajita nachos like we did.  Just heat up over your leftover fajita filling (click here for my recipe), put it on top of corn chips and drizzle the whole thing with nacho cheese.  It's a fabulous way to take care of those leftovers.

Quick & Easy Pie Crust

Although I hate to admit it, I'm kind of a lazy cook.  That's the real reason I have a hard time measuring when I'm fixing something for dinner - it's so much easier just to eyeball it and toss it in.  However, there are some things you just can't do that with.  I do NOT estimate baking soda when I'm baking, for example.  I'd hate to accidentally dump in twice as much or not use enough, you know?  It's not easy like vanilla.  Vanilla is so forgiving... as long as it's in there it doesn't really matter, right?

So now that I've gone and given all the real chefs out there twitching fits with my laissez faire attitude, I will let you in on another secret: just because something is "quick and easy" doesn't mean it isn't as good as the long version.  This recipe is one of those.

Although I'm staying away from a lot of sweets and junk food these days, I'm also a creature of tradition, and tradition means pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dinner.  I was asked to make one for a meal we were invited to share with our neighbors this past Saturday, and I really (I mean really) did not want to spend a lot of time baking since I had already spent hours in my kitchen last week.  But I'm also a pie snob, as you may know.  Nothing store-bought was going to suffice for me.  Since desperation breeds innovation, I figured out how to cut my Aunt Esther's excellent pie crust recipe down in size so it would just make a single crust.  And even better, I also figured out how to make it without getting my hands really dirty.


Quick and Easy Pie Crust

1 c. flour + 2 Tbsp.
pinch of salt
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 c. shortening
1 egg white
1/2 tsp. vinegar
water

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a small mixing bowl.  Add shortening.  Using a fork, crumble the shortening into the flour mixture until it looks something like this:

Next, place egg white in a liquid measuring cup.  Add vinegar, and just enough water to fill the measuring cup up to 1/4 cup.  Beat with a fork until foamy.

Dump egg mixture into flour mixture.  Stir (and even mash a little) with the fork until well combined.

This next step does require you to use your hands, but I promise it's just for a second and they won't be coated with lots of sticky dough that's hard to wash off.  Just dump the mixture out on a piece of wax paper or a lightly floured surface and shape into a smooth ball.

If using wax paper, cover with another sheet and flatten slightly with your hands.  Roll out and use as needed for your recipe.

If you are completely new to pie crust, feel free to check out the tutorial by clicking here.

Roasted Potatoes

Several months ago I had these fantastic roasted potatoes at a friend's house. Because I am the Candid Cook and lover of all things edible, I asked her for her recipe. I was floored when she said that all she used for seasoning was the Good Seasons Italian dressing mix packet. Another friend that was there said she used it to season everything, too. What?! How did I miss that memo?

That's when I bought my first package. I even bought the starter kit that came with a shaker bottle and two packets of seasoning. I used it to make a marinade for chicken and veggie shish-ka-bobs, and I was hooked! Not only is it a cheaper and better way to make salad dressing, but as I had already been told, I could also use the seasoning packet to roast potatoes.

One of my favorite things about this recipe is how stinkin' easy it is. You don't even have to peel the potatoes. You just scrub, chop, season, and bake. My second favorite thing about this recipe is that for the FIRST TIME (not counting french fries) Horse Lover has not only liked to eat potatoes, but she has asked me to make them. With the skins, no less. Do you hear the choirs of heavenly angels singing? I do!


Roasted Potatoes

4 Russet potatoes or 6 red potatoes
1 package Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Scrub and chop potatoes into bite-size pieces. Add 1 packet of Italian dressing mix. Toss lightly to coat the potatoes. Drizzle a olive oil and toss again to coat.

Line a 13x9-inch pan with aluminum foil. Coat with non-stick cooking spray. Pour potatoes into pan. What you see pictured here is only 2 russet potatoes (I made a half-batch!), so your pan should look a bit fuller than mine does.

Bake at about 425 to 450 until potatoes are cooked through. Be sure and stir gently about half-way through. The length of time you need will vary based on how full your pan is and how large your potato dices are. I cooked mine about 30-35 minutes.

Shortcut Potatoes

It may come as a surprise to you, but sometimes I forget to do things when I'm cooking. Take Monday night for example. We were having an easy night of it with some grilled hot dogs (the light ones, but don't tell the kids!) and corn and I thought the natives would enjoy some baked oven fries with their dinner, too. But I was so excited about grilling the corn that I completely forgot about the fries.

So picture it: it's 6:05, The Honey will be home in 15 minutes, and we're already having a late dinner. I'm NOT going to start some oven fries that will take 25 minutes alone just to cook. However, I knew we had our hearts set on crispy potatoes, so I devised a plan.


Shortcut Potatoes

potatoes
Cooking spray
salt

Scrub and slice potatoes and place them in a microwave-safe dish. Add a little water and cook them in the microwave until tender. (For 2 potatoes it's about 4-5 minutes.)

Preheat oven to broil and cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place potatoes down in a single layer. Coat tops with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt.

Broil until the tops are starting to brown - about 3 minutes. Turn potatoes over, coat with additional cooking spray, and salt. Broil until other side is done.

Easy Grilled Corn on the Cob

I love - and I do mean love - good corn on the cob. By good, I mean fresh. Like you-have-to-shuck-the-corn-yourself fresh. And to me it's not about how you season it. It's about the texture and flavor of the crisp, crunchy, yet amazingly tender and sweet corn that I can eat right off the cob. You can't get that from the frozen stuff. Which means I am doomed to a lifetime of buying the corn that I have to shuck myself.

This has always seemed like a lot of hard work to me. You have to buy the corn, shuck the corn, pick off all the random strands of corn silk, fill a big pot with water, boil the water, and cook the corn. Made me feel like the Little Red Hen. And then you had to hope you didn't over-cook it and make it mushy. Too much drama. So corn on the cob became a luxury in my house that we didn't get too often.

All that changed a couple of summers ago when we bought our first grill. It was a charcoal grill (because that was cheapest), and I used it to grill as often as I could. I had heard rumors of being able to grill corn right in the husk so one day I gave it a shot.

Ooh, la la! It was cooked to perfection every time. And as an added bonus, it was super-easy to shuck! The corn silk came right off with the husk in a neat clump. And now that we have a gas grill it's even easier. This is one of those things that is hard to screw up. As far as I know, the only way it's even possible is if you under-cook the corn but I have yet to experience that.

First, you must wrap the corn (in the husk!) in aluminum foil.

Next, throw it on the grill for about 20 minutes. Often we'll grill some chicken or something else for dinner to, so we'll cook the corn for about 10-15 minutes on the bottom rack, then move it to the top rack for another 10 minutes while the meat is cooking on the bottom.

IMPORTANT:
When you remove the corn from the grill, it will be hot. Amazing, but true. I highly recommend allowing the corn to cool for about 20-30 minutes before shucking and serving. Your fingers will thank you. If you can't wait, however, just be prepared for toasty fingertips.
If you don't have time to wait, I suggest placing the cooked corn (still in the foil) in a sink of cold water for about 5 minutes to cool it enough to shuck without burning your fingers.

When you open the foil, the outside of the corn should look browned like this:

Remove the husk and admire the beautiful corn, cooked to perfection. Season as desired. We generally just roll our corn on a stick of butter and eat!

Bacon Ranch Wraps

I uploaded pictures from my camera today and realized that I have gotten more cooking done lately that I realized. Kudos to me! I guess I have been feeding my family lately and not just making them eat sandwiches. This is a greater achievement than you may realize since it seems like I've been sick with either cold or stomach bug for last 10 days.

This particular meal would not be a big hit with my lettuce-haters, but I needed something quick and easy before Cantata practice one Tuesday night. So The Honey and I ate these, and the kiddos had cheese quesadillas with veggies on the side. Judge me if you want, but it's better for them than McDonalds!

Also, if you want to try these but don't want to go through the trouble or expense of getting what you need to make the Ranch dressing used in the recipe, you can use whatever Ranch dressing you have on hand.


Bacon Ranch Wraps
(Makes enough filling for 3 adult-size wraps. Each serving of filling is about 160 calories when I make it, but may vary slightly based on what kind of bacon you use and whether you substitute commercial ranch dressing for what's listed in the recipe.)

Ranch dressing for filling
1/3 c. light sour cream
3 Tbsp plain non-fat yogurt
1 tsp dried ranch dressing mix

Combine ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside and prepare filling. If you don't want to make this, you can use 1/2 c. of your favorite ranch dressing instead.


Filling
4 c. chopped leaf lettuce
1 tomato, diced
6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Chop lettuce and tomato and place in a mixing bowl.

Add bacon and shredded Parmesan. (I know, it's kind of like rocket science, iAdd ranch dressing and toss until thoroughly coated.

Place about 1/3 of mixture on a flour tortilla. Fold like a burrito and serve!

Note: If you don't want to eat this as a wrap, add some grilled chicken and make a dinner salad out of it.

Fun Fridays: The 3-Ingredient Cookie

It's been a slow blogging week for me, but not without cause. Handsome Man, The Monkey, and yours truly got attacked by the stomach bug! Not fun. After two days, most of us have emerged triumphant. Handsome Man, however, is still fighting the battle (poor little fella!) so although I'm still too distracted to try anything fancy in the kitchen, I do have some recipes in my picture archives that are on my "to do" list for posting that I can share with you.

For years I have looked at this recipe and wondered if it was "for real". I've heard about it: peanut butter cookies made with nothing but sugar, eggs, and peanut butter. That's it. What, no flour? Nope. No butter? Nope. No salt, vanilla, or baking soda? Nope, nope, and nope. Just three things. (Or four things if you decide to put in some chocolate chips like we did.)

If it had been up to me, I probably still wouldn't have tried it by now, but Horse Lover was in charge of the treat for our weekly Family Night several weeks ago. She had recently had one of these cookies at someone's house (who, by the way is allergic to gluten) and fell in love with them. This meant that as soon as it was her turn to choose the treat again, this was what she wanted.

As for me, I still prefer the good old regular-style of peanut butter cookie to these. I can't help it - I like flour in my cookies! But there may be some of you out there somewhere in cyberspace wondering if these gluten-free cookies are worth the effort. For Horse Lover, the answer will always be yes. For anyone eating a gluten-free diet, the answer would again be yes. But for me? Probably not my first choice, but a decent alternative. Just keep in mind that they are sweeter than your typical peanut butter cookie. At least I won't be in danger of blowing my diet over these. Not like my chewy molasses cookies... Now there is a recipe I need to post on here sometime. But that's for another day.


Peanut-Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
(Optional: 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Gather your ingredients.

In a medium bowl, combine peanut butter, egg, and and sugar.

Add chocolate chips (if desired) and mix well.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet covered in parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray.

Flatten slightly with a fork.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake about 6-7 minutes until bottom edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and let set an additional 2 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Fun Fridays: French Bread Pizza

French bread pizza is one of The Honey's favorite quick and easy convenience meals. It's super easy because I can just buy a loaf of french bread at the store and throw the toppings on. However, when I first started making it we had a lot of soggy bread under the sauce, and I just couldn't stand that. I have soggy bread issues. Big ones.

So, I tried everything I could think of to overcome the problem - even broiling the tops before baking! The one thing that I have found that works the best is to butter the bread before putting on the pizza sauce. Voila! A moisture barrier! Of course, when the butter melts it just removes the barrier, but it pretty much takes care of the soggy bread issue for me.


French Bread Pizza

1 loaf french bread
Spreadable margarine or butter
Garlic salt
1/2 - 3/4 c. pizza sauce or pureed Italian style diced tomatoes
shredded mozzarella (about 2 cups)
pizza toppings (i.e. pepperoni, green peppers, mushrooms, etc.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice a loaf of french bread in half lengthwise.

Place bread, cut sides up on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil. Spread margarine or butter along the cut sides, and sprinkle with garlic salt.

Spread pizza sauce on top of the margarine.

Sprinkle half the cheese on the bread (about 1/2 c. per side).

Top with your favorite pizza toppings (i.e. pepperoni, mushrooms, etc.)

Sprinkle remaining cheese over pizza toppings.

Bake in at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until cheese in melted.

Quick and Easy Chicken Fajitas

I realized the other day that I have not yet talked about one of my favorite dinners to make of all time: chicken fajitas. It's one of my favorites because it is easy, yummy, healthy, and it is a crowd-pleaser with the natives. All except The Monkey, who is pickiest of all. And even she likes it when I make fajitas because she gets a cheese quesadilla with her chicken and peppers on the side. See? Everyone is happy. Especially mom.

I didn't realize I hadn't posted this recipe until I was partway into cooking dinner last night, so I don't have any lovely pictures of slicing the chicken and letting it marinate, but I'm sure you can figure out that part on your own. In fact, I didn't have to slice the chicken last night, because I had sliced it into fajita strips and froze it in a quart-sized freezer bag about 2 weeks ago. (I told you I love to make this - I wasn't kidding. It's a staple around here!) And then, there I was... didn't get home until 5:30, had things to do before I could start dinner, and a husband who was working late and couldn't help with dinner or the kids. So what did I do? I thawed the chicken in the microwave, dumped in the seasoning, oil, and water, and did my stuff that had to be done before dinner. Then, 15 minutes later I started cooking up a storm and taking pictures!

Chicken Fajitas
(Makes 4 adult servings, about 160 calories each for the filling only. Extra calories are added depending on how you serve this - tortillas, cheese, sour cream, etc.)

For the record, I eat one adult serving at a meal. My husband eats 2. If you have a large family, you may want to increase the recipe size.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1/2 package Great Value Fajita Seasoning
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c. water
2 bell peppers, any color
1 small onion

Slice chicken and place in a large ziplock bag. Add 1/2 package of the Great Value Brand (this is Wal-Mart, people!) of Fajita Seasoning. I know this is the off brand. I have tried the "on" brands. I like this one best, and lucky for me it's also one the cheapest. Lucky me! After adding the fajita seasoning, add oil and water. Massage bag gently to evenly distribute the seasoning mixture around the chicken. Let sit at least 15 minutes if you have the time! If you don't have the time, it's not the end of the world. Just slice your peppers and onion and move on.

While the chicken is marinating, slice the peppers and onion. If you really don't like onion you can leave it out, but Horsie Lovers gobbles this down, onion and all and doesn't even notice. The easiest way to slice peppers for fajitas is to slice the pepper in half lengthwise.

Using your knife, cut the seeded area out of each pepper half and discard.

Then slice your peppers into strips.

When you're ready to begin cooking, dump the entire contents of the bag into a preheated pan on the stove. Over medium heat, cook chicken until a little over half done. You should only see small patches of pink on the outside.

Add your sliced peppers and onion and continue cooking.

Cook until the chicken is done and juices have mostly cooked out of the pan. The peppers should not be limp, but should be crisp-tender.

Serve as desired. We usually eat ours on tortillas with cheese and salsa.