Lemon Ginger Fruit Salad

So here's a recipe for a fruit salad that I made this morning

Ingredients
Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Pineapple
1/4 cup of lime juice
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Directions
I cut about half of a fresh pineapple up into bite size pieces and put the pieces into a bowl. Then I cut up about 5 or 6 strawberries and put them into the bowl with the pineapples. Then I had 3 wedges from a cantaloupe that I cut up into bite size pieces and placed in the bowl with the rest of the fruit.

In a separate small bowl, add the lime juice, sugar, and ginger. Stir. Heat the mixture in the microwave for a few seconds so that the sugar dissolves. Then put it in the freezer to cool it off. Once cooled, pour the lime juice mixture over the fruit and stir until all of the fruit has some on it. 

Chill & serve.

Mexican Casserole

Last week I bought some corn tortillas (again) with a WIC voucher. The last time I bought them I just used them for a small soft taco...the same way that I use the flour ones. Thing is...they didn't really appeal to my taste buds with the corn tortilla. Now anybody who knows anything about the WIC program knows that the food on the vouchers is healthy food, which may not taste all that great in the beginning. 

So when I bought a pack for the 2nd time, I was determined to use them in a way that my entire family could appreciate. So I googled (I'm the queen of google) recipes that use corn tortillas. The common theme was casseroles and enchiladas. So I decided to go with a casserole. I tried to find a recipe that looked fast and easy. I also wanted to go with a recipe where I had all or most of the ingredients or could easily substitute or omit ingredients. 

Here's the recipe that I used as a base recipe to get me started....

http://www.food.com/recipe/mexican-ground-beef-tortilla-layer-casserole-209135

Now here's what I actually did....

Ingredients

1 pound of ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

salt to taste

black pepper to taste

3 teaspoons of cumin

1 can of whole kernel corn 

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 (15 oz.) can of tomato sauce, reserve about 1/4 cup of it

mild cheddar cheese, shredded

gouda cheese, shredded

7 or 8 corn tortillas (the small ones)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cooking spray into a rectangular shaped baking dish. 

2. Cook the ground turkey and chopped onion in a large skillet or dutch oven until the meat is browned. You also want to season the meat with some salt and pepper. Drain (if desired). *I didn't drain mine. If you use ground beef or chuck, you may want to drain some or all of the fatty grease.*

3. Remove the meat from the heat. Add the cumin and taco seasoning. Stir until well combined. Add the tomatio sauce....not the 1/4 cup reserved amount, but the larger portion. Stir until well combined. Drain the liquid off of the corn, then add the corn to the pot. Stir until well combined. Put the pot back on the heat. 

4. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking. Then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. 

5. While the meat mixture is cooking, layer some of the tortillas into the bottom of the baking dish. You may want to cut the ones that go around the edges of the pan to ensure that you cover the entire baking dish. 

6. Once the bottom of the baking dish is covered with tortillas, pour the reserved tomato sauce over them. 

7. When the meat mixture has simmered on low heat for about 5 minutes, scoop some out and put over the tomato sauce in the baking dish. Then cover the meat mixture with cheese. Then do another layer of tortillas. Then do another layer of the meat mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. 

8. Remove the foil and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until the cheese melts. 

Bon appetit!!!

5-Step Recipe: Easy Shrimp and Veg Stir-Fry: SELF.com

5-Step Recipe: Easy Shrimp and Veg Stir-Fry: SELF.com

Gotta try this recipe!!!

Fruity Pie-tooty

This recipe was inspired by my cousins. A couple of months ago, I was at their house for Sunday dinner after church and we had a fruit pizza for dessert. It was delicious! It's actually somewhat of a healthy dessert. Also, anybody can make it because it's super easy to make.

You'll need the following ingredients:
1 package (the roll) of sugar cookie dough
1 eight ounce container of frozen whipped topping
Half of an 8 ounce block of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar
Fruit of your choice

For the fruit, I used strawberries and kiwi fruit. I used about 5 or 6 strawberries. I cut the tops off and sliced them. I peeled about 2 or 3 kiwi fruit and sliced them. 
Now here's what you need to do...

Preheat your oven to 350°.

Make sure you spray the pan with cooking spray. Then take the roll of cookie dough and spread it out evenly onto the pan. Keep your fingers wet, as this will keep the dough from sticking to your hands.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.
When you start to smell that wonderful aroma of cookies baking, keep an eye on them because the time will vary from oven to oven.

Once your giant cookie is finished baking, remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely. While the cookie is cooling off, you can make your "pizza" sauce.

To make the sauce...
Place the cream cheese, whipped topping, and sugar into a bowl. Whisk them until well combined. Once the cookie has cooled off completely, spread the mixture on it.

Arrange the fruit onto the cookie.

Easy Breezy Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo

So today me and the girls went shopping....again. Since we left home kinda late today, I knew that it would be even later once we returned home. Too late for me to wanna do any serious cooking. So I thought today would be the perfect day to make shrimp alfredo for the first time. And I came up with a super easy way to make it. And it goes a lil' sumthin like this.......


The players...aka the ingredients
a 12 oz. pkg. of medium shrimp
1/2 of a 16 oz. pkg. of fettuccine noodles
1 jar(15 oz.) of Bertolli Garlic Alfredo sauce
4 tablespoons of butter or margarine
salt
garlic powder
Parmesan cheese
lemon zest

...whew...hope I didn't leave anything out

I forgot to time the entire process, but this couldn't have taken anymore than 30 minutes total. My family LOVED this!!!! Even my 2 year old daughter! The only one who didn't get to partake was my 7 month old...for obvious reasons.

The reason this recipe is so easy is because a lot of the work is done for you. I mean hey you don't have to make every meal entirely from scratch. So the shrimp was the best part. When you buy them from the supermarket, they come frozen in a bag. They have already been cleaned, deveined, and cooked. So all you have to do to them is defrost them.

You defrost the shrimp according to the directions on the package. Once they are defrosted, go ahead and prepare the fettuccine noodles according to the directions on their package. While the noodles are cooking, melt 2 tablespoons in a skillet. Then pour the shrimp in the skillet on top of the butter. Pour 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder over the shrimp. Then "saute" the shrimp in the butter and seasonings for about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat on them after 3 minutes and wait for the noodles to finish cooking. Once the noodles are done, drain them and return them to their pot. Then pour the shrimp from the skillet onto the noodles. Next pour the alfredo sauce onto the noodles and shrimp. Then zest half of a lemon into that pot. If you do not have any lemons on hand to zest, then you may omit the lemon zest from the recipe. I really just added it because citrus goes well with seafood and I was trying to use up a lemon. Next stir everything up until it is well combined. Then turn the heat down on low and let everything simmer for a few minutes. Voila!!!   Easy, breezy shrimp fettuccine alfredo!!! I hope you and your family enjoy this dish as much as my family and I did!!!


Here's a pic...

Oh and that pretty little drink...it's just some ginger ale in a wine glass. I cut up 2 strawberries and put them in the drink. I also sliced 1 strawberry and put it on the lip of the glass. Fancy huh? I just wanted to feel like I was drinking wine.

Taco Parfait

So yesterday my baby girls and I were out shopping for a few hours and it was kinda late when we got home. My boo was already home from work. So I decided to whip up something quick for dinner. Tacos. Well I actually decided this while we were shopping because I knew that I was not gonna feel like putting together an extravagant dinner.

While I was in the store getting the remaining items that I would need to make the tacos, I decided to get nacho ingredients too. You see I make some great nachos using taco seasoning and some other things. Making either tacos or nachos is a very simple thing. The only thing you have to cook is the meat. I usually use ground beef or ground chuck. Yesterday I used ground round. All of these things are beef. The chuck and round just have lower fat content than the beef. If you prefer, you can use ground turkey.

The taco parfaits are basically a combinations of my tacos and nachos.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound package of ground beef, chuck, round, or turkey
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• seasoning salt(optional)
• onion powder(optional)
• tomato sauce(optional)
• shredded cheese
• 1 tomato, chopped
• lettuce, chopped or shredded
• sour cream
• taco sauce
• tortillia chips, crushed
• 1 jar of Tostidos cheese dip

Directions:
Cook the ground beef in a large skillet until all traces of pink are gone. Move around with a wooden spoon or a plastic spatula frequently so that the meat will be in small pieces. While the meat is cooking, I prepare the veggies. I chop the tomatoes and lettuce. I also sit the other ingredients out on the counter so that everyone can add what they like. Drain the fat, leaving the meat in the skillet. Pour in the packet of taco seasoning. Add the amount of water that the packet says to add. If desired, pour in half of the can of tomato sauce. Stir until combined well. Heat until it comes to a boil. Turn heat down to a simmer. Simmer for 3-5 minutes. At this point, sometimes I add some of the cheese dip to the meat mixture. You can do this if you like.

Now your work is done. Time to enjoy and put everyone else to work. This is how I assemble mine. Place some lettuce on the bottom of your bowl. Next put some tomatoes on top of that. Then add some meat and some shredded cheese. Next add some taco sauce. Then put the sour cream on top of that. Finally add the tortillia chips on the top. If you like and if your bowl is big enough, you can layer the ingredients again. My family and I enjoyed this!!!

Getting Started

Cooking is something that I love to do. It is also something that I am pretty good at. A dream of mine is to own my very own restaurant one day. So let it begin with this. I recently started my first blog....about a month or so ago. It's just my feelings and opinion on random things. Then I said to myself, self what are you good at? What are you passionate about? Cooking....

So here goes.....I will be sharing recipes, pictures of those dishes, my thoughts on thoughts on them and so on. I hope you enjoy.