Mexican Lasagna

I discovered this recipe a few weeks ago and it has become a huge hit in our house. I found it on the Marathon Mom's blog, http://themarathonmom.com/mexican-lasagna.htm

Mexican Lasagna

Ingredients:
1 pound browned hamburger meat
1 can black beans (drained)
1 pound grated cheddar cheese
one batch homemade enchilada sauce (super easy)
1 small can green chiles
12 corn tortillas


Instructions:
Brown hamburger meat and drain grease. Set aside.
Prepare enchilada sauce, then place just enough sauce into 9×13 pan to cover bottom.
Place four tortillas into pan.
Begin layering ingredients, alternating as you go. A bit of meat, some beans, some cheese.
Place four more tortillas, then more sauce.
Continue layering with meat, green chiles, beans, then cheese.
Add remaining four tortillas, cover in sauce, then place remainder of cheese on top.
At this point, you can either cover tightly with foil and freeze OR
Bake at 375 to 400 til cheese is melted and edges are nice and bubbly.


*Heather's varation, we skipped the green chiles - I didn't want this to be too spicy for our 2 year old. I also made my not-so-refried beans (we didn't have black beans) and layerd it in.

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Ok, I'm not sure exactly how to do this. I found a couple recipes on the blog Marathon Mom that I've come to love and would like to share. And if you make this enchilada-sauce, make sure to use it in the Mexican Lasagna recipe, which is also from her blog http://themarathonmom.com/mexican-lasagna.htm.

http://themarathonmom.com/enchilada-sauce.htm

Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup chili powder
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Steps:
In saucepan, combine oil, flour, and chili powder.
Over low heat, stir constantly until bubbly and thickened. (About five minutes or so.)
Whisk in water.
Add tomato sauce and whisk til well blended.
Add spices and stir.
Cook until thickened, ten minutes or less.

Credits: The Marathon Mom, http://themarathonmom.com/

Whole Chicken in the Crockpot

Whole Chicken
Onion, quartered
Celery
Bay Leave
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 - 1 cup water, depending size of chicken.

Rinse chicken, remove giblets and neck (if included inside chicken cavity), pat dry.

Place 2 stalks of celery in the bottom of your crockpot and position the chicken on top of them. Stuff cavity with onion quarters and celery chunks.

Add water. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto chicken according to taste.

Cook in crockpot, low 10-12 hours, high 6-8 hours.

Gram's Chicken Noodle Soup

3-4 chicken breast bone-in skin-on (more of the good stuff that helps fight colds)
2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
1-2 stalks of celery cut into pieces
1 onion cut into thick slices
2-3 small carrots, peeled and slices into rounds
3 packages of Herb-Ox chicken bouillon
Noodles of you choice (I prefer Reames noodles, found in the freezer section)

Wash and pat dry the chicken.
Put in large pot, cover with water. Add salt, bay leaves, celery and onion. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove chicken and let cool, just enough to keep from scaulding your fingers. Cut chicken into small pieces, discard the bones and skin. Strain broth then return chicken to broth. Add carrots (I also add more celery, cut into thin slices), noodles and Herb-ox chicken bouillon. Cook until noodles are done and carrots are soft.

Heather's Crockpot Quick Cooking variation

I find that chicken noodle soup is a good meal to make the day after I've made a whole chicken in the crockpot.

Make your chicken in the crockpot, follow the recipe here: http://meetthemercers.blogspot.com/2012/02/whole-chicken-in-crockpot.html

Strain and save the juices for the next day's soup. Place leftover chicken in the fridge overnight. The next day, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the chicken bouillon. Finish de-boning the chicken. Once the water is boiling, add in chicken, carrots, celery, bay leaves and noodles. Cook until carrots and celery are tender and the noodles are cooked.

Mimi's Dumplings

Boil salted water in a large pot

3 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups of milk

Mix together until an oatmeal consistency. Scoop a small portion on a plate. Dip your spoon in the water and scrape mixture into the water by 1/2 spoonfuls. The dumplings will begin to float when they are done.

To add additional flavor to the dumplings, add bouillon to the water before bringing it to a boil.

Gravy:
1 cup water
2 tsp bouillon
- Bring to a boil and add flour by the tbsp over heat until thickened.

Guacamole

How to pick a ripe avocado perfect for guacamole: The avocado should fit in the palm of your hand and be slightly soft to touch. You could also pull the stem off the top and if it is a bright green, the avocado is still ripe. If you know you are making guacamole in a few days, you can buy a not-so-ripe, firmer avocado. Place the avocado in a brown paper bag with an apple, tomato or banana. The apple, tomato or banana produces ethylene gas which helps ripen the avocado.

4 avocados
1 small red onion, diced
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lemon, cut in half (save to squeeze for juice). Cut the other half into thin slices
garlic salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Cut the avocados in half, remove pits. Slice lengthwise and then cross cut, scoop flesh from the skin. Mash with a potato masher or fork. Mix in onion, garlic, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper. Cover guacamole with the thin slices of lemon until you are ready to serve, and to cover any leftovers (if there are any) to help prevent the avocados from browning.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

This is basically a "find the ingredients you like/want and dump them into your crockpot". There are so many options available for this recipe. I obtained it from a message board a few years ago.

1 package of boneless skinless chicken (we use boneless skinless thighs for variation and their lower price)
1 jar of salsa
A can of corn or 1 cup of frozen corn

And depending on if you like additional heat, you could also add a 4 oz can of chopped jalapenos or chilis.

Throw it all in the crockpot and walk away. Low 6-8 hours, High 4-6

Serve over rice, with cornbread, scoop it into soft taco shells.
Add cheese, sour cream, sliced/diced avacado, fresh salsa etc to taste before serving.