Mexican Stuffed Shells

I first had these as an appetizer at a friends potluck lunch. They were delicious and my chips and salsa just couldn't compare. They didn't seem that hard to make so I decided to attempt it for dinner later on that week.

Ingredients

1 Box of Jumbo Shells (I used about 16-18), cooked and drained.
1 lb of taco meat
Taco seasoning packet or your own seasoning for taco meat
Small jar of salsa or picante
Shredded cheese
And optional, onion and can of refried beans

Just fry up your meat and onion and drain. Star in the taco sauce and let simmer for a few minutes. My hubby doesn't like beans so I set his portion of meat aside and then I added a half can of refried beans to mine and stirred up.

Layer the bottom of baking dish with the salsa. Just a thin layer. Then take your meat and put about a little over a spoonful into each shell. Top it off with cheese and place into the baking dish with the seam side on top. Spread the rest of the salsa over the top and cook for about 30 min at 350. Delicious.

You could also serve these as a appetizer. Just omit the salsa from the bottom of the pan and instead add it directly into the shell and maybe sprinkle some crushed chips on top.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Along with the fried rice, we had sweet and sour chicken. The sauce tasted amazing, even if was a tad too vinegary tasting. This with the fried rice made a filling and delicious meal. It will definitely be repeated.

Chicken:
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper1 cup cornstarch2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Directions:
Cut boneless chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Dip chicken in cornstarch and then in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish.

Mix sauce ingredients (below) together and pour over chicken.

Sauce:
¾ cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken every 15 minutes. If you like extra sauce, make another batch of sauce and bring it to a boil on the stove top. Stir constantly and let cook over medium heat until thickened and reduced - about 6-8 minutes.

This recipe is also from deliciousmelicious.com. We didn't have cornstarch so I used flour instead and it worked out fine. You can also bake the chicken without the sauce covering it and use it as a dip instead. Next time, I'm going to fry up some onion, green and red pepper and pineapple to add to the chicken.

Fried Rice

My first attempt at cooking Asian turned out great! Our Chinese usually comes in the form of styrofoam take out boxes from Panda Express, so when I decided to attempt cooking fried rice my husband was both excited and a little apprehensive. But it turned out great! It tasted just like my favorite take out!

Ingredients:
1 cup leftover meats - pork, chicken, beef, seafood
1-2 eggs
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 onion finely diced
3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped vegetables (fresh or frozen)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1-2 tablespoons light or dark soy sauce
1-2 cups prepared rice, cold (or day old)

Directions:
In a hot skillet or wok, heat oil.
Add garlic and onions & stir.
Add leftover meats of your choice, chopped up in bite sized pieces.
Stir fry meats until you get them a bit crispy.
Push the meats aside and crack eggs into the pan.
Scramble the eggs into the pan until cooked.
Add cold rice over the eggs & meat into the pan, making sure to crumble it in your fingers. (Dumping a large chunk of rice is not going to work here. You need to crumble it so it separates nicely).
Add salt, pepper, onion & garlic powders and soy sauce; toss.
Allow the rice to heat up and absorb the spices and soy sauce, tossing to help it along.
Add the fresh or frozen veggies and toss into the rice.
Continue cooking it all on high heat until rice is heated through and veggies are cooked.

I found this recipe on deliciousmelicious.com. I modified it a little bit and ended up making two batches because there were three of us eating dinner. I made vegetable fried rice so I left out the meats. Normally, fried rice usually has peas and carrots mixed in but we only had peas and corn so that's what I used.

My First Post!

So if you are reading this, welcome to my blog! Ever since getting married, I’ve been cooking like crazy. And I’ve been enjoying it. I am always losing recipes I write down so I decided instead to blog them! I've never blogged before but I'm excited to see if I'll keep up with it! I hope you enjoy my different taste tests as much as I will.