Mexican Stuffed Shells

This was a hit with Kevin and I, but less so with the kids. I do think that most kids would enjoy them, I just happened to give birth to two very picky eaters!

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Source: http://thewaytohisheart.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/mexican-stuffed-shells/

Mexican Stuffed ShellsPrinter Friendly Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 package low-sodium taco seasoning (or better yet use this Taco Seasoning!)
4 oz. cream cheese
14-16 jumbo pasta shells
1.5 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce (This is a smooth, tomato based sauce found in the Mexican section)
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup monterey jack cheese
3 green onions
Sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a frying pan cook ground beef; 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 ground beef is cooking, cook the pasta shells according to directions; drain. Set shells out individually on cutting board/baking sheet so that they don’t stick together.

Pour salsa on bottom of 9×13 baking dish.

Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place shells in 9×13 pan open side up.

Cover shells with taco sauce.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add shredded cheese and bake for 10-15 more minutes, with the foil removed. Top with any condiments you’d like (green onions, black olives, etc.) Serve with sour cream and/or more salsa.

*One major change that I made was with the cream cheese. I despise cream cheese so I used a can of cream of chicken soup in place of it and it turned out fabulous! I also used all cheddar cheese in the recipe.

Oven Fried Chicken

Like most recipes I have been trying lately, I cam across this one in Pinterest. The claim is that it tastes like KFC, but Kevin and I didn't really think it did. It was, however, quite tasty and the boys both loved the homemade chicken tenders!

Oven Fried Chicken

Source: http://thewondertwins.blogspot.com/2011/10/mondays-menu-baked-fried-chicken.html

1. Place thawed chicken breast tenderloin strips in a bowl of milk. Let soak for 20-30 min.

2. Mix in a Gallon Size Ziploc or Large Bowl: 1/2 tsp. Salt1 T Season All3/4 tsp Pepper1 c. Flour2 tsp. Paprika

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. Cut 1/2 stick of butter into a few pieces and place in a 9x13 pan. Melt butter in pre-heated oven.

5. Spread melted butter around the bottom of the pan. Lightly spray the pan, if needed, to make sure that there are no dry spots.

6. Shake excess milk off of chicken and completely coat each piece with the seasoning mix. You can either shake the chicken in the bag, until coated, or dip each piece in the bowl until coated.
Place each piece of chicken in the pan.

7. Cook for 20 min. Turn each piece of chicken and continue cooking for 20 more minutes, or until cooked through.

*When I made these I happened to have some buttermilk on hand so I used that instead of regular milk and I think it was a really good modification!

Slacker

With all the illness that has been working its way through our house I have been a slacker about posting new recipes. I am going to try and get several of them up today a we have had some pretty yummy things recently!