Jalapeno Ranch Enchiladas

I found rotisserie chickens on special at my local grocery store and bought a few of them. I love using rotisserie chicken, mostly because I'm lazy, but also because they usually have great flavor. This was something I made up to use up the last of the shredded chicken and the rest of the Creamy Jalapeno Ranch I had made earlier in the week.

3-4 cups shredded chicken
1 cup sour cream
2/3 cup Foodie Bride's Creamy Jalapeno Ranch (I could bathe in this stuff)
1 lime, juiced
Small handful of cilantro
1 jalapeno, seeded and cut into chunks
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Mix sour cream, Creamy Jalapeno Ranch, lime juice, cilantro and jalapeno in blender until smooth. In a large bowl mix shredded chicken, 1 cup mozzarella and 3/4 of the sour cream mixture. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and place, seam side down, in a greased 9x13 pan. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min or until cheese is melted and chicken is warmed through.

Shredded Beef Tacos

2 lb beef roast, trimmed
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tbsp Southwest-type seasoning (I used Pampered Chef)
1 tsp creole seasoning (Pampered Chef again)
2 cups beef broth

Mix chili powder, paprika, oregano, southwest seasoning, and creole seasoning in a small bowl until well mixed. Rub on both sides of the trimmed roast. Place in crock pot and pour in beef broth. Cook on high 6-7 hours or on low 8-9 hours, or until meat is cooked through and falls apart easily.

Remove roast from crock pot and shred with two forks. Add meat back to crock pot and stir.

Serve on flour tortillas with your favorite taco toppings.

Shepards Pie

My I-wish-I was-Irish husband requested this last week when I was making my menu and since it's only 197 degrees here right now, I figured it would be a good idea to bust out some heavier fall recipes. If I can't will the sun to just back up and leave us alone for a few days, then I will crank down the A/C and pretend it's November.

I found this recipe here, but I've written it below my changes and adjustments.

Olive oil
4 large carrots, finely diced
1 large onion, finely diced
2 lbs ground beef
1 cup frozen peas
1 can corn
2 tbsp dried oregano
3 heaping tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1 cup sweet red wine
2 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups beef broth
4 containers of pre-made mashed potatoes, or a large batch of homemade


In a large skillet saute carrots and onions in olive oil until tender. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Drain the fat and return to skillet. Add the oregano, peas and butter, stir until incorporated. Sprinkle in the flour and mix well. Add the wine, ketchup, worcestershire sauce and beef broth and simmer until warmed through and the gravy has thickened. Depending on how much flour you use, you may have to add more broth.

Grease a 9x13 pan and pour beef mixture in. Spoon warmed mashed potatoes over the top and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.

Weekly Menu 8/7-8/13

Sunday- Chicken and pineapple stir fry with rice (never made it last week)

Monday- Chicken salad lettuce wraps, rice pilaf

Tuesday- Italian sausage and vegetable pasta (we LOVE this)

Wednesday- Chicken and creamy jalapeno ranch enchiladas, corn

Thursday- homemade macaroni and cheese, broccoli (another roll over from last week)

Friday- Shepards Pie

Saturday- Open. Maybe out to eat, maybe leftovers

Weekly Menu 7/31-8/6

Here is our weekly menu. I'm going to make myself get back into menu planning, and posting it here weekly as a way to keep track of plans and recipes. When I try out new recipes I'll blog them after I make them. As I type this out I realize that we have dinner plans with friends next Saturday, so I'll probably just push Saturday's meal to next Sunday.

Sunday- burgers on the grill, cucumber tomato salad, corn on the cob and leftover broccoli au gratin rice

Monday- baked ziti w/ homemade marniara and garlic bread

Tuesday- chicken stir fry, rice

Wednesday- shredded beef tacos with creamy jalapeno ranch, spanish rice, corn

Thursday- soy glazed chicken, rice pilaf, steamed asparagus

Friday- chicken spaghetti, steamed sweet carrots

Saturday- homemade mac and cheese, broccoli

Apricot Dijon Pork Chops

These were fantastic! I found this recipe at Budget Bytes and just happened to have some thin sliced pork chops in the freezer. The original recipe calls for bone in pork chops, but I prefer boneless. I also doubled the sauce from the original recipe. There was extra sauce, but when I packed up the leftovers I was glad to have something to warm the chops up in so they didn't dry out. You can definitely taste the vinegar in the recipe, but it's not overpowering. However, if you don't care for a vinegar taste, you could easily halve the vinegar and leave the rest of the recipe the same. Overall, this was a great recipe and super easy to make.

8 boneless, thin cut pork chops
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup apricot preserves
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the apricot preserves, dijon mustard, vinegar and garlic powder. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Pat pork chops with paper towel to try and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until browned, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and set aside, covering with foil to keep warm.

Reduce heat to medium low and add apricot mixture to skillet. Whisk for 2-3 minutes, scraping bottom of the pan to get the pork drippings incorporated into sauce. Add chops back into sauce and simmer on low for 1-2 minutes, until they're covered in sauce.



Adapted from Budget Bytes.

Italian Sausage and Vegetable Pasta

I hate squash. I also hate zucchini. But I LOVE this meal. This is actually probably a favorite of everyone that lives here. It's easy, delicious, relatively healthy-ish and is packed with veggies. Normally I'm a sauce with a side of pasta kind of girl, the more sauce, the better. But when I make this dish we end up eating mostly veggies and sausage, a little sauce and some pasta. I usually grill the sausages, I don't really care for them prepared any other way.

4 Italian sausages, cooked
1 lb cooked pasta of your choice
1 jar pasta sauce (homemade or store bought)
1 medium squash, sliced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
Olive oil (for cooking)

Sautee onion, squash and zucchini in olive oil, seasoning with salt and pepper. Layer pasta, sauce, veggies and sliced sausage in bowls and serve.

I've also made this with chunks of sauteed red and green peppers and onion. And I've also subsituted pasta sauce with a large can of diced tomatoes, warmed through and seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano and garlic.