Recipe: Taco Pasta Bake

My recipe for taco pasta SALAD is a common go-to recipe in our home simply because it requires minimal ingredients and I can whip it up in no time. However, when I decided to to whip it up the other day, I realized I didn't have the needed sour cream or salsa. Now what? Well thanks to my love for pasta and past experience of making a quick meat sauce, I whipped up the lovely creation of taco pasta BAKE! Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 box of rigatoni, ziti, or mostaccioli
1 lb. ground beef
1 envelope of taco seasoning
1 cup water
1/2 pkg of cream cheese
2 cups of shredded Mexican/Fiesta cheese

Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package.
2. Brown ground beef. I added a little salt, black pepper, and adobo for taste.
3. Add taco seasoning and 1 cup of water. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid has reduced. I like my pasta with a little coating so I left enough liquid to coat the pasta a little with the oils.
4. Add the 1/2 pkg of cream cheese to the beef mixture, stir until melted and combined, then remove from heat.
5. Mix the pasta, beef mixture, and shredded cheese in a 9x13 baking pan.
6. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan making sure all the pasta is coated well, and top with a layer of shredded cheese. We love our pasta really cheesy so add as much or reduce the amount to your liking.
8. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit uncovered for approx. 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Recipe: Baked Salmon

I'm not the biggest fan of fish, but two that I usually never turn down is salmon and catfish. My aunt used to make this YUMMY salmon recipe, but I never got to ask her what it was before she passed. I asked my mom for help and after a little trial and error, I came up with a recipe that I think is as close as it will get to my aunt's. Of course something's missing, but I tried haha. Regardless, it tasted yummy and my 1st attempt at cooking fish at home was a success. It's super quick and easy to do. Enjoy!

Baked Salmon

Ingredients:

• 1 large piece of salmon
• Light mayonnaise
• Garlic powder
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 1 large red tomato

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread a coat of light mayonnaise all over the salmon.
2. Lightly sprinkle garlic powder throughout and then layer with white onion and tomato.
3. Finish with a light sprinkle of garlic powder once more.
4. Bake salmon for about 20 minutes and enjoy! 

How do you prepare your salmon?

Recipe: Arroz con Pollo

The fall/winter weather has finally arrived in Las Vegas, and there's nothing better than having some yummy comfort foods to warm you up. The dish looks so vibrant and would make a great dish for Thanksgiving. Plus, it tastes just as good as it looks! This was my first time making arroz con pollo and it's definitely on the top of my list for yummy dishes I made from my recipe binder. ENJOY!

A few FYIs before we get started:

• It says to use a  big skillet to cook this. I  used at 12 in (or maybe 16 haha) skillet to cook this dish and it ended up becoming very messy once it added the broth and tomatoes. It started to overflow once it started to boil so I suggest to use a skillet if it's really deep or just settle with a cast iron caldero pot where its a little deeper to prevent overflowing.
• When browning the chicken, I used a little more olive oil than suggested once I saw that the oil was darkening quickly. That's something you want to prevent so you don't have burnt tasting chicken so use your judgement on that. Plus, nonstick spray is definitely key!
• I've never cooked rice on the stove before nor in a dish full of ingredients. I'm used to just cooking it in a rice cooker. I honestly was debating on cooking it in the rice cooker to make sure it was thoroughly cooked and adding it later, but I followed the recipe instead. Rest assure the rice cooked perfectly fine when adding it to the ingredients in the pot.
• Lastly, I didn't have much leftover juices after browning my chicken so don't be alarmed if you don't either. Regardless, I still saved the little I had.

ARROZ CON POLLO

Ingredients:

• 3 lb.s skinless, boneless chicken thighs or breasts
• Kosher or coarse salt and ground black pepper
• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 1/2 cups short or medium grain rice
• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, with their juice
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
• 1 cup frozen peas (no need to thaw)

Directions:

1. Cut the chicken into chunks about 2 by 2 inches. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Spray a very large skillet with a lid with nonstick cooking spray and heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add as much chicken as will fit in the pan without crowding. Cook the chicken until it it golden brown on the bottom, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook until the other side is browned, 3 to 4 minutes longer; the chicken will still be pink inside. Transfer the chicken to a large plate. Repeat until all of the chicken is browned, adding another tablespoon of olive oil as needed. Pour off the fat and pan juices from each batch of chicken into a heatproof bowl.
3. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, and bell pepper and cook until the vegetables start to become tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring until you can really smell the garlic, about 1 minute. Add the rice and stir until the rice starts to turn slightly translucent and is nicely coated with all of the vegetables and the fat, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice and the chicken broth, bay leaves, and paprika. Stir well. Cover the skillet, increase the heat to medium-high, let the liquid come to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium, and let simmer until the rice has begun to absorb the liquid, about 8 minutes.
4. Arrange the chicken pieces on top of the rice and drizzle any juices that have accumulated on the plate over the chicken. Pour off any fat that has separated from the reserved pan juices. Cover the skillet again and let simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through, the rice is tender, and most of the liquid has been absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes.
5. Remove the lid, sprinkle the peas on top. cover the skillet and cook until the peas are heated through, about 2 minutes. Serve portions of the chicken with the rice and vegetables.

Let me know how your dish turned out!

Recipe: Ham and Cheese Sliders

I was sitting at home last night contemplating what to cook for dinner. What better way to find the answer than the world wide web?! Coincidentally, a member of my couponing group posted a question in our online group about easy last minute meals. Perfect. Thanks to one of the suggestions of a fellow member, I was lead to the recipe of Ham and Cheese Sliders.

I've pinned recipes from "The Girl Who Ate Everything" before on Pinterest. I must say, I drool every time I visit her page. Being on a really tight budget lately, I needed something that had minimal ingredients and with my busy day yesterday, I needed something that wouldn't take too long to whip up. This recipe definitely didn't disappoint. It's a nice twist on your average mini sliders and SUPER easy to make. JAM even helped me out in preparing it all and loved every minute of it! I tweaked it a bit and used the Hawaiian rolls instead of regular dinner rolls. I'll find any excuse to use Hawaiian bread hehe. Like I said, I'm on a budget so instead of using fancy honey ham, I just bought my favorite brand of honey ham in sandwich meat and folded the slices in half. I also bought square sandwich slices of Swiss cheese and broke them in half to fit the mini sliders. I added one half slice of cheese per slider. Enjoy!

Ham and Cheese Sliders

Ingredients:

24 dinner rolls

24 pieces good honey ham
24 small slices Swiss cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup miracle whip

Poppy seed sauce
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
1 1/2 Tablespoons yellow mustard
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 Tablespoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and miracle whip. Spread onto both sides of the center of each roll. 
2. Place a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss inside of each roll. 
3. Close rolls and place them into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. 
5. Pour mixture evenly over all of the sandwiches. You do not have to use all of the sauce! Just use enough to cover the tops. 
6. Let sit 10 minutes or until butter sets slightly. 
7. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.
8. Uncover and cook for 2 additional minutes or until tops are slightly brown and crispy. 
9. Serve warm.

Note: Sandwiches can be assembled a day ahead and kept in the fridge ready to bake.

Recipe: Chicken Adobo

Being a Filipina, I knew that I wanted to learn how to cook many of the delicious meals that my grandparents and parents cooked for me. One of the easiest to learn is chicken adobo. Enjoy!

 

Filipino Chicken Adobo

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Ingredients:

8 chicken legs on the bone (skin removed)

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1 small head of garlic, crushed

6 ground peppercorns

4 bay leaves

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and peppercorn for at least an hour (overnight is ideal). 

2. Add chicken, 1/2 cup water, bay leaves and marinade into a deep pot and cook on medium-low heat. 

3. Cover and cook until the meat is tender, about 1 hour. 

4. Remove the cover and cook an additional 15 minutes, until the sauce reduces. 

5. Discard bay leaves and serve over rice.

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There are many variations to this recipe and I like to play around with it a lot. You can use other types of meat such as boneless chicken breast or even pork. Just cube the meat and prepare it according to this recipe. I also like to add more than a 1/2 a cup of water to the mixture when cooking because I like to add the sabao (the soupy marinade mixture that the meat cooks in) over my rice when I eat the adobo later on. The recipe says to marinate the meat prior to cooking, but I've added the ingredients in as I cooked the chicken when I was on a time crunch and it turned out just as yummy. In this case I would let the chicken cook in the marinade about 20 minutes longer to absorb the flavor a little more. I would also monitor the mixture and add a cup of water if I see that the level of fluid was too low (the fluid should boil over and cover the chicken when the pot is covered to properly cook the chicken). 

P.S. DON'T bite into the peppercorn. It's a very strong peppery taste lol. I usually pick it out when I can.

Have you ever tried Filipino food before? If so, what is your favorite dish? If not, did you enjoy the chicken adobo?

Recipe: Chorizo Quesadillas with Guacamole

Two items we typically always have in our house is tortillas and chorizo. Simply because you can do so many things with tortillas, and chorizo is a quick and simple thing to cook. If they want a quick snack, Mahal and JAM like to request quesadillas. I've done the plain and simple cheese quesadillas, and I've also tried to make them with chicken. Then I had an aha! moment just like when I thought that mixing my two favorite foods, Mexican and pasta, into one dish for taco pasta salad was genius. Why not make two simple dishes into one?! So here we have it! Chorizo quesadillas with guacamole. If you didn't know, for the LONGEST time i despised guacamole. I know I know, I was probably the only one on this planet that did, but the more I tried it, the more I liked it! It was more of an acquired taste for me. I just made guac for the first time to pair with this recipe and it turned out great in my opinion. This recipe made 6-7 quesadillas. Adjust the ingredients to your liking. ENJOY!!

Chorizo Quesadillas with Guacamole

Ingredients:

9 oz pork chorizo, casing removed
1 small red onion, chopped
1 to 2 cups white button mushrooms, stems removed and chopped
1 large poblano pepper, seeded and chopped
Salt and black pepper to taste
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Medium- sized corn tortillas
Guacamole

Directions:
1. Cook chorizo on medium heat until browned and break up the meat into smaller pieces.

2. Add the onion, mushrooms, and poblano pepper. Sauté it all, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are browned. Season with salt and black pepper.

3. Heat a small skillet on medium heat. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray and add a tortilla onto the skillet. Put about a 1/2 a cup of cheese onto the tortilla and top with the chorizo mixture. Top the chorizo mixture with another tortilla.

4. Heat the tortilla until it is browned and flip the quesadilla to brown the top tortilla and fully melt the cheese. Cut into 4 wedges and serve with the guacamole.

Guacamole

Ingredients:

3 avocados

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

1 lemon

Cilantro, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped

Salt

Directions:

1. Scoop out the flesh of avocados and mash until there are no chunks left.

2. Add garlic, onion, juice of lemon, cilantro, and tomato. 

3. Add a pinch of salt for taste. Mix well and Enjoy!

Recipe: Chicken Enchiladas

I love chicken breast because there's so much you can whip up with it. I usually have some cooked chicken on hand for times when I want to whip up something quick since cooking the chicken is what usually is the most time consuming part of most recipes. If I want to whip up something fairly quick and yummy or if I have guests coming over last minute, this is definitely my go to recipe. It's always a crowd pleasure and takes minimal work!

Ingredients:
* 1 lb. boneless chicket breast
* 1 - 16 ounce jar of Pace Picante Sauce
* 2 teaspoons chili powder
* 1/2 cup of sour cream
* A bag of shredded Monterey Jack cheese
* 1 package of  corn tortillas (8-inch)
* 1 - 28 ounce can of Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
* 1 green onion, thinly sliced


Directions:
1. Boil the chicken breast on medium/medium high with your seasoning of choice until the chicken is tender enough to shred with a fork. For 1 lb. of boneless chicken breast it usually takes me 1 hour to 1 hr. 20 min. to achieve this consistency. My go - to seasonings are the ones I used in my Taco Pasta Salad recipe.

2. Once your chicken is cooked, drain it and shred it all in a large bowl.

3. Add jar of picante sauce, chili powder, sour cream, and about 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese to your bowl of shredded chicken and mix it all thoroughly. If you like your enchiladas more cheesy add a little extra cheese to the mix.

4. Warm about 10 tortillas. I warm my tortillas in the microwave for about 1 minute and cover it with a moist paper towel to soften the tortillas and avoid cracking when rolling them.

5. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the chicken mixture vertically into the center of a tortilla, and then roll up the tortilla and place it on a lightly greased, shallow baking pan. Continue steps 4 and 5 until you use all of the chicken mixture.

6. Once you have your chicken - filled tortillas lined up on your baking pan, cover all the tortillas generously with a can of green chile enchilada sauce. It's personal preference as to what kind of sauce you use but I like the green sauce. You can also use another jar of Pace Picante Sauce as an alternative or they offer red chile sauce as well.

7. Generously apply Monterey Jack cheese over the top of the sauce - covered tortillas and top it off with green onion.

8. Bake at 350^oF  for 40 minutes or until the enchiladas are hot and bubbling. Enjoy!

Recipe: Taco Pasta Salad

For the most part, I grew up having my Grandpa cook everything for me. I never felt the urge to learn how to cook, but once I had my son and moved out on my own that became a problem. I still say I'm a work in progress, but I don't know where I'd be without recipe books and the Internet. Over time I learned what blends well with what and started to experiment a little with food. However, if you're a cooking newbie, let's start off with one of my simplest recipes that was given to my from an older cousin of mine. Two of my favorite types of foods are pasta and Mexican food so I thought this was genius to combine together! It's super easy to do and a hit whenever I make it.

TACO PASTA SALAD

Ingredients:

1- 12 oz. Box of Rotini Pasta

1 lb. of Ground Beef

2/3 Cup of Water

1 pkg. Taco Mix

1 Jar of Salsa

Sour Cream

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:

1. Prepare the Rotini pasta according to its package directions.

2. Brown the ground beef in a medium skillet over medium heat until it's not longer pink. If you don't like that extra oil that's left over, drain the beef and then return it to the skillet.

3. Add water and taco seasoning to the cooked ground beef. Simmer until the mixture thickens while stirring occasionally.

4. Once the ground beef and pasta is cooked, place a portion of the pasta on a plate or bowl for individual serving. Top pasta with the amount of ground beef to your liking. Add a dollop of salsa and sour cream and sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese.

5. Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is the simple version of taco pasta salad. I've learned to adjust it to my liking the more I cooked it. My family loves meat so we add 1 lb. of ground beef to 1 box of tri-color rotini pasta. Just adjust the portion sizes to fix your individual family if you like more pasta than meat or vice versa. I use Barilla's tri-color rotini pasta because I feel that it absorbs the flavor of the food well. Mahal doesn't like the taste of taco mix so I season the ground beef with 1 packet of Sazon, 1/2 to 1 tsp. of Adobo (depending on how salty you like your food), and about 1 tablespoon of Recaito.

You would add these 3 ingredients into the meat before you cook it. Add them and fold the meat a few times just to mix it in well, then cook on medium heat until the meat is not longer pink (about 30 minutes minimum). These ingredients can be found at most of your local grocery stores in the Hispanic aisle. I buy mine from Food for Less or Smith's. As far as the toppings, I like to use Mild Pace Salsa since my son doesn't like spicy things, but it'll taste fine if you don't add salsa at all. It's just to add an extra kick. Play around with the toppings to your liking. I actually like to add lettuce and tomato to my Taco Pasta Salad sometimes. Mahal and JAM love to add tortilla strips into their bowls for a little crunch in their meal. You can find tortilla strips usually next to the croutons at your local grocery store. Enjoy!

*I received no form of compensation for talking about these specific products. I just wanted to share what worked for me personally.

Let me know how it turns out when you give it a try! Comment or message me for any questions you may have. What variations of this recipe worked well for you?