Cheesy Bean Dip

Something to go with the homemade tortilla chips....

Here's what you need (plus the prepared hamburger)

1 can refried beans

1 8 oz package cream cheese - softened to room temp

1/2 pound (or so) hamburger, browned and drained

1.5 Cups grated cheese (I used some cheddar and some mozzarella)

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl except the grated cheese and place in a smaller baking dish (the one pictured here is 6X6). Add the grated cheese to the top, covering evenly.

Place in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is fully melted but not browning.

Goes great with any kind of chips!

Homemade Tortilla Chips

I don't like to waste things. Much. And whenever I buy tortilla shells for tacos, enchiladas or burritos, I always end up throwing out a few shells. This time I decided to try and make something with them.

I had 4 leftover, large, soft taco shells. (Called "burrito size" on the package.)

Taking one soft shell I brushed a little vegetable oil on it. Then added another shell on top and oiled that one. Keep going until all shells are stacked on top of each other, with oil on them.

I cut them into 1/8th's and could have gone even smaller, but just didn't feel like it.

I oiled a cookie sheet very lightly and then places all of the cut pieces at random angles, over-lapping as needed. I used a little seasalt on the top and then placed in a preheated 350 degree oven. At 10 minutes I checked, and a few of them were done so I removed them and put the rest back into the oven for about 5 more minutes.

The Easiest Lasagna....EVER!

I love lasagna but always thought it was too time consuming to make it very often. When trying to figure out what to make for supper the other night I realized I kinda sorta had most of the items on hand, and would "wing it" with the items I didn't have. What came out of the oven was a big hit. So big, that I've now made it 3 times in the last several days. With requests to make enough to have leftovers!

1 pound (or so) hamburger and/or sausage (I like a combo of the 2)

About half a box of lasagna noodles

About 3/4 jar of spaghetti sauce

1 16 oz carton of cottage cheese*

2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

Sprinklings of garlic salt

Boil your lasagna noodles per the directions on the package. You can use the kind that doesn't require boiling, which will make this recipe even easier! Brown the hamburger and/or sausage together until no pink remains.

Preheat oven to 350.

When the noodles are ready, take your casserole dish and spoon a little spaghetti sauce in the bottom and then place one layer of noodles over the sauce. Then place half of the meat mixture on top of that followed by half of the cottage cheese and a sprinkling of garlic salt.

Then repeat the layers, using the remainder of the meat and cottage cheese and more garlic salt, but not too much. Finish by layering the last of the noodles on top and then sprinkle all of the Mozzarella Cheese on top.

Ready to be placed in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Best paired with French bread with garlic butter and a side salad.

*You can replace cottage cheese with Ricotta if you want. Ricotta is more expensive and as far as I am concerned, when it is baked like this you can't tell the difference between the 2 cheeses. If you don't like cottage cheese, please don't omit it. Whether you use cottage or Ricotta, they add a nice creaminess to the dish.

Bacon Ranch Potatoes

How can you go wrong with potatoes? I love them! Trying to get inspired about what to make for dinner tonight, visions of sliced potatoes kept dancing through my mind. So I looked in the fridge to see what I could use and I found some good things, so here we go.

*About 4 medium baking potatoes. (*The potatoes I recently got at Costco are HUGE, so I only used 2.)

6 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

2 green onions, chopped into approx. 1/4 inch slices

1.5 Cups grated cheese of your choice (I used cheddar)

1/2 C sour cream

3 Tbsp Ranch dressing (in a bottle)

1.5 Tbsp milk

A dash (or 2) cayenne powder

1 tsp. dill weed

If you like more creaminess and more Ranch flavor, double the sour cream, Ranch and milk portions.

These make terrific leftovers, so depending on how many you are cooking for, you could double the recipe to have leftovers.

Pre-heat oven to 350. Place bacon slices on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes in the oven. (Thinly sliced bacon works best for preparing in the oven.) While the bacon is in the oven, put on a pot of water to boil the potatoes in, adding a dash of salt to the water. Then slice the potatoes very thin, using a mandolin slicer if you have one. You want your potatoes no more than about 1/8 inch thick.

When the water has come to a boil, add the potatoes and boil for only 4-5 minutes. Drain the potatoes and place in a generously greased (buttered) baking dish, laying out as much as you can, although it is OK to have them overlapping. A 9X13 may be too big for this dish, but use whatever you want. (I used an oval dish that is about 8X10.)

In a bowl, mix together the sour cream, Ranch, milk, cayenne & dill. Poor over the potatoes. It will not be enough to cover them all. Top with the cut green onions, crumbled bacon and grated cheese.

This is before the cheese was added.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

Crab Dip

This is one of the best things I've come up with in a long time, in my opinion,and I've made it about 5 times in the last 2 weeks. But you first have to like crab, or Surimi.

Surimi is also known as fake crab, although it is made with real fish products - it's just a fraction of the price of real crab.

You can find Surimi in the seafood section at your supermarket, usually in small portions (possibly 6-10 "crab legs", which might be about a cup of meat.) I also found a 2.5 pound bag of it at Sam's Club for less than $7.00 - a great deal, since that makes about 6 batches of this dip. (I separated it out into 6 batches and then froze 5 of them.)

1 to 1.5 Cup of Surimi (or real crab if you want to splurge) chopped into small pieces

A generous half cup of Mayonnaise

1/4 Cup sour cream

1 or 2 Tbsp onion, finely chopped (I have used white, red and green onions at different times and they all were good.)

1 or 2 tsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp dill weed

1/8 to 1/4 tsp cayenne

1/8 tsp coarse black pepper

Mix it all up - it is ready to serve immediately, however, if you let it sit for awhile in the fridge, the onion flavor will come out more.

I use this with all kinds of crackers, crostini and party breads.

Chicken & Mushroom Crepes

Whenever I think of crepes I think of something sweet on the inside with a sprinkling of powdered sugar on the outside. But....I'm not eating sweets right now, so when I had an urge to make crepes I decided they needed to be with something savory inside.

Looking at the leftovers in the fridge...."hey, there's the rest of that rotisserie chicken from the deli; let's use that!"

I decided to make a chicken gravy, sort of, that I usually make to put over rice. I thought that would go good inside the crepes, and I was right.

Gravy recipe:

1/2 C Poultry gravy mix

3/4 C milk

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon dill weed

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1/4 to 1/2 C dried mushrooms (or fresh, or canned)

1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 C cut up chicken, already cooked

Some grated cheese to use as a topping later on

Put the gravy mix and the milk in a skillet and turn onto medium or medium/low heat. Add everything else except the mushrooms and stir to smooth out the lumps. This will cook up fairly fast. When the lumps are out and it's thickened, add the mushrooms and the chicken and stir to cover, then remove from heat.

Crepe recipe:

2 C flour

4 eggs

1 C milk

1 C water

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 Tbsp butter, melted

In a mixing bowl (a stand mixer works great) whisk together the flour and eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, combining well. Add the salt and butter and beat until smooth.

Heat a griddle or frying pan to medium or medium/high and lightly grease it. Pour about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of batter for each crepe. If using a frying pan, use a medium sized one so that each scoop of batter will coat the bottom of the pan.

Cook the crepe for only about 2 minutes or until you can see the bottom turning light brown. Take a spatula and turn the crepe over to cook the other side, which will take only 1-2 minutes. Remove crepe to a plate and put a paper towel or piece of wax paper in-between each crepe. This will make about 6-8 crepes.

When you are getting almost to the end of your batter, turn your oven on to bake at 350.

When the crepes are done, take a smaller casserole (less than 9X13) and lightly grease the bottom of it with whatever method you choose. Spray butter or real butter works fine.

Count how many crepes you have and then eyeball the gravy so you can use even amounts of gravy inside of each crepe. Spoon the gravy mix into one crepe at a time, then roll it up and place in the casserole dish. (Be careful with the crepes as they are dainty.) Repeat until your crepes and gravy are gone.

(This was before the cheese was added on.)

Lightly sprinkle some grated cheese over the top and bake in your preheated 350 oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

These were good at the time they were done, but I have to say the leftovers were even better!

PS - these aren't thick like a burrito. They are fairly thin with only about 1/4 cup of mixture inside each one.

Burrito Bowl (like Chipotle's)

I love the burrito bowl at Chipotle Grill and order it every time I go there. Which isn't often enough. Tonight I was thinking about Chipotle Grill and decided to make my own burrito bowl. This wasn't exactly like Chipotle's but it was similar and really good.

This will serve 2 people, with a little meat and rice leftover. Maybe.

2/3 C rice

1 1/3 C water

1.5 pounds hamburger, browned and drained

The juice of one small lime (about 1.5 Tbsp.)

1/2 head of lettuce, shredded

A handful of chopped cilantro, or if you have the frozen kind - 6 cubes*

1 packet taco seasoning

1 can of beans (kidney, black or refried.) Tonight I used kidney.

Tomato, onion and cheese for topping at the table

Sour cream, thousand island and hot sauce (all optional) at the table

*If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, in the freezer section they have frozen cubes of cilantro, as well as garlic and other things. These work great for this type of meal.

Start browning your hamburger in a skillet over medium heat. Then put the rice and water in a small pot over high heat. As soon as the rice water starts to boil, put a lid on it and turn it down to low. Set a timer for 18 minutes.

Drain the hamburger when it is done browning, and then add a packet of taco seasoning. Add just a little water and stir the seasoning into the meat. Let it simmer on low. If you chose black beans or kidney beans, you can add them to the meat now.

When the timer for the rice goes off, fluff the rice with a fork, then add the cilantro and the lime juice. Stir to mix completely and let it remain on low heat for 2 more minutes.

On a plate or a large-ish bowl, add the lettuce, rice, meat & beans, and then your toppings.