Cinco de Mayo Recipe Round-Up

Today is Thursday, and typically on Thursday's I have a #tbt (Throw Back Thursday) 

post on my facebook page.

With Cinco de Mayo coming up on Monday, I knew it would be a Mexican themed one. 

I was having a hard time picking just one Mexican recipe to share.  

So, I decided I would do a NEW post, with a round up of OLDer recipes!

Before I get to sharing all of these FANTASTIC Mexican delights that range from 

Taquitos to Sangria and from Chili Rellenos to Mexican Chocolate... I have to tell you something!!

I am SO EXCITED!!

This is my 300th blog post.

and it's my last one for this site.

This whole site will be migrating over to my NEW site this weekend.  

You cannot imagine how excited I am to share it with you!!

this is a little teaser... the logo. Isn't it so pretty!?!?  

My friend, Rhonda, made all of the magic happen.  

She owns a company in Omaha, called FPO Designs.

She didn't just leave off there, she has made different formats of my logo, and is helping me with all of my business tools, business cards, labels and such.  She has such an eye for this stuff! I am so lucky to have her help (and her friendship, but that goes without saying!)

Rhonda and I last fall

The website has been designed and handled by a wonderful person, and fabulous designer, Lauren, from Lauren Prentiss Designs.  I feel so lucky to have had her to help me through all of this, and lucky to have met her, what an amazing woman she is.

Finally the last piece of this awesome puzzle, is Jeni, from The Blog Maven.

Jeni is handling the whole migration process.  Once Lauren had my new site designed and built, Jeni jumps in and migrates everything from my existing site to the new one. 

(If you are reading this AFTER May 5, 2014 ... you are on the new one!)

So, all of the posts that are here, the comments, the followers, links, everything travels over so you can find it right where you saw it last.

Isn't technology cool?

and how about a BIG HAND for these three tech savvy women without whom 

I couldn't have done any of this?!?!

Now... onto the FOOD!!

Cinco de Mayo Recipe Round-Up 2014

Chili Rellenos / Bean Cheese and Onion Enchiladas

Chicken and Doritos Casserole

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

Copy Cat Taco Bell Mexican Pizza

Pico de Gallo

Baked Shredded Chicken Taquitos

Easy "Dump" Salsa

 

Beef Enchilada Soup

Crock Pot Shredded Beef Burritos

White Rose Infused Sangria

White Chicken Enchiladas

Homemade Taco Seasoning

These are just a few of my Mexican recipes that you can find here on my blog.

To find more, search the word MEXICAN in the search bar, or click on the tab for Mexican Recipes to be taken to a list of all of them!

Thank you for being here with me!

How To: Toast Coconut

I have had a serious love affair with coconut lately.

This for me is a big step.  

Not the love affair with food part, but the coconut part.

You see, coconut has never been a favorite of mine, unless it was in Pina Coladas or suntan lotion, that is.

Recently I made this Coconut Cream Poke Cake, and it's topped with this amazing 

Coconut Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting, and when I taste tested the frosting, 

I knew that I was hooked.  

Since then, I have been making many many coconut treats.

(you can search the word coconut here to find them all)

Many recipes called for Toasted Coconut, and as I was toasting some today for an upcoming post, I thought maybe I would do a post on the how to do it.

I mean at some point in our life, we didn't know how, right?

There are about 2 cups of sweetened coconut here.

There are two ways to go about this, you can either toast it in the oven or on the stove top, which is the way I typically do it.

How To: Toast Coconut

Ingredients:

shredded or flaked  sweetened coconut

On the Stove top:

Sprinkle your coconut into a frying pan and spread it out. Over medium heat, brown your coconut, stirring regularly so as not to burn it.

It toasts quickly, usually only takes about 5 minutes.  When it is golden brown it's done.

In the oven:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Sprinkle your coconut onto a cookie sheet. 

Bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes or so to evenly brown.  

Make sure you watch it, once it begins to brown it happens very quickly!

I think that is why I prefer to do mine on the stove top, I am right there stirring it, I am not as likely to walk away from it.

Sweetened coconut will brown much faster.  If you have unsweetened coconut on hand, you can sweeten it by tossing the coconut with powdered sugar.  

( 2 Tablespoons sugar to about 1# of coconut)

Seal left over in an air tight container and store in the pantry for about a month, or freeze for up to one year.

Tasty served over ice cream! 

Lemon Raspberry Bundt Cake

Aside from chocolate, I think lemon is my most favorite flavor of any dessert.

I was making desserts not only for my house this past weekend, for Easter, but making two of them for my In-Law's Easter dinner.  Everyone in my husband's family loves my Chocolate Macaroon Bundt Cake, so I volunteered to bring it, and then I wanted to make another bundt cake to take along with it.

I didn't want it to be chocolate, so I thought something "fruity."  Of course, my mind instantly went to LEMON!!

My sweet friend, Candi, from The Devilish Dish, shared a few of her favorite bundt cake recipes with me, and of course, when I saw the Lemon one, I knew that was the ticket.

I didn't change much from her recipe, other than I added raspberries to it, and glazed it, because in my own little humble opinion, the bundt cake begs to be glazed.  I mean it has that little hole in the middle that the glaze puddles in, and just sits there waiting for your finger to drag through it ...errrr.... I mean, the spatula to serve it properly on a plate for your guests.

Look at that puddle!!

Swoon!

So, If you just want a nice, moist lemon cake, that is super easy to make, then make the recipe and omit the raspberries, and don't use the glaze.  You'll still be delighted!

Or put raspberries inside the cake when it bakes and fill that hole full of fresh ones on the outside to make it look 'perty!

Lemon Raspberry Bundt Cake

adapted from Lemon Cake Recipe - Candi ~ The Devilish Dish

Cake:

1 -15.25 ounce lemon cake mix

1 -3.4 ounce package instant lemon pudding

1/3 cup oil

4 eggs

1 cup lemon lime soda, (7Up)

1 cup raspberries dusted in 2 Tablespoons flour

Glaze:

1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest

1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries, for garnish

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spray bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix cake ingredients, minus raspberries,  in mixing bowl until moistened.

Mix on medium for 2 minutes.

Fold raspberries in.

Pour into bundt pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick in cake comes out clean.

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

When cake is cool, glaze and garnish with raspberries.  Store in the refrigerator.




Shared at:

Treasure Tuesday's at Yesterfood
Tasty Tuesdays at Life Currents

Easter Dinner Re-Cap

Growing up we went to my Grandmas' houses for all of the holidays, except Easter.

Easter was always hosted by my Mom.

So, when my husband and I bought our first home and had our first child, my Mom "subtly hinted" that this would be a tradition she would like to keep up.

So, each year, we go to my Mother and Father In-Law's for their Easter celebration on Saturday, and then come back home, and we host Easter here for my family on Easter Sunday.

Our kids wake and find their baskets in the morning, we make breakfast, then head to Easter Mass.

After church, my brother and his family, my Mom and her husband and his daughter, our family and my husbands parents come for dinner.

the grandmas enjoying a beverage while the kids hunt eggs.

Before we have dinner, we have an Easter egg hunt for the kids, and take the traditional "picture on the porch" after everyone has found their eggs.

score!

After the egg hunt it's time for dinner!

I love to set the table differently every year.

Of course, I don't think I will ever compare to the year I made the PEEP Centerpiece!

Have I mentioned how I adore PEEPS?

This year I used one of my favorite tablecloths.

After the long and depressing winter we had, I wanted to go BOLD!

Love the colors of this tablecloth!

The only thing I bought new, were the two blue vases.

They were a steal at Tuesday Morning.  Do you have one of those?

Awesome store.

I hunted for some flowers that would go with the tablecloth and used the same colors for the 

eggs and the PEEPS.

I used the "pouch fold" for the napkins.

Originally I had the eggs and bunnies inside the pouches, but they got lost in there.  The napkins I was using are quite big.  This would have worked with a smaller napkin.

I think it turned out pretty cute?

On the Menu:

Baked Ham

Polish Sausage and Sauerkraut 

(from the best local place, Stoysich Sausage, in Omaha, NE)

Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Potato Casserole (with bacon)

Green Beans

Orange Glazed Carrots

Cinnamon Applesauce

Biscuits

...and for dessert

Strawberry Lemonade Cake

It was a fun weekend, and God granted us beautiful weather.

Welcome SPRING!

Copy Cat - Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole (with BACON!)

Copy Cat - Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole (with BACON!)

I needed something to go with my Ham and Polish Sausage and Sauerkraut I made for Easter dinner this past weekend.  I wanted to do something different.

I made this recipe a LONG time ago, based on my friend, Candi's recommendation.

Candi knows food, she hosts her own food blog called The Devilish Dish.

The last time I made it, I forgot to take a picture.

I ran across the recipe again while looking through potato recipe ideas.

It was good from what I remembered, not that I could compare it to anything?

I have never even been in the door of a Cracker Barrel.

I can't stand preparing for a big meal when my pantry isn't organized.  So the week before Easter, I gave it a good cleaning/organizing.

Why do children leave empty boxes in the pantry?

One of life's great mysteries I guess.

While I was gathering the ingredients to throw the casserole together Easter morning, I was in my well-organized pantry, and saw the bacon on the shelf.  I decided bacon could only make a good thing better.

Copy Cat - Cracker Barrel Hash Brown Casserole 

(with BACON!)

adapted from: food.com

2 pounds frozen shredded hash browns

1 stick butter, melted

1 - 10.25 ounce can cream of chicken soup

3 cups sour cream

2 Tablespoons dried chopped onion (or 1/2 cup fresh)

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 - 3 ounce jar real bacon pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a deep 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients.

Pour into baking dish and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Will be slightly brown on top.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Lemonade Cake

I just couldn't decide what to make for Easter dessert this year.

You know me, typically, I lean more toward the pies... but it's sort of hard to make some things, because typically I need to make at least part of it a day and a half ahead of time, since we spend the Saturday before Easter at my husband's parents.

When the strawberries start getting crazy good in the spring, like they are right now, I always want to make something with them.  Of course, it's no secret that I love anything lemon, so when I happened upon this, I knew it would be the best of all good worlds uniting for one pretty little Easter dessert. 

I was browsing through Pinterest, in search of something new, and was pinning away when I came across the picture for this cake on a blog called Jam Hands.

I followed her recipe exactly, then at the last minute, I ended up making more of the cream cheesy frosting, I'm not sure if I just used "too much" (too much...HA!) in between the layers, or what, but I didn't think I had quite enough on the outside of my cake. So, I will post her recipe for you to see,

 but I will type it how I made it., with the "EXTRA" frosting.  

This frosting is AMAZING and perfectly complements the cake.

Strawberry Lemonade Cake

adapted from Jam Hands

1 box Strawberry Cake mix, plus ingredients to make as instructed on package (oil, eggs and water)

12 ounces Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 package (.23 oz size) of Kool-Aid Lemonade OR about 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

yellow food coloring gel, a couple of drops, to get to your desired yellow color

1- 13 ounce and 1- 3 ounce jar Marshmallow Fluff

12 ounces Cool Whip Whipped topping

fresh strawberries for garnish

Bake cake in two 9" layer pans according to package instructions.

Cool on wire racks.

In your mixer, cream with a paddle attachment, cream cheese, kool-aid (or lemon juice) and food coloring.

Stir in Marshmallow Fluff until creamy, making sure to scrape the sides of the mixer bowl.

Fold in Cool Whip, place in the refrigerator until ready to frost.

Slice cake layers in half once.  You will now have four layers.

Spread frosting in between each layer of the cake,  stacking the layers.  

Do a "crumb coat" over the top and sides of the cake.  Place cake and remaining frosting the the refrigerator for about an hour.

Frost with remaining frosting and garnish with sliced strawberries.

**Notes: I had made this with the Kool Aid for the first go-around.  I threw away the remaining Kool Aid, and only had one package.  When I made the send (half) batch, I used lemon juice, and it tasted perfectly fine.  Next time I will probably just go that way to begin with.  Then there is no waste.

Add more lemon juice if you want to amp up the lemon flavor.  Just go easy, it gets really tart really quickly.

Shared at the Great Parties:

Tasty Tuesdays - Life Currents

Thursday's Favorite Things Blog Hop - Katherine's Corner

Hearth & Soul - 21st Century Housewife

Goulash

It's hard to believe that I started babysitting when I was 9 1/2.

I babysat for all of the kiddos on my block.  I have twins that are 11 1/2 and we just began to let them stay home alone for small periods of time.

Crazy how times change?

There was one family I babysat for at the top of the street, and she was a good cook.

A lot of times when there is a babysitter, kids are given mac 'n cheese, or PB&J, but 

this mom liked to cook, and she would prepare food for me to warm up for the kids.

One time, she had goulash.

This goulash.

It wasn't anything that my Mom ever made, and so when I tried it and I liked it, I asked for the recipe.

I still have the VERY recipe on a note card that was put in my hope chest.

Did you have a hope chest?

In my opinion it's something all of us should have.

I don't know why, but I hadn't made this recipe for years.

(B.C. even... "Before Children")

My Mom still makes it for her and her husband quite often.

I came across the recipe in my cookbook, and thought I'd give it a whirl.

When I was making it, my youngest daughter asked me how I got it "printed like that on that note card?"

Well, I used my electric typewriter.

"YOU had a TYPEWRITER?" she exclaimed.

Yes, yes, dear, we did.

How cool was I?

Back in the dark ages, a.k.a. The 80's, when we took typing class not "keyboarding."

typing class, picture taken from my freshman year yearbook

Like everything else, I switched up the original recipe.

We love our veggies, so I added more.

Plus, there are more of us to cook for, so I made more.

I hope that you won't wait 20 years to feed it to your kids, mine loved it.

Easy weeknight meal.

Goulash

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 medium sized sweet onion, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped

1 1/2 cups celery, chopped

1 - 14 ounce can diced tomatoes

2 - 8 ounce cans tomato sauce

12 ounces macaroni noodles, or what you have on hand

Brown ground beef with onion and celery,  sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Drain any excess grease.

Return to pan, add carrots, tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While sauce is simmering, boil, drain and rinse noodles.

Add to sauce, combine and serve.

May be topped with Parmesan cheese.

**Note: Feel free to add more veggies if you like, my Mom always puts corn in hers.  Use your imagination.  Can be cut in half easily.  I have a big family, so I cook big!

Apple Crostata

This month for our Secret Recipe Club reveal, I was assigned a blog named

Join Us,Pull Up a Chair.

I spent an evening with my iPad in my lap browsing and pinning, trying to decide on what I wanted to make.

My family LOVES apple pie, so when I happened upon Heather's Apple Crostata, I knew I had to try it.

I have seen others post recipes like this, and have always thought they were so pretty.

If you have been with me for a while, you will have heard me say once or thirty times, that I am kind of a pie girl.  I mean, I love to make cakes and cupcakes, but to me, pie is where it's at.

I love the crust... just like pizza, its my favorite part.

I will warn you, if you and I ever find ourselves enjoying our favorite pies of choice over coffee and conversation, and you leave your crust on your plate, I am going to eat it.

Don't say you weren't warned! ;)

Look at those spiced apples ... I bet you can almost smell it, can't you?

Well, what are you waiting for?

Go make one!

They look so pretty and they're so darn easy!

I only changed Heather's recipe a touch, by amping up the spices a little bit, and using a tarter apple.

Apple Crostata

adapted from: Join Us, Pull Up a Chair

1 1/2 pounds of apples, I used Granny Smith, about 3 large 

1/4 cup flour

1/4 sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspooon nutmeg

4 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, sliced into small pieces

1 refrigerated pie crust, or your own homemade

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, roll your crust on a lightly floured surface, then transfer to you baking sheet.  I used my pizza stone.

Mix flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. 

Peel,  core and slice your apples and lay them in the center of the crust leaving a border about 1 1/2 inch big.

With a pastry blender, or two knives, "cut" the butter pieces into the flour mixture, mix until crumbly.

Sprinkle evenly over apples.

Fold edges up and pleat to hold filling in.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender.

Cool slightly. You can serve warm or cold, but may I suggest warm with a scoop of ice cream?

Trust me, I'm a Pie Girl.

To See Other Great Recipes from the Secret Recipe Club Check Out the Links Below!

An InLinkz Link-up