Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

2 t. vanilla

5 3/4 to 6 1/4 c. sifted powdered sugar

Recipe:

1. Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups of the powdered sugar, beating well.

2. Gradually beat in additional powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency.

3. This frosts tops and sides of two 8- or 9-inch layers. Halve the recipe to frost a 13x9x2-inch cake.

4. Cover and store frosted cake in the refrigerator.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

This is a pretty good recipe for cream cheese frosting, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. I could probably tweak it enough to get it to the taste I want though. Pretty good on just normal cake box cupcakes (that's what we made this week), but I think it would be delicious on red velvet.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, pg. 171

Beef Chimichangas

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 t. taco seasoning mix, or more to taste *

1 t. dried oregano

1/4 c. sour cream

1 4-oz can chopped green chilies

2 T. distilled white vinegar

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 c. margarine

6 7-in corn tortillas

* I didn't have any taco seasoning on hand, so I just substituted it with ground cumin and a little ground red pepper

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Brown the ground beef, onion, garlic, taco seasoning, and oregano in a skillet over medium heat, breaking the meat up into crumbles as it cooks, about 8 minutes.

3. Drain off excess fat. Stir in sour cream, chilies, and vinegar until well mixed. Remove from heat, and mix in the cheese.

4. Melt margarine in a small skillet over low heat. When melted, dip each tortilla into the margarine for about 30 seconds, or until soft. Place the softened tortilla onto a baking sheet, and fill with about 1/3 c. of the meat mixture.

5. Fold the right and left sides of the tortillas over the filling, then the top and bottom, making an envelope that completely encloses the filling. Flip the tortilla seam side down on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.*

6. Bake in the preheated oven until the tortilla is crisp, about 15 minutes.

* I think the next time I make these I will either get bigger corn tortillas, or not fill them as full, or just use large flour tortillas. The 7-inch ones are so small that I could hardly wrap around the prescribed 1/3 c. filling. Also, rather than dipping it in butter next time, I think I will just spray the chimichangas with cooking spray before they go in the oven.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

I thought the taste was "authentic" enough. We didn't do any garnishing like tomatoes or guacamole, but we will next time. I didn't really think to get any toppings when I went shopping. Daniel loved the chimi which is great since all the beef cooking I do is to raise his iron levels. Dipping the tortillas in the butter did make them turn out nice and crispy, which is why I love chimichangas in the first place. I love that I was able to get the crispy aspect without having to fry anything.

Source: AllRecipes, Dinner Spinner iPhone app

American Lasagna

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs lean ground beef

1 onion, chopped *

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. chopped fresh basil **

1 t. dried oregano

2 T. brown sugar

1 1/2 t. salt

1 29-oz can diced tomatoes

2 6-oz cans tomato paste***

12 dry lasagna noodles ****

2 eggs, beaten

1 pint part-skim ricotta cheese

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

2 T. dried parsley

1 t. salt

1 lb. mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 T. grated Parmesan cheese

* Of course, I substituted with dried chopped onion ~1 palm full

** I just used dried basil

*** I didn't have any tomato paste, so improvised and just dumped in some spaghetti sauce. Close enough.

**** To cut prep time I used oven ready lasagna noodles. It means no cooking the noodles to make the soft before oven cook time. It's awesome. This allows the cook to skip Recipe step #4.

Recipe:

1. In a skillet over medium heat, brown ground beef, onion and garlic; drain fat.

2. Mix in basil, oregano, brown sugar, 1 1/2 t. salt, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. Simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

4. **skip if using oven ready noodles** Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles, and cook for 5-8 minutes, or until al dente; drain. Lay noodles flat on towels, and blot dry.

5. In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, and 1 t. salt.

6. Layer 1/3 of the noodles in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover noodles with 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese, and 1/3 of the sauce. Repeat. Top with remaining noodles and sauce. Sprinkle additional Parmesan cheese over top.

7. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Rating: 4 of 5

Um...easy lasagna that doesn't take a long time to cook....apart from the 30-45 minutes of simmering. The recipe author suggested putting the lasagna all together the night before and letting the flavors blend and then cook it the next day. But, I thought the flavors were pretty strong and blended enough. It's a tasty lasagna with just a tad bit of sweetness. I really liked it. It makes a lot and is plenty for LaDon and company.

Source: iPad app for AllRecipes

Best Brownies

Ingredients:

Brownie batter:

1/2 c. butter

1 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. baking powder

Frosting:

3 T. butter, softened

3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 T. honey

1 t. vanilla extract

1 c. confectioners' sugar

Recipe:

Brownies:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan.

2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 c. butter. Remove from heat and stir in 1 c. white cugar, eggs, and 1 t. vanilla.

3. Beat in 1/3 c. cocoa, 1/2 c. flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Do not overbake.

Frosting:

1. Combine 3 T. butter, 3 T. cocoa, honey, 1 t. vanilla, and confectioners' sugar.

2. Frost brownies while still warm.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

LaDon and I have slightly different brownie likes. I like my inside a little gooey, he likes his a little more solid. So, the fact that we both thought it was a 3.5 is a pretty good sign that this is a good recipe. It's a pretty rich brownie mix, especially with the frosting on it. I liked the overall end result as it was a fairly gooey inside. It would be amazing with vanilla ice cream. For sure. The frosting is a little bit of a different story. It was super tasty, but it's texture was more like....fondant. I think I would alter it by decreasing the cocoa and powdered sugar or adding some milk to the recipe as it is. The frosting is a little difficult to spread on the brownies, but it did melt on top so I guess it didn't really matter too much??

Source: AllRecipes, pg. 341

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Ingredients:

1/3 c. (3 oz) cream cheese

1/4 c. green salsa

1 T. fresh lime juice

1/2 t. cumin

1 t. chili powder

1/2 t. onion powder

1/4 t. granulated garlic, or garlic powder

3 T. chopped cilantro

2 T. sliced green onions

2 c. shredded cooked chicken

1 c. grated pepperjack cheese

small corn tortillas

kosher salt

Recipe:

1. Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray.

2. Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it's soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

3. Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. (It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.) *

4. Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. **

5. Roll the tortilla up as tight as you can. Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt of top.

6. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

* I, honestly, don't care if the tortillas cracked. I would roll some that were practically ripped in half.

** Rather than spreading the mixture on just the lower third, I spread it all around and really didn't pay much attention to this step. We like out taquitos thick and less corn torilla-y.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

We loved these! I don't really know what to say about them other than they are absolutely delicious! But, let's be honest, everything that comes from Our Best Bites is absolutely delicious. Really, though, I love the crunchy tortilla you get from baking them. The creamy chicken filling is a nice flavorful blend of everything American-Mexican. Unworthy review of the amazing-ness of these taquitos.

Source: Our Best Bites, Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 c. dried Italian-style bread crumbs

3/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

4 (1/2 to 3/4 inch thick) center-cut pork loin chops

salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 T. olive oil

lemon wedges, for serving

Recipe:

1. Whisk the eggs in a pie plate to blend.

2. Place the bread crumbs in another pie plate.

3. Place the cheese in a third pie plate.

4. Sprinkle the pork chops generously with salt and pepper. Coat the chops completely with the cheese, patting to adhere.

5. Dip the chops into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs, patting to adhere.

6. Heat 3 T. of oil in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add pork chops, in batching if necessary, and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 6 minutes per side.

7. Transfer the chops to plates and serve with lemon wedges.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

This recipe really wasn't bad, the meat was just really dry. LaDon liked it more than I did, but I am really critical of some of the new recipes that I cook. I did like the crispiness of the outsides of the pork. I actually threw the pork into the oven for a little bit to make sure the inside was done (I am a WAY paranoid cook when it come to meat). I think if I hadn't put the pork in the oven then it wouldn't have been as dry which means it would have been awesome. I will try this recipe again.

Source: Foodnetwork.com, Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops

Steak Rub

Ingredients:

4 1/2 t. kosher salt

2 T. black pepper

2 T. paprika

1 T. onion powder

1 T. garlic powder

1 T. dried oregano

2 t. cumin

Recipe:

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until well blended.

2. Rub the seasoning blend on steak and grill.

Rating: 3 of 5

I liked this seasoning better than the Outback Steakhouse Seasoning, but LaDon likes the other seasoning better. In all honesty, they are really similar. I halved the recipe (except for the salt, I forgot) and I think if I hadn't forgotten to cut the salt in half it would have tasted so similar that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Source: Food.com, http://www.food.com/recipe/steak-rub-39184