Traditional Beef Enchiladas

Today's Recipe comes from Classic Tex-Mex and Texas Cooking by Cookbook Resource. I chose Traditional Beef Enchiladas.

Traditional Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1- 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 t minced garlic
1 i chili powder
1/2 t ground cumin
10 corn tortillas
oil
1-12 oz package shredded cheddar cheese
2-10 oz can enchilada sauce

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In skillet, brown beef and onion together and drain. Add tomato sauce, garlic, chili powder, cumin and 1 teaspoon salt and heat mixture thoroughly.

3. with oil in large skillet, sofetn each tortilla and place on wax paper. Spoon about 3 heaping tablespoons of beef-onion mixture and 2 Tablespoons cheese on each tortilla.

4. Roll up and place each tortilla seam side down in sprayed 9x13-inch baking dish

5. Add any remaining beef-onion mixture to enchilada sauce and pour over enchiladas in baking dish

6. Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Serves 6-8 

Review: We love Mexican food, but this dish was not a favorite. It was just okay. I was expecting there to be more flavor and it just did not scream delicious. Tanner like it (or so he said) but leftovers sat in the fridge for a couple of days after...so this will probably not get made again.

 Until Next Time,

Shannon

Spinach Manicotti

Pasta...Oh Pasta, how I love thee. Yes, Tanner and I both love Pasta, probably a little too much. But when I make it, I try to find recipes that are healthy. I have had this cookbook for quite a while and it is called 365 Easy Pasta Recipes by Cookbook Resources. I chose Spinach Manicotti for this recipe.

Spinach Manicotti

Ingredients 
1- 8 oz package manicotti
1- 10 oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained
1- lb lean ground beef
1 t dried onion flakes
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c pesto
1 egg
1 jar tomato pasta sauce

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Cook manicotti according to packing directions; drain and rinse with cold water. Pleace manicotti on large piece of wax paper to cool

3. Combine spinach, groud beef, ionino flakes, cheese, pesto, egg and a little salt and pepper in bowl.

4. Fill each manicotti by carefully studd beef-spinach mixture into each manicotti. Place manicotti on sprayed 9x13 in glass baking dish. Pour pasta sauce over manicotti.

5. Cover and bake for 35-40 minutes or until filling is no longer pink in center.

Serves 8

Tip: Squeeze spinach between paper towels to completely remove excess moisture.

Review: WOW!!!! This recipe was absolutely delicious! It far exceeded my expectations. But I mean how can you go wrong with pasta, spinach, beef, pesto, tomato sauce, and cheese- they are the prefect ingredients!  The pesto in the meat mixture really gives this dish a unique taste. Also, I used fresh spinach and cooked it down until wilted instead of using frozen; I like using fresh of any ingredient if possible because I think it makes the taste even better. Tanner loved this dish as well, so this is one that I will be going in my make again book.

Until Next Time,

Shannon

Pimento Cheese

Okay, so I have to admit I really like pimento cheese. All of the sudden I have seen all of these tv chefs making it so i thought, why not?! Well....Tanner hates it (not as much as pumpkin pie-story for another time) but he does not like it, but since we have been together I have been trying to broaden his food horizons-  so why not try with pimento cheese. The recipe I used is from Martha Stewart and her cookbook Martha's American Food. 
  
Yield:  3 cups

     Ingredients

• 12 ounces whipped cream cheese
• 4 ounces cheddar cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)
• 2 jars (2 ounces each) pimentos, drained
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• Crackers, for serving

  Directions

  Process cream cheese, cheddar, pimentos, and Tabasco in a food processor until coarsely pureed.Transfer to a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with crackers.
   
   

  
   
   Review 
   
   Like I said, I really like pimento cheese, but I did not care for this recipe. It was okay, but it was not one that I will make again. It was very thick and I just did not care for it. I did have Tanner try it too and he agreed with me.
  
  
  Until next time, 
  
  
  Shannon

Start of the Great Cookbook Challenge

So welcome to my blog. Those of you who know me know how much I love to cook. While 
 sitting at breakfast a couple of months ago I was admiring my huge ever growing amount of 
cookbooks and realized I had cooked out of very few of them. That’s when a lightbulb went off in my head- I was going to cook through them-every single one of them. Okay, before panic sets in, I am not going to cook every recipe in every cookbook, but I am going to cook something from everyone of them. Now that I have explained that it may not seem like that big of a task, but I don’t think you realize just how many cookbooks I have…100…that’s a lot! So I am starting my cookbook challenge this week. I am going to blog on my journey. Oh and I am going to do this in 1 year! I hope you enjoy reading and following along on with me on this fun little cooking adventure! 

Here is what I plan on including in each post:

1.       Recipe and where it came from

2.      Picture of me making the meal

3.      Finished product

4.      Review of recipe 

Until Next Time,

Shannon 

P.S. 
I actually write this 2 weeks ago and I have ALREADY fallen behind on my blogging. But i promise to be better!