Tortilla Stack

I found this recipe at creative homemaking, and since my family loves mexican food, I figured it would be a hit. It's also a crockpot meal, and you know how I love my crockpot!

Tortilla Stack

1 lb ground beef
corn or flour tortillas (your preference), cut into 6 wedges
2/3 can undiluted cheddar cheese soup (I didn't have this so substituted with shredded cheese and some salsa for liquid)
1 pkg taco seasoning mix
2 medium tomatoes, chopped

Brown hamburger and drain grease. Layer hamburger in bottom of crockpot. Top with tortilla wedges.


Recipe then calls for you to mix the cheddar cheese soup and taco seasoning in a small bowl and layer some of it on top of the tortilla wedges. Since I was substituting, I sprinkled cheese on top of the tortilla wedges, sprinkled some of the taco seasoning on, and then poured a thin layer of salsa on top of that. Sprinkle some of the chopped tomatoes on top (I skipped this step since there were tomatoes in the salsa).

Repeat layers until all ingredients are used up. Cover and cook on low 4-5 hours. Serve with sour cream, shredded lettuce, olives, or other condiments.

Verdict: all the family loved it, it was super easy, and I will definitely make again!

Oatmeal Jam Cookies

Oatmeal Jam Cookies

Mix together in very large bowl:

1 1/2 cups butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Add:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups oatmeal

Mix well. Place a dollop of dough on greased cookie sheet. Put about 1/2 tsp of jam on top of dough, and top this with a 1/2 tsp (or less) more of dough. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Jam will appear as a "ring" around top of cookie after baking. You can make these any time, of course, but they look especially festive at Christmas time! Enjoy!

The Mother of all Garlic Presses

And just what is in this unassuming little box you ask? Why, just the mother of all garlic presses, the most awesome and amazing garlic press EVER!!! Why am I devoting a whole post to a garlic press you ask? Well, because I am in love with my new garlic press and I LOOK for ways to use it whenever I can. We are eating a lot of garlic these days. :-)



My old garlic press broke over a year ago, and at first I just couldn't find a suitable replacement, then my husband got laid off and I couldn't afford to buy one even if I'd found it. I chopped garlic with an old fashioned knife whenever a recipe called for it. Then one recent day in the mail I received this FANTASTIC garlic press from a culinary minded friend of mine who had remembered I didn't have one. And my life has been forever changed. At least the part of my life that I spend in the kitchen. Which is a lot.

This wonderful little garlic press is made by Pampered Chef. It is stainless steel and so easy to use. The garlic just fits into it like so:

and then you squeeze out the garlic-y goodness like so:


and rinse it out under running water, and clean up is done! If any pieces of garlic do get stuck in the holes, it comes with this handy little "brush" (only the bristles are hard, not soft) that lives right there in the handle so you always know where it is


and it lines up perfectly with the holes in the bottom of the garlic press so it can press out any clinging pieces of garlic. Voila!

I am relatively certain that this will be the last garlic press I ever need. If you are in the market for a garlic press, you need to get one. In fact, even if you are NOT in the market for a garlic press, you need one of these. :-) If you have a loved one that is hard to shop for but they like to cook, get them one too! And no, I am not receiving a commission for advertising a Pampered Chef product on my blog, I'm just giving them free advertising because they hit it out of the ball park with this garlic press and I really, really love it! Thank you my friend!

Christmas Candy - Reindeer Chow

This is chocolate covered Crispix cereal and is super easy to make. My children call it puppy chow, but at Christmas time it was suggested we call it reindeer chow instead!

Ingredients:

box of Crispix cereal
small bag of chocolate chips (I forget the ounces, but it's smaller than the 24 oz bag, maybe 16?)
1/2 cup peanut butter
powdered sugar

The original recipe I had said to use "half a bag of choc chips" and "half the box of Crispix", but we doubled it because it was easier to use the whole bag or box, and that meant we made more each time! In doing this, however, it is important to add the Crispix to the chocolate/peanut butter mixture in stages and stir each portion well so that all the Crispix pieces are covered with chocolate. If you just dump the whole box in it will be very hard to mix up.

First, melt the choc chips in the microwave for one minute. Stir them up and melt for one minute more. Stir them up again.


Add 1/2 cup peanut butter, stir again, and then start adding your Crispix.



Put portions in a large ziploc, dump in some powdered sugar, and shake to coat. You should do this step in stages too, to make sure that all the chocolate covered Crispix is coated with powdered sugar.


Voila! Reindeer chow! It is *so* good and fun to munch on!

Christmas Candy - Orange Balls

These are delicious, orange flavored morsels of goodness! And very easy to make.

Ingredients:

one box vanilla wafers
one stick butter
one 6 oz can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
powdered sugar
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans



Put the vanilla wafers in a large ziploc and start beating them into small pieces with your rolling pin or some other heavy wooden object. This is really fun!


Dump the wafers into a large bowl and add the butter, orange juice, pecans, and about 2-3 cups of powdered sugar. It should be moist but not so moist it is sticking to your fingers. It needs to be able to stick together in ball shapes, so if it's too moist add more powdered sugar.


Shape into balls the size of large marbles, and roll in more powdered sugar.


Voila! Orange balls!