Mexican Lasagna

Yet, another awesome easy, cheap, yet delicious recipe and this one is from one of my most faaav blogs What Megan's Making! http://www.whatmegansmaking.com/2009/05/mexican-lasagna.html I totally recommend her site! Anywho, I apologize that this pic is of a barely-there left over mexican lasagna, but I just recently made this dish prior to the beginning of this blog and thought I could just take an after photo for this post. I was surprised to find much more of it eaten than I anticipated! It must have been a hit!

There are many options for filling in this recipe and I believe this had to be my favorite option. As with just about any other Mexican entree, you can typically substitute chicken or beef for eachother. This original recipe actually calls for 2 pounds ground chicken breast. On Megan's blog she states that they had trouble finding it so instead used ground turkey breast. On my first try I used vegetarian meat substitute that was about the same as using ground beef. On this last try however that was my favorite, I used chicken strips that were found in the frozen section. It was super easy and yummy as well! This part is completely up to you!

I actually had shared this recipe with my boss, and her family decided to try it one day! They liked it so much her husband made it at the fire station later that week for his coworkers and it was even a hit there! Makes you feel good to know you're spreading yummy food ideas and maybe some happiness along the way. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have! :)

It is also a good idea to serve this with sour cream or even Ranch dressing!


You will need:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground chicken breast, chicken strips, ground beef, ground turkey, or any other option you're willing to try!
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 red onion, chopped (I just used a regular or white onion whatever you may call it, and it worked just fine)
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
1 cup medium heat taco sauce or 1 (14-oz) can stewed or fire roasted tomatoes (I have always used taco sauce)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
Salt
8 (8 inch) spinach flour tortillas (I have tried spinach, regular, and whole wheat and all are tasty)
2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar or shredded pepper jack
2 scallions/green onions, finely chopped (optional)

Non-food ingredients:
9x11 dish
large skillet
wooden spoon
measuring cups/spoons

• So, first preheat your oven to 425 degrees.




• Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat




• Drizzle 2 tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil around the pan




• Add your meat, whatever kind, and add in chili powder, cumin, and red onion as seasoning




• Brown the meat or sautee it for about five minutes




• Add your taco sauce or tomatos, as well as corn and black beans




• Continue to sautee until everything is heated thoroughly




• Add salt to taste

• Now, coat a shallow baking dish with about one tablespoon of olive oil




• Now, build just like a regular lasagna, meat and beans, then tortillas, then cheese. When adding tortilla tear into pieces to make them easier to layer
  Repeat steps as many times as necessary




• Bake 12-15 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly




• Top with green onions and serve!
  
  

Reeses Cheesecake Bars

This yummy recipe (and above pic) was found on a Blog by the name of Baked Bree! http://bakedbree.com/reeses-cheesecake-bars#axzz1S6JKOFtf Which I totally recommend you visit! I was looking for something sweet to make for my boyfriend's birthday. I knew he loved Reeses and cheesecake and I somehow found this recipe that combines both!

Now, I will admit I have never before made a full out cheesecake and after reading many horrifying cooking blog catastrophes, I was quite intimidated when this was kind of an after thought sort of endeavor. I didn't have a ridiculous amount of time on my hands not to mention patience to do something new and what seemed to be kind of complicated! Luckily, I came across this awesome recipe!

I even messed up on part of these bars, but they still turned out tasty! I will warn you they are VERY rich! I have not even eaten a whole square (which is quite small might I add), and I felt I had eaten my fair share of sweetness!

Now, a few things I always look for in a recipe is not only that it seems fairly easy and not too time consuming, but also that you do not need to buy a boat load of ingredients and give out a lot of cash in the process. I am a college kid. I usually lack the money and/or resources to do many of these meals while at school. So, when I am at home I may have the kitchen but my mind is still wired to think cheap and easy! And I am not ashamed of it! :) This sweet treat complies with both I must admit! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!:)

I tried to group these ingredients in the way they will be mixed!

*If I knew then what I knew now, someone would've reminded me of the following!
-pay attention to whether its calling for brown sugar or white sugar

-preheat your oven to 325 degrees

-set out your cream cheese ahead of time so it is at room temperature

-cover your finished product with foil when refrigerate for 3 hours before cutting!

First you will need:
(Group one-crust)
7 graham crackers (we used honey but any will suffice)
6 tablespoons melted butter (recommended cooled, but I will admit I didn't have the patience and it turned out just fine:))
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

(Group two-filling)
2 packages cream cheese, room temp.
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cups sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 whole Reese's Peanut Butter cups
2 ounces semi sweet chocolate, melted

Non-Food Ingredients
Processor or mixer
Bowl(s)
Measuring cups
Spoon
Spatula
Knife
Foil
8 Inch Baking Pan

Let's Begin!:)
The Crust:
On the original recipe I used, it did not give the exact degree to cook the crust in, but rather the entire cheesecake, therefore I just assumed to use the same. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Now, line your 8 inch baking pan with foil. It is recommended to allow extra foil to hang over the edges so that it is easier to pull the bars out of the pan before cutting them. *Keep in mind it is easy to underestimate the amount of foil needed. Once you form it to the pan it many times turns out to have much less excess foil than you may anticipate. I actually had some issues with this as my pictures will show! Who knew foil would be so much trouble? It gave my mom and I a laugh, however I would advise you to not underestimate the edge hang over amount as well as be gentle and not make holes while forming your foil. Not that it is a huge deal, but you do not want little foil chunks in your bars! :)

Put your graham crackers in the food processor and pulse until they become fine. If you do not have a processor, I have heard of various other methods, one being to put your graham crackers in a ziplock bag. Seal the bag and then go over them with a rolling pin or even putting pressure on some kind of spoon would probably work. If I did not have one I would google for ideas!:)



If you are using a processor,go ahead and add in your 6 tablespoons of melted butter, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, and 1/8 tespoon of salt. Pulse until combined. If you are like me and do not have a processor, go ahead and add your crushed graham crackers into a bowl and with a mixer combine the ingredients listed previously, butter, brown sugar, flour and salt. *One mistake I made here was I added both the brown and granulated sugars at the same time. This didn't ruin the crust or anything, but only the BROWN sugar is intended to be added at this time.

Press the crumbs into the bottom of the foil lined pan. It is up to you whether or not to build up the crust on the sides or not. I recommend using the bottom of a measuring cup or any kind of cup to spread evenly.
Bake the crust for 12 to 15 minutes until the crust appears to be firming and becoming more of a brown color. Allow this to cool a bit before adding the filling.

The Filling:
Now, either in your processor or in a bowl, mix the 2 packages of cream cheese. At first it may be quite sticky and thick, but just keep mixing and it will become more smooth. Approx. for 3 minutes.
After it appears smooth, add in the 2/3 cups sugar. Again, pulse with the processor or mix with your mixers until fully combined.

Using your spatula, scrape the excess off of the sides of the bowl and add in one egg at a time while mixing thoroughly in between.
Next add the 1/4 cups sour cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Again mix thoroughly. Now you are done with the filling!

It is completely up to you as to how many Resses you choose to put inside of the cheesecake and how many you want to use as garnishes. I planned out that I wanted to cut my cheesecake bars into 16 pieces (4x4), therefore I chose to use 8 Reeses in the filling and cut 4 of them into fourths for the garnishes. It can work however you want to do it!:) After cutting up however many Reeses you want in the filling into chunks, place them evenly throughout the batter you just poured into the crust.


Place the cheesecake into the oven and bake about 35-40 Minutes, until it is set on the outside but still jiggly in the middle! Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
Let the bars cool for 2 hours.
Refridgerate for 3 hours.
Pull the bars from the pan and cut the bars into desired sizes.

Put your 2 ounces of chocolate in a microwavable dish and cook for 1-2 minutes. Really however long it takes until it is melted enough to drizzle over the bars. The first time I used the drizzling technique in a different recipe it ended up being more of a globbing than a drizzling (ha!) but keep in mind that you really can't mess this up, it's chocolate!! After you drizzle enough for your liking, place your pieces of Reeses you saved for garnishes on top of your bars. I dipped one side of them in the left over melted chocolate to ensure it would stay put but that is completely optional!

Place back in the fridge to cool and Wah-Lah! There you have it! Reese's Cheesecake Bars! Enjoy! :)

Meet the (wannabe) master chef

Hello everyone! Well, first of all please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kreigha. I am a nineteen, soon to be twenty year-old girl from a mid-sized town in Indiana. I am currently about to enter my Sophomore year in college and have recently become super excited and addicted to cooking!

This all started when one day I "StumbledUpon" (if you have never tried Stumble Upon, I highly recommend it to waste time) a blog by the name of What Megan's Making. http://www.whatmegansmaking.com/ I am positive I will make many references to her blog throughout my own, being that I try many of her recipes. Anyways, I came across her little collection of deliciousness and was immediately inspired to begin cooking! I recently have had two knee surgeries so this helped to push me to find new things to take up my time that weren't physically strenuous. Sure, cooking does involve a lot of movement, but I have altered it to be possible all from a stool located in the middle of my kitchen! (With some help from my wonderful mother of course!)

Cooking has become something fun and yummy for me to do, however we have the issue in my house of wanting to save money as well as calories. Therefore, I may make some posts where I discuss recipes and send links rather than make every single one I find that sounds awesome! Besides, if I did that I feel like I wouldn't be able to fit them all on one blog!:)

Food has always been something that is used to bring people together and to celebrate events. Once you think about it, many people can associate various foods to each holiday we celebrate. Without food, we have nothing to distract us and it ends up being a room full of family members and awkward moments!:) Just kidding! These special times are more about the people in our hearts and not just the food in our stomachs, but that doesn't stop us from looking forward to every bite!

So, I hope that this can be a place where you can find inspiration and ideas to put a little spice into your household, through the food we provide to our families or maybe that we just make one night as entertainment for ourselves. Whoever you're with or making this food for, may it bring a smile to your face, warmth to your heart, and happiness to your taste buds!:) Happy Cooking!