This is such a GREAT summer meal....it's so refreshing with the mango salsa. We had some corn on the cob on the side and it all tasted ridiculously amazing!!

Grilled Steak Tacos with Mango Salsa

Marinade:

1/4 c. orange juice (juice of 1 orange)

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. honey

1 1/2 tsp. orange zest

1.2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2-2 Tbsp. chili powder (depending on desired heat)

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. oregano

1 1/2-2 lbs. flank steak

uncooked tortillas

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together. Score steak in 1 inch intervals. Place steak and marinade in a resealable bag. Allow to marinate for at least 4 hours. Remove steak from bag and discard marinade. Place on grill over medium heat. Grill for 10-15 minutes per side, or to desired doneness, I cooked mine for 12 minutes on each side and it ended up being perfect (med)!! Remove from grill and cover for 5 minutes. Cut in thin slices against the grain. Place in cooked, uncooked tortillas Ü and top with mango salsa!!

Mango salsa

1 mango. diced

1/4-1/3 c. red onion. finely diced

1/4 c. cilantro, chopped

juice of 1 lime

salt and pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients and set aside in refrigerator until ready to serve.

This is my favorite side dish EVER, I could eat this for days!!!!

Hashbrown Casserole

1 (2 lbs) pkg. frozen shredded hashbrowns (I can't find the 2 lbs bag anymore so I just use the 26 oz. pkg. and it's works just fine)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 soup can of milk

1 cube margarine or butter (melted)

1 16 oz. sour cream

2 tsp. onion flakes

salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients and put in a 9x13 baking dish.

Top with 2 c. cheese.

Mix 1/2 c. cornflake crumbs with 3 Tbsp. melted butter/marg. and sprinkle on top. (To save money I just buy a box of Smith's Kroger Value brand Corn Flakes for .99 instead of the already crumbed corn flakes for quite a bit more.)

Bake at 350 for 30-45 min.

This lasagne recipe is pretty much the only lasagne I'll eat.....most recipes use ricotta cheese, but this one calls for cottage cheese, it's soooo good and my family loves it!!

My Mom's Amazing Lasagne

1lb. hamburger

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 t. garlic, minced

1 t. oregano

1 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 (16 oz.) can diced tomatoes

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

1/2 lb. lasagne noodles (I usually figure about 3 per layer)

2 eggs

2 c. cottage cheese

4 c. mozzarella cheese, grated

In large skillet over med high heat cook together hamburger, onion and garlic. Once hamburger is browned add oregano, salt, pepper, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tomato paste stir, cover and simmer for 30 min. stirring occasionally. While meat sauce is simmering, in a large saucepan bring water to a boil for the lasagne noodles, cook to al dente, drain and set aside. In a small bowl mix together cottage cheese and eggs. In a 9 x 13 pan layer as follows: 1/3 meat sauce, 1/2 noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese mixture, 1/2 mozzarella cheese, repeat, ending with meat sauce. Bake at 350 for 45 min.-1hr or until bubbly Ü

Jalapeno poppers

jalapenos

cream cheese

bacon

Cut jalapenos in half lengthwise, clean out center. Fill with cream cheese and wrap with half of a slice of bacon. Hold bacon in place with a toothpick and set on baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes and then broil for 5 minutes or until bacon is somewhat crispy. Warning: Do not broil if you have a gas broiler....I made that mistake....I have blonde moments....don't judge me. Ü

All I can say is........MMM....MMM.....GOOD!!

Pork Barbacoa Burritos

These measurements are what I used for a 1.5 lb roast.

1.5 lb pork loin roast

garlic salt

salt

1/4 c. water

1 1/4 c. green enchilada sauce

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

fresh tortillas (the ones I found were by the pkg. sliced cheeses at Walmart) see pkg. for cooking instructions.

Put pork in crockpot with water, garlic salt, and salt. Cook on low for 7 hours. When done put it on a cutting board or plate and shred..... discard some of the water/juices from the crockpot depending on how saucy you want it to be. I transfered everything to a medium saucepan to finish the process, but you could keep it in the crockpot for less of a clean up. Combine remaining juices, shredded pork, enchilada sauce and brown sugar, heat through and load up that burrito.......I made ours with rice, black beans, cheese, and cilantro. My preference is LOTS of pork and little of the rest!!! Some fresh pico de gallo would be great with it as well, but I didn't have anything on hand to make it at the time.

Again.....another one of my favorite dinners growing up Ü You'll love this!!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

4-5 chicken boneless skinless breasts

garlic salt

corn starch

egg

oil

Rice-A-Roni, preferably chicken flavor

Sauce for chicken:

1/4 c. chicken broth

4 T ketchup

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. vinegar

1 T soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp. accent

Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt, roll in corn starch, dip in egg and deep fry until brown.

Set chicken in a large casserole or baking dish.

Heat sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan and pour over chicken. Bake at 375 for 30 min., turning once. While baking prepare Rice-A-Roni, when serving use the sweet and sour sauce on top of the rice.

Tip: for easier clean up my mom would use shortening instead of oil to brown the chicken, you've got to use a lot, but when it cools it hardens back up and makes it easy to clean and dispose of, I hate figuring out where to dump my used oil!!

If you're ever asked to bring something to a party or a get together this is the way to go. Who wants to spend 10 bucks on a vegetable tray that hardly comes with a variety of veggies and a SMALL container of runny dip. This way you can get a lot more for your money, you can pick and choose whatever veggies you want, and the recipe makes a good amount of dip. This is just a basic dill dip recipe, but for some reason my buddies at work started to call it "jill dip" . It's so yummy and is great with any kind of vegetables!!

Jill Dip

1 c. mayonnaise

1 c. sour cream

1 T. onion flakes

1 T. parsley

1 tsp. seasoning salt

1 tsp. dill weed

Mix all together and chill for an hour or so.

I know you all may think that this next recipe sounds weird, but it's sure to please everyone in the family!

Chicken Spaghetti

2-3 chicken breasts (bone-in or boneless)

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can tomato soup

about 16 oz. box of spaghetti

Start cooking spaghetti. Boil chicken and cube (try to remember to save the broth, I always forget and end up using water or opening a can of chicken broth for later in the recipe). Once spaghetti is cooked, drain and return to stove, add the soups and chicken, if needed add a little bit at a time some of the chicken broth until the spaghetti is at a nice consistency, not soupy, but not dry. Salt and pepper to taste and viola a quick and simple dinner Ü

I have a lot of weaknesses when it comes to food in general, but this dessert, I can seriously just keep eating and eating. It's just a simple brownie with a little added yumminess.

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

1 brownie mix, your choice

1/2 bag reeses chips

Make brownies according to package directions, I like mine cake like, so I add an extra egg. Add the reeses chips into batter, and bake according to directions. Delicious!!

These nachos were so good, and the leftovers....even better!!

Crockpot Chicken Nachos

4-5 FROZEN chicken breasts

1 can drained and rinsed black beans

1 can drained corn

1 15 oz jar of salsa

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese

Put frozen chicken into crockpot, add corn, black beans and salsa. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or until chicken can shred with forks. Once chicken is shredded put the block of cream cheese on top and let it sit for about a half hour, then mix together. Serve on chips or tortillas. We topped ours with cheese, guacamole, sour cream, and cilantro. Enjoy!!

This side dish is amazing!!

Cheesy Mixed Vegetable Bake

1 16 oz. pkg. frozen mixed broccoli, carrots and cauliflower

1 10 oz can golden mushroom soup

1/3 c. sour cream

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 3 oz. can french-fried onions, divided

1 c. shredded cheese, I chose to use mozzarella cause I like that kind, but colby/jack would work.

Combine veggies, soup, sour cream, pepper, half of fried onions and half of cheese in a bowl, mix. Spoon mixture into greased large casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Sprinkle remaining fried onions and cheese on top of casserole. Bake for 5 more min. Remove from oven and let stand 5 min. before serving.

This casserole is one of my favorite meals.....it's so yummy!!

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

2-3 chicken breasts (bone-in or boneless)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 c. mayonnaise

1 pkg frozen broccoli, I prefer florets

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. curry powder

Boil chicken and cube. Stir all other ingredients together (except broccoli) and add chicken, put into 9x13 pan or equivalent sized casserole dish. Cook broccoli and set on top of soup mixture. Top with 1/2 c. shredded cheese and 1/2 c. bread crumbs. Bake 350 for 30 min. Serve over rice.

So here it is....I love to eat and cook, and I always put on my facebook status what I made for dinner and/or desserts I enjoyed afterwards. I have been told numerous times to put all of my recipes on a blog so I'm finally going to break down and do it, be advised that I may throw in a few things about my family too Ü.

Here's a little insight as to why I like food and cooking in the first place, I give all the credit to my wonderful mom Ü, as long as I can remember she made dinner pretty much every night, and when I say dinner I mean a main dish, side dish (veggies), salad, and a bread of some sort and of course we can't forget about dessert, BUT..... everything HAD to be eaten off your plate to be able to have dessert and I'm pretty sure that's what started my love for food. Then I go and get married to one of THE pickiest eaters ever made, but I will say in the past 3 years of our nearly 10 year marriage he's broken out of his spaghetti, hamburger and pizza world that he was living in Ü. I do the whole dinner thing like my mom did and eating everything before dessert too, it totally gets Jordan to eat what is put on his plate, I love it!

Well....let's get started Ü

Last night I made a ridiculously easy dinner, it was pretty much a chicken and rice foil dinner:

Nested Chicken

1 c. rice, cooked

2 T onion soup mix

1 T butter

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, whole or cut in pieces

2 T evaporated milk

Ingredient amounts are per person. For each serving use about 12 inches of foil. Butter middle of foil and layer the ingredients as follows: rice, 1 T onion soup mix, butter, chicken, 1 T onion soup mix, evaporated milk. roll up and seal foil. Bake in shallow pan at 350 for one hour. You could even throw some veggies in too, like peas or something....I'll keep experimenting with this one.

My all time most FAVORITE dinner is chicken enchiladas, all the kids in my family got to pick what dinner they wanted for their birthday and that's what I would always choose, my brother wasn't very happy whenever my birthday would come around cause he HATED chicken enchiladas, but in return he would always have nasty sloppy joes on his birthday BLAH, YUCK!!!!

Chicken Enchiladas

about 2-3 chicken breasts, depending on size (bone-in or boneless)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 16 oz sour cream

1 small can chopped green chilies

8 to 10 flour tortillas (or more depending on how much room is left in your pan)

about 2 c. shredded cheese

Boil chicken and shred. Mix together in med. bowl cream of chicken soup, sour cream, and chilies. Layer on flour tortillas a small amount of chicken, a small amount (a large spoon full) of soup mixture and a small amount of cheese down the center. Roll the tortilla up and set in 9x13 pan. Continue, setting them side by side until the pan if full, it's ok to squish them together. Spread remaining soup mixture on top trying to pretty much cover all of it and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20-30 min or until cheese is melted and soup mixture is bubbly.

I serve this with refried beans topped with cheese on the side.

This next recipe is a major addiction!!!!

The Best Gooey Caramel Popcorn

1 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 bag mini marshmallows

1 c. popcorn kernels

peanuts, however much you'd like, maybe 1/4-1/2 c.

Pop kernels and set aside in a large bowl. Melt together in a large pot, butter, brown sugar and marshmallows, do not boil. When it's all melted, pour over popcorn and mix until covered. Eat it warm or when it's cooled, but be careful....you may not be able to put it down once you start.

In Junior High I was in a Home Ec class and learned how to make this great meal in a wok. My mom happened to have a wok, not exactly sure why we had one, but I made it at home and it was a hit. My dad always called it Jill Primavera. The chicken we used for the recipe way back then I can no longer find so I just use boneless, skinless chicken breasts now. I don't have any exact measurements so i'll do my best with the amounts.

Jill Primavera

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken beasts

half fresh broccoli (depending on size)

half fresh cauliflower (depending on size)

half bag baby carrots (cut in half lengthwise)

4-5 chicken flavor ramen

approx. 3-3 1/2 c. water

Wash and cut veggies, throw all together in a large bowl and set aside. Dice and cook chicken in skillet. In a large pot or wok heat about 3-4 T oil over med high heat, when oil is ready put all veggies in a toss until broccoli is just turning a nice green, crush the ramen while it's still packaged and then add all ramen packets and seasoning packets, here's the hard part, add enough water to soften the noddles, but not too much that it's soupy, start with about 3 c. and go from there. Stir all together, have all the ramen take a turn at the bottom of the pot to get soft. When ramen is done add the chicken and mix together. With each serving top with soy sauce. We like to eat ritz crackers with it.

Tip: use the prepackaged vegetable medley (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots) sold in the produce section, it's great for a quicker prep time.