Tacoy Supremeish?

So this recipe is really what I like to call "I don't know what to do with this pound of ground beef concoction ." Oh and it is super easy! After looking forever online for recipes, trying to find something clever or even just anything beyond the ordinary tacos or chili recipes, I decided to create my own little...concoction, that is really the only word for it.

First you will want to brown yourself some ground beef and drain the grease.

Then I added 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 can of tomato sauce, and 1 can of kidney beans. I also added a packet of taco seasoning to give it some flavor, you could add your own seasonings here.








After letting this simmer for...a while... I served it over some white rice with some cheese (cause that just goes with everything) and some crunched up tortilla chips.

Not too bad for a quick easy, yes we are going with concoction. Enjoy!

So what do y'all do with ground beef, I'm in need of ideas!

Hawaiian Haystacks

This is probably something that everyone is familiar with and quite honestly you probably all have been eating it most of your lives, I on the other hand was introduced to this nummy little treat my first year of college. I was a member of my college's dance team and on Friday nights, the day before a football game, we would get together as a team and have these dinner parties. One night we had Hawaiian Haystacks for one of these parties and I was amazed by it's goodness. I also have a dear friend that was a very good "mother" to all of us college kids and we had a Hawaiian Haystack night occasionally. Seriously I fell in love with this dish. I have tried to let my mother know how easy it is, but she seldom tries new things so I guess this will stay on my table, but yes it is SO easy! When I found out how to make the sauce for myself I was like, seriously? seriously? yes seriously!

First off you will want some chicken breasts. Here I have two pretty big ones. I think it is probably almost 2 pounds. You cook the chicken first. I used to boil chicken to cook it for meals such as this one, and I have since discovered that I hate my chicken boiled. For starters it is gross, the pot I boil it in has gross chicken yuckiness in it and it is so hard to clean off that I designated the pot as my "boiling chicken pot." Secondly it completely drys out and takes out all wonderful flavor, boiling chicken makes it seem so bland and blah.

Here is how I now cook my chicken... I come home for lunch about 1:00, then after I have eaten my lunch the last thing I do before I head back to work is put my chicken in the slow cooker (a wonderful creation!) Then you can season it to your hearts content and add a little water, just play with it. I don't get home until 6:00 so I usually keep it on low with a little water so it doesn't overcook. This time I used Cumin and Lemon Pepper to season.


After the chicken is cooked through, the recipe asks for the chicken to be cubed. I like to tear mine to shreds! This chicken comes out so moist and tender it is very easy to do this!

Then I wipe out the crock pot and prepare the sauce right in there.

2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth

So simple. Serve it over white rice, then you can use any topping you choose, really depends on your taste for this one, but a must in the Chow Mien Noodles for sure! I like pineapple tidbits, celery, and a little grated cheese.


Oh, BTW I found a "food" setting on my camera, hopefully I can start to take some shots that look appetizing. This looks pretty good to me.

Anyone have creative delicious toppings to try?

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay I will tell you now that these cookies were made on Sunday and it is Wednesday and they are almost gone! May I remind you that there is only 2 of us in this house!! The day I made these cookies I ate so many that I literally got a stomach ache...just like my mom would say, it really truly happened.
These cookies are truly perfection. They are a tad crunchy on the outside, but so soft and chewy on the inside! A-mazing! You can bet your bottom dollar that I will be making these again soon, like probably this weekend! I will just have to amp up the exercise regime to make room for these babies.

I found this recipe at one of my very favorite recipe blogs, Our Best Bites....and this was mine, my best bite that is!

I mean chocolate chip cookies seem pretty basic, but really you can tweak this go to recipe many different ways to get the "type" of cookie your craving. In this recipe the key is melting the butter and it also calls for 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, apparently that is what gives us the chewy factor here. I also measure ingredients exact, I think it is important to ensuring that the recipe turns out the way that you want it to. So grab those measuring cups and spoons and get crackelackin!

2 C plus 2 T flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
12 T butter (1 1/2 sticks) melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 C semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients;mix until just combined. Stir in chips.

Take about 1/4 C dough and form into a ball. Break ball in half and place dough on cookie sheet with broken edge facing up. (Or just use a standard sized cookie scoop). ...(oh this is just important to make your cookie "pretty" really just a suggestion.)...Bake until cookies are set around outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 10-13 minutes. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in air tight container.

This Sweet Chef...

Since the Sous-Chef and I moved away from our families, and therefore gave up all dinner invitations to both sides of the family, we began cooking more. The more we cooked, created a bit of a problem...I needed more recipes and more variety! I started digging through cook books and searching the recipe blogs until I started finding recipes that worked for us, and being a small family of 2, this was a difficult task. I also thought I hated cooking, I liked baking like cookies and brownies and other treats, but I really thought I hated to cook meals. This all changed the more recipes I found the more fun it was to try them. That is what gave me the idea to start this blog. I first compiled all my recipes into a binder and as that grows I figure this will also be a safe place to store my favorite dishes, and hopefully you can enjoy them also! I don't create recipes...yet...but I cook them and taste them, and I will share the successful ones here!