Cheesy Tex-Mex Casserole

I'm not usually a big casserole making fan...but it had me at "tex-mex" =) This is a variation of Emerill's Ooey Gooey Tex Mex Casserole. His recipe calls for stew meat AND ground beef (among several other variants)....in my opinion that's just too much beef! But if you're a big beefy fan, go ahead and try it. Or add some beans instead like I do and have a great well rounded meal, not too beefy. This is the first recipe with beef in it that my 2 year old has EVER eaten! AND she had seconds!!! Granted, I slathered it in organic sour cream...but still, I've never been able to get her to eat beef before. This is one of hubby's favorite meals. He once came home from a long day and had eaten a burger on the way home but didn't want to tell me (I hate it when he eats right before coming home when I've made a yummy meal!!). I had made this meal that day and he still had 2 servings of it because it's just THAT good. He JUST told me tonight about the burger, and that was like 2 years ago! So even if you're anti-casserole, try this, it really is THAT good!

Ingredients:
1 lb organic ground beef
2 cups organic black beans, cooked
1 organic onion, chopped
4 TB organic tomato paste
2 large tomatoes diced
1 veggie boullion cube
2 cups of water
(or instead of water and boullion you could use 2 cups veggie stock, or beef if you must be that beefy, ha)
Approximately 6 whole wheat tortillas
2 cups organic jack cheese, shredded
2 cups organic cheddar, shredded

In a large skillet, saute onion in a little oil for 3 minutes. Add ground beef stirring constantly until cooked through. Add beans, tomato paste, tomatoes and boullion/water or stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off burner. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large baking dish, pour a couple ladles full of beefy/bean mixture. Top with a layer of tortillas. If using small tortillas, place two side by side. If using large ones, place one whole one and a strip of another to cover the remaining space. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, and cover with beefy/bean mixture. Follow with another layer of tortillas, cheese, and beefy/bean mixture. Keep layering until beefy/bean mixture is done or you're at the top of the dish. Your last layer should be tortilla covered with cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Top with a dollop of sour cream and some hot sauce

Texas Cheeseburgers

The Texas Hot Restaurant in Wellsville, NY serves some amazing Texas Cheeseburgers (or Texas Hots if you're into hot dogs). It turns out they put pork in their sauce, which I'm not cool with. So after much researching, combining and playing with different "copy-cat" recipes, I came up with one that we feel is perfect! I do believe the "Texas" sauce is actually considered Greek, but whatever it is, it's so yummy!

Texas Sauce:
1/4 cup organic butter
1 cup chopped organic onions
1 lb organic ground beef
1 ts organic sugar
1/2 ts organic ground cloves
1/2 ts organic cayenne
1 ts organic chili powder
1 ts organic nutmeg
1 ts organic dry mustard
1 ts organic paprika
1 ts organic cinnamon
2 ts organic Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 ts good salt
1 ts organic ground pepper
2 cloves organic crushed garlic

Melt butter in a skillet. Saute onions and ground beef until beef is cooked. Carefully dump onions and beef into food processor and grind up (This isn't totally necessary but I like it much better "smooth" rather than chunky) Pour mixture back into pan. Add enough water to cover mixture and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and simmer on med low for atleast 45 minutes, longer would be better. Even better would be to throw the sauce together in the morning and then put it in the crock pot on low until dinnertime.

To make Texas Cheeseburgers: (You need burger patties, cheese, hot dog buns, yellow mustard, and diced onion)
Grill thin hamburger patties.Add cheese at the end to melt. Steam hot dog buns to warm. (Yes hot dog buns, this is how the restaurant serves them. But you can use hamburger buns if you wish) Slather buns with mustard. Place burger on bun. Pour 3-4 TB of Texas Sauce on top of burger. Sprinkle with diced yellow onions. Eat and enjoy!
Note that the pic above has the mustard on top, hubby thought it was prettier that way =)

Tacos - Make your own taco night!

I'm sure most people know how to make tacos. I'm not talking authentic Mexican tacos, I'm talking American-ized tacos. But, do you know how to make it without the little packet of taco seasoning? If not, read on! Make your own taco night is a favorite around here. Simply fill a bunch of bowls with taco toppings, hand out shells, and let the kiddos go to town! Garden of Eatin makes organic taco shells, which I was super excited about when my grocery store started carrying them!

Ingredients for taco meat:
1 lb organic ground beef (or more depending on size of your family, this leaves us leftovers)
1TB organic garlic powder
1 TB organic chili powder
1 TB organic cumin
1 TB organic all season salt
1/2 cup water

Brown meat. Add all the other ingredients and simmer while you chop everything else! So easy-no packet needed =) (If you have onion powder, add some of that too, I never have any)

Toppings:
Shredded cheese
Diced tomatoes
Diced onions
Chopped cilantro
Shredded lettuce
Diced jalapenos
Beans
Salsa
Guacamole
Hot Sauce
Sour cream

Homemade Beef Broth

Why pay the  steep price of organic beef broth when you can just make it yourself.

Ingredients:
2 soup bones from an organic cow (mine were small, if you have a big one, just use one)
1 organic onion, pealed and sliced in half
1 organic carrot coarsely chopped
2 ts sea salt
1 ts organic ground pepper, or whole peppercorns

Roast your bones in the oven for an hour. Put all ingredients in a large stock pot and fill with water to the top. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook anywhere from a few hours to all day.

You want your broth a good medium brown. Remove bones and vegetables. Strain through a fine strainer. 

Place in the refrigerator. Once cooled the fat will harden at the top.

Remove fat and discard. Place broth in freezable containers. I do 2 cups per container because that works for me.

Ground Beef Stroganoff

My mom used to make super yummy beef stroganoff when I was kid. As I got older and liked meat less, I realized I'd rather it with ground beef so I'm not biting into chunks of meat. Plus this seems much easier...less cooking time, no beating of meat, etc. My kids gobble this up, I bet yours will too!

Ingredients: (Serves 6 adults)
1 tb coconut or olive oil
1 lb organic ground beef
2 lbs sliced mushrooms, organic
2 cups cream of mushroom soup (I make my own and highly suggest you do too! I'll post the recipe when I can)
1/2 ts ground pepper, organic
1-2 ts sea salt, to taste
1 ts garlic powder, organic
1/2 ts organic ground nutmeg
8 oz organic sour cream , or more of you like it creamier
1 lb organic pasta (This time I used organic rombi pasta 'cause it was there and it was cute, ha. I usually use organic egg noodles or organic whole wheat ribbons, not bowties, ribbons)

Heat up a skillet and add the oil. Brown the ground beef. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes.

At this point, start the water for the pasta, and when boiling throw the pasta in and cook until al dente. Add the mushroom soup, pepper, salt, garlic powder, nutmeg to the meat/mushrooms. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. When the pasta is almost done, stir the sour cream into the meat mixture and heat it up. Drain pasta and dish out onto plates and top with meat mixture. Don't forget to pour a lot of sauce on top so you can drink it off your plate when you're done...and then lick it...to pre-wash of course =)