Easy Weeknight Dinners

Simple Taco Hand Pies Recipe

761 · Dec 23, 2013 ·

Holiday entertaining can be a little overwhelming. Especially when you are hosting family or friends for several days. You can’t have a Turkey with all the fixin’s at every meal. That would be way to much work, not to mention hard on the wallet. You need to have a few simple meal options that are quick and still fun for the whole family. This recipe is one that everyone can chip in and help make PLUS my family LOVES them!

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Who doesn’t love tacos? With this fun spin on a simple classic recipe, your gathering is sure to be a hit. You can serve taco hand pies as the main dish or make them a little smaller and use as an appetizer for a cocktail party. They are so versatile. Here is how you make them.

Ohhhh doesn’t that look tasty? Now you can serve with sour cream, salsa and any other taco fixin’s you can think of.

Now, this is the perfect, easy, crowd-pleasing meal to have on hand when you have company in town. The lovely folks at Kraft® are making it even easier on your wallet this holiday season at Target…

From shopping for gifts to planning family dinners, it’s hard to keep up with all your holiday to-dos. This year, Kraft is helping out with great weeknight meals and entertaining ideas to make the season a little bit easier. Plus, Kraft is offering up to $20 in coupons, redeemable exclusively at Target, to make food shopping easier and to help you have a happy holiday season.

Taco Hand Pies

Who doesn’t love tacos? With this fun spin on a simple classic recipe your gathering is sure to be a hit. You can serve taco hand pies as the main dish or make them a little smaller and use as an appetizer for a cocktail party. They are so versatile. Here is how you make them.

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Prep Time 45

Cook Time 15

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 5 Servings

Ingredients

1 tbsn Olive Oil
1 Sweet Onion
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 packet Taco Seasoning
1 can fat free refried beans
1 can black beans
1 can drained corn
1 pack Kraft Finely Shreeded Cheese
2 cans Pillsbury Corn Buscuits
1 egg beaten

Instructions

First, you will need to cut your onion into strips. I cut my onion in half and then cut into strips. In a large skillet add the olive oil and place over a medium high heat. Once the oil is hot add your onions and sauteé for 3-4 minutes until translucent.
Add your ground beef, season lightly with salt and pepper. Break-up the ground beef into small pieces and brown. Once the meat has browned, remove excess grease with a spoon and discard. Stir in the taco seasoning over medium heat.
Add the refried beans, black beans and corn. Let this mixture come to temperature and the remove from heat.
Lightly flour a clean dry surface and roll out your first corn biscuit. Place about a 1/4 to a 1/3 of a cup of the taco meat mixture in on the rolled out biscuit and top with a generous helping of Kraft® Shredded Cheese.
Then with a pastry brush, brush on a bit of egg wash along the edge of the biscuit dough. Fold over and seal with a fork.
Place on a baking sheet and brush the top of the hand pies with the egg wash. Repeat with remaining biscuits.
Bake in a 350˚ oven for 14-15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.

Keyword Taco Hand Pies

Cranberry & Feta Cole Slaw Lettuce Wraps

1 · Nov 19, 2013 · 1 Comment

Hello my Whipperberry friends! It's me, Shannon, from eat.sleep.make. If any of you follow us over at ESM, you know that I'm a vegetarian. I share an abundance of veggie-friendly recipes that I've come up with. Today I'm going to share with you a delicious (and very pretty, if I may say so) Cole Slaw lettuce wraps recipe. This is perfect for holiday gatherings or even just for no reason at all! I chose to use all organic products. And not only is this organic and vegetarian, but it is also gluten-free.

Measurements:

1/2 cup Cranberries

6 cups chopped Cabbage

1 Carrot

1/3 cup Mayo

1 tablespoon Honey

Fresh Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

1 teaspoon Celery Seed

1/2 Squeezed Lemon Juice

Feta

1 teaspoon Raw Sugar

1 – Slice and dice your cabbage and carrot

2 – In a food processor, chop up your cranberries and Raw sugar.

3 – In a bowl, mix your cranberry/sugar into the mayo, lemon juice, and honey.

4 – Pour cranberry/mayo mix onto cabbage and carrots. Add celery seed and black pepper – MIX.

5 – Once your cole slaw is done, clean and lay out one leaf of butter lettuce. Fill it with your cranberry cole slaw, drench with feta and wrap it.

6 – Enjoy!

Stop on over at eat.sleep.make. and check out some of my other vegetarian friendly recipes!

Roasted Potatoes and My Visit to Smucker’s

0 · Nov 4, 2013 · 1 Comment

// Roasted Potatoes Recipe //

A few weeks ago I had the fabulous opportunity to visit Orrville, Ohio the home of the Smucker's Family.

You know… Like Smucker's jam and jelly. Little did I know how diverse the Smucker's family really is. It's not all jam & jelly, they have a large family with all kinds of wonderful and iconic brands like Folgers, Jiff, Hungry Jack, Pillsbury Baking and Crisco to name a few. We had the chance to meet Tim & Richard Smucker the Grandsons of J.M. Smucker the founder of the family owned Smucker Brand.

Leigh Anne (Your Homebased Mom) // Me (WhipperBerry ) // Tim Smucker // Sarah (A Thrifty Mom) // Kristen (Six Sisters Stuff)

Richard Smucker & Myself

We had a couple of amazing days learning all about this truly remarkable company. Still family owned, still infused with the values instilled by J.M. Smucker himself. A company that refuses to let go of the family touch in a world where products and brands are becoming more and more sterile.

Here is the whole crew out in front of J.M. Smucker's house that he built right on the grounds of his company headquarters back at the turn of the century. The house is still there along with some of the old buildings he used back in the day. Today it is a beautiful campus with a good mixture of old and new. A fabulous way to help their employees remember their roots and core values.

I just fell in love with the whole Smucker Family and I can't wait to share more of what I learned while I was there. But… instead of boring you with one long wrap-up post. I thought I would develop some fun recipes using some of the Smucker's products to tell the story.

Since we are getting close to Thanksgiving, I thought I would share one of my family's favorite side dishes. Roasted Tri-Color Potatoes. I know, you thought you were going to get a jam or jelly recipe coming from Smucker's… Don't you worry, I thought I would start with the savory.

Roasted Tri-Color Potatoes

What makes these roasted potatoes special, is that I use three different types of potatoes. Sweet, Russet & Fingerling potatoes are the key to this dish. The secret ingredient that takes it over the top… Crisco Culinary Fusions Garlic & Herb Oils.

Roasted Tri-Color Potato Ingredients

2 – 3 sweet potatoes

3 russet or baking potatoes

1 lb. of fingerling potatoes

1 1/2 tablespoon of Crisco Culinary Fusions Roasted Garlic oil

1 1/2 tablespoons of Crisco Culinary Fusions Italian Herb oil

4 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 425˚

Cut potatoes into bite sized cubes uniform in size. Place in a large bowl with generous amounts of salt & pepper, your chopped parsley and the oil.

Mix to coat all of the potatoes in the oil and seasoning.

Pour mixture onto a baking sheet and place into the 425˚ oven.

Bake for 20 minutes and then remove the sheet from the oven. Carefully toss the potatoes and the return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and test your potatoes to make sure they are done. If they are still a little hard, return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes or so.

Once they are finished remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and let cool for a few minutes. Serve as a side dish for all kinds of meals. You could even serve this as a fun mashed potato alternative at Thanksgiving. The flavored oils make these potatoes taste so good. You have all the flavor from the garlic and the herbs without having to spend the money and go through the hassle of preparing those ingredients each time. I LOVE It!!

These oils are also really good for marinating meats and veggies before you grill or even use as a dipping oil for bread. They are so versatile. What is your favorite way to use flavor infused oil?

Roasted Veggie Taco Salad // Easy Weeknight Dinners

1 · Sep 23, 2013 · 3 Comments

Easy Weeknight Dinners // If I didn’t love meat so much I would be a vegetarian… Seriously, I LOVE vegetables! I would much rather have a plate full of veggies along with a small side of protein. With all of the wonderful Farmer’s Market goodies at this time of year, I thought I would make a tasty Roasted Veggie Taco Salad for dinner. You can also check out my Taco Hand Pie recipe if you just can’t get enough tacos.

It’s was a knock it out of the park hit with the family! The combination of the savory roasted vegetables with the fresh Mango Salsa was perfect. It was just fun and colorful enough that the kiddos didn’t balk at a plate full of veggies and my meat loving sweetheart didn’t even complain once.

Layering it all with lettuce, refried beans and topped with Queso Fresco made for a very satisfying weeknight meal. Here’s how you can make it for your family tonight.

Ingredients for Roasted Veggie Taco Salad

1 zucchini

1 yellow summer squash

1 large onion

1 small head of garlic

1 jalapeño

1 large green chili

2 green tomatoes (optional)

1 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T taco seasoning

salt & pepper

1 can of refried beans

4-6 tortilla bowl or a large bag of tortilla chips

1 large head of green leaf lettuce, red leaf or Romaine

Fresh Mango Salsa

1/2 cup Queso Fresco or a mild Feta cheese

Sour Cream

Taco Sauce

Directions on how to make Roasted Veggie Taco Salad

Heat oven to 450˚, wash and cut veggies in large, yet still bite size pieces.

If you would like to have your salad on the spicy side leave the ribs and seeds in the jalapeño, for a milder salad, remove the ribs & seeds. Remove the garlic from it’s skin, but leave whole. I just happened to have some green tomatoes in my garden and I thought I would add them to the mix. The roasted up perfect and tasted fabulous, but they aren’t a deal breaker by any means. If you don’t have any, don’t worry. Really you can add any kind of veggie you want to this mix. That’s the beauty of this recipe.

On a baking sheet drizzle with olive oil and generously season with salt, pepper & taco seasoning. Toss to coat everything with the oil and seasoning.

Roast at 450˚ for 30 minutes or until the veggies start to char a bit. Remove from oven and let cool.

While the veggies are cooling you can mix up your Mango Salsa. You can check out my recipe for that here.

I just love this fresh salsa and it adds such a bright flavor to the salad.

Next, in a small sauce pan, heat your refried beans. Once they are warm, you can start to layering your salad with the beans at the bottom of your tortilla bowl or on the bottom of your plate surrounded by corn chips.

The next layer is the lettuce that you have washed, dried and cut into bite size pieces. Then top of with a good helping of the roasted veggies, then the mango salsa, with a good sprinkling of the Queso Fresco or Feta.

I then add a dollop of sour cream and then a splash of taco sauce to act as the “dressing.” Mix together and enjoy!

This will take Taco Tuesday up to a whole new level for sure!!