Verde Chicken Tacos

These tacos were made using a new product called Kraft Recipe Makers.  They have a bunch of different flavors.  We used the Verde Chicken Enchiladas package.  Each Recipe Makers package comes with two sauces and a few different recipes to use the sauces with.

The Verde Chicken Enchiladas comes with a tomatillo sauce and a creamy ranchero sauce.  I chose not to follow the recipes on the box and just made up my own.  I cooked the chicken, shredded it, and cooked it a little more with one of the tomatillo sauce packets.  Then I used the ranchero sauce as a topping along with cheese, for the chicken tacos.

I was quite pleased with these 2 sauces.  What ended up being really great about them was that we didn't use the whole product in one meal.  That means for the $3 I paid, I can get another meal out of it.  I was cooking for 2 and we did have some leftovers.

I am looking forward to purchasing another Kraft Recipe Makers sauce pack.  But which one???

Skillet Pizza

This isn't really a recipe. Just a showcase for another way to cook pizza.  We used 2 store bought pizza dough and made 3 different sized pies in 3 different cast-iron skillets.  These pizzas were cooked in the oven.

Here is the medium size pizza.  We didn't mess with toppings this evening.

Here is the biggest pizza made in probably a 10-12 inch skillet.

We were so impressed at how easily the pizza lifted out of the lightly oiled skillets.

These came out great, way better than a Pizza Hut pan pie, so make some tonight!

Mozzarella Cheez-Its

I'm continuing my product reviews because it gives me a excuse to buy new stuff at the supermarket and not feel like they tricked me into buying it.  It's for the blog! I have no choice! I must try new flavors!

Here we have mozzarella flavored Cheez-Its.  I love mozzarella cheese.  I love string cheese.  I could eat entire blocks of mozzarella cheese.  Sometimes I will even grab and fist full of the pre-shredded stuff, forgetting that its covered in flour and tastes terrible, disappointment ensues.

That being said I was very excited to see these on the shelf.  Cheez-its are always amazing.  I assumed flavoring them like mozzarella would be equally amazing, if not more so.

And then I ate them.  I tried so hard to detect some faint flavor of mozzarella.  I could not.  I had some more, and still nothing.  I even thought, not only do these barely taste like mozzarella, they taste like regular cheese its.

Desperately searching for mozzarella flavor, I took a gander at the ingredients list.

SURPRISE!

White cheddar cheese and cheddar cheese are higher on the ingredient list than mozzarella.

So now the mystery has been solved.

Cheez-Its are great and really so are these, just don't expect them to taste like mozzarella.

Chipotle Corn Fettuccine

More corn!  This recipe came from Pinch of Yum.  She calls it "healthy" chipotle sweet corn fettuccine, but I'm not sure how healthy it is.  It has Greek yogurt, but it also has heavy cream.   Perhaps the two cancel each other out and equal zero calories?

The only change I made to the recipe was that I used frozen corn.  I know it's summer and corn is wonderful and plentiful, but let's get real, I'm lazy. Check me out with my store brand foods! I'm lazy and cheap!

This recipe is a great way to mix up you're weeknight pasta rotation.

Oh, and here's a trick with the chipotle peppers.  You will most likely not use an entire can with whatever you are cooking.  Just take what you need from the can, and freeze the rest in a Ziplock bag.  The freezer is a magical time machine that will keep your chipotles nice and fresh whenever you need them next.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish

Goldfish recently started making all sorts of kooky flavors.  Not just EXTREME versions of their previous flavors, but sweet flavors as well.

When I saw these at the supermarket I thought... hmmm... if I can start reviewing new products on the blog I can buy all sorts of junk!  I've been following the blog Brand Eating which also got me wanting to eat tons of junk food, for a good cause of course.  And so it begins!

Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish are delicious, they just don't taste a damn thing like a cupcake.  It is, however, a lovely flavored graham cracker snack that I'd totally like to make into a crust for a tart or a cheesecake.  To buy, or not to buy? I'll say you will probably be happier with cheddar and not cupcake. Sorry Goldfish.

Corn and Basil Arugula Pesto Pizza

Corn, basil arugula pesto, and 6 cheeses all atop a pizza.  I didn't do anything cool to the corn, like get a nice grilled char on it.  The thought crossed my mind, but I just didn't have to energy or the time to pull it off.  I just pre-cooked it a bit in the microwave. Lame, I know.

I'll let you in on the 6 cheeses since I'm sure you've been dying to know what they are.  It was a pre-grated package including: mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, fontina, romano, and asiago.  It was crazy good. Go get some now.

The basil and arugula pesto I made fresh with some olive oil and parmesan cheese.  No nuts because I wasn't sure how that would taste on the pizza.

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  This was clearly a rush job, but it was most certainly delicious!  A great summer-time pizza pie.

Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Yogurt Drops

I found chocolate yogurt!! This is the good stuff too, not that fake chocolate tasting stuff Yoplait has.  Stony Field chocolate yogurt has a serious layer of chocolate syrup on the bottom.

Ingredients
Adapted from The Pescetarian and the Pig
1 container of chocolate Greek yogurt
1/4 cup of peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
1. Mix together yogurt, peanut butter, and vanilla.
2. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star tip.
3. Pipe onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, then they can be transferred to a sealed container.

These are a great bite sized healthy snack.  Make some today!

Waffle Tacos

I made waffle tacos for dinner.  What is a waffle taco?  It's where you make a waffle, fill it with stuff, and eat it like a taco.  Amazing right?  I thought so.

Here's how I made mine.  I used Bisquik and added some salt and pepper to the waffle batter to make it a little more savory.  For the taco fixin's I used scrambled eggs, salsa, guacamole, and cheddar cheese.

This was a pretty weird idea, especially for dinner and I was hesitant about serving it, but in the end it was a success.  I would totally make these again for dinner or for breakfast and you should too!

Mango Peach Ice Pops

I was inspired to make ice pops after a visit to Zora Dora's ice pop stand at the Walkway Over the Hudson.

Zora Dora makes amazing ice pops with real fruit.  I had a pineapple mint ice pop and it was the best $3 I spent that week.

I used mango nectar and a diced up peach.

As we hang on to these last few weeks of summer, go enjoy an icepop!