Turkey Kabobs (turkey tenders)

My husbands family has these every year on the 4th of July and they are quite popular. For some reason I haven't ever been a fan of turkey, but I really like these and I have slowly been liking turkey more and more.

These are really delicious & lean, and go great with any side dish.

Ingredients:

turkey tenders

1 c. 7-Up (I use Sprite)

1/2 vegetable oil

1/4 c. soy sauce

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. horseradish powder

Cut turkey into chunks and place in ziploc bag with remaining ingredients. Marinade overnight in the fridge. Grill over medium heat for 5-7 minutes each side, turning only once.

About the recipe:

I'll be honest, the first time I read this recipe I thought horseradish powder said worchestershire sauce, how that happened...I have NO IDEA!! So I still replace mine with 1/2-3/4 t. worchestershire sauce and we love it. So if you don't have horseradish powder, use worchestershire sauce.

The turkey tenders I found were in a package from Jennie-O and came in 3 large pieces. For the two of us I used 1 1/2 and froze the rest. The first time I cut them they were large enough to go on the grill alone, the second time they kinda fell apart so we skewered them so they wouldn't fall through on the grill. I recommend cutting them smaller for more flavorful meat. They taste great reheated as leftovers or even cold and shredded on a sandwich.

Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

This cookie recipe comes from my mom and it's my favorite. I don't like a lot of cookies, but I love these. I will warn you now...they are no where near healthy :)

Ingredients:

1 milk chocolate Betty Crocker cake mix

1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese (room temp)

1 cube butter (room temp)

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Combine cream cheese & butter.

Then add the remaining ingredients- cake mix, egg & vanilla.

Spoon dollops of cake mix on a greased cookie sheet, don't form balls, these are supposed to be kinda chunky and medium to big sized.

Bake for 8-10 mins, these are quite moist so be sure not to overbake them. Bake one sheet and let them cool enough to taste then adjust time from there.

My mom is also known for her cherry chip version of these cookies. Just replace the chocolate cake mix with Betty Crocker Cherry Chip cake mix. My brothers love them.

With my mom half a world away these make her feel a little closer.

Easy Strawberry Shortcake

I'm so glad Kristine introduced me to this easy, yummy dessert all those years ago :)

It's the perfect summer dessert because it uses up all those perfect summer strawberries. I LOVE summer fruit. This shortcake is so easy and yummy- everyone I've ever made it for LOVES it.

All she does is follow the instructions on the side of the Bisquick box for the shortcake, but instead of making individual ones, she puts the dough into an 8x8 pan and tops it with the sugar. Then when it's done baking, you slice pieces. It's much faster and easier. Fill with sugared strawberries and FRESH whipped cream for a super yummy dessert. I feel like all of the guys I've served this to especially love it.

Easy Taco Salad

Every week I ask my husband what he wants for dinner, and every week he says "taco salad". It's kind of become a joke because I feel like it's such a random thing to crave all the time. I don't make it every week, but I try to fit it in as much as my taste allows. It's a super easy and fast dinner, and it's completely customizable which is good for us because we like a lot of different toppings!

Here's some things you need for 2 servings:
1 head Romaine, chopped small (or any leafy green. Spinach works too)
1/2 pound of Ground beef, cooked and drained (we eat everything cool on the salad, not hot)
1/2 can each Kidney and pinto beans, drained and rinsed (I freeze what we don't use for the next time)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Handful of crunched up tortilla chips on top
We top our salads with either a dollop of sour cream or homemade ranch dressing
I've also added olives, chopped tomatoes or salsa, cilantro, limes, diced onion or green onion and avocado!

The meat and beans are hidden underneath!

We pile everything up in a big bowl and top each salad with our favorite things. It's a fun dinner especially for guests, I think, because you get to pick and choose your toppings. Hope you enjoy!

Pot Roast- In the Crock Pot!

I think one of everyone's favorite Sunday meals is the trusty pot roast and vegetables. It was a common smell on Sunday afternoons when we got home from church. My favorite part was always the yummy, tender veggies. I think I thought it was a difficult dish to make, when really it takes less than ten minutes to get it all in the pot and cooking! I heart crock pot meals. I especially love buying a bigger piece of meat on sale for a meal like this and then I use the leftovers for one or more meal remixes. I turned this leftover meat into yummy fried shredded beef tacos.

Here's what you need:
Serves at least 4 people (just two of us ate this and I had a ton of leftovers)
3-4 pound chuck roast (depending on the size of your crock pot)
3 non baking potatoes (I really prefer the creaminess of yukon gold)
Half a red onion
1 cup baby carrots
Big handful of green beans, stems cut off
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon season salt
All I did was put the roast on the bottom of the pot, put the season salt on it, then threw in the veggies, potatoes and onion cut into big chunks and everything else thrown in on top. Then I covered them in the seasonings and salt and pepper. You can add other seasonings if there's a flavor you prefer- These are just the seasonings we like here. I put the top on, put it on high for four hours (or you can do low for six or more hours). When we ate, the meat was SO tender, the veggies were perfect and not overdone or soggy. I took some of the juice at the bottom of the crock pot, ladled it into a pot on the stove and simmered it on low to reduce it a bit for a quick pan gravy. Make sure to taste it for seasonings because I added a little more salt. Serve the meat with the veggies and top it off with a little of the gravy. It's an all in one meal pretty much. All it needs is a little bread on the side. I think this dinner is fancy enough for Sunday dinner but simple enough for a weeknight meal, like we had it last week. Yum!

new enchilada recipe

My husband and I love green enchiladas and I love my mom's recipe. But sometimes I try to mix it up with a new enchilada recipe, usually they aren't better than my mom's...but this one just might have hers beat.

Sorry mom!

I found this recipe and was very intrigued but knew we wouldn't like a couple things in it. So I changed it up a bit and I'm posting my variation on the recipe below. I took out the serrano pepper and also the avocado, we love avocado...but didn't want them in our enchiladas.

Sauce Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3/4 cup medium salsa verde
1/2 cup fat free sour cream

Enchilada Ingredients:
shredded cooked chicken, however much you prefer (I used one large breast)
Shredded cheese, however much you prefer
8-10 corn tortillas

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Saute garlic, for 1 minute. Stir in flour, constantly stirring, and cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in the chicken broth, cumin, salt and pepper and bring to a low boil. Once boiling, whisk in the sour cream, salsa verde and cilantro. Remove from heat.

Spray/grease an 8x8 baking dish. Add 1/4 cup sauce to the bottom of the pan. Add chicken and cheese to the center of each tortilla and roll, placing seam-side down in the dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas (sauce may be thin at this point but will thicken a lot in the oven). Top with leftover cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes or until bubbling.

These cook much quicker than normal enchiladas since the sauce is already warm. I highly recommend this recipe!

Lemon Cookies

I first had these cookies at the sand dunes and haven't forgotten them since. They are so delicious! And seriously the easiest thing ever, which is good because I can cook...but I can't bake! So thank you to my sister in law, Brandi, for this fabulous and simple recipe.

Lemon Cookies

1 lemon cake mix*

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1 container of lemon frosting

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine lemon cake mix, eggs and oil in a bowl.

Roll out parchment paper on a cookie sheet, trust me you'll want to use this.

Roll dough into small balls about 1 inch. 

Back for 8-9 minutes and remove from oven. 

Allow them to cool a bit then frost one cookie and sandwich another one on top.

EASY, right? SO easy!

*I used Betty Crocker, my sister in law used Duncan Hines, we preferred my sister in laws a little more so I'd recommend Duncan Hines. But we are at a much high elevation so who knows if that was the difference, or if I really just can't bake! None the less, they are delicious!