Chocolate Cobbler

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup self rising flour
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk
3 Tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the above ingredients and spread into a greased 11×7 or 9×13 glass baking dish.

Top Mixture – Mix together and sprinkle evenly on the above mixture.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa

Pour 1 1/2 cups hot water gently over all. DO NOT MIX- just gently pour over all

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve hot, or cold.

Potato Muffins

Just mash potatoes plain with butter or you can add yummy ingredients like cooked bacon, cheese, parsley, green onion, garlic, etc. Stuff in to a greased muffin tin, run a fork along the top and brush with melted butter or olive oil. Bake at 375 degrees or until tops are crispy and golden.

Sweet Hawaiian Crockpot Chicken:

Ingredients:
1 cup Pineapple Juice
1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Light Soy Sauce
2 pounds Chicken Breast

Directions:
Cut chicken into small pieces. Add all ingredients to the crockpot, and cook on low 6-8 hrs and they should just fall apart. Enjoy!

Pepper Jack Meat Loaf

1 lb ground beef, turkey or chicken
1 cup celery, diced
½ cup onion, diced
1 cup oatmeal or crumbled saltine cracker
2 eggs
2 cups pepper jack cheese shredded
¼ cup ketchup
1/8 tsp chili powder
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan.

Mix meat, celery, onion, oatmeal or crackers, eggs together well. Press half of the meat mixture into prepared loaf pan. Place cheese over meat mixture. Top with remaining meat mixture and press down to seal. Spread ketchup over top of meat loaf….sprinkle with chili powder, salt and pepper.

Bake, covered lightly with foil, for 30 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F, remove cover and continue to bake for 20 minutes or until edges are bubbling and knife inserted in center comes out clean. 

Strawberries and Cream Pie

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tsp shortening
1 Oreo pie crust (I have also used a graham cracker crust and both options are fabulous)
1 8-oz block cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tub Cool Whip (8 oz)
2 cups fresh strawberries, halved

Combine chocolate chips and shortening and melt in the microwave. I usually microwave it for about 30 seconds and then stir. If needed, microwave for another 15-20 seconds and stir again. Stir until well combined and then pour about 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of the crust and refrigerate until firm.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream and vanilla until smooth.

Fold in the Cool Whip.

Pour (or scoop) the mixture into the crust.   

Arrange the strawberries on top of the pie. Microwave the remaining chocolate and drizzle over the top and refrigerate overnight. 

Jell-O cookies

Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cups softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white
½ tsp. vanilla
2- three oz. packages of Jell-O (you can double the recipe and have 4 packs of Jell-O)

Directions:
Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the egg white and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix the flour and baking powder then combine with butter mixture. Divide the dough in half and knead one small box of Jell-O into each half. Shape into balls and flatten onto an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart with a spoon or fork. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Let cool for a couple minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

Simple Carnita Recipe and Chimichanga Recipe

Carnitas

Carnitas (little meats)

Pork roast
2 cans or 1 bottle (10 to 12 ounces) salsa verde (green tomatillo based salsa)
1/2 large onion chopped
Garlic
Salt and pepper
Aluminum foil
Baking dish

Preheat oven to 300

Rub roast generously with galic, then salt and pepper to taste. Place in baking dish.  Cover roast with chopped onion and salsa verde.  Cover dish loosely with aluminum foil and cook for 4 to 4 1/2 hours.  Remove dish and uncover.  The original instructions said to let cool and remove roast from pan to cutting board, then remove and throw away fat and skim fat off juices in pan.  Then use 2 forks to break meat up and return to dish where you mix it back with the juices and mix well.  When I poked mine with a fork it fell apart in the pan, so I just used a fork to pick out the fat.  Mix it up well with the juices, spead it in the pan and return to the oven for about 20 minutes.  You want the meat crispy on top, then flip the meat and return to the oven for about another 20 minutes.  I use medium salsa verde in a jar, I think salsa verde has more bite than tomato based salsa.  This gave the meat a little bit of heat but it was the most flavorful pork roast I ever ate.  You can just eat it like a roast, use on a sandwich, mix in an omlet, use as burrito, taco, tamale or enchilada filling.

Chimichanga

Chimichanga

 filling

I have used this with chicken and beef.  It works best with beef, but the chicken is good too.





Chuck roast cubed or stew beef or boneless chicken breast or tenders cubed.

2 or 3 ripe tomatoes cubed or a can of diced tomatoes

1 bell pepper chopped

1 medium to large onion chopped

1 jalapenos chili deveined and seeded, chopped

(if you want less heat substitute a polbano, ancho, Sonora or New Mexico chilis, or no chilis, if you want more go with chipotle(jalapenos roasted then packed in adobo sauce), cayenne, or habanero.)  You can also just roast the chilis  before chopping or add cumin or red pepper to add more heat.  Roasting or using chipotle will add a smoky flavor also.

Salt and pepper

Can of broth either beef or chicken (which ever matches the meat).

4 to 5 cloves of garlic chopped

Optional:

Tablespoon cilantro and or tablespoon of Mexican oregano



Basically heat the broth in a large pot, add the meat, tomatoes, onion pepper, galic and chilis.  Salt and pepper and let cook.  You want to cook this until as much of the liquid is gone as possible without burning.  Then place the mixture in large tortillas, flour or wheat unless you have developed a taste for the corn ones.  Fold and either fry, deep fry or bake in oven.  Baking is easier, has less fat, makes the least mess, but is less crunchy.  Serve with refried beans, a fresh salsa, ect.



You will have to experiment with the chilis to find what you like.