Debby's Tacos--Ole!

My sister makes the best tacos, EVER! her recipe is pretty simple. Double or triple as needed:


1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained

1 packet taco seasoning

1 small jar mild or medium taco sauce

taco fixins:
sour cream
lettuce
diced onion
shredded cheese
tomatoes
hot sauce


Dump the taco sauce in a clean skillet. Add the taco seasoning packet and mix well.

Mix in the cooked ground beef.

Do not add water.

Heat to simmer, stirring often.

If you like a thinner taco meat filling then feel free to add water after it begins to simmer but I have never found it necessary. We make all kinds of Mexican food with this recipe--quesidillas, burritos, nachos, etc.

I just recently started frying my own taco shells and tortilla chips at home. This recipe and those shells should be illegal.

This is a video made by my son of me frying shells:



One thing I have changed about how I cook these shells since making this video is that I lay the tortilla flat in the pan in the grease til it gets puffy, then flip once. When it starts to puff up with little bubbles then shape it. The tortillas are less likely to tear this way.....

Peas and Prosciutto

This is a recipe from the Food Network show, "Everyday Italian," with Giada De Laurentis. I make it fairly often as my kids love green peas and so do I. Prosciutto is an Italian ham that you get at the deli counter. I use Boar's Head brand.




Peas and Prosciutto

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis


Show: Everyday Italian
Episode: Family Favorites

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Yield: 6 servings



2 tablespoons olive oil
3 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (1-pound) bag frozen peas, thawed
4 ounces (1/8-inch-thick slices) prosciutto, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the shallots, garlic, salt, and pepper, and sauté until tender, about 1 minute. Add the peas and sauté until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the prosciutto and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the parsley and remove from the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.

Paula Deen's Lemon Blossoms

I've been making these for quite some time and Alyssa decided to start making them too.
She now calls this her" signature" dish because she loves making them so much.

Paula Deen's Lemon Blossoms

18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix

3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix

4 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 lemon, zested

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

* the glaze seems to run out before the blossoms do so we make a double batch.

**it is hard to get the portions of raw dough right so that they don't bake out of the cups and overflow so I would fill the cups no more than halfway and even a third is good. Very small spoonfuls.

Hoecakes or Fried Cornbread

I saw this recipe for the first time in Southern Living Magazine sometime before 2004-05.
That led me to Paula Deen- my cooking HERO!!
Her restaurant was featured in that issue of Southern Living and the more I learned from her the more I wanted to learn.
I now own all of her cookbooks, her brother's and son's cookbooks and my first piece of her cookware.
This is the first Paula Deen recipe I ever made.

Hoecakes Recipe courtesy Paula Deen



1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup self-rising cornmeal, or from a mix (recommended: Aunt Jemima's)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease
Oil, butter, or clarified margarine, for frying

Mix well all ingredients, except for the frying oil. Heat the frying oil or butter in a medium or large skillet over medium heat. Drop the batter, by full tablespoons, into the hot skillet. Use about 2 tablespoons of batter per hoecake. Fry each hoecake until brown and crisp; turn each hoecake with a spatula, and then brown the other side. With a slotted spoon, remove each hoecake to drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Leftover batter will keep in refrigerator for up to 2 days.

*I always use bacon grease in my hoecakes.
**I fry in peanut oil and use a cast iron skillet.
***my hoecakes are thicker than Paula's. I drop one heaping spoonful of batter in the oil. My skillet holds 4 hoecakes at a time.

Butter Pecan Peach Schnapps Cake

**Alyssa requested this cake for her birthday. Had to make four to have enough for everyone....



For Monica and Hannah!

This recipe was given to me by a lady named Leah Reagan in late 1995 or so...She was a dear friend.....

Butter Pecan Peach Schnapps Cake


1 c. Pecan halves
1 (18 1/2 oz.) pkg. yellow cake mix
1 (3 3/4 oz.) pkg. instant French vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. Oil
1/2 c. Peach Schnapps

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10 inch tube pan or 12 cup Bundt cake pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all ingredients together and pour over nuts. Bake 1 hour. While still in the pan prepare the glaze. Prick top. Drizzle smooth glaze evenly over top and down the inside of the pan sides right after the cake comes out of the oven. Allow cake to absorb glaze. Repeat until the entire batch of glaze is used. Cool, then invert onto a serving platter.

GLAZE:
1 stick butter
1/4 c. water
1 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. peach schnapps


Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in peach schnapps. Pour over cake while cake is still hot from the oven.


*I use Baker's Joy only to grease/flour all of my cake pans.

** ALWAYS use real butter, not margarine.

***this recipe can be divided and make 2 smaller Bundt cakes.

****I peel the bottom crust closest to the center of the pan off so that the glaze sinks in better.

Layered Mexican Dip!

Another favorite among friends and family.

This recipe was given to me by Jan Smith in the early 90's. It's been a hit every time I have ever made it.



Layered Mexican Dip


2 16 oz cans refried beans

3 ripe avocados
2 tsp lemon juice

8 oz sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1 packet taco seasoning

1/4 C onion, chopped
3/4 C cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1 small can chopped green chilies
1 small can sliced black olives
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Spread refried beans into a baking dish. Mash ripe avocados and mix with lemon juice. add salt and pepper to taste. Spread over beans. Mix may, sour cream and taco seasoning, spread over avocado. Sprinkle green chilies, then onions, then tomatoes then olives over sour cream. Top with shredded cheese.

Refrigerate til ready to serve.

My own tweaks to this recipe:

*I buy already prepared quacamole at the store and sub that for the avocadoes and lemon juice

*I double the sour cream/mayo mix. Never seems to be enough unless doubled.

I fry soft corn tortillas at home until crispy, shake fresh ground sea salt on them and use them with this dip. TO DIE FOR!!!