Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a large skillet, cook ground beef and drain excess oil. Add peppers and onions to skillet and sauté.

2. Add salt, cumin and red pepper to beef and stir until well seasoned. Add more salt to taste.

3. Remove from heat and add can of refried beans and stir until well incorporated.

4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine sour cream and cream of mushroom soup, stirring until well combined.

5. Spread 1/2 of the sour cream/cream of mushroom mixture over the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.

6. Tear apart or slice 3 flour tortillas and spread over sour cream mixture.

7. Drop half of the meat and bean mixture over tortillas. It was a fairly thick mixture so I ended up using my (clean) hands to help spread it evenly.

8. Cover top with half of the shredded cheese.

9. Repeat process one more time to build a second layer, spreading top layer with the rest of the shredded cheese.

10. Bake uncovered at 350ºF for 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving and enjoy!

(taken and modified from keyingredient.com)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.

2. Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and add to the flour mixture. Process until the butter is evenly distributed but the mixture is still crumbly, 30-60 seconds. (I don’t have a food processor so I used a hand mixer in a large bowl to mix these ingredients, then finished mixing and kneading slightly with bare hands)

3. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to use as the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan, and bake 12-15 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes.

4. To make the filling, whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then add the sugar, sour cream, flour, salt, lemon zest, and almond extract.

5. Gently fold in the berries and spoon the mixture over the crust.

6. Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture evenly over the filling, and bake 45 to 55 minutes.

Allow to cool before cutting.  Yummy for breakfast or as dessert. Or anytime!

Instructions: (modified slightly from chef-in-training.com)

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.

2. Cut in butter to sugars, cinnamon, salt and flour to form crumbs.

3. Spray cookie sheet lightly with nonstick spray. Separate crescent roll dough into 8 pieces. Sprinkle crumbs on top of unrolled slices.

4. Bake at 400 degrees F for 8-12 minutes.

5. I used a pizza cutter and cut each piece into smaller triangle-sized pieces. This was especially nice using the Grands Crescents!

6. To make glaze: Blend together all the glaze ingredients and drizzle over Sugar Crumb Crispies.

Instructions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boil and boil pasta noodles until they are just al dente. About 15 minutes, time varies with the pasta used (check package instructions). Because once they go into the oven they’ll cook a little more there.

2. Drain pasta and set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the beef, salt, basil, fennel (you can skip fennel if you don’t have any, but I recommend it for a more authentic Italian taste), and parmesan cheese. Mix well and form into 15 equally sized meatballs. Set aside.

4. Add parsley and garlic to cottage cheese and stir together until well mixed.

5. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.

6. Pour cottage cheese mixture over bottom of baking dish and spread evenly to cover bottom.

* If you prefer, you can swap steps 6 & 7, but I like adding the cottage cheese on bottom to keep the pasta from scorching or getting hard during the baking process.

7. Pour pasta noodles over cottage cheese.

8. Pour sauce over pasta. Pour water over tomato sauce.

9. Place meatballs in a 3 x 5 fashion, pressing slightly downward into the pasta, but not all the way down.

10. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over everything.

11. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350ºF for 45-55 minutes.

Those are some big meatballs, huh?  Sprinkle a little grated parmesan or romano on top if you like.

Serve and enjoy!

*Quick Refried Beans tip: add can of refried beans to a small sauce pot, add about 1/2 cup milk and 1 cup shredded cheese and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently. Creamy and just overall awesome!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Spray 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.

2. Fill a large pot about 3/4 full of water and bring to a boil. Drop thawed chicken breasts into boiling water and boil about 15 minutes.  Remove chicken and set aside in a bowl of cold water.

3. When chicken has cooled to touch, shred chicken into small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl.

4. Add 3/4 of the green enchilada sauce, all of the green onions, green chiles, salt & pepper and stir until well combined.  Set aside.

5. Fill small skillet with cooking oil, about 3-4 cups of oil.  No exact amount needed, just enough to almost cover a stack of tortillas.  This process makes the tortillas pliable and allows them to cook properly in the baking process.  Place stack of corn tortillas (I usually put about 12-13 at a time) in oil and warm on stovetop for about ten seconds.  Using tongs, spread apart the stack slightly to allow the oil to completely coat each tortilla.  Remove from oil with tongs, let drain, and place on paper towels to drain.  Repeat until you have about 25-26 oil-coated tortillas set aside.   You’ll most likely have extra tortillas left over after assembly, but it’s better to have more than not enough!  Don’t discard those leftover tortillas just yet!

6. Layer bottom of baking dish with tortillas, overlapping slightly.  It usually takes me about 6 tortillas to cover the bottom for a 9×13 baking dish.

7. With a large spoon or spatula, pour half of chicken, chiles and sauce mixture over bottom layer of tortillas.

8. Cover with another layer of tortillas, overlapping slightly and pour remaining chicken/sauce mixture over tortillas.

9. Add another layer of tortillas on top, again overlapping slightly.  Pour remaining enchilada sauce over top layer of tortillas. spreading with a large spoon or spatula.

10. Drop all of the sour cream by the Tablespoonfuls over top and spread with a large spoon or spatula, smoothing the top of the layer so that it’s coated entirely.

11. Sprinkle top with shredded cheese.

* You may have left-over oil-coated tortillas.  Tip: cut into small triangles and fry them using the cooking oil and drain on paper towels for homemade corn chips!

12. Bake at 350ºF uncovered for about 40 minutes or until cheese on top begins to brown.

13. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before cutting.  Enjoy!

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Line a baking dish with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Pound chicken breasts to about a 1/4″ thickness. I always put mine inside of a plastic zipper container (usually the one I used to store in the freezer) and pound with the slick side of the mallet.

4. Set chicken aside for now.

5. In a medium mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs (I use Panko because they are super crunchy when baked) and cheddar cheese.  I like to combine mine in a reusable zipper storage bag and shake until everything is mixed together.

6. Beat egg in a small bowl and set aside.

7. Slice avocado into two pieces, and remove seed.  I always use a serrated knife to remove the seed by slowly cutting down into the seed slightly and turning counterclockwise until the seed comes right out . Using a spoon, scoop out avocado into bowl.

8. Add softened cream cheese to avocado.  Add dry mustard, thyme and salt. Mix everything together until it’s well combined.

9. Drop a few Tablespoonfuls of avocado and cheese mixture onto one half of flattened chicken breast.

10. Lay slice of deli cheese on top of avocado and cheese mixture.

11. Fold over chicken breast and press together lightly so mixture doesn’t ooze out.

12. Dredge chicken in beaten egg and roll in bread crumbs.

13. Add to baking dish and repeat process for remaining chicken.

14. Bake uncovered at 350ºF for 45-50 minutes

Enjoy!

Instructions:

1. Season chicken with salt and basil, cook (takes about 5 minutes) and set aside.

2. Spray 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.

3. Cover bottom of baking dish with oven-ready lasagna noodles, overlapping to cover any gaps.

* I like to break pieces off the larger noodles so as to overlap slightly.

4. In a medium bowl mix parsley with cottage cheese and stir until well combined.

5. Drop Tablespoonfuls of cottage cheese on top of bottom layer of lasagna noodles and spread evenly until noodles are covered.

6. Sprinkle cottage cheese with parmesan cheese, covering evenly.

7. Cover cheese layer with another layer of lasagna noodles, overlapping and leaving no gaps.

8. Cover lasagna noodle layer with gruyère cheese (or mozzarella if you’re substituting).

9. Cover cheese with cooked chicken, spreading evenly across layer.

10. In a small bowl, combine half of the alfredo sauce with heavy cream and stir until well combined.

11. Pour alfredo/cream mixture over chicken, coating evenly.

12. Add last layer of lasagna noodles, again overlapping slightly and not leaving any gaps.

13. Cover lasagna noodles with remaining alfredo sauce, spreading evenly so noodles are completely covered.

14. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese all over the top.

15. Pour water all around the edges.  The water will help the noodles cook during the baking process.  I like to swirl the water around in the alfredo sauce jar to get any leftover bits of sauce left in the container.

16. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350ºF for an hour.

Cut, serve and enjoy!

* I modified this slightly whereas I used frozen chopped peppers and onions instead of only onions.  I also used minced garlic instead of garlic powder.  Also, if you are using cooked rice instead of instant, I would reduce the amount of chicken broth from 1 1/2 cups to just 1 cup.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Cook chicken and set aside.

2. Combine ALL ingredients together in a large mixing bowl BUT keep half of the cheese set aside.

3. Add chicken to mixture and combine well.

4. Pour everything into 9×13 baking dish.

5. Sprinkle top of mixture with remaining cheese.

6. Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Instructions:

1. Cook chicken in a large pot, about 5 minutes.  I use my spatula to cut up chicken pieces into smaller pieces as they cook, but it’s whatever method that floats your boat.

2. Add chicken broth, milk, beans and Rotel tomatoes and stir until well combined.

3. Add chili powder, salt & pepper to taste.  I like a little Season All, too.  Rotels will add a little spice.  But if you eat it like I prefer, over cornbread, it’ll tame the kick just a little.

4. Let simmer about 15 minutes.  If you like a thicker juice, add a tablespoon of cornstarch and bring to a boil.

5. That’s it!  Serve in a bowl over a nice slab of cornbread or one on the side.

Instructions:

1. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.  Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg.  Using an electric mixer, combine until mixture is well mixed and whipped.

3. Unroll whole can of one crescent roll to cover bottom of baking dish.  Pinch together seams.

4. Drop cream cheese mixture on top of crescent dough and smooth evenly.

5. Cover cream cheese with second can of crescent rolls (I used the Crescent dough sheet for my top layer).

6. Using a knife, pierce hole in top layer of dough and using fingers create a slit approximately 2 inches in length. Repeat until there are about 9 equally-sized slits.

7. Brush top layer of dough with egg white.  This will give the top layer a nice pretty shine when baked.

8. Bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes.

9. White the danish is baking, we’ll make the glaze:

10. In a bowl (I used my 2-cup glass measuring cup) combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk, stirring until well combined.

11. Allow danish to cool for about 20 minutes before adding the glaze.

12. Drizzle sugar glaze over danish and serve warm!