Mostly Homemade Mom

Layered Mexican Salad

2018-04-20T11:49:00.000-04:00

This Layered Mexican Salad is the perfect potluck side dish recipe! Layers of romaine lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, avocado, cheddar cheese, and crushed tortilla chips in a homemade taco dip dressing - get your family eating those veggies again!

We've been eating a lot of meat around here lately since we bought our new grill. Don't get me wrong, we're still going to use the heck out of that thing! Last week though, I thought I'd switch our menu up a bit and make a salad. The only problem?
My children despise salads.
And I'm going to be honest here - I could get them to eat the "green parts" of this salad. Lovely, aren't they?
We LOVE taco dip in this house, particularly seven layer taco dips. You know, with layers of refried beans, taco meat, sour cream, cream cheese... and a little bit of veggies thrown in there. I wanted to create a lighter version though, one that was fit for a meal. Layered Mexican Salad it is!

Skillet Turkey Sloppy Joes

2018-04-18T12:31:00.000-04:00

A classic weeknight dinner with turkey, green peppers, and onions in a tangy tomato sauce. Perfect on crusty rolls with a side of macaroni & cheese and green salad - dinner is served!

Growing up, sloppy joes with macaroni and cheese was a staple meal around our house. And you absolutely would not hear a hint of complaining from my brother, sister, and I - it was definitely one of our favorite dinners! By far, it's one of the dinners I most remember, and most loved, from my childhood.
I know sloppy joes are a typical "lunch lady" special at school and I recall being a bit jealous of the kids that ate school lunch on those days. They sure made my baloney sandwich and apple (that never was eaten) look unappetizing! Between that and the deep dish school lunch pizza, I was definitely disgruntled that my mom would never let me get lunch at school. Now that my kids are in school, I understand why - it's WAY cheaper to make lunch at home! Sorry, Mom!

Cheesy Mexican Lasagna

2018-04-11T11:44:00.000-04:00

This Mexican Lasagna has layers of shredded chicken, poblano peppers, seasonings, corn tortillas. Create this amazing dinner the whole family will crave!

Oh MAN do I love a good food challenge. I mean, I'm pretty much addicted to several Food Network shows, Chopped being one of my absolute favorites. I've seen some episodes where it's professional cooks who are competing, and others with amateur home cooks. I love them all!
It's always so suspenseful to have them open up those baskets and find out those mystery ingredients. If you haven't caught the show yet, the basic premise is that three people are creating dishes to compete against one another in front of food critics who will judge their dish. The catch is that, in each round, they are given a basket of ingredients and they have to incorporate all the ingredients into their dish. Some combinations I can see, others are just WACKO! At least once an episode I learn about an ingredient I'd never heard of before. It's really interesting!