Taco Pie

I love any type of meal that can be served from one dish. Things that I can prep earlier and then throw into the oven 30 minutes before supper. This taco pie certainly fits that bill.
It's gluten free (of course) and quite tasty. I've made it two nights in a row, but the first night I followed a different recipe for the 'filling' and I wasn't happy with it. It was good, but forgettable. I knew I needed to make it again right away with changes so that it would be memorable and I would then remember to make it again later! The crust recipe is from Here, but I wouldn't make her meat recipe again. Like I said, it was good but not great. As soon as I bit into the original version of this pie, I had a lightbulb moment. Refried beans! That's what this needed. So without further ado....Taco Pie! (Which of course was gobbled up before I took a picture, that's what happens when a tasty supper is pulled out of the oven with 4 adults and 2 children looking on! Just imagine a taco pie and that's what it looked like!)

Crust:
1/4 Cup Butter
2/3 Cup Milk
1 Tbsp. Taco Seasoning
2 1/2 Cups Instant Potato Flakes (as I've said before, not a huge fan of instant anything, but when cooking gluten free sometimes we have to make do!)

Melt butter in a small pot. Add milk. Bring to a boil and add taco seasoning. Mix well. Remove from heat and add Potato Flakes. At this point you may need to add a few Tbsp. of water to get it to mix properly. You want a 'doughy' type of consistency, but you do want all the potato flakes mixed in.

Press into a pie plate. Bake just the shell at 350F for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool (or if you are in a hurry add the filling right away and just bake. Prebaking/cooling just allows the crust to firm up a little bit, but it's not a complete must-do!)

Filling:
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 Recipe of Refried Beans

Cook and drain beef. Cook refried beans. Mix together. Scoop into shell. Bake at 350F for approx. 25-30 minutes or until the crust starts browning.
Remove from oven and top with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Serve with sour cream.

Vodka Cream Sauce

This is my first time cooking with alcohol beyond wine and I have to say I'm thoroughly impressed! The whole family gobbled it down in no time!
I cooked up chicken breasts and cubed them, then put them into the sauce. Poured it all over rice pasta (a twisty kind, I'm really not sure what type!) and it was delicious. I haven't been able to stomach brown rice pasta very much since we switched and I ate a huge plate of this! And it was easy!! I was out of tomato sauce, so I used 2 tins of whole tomatoes (I blended them first), and 3 Tbsp. of tomato paste and let it boil for about 15 minutes before adding it to the recipe, worked like a charm!

2/3 Cup Vodka
1 Cup Whipping Cream/Heavy Cream
3 Cups Tomato Sauce
Meat (Bacon would taste good, I used chicken)
Pasta of your choice.
Parmesan cheese, for topping.

Cook your meat, pour in vodka and boil for 4-5 minutes until it has reduced by about half. Add tomato sauce and cream. Let simmer for 20ish minutes. Serve hot over pasta of your choice and top with Parmesan cheese!

Chili

Yummy, super filling and easy to make. 3 of my favourite adjectives when describing cooking!
The original recipe was from a magazine called The Canola Digest. It was called Cheapskate Chili.
I have modified a few things and this is our regularly used recipe now :)

1lb. Ground Beef, browned
680mL Tomato Sauce  
398mL Diced Tomatoes  
3 Cups Kidney beans, soaked & cooked (or canned)  
1 Tbsp. Chili Powder  
1 Tsp. Garlic Powder  
1/2 Tsp. Onion Powder  
2 1/2 Tsp. Taco Seasoning  
1/2 Cup Lentils, dry  
1 Cup Quinoa, dry (I used red quinoa, but regular is fine too)


Mix together all ingredients except the quinoa in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer, covered. Cook the quinoa as directed on the package (it cooks like rice...1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water). Simmer the chili on the stove while the quinoa cooks. When its finished add to the pot. Mix well. 
Serve hot with bread/buns or just topped with cheese! Or over fries with cheese sauce on top for chili-cheese fries!
It is also a really good meal to make ahead and freeze.

Fresh Salsa

My garden is producing! Very exciting except I need to use lots of cherry tomatoes! The ones I planted produce small yellow tomatoes first then medium orange ones then large (relatively speaking since they are cherry tomatoes!) red ones. Right now I have lots of yellow and a few orange. They are wonderfully sweet!

I threw together a salsa tonight and even my veggie-loathing hubby said it was good :) Only problem is I put red pepper flakes in not realizing how spicy they were and made it too spicy for me to eat more then a couple of bites!

This makes enough for 1-2 servings.
1/2 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
1/2 Medium Green Pepper
Seasonings to taste: Onion powder, granulated garlic and red pepper flakes.
A small amount of water to let the spices mix.
Chop your veggies small and add spices, lemon and water. Let sit in the fridge for about an hour to ensure a crispy flavourful taste.

I served it over chicken breasts cooked in vinegar and water (cayenne, onion powder & garlic powder to taste) on the stove top. A delicious combination!!

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Easy Marinara Sauce

This is a super easy recipe that I make frequently. Because it takes ingredients I always have on hand it is a great last minute sauce. Recipe originally from Recipezaar.

Ingredients
1 Large Can Tomato Sauce (680 ml)
1 Tsp. Minced Garlic (approx. 2 large cloves)
1 Tsp. Dried Basil
1/2 Tsp. Dried Rosemary
1/4 Tsp. Dried Oregano
1 Tsp. Sugar
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil


Heat Olive oil over medium heat in a medium sized pot. Add garlic and saute until just browned. Add tomato sauce and stir. Lower heat to medium-low. Add rosemary, basil and oregano while stirring. Allow sauce to bubble, then sprinkle with sugar and mix again. Use immediately or store covered in the fridge. Freezes well.


We love this sauce as a pizza base, for dipping deep fried cheese balls/pizza balls into, and of course for a pasta sauce. It's a nice change from regular tomato sauce, and adds a nice flavour to spaghetti :)