Queso Dip

This is my favorite queso dip. You can make it and serve immediately or put it in a slow cooker on low for a party. The spicy sausage gives the queso a great flavor. You can use diced tomatoes or salsa in this recipe. If you like a thicker queso, use the tomatoes. Otherwise, use the salsa. Another option is to add a bit of salsa after you add the tomatoes to thin it out a bit.

1lb Bob Evans Spicy Sausage
1 16oz package of Velveeta, cut up
1 10oz can of diced tomatoes with chilies, undrained
or
16 oz jar of salsa

Cook the sausage in a pan on medium and drain on a paper towel. Return sausage to the pan and add cheese and tomatoes. Cook and stir frequently until cheese is melted. Serve immediately. If you are taking this to a party, you can cook the sausage ahead of time, then add the cheese and tomatoes and microwave before serving. Serve with scoops or tortilla chips.

Enchiladas

I love Mexican food. How can you go wrong with chips, salsa, guacamole, lots of cheese and delicious sauces? I have made these enchiladas with ground beef, chicken and beans. I am sure shredded pork or beef would work well too. If you are looking for an easy way to prepare the meat, use a crockpot. Take 1lb of chicken breasts, pork shoulder or beef and put it in the crockpot with a jar of salsa and a cup of water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours and shred the meat with 2 forks before filling the enchiladas. Cooking ground beef or cubed chicken in a pan before filling also works.

8-10 flour or whole grain tortillas
28oz can of mild red enchilada sauce
1lb of cooked beef, chicken or pork
1 can of fat-free refried beans
2-3 cups of shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350. In a 9x13 pan, spread a few tablespoons of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan. Take a tortilla, spread with beans, a few spoonfulls of meat, sprinkle with cheese and roll up. Place in the pan and continue assembling the remaining tortillas. When the pan is filled, pour the enchilada sauce over the tortillas and top with cheese. Bake uncovered for 25-30 min.

Steak

I love steak and I love a good marinade. This marinade is super easy and you probably have most of the ingredients at home. This marinade is for 1-1 1/2lbs of steak.

1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce
2 teaspoons of Montreal Steak seasoning

Mix together in a glass dish or plastic bag. Marinade meat for 30 min to overnight.

I know this is the crappiest picture in the world but next time you are at the store, pick up the McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning. It's amazing! Anytime I use ground beef in a recipe, I sprinkle a bit of this on the beef and it adds a great flavor. It's good on chicken too.

Comfort food-Lasagna

It's a rainy, gloomy Sunday and a perfect day for some comfort food. When I think of comfort food, I immediately think of pasta. I love pasta in a cream sauce or some type of baked dish with a red sauce and lots of cheese. Yum.

My new fav is lasagna. I've tried making it a few times but boiling the noodles and assembling everything was such a pain in the ass. Well I found a recipe using the no-bake noodles and have made a few changes. How can you go wrong with 4 cups of cheese? This is definitely easy enough for my beginner friends:)

1lb Italian Sausage- sweet or hot
1 1/2 jars spaghetti sauce
1 container of cottage cheese
4 cups of cheese ( 2 cups Italian cheese blend and 2 cups Mozzarella)
2 eggs
salt and pepper
9 no-bake lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350. Cook the Italian sausage in a large pan and drain any grease. Add the spaghetti sauce and cook for 5 min. In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese, eggs and 2 cups of the cheese, salt and pepper. In the bottom of a 9 x 13 dish, spread some of the sauce to cover the bottom of the pan. Then layer 3 uncooked lasagna noodles, cheese, sauce and repeat layers. Top with the 2 cups of cheese. Take a piece of aluminum foil and spray one side with cooking spray. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 45 min. Take the foil off and bake for an additional 10 min. Serve with Texas toast or garlic bread.

Meatloaf

I think many people have a love/hate relationship with meatloaf. As a kid, I thought a big hunk of dry meat sometimes slathered with some ketchup was pretty nasty. But over the past few years, meatloaf and I have developed a better relationship. I have tried several recipes and discovered that turkey or any beef leaner than 85% is too dry for my taste.

Here are two of my favorites. The first is a bacon wrapped meatloaf of course! This meatloaf is perfect. It's from The Pioneer Woman blog. Her blog is amazing and I honestly don't know how she does it with 4 kids but whatever. The second is a slow cooker meatloaf. I have found that 4-5 hours is the perfect cooking time. I usually mix 1/2 cup bbq sauce with 1/2 cup ketchup instead of 1 cup ketchup. Both of these recipes are ridiculously juicy and best served with mashed potatoes. Enjoy!

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf www.thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/09/my-favorite-meatloaf/

Slow Cooker Meatloaf www.bobevans.com/recipe/Slow_Cooker_Meatloaf.aspx

Beef Nacho Casserole

I know, know I need a picture. I love this dish. I usually have most of the ingredients on hand and it's easy to make. The girls and I can easily devour the 9x9 pan. It's that good.

1 pound ground beef

1 1/2 cups salsa

1 (10 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained OR 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn, cooked

3/4 cup mayo

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 cups crushed tortilla chips

2 cups shredded cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the ground beef in a large skillet and drain the grease. Cook the corn in the microwave or on stovetop. Remove the beef from the heat, and stir the salsa, corn, mayonnaise and chili powder into the beef. In a 9x9in casserole dish, layer the ground beef mixture, tortilla chips and cheese and repeat. Bake for 20 minutes uncovered in the preheated oven, until cheese is melted and dish is thoroughly heated.

A few tweaks I've made- add some seasoning to the beef. I like using McCormick Grill Mates Montreal seasoning and Cumin. The Montreal seasoning adds a nice flavor to ground beef and I use it in most beef and hamburger dishes. Also, if you like hot salsa like I do, don't use an entire 1 1/2 cups in this recipe or you will be sweating profusely as you eat dinner. Mix the hot salsa with a mild salsa to make 1 1/2 cups. Any cheese will work for this recipe. Tortilla chips are the best but I've even used potato chips for this recipe and it turned out ok. Good luck and enjoy!