Fiesta Beef & Black Bean Enchiladas

I love my Kraft Food & Family Magazine, in fact I keep every issue just in case I feel the need to look back though them and try something new. Which is exactly what I did here, this one comes from their Holiday 2010 edition and it's a great family recipe that we all loved.

Prep 20 minutes
total 50 minutes
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. Velveeta pasteurized Prepared Cheese product, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, divided
1 1/4 cups Taco Bell Home Originals Thick 'N Chunky Salsa, divided
1 cup rinsed canned black beans
12 flour tortillas (6 inch)
1/2 cup Breakstone's or Knudsen Sour Cream
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions
Heat oven to 350ºF.
Brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in half of the Velveeta and 1/2 cup salsa; cook 5 min. or until Velveeta is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently. Stir in beans.
Spoon 1/4 cup meat mixture down center of each tortilla; roll up. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
Bake enchiladas, uncovered, 10 min. Top with remaining Velveeta and salsa. Bake 20 min. or until enchiladas are heated through and Velveeta is melted. Top with sour cream and cilantro

Make-ahead Unstuffed Pasta Shells

I absolutely love getting my seasonal addition of Kraft's Food & Family and their winter addition has some really great recipes. This recipe was one that I really liked how delicious it sounds and it did not disappoint us. The entire family loved it and it was a blast to put together. I prepared this dish and served it immediately, but it is designed to be made ahead of time and simply reheated later. So if you need something for the cooking challenged on a night you will not be present this is the dish for you.

I did try to make this dish a little healthier with the use of low fat cheeses, whole wheat pasta shells, and lean ground turkey instead of ground beef with great results. I highly suggest  you give these products a try if you haven't all ready, they are actually quite good.

Prep 30 min. Total 1 hour 15 min. Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
4 cups medium pasta shells, uncooked
1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
1 jar (24oz) marinara sauce
1 tub Philadelphia Original Cooking Creme
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 cups Kraft Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a Touch of Philadelphia

Directions
Cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt. Mean while, brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in marinara sauce; simmer on medium heat 2 min., stirring frequiently. Remove from heat.
Drain pasta. Mix cooking creme, basil and Parmesan in large bowl; stir in pasta. Spread half the meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; cover with pasta mixture and remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella; cover with foil. Refrigerate up to 24 hours.
Heat oven to 375ºF. Bake casserole, covered, 40 to 45 min. or until heated through, uncovering after 30 min.

Chicken and Summer Squash Skillet

   A few weeks ago I took my Wife and Daughter to a small farmers market that's close to our home. While there my daughter picked up a nice big round summer squash, it was very nice looking. So when it came time to make our biweekly menu, I made sure to choose a recipe that included the specially selected squash. I found this recipe from Kraft that fit the bill perfectly, I mean it was a perfect match, so it should of been at them point that I should of figured out something would go wrong. When it came time to for dinner, I began slicing the squash and it was incredibly tough. It was like it was preparing to become a gourd and just needed to be hung up to dry. I tried cooking a few pieces to see if they would soften up, but no such luck. But despite the lack of squash the recipe was great and earned a Tot approved. My picky little girl loved this dish, so I'm sure I will be repeating it next year when summer squash and zucchini is in season.

Ingredients
1 tbsp butter
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tub (10 oz.)Philadelphia Italian Cheese
2 zucchini, cut lengthwise in half, then sliced
2 yellow squash, cut lengthwise in half, then sliced
2 cups cooked orzo pasta
2 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh basil

Directions
Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; cook 4 to 5 min. on each side or until done (165ºF). Transfer to plate; cover to keep warm
Place 1/4 cup cooking creme in small microwaveable bowl; set aside. Add vegetables to skillet; cook 5 min. or until crisp-tender, stirring frequently. Stir in remaining cooking creme; cook and stir 2 min. Add orzo; cook and stir 2 min. or until heated through.

Spoon orzo mixture onto 4 plates; top with chicken. Microwave reserved cooking creme on HIGH 15 to 20 sec. or until heated through. Spoon over chicken, top with basil.

Cowboy Beef and Been Skillet

I found this recipe in Kraft's Food & Family magazine and I thought it sounded really good, but my wife wasn't to hip on trying it so I fixed it ahead of time and split it up for lunches. It's a very hardy dish and I think it would be great to spice it up like a chili this fall. The only thing that makes me shy away from making this recipe again is that 1 cup is 450 calories, and that's pretty well all the calories you need in one meal. But it will fill you up and keep you full, so that helps.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb. beef sirloin steak, cut into thin strips
2 slices Oscar Mayer bacon, chopped (I used Turkey Bacon so it may cut down on a few calories)
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 can (16 oz) pinto beans, rinsed
3/4 cup Kraft original BBQ sauce

Directions
Cook steak strips in deep large nonstick skillet or dutch oven on medium-high heat 3 min. or just until no longer pink in centers. Remove to plate
Add bacon to skillet; cook on medium heat 1 min. Add onions and peppers; mix well. Cook 6 min. or until bacon is done and vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in beans and barbecue sauce; simmer on medium-low heat 5 min.
Return steak and any juices from plate to skillet; cook 1 to 2 min. or until steak strips are done, stirring occasionally.

Grilled Peach Salad!

The cooler weather has finally arrived and I was able to get in some much needed grill time. I chose to do something new, something I honestly don't do enough of and that involves grilling fruit. The intense heat and smoke makes for such an intense flavor it's unreal, I highly suggest you try it. I'm sure this recipe will be a repeat as it is incredibly healthy and loaded with flavor. My little girl loved the grilled peaches and I served it with a little chicken breast, for protein, and some diced tomatoes. Also I grilled the romaine lettuce which is really quick and adds even more flavor. To grill the lettuce place the lettuce on the grill just long enough to get grill marks, were not looking to wilt the lettuce just a quick grill for looks and flavor.

From Kraft's Food & Family 2011 Summer edition
Prep 15 min. Total 23 min. Makes 10 servings.
what you need
3 fresh peaches pitted, quartered
2 Tbsp. oil
8 cups torn romaine lettuce
1/2 cup coarsely chopped Planters deluxe Whole Cashews(I omitted these as there is always a possibility of cross contamination of tree nuts and peanuts.)
6 slices Oscar Mayer Bacon, cooked, coarsely crumbled(I used turkey bacon which is a great healthy alternative)
1/2 cup Kraft Roka Blue Cheese Dressing; I used Ranch since no one in the house is big on blue cheese dressing

Make it
Heat grill to medium-high heat.
Brush peaches with oil. Grill 3 to 4 min. on each side or just until tender and heated through. Cool slightly.
Cut each peach piece in half. cover platter with lettuce; top with peaches, nuts and bacon.
Drizzle with dressing.

Glazed Red Berry Pie

This recipe has been setting in my recipes to fix box for most of this summer when it arrived in the summer edition of Kraft's Food & Family. It was a great recipe, but sadly my skills were put to the test and came up short. The pie filling, which consists of Raspberry Jello Gelatin, raspberries, and strawberries was really good. It was the crust that really disappointed me, it was my first attempt at making a pre-baking a pie crust and it came out really tough and chewy. Now this is in no way a reflection of the recipe, but just my skills and making pie crusts that require bake time before being filled. I know there is a bit of an art to pies and I would like to be come proficient in them, but for health reasons I will not be spending a lot of time doing so.

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
1 pkg. (3 oz.) Jell-O Raspberry Flavor Gelatin
3 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 baked pie crust (9 inch)
1/2 cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

Directions
Mix sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in water until well blended. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir 1 min. Remove from heat. Add dry gelatin mix; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in fruit.
Fill crust with fruit mixture. Refrigerate 3 hours or until filling is firm.
Top with Cool Whip just before serving.

Makes 8 servings; Prep 10 min.; Total 3 hours 20 minutes
Kraft's Notes
Pie can be prepared using a frozen deep-dish pie crust. Bake as directed on package; cool. Fill as directed.
Healthy Living: Save 40 calories per serving by preparing with Jell-O Raspberry Flavor Sugar Free Gelatin and Cool Whip Lite Whipped Topping.

Creamy Chicken &Broccoli Casserole

My wife chose this recipe from Kraft while working on the grocery list on a day I was at work. This dish is lives up to it's name as it's creamy, loaded with flavor, and has a veggie in it. Now broccoli is on of my toddlers favorite veggies, believe it or not, and she loved this dish because it had cheese melted onto the broccoli.

This recipe was in the spring edition of Kraft Food & Family and we fixed it smack in the middle of the dog days of summer, while delicious it was incredibly heavy for a hot day. But this recipe will definitely be making its way into our rotations come this fall and winter when we need a good healthy comfort food.

Ingredients
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 pkg. frozen broccoli florets, thawed, drained (it is very important to make sure their thawed as it will add more cooking time if they are not)
1 1/2 cups Kraft 2% milk shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tub Philadelphia Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
1/2 cup milk
24 Ritz Crackers, crushed (about 1 cup)
1 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover
3. Bake 25 min. Meanwhile, mix cracker crumbs and butter
4. Stir chicken mixture; top with crumbs. Bake, uncovered, 10 min. or until topping is golden brown.

Tri-pepper Pasta Salad

This recipe was delicious, but it's best suited as a side dish as it's not very filling. I served it up with some lunch meat in an attempt to make it a little more filling, but stay on the light side, and it didn't do very well at that. Also it wasn't well received by my little girl, so no Tot approval for this one. But the next time you need a pasta salad for a picnic this is your dish, it would be great for a potluck.

I ussually cook a whole box of pasta when I'm trying to feed our family of 3, so I found that making more of the mayo mixture may be neccessary. It's realy easy as a simple 50:50 mixture of mayo and balsamic vinaigrette is all that's needed to make this mixture.

Recipe from Kraft Food & Family spring magazine

Whisk 1/3 cup each Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil Reduced Fat maynnaise and Kraft light balsamic vinaigrette Dressing in a large bowl.

combine mayo mixture with 2 1/2 cups cooked whole wheat medium shell pasta, 1 each chopped red, green and yellow pepper, 1 chopped small red onion, 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil and 1/2 cup Kraft Shredded parmesan Cheese.

Kung pao chicken wrap

I have another Kraft recipe that was an excellent light lunch, which believe it or not is Tot Approved. Perhaps I need to start finding a rating system for such recipes, anyways I digress. This recipe is incredibly easy and would be a great one to take the ingredients to work and assemble right before lunch or wrap it up and take it on the go. There is one ingredient that you will want to use sparingly and that's the Kraft Hot and Spicy Flavored Mayonnaise, it's SPICY! Like the name didn't give that away. I would suggest if your not into a lot of spice, then mix it with some regular mayonnaise to cool it down a bit.

For our little girl we took and gave her all the ingredients in small pieces, as this is usually how she likes her sandwiches. Well she wanted in on the wrap action so we took a slice of cheese and made crude wrap with the chicken, lettuce, and shredded carrots which she really got a kick out of.

Make it
1 Whole wheat tortilla (8 inch)
1 tbsp. (or less, be sure to taste it first to know how much you will like) Kraft Sandwich Shop hot & Spicy Flavored Mayonnaise
1 slice Kraft Big Slice Mild cheddar Cheese, cut in half
2 oz. Oscar Mayer Carving Board Rotisserie Seasoned Chicken breast.
4 thi cucumber slices
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves
2 tbsp. drained canned pineapple tidbits
2 tsp. chopped Planters Cocktail Peantus (this was ommitted because we have yet to test our little one for peanut allergies)

Chicken Capri Pasta

This recipe comes straight out of the Kraft Foods Magazine, which is always loaded with some really delicious seasonal recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, which is a must for any busy family. To top it off it's even approved my little girl! She loves noodles and bell peppers, so I knew I was in good shape there, but she ate every bit of it with out a fight. The Philadelphia Cooking Creme's I believe is a new product as I've never heard of them, or simply never took notice of them, either way I'm so happy I got to try them. Their creamy with a nice garlic flavor and they really help make this dish. I served it up with a little whole wheat garlic toast, which is a little healthier and was a wonderful side to this dish.

Ingredients
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1/2 cup halved red pepper strips
2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 tub (10oz) Philadelphia Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
2 cups hot cooked angel hair pasta
1/4 cup Kraft Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions
Cook and stir chicken and peppers in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5to 7 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in broccoli; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through.
Add cooking creme; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through.
Serve over pasta; sprinkle with Parmesan.

Creamy beef and mushrooms with noodles

I am always on the look out for recipes that have decent serving size and less then 500 calories, so when I found this recipe from Kraft I knew I had to try it. With ingredients like Zesty Italian dressing, garlic, onion, sour cream and paprika you know it's loaded with flavor.

Ingredients
1 tbsp. canola oil, divided
1 lb. boneless beef sirloin steak (3/4 inch thick), cut into strips
3 cups yolk-free whole wheat egg noodles, uncooked
1/4 cup Kraft Light Zesty Italian Dressing
2 onions, chopped(I would suggest either 2 small onions or one medium to large onion)
1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced(I omitted this with good results)
3 Tbsp. minced garlic
3 Tbsp. paprika (I suggest experimenting with less paprika as 3 Tbsp. was incredibly strong)
3/4 cup fat-free reduced-sodium beef broth
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup reduced fat or light sour cream
1 small tomato, chopped

Heat 1 1/2 tsp. oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add half the meat; cook and stir 1 to 2 minutes. or until evenly browned. Transfer to bowl. repeat with remaining oil and meat.

Cook noodles as directed on package, omitting salt. Meanwhile, heat Italian dressing in same skillet on medium heat. Add the next 4 ingredients; cook 12 min. or until vegetables are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in broth and peas; simmer 2 min. or just until peas are tender. Add meat; cook 1 to 20 minutes. or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Stir in sour cream until well blended.

Drain noodles. Serve topped with meat mixture and tomatoes.

Prep 20 min. Total 40 min. Makes 4 Servings

Cheesy Beef-Corn Chip Skillet

I first started cooking when I got married and I only had so many things I knew how to cook. The one recipe that was quick and was always easy were tacos, and my wife loved them so much she requested them every week. Well needless to say doing this blog has really pulled us out our newly wed recipe rut. But when I saw this recipe that offered something new by adding Velveeta, I had to at least try it. This recipe did not disappoint and is a great alternative to regular old tacos.


Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef (I this recipe twice, once with beef and once with ground turkey. I liked them both.)
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 cup water
1 pkg. Taco Bell Home Originals Taco seasoning
2 cups corn chips
1/4 lb. Velveeta (4 oz.) cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 cups shredded lettuce
2 tomatoes, chopped


Directions:
Brown meat with onions in large skillet; drain. Add water and seasoning mix; cook as directed on package.
Cover meat mixture with chips and Velveeta; cover. Cook on low heat 5 min. or until Velveeta is melted.
Top with lettuce and tomatoes.

Pizza Pasta Salad

The past week and a half has been super busy at home and work, which has limited me from working on posting some really tasty recipes. I also have been putting some thought into doing a special post for an upcoming movie release, so be on the look out for that as well. But in the mean time here is a wonderful recipe form Kraft that can pull double duty as either a hot main dish or a cold side dish depending on your needs. I substituted smoked turkey sausage for the hard Salami and it came out wonderful. This dish is full of flavor and does actually have a pizza flair.

Ingredients:
3 cups penne pasta, cooked, drained and cooled
4 tomato's (1 1/2 lb.), chopped
12 slices Oscar Mayer Hard Salami, chopped
1 cup Kraft Natural Italian Cheese Crumbles
1/2 cup sliced fresh basil
1/2 cup Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Kraft Roasted red Pepper
Italian with Parmesan Dressing

Directions
combine ingredients
Refrigerate 1 hour.
Serving Suggestion: This dish is also great served hot. Just toss the hot cooked pasta with the remaining ingredients. Serve Immediately.

Se

Sun-dried Tomato chicken

I recently started getting Kraft's magazine Food & Family, thank you to my Wife for that gift. I do have a little complaining to do, this magazine is so full of delicious recipes that I'm easily over whelmed when it comes time to make the grocer list, not a bad problem though.

When I made this recipe we served it with mac-n-cheese, but it would of been so much better served on a bed of spaghetti noodles. Also, I left out the bacon, per request, something I really didn't like doing as I LOVE bacon.

Ingredients
2 slices Oscar Mayer Bacon, chopped
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves(1 lb.)
1 cup Kraft Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp. Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions
Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Remove bacon from skillet; drain on paper towels. Discard drippings from skillet.
Add chicken to skillet; cook on medium-high heat 2 min. on each side or until browned on both sides. Pour dressing over chicken; sprinkle with basil. Cook on low heat 8 to 10 minutes. or until chicken is done (165 F), turning after 5 min.
Transfer chicken to serving platter, reserving dressing mixture in skillet; cover chicken to keep warm. Add tomatoes to skillet; stir. Cook on medium-high heat 3 min. or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Stir in bacon; spoon over chicken. Top with cheese.