Crispy Ground Beef Tacos

 1 pound ground beef 80/20

2 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning

Vegetable oil

8  6-inch flour tortillas

Sour cream

Shredded cheese

Shredded lettuce

Pico de Gallo

Salsa

Cilantro, optional

In a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground beef and cook until browned breaking up meat as it cooks. Add in taco seasoning along with 1 tablespoon of water and cook, stirring often until fully combined remove from heat and keep warm. Meanwhile in a medium size skillet add vegetable oil until it’s 1/4 inch deep once it’s glistening, add the tortillas one at a time and cook until golden and crispy about one minute flip and repeat on the other side transfer tortilla to a paper towel lined plate continue with remaining tortillas. 

Serve with toppings of your choice.

Homemade Taco Seasoning: Make it your own way, start with a little black pepper and add equal parts of the following:Chili powder, sea salt, smoked paprika, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano.  Suggestion - use 2 TBSP of everything EXCEPT black pepper, store in plastic bag or air tight jar away from heat and light  

Key Lime Dip

 

• 2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Graham crackers

In a bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk and lime juice until blended; set aside. 

Beat egg whites at high speed until just foamy. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until soft peaks form and sugar is dissolved.

 Fold egg white mixture into lime mixture. Pour into a 9″ pie plate

. Bake at 325° for 25 minutes. Take out of the oven and stir well. Place in a serving bowl and cover; chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Serve with graham crackers.

Grilled Turkey Burgers

 Not your typical dry Turkey burger, thanks to turkey Italian sausage included in the mix! 

Servings: 8 burgers

• 1.25 pounds Italian turkey sausage (I use Shady Brook Farms hot or sweet varieties)
• 1.3 pounds 93/7 lean ground turkey (I use Shady Brook Farms; one package equals 1.3 pounds)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 
• 8 hamburger buns 
• 
  

1. Remove the sausage meat from the casings. The best way is to use kitchen shears to cut through the casings and then peel them away from meat. 
2. Place the sausage meat in a large bowl along with the ground turkey, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard. 
3. Use your hand to mix together until well combined. The mixture will seem quite wet; that's okay. Form the meat into 8 even patties about ½-inch thick.
4.  Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to cook.
5. Clean the grill and preheat to high. To grease the grill, lightly dip a wad of paper towels in vegetable oil and, using tongs, carefully rub over the grates several times until glossy and coated. 
6. Place the turkey burgers on the grill and cook for five minutes, covered, until nice grill marks form. Flip and continue to cook, covered, for 3-5 minutes more, until the burgers are cooked through.
7.  Heat the buns on the grill, assemble the burgers, and serve.
9. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The uncooked burgers can be frozen for up to three months. (Freeze the burgers on a baking sheet or plate so their shape sets, then transfer them to a sealable plastic bag for easy storage.) Defrost the burgers overnight in the refrigerator prior to serving and then cook as directed.

Source: onceuponachef.com

Key Lime Sugar Cookies

 Wonderful citrus flavor! 

For the Cookies:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour 195 grams
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3 grams
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 grams
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature) 4 ounces
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar 50 grams
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar 50 grams
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon key lime zest (or zest of 1 key lime)
• 2 1/2 tablespoons key lime juice
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips 90 grams

For the Lime Glaze:

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar 86 grams
• 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons key lime juice
• Zest from a lime to sprinkle on top

Instructions

• Line a light colored baking sheet with a nonstick baking mat. (Dark baking sheets make the cookies brown fast on the bottom.)
• In a small bowl, add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix together until combined.
• In another bowl, add the butter and sugar and mix until the texture is smooth and creamy. Add in the egg, vanilla, lime juice and zest and mix until combined.
• Slowly add in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.
• Add in the white chocolate chips and fold until mixed in.
• Use a cookie scoop to place the cookie dough in tablespoon (1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons is good for these cookies) scoops on the baking sheet. You should get 20-24 cookies.
• Refrigerate the scooped cookie dough for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375ºF. 
• Once the cookie dough is chilled, roll the scoops into smooth balls. Don't handle the dough too much, just roll for a few seconds to get the ball smooth. 
• Bake for 7-8 minutes (mine were done in 7). Do not overbake! Allow the cookies to cool a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
• Once cooled, mix together the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of lime juice to form a glaze. Add the 1/2 tablespoon of lime juice if needed to get it to a drizzling consistency (I usually use 1 1/2 tablespoons). Drizzle teaspoon amount of glaze on each cookie, sprinkle with zest and allow to set so the icing can harden. Enjoy!
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature.Makes 24 cookiesSource: https://www.tastesoflizzyt.com/key-lime-sugar-cookies/#wprm-recipe-container-24314
  
  
  

Key Lime Daiquiri Freeze

• 1½ oz. rum
• 1 oz. Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice
• 4 oz. sour mix

Mix all ingredients in a blender with crushed ice. Blend at a slow speed until smooth and pour into a hurricane glass.

No-Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Oatmeal Cookies

 These easy no-bake chocolate, peanut butter, and oatmeal cookies are a classic and they are quick, also freeze well. 

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup whole or 2% milk
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats

• Add the butter, sugar, milk, cocoa powder, and salt to a 4-quart saucepan.
• Bring to a rapid boil and let boil for 1 minute.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla extract until smooth, then stir in the oats.
• Using a medium cookie scoop (or 2 tablespoonfuls), drop onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
• Let cool until set, about 30 minutes. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature (or in the refrigerator) for up to 2 weeks. Makes 36.

Ohio Shredded Chicken Sandwiches in Crockpot

Apparently, this is an Ohio thing but they are delicious!  Shredded chicken sandwiches made in the crockpot using stovetop stuffing and Ritz crackers.  This shredded chicken sandwich recipe feeds a crowd!

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• 50 oz can of boneless chicken, drained
• (2) 12 oz cans of white chicken breast, drained
• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers, crushed
• 1 heaping tsp of chicken bouillon paste dissolved in 1/4 cup of hot water
• 1/4 cup Stove Top stuffing, dry mix

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Instructions

1. Line your crockpot with a slow cooker liner.
2. Add all ingredients and stir until well incorporated.
3. Cook on high for one hour. Continue cooking on low for at least 3 more hours.
4. Serve hot on buns.

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Notes

The stove top stuffing

you need for this recipe is straight out of the box.  Do not make it on the stovetop and then add it to the shredded chicken recipe.  Instead, just measure out 1/4 cup of the dry stuffing mix.

This makes approximately 25 sandwiches with a little more than 3 ounces of chicken per sandwich.  Larger or smaller buns will adjust the number of sandwiches that this recipe produces.

Nana Mae’s Oatmeal Cookies

 1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 3/4 cup sifted flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup raisins or chocolate chips (see note)

 Cream butter and sugar is very well until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well add flour sifted with the salt and soda. Add oats and raisins. Drop by teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes  or less if you like your cookies soft.

Make six dozen cookies.

Note: if time allows, place raisins and 1 cup water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil and simmer for three minutes set aside to cool, then drain. 

Uncle Joe’s Prime Rib Method

Preheat oven to 375°. Rubbermaid well with salt and sprinkle with pepper. Place meat fat side up in the shallow baking pan, do not cover. Add just a little water in the pan. Put roast in oven. Bake for one hour then turn off heat but do not open door at any time until ready to serve. Scotch tape a sign on oven door reading, DO NOT OPEN” as a precaution during the cooking process. Regardless of the length of time the roast has been in the oven ( can be started late morning, if desired). An hour before serving, you will turn on the oven again, after oven reaches 375°, set timer for 40 minutes. Open oven door remove roast. The coating will be brown and crisp and the roast will be beautifully pink, juicy and medium rare all the way through. No drippings in the pan, there will not be any natural meat juices extracted for gravy. In other words, no shrinkage and all the moisture and flavor will be left in your roast.

MOCHA CRINKLE COOKIES

These MOCHA CRINKLE COOKIES give you that rich, chocolatey goodness we all know and love, with an added depth of flavor thanks to coffee. 😋

 1 Cup Granulated Sugar 

 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil 

2 Large Eggs 

 2 tsp Vanilla Extract 

 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder 

 1 Cup All Purpose Flour 

 1 Tbsp Instant Coffee

 1 tsp Baking Powder 

 1/2 tsp Salt 

 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar (for coating) 

 16-20 Hershey’s Kisses 

 1) Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease a baking sheet. In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and the eggs until combined. 

2) In a separate bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, Instant Coffee, baking powder, and salt. Gradually mix together the wet and try ingredients until the dough comes together into a thick ball. Place the dough in the refrigerator to firm up for 30 minutes. 

 3) Roll the dough into ~16 balls, roughly the size of a golf ball. If the dough gets too sticky, return it to the fridge to chill and firm up again.

 4) Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl and roll the dough balls in the powdered sugar until they are very well coated. Then place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet at least 2” apart. 

 5) Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, until they have spread out and puffed up.

 6) Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute. Then, gently press one Hershey’s Kiss into the middle of each cookie. Let cool for 1 more minute on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!