What to do with leftover Mexican/Spanish rice...

    Rice always seems to be the gift that never stops growing. Our neighbor made us a huge dish of Mexican rice the other day, and it was delicious! For a week I have been making dishes with this rice. This is my last one, I have finally used it all up!  This happens to us when we eat out at a Mexican restaurant too.
   I made this for our church lunch on Sunday. It was delicious and soooooo easy! Just like the name says, you should probably have everything on hand in your pantry. It is easy to make this soup really spicy or really mild according to your family’s taste. So, the next cold, snowy day you have- don’t go out to buy ingredients to make a soup, just look in your pantry!

Everything you already have Mexican Crockpot Soup
2 and ½ Cups Mexican Rice
1 to 1&½ Cups Hamburger, browned with diced onions
1 Can Rotel
1 Can Tomato Sauce
1 Can Chicken Broth
1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Tomato Soup
½ Cup Salsa
5 Cups Water
1 TBSP Onion Powder
1 TBSP Chili Powder
½ TBSP Cumin
1 TBSP Dried Cilantro
½ TBSP Garlic Powder
1&½ Cups Frozen Corn
4 Slices of American Cheese
Tortilla Chips
Shredded Cheese


Put all ingredients in your crock pot. Cook on high 3&½ to 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Top with crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese. Serves 12 to 15 people.

What to do with leftover cheesy broccoli rice...

I love when we have Chinese take-out, it's like the dinner that never ends :)  There are so many uses and creations that can come for it.  Over the New Year's holiday we got Chinese take out.  We had several cartons of rice left over.  Earlier in the week I made a batch of cheesy, broccoli rice with it.  Apparently it miraculously grew because it felt like we had more leftover than I started with.  Well you know how I hate to throw away food, so our cheesy broccoli rice became meatballs.  The nice thing about this recipe is if you don't feel like taking the time to make meatballs, you can use the mixture to make meatloaf or even hamburgers.  While the meatballs were baking, I made a gravy to serve with them, but they would be great by themsevles or as a sandwich with cheese melted on top.  Enjoy!

Easy, Cheesy, Meatballs
2 cups Broccoli Cheese Rice
1 lb Ground Beef
1 Egg
1/2 TBSP Onion Powder
1/2 tsp salt

Browned Meatballs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Form 1" to 1 and 1/2" meatballs.  Spray a large frying pan with non-stick spray.  Brown meatballs on all sides.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.  Makes around 15 meatballs.



My Helper :)

*Your meat mixture should have the consistency of a meatloaf mixture.  If your rice is dry, add a little milk to the mixture to moisten it up.  Be cautious though, if it is too moist, your meatballs will fall apart!

What to do with watermelon....

Summer is finally here!!!!  As a teacher, summer is a precious time for me.  It means weeks of teaching and spending time with my own babies.  I love it!  For us, an important part of summer is grilling with friends.  I tend to buy huge watermelons and then after the bbq, my children get to see the watermelon at every meal for the rest of the week.  This week I decided enough was enough, I was going to figure out something to do with the rest of the watermelon.  Celia, Charlie and I created this recipe for watermelon muffins.  Can you believe it only has 2 ingredients!  They had a lot of fun helping me.  Charlie loved them so much he ate 7 in 2 days!

Watermelon Muffins
Ingredients:
3 Cups of Cubed Watermelon
1 Cake Mix (white, yellow, or be creative, maybe strawberry)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Puree watermelon cubes in the food processor until it resembles chunky applesauce.  Don't over puree, 5-7 pushes of the button should do the trick.
3. Mix watermelon puree with cake mix.  Pour into cupcake pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Makes 24 muffins.

What to do with Chocolate Easter Bunnies...

I love after holiday sales!  I went to Dollar General the other day and I got these 3 Chocolate Bunnies for ten cents apiece.  What a savings!  Andy's cousins moved into a new house so I made these Chocolate Bunny Bars for them for a housewarming gift.  They were oooey gooey chocolate goodness and easy to make!  Enjoy :)

Chocolate Bunny Bars
Ingredients:
For the Base:
1 Devils Food Cake Mix
3 Chocolate Bunnies (I used the hollow ones)
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup of Vegetable Oil
1/4 Cup of Milk

For the Top:
1/2 Cup Cake Mixture
1/2 Chopped Chocolate Bunnies
3/4 Package Cream Cheese, chopped into small cubes
1&1/4 Cup Coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking pan.
2. Chop Chocolate Bunnies into small pieces, then set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil and milk.  Add 1/2 of the chopped bunnies.
4. Set aside 1/2 Cup of the mixture in another bowl for the topping.  Spread the rest of the cake mixture onto the bottom of the 9 x 13 pan.
5. In the other bowl, add the rest of the chocolate bunnies, coconut and creme cheese cubes.  Mix together with 1/2 cup of cake mixture.  When mixed, drop onto base in small dobs.  Make sure to dob evenly across cake base. 
6. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

What to do with leftover peas and Ritz crackers...

Andy loves meatloaf.  It is a childhood favorite of his.  However, it is not one of mine, so I always forget to make it for him.  He has been so sweet lately that I wanted to surprise him with a meal he'd love, so I made meatloaf with an Italian twist.  The fun thing about it is that I made it in the shape of a giant meatball which the kids loved!


Italian Meatloaf or Giant Baked Meatball
Serving Size: 8
Weight Watchers Points: 5
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Beef
2 Eggs
1/3 Cup Sliced Black Olives
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
2/3 Cup Smashed Ritz Crackers
1 Cup Cooked Peas
1 Tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1/8 Pinch of Salt
1/3 + 1 Cup Spaghetti Sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl mix together ground beef, eggs, black olives, parmesan cheese ritz crackers, and peas.  Add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion, salt and 1/3 cup of the spaghetti sauce.  Mix thouroughly.
2. Form meat into a meatloaf or giant meatball.  Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  After 30 minutes, pour 1 cup of spaghetti sauce on top and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the sauce.  Bake for another 30 minutes.

What to do with applesauce...

This is a coffee cake I made for our Easter Breakfast at church. I have been working on "healthifying" my recipes, so this one is made with skim milk, pineapple and apple sauce.  There's not any oil or eggs in it!  It turned out incredibly light and delicious.  It was so easy to prepare, I will definitely make it again.  If you cut the cake in 10, there's about 5 weight watchers points per slice.  Enjoy!

Pineapple Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup applesauce
1 cup bisquick
1/2 yellow cake mix
1/2 cup skim milk
1 can pineapple chunks and juice

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees 

2. Mix together applesauce, bisquick, cake mix, skim milk and the juice from the pineapple in a bowl.

3. Spray 9" pie pan and pour pineapple on bottom.  Pour batter on top.  Sprinkle ground cinnamon on top.  Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

4. Let cool and serve, or flip coffee cake over onto a serving platter and have Upside Down Pinapple Coffee Cake.

What to do with leftover turkey...

With Thanksgiving right around the corner (Holy Cow!!!), I thought I should start working on some "leftover" recipes for our favorite Thanksgiving foods.  This one I made for dinner tonight.  If you don't have leftover turkey, it also works great with leftover chicken.  This recipe is a tasty change from normal turkey salad and it's very simple to make.  It'll take you 15 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to bake.  If you're as busy as we are during the holiday season, it's nice to have a great meal that doesn't take a lot of work.  Enjoy!

Turkey Curry Melts
Ingredients:
1 Loaf of French Bread
2 Cups Chopped Turkey or Chicken
1 & 1/2 Cups Cooked Corn (cooled)
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Tbsp Curry Powder
1 Tbsp Seasoning Salt
1 Large Green Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix together turkey, corn, mayo, cheese, curry powder and seasoning salt.
2.  Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Slice loaf of bread in half long ways.  Place two halves onto baking sheet.  Spread turkey salad onto the two halves of bread.  Slice green pepper into thin circles.  Place on top of turkey salad.
3. Bake for 20 minutes.  Serves 4 to 6 people.