Breakfast for a Week ~ by Sarah

My co-worker, Mary Ruth, made this breakfast up and when I saw her eating it I had to have the recipe.  It smelled amazing!  She makes a big batch of it on the weekend, stores it in the fridge, and then eats it every morning.  I made my first batch today and it is delicious!  I can't wait to have a quick, healthy, and delicious breakfast each morning when I'm in a rush!

Ingredients:
1 lb. breakfast sausage (not maple--hot or mild regular)
1 bunch kale
1 bag spinach
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 package mushrooms
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
any other veggies you think would be good--she puts jalapeño peppers in hers, but that's too spicy for me!
12 eggs, beaten

Directions:
Cook sausage in large skillet until completely browned.  Take out and drain on a paper towel.  Using a food processor, shred kale and spinach.  Cook in skillet over medium-high heat until tender.  Add sausage back along with the peppers, onion, and mushrooms.  Saute until everything is tender.  Add in beaten eggs and stir pretty constantly until egg is completely cooked.  Season well while cooking.  It will smell amazing!  Cool for awhile and then store in a large airtight container.  Take what you want in the morning and heat it in the microwave.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole ~ by Sarah

I found this recipe in my Pioneer Cookbook.  I modified it a little bit to make it more like the chicken enchiladas I make and we love.  It turned out to be very good!

Ingredients:
8 corn tortillas, cut into eighths
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed and cooked
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. chicken broth (I would recommend low sodium--there's enough salt in everything else and you don't want it to be too salty)
1 medium can diced green chilies
4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz. jack cheese, shredded
2 small cans sliced black olives


Directions:
Cook cubed chicken.  Add green onions and chilies.  Simmer for 10 minutes or so to let some of the juices evaporate.

Find a cute little chef to help you:

Place half of tortillas in the bottom of a greased 9x13-inch pan.  Mix chicken, onions, chilies, soups, broth, olives, and half of each cheese in large bowl.  Put half of the mixture on top of tortillas.  Place other half of tortillas on mixture in pan.  Follow with the final soup/chicken mixture.

Top with remaining cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until bubbly.

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich ~ by Sarah

This is a recipe from my Pioneer Woman cookbook.  I have been wanting to try it for awhile now, but I was scared of all the butter.  It didn't disappoint--this is amazing!  

Ingredients
1 whole large onion
2 sticks butter
2 pounds (to 3 Pounds) cube steak
Lawry's Seasoned Salt
lemon pepper (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
½ cup (approximately) Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco sauce, so taste
4 whole French/deli rolls

**Note: I also added fresh mushroom slices to the onion when it was cooking and grated mozzarella cheese to put on top of the meat when the sandwich was assembled.

Directions:
Slice onions and cook in 1/4 stick butter until soft and light brown. Remove and set aside.

Slice cube steak against the grain. Season with Lawry’s, lemon pepper, and pepper.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter over high heat (in same skillet) until melted and beginning to brown. Add meat in single layer. Cook one side until brown, then flip and cook until brown, about a minute on both sides.

Add 1/2 cup (at least) Worcestershire sauce, 5 to 6 shakes Tabasco, and 2 tablespoons butter. Add cooked onions. Stir to combine.

Butter halved French rolls and brown in skillet.

To assemble, lay bottom half of French roll on plate. Place meat mixture, followed by a spoonful of juice from the pan.

 *This is a Pioneer Woman picture.  I was too lazy and too hungry to photograph my own.

If you want to see step-by-step instructions with pictures every step of the way, go here: 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/marlboro_mans_f/

Serve this to a man in your life--he will be over the moon!

Zucchini and Corn Tacos ~ by Molly

Quick disclaimer: Your husband will notice the lack of meat. Your kids will notice the abundance of onions and vegetables. You will notice that these don't account for a day's worth of Weight Watchers Points (probably).

I based this recipe on one I found on Self.com and it is AMAZING. The picture is from their website, not my kitchen. You'll notice they included tomatoes, which I'm not a fan of, so I left out. They also didn't toast their corn and chopped the zucchini much finer that I like. Honestly, it's plenty filling and flavorful without meat, but you could easily add thinly sliced steak, if you can't go meatless for one meal. The recipe in the link says it feeds 4, but since I live alone, the recipe I wrote below is enough for my dinner and enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 zucchini, course chopped
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup canned corn, drained
Oregano, salt and pepper, to taste
Corn or Flour Tortillas
Salsa
Cheese
Sour Cream

Heat olive oil, add onions and cook until caramelized. Add garlic and zucchini and cook until the zucchini is tender. Add corn and cook, stirring occasionally until toasted. Add black beans, oregano, salt and pepper, and cook until everything is warm. Heat tortillas and assemble with remaining ingredients. I'm going to assume you all know how to do that part...

Restaurant-Style Salsa ~ by Sarah

This is another Pioneer Woman recipe.  Get over it, Molly.  Yes, I'm her stalker.  But I like her recipes.  The ingredients aren't weird, the recipes are usually pretty simple, and they usually involve lots of butter.

This salsa was SUPER easy to make and is delicious.  My favorite part?  No chopping tons and tons of tomatoes!

**EDIT 4/24/2010--Wes and I ate at Casa el Mirador tonight.  We have always loved their salsa.  Tonight we decided that this salsa is way better.  We've been eating gallons of the stuff since I posted this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 can (28 ounce) whole tomatoes, undrained
2 cans (10 ounce) Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies) *Note--you'd think these would be in the Mexican aisle, but at Fred Meyer they're in the tomato aisle. 
1/4 c. chopped onion (Do you have a Vidalia Chop Wizard?  If you don't, get one.  It will change your chopping life!)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeno, quartered and sliced thinly
1/4 t. sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cumin
1/2-1 c. cilantro (depending on your love for the stuff)
the juice of 1/2 large or 1 small lime

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or blender.  Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you like--about 10 to 15 pulses.  Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as necessary.  (You might think it needs a little more salt.)  Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Hanning Shish Kabobs ~ by Kelsey

We like to Bar-B-Que.  A lot.  I especially like the part where there is one less pan to wash.  So, here is a recipe we use often.

Sir loin steaks, cubed
Mushrooms (My favorite part!)
Bell Peppers
Zucchini
Sweet Onions
Whatever else you like, such as potatoes, yellow squash, etc
Your favorite marinade

Cut up the meat and put it in the bowl with marinade.  Let it sit in the fridge a couple of hours.  Cut up the veggies, put them in a different bowl with marinade.  They don't have to sit as long.  When you are ready, spear the ingredients with the skewer and place on the bbq.  I make some pretty ones with a pattern, but mostly I make them all single-ingredient.  For instance, the potatoes and zucchini can take longer to cook than the onions, so if you put them on different skewers you can cook them longer.  Brush the skewers with the left over veggie marinade while they are cooking.  I suppose you could use the meat's marinade, but I worry that the marinade that had raw meat in it won't get heated enough if you brush it on top of the skewers while they cook, so we use only the left over veggie marinade just to be on the safe side.