Mexican Pork Chops

So as anyone can tell Mexican type foods are quite popular in this house. I saw a recipe similar to this on-line awhile ago, and decided since I had the day off school and my GA that would be the perfect time to make it. Not to mention I had everything on hand. It is a super easy meal, just throw it together and bake for 40 min. then you are eating. It wasn't very spicy but we enjoyed it, and ate more than we should have.

Mexican Pork Chops
Pork Chops (2-4)
Taco seasoning or chili powder to sprinkle on pork chops
Salt and Pepper for pork chops
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 14.5oz. can of corn (could use whatever you have on hand) drained
1 can of red kidney beans (drained)
1/2 cup uncooked rice (minute rice works)
1 4oz. can of green chilies drained
1/3 cup of water

1. Rub the spices on the pork chop then brown the pork chops in a skillet for about 5 minutes on each side. Preheat oven 350F.

2. Mix the tomatoes, corn, beans, rice, water and green chilies together and pour into a casserole dish.

3. Place the pork chops on top of rice mixture and bake covered for 30 min.

4. Uncover and cook an additional 10 min.

Taco Casserole

Sara made this one evening while we were living with her and her husband and looking for a place to live. She is the one that has motivated me to try so many new recipes and flavors, during my undergraduate career we really bonding though our baking and cooking together. I have such great memories of hanging out in her kitchen cooking up a storm, we found so many great new things to cook this way. I made a few changes to this great recipe, which is super simple and the hubby asked for it return in our menu again. I cut the recipe in half since it is just the two of us but if you have company or a lager family just double it, and use a 13x9 pan.

Taco Casserole

8 oz. taco sauce
6oz. can buttermilk biscuits
4 oz. shredded Mexican cheese
1 can sliced olives, drained ( keep same if doubling)
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 small onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped ( I didn't have so I left out, no need to double)
4 oz of mushrooms (I used 8 oz.)

1.Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 8x8 inch baking dish. Spread taco sauce evenly over bottom of dish.

2. Separate dough into 5 biscuits. Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces. Place biscuit pieces in hot sauce, turn to coat. Sprinkle biscuits with half of the cheese and the olives. Bake for 15-18 minutes.

3. In a large skillet, combine ground beef, peppers, onions, mushrooms, cumin and chili powder. Cook until ground beef is cooked through.

4. Sprinkle the ground beef mixture over the baked biscuit mixture. Top with the remaining cheese. Bake an additional 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Beer Bread

I had beer bread from a Tastefully Simply mix before and loved it, but I didn't have any of the mix so I found this recipe on Gimme Some Oven and decided to try it. I made it the night before since it was snacking on before Thanksgiving, I know I need to improve on updating the blog. It was great the next day but the piece I snagged while it was warm was even better, so I would recommend trying to make this right before you are going to eat it. This is super easy bread no need to worry about rising time or yest, so there is no reason not make a loaf.



Beer Bread
Makes 1 loaf

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. honey
1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
8 Tbsp. (one stick) butter, melted (you could cut in half but the southern girl in me decided not to)

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees and grease and 9"x5"3" loaf pan.

2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

3. Using a wooden spoon stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed. ( microwave the honey to make this easier, it just takes a few seconds)

4. Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan.

5. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top.

6. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.