Recipes Galore

So I’ve been slacking lately. Not on cooking, that I’ve actually been doing pretty good at, but at writing these posts. So today’s Dinner and a Movie post will have more recipes that normal. Some good, some bad, and some so-so. Overall, I’ve been having a lot of fun doing this. I just wish it wasn’t breaking the bank. The next recipes I do will probably be ones that I already have ingredients for or I know won’t cost me an arm and a leg at the store (normally I wouldn’t care, but I seem to be throwing away a ton of food). Here we go!

Tacoritos

Well well well, what we have here is another delicious recipe that is brought to use from the Southwest region. Thank you. It took a long time to make, since prepping everything took about 40 minutes and baking took 20 minutes. Thank goodness I wasn’t staving when I started to cook. The recipe calls for 8 inch tortillas, well we didn’t take our tape measure to the grocery store so I’m sure ours were smaller than that. I couldn’t fit all the meat, beans, and cheese that the recipe called for in those tortilla shells. Don’t fret though,   they   still  turned  out  amazingly.  And  I

even had leftover ingredients because I couldn’t fit everything in my pan. So I made a second batch a couple days later. Guess what, still delicious. I would definitely recommend making this, but not if you’re looking for something quick and easy. Also, I want to share with you, I almost forgot to add the spices to the sauce. So, just a heads up, don’t forget this step! It wouldn’t be Tex-Mex without the brownish red sauce to give it a wonderful flavor. Thumbs up – make it

Click here for Taste of Home Recipe - Tacoritos
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Grandma's Blackberry Cake

This cake sounds interesting, and it is. It tastes fine, but I’m not sure it’s worth all the trouble and I ended up throwing half of it away. There are so many spices that need to be added to this that I started to lose track of how much of each and where I was on the ingredients list. Not to mention I had to purchase them all! I did have fun squeezing my own orange though (thank Target for the super cute juicer). The orange I bought, Oh Em Gee it was so juicy, I couldn’t let the extra go to waste. I think that was my favorite part of  the  recipe,  drinking  the  rest of 

the juice from the orange. Anyway, back on track here. The end result was good, but it didn’t fill my house with a decadent aroma like most cakes and pies do. This saddens me. It tasted like a spice cake with blackberries in it. I like blackberries, but they are known to not be as sweet as any of the other berries. Still, it worked. I wouldn’t however, make this recipe again. Thumbs down – don’t make it!

Click here for Taste of Home Recipe - Blackberry Cake
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Long Island Iced Tea

These drinks have never been my favorite – unless strawberry flavoring is added, then wow delicious! (My drink of choice at Applebee’s). Nevertheless, I need to get through this cookbook at some point, so I played bartender at home and made some LITs. On one side, they tasted just like a LIT should taste. On the other side, not delicious. I don’t think I even finished it. And this is sad because, did you know how much alcohol goes into a Long Island? I spent like $50 at the liquor store! (If anyone wants to donate to the  cause,  send  us  an  email please).  I’m  happy 

with the way that the drink turned out, I’m just a beer kind of girl (see beer margaritas, I made these again on the same night because I loved them so). I’m going to say Thumbs up – make it! Because I know most people like them and this recipe comes out exactly how it should.

Click here for Taste of Home Recipe - LIT
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Special Raisin Pie

I’m a little late on this recipe, as I made this for Pi Day (3.14! yeah!) and it seemed to be a hit. With the rum extract, it gives the impression that there is alcohol in the filling and to me it looked like a pecan pie but with raisins. As usual, it was a lot of fun making the lattice design on the top of the pie and (unlike the blackberry cake) my house smelled amazing when it was almost time to take it out of the oven! From the picture, you can tell I’m not a pro at making pies (yet). Do you think it would be helpful if I bought a smaller pie plate? I feel like the pie crust isn’t big enough for 

the one I own. Does that even matter? I’ll need to ask google, unless one of you lovely readers is a pie guru and knows the answer to this question. Please, Please comment!! I’m going to Thumbs Up – make it! Because it’s so unique (to me at least) of a pie. I mean, I’ve never heard of raisin pie before. Who would have thunk it?

Click here for Taste of Home Recipe - Raisin Pie
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Pat's King of Steaks Philly Cheese Steak Recipe

If I’m being honest with you, I’ve NEVER had a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich before. I know, what a shock right? It’s mainly because sandwiches are my least favorite thing to eat, but I do like subs so I had to try this one next. This recipe is apparently from the head honcho Philly cheesesteak guru in Philadelphia, Pat King. If you’re in Philly, this is the place to go for the sandwich. It was super easy to make! I thought the thin steak I bought wasn’t thin enough, so next time I’d probably try to slice it in 

half (if that  would  even  be  possible)  but  other than that it was great. The onions and peppers YUM and I used Velveeta as my cheese sauce YUM again. We had just enough ingredients to make two sandwiches, so I loved that I didn’t have to waste anything (except for the buns, I was going to use them to make an Italian sub sandwich, but totally dropped the ball and ended up throwing them away due to mold YUCK). Thumbs up – make it!!!!!!

Click here for Taste of Home Recipe - Cheese Steak

Colcannon Potatoes

So this recipe was not my favorite. Not because of taste, but because who just eats mashed potatoes without a main course? I don’t do much cooking unless it’s for the blog so these only got eaten right after finishing them and never again. One thing weird about this though, it has cabbage in it. I don’t eat cabbage, so I’m hoping that I bought the right kind at the store. I will say, I didn’t even realize that there was cabbage in there. The green onions really boosted the flavor and I threw some onion and garlic salt in there as well (I know I know, this isn’t part of the recipe). 

It tasted just fine, good even, I just felt like it was a lot of work for mashed potatoes. It was kind of fun taking the skin off the potatoes though! Regardless, I think I’d stick with normal mashed potatoes for the next time I’d need them. Thumbs down – Don’t make it!

Click here for Taste of Home Recipe - Potatoes

​SIX recipes! Wow, I wonder how many I can afford to do for the next post? Stay tuned!