Two New Recipes

Both are Taste of Home recipes. I have good success with those, generally. I'm guessing because they are usually reader submissions and not just developed in a test kitchen under optimum conditions. They've been tried and true in someone else's home for their family. First off is Soy Garlic Chicken. I will absolutely make this again. All 3 of us loved it (the baby was sleeping). It was quick to prepare for the crockpot, and required ingredients pretty much everyone always has on hand. We actually ended up having smashed yellow nugget potatoes (skins and all) and broccoli with it.

Next up is Gooey Chocolate Cookies. Mike says they fall into the absolutely make them again category. He was originally disappointed I hadn't made my traditional chocolate chip cookies, and then quickly discovered that was ok. He actually suggested they would be good with vanilla ice cream, possibly for ice cream sandwiches. For those, I reversed the flavours, though. I had a white cake mix and chocolate cream cheese on hand. Still tasty. And I added some chocolate chips like reviewers suggested. If you read the reviews, there is complaints of the dough being sticky on your hands. That's not a big deal to me. I'm baking, it could get messy. Whatever. Do keep them on the small side, flatten slightly with your hand, and they'll turn out just fine.

Taco Bake

1 lb lean ground beef or turkey

1 can of crescent rolls (healthier options are the low fat or whole wheat)

1 small onion, chopped

2 cups grated cheddar, divided (I use Tex Mex in most things. It has a nice zip)

3/4 cup sour cream

1 green bell pepper, chopped

Taco seasoning (1 package or however much bulk you would use for tacos)

A couple handfuls of tortilla chips

That's a medium onion there. I used half. And those are 3 really small bell peppers from my garden. They were really tasty and sweet. The taco seasoning is from Epicure Selections. And that's light sour cream. It will work just fine.

That's about how much onion you want. Cook it while the ground beef is browning and then add in the taco seasoning. After that, add in about 3/4 cup sour cream and 1 cup of the cheese. You'll get a mixture that looks sort of like this. I used more sour cream. Too much actually, but it still tasted just fine.

Spray a casserole dish with non-stick spray, and put the crescent rolls in there like shown. You'll hate yourself if you forget to spray first. Trust me. I need a new casserole dish. I'd like a more rectangle one, that's slightly larger. Currently all I have is the CorningWare French White bridal special set everyone gets when they get married.

Put your beef mixture on top of the crescent rolls, and then top with the green pepper.

Top with the crushed tortilla chips and other cup of cheese. Bake at 350 for 15-20 mins, until the crust looks puffy and golden and the cheese is all melty.

Ta Da!! All in all it takes under 45 mins to make. Easily. And all 4 food groups are in it. And it's tasty. We top our individual servings with taco toppings like shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, salsa, and a dollop of sour cream.