Pasta Taco Bake

Looking for an inexpensive and easy dinner that will satisfy your entire family? Well, this Pasta Taco Bake will do the trick! The man of the house is a fan of boxed macaroni and cheese. I know...blasphemy! I LOVE to experiment with pasta and cheese, but whenever I ask, "Do you want to have macaroni and cheese tonight?", his response is always, "Do we have enough boxed macaroni and cheese?" Ugh! So I decided to change things up a bit and still make a cheesy pasta dish, but not the plain old boxed macaroni and cheese. I came across Emily Bites, which is an awesome blog, where I found her Cheesy Taco Pasta recipe. I thought, "I can snazz this up a bit and make the man of my house happy too!". I added a few additional ingredients from her recipe and it was a TOTAL hit! We had a house guest and literally, by the time I finished cleaning up the dishes, there was probably only about one serving left for myself. Ha! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. To print recipe, click: Pasta Taco Bake

***Please forgive me, this photo is missing the second package of shredded cheddar, tomato and green onions***

Ingredients:

8oz medium pasta shells, uncooked

1 lb lean ground beef

1 oz packet taco seasoning, I used McCormick Original Taco Seasoning Mix

1 1/2 cups of salsa, I used Frontera Jalapeno Cilantro Salsa

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup shredded cheddar

3/4 cup shredded taco blend cheese

1/2 can corn

1 2.25 oz can sliced black olives

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

1/2 medium tomato, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F

2) Boil salted water and add pasta. While pasta is cooking (about 8-9 minutes...don't overcook. Make it just about al dente), cook ground beef in a large sauté pan until fully cooked. 

3) Once ground beef is not longer pink, drain in a colander to get rid of excess grease. Return the ground beef to the pan and add the water, salsa and taco seasoning. Reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes, then add the corn and olives. Stir and let simmer while pasta finishes cooking.

4) Drain pasta and then add it to the meat mixture. Add sour cream, cheese, salt and pepper and mix well. Once cheese has melted, spray a 9"x13" glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and then add the pasta/meat mixture to the dish.

5) Top with the green onions and tomatoes. Bake for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle a little extra shredded cheese on top if you like, then bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and serve! Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts
Servings 6.0
Amount Per Serving
Calories 584
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 21 g	32 %
Saturated Fat 10 g	51 %
Monounsaturated Fat 6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 85 mg	28 %
Sodium 719 mg	30 %
Potassium 624 mg	18 %
Total Carbohydrate 62 g	21 %
Dietary Fiber 5 g	19 %
Sugars 4 g
Protein 36 g	72 %
Vitamin A	21 %
Vitamin C	14 %
Calcium	29 %
Iron	27 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Copyright &#169 2013 Kellicipes

Super Easy Pasta Salad

This is such an easy lunch or dinner to whip up and you can really let your imagination go with the ingredients. Our favorite is to use vegetable rotini pasta, cooked chicken, chickpeas, a veggy mix of some sort, italian dressing and parmesan cheese. Here's how it goes, to print the recipe, click here: Super Easy Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 box of vegetable rotini pasta

1 can of chickpeas, drained

1 bag of frozen steamfresh vegetables (we used Birds Eye Steamfresh Asian Medley)

1 small can sliced black olives

2-3 boneless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

About 1 1/2 cups of Fat Free or Lite Italian dressing (regular Italian has too much oil)

1 cup grated parmesan cheese or cheese of your choice

Directions:

1) Season chicken breasts and cook on a non-stick medium sized pan, about 4-5 minutes per side until no longer pink in the middle. Remove from pan, cut into 1 inch cubes and set aside.

2) Cook pasta according to package, drain and return to large pot.

3) Microwave the frozen vegetables and drain the chickpeas and olives. Once vegetables are cooked, add them, the chickpeas, olives and cubed chicken to the pasta. Mix well.

4) Add the italian dressing...use as much or as little as you like. Toss well.

5) Add the parmesan cheese or your choice of cheese and mix well. Serve and Enjoy, it's that simple!

utrition Facts
Servings 8.0
Amount Per Serving
Calories 450
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 9 g	13 %
Saturated Fat 3 g	13 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 63 g	21 %
Sodium 610 mg	25 %
Potassium 329 mg	9 %
Total Carbohydrate 56 g	19 %
Dietary Fiber 6 g	22 %
Sugars 4 g
Protein 37 g	75 %
Vitamin A	0 %
Vitamin C	22 %
Calcium	2 %
Iron	104 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Copyright © 2013 Kellicipes

Chili Frito Pie

I was in the grocery store the other day and was walking down the chips and soda aisle. My eye caught a bag of Frito chips and I suddenly remembered seeing several recipes on line for a Chili Frito Pie. So I quickly scanned through some recipes on my phone and compiled them all to come up with this tasty dish. You can really get creative with this if you want to add more ingredients like peppers, onions, tomatoes, etc. Hope you enjoy! To print recipe, click here: Chili Frito Pie
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 -2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 can chili - your choice
1/2 can sliced black olives
1 can crescent rolls
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
1 1/2 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups crushed corn chips
Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 400°F.

2) In a large skillet, add the ground beef, onion powder and taco seasoning. Cook until no longer pink. Drain and return to the pan.

3) Add the chili and black olives. Simmer 5 minutes.

4) Separate the crescent rolls into triangles and lay them in a greased 9" pie dish, placing the points toward the center of the dish. Press the seams together to seal, forming the crust. I purchased the big and flaky crescent rolls, so I kind of had to cut a few into pieces and then press them all together to form the crust throughout the whole dish.

5) Bake the crescent roll pie in the oven for about 5 minutes. Then remove and set aside.

6) Spread about 1 cup of the crushed corn chips onto the crust.

7) Spoon meat mix over the top of the corn chips and spread evenly.

8) Stir sour cream in a separate bowl and then mix in the green onions.

9) Spread the sour cream mixture evenly over meat.

10) Top with shredded cheese.

11)  Then top with the remaining 1 cup of crushed corn chips.

12) Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. **Excuse the burnt crust on the right side of the pie. I am still getting used to the appliances at our new home and realized that the back of our oven is hotter than the front!**

13) Let rest for about 10 minutes before slicing and ENJOY!

Nutrition Facts
Servings 6.0
Amount Per Serving
Calories 724
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 44 g	68 %
Saturated Fat 22 g	108 %
Monounsaturated Fat 10 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4 g
Trans Fat 1 g
Cholesterol 139 g	46 %
Sodium 1270 mg	53 %
Potassium 442 mg	13 %
Total Carbohydrate 41 g	14 %
Dietary Fiber 5 g	20 %
Sugars 9 g
Protein 39 g	77 %
Vitamin A	1 %
Vitamin C	16 %
Calcium	3 %
Iron	146 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Copyright © 2013 Kellicipes