Joy in the Kitchen!

Yummy Enchilada taste for a family without the fuss!  It seems that this casserole  fixes up a bit different each time because I often use up a few left over or lonely items that are nearing their life expectancy. ;)  It is ALWAYS good though and easy to do.    Tonight I am using hamburger and black beans.  I usually use the burger, but sometimes the beans are kidney beans or small red beans... whatever I have on hand and catches my fancy when I'm cooking.   Tonight I used shredded cheddar cheese, but if I had some jack cheese or whatnot, I'd make a blend.  Right now my only variety to blend would be mozzarella and I have plans for that later this week.   It's easy to add in a few chopped veggies as well...  use your best judgement.... in addition to the onion I've enjoyed finely diced potato, summer squash, corn, and spinach or chard finely shredded.  Not all of those at once though - the kids get suspicious when they notice too...

I've been wanting to make cupcakes for a while now.  Seems like I think I have to wait for a special occasion for some silly reason.  My special occasion for these are twofold....  two of the sisters I visit teach have birthday's this week (Happy Birthday SteviKay and Lorraine!) AND Valentines Day is coming up next week. I used a basic no egg cake recipe... it is more dense and holds up better with a load of frosting on top.  I used my Whacky Cake recipe .  For the frosting, I used the Creamy Chocolate Frosting recipe on my blog for the base under the yellow flower cupcakes, and a Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting for the Valentine cupcakes.  That's the recipe I'll post here.  I thought they turned out fairly tasty. :)  Wesley, who is 3, really loves them.  He only wants to eat half though..... the TOP half.  Funny boy. Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting 4 C. powdered sugar 1 C. softened butter 4 oz softened cream chee...

  Living in the middle of potato country, we eat a LOT of potatoes.  One of our favorite ways to eat them is mashed with gravy.  Once in a while we have leftover mashed potatoes.  I don't enjoy them reheated as much as fresh since they are often dry, but this recipe using leftover (or fresh) mashed potatoes is so tasty I purposely make extra mashed potatoes now so we can have this later in the week!  I love all the delicious toppings on a baked potato, and that is what I added to create this dish.  I think chives would be good on it as well - but we'll try that in the summer when my chives are growing and fresh. "Real" mashed potatoes are best.... but in a pinch you could use instant.  Here in Idaho it's just a shame to not use fresh potatoes though.  Loaded Mashed Potatoes 3 C. mashed potatoes (leftover or freshly mashed) 1/4 C. melted butter 1 C. sour cream 1 1/2 C. shredded cheese, reserving 1/2 C. 1/4 C. fried & crumbled bacon, more i...