Not yo mama's Enchilada's

Then again, they might be yo mama's enchilada's. (If so, she totally rocks and we should be friends!) I just thought that sort of title sounds cool too, hehe! Make them mild, medium, spicy, green or red. Whatever floats your boat, tops your ice cream, bakes your burrito. Eh, you get the point. You can also use ground beef, chicken, or (my fav) leftover steak.

1 cup +/- cooked rice
1 can refried beans
1 to 2 cups cooked meat of your choice, cubed or shredded
1 to 2 cups cheese (there is no such thing as too much of a good thing...sometimes)
2 small cans (or one big can) Enchilada sauce (Old Elpaso is a really good brand)
Package of soft tortilla shells

Prepare a 13x9 casserole dish with some pan (from experience, don't miss this step). Stir together rice, one small can (or half of big can) of sauce, one cup of cheese, and meat in a metal bowl (from experience again, trust me when I suggest a metal bowl for this because red enchilada sauce stains plastic bowls, #@$#%!). Smear a tortilla shell with one or two spoonfuls of beans. Top with two spoonfuls of meat mixture. Like this, m'dearie:


Roll up and place in dish. Repeat as many times as necessary until meat mixture is used up. Smother with rest of enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Ring the dinner bell to signal to the troops that dinner is on. Top with sour cream, lettuce, tomato, salsa, jalapenos, etc.

One-Skillet Wonder: Beef and Spinach Pasta

Goober tried spinach a few weeks ago. She didn't like it. Goober tried spinach again tonight. She liked it. A lot. What did I do? I found a recipe I found on Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen website (you must check that site out!) that is a pasta dish with spinach in it. Goober is a pasta-holic. I fooled her into eating spinach! Hah! It's an age-old mom trick to mix veggies into casserole dishes and it works most of the time into fooling children into eating their veggies.

I simplified the recipe (original recipe link) by skipping the oven part (saves power, an extra dirty dish, and time especially if you have a very hungry toddler) so that's why I call it a one-skillet wonder. My husband also didn't like the competition of the Cream of Mushroom soup with the tomato flavor so I think I'll either half the amount or leave it out next time (probably healthier to leave it out anyway). Your choice.

Beef and Spinach Pasta:

1 Pkg favorite noodles, cooked (rotini, spirals, bowtie, shells, etc.)
1 diced onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
Ground beef
1 bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup (again, your choice to 1/2 it or leave it out)
1 (10 oz pkg) chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
Healthy helping of Parmesan cheese
& Mozzarella cheese

Boil noodles according to package. Meanwhile, brown onion, garlic, and ground beef in large skillet. Drain excess grease (I use a spoon and tip the pan a little to ladle out some of it into a can I put in the freezer rather than dumping it down the sink.) Stir in spaghetti sauce, soup, and spinach. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Add cooked noodles. Stir well and then top with Mozzarella cheese.

Ring the dinner bell. Serve with a side of salad, perhaps some breadsticks or crusty french bread. Voila! It's like you just made a dish from the Olive Garden (but cheaper)!

P.S. The Domestic Engineer is on Facebook

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Homemade Potstickers

My hubby loves potstickers! So I learned how to make them for him. These take some prep time but are fun to make and quite delicious! They go well alongside some stir fry or as their own main dish with a little rice. This recipe comes from the back of the potsticker wrapper package.

1/4 ground pork (or you can go vegetarian and skip along)
1/2 cup cabbage, finely chopped
1/8 cup green onion, diced
1 TBSP soy sauce
1/2 TBSP dry white wine or vinegar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cornstarch
Dash of pepper

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and place a small spoonful of the mixture in the center of one round potsticker wrap. Moisten the edge of the wrap with water on your fingers (not too much but not too little) to help stick together when you fold it up. Make a few pinches to help it stay together during the cooking process and to make it look fancy so people will be amazed by your cool handiwork (click on picture to see detail).


Heat 2 TBSP oil (or thin layer) in skillet over medium heat. Add potstickers and lightly brown the little sucker's bottoms (slight maniacal laugh, sorry, it's dark and stormy outside today). Pour in 1/4 cup of water (or less, too much and you'll have soggy butts, seriously) and cover the pan tightly with a lid. Turn the heat to low and cook until the water is gone.

Serve while hot on a platter with a small cup of soy sauce and enjoy!

Soft Breadsticks

I found a recipe to try for breadsticks from an old church cookbook that are both egg free as well as yeast free (for those of us too lazy to buy yeast or just too afraid of the little buggers and just lie with the first reason). They were tasty and a big hit alongside a bowl of baked potato soup so I must post them now!

Soft Breadsticks

1 - 1/2 cups flour (sometimes more if really gooey and hard to work with)
2 tsp sugar
1 - 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 milk
3 TBSP butter or margarine, melted

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add milk slowly and stir to form a soft dough. On a floured surface (a cutting board or counter top) knead the dough gently 3-4 times.

Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by pouring in the 3 TBSP melted butter. Place the dough in the middle of the dish and press it into a rectangle shape (NOT to the edges of the dish, mind you) a little less than 1/2 inch thick or so. (This is where I wish I was a good photographer and took pictures of my work in the kitchen like PW does. Anyone want that job? I can only pay you in food though. And now back to the recipe!) Brush some of the excess butter that you'll see on the sides over the top of the dough. Cut into breadsticks however you like with a pizza cutter and sprinkle with cheese such as Parmesan (a little more, more, MORE! You can't go wrong with more cheese).

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown (keep an eye on them). These are best served warm on the side of a creamy soup or spaghetti. (Warning: the amount made was easily scarfed up by two adults and one toddler-sized Goober who ate like an adult tonight. Double the recipe if necessary. You have been warned.

Did ya miss me?! PW's Berry Cobbler

I'm back! Alas, moving is quite trying on a domestic engineer like myself but we are now settled into our new house in Iowa (gonna miss Utah, sigh) and about to start the adventure that is called medical school. So to celebrate my return I'll share my favorite cobbler recipe with you! Since it is the season for harvesting many fruits, this is a very tasty treat to reward everyone's hard labor. I've tried this recipe twice so far from the Pioneer Woman (link to actual recipe with pictures if wanted, warning, may cause drooling) with blueberries and raspberries and soon I'll try it with peaches. I'm drooling over my keyboard in anticipation! This is so simple to make and my Goober can have it because it contains no eggs!

Pioneer Woman's Berry Cobbler

1 stick butter, melted
1-¼ cup sugar
1 cup self-rising flour*
1 cup milk
2 cups fresh or frozen berries of your choice

Mix together 1 cup sugar and flour and whisk in milk. Pour in melted butter and whisk it all well together. Pour the batter into a buttered baking dish. Sprinkle berries over the top of the batter evenly. Sprinkle ¼ cup sugar over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly. Keep a close eye on it as sometimes it only needs 45 minutes. Sprinkle a teaspoon of sugar over the cobbler 10 minutes before it’s done.

Don't forget to serve it warm with a dollop of whipped cream or even ice cream! You will be worshiped forever...or at least until it's gone and it's time to make more!

* To make your own self-rising flour, shift together 6 cups flour, 3 tbsp baking powder, and 1 tbsp salt. Store whatever you don't use in an airtight container.

Easy Bake Salmon

Wow, I update this thing so often, bwahahaha! Things have been hectic around here but here's a good Salmon recipe that we've enjoyed so much that we've had it twice in the past month. So if you like fish and have access to some salmon (thanks dad!) you've got to try this recipe. And the house didn't smell too fishy afterward (though my black cherry vanilla sentsy may have helped).

Easy Bake Salmon (although, I suggest not using an easy bake oven)


2 fillets of Salmon
1/4 cup soy sauce (we get some good stuff at the Korean market and it's worth it, trust me)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ginger (ground is just fine)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
a clove or two of garlic (minced or sliced thinly)

Mix and marinate the fillets for about 30 minutes to 4 hours, depending on how much time you have. Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes or until nice and flaky. Prepare a side of spinach or other tasty green veggie, a baked potato, and some bread and you just might have a gourmet meal in under an hour to impress your hunny with!